seamaidenstudios.com

I just said good-bye to the guys who pick up the stragglers who couldn’t finish the race. I decided that instead of just hopping on board the trailer with my wheel and calling it quits, I would forget about the Tour this year and enjoy this project I’ve “accidentally” found. (If I can’t remember the Tour, I can’t possibly have not finished it - ah, De Nile - such a peaceful, relaxing river!)

So, just look at my progress. I’ve plied about 100 yards of yarn, I have about a 200-yard yield of singles to ply, and a smaller ball of the luscious alpaca/angora/wool fiber to spin. And I know exactly what I’m going to do with my newly spun lace-weight yarn. I’m keeping that under my hat for a subsequent post in the near future.

If nothing else, not finishing - ahem! - this year’s Tour de Fleece has taught me that when you find yourself left behind in the South of France, it’s best to just enjoy the scenery!

The Scenery:

This has been quite a dirty race! (And it’s not over yet). I’m finding a lot of debris in the fiber as I spin - sharp, grassy, twiggy debris. The kind of debris that will ultimately weaken the fiber over time. I hate that. So, like a good little spinner, I stop and pull out the offending matter.

Other than that, I’m very happy with what I’m spinning. A lace pattern hasn’t presented itself to me, but the singles look and feel so pretty. Yup, the singles. I’m trying not to dwell on the fact that I was supposed to be plying yesterday. I’m still spinning the singles, but the ball of fiber is getting smaller and the bobbin is filling up.

Progress is slow, but certain.

I’m making progress, but I am behind. I was hoping to start the plying stage of the Tour tomorrow, but that isn’t happening.

I lost an entire day yesterday. I had been running on fumes this last week - covering for someone at the store who took vacation the entire week (if you live in an area that earns most of its income from summer tourism, you know that taking vacation now is a big NO-NO), then handling some rush freelance design assignments, and juggling life. I had no sleep and no time to eat all week. I was pretty run down yesterday and slept a lot.

This morning I rose with the sun and began spinning for an hour. Pure Bliss! The fiber is so soft, and I’m surprised that I can get the singles spun so fine. I’m excited to begin plying. My goal is to reach the Plying Stage of the Tour by Wednesday. I’ll post pictures soon.

I’m a morning person who gets her best work done in the early, early hours. But I have to fit in spinning when I can. Days have gone by when I’ve only been able to look longingly at my wheel. My mornings tend to be commandeered by freelance work. Was there ever a simpler time in life when we could finish our obligations and work on our leisure activities? I don’t spin for a living, but I do need to spin. I am relaxed and energized at the same time by it’s productivity, and I feel connected to a long line of craftspeople and artisans who had to earn their living from what they could produce. It’s humbling.

Leisure is a relatively new concept brought on by industrialization in the 19th century. As the middle class was conceived so was leisure. However, even with all the conveniences developed over the last 100 years or so meant to free up our time for leisure, I feel like I have less time for everything. I know others feel the same. I guess for me the challenge is to pace myself. Even if I’m slow, i.e. can only spin for 15 minutes a day, it’s still progress. Eventually I’ll get to the finish.

Well, onward up the hill….

I’m making progress on spinning the singles. I’ll have photos to post soon, but the core of the bobbin is completely covered with several layers of spinning. The singles are very fine, and if I ply 2 the yarn will be finer than laceweight. I’m okay with this, but perhaps a three ply yarn would be better. I’ll have to experiment a bit when I get to that point.

The fiber is so soft and the colors are of the forest where I live. You may actually recognize the fiber - I blogged about spinning it between fingering weight and worsted when I first got my wheel (this is the leftover fiber):

Check out the Tour de Fleece 2008 website. I’m getting a late start, but I’m giving it a shot! My goal is to spin from my stash all of my alpaca/angora/wool roving procured from some nice people at the Newport Spin In earlier this year. I’m going to attempt laceweight and then design a scarf or caplet - I haven’t worked that part out, but the goal is to spin and ply the fiber by July 27 (and, yes, the Cormo Project is on hold until this is done).

Behold the fiber: