Tour de Fleece

For many spinners, or at least spinners who frequent Ravelry, July means one thing: Tour de Fleece. It's an event that goes on during Tour de France and from what I understand the idea is to set yourself a personal spinning challenge that you will aim to achieve during the tour. There is a Ravelry group set up and you can join teams.

Last year I joined Tour de Fleece and spun once or twice as I had lots and lots and lots of deadlines last July. This year I decided not to officially join Tour de Fleece but just to set myself a challenge and have my own little tour. I really enjoy watching Tour de France and my challenge is to spin for an hour every evening while I'm watching the Tour de France round up programme. on Sunday night I plyed the Sweet Georgia March club fibre which is a blend of 50% merino/25% bamboo/25% silk. It's so soft. I'm happy with it. It's better than my last batch but it's still very uneven.

I haven't checked wpi yet but I reckon it's dk-ish. I've promised Em a new handspun hat as she loved the handspun hat i knitted her 2.5 years ago when we went to Norway for christmas. This winter she was wearing it again but was complaining it was getting a bit small so I promised her a new one. Her last one was merino/bamboo so I thought she might like this soft blend. I'm aiming to cast on for when we go to London for Knitnation. I think it'll make good car/tube/waiting around/restaurant etc knitting. The last hat I knitted in a day. I'm not an expert at hats but the last one was very good. I'm planning a very simple top down stocking stitch hat with a rib border.

Last night I started spinning the Optim I got from The Thylacine last month.

Optim is merino which has been stretched and chemically treated. If you're interested you can read about it here. It's incredibly soft and has a great sheen to it. It feels like a merino/bamboo blend. I do find it a bit more challenging to spin than regular merino. It sticks a bit but I'm enjoying it and making good progress. This is 2 nights spinning:

I think I'll be finishing the first bobbin tomorrow. If I continue at this rate I may be plying by the weekend.

If you're a spinner, have you joined Tour de Fleece? If you have, what's your tour challenge?

Just another quick mention about Tour de France. The Norwegian cyclist, Thor Hushovd, has the yellow jersey for the second day in a row which is another reason I'm enjoying it.