Le Tour de Fleece

Spinning is the process of twisting wool into yarn. These days, when you tell someone you are spinning, they automatically think of a bicycle. In the past it would have been assumed you were making yarn. I’m not sure when the tipping point came.

With the start of the Tour de France in July, spinners everywhere take the time to watch the race and spin some yarn. The idea started in 2006 when a spinner, Star Athena, thought of the event after seeing the success of “knit alongs”. In an interview in SpinOff magazine, she said that she and 16 friends spun and shared their work. The online event has really grown over the years now claiming over 10,000 participants.

I thought this would be a good time to share some things that I have been spinning lately. I didn’t start spinning until after I had started this blog, so its not even in the name. And usually I wait until I have done a project with the yarn, knitting or weaving, to show off the spin. But my friend. Judy, recently showed me her pile of hand spun yarn. It is a work of art all its own. The making of the yarn is its own thing worthy of sharing. Disclaimer: Not all of this was spun in July, it is just yarn that I haven’t shown yet.

This fiber is natural color BLF from Fiber Garden in Blackriver Falls, WI. I get a lot of my fiber there and the owner, Deb Jones, taught me how to spin. I have some things in storage as we move around a bit so I don’t have any more information on this fiber, but I do know I have a big bag of it. It is fun and easy to spin and I plan to ply it on itself for a two-ply that will likely be worsted weight. It is very soft. I have no idea what I will do with it but I really like it.

This fiber is from Inglenook Fibers, another company that I use a lot. It is hand dyed organic polwarth and is a dream to spin. This gradient contained nine braids, all inspired by an owl species. Together they make this beautiful gradient. I ordered two sets so I could spin two bobbins of each braid and ply them together. There is a least a sweater quantity and I intend to make a sweater for myself from them, hopefully before winter.

This fiber is also organic polwarth from Inglenook. The color was available in several other fiber blends but I love their polwarth. You have to be quick when they have a sale as the items disappear in a flash. Best to get on their mailing list so you know when the items will be for sale.

This gradient had six braids. I spun and plied the two darkest together, the two lightest together, and the two middles together. I hated to lose the individual colors, so when it came time to order the owls in the previous pictures, I got two sets. In retrospect I wish I had divided these braids in half and kept all six colors. I learn something each time I spin.

I do like the three colors but I do not know what I will do with them.

This is also Inglenook organic polwarth. I have quite a bit. Its hard to skip an event there even if it piles up a bit. This spin is actually a ply of two completely separate and different color ways.

This is a color way called Stave Church. It is dark with blues, purples, and greens.

This is the second colorway called winter wren. The braid is about 1/3 light gray on each end. The colors are all in the middle 1/3. I stripped this braid thin and spun it from end to end several times over. That created long gray sections separating the color sections.

These are the two bobbins, side by side, and the plied yarn.

I am currently knitting a raglan sweater with this yarn alternating rows with a light colored yarn. You can definitely see the “wren” colors in the skeins of yarn and in the sweater. It is turning out just as I hoped.

You may notice that this yarn from Inglenook is not the same fiber I usually buy (polwarth) and not really the same colors. That is because I didn’t choose it. But it may be my favorite ever and it certainly will always have a place in my heart. After hurricane Ian, we didn’t have any power, internet, or cell phone. Occasionally a message would get sent in the night, but I knew I would not be able to participate in the upcoming sale. So I sent an SOS to my friend, Vickie, and told her to get me something, anything! It was a very stressful time and this fiber really really cheered me up.

It spins very thin, except for the large silk slubs. The colors were so pretty I didn’t want to ply it with another color or even on itself. I considered chain plying to preserve the colors but didn’t want to make a three-ply.

After some consideration, I decided to leave it a single for weaving. I read about singles and learned that you can spin them tightly and then felt them a bit in the washing process. Basically you do everything that you usually DON’T do to yarn, beat it up, change the temperature, dry it under tension.

It worked well. The yarn seems very stable and strong. I think I will use it to weave decorative pillows.

This is interesting fiber. I bought it at a spinning event just before the pandemic and only recently decided to try it.

It is 50% polwarth and 50% hemp. I bought some 100% hemp that same day and that stuff was like twine, hard on my hands and very scratchy. But the blend was remarkably soft. It isn’t “next to skin” soft but its not bad.

I think I will use it as a single weaving decorative pillows. But I haven’t made up my mind yet, so I haven’t plied it or washed it yet, instead deciding to wind it into a cake and save it.

This is some more fiber that has been around since before the pandemic. It is Superwash BFL from Longdog Handspun and the color is Blue Trio.

It spun up like a dream and I plied it on itself. I don’t know what I will do with it but it will be a pretty skein in the pile.

This is superfine merino in color Eggshell from Fiber Garden. I tried small amount to see if I liked the fiber and I do. I will order more colors. The is 4 3/8 ounces and 320 yards of two ply. It feels lovely.

Last, but not least, Zyma’s New Groove. I got this from Fiber Garden and she got it from World of Wool. Apparently, the company sometimes lets the workers make their own blend and then names it for them. This is 20% merino, 40% superfine merino, 20% llama, and 20% mulberry silk. I like the amount of blending that was done.

I got 8 oz. so I have two skeins. This was the only color for this blend, but it is so nice that I’m hopeful they will continue to make it and add more colors.

I hope you liked seeing the things I’ve been spinning and that you enjoyed hearing about Le Tour de Fleece. As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.