As Tour de Fleece draws to a close, I’ve spent this week focusing on finishing spinning and plying my Gotland roving and the sample fibres. My Turkish spindle progress has been slower than using my wheel or usual drop spindle, but I think I have finally got the hang of using it. I’ve also spent time this week skeining and washing my yarn, which has proven challenging during the wet weather. Below are the photos from the final week of this years challenge.
Reflections
Even after three years of doing TDF it’s surprising what I can still learn from the experience. I commented at the end of week one, how useful it was having a detailed to-do list and this is definitely something I will take forward into future challenges – it’s helped me remain motivated and spend more time spinning, rather than deciding what to spin. So reflecting on my original list, how did I get on?
- Hampshire Down – This was my main focus and I’m pleased to say it was all carded, spun and plied by the end of week 2.
- Gotland prepared roving – All roving spun and plied on my Turkish spindle by the end of week 3.
- Lincoln Longwool – I managed one skein of Lincoln and tried to spin to highlight the locks even more than I had done before, but found the section of fleece I was spinning had larger locks that struggled to fit through the orifice of my jumbo flyer. Since this is art yarn and not destined for any specific project, I decided I may see if I can access a spinning wheel with a larger orifice (such as Ashford’s country spinner) through a guild to see if this works any better with the Lincoln.
- Luxury Fibre Samples – I managed to get all four of my luxury fibre 5g samples spun and plied into embroidery thread and also experimented spinning silk. I’m not sure I’ve quite got the twist quite right for the silk as it’s a bit looser then I expected after plying, but I will see what happens after washing and will continue experimenting in the future.
This year I worked out that I spun approximately 4.79km (multiplying plied skein length by 3 to account for the length of the two single ply threads and the length plied).
Since I’ve now ticked some things off my fibre to-do list I can begin writing up more detailed posts on the process. Finishing the Hampshire Down means that I can now focus my efforts on filling the gaps in my fibre posts and finishing existing projects before starting anything new, so hopefully my blog posts should gradually get back on track.
If you’ve joined in with Tour de Fleece this year I’d love to hear how you’ve got on and what your plans are going forward. Let me know in the comments below!
Happy Spinning!
For more information about my tour de fleece challenge this year my introductory blog post is here. You can find my Week 1 and Week 2 wrap-up’s by clicking the links and view my daily photo updates on instagram.
Loose Ends 
Wow, you got a lot done. My Tour de Fleece time this year was taken up with a weaving project for a class–but I did get my wheel out and look at it! I have a love-hate relationship with to-do lists, so it’s good to see how you used a list to keep you on track. Thanks!
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I think weaving can still count for Tour de Fleece (I’ve definitely counted all fibre crafts in previous years!). I find to-do lists productive as long as they’re not too broad – I tend to deviate from them otherwise! Something else that I think also helped me was my setup this year – I made sure everything I needed was in one place and put anything I wouldn’t need (tools, fibre etc.) out of the way. I originally did it so I had enough space, but it made it much easier for me to sit and spin whenever I had a spare moment (and also removed distractions!).
I hope your weaving project goes well!
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