My husband Brian, and I, have faithfully watched the Tour de France bicycle race, for at least 30 years. It’s a crazy thing we started to follow every July, when Lance Armstrong was involved in racing – it was exciting to watch. Then, when the controversy about doping began, we became even more invested in the race. We still follow Lance, even though we were very disappointed in his unsportsmanlike actions. (After all, I think it is safe to say, we all make stupid decisions we are younger.) We’ve gotten familiar with all the commentators, the team sponsors, the athletes and where they come from: all over the world. It’s a nerdy thing – but we look forward to every July!
Imagine my surprise, when I found the fiber community figured out a way to “treadle” along with the bicyclist’s pedaling event!I’m thinking 🤔 it could’ve been an older woman, my age, who came up with this genius idea. She might’ve had a husband that VCR’d the daytime stages while he was at work – rush in the door, hit the remote and the race was on. If her husband was anything like mine, we watched the evening recap of stages with all the extra commentary too! It’s been our annual summer “holiday” (staycation) for almost 30 years! While it may sound like I am complaining, I am not in the least. It’s something we look forward to sharing each year: spending time together. I am typing this blog post right now, with the ‘Tour’ entering the Champs-Elysées, on the television in front of me.
This year’s Tour de France was a bit different. I had something to do while I watched *or rather listened to* the race! I started mentally preparing for my participation in Tour de Fleece 2025, last year, when I found the Tour de Fleece spinning group on Facebook. It was only a couple months after my course at John Campbell Folk Art School. I was so excited to hear this was a thing, I ordered t-shirts, and proudly presented Brian with his own Tour de Fleece 2024 shirt. We’ve worn them quite a bit this past year, and enjoy the chuckles we get – from people who know of the race – and our relationship with fiber. It’s been enjoyable to communicate with other spinners, who mentioned spinning along with other well known bicycle races. I joined them, in getting some practice in, through Vuelta a España, and the Giro d’Italia.
I noticed so many spinners in the group were focused on spinning epic amounts of fiber, but the group itself is non-competitive. There are spin-off groups 🤭 who have copied the idea; wearing crowns, decorating their wheels, and offering prizes. I decided to keep my goal simple; have fun and enjoy the process. It worked out perfectly for me. I purchased a nice variety of fibers, from my friends at Inglenook Fibers. They are masters of color, create unique fiber blends, and best of all assist Brian in making amazing gifts for a wife who is very particular. Every year these talented Greek Orthodox nuns, create a couple fiber pre-orders, that go along with stages/locations of the race.
This year’s pre-orders were based on the location Carcassonne: a French fortified city in the department of Aude, region of Occitania. The photo here is from wikipedia, but it gives the flavor of the color pallet. I purchased the daytime inspired, Morning in Carcassonne which goes with this photo very well.
The blend (see braid below) of 30% Manx Loaghtan, 30% Polwarth, 30% Mulberry Silk and 10% Firestar was very easy to draft. I chose to divide the braid in half and spun it on two bobbins, offsetting the colors a bit, by pulling off a couple colors, and adding it to the end of the 2nd bobbin’s fiber. I concentrated on spinning consistency, and the result was a balanced skein in the end. The skein shown in the photo below wasn’t washed yet. After doing so, the fiber bloomed beautifully and it’s probably a nice worsted weight.
This “Tickled Pink” in Organic Polwarth (photos above) was a blend I received for Christmas. In February, they offered the same color blend again. By this point in my spinning, I was beginning to discover spinning little bits of this – and little bits of that are fun to spin in practicing, but not practical for me to really use. When I saw the second chance to have a total of 11.4 ounces of fiber I jumped at the opportunity to get a second package. This Organic Polwarth gave me an opportunity to spin a very bouncy (springy) fiber. I mentioned above that I was concentrating on spinning the Soir à Carcassonne consistently…so I decided to try out something I heard Jillian Moreno discuss on a video I watched. She discussed sometimes, it’s fun to let your fiber dictate how it wants to be spun. I really enjoyed the way this Polwarth allowed me to spin joyfully. I was experiencing a stressful week, and spinning that fiber at the end of my day, was helping me cope. You can see in the photos, this fiber told me it wanted to be big and bold, and boy did it deliver. With 11 ounces yielding 206 yards, that makes it a chunky weight yarn. I’m thinking it would make a warm, squishy cowl, and possibly a pair of fingerless mitts, or mittens.
So far, I’ve discovered fiber preparation is the key to my success. For me, as a newer spinner, high micron sheep 🐑 fibers create thicker springy yarns in worsted weight or above. However, when I spin finer blends, I can get my spins down to fingering or dk weights when plied. What are my favorite thin-spin blends you might be wondering? Any low micron sheep fiber blended with 30% silk! For me, I find the longer silk fibers, help the wool fibers hold together in the twist process. The management of that darn twist is the key!
If you’re a spinner…what do you enjoy spinning most? Leave your answer in the comments, and tell me the advantages you’ve found.