Sunday 7 July 2024

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2024 Stage 9

The Cycling: Stage 9 is 199km of a hilly route that starts in Troyes and ends in Troyes.

The Daily Challenge: This area produces 1/4 of all champagne.  We estimate that to be around 75 million bottle which is enough to fill 22 Olympic swimming pools!  Spin a fibre that is a treat for you; it might be your go-to favourite or something you've been saving for a special occasion.

Suggested Fibre: Pink Champagne is the first of this year's limited edition TDF blends.  It is 37.5% "Rose Leaf" Tussah Silk, 25% "Eggshell" Merino, 25% "Sandstone" Merino and 12.5% "Oyster" Merino for a subtle colour and soft handle

What I did

This fibre is kind of a treat for me and I have been saving it for a while.  It is a 140g pack of gradient blend that is 86% Corriedale Wool, 14% Mulberry Silk.  I got this from a previous supplier that I used to get most of my fibres from before I stopped purchasing from her due to her behaviour and attitude towards some of her customers, including me.


My plans for this fibre was to spin a 2 ply yarn by splitting each bump of fibre into 2 equal parts. I did consider just spinning one long single and then chain plying it but I wouldn't be able to fit it all into one bobbin and it just fried my brain trying to work out how to handle having to split the single over 2 bobbins whilst keeping the colours in the right order for plying afterwards and how to manage the join from one bobbin to another so I took the easier route of spinning two singles and plying.


I pre-drafted each half of the bumps, joining the bumps in order as I pre-drafted and I did notice that the fibre didn't draft particularly smoothly and evenly.  I started spinning from the lightest colour in the gradient, towards the darkest shade.



As I was spinning this blend I discovered the reason for this blend not drafting particularly smoothly in places and that was due to this fibre having clumps of really short fibres, along with some absolute rubbish, every now and then down the braid.  It made spinning a little more challenging but I persevered and spun all of one single and made a start on the second one today.

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