Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2024 Stage 3

The Cycling: Stage 3 is 230.8km of a flat route that starts in Plaisance and ends in Turin.

The Daily Challenge: Beneath Turin there are supposedly three alchemical caves, one of which may hide the elusive Philosopher's Stone.  You can't visit these caves as their location is only ever known by three people at a time - and these people don't know each other so they can't share it!  Turin is shrouded in a lot of magical myth and mystery; we fell down the rabbit hold and had to be forcibly dragged out!  Our first non-spinning challenge of this tour!  Share your favourite myth/legend - it could be something local to your area, lesser-known, or just something that you like!

Suggested Fibre: Myth, a lightly textured amber-coloured blend of 33.3% Merino, 33.3% Tweed and 33.3% Bamboo (the remaining 0.01% is a mystery)

What I did

Well, the fibre I chose to start spinning yesterday was picked to fit in with today's challenge and Rudolph is certainly both a myth and a legend. I plied the two singles that I spun yesterday of Rudolph's Nose from the 2021 Advent Calendar.  The finished yarn is wonderfully soft and I have 101g/363m of sport weight yarn.  It is 25% Shetland Wool, 25% Tussah Silk, 25% Bamboo, 25% Bio-Nylon.  

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2024 Stage 2

The Cycling: Stage 2 is 199.2km of a hilly route that starts in Cesenatico and ends in Bologne.

The Daily Challenge: Bologne is home to one of the oldest universities in the world. Alma Mater Studiorum was founded in 1088 making it 936 years old!  In the spirit of learning new things today's challenge is to use a new technique.  This could be for spinning, plying or drafting - it could even be something you've recently learnt and want to practice.

Suggested Fibre: Dusty Brick - a warm orange blend of 75% Shetland and 25% Bio-nylon.

What I did

I'm not doing today's challenge but I made a start on spinning a 100g braid of fibre called Rudolph's Nose, which was the Day 16 fibre in the first fibre Advent Calendar that World of Wool produced in 2021, and you can read about the fibre by clicking on the highlighted link.  The reason that I have picked this fibre is because it fits in perfect with tomorrow's challenge about myth's and legends, and of course Rudoph is a both a myth and a legend. The different fibres are very subtly slightly different shades, not massively noticeably, but probably just the difference on how the same dye looks different on different fibres types. Two of the fibres in the blend actually fit with today's suggested fibre of Shetland and Bio-Nylon and Rudolph's nose also has Tussah Silk and Bamboo.

I managed to spin two singles today and this will be ready to ply tomorrow.

Design LF433 - Pretty in Baby Pink & Purple

I started making this as soon as I finished making the last one, on 25th April 2023.

All of the threads used on this project are taken from one dye lot per colour. I didn't take any work-in-progress photos at all and I have no idea how I forgot to do that, other than the fact that my father-in-law passed away the first week of May and I was busy helping my mother-in-law and husband with all that that entails.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2024 Stage 1

The Cycling: Stage 1 is 206km of a hilly route that starts in Florence and ends in Rimini.

The Daily Challenge: Florence is steeped in history and some of the most beautiful architecture in the world, but most importantly, it is the birthplace of gelato all the way back to the 1500's!  Keeping it chilled and easy, grab your favourite cool tones for today's spin.

Suggested Fibre: Ice Cream, a cool blend of 67% 23mic Merino and 33% Milk Protein Fibre.

What I did

I didn't do any spinning today because I was busy finishing a crochet shawl in Twilley's Goldfingering which should have been finished by mid-week but due to the heatwave and how horrible and sticky the heat was I got behind my own personal schedule.

I've signed up for the Tour de Fleece 2024

I have again signed up with the same team that I have signed up to in the previous 3 years to participate in the TdF.  It all kicks off on 29th June this year.  I will blog about it as and when I can, although I will endeavour to set up all the blog posts before the event and just add the info, photos etc as and when I get chance to but I will be keeping it simple, like I did last year, as that worked better for me.

This year the Team organisers have produced three fibre braids for the Tour. Pink Champagne for Stage 9 - 62.5% Merino, 37.5% Tussah Silk - subtle merino shades with soft pink Tussah Silk to achieve the colour of its namesake. Waterway for Stage 18 - 50% Romney, 25% Shetland, 25% Bamboo - in a cool watery tone.  Flora - 50% Corriedale, 37.5% Rambouillet, 12.5% Sari Silk - inspired by the Bataille de Fleurs.  They also set up a section in the shop for the event and added all the suggested fibres for us to use on the challenges that they are going to set, rather than give us a long list.

This year, once the event starts, those of us who want to look ahead at the challenges to come will be able to do so, on the same proviso as last year, and that is to not openly discuss the challenges on the team chat boards.

This year I have more than enough fibre to spin but I might struggle to find time to get much spinning actually done but I will do what I can, when I can.  

Design LF433 - Pretty in Purple and Cerise

I started making this back in September 2023, using this project as something to work on when I had to sit in a café and while away an hour or so when my youngest first started college and was only in for 2 hours on a Friday morning and it wasn't worth driving home to turn around and come back again.  He was in for longer the rest of the week and also at times when I had to sit and wait at appointments and such.  I don't have to sit and wait now so I've decided to finish making it a bit quicker.

As what often happens on these projects using the vintage Twilley's Goldfingering, specifically with the thread for the flower centres and/or the flower petals, I ended up having to use two different dye lots for the pale gold centres so I made sure to checkerboard them across the entire shawl so that if there is any noticeable difference it then becomes a design feature. If I have to use more than one dye lot for the main colour, I tend to use one for the crochet and the other dye lot for the fringing or a mix of both in the fringing.

Spinning the Llandovery Whiteface Hill blend - Foxes and Pumpkins

At the end of November I was playing with my blending hackle and created this fibre for spinning.  I have finally found some time to sit down and get some spinning done over the Easter break.  During the pre-draft I had to try my best to ensure that various lumps and bumps of the additions to the wool were spread out along the length and then during the spinning process, which I started on 2nd April, I had to make sure that I pulled apart and thinned out the lumps of Silk Noil as I went and ensured that they were well secured in with the spin and again on the ply.  

I've not gone for anything really fine due to the amount of lumps and bumps that I put into the blend and so I've spun this up to Double Knit weight (11 wpi), producing two skeins for a total of 193g/457m.  The fibre content is 75% Llandovery Whiteface Hill Wool, 9% Tussah Silk, 6% Trilobal Nylon, 5% Silk Noil, 5% Hemp.