Sunday 12 June 2011

Tour de Fleece teams and challenges

Welcome to my first Tour de Fleece post, this will be the first year I have taken part and I am quite excited about it. I am not a huge fan of cycling, so that aspect does not really interest me, but I am into the spinning part. I need to get more practise and this is a good way to motivate that.

For anyone not familiar with this the idea is to spin along with the Tour de France, spinning each day the tour rides from Saturday July 2nd to Sunday July 24th July apart from rest days on the 11th and 18th. An extra task is to spin something challenging on the day of the mountain stage (Friday 22nd).

First up, the teams. You can joint more than one team, and there is a choice of Main teams and Wildcard teams.

I have joined the Peloton team from the Main teams group, this the group for the pack and really the only option as I have been spinning too long to count as a Rookie (over a year) am not aiming for lace (Sprinters) or art yarn (Breakaway) and hope to spin every day so am not a Lantern Rouge. Climbers is a group for those with a big personal challenge, but I think I will save that for next year. I have not found a badge for this yet.

For Wildcard teams I have picked a few:

The Team of Wonder 2011, as some of my challenges are alpaca based, including a lovely Batt of Wonder.


Team UK, because that is where I live


I don't have badges for the rest of my teams yet, but I have joined Team Kromski as my wheel is a Sonata. I am using my wheel for my larger projects.


And the Spindlers team, as some of my challenges will be done on a spindle.


I have also joined Team Hopelessly Overcommitted, because I am :D.

Next my personal challenges:
To spin for at least 15 minutes each day apart from the rest days. This can be wheel or spindle.

To spin this beautiful merino and alpaca batt courtesy of Haze the alpaca and the Wonder Why Gal. I want to make some slipper socks so need a two or three ply that is fairly thick.

My third challenge is to spin up some of the fibre samples I have collected, I would like to try them all, but am aiming for three so I am not too over committed! There is baby alpaca, alpaca, humbug Bluefaced Leicester, Wensleydale, plastic bottle, tussah silk, seaweed and crab. I am going to spindle these into a thin single then navajo ply them using my wheel. I may make my mountain stage challenge to do a whole fibre sample in one day.

Finally I have this beautiful roving from Shunklies (post about the purchase to come later in the week). I tried to resist this as I think I have plenty to keep me busy just with the above tasks but it is so pretty. If I finish the other tasks this will start its journey towards becoming socks.


So with fibre waiting I am eager to get to the start line. I need to do some training first though, by which I mean I need to empty my spindles. 

11 comments:

  1. I'm on three of those teams. Kromski, Spindlers, and Team of Wonder. I haven't participated before, but I'm not really a rookie spinner, either.

    How many ounces are you going for, do you think?

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  2. I'm so happy that you joined the team and now you have some Wonder Roving for a Wonder Alpaca to spin. It's great to join various teams. The team posts are fun to read plus they inspire...and it doesn't hurt to put yourself in the running for more prizes.

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  3. I'm on the Team of Wonder as well and I have a couple of Batts of Wonder to spin. :-)

    I don't mean to sound dumb, but is the Plastic Bottle and Crab actually fiber made from plastic bottles and crabs? I haven't heard of that before.

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  4. The two large chunks are about 100g (4oz each) the smaller ones are probably only 1/2oz, but the quantity of each varies.

    As far as I know they are really plastic bottles and crab. I am sure about the bottles, because it is used to make fleece (as in fleece coats and blankets), it has a really short staple, or whatever the bottle equivalent of staple is so I think I will struggle with it. Will research the crab when I spin it and do a blog post

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  5. Sounds so fun! I love the idea! I think I'll participate quietly and see if I can spin one or two days in July. The idea of committing is way too overwhelming, but maybe I can get started on the pound of peacock colored roving I have waiting to be made into a shawl!

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  6. Wow, you are ambitious! I couldn't even meet my goal for ONE team last year, good luck!

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  7. Ooo, you've got some fun spinning lined up, great planning! See you over at the team of Wonder.

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  8. WooT! I can't wait for a month of spinning. Love all the fiber you have to work with.

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  9. Love all the fiber, especially the last lovely blue one!

    I'm not doing Tour de Fleece, but the Tour de France KAL (it's a Rav group) and this is my second year. If I learn how to spin between this TdF and next year's, maybe at that point I'll join a spinning team. :)

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  10. I looking forward to spinning with the Team of Wonder also. This will be my first TDF. All your fibers look delicious.

    Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

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  11. I haven't even signed up for a team yet - I can't believe how quickly it's coming up!

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