a Week and a Half of Touring

So, the Tour de Fleece has been going for about a week and a half…I’ve been spinning daily, with the exception of yesterday, which was a day of rest.  Instead of spinning, I had some quality time amongst my felines – we’re still trying to settle the new ladies into the household, and one of them in particular is proving to be a bit skittish of the resident cats (and one of the resident cats is proving to be rather jealous of the new ladies).

Anyhow, I kicked off the tour with some Becoming Art Minty on Finn wool.  Pre-drafted it out from end to end, and spun it through as a single ply…

Turned around, wound it off the bobbin into a plying cake, and plied it into a 2-ply….which I then fed back through the wheel to add more twist, then wound off into yet another plying cake and plied it back on itself…and voila! A balanced cable plied yarn!

The finished yarn is 220 yards, about 4 ounces in weight, and is remarkably muted considering the crazy pops of green present on the dyed roving. I anticipate it is going to foof quite a bit once it gets a bath!

The next spin of the tour was a pair of Boogie Batts from SpunkyEclectic. The colorways are Beaver Den and Cabin in the Woods – both are Merino – Silk blends. Here they are, opened and laid out, one on top of the other:

For this spin, I decided to z-strip the batts from one side to the other to maintain the colors and allow for a gradient-ish spin. Each batt was spun onto a single bobbin, and then plied together. I had a bit of Cabin in the Woods remaining at the end, which I wound into an Andean plying bracelet and attached to the tail of Beaver Den to finish off the plying. I’m calling it Beaver Den by the Cabin in the Woods. It’s 532 yards / 3.8 oz (fingering weight).

I’m now starting in on this combo three-ply of Southern Cross Fibre wools. It’s Adrenaline and Brotherhood on Spelsau wool (club offerings from December 2013) and Old Master on Cheviot (club offering from March 2014)

I’m kicking things off for the middle portion of the Tour with Adrenaline Rush. I’ve split it into thirds along its length, and am spinning it using supported longdraw – I’m nearly done with the first third.

I have no idea if I’m being more productive this tour than in previous tours, but I’m having a good time 🙂 Are you spinning for the tour? How goes it?