Forget the Tour de France--- it's the Tour de Fleece!

I belong to a fiber forum called Ravelry, where I started as a crocheter who was learning to knit... and now I've finally figured out how to spin, officially, on May 31, 2010! I bought my first two spindles in 2004, bought three more, of various types, as well as a spinning wheel in September 2009... but still couldn't figure out the drafting part of spinning until the end of May, as I said.

That said, I'm now a spinning fiend, so I decided to join Ravelry's Tour de Fleece 2010. It goes on during the Tour de France--- while those competitors spin, we're spinning, too. :D

Copied and pasted from Ravelry:

Welcome to our group for participants in the annual Tour de Fleece spin-along during the Tour de France. The concept is simple, They spin, we spin. A real spinning themed spin-along.

If you want to give it a try, or just follow our progress, or are a fan of the Tour de France, JOIN!

This Tour de Fleece started in 2006 on the blog, Keep on Knitting in the Free World. Sorry for the confusion, but there is another Tour de Fleece on the web as well!

Tour de Fleece 2007 info here. Tour de Fleece 2008 and 2009 happened here on Ravelry in this group. Check out the pages for the archives.

This year the Tour de Fleece starts Saturday July 3rd and runs until Sunday July 25th, 2010.

Guidelines (NOT RULES):

1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 3rd through Sunday July 25th. Days of rest: Monday July 12th, Wednesday July 21st. (Just like the actual tour)
2. Spin something challenging Thursday July 22nd. (The Tour’s toughest mountain stage from Pau up the legendary Col du Tourmalet)
3. Take a button if you want one. Then we can use the button on our blogs in show of solidarity. Take it from here or grab a clean one from the flickr pool. Come join the flickr pool!
4. Wear yellow on Sunday July 25th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour - but here we are all ‘race leaders’)
5. Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter - think FAST), Polka-dot (climber - as in uphill), and white (rookie)

Teams: Join one, or many, or none.

* Rookies (first years)
* Sprinters (fast and/or high mileage like lace)
* Climbers (conquer mountains, big personal challenges)
* Breakaway (Art yarns)
* Peloton (The main group. Everyone is in the peloton at some point)
* Lantern rouge (You will participate as much as possible but you may skip days here and there. Cheerleaders welcome.)
* Wildcards (This is for people who want to form their own team. This includes sponsored teams, like those affiliated with a specific fiber shop or people who live in the same town, etc.)

The teams are inspired by the actual Tour de France. The purpose of the Tour is a challenge. The purpose of this group is to share your Tour experience.


I myself, having had to sell my spinning wheel in order to pay bills, am spinning on two different spindles: a Turkish spindle which was gifted to me by my wonderful new neighbor and landlady, Fiona, and is thus named after her, and a top-whorl drop spindle made by Mike at The Spanish Peacock and named Ebbie Rose for her glorious ebony shaft and rosewood whorl. I'm spinning Wensleydale roving on Fiona, and Corriedale roving on Ebbie, and it's quite the experience--- they're both very different in the way that you spin them, at least for me! Once I'm done with the 4+ ounces of each of those, I have 8 ounces of Blue-Faced Leicester and 4 ounces of handpainted Seawool to spin. This is my goal--- to spin all of this fiber before the Tour is over:


This is my Ravatar (avatar at Ravelry) during the Tour:



I'll post my progress later tonight after I upload the photos... which will be after I charge up the camera, which took its last photo of yesterday's progress before dying.

Wish me luck!