I Am A Winnah

Tee Hee, I did win something after all.  The Painted Tiger Team had not drawn for all of the prizes yet.  Yep that's me, 4th from the top.  I chose the 4 ozs of fiber.  Whohooooo.  I am a winner.

Well lookie here! We have 8 qualifiers for prizes, and 8 prizes! Our little boy drew names, and here’s the results!
Fiber is 4 oz my choice of TPT fiber, or a $15 store credit (PM me your preference)
Critter is a charming bunny or bear generously provided by jillhefele. Please PM her!
Peanutbuster Fiber
galdriel Critter
paletpc Fiber
ripnknit Fiber
vyep Critter
Ariaya Fiber
moongdss74 Critter
PokiePurrls Critter
Thank you all for participating in the first ever Painted Tiger Team for the Tour. It was fun!

TDF Day 23 C'est Finis

The final day of Tour de France and Tour de Fleece.  I completely overshot my goal.  I wanted to spin 32 ounces.  Four ounces more than I spun last year as a rookie.  My final count was 38 ounces spun, that is over 2 lbs of fiber spun.

My Teams were:

• Cloudlover
• Crown Mountain Farms
• Fiber Optic
• Footloose 2011
• Julie Spins
• The Loopy Groupies
• The KnitGirllls
• The Painted Tiger
• The Peleton
• Phat Fiber
• Plurknit
• Natchwoolie
• Woolgatherings

I did not win any prize drawings.  I won 4 ozs of fiber in The Painted Tiger team drawing.


I did however make a lot of pretty yarn.







I will definitely participate again next year.  The total yards I spun 2,642 also put me over the top for The KnitGirllls Stash Dash with 4,705 yards.  So I completed the Tour de Fleece and the StashDash 2011 all in one fell swoop - pass the yellow jersey please  8-)

TDF Day 22

Fought with the tencel and won.  It came out really lovely.

TDF Day 21

First 2 ozs of The Painted Tiger Radiant Swallowtail.  It's tricky to spin tencel, but the fiber is so beautiful I am giving it my best shot.  This is the last 4 oz bump for my Tour de Fleece 2011. 

TDF Day 20

Today was the Challenge Day.  I have Navajo Ply fail.  I did not take any pictures of the plied Woolgatherings but it was a very frustrating and disappointing try at Navajo plying.  Luckily I have another 4 ozs of the same fiber and I can try it again.

I finished plying the Buttercream.

TDF Day 19

I spun the entire 4 ozs of Natchwoolie Merino Tussah Silk.  It is luscious, the colorway is Buttercream and that is a perfect description.



Next - and last - The Painted Tiger Radiant Swallowtail.  This fiber is gorgeous.  It is Merino Tencel though so I must go painstakingly slow or it breaks.

TDF Day 18

Cloudlover fibers are always a joy to spin, but this polworth is my new favorite.  Colorway Dionysus.

TDF Day 17

The Julie Spins unclub colorway Holiday has a bazillion wonderful colors in it.  I am going to knit the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf.

TDF Day 16

The Fiber Optic Pencil Roving in the colorway Sapphire has dryed.  I love the way it plyed up.

TDF Day 15

I finished spinning the Cloudlover Polworth in the colorway Dionysus.  I need to ply it tomorrow.  I love spinning Polworth.

TDF Day 14

Tonight I am plying the singles spun earlier in the week.  I got 246 yards from the Sapphire fiber.  I am about to ply the Holiday fiber.

I spent all day finishing the Daybreak Shawl designed by Steven West.  These pictures are of the unblocked shawl.  Not sure when I will get to block it, may be after Tour de Fleece.  The yarn is Schaefer Nichole Two-Fers in Mystery (main body color A) and Spruce (stripes and border color B).  I made the size large.

TDF Day 13

I added another ounce of singles to the Woolgatherings bobbin.



In other news, Camp Loopy Project II has been cast on.  I am starting with the Springtime Socks and I will cast on the Owlie socks tomorrow.  Still trying to finish off the border on the Daybreak as well.

TDF Day 12

I started spinning two new fibers.

Cloudlover Polworth in the colorway Dinysus.

Woolgatherings Mixed BFL in Turquoise/Lime Green mixed with the natural Blue Faced Leicester.

That brings my total number of ounces spun to 26. Well I will surely blow my last year total of 28 ounces out of the water at this pace. I have a lot of plying to do this weekend.

I Miss This Face So Much

I can't believe it's been over a year.

TDF Day 11

Finishing the Holiday braid of MCN fiber from Julie Spins.

TDF Day 10

DAY OF REST - no spinning, plying or pre-drafting was done.

I added another 4 row repeat to the border of my Daybreak shawl, which took about 3 hours.  It is huge!!  I refuse to count the number of stitches currently on the needles.  I can say that it is scrunched up on a 60 inch cable.  Yikes.

TDF Day 9

Highland Handmades Solar Flare singles


Crown Mountain Farms As Above So Below 2-Ply

To be plied:

Fiber Optic Footnotes Sapphire Batik

The last little bit of the Red Barn Farms Blue/Green singles have been 2-plyed.

TDF Day 8

I finished spinning the other 2 ozs of the Sapphire roving. 



I got the last of the Solar Flare hung and dried.




I finally reached the border on my Daybreak Shawl.

TDF Day 7

I finished spinning the Solar Flare dark yellow portions.

TDF Day 6

I am mixing things up a bit so I can be more active in some of my Tour de Fleece team threads.  I started spinning the Fiber Optics pencil roving in the colorway Sapphire.  I wish all of my fiber was pencil roving, it spoils you.  You unwind the ball and spin, perfection.  I spun 2 of the 4 ozs last night.

TDF Day 5

I finished the second ounce of Julie Spins MCN in the colorway Holiday, so this bobbin is now off the spinner resting.

TDF Day 4

Julie Spins colorway Holiday from the un-club.

Merino Cashmere Nylon Blend

I spun about 1 oz

TDF Day 3

I spent the day winding singles off of the bobbins onto the Niddy Noddy in Solar Flare.  I do not plan to ply it.  This bobbin held 572 yards of singles. 

 

I 2-plied the CMF and I ended up with 246 yards in a fingering weight.




No spinning today, just plying and finishing.  The hanks are hanging up to dry now.

TDF Day 2

Finished spinning the Crown Mountain Farms in the colorway As Above So Below. I am going to 2-ply it. I expect to get around 250 yards. The Highland Handmades in the colorway Solar Flare is about half done. I spun the dark orange ball of fiber and the light orange ball of fiber. Which I estimate to be about 4.2 ozs. I still have the dark yellow and light yellow balls of pre-drafted fiber to spin; they each weigh .9 ozs. This yarn will be left as singles to keep the colors as pure as possible. I do not want to cut the yardage by navajo plying it. I am going to wind the bobbin below off onto a niddy noddy tomorrow so I can soak it and set the twist. I think I am going to get major yardage out of the full 8 ozs.

I am not sure what I am going to spin next for TDF, perhaps the Julie Spins or Woolgatherings.

TDF Day 1

Tour de Fleece 2011

I am on 13 teams this year.  I want to spin for all of the dyers I buy fiber from if they have a  TDF team.  Then there are other Ravelry Groups and Plurk that I feel connected to whose teams I wanted to join.  All of my fiber will be spun on the Hansencrafts mini eSpinner so of course I joined their Footloose 2011 team.

I will be adding to this post.  I want to insert all of the team buttons.  Not all of the teams have buttons or tags, but I will add those that do.

Teams and Fibers to be Spun:

1. Crown Mountain Farms - As Above So Below South African Top 4 ozs
   
2. Fiber Optic - Sapphire Foot Notes Unspun Pencil Roving 80 % Merino 20% Nylon 4 ozs
   
3. Julie Spins - Holiday 80% SW Merino 10% Cashmere 10% Nylon 4 ozs
   
4. NatchWoolie - Butter Cream 80% Merino 20 % Tussah Silk 4 ozs
   
5. The Painted Tiger - Radiant Swallowtail CHALLENGE FIBER Merino Tencel 4 ozs
   
6. The Woolgatherings (tdfwg2011)- Mixed BFL Blue Green 8 ozs
   
7. Footloose 2011 - Hansencrafts Team - all spinning is eligible for this group
   
8. The KnitGirllls 2011 - all fibers eligible for this team
   
9. Phat Fiber (TDFPhat2011) - any fiber from sample box participants is acceptable: Woolybullie, Natchwoolie, Woolgatherings, WC Mercantile
   
10. Plurknit - all fibers are eligible for this team
    
11. Team Cloudlover 2011 - Polworth in Dionysus
    
12. Team Loopy Groupies 2011 -
    
13. Peleton - 2011 (tdf2011) All fibers are eligible for this team