The Big Tour de Fleece Wrap Up!

Oh, the Tour de Fleece, how I love that part of the summer!  And, sadly, another Tour de Fleece has come and gone but it was not without a lot of Fibery Goodness involved.  Our team was  hosted by the Hostess with the Mostess, Jan Massie of Just 4 Ewe Studio.  Since it was our first year having our own team, we were delighted to have over 50 members and in true Fibery Goodness fashion, our team spanned the globe!

Personally, I like to use the event to get out of my comfort zone and tackle a challenge.  I’m don’t set a daily goal or a certain number of yards.  Instead, I pick a goal like “spin ‘normal'” yarn in a solid color for a whole month for the purposes of building up some foundational stash yarns for knitting, crocheting and weaving.  This year, I had two goals.  One was to spin some silk yarns that were being incorporated into a dress I was wearing for a wedding last weekend.  I really enjoyed spinning the silk brick into a variety of textured yarns and I was really thrilled with the dressmaker’s placement of the yarns on the dress:

My second goal was not quite as much a spinning challenge but was a challenge nonetheless and forgive me for taking such liberties with the TDF, but I have to do things when the spirit moves me.  I have written about this before — resting my creative impulse in order to move forward — I finally found and executed the ultimate direction for my Journey to the Golden Fleece yarns.  I had made a piece when we were writing the course.  It was a circular weaving piece and it was just okay, honestly.  All the yarns were represented, but it just didn’t speak to me.  So, I ripped it all out and then the yarns sat for quite awhile staring at me.  Then, last year, I had the idea that I was going to do something braided with them.  I started down that path and once again, hit a dreadful dead end where I knew the idea was working.  But, I saved the braids and set everything aside again where it all sat, staring at me again.  Finally, I cut a piece off of my saori loom and was going to begin another project and I decided to weave the yarns and almost immediately, I knew what these yarns were meant to me:  A magical woven bag that one would use on a Journey to the Golden Fleece.  I am still working on the sewing and the lining, but I’m going to show a preview here so you can get the idea:

I will post more pics once it’s completed, but the project finally feels “right” and I even got the braids woven in — nothing wasted!

From a spinning perspective, we had many incredible skeins spun in our group and I’m going to share some here — this is really a small sample of the scrumptious fibery goodness that our group enjoyed:

Stunning, right!?!?!  So much fun to spin along with everyone.  If you want to join us next year and you are on Facebook, look us up and get in on the fun.  Until next time, all my fibery best, Arlene