Handspun Friday - Tour De Fleece

Well I've completed the initial challenge I set aside for myself. I have finally finished spinning and plying all 572 grams/20.20 ounces of mixed fiber I had set aside. This fiber was a mix of coordinating colors and several different fibers including merino, Blue Faced Leicester, silk, and tencel.

This is actually the first fiber I ever stashed away. I bought it from the lady who gave me my first spinning lessons from last November. I had been saving it until I felt I could actually spin a usable yarn.

When I read about the Tour de Fleece I thought it would be fun to set a deadline and see if I could get all the fiber all spun up in a specified amount of time. The Tour ends on Sunday and I've met my goal. The resulting yarn has all been washed and photographed, it's now just waiting to be knit into something wonderful.

I ended up spinning eight different singles and plying them together in random pairs. Some of the fiber was a 100% wool and some were wool blended with tencel or silk.

Each finished yarn has one ply of 100% wool and one ply of a silkier blend. I thought that give all the yarns a similar drape and shine and make the finished project a little more cohesive overall.

I ended up with twelve different yarns of lengths varying from 32 to 162 yards. In total I ended up with about 1222 yards. That is about the same yardage I used to knit my entrelac shawl, Lady Eleanor, earlier this year.

I love the shape and size that my version of Lady Eleanor ended up being, so I'm thinking that I'll try another rectangular shawl. I've just got to settle on some sort of stitch pattern. I don't want to do another entrelac shawl yet.

I'm thinking about trying a Lizard Ridge type pattern. but I'll have to take a look through some stitch dictionaries first. Any suggestions you might have a are welcome.

Even though this part of the challenge is complete for me; I'm still working towards the goal of spinning everyday. I'm participating in a swap for handspun yarn. I'm supposed to send my pal 4 ounces of handspun and 4 ounces of fiber and I'm working on that skein. I expect to complete the spinning tonight and ply the yarn tomorrow. So I'll have a fresh skein of yarn to share next Friday. Hope you'll come back to see how that one turns out too.