Warming up

Many people who are playing Tour de Fleece seem to do a lot of fibre preparation.  Me?  I am not quite ready for that though I will get there before days end.  If you happen to be a reader like my sisters, who knows not of the Tour de Fleece, google it.  It explains it with way fewer words than I ever could.

As I mentioned the other day, I found a few small bags of fibre.

They were still going to be a thing to play with, though I suppose it is all play when you get down to it but the play is complicated by this.

This is a giant ziploc filled with prepped fibre from the fleece, a Southdown Dorset or a border Leicester cross (I will know once I remeasure the locks) I washed a few years ago. I had kind of forgotten, maybe blocked is a better word, this bag.   There is a lot more of that fleece that needs carding but that is otherwise washed and ready to go.  I had been spinning it on the Vic woollen spun so it is right up there with what I wanted to do during this challenge. Should I work first with this fibre to get it our of the way?  I have to make that decision soon.

Along with fibre I forgot to remember, I found another bobbin for the S51.  So I have four!  this is really thrilling news because it means that I can use three for spinning and one for plying.  Not that I am ready to make a three ply yet, but soon.  It means I can use only the S51 for the Tour if I want.

This morning with my coffee, I am reading.  And remembering things people have said as they talked about their spinning.  I have another book or two in my library but these came to hand quickly.

I am trying to pay particular attention to The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs because it is the newest of my spinning books purchased only a short while before the world shut down.  It came highly recommended and seems to have easy to find answers to some of my really newbie questions.  Even after all this time of knowing the basics, I still feel I am a beginner. Just a newbie.  If I get to consistency, or reasonably consistent, I might think about feeling like a newbie who makes yarn.  

Anyway, lots to do, lots of interesting things on the pile to play with and a couple wheels to wake from their long sleep.  Time to get moving along.

Note!!  One more exciting thing.  When I purchased some loom stuff w while ago, I picked up some storage bobbins from Leclerc. They are not huge but are twice the size of the standard weaving bobbin and makes a great storage device for spun singles.  The down side was that they were not compatible with the Louet kates.  The kate shaft was a bit too big.  However, these sweet little Clampykates fit the storage bobbins perfectly.  I will be able to ply straight from them.  Woo hooo