#tdf2021

[justcyclingstuffs]

throwback to mathieu in yellow, look at that smile, my golden boy

[marcelskittels]

📸 by Josse Wester (Tour de Tietema)

MATHIEU VAN DER POEL ‹ Tour de France 2021 - Stage 8 › 🎥 via tourdetietema instagram

[comfortabletextiles]

Since Saturday I am at the last batt! I hope I can get everything on the last spindle!

[cykliste]

[biciclista]

[pagoddess]

Fruit shoot

[continent-of-wild-endeavor]

I took my spindle for a walk in the woods today.

[wdlabo]

ここの切り取りがネタとして使われるようになるんだろうな

[sofiestitches]

Leaning how to spin, it's a slow process though.

[inrng]

[woutvanart]

yellow mathieu

throwback to mathieu in yellow, look at that smile, my golden boy

[comfortabletextiles]

Productive day!

I finished the sleeve!

And started the second one!

[benprenart]

My next coffee shop creation. Work in progress of Mark Cavendish grabbing his 31st stage win at the Tour de France. Drawn freehand per usual. I think it’ll be a while before I can finish it.

[iplaywithstring]

Today I spun the first bobbin for a three ply fractal yarn.

The fiber is 100% merino dyed by malabrigo that my sister in law gave me for Christmas.

This is the first fractal spin I've done. This ply was 1/3 of the braid drafted across the top. The next ply is 1/3 split into two pieces and the last 1/3 was split into three pieces. So basically one ply is one repeat of the dye pattern, one ply is repeated twice and one ply is repeated three times, making the colour sections smaller.

[apisonadora60]

TDF - Mark Cavendish

[continent-of-wild-endeavor]

Tour de Fleece update!

I have been combing and spinning, combing and spinning. The uncapping forks as cheapo wool combs are hard on the hands, so it's a good thing doing it a little bit at a time matches my attention span, because you could hurt yourself (more than the occasional stabbing) if you tried to do a ton all at once.

It has turned out that I definitely want to separate the shorter, crimpier, whiter parts of the fleece from the longer, yellower, slightly coarser ones, because they are quite different and will make different yarns. If I was carding this, they could all be mixed together to make an 'average' yarn, but they're so different doing it bit by bit. Fancy white bits in the basket, darker coarser stuff I'm currently working with in the jar. I could probably define 4 or 5 distinct grades of wool from this fleece, if I wanted to get precise, but that would drive me crazy.

You can really see the difference in my knitted up samples, too. I did each type as a two-ply and a chain three-ply, then did the longer wool a third time to spin it looser. It gets scratchy if I over spin it; in fact, to get what I think is a nice-feeling wool, I have to under spin it, by my inexpert standards. But it makes a nice springy yarn done that way! Each of these is then knit up in stockinette, on the same needles, so I can compare. Labels pictured below each sample, so you can read them. Each sample is made from one ball of combed wool.

On the spindle is the start of my "real" yarn (ie I told myself this is what I'll make my sweater out of, though in reality this is probably a bigger sample bit, before I really get started). A whopping 1.15 ounces of it. I thought it would be more! But I guess it has a good bit of air/bounce to it. You can also see the difference in color between balls of the "same" grade of wool, with the most recently spun part being noticeably darker than the yarn underneath.