Zen and the Art of Yarncraft

It's the Tour de Fleece (I.E., Tour de France only for spinning yarn), and already I feel like that kid in Les Triplettes de Belleville who can't do anything but bike yet still lags at the tail end of the tour. Only, I hope, I look better than him doing what I do.

The Tour de Fleece is a big thing on Ravelry, and for a spinner to join it is infectious. I remember when I first joined Ravelry it was at the mention of an online friend, and I honestly thought I'd have little use for it. But free patterns. Exchange of information on fleece and sources. Contests. Discussion with the people you buy your fibers and patterns from. Great stuff! I'm hooked, now.

I prepped for the Tour by spinning this gorgeous Falkland Ricochet colorway from Pigeonroof Studios for a friend I just taught how to knit. I'm actually pretty jealous; this yarn is gorgeous, and Falkland, though not soft enough for me to want to wrap tight around my neck, is lush, plush, and soft enough! I think Falkland may be a new favorite of mine.

Outside of that, I hadn't been as on-the-ball about spinning as I wanted. For one, my newly acquired Majacraft Rose wheel has a janky crank assembly which my novice self did not realize until I was halfway into this:

Let me tell you,  I was pretty upset, especially since I was spinning the thinnest singles I've ever tried my hand at on a wheel, but thankfully I have my trusty Pioneer as backup (I guess I am glad I haven't sold it yet). This is a beautiful wool fiber dyed by OldSheep that I ended up Navajo-plying, because plying the 3 singles together gave me the most puketastic color combination. At least finishing this yarn motivated me to keep on.

Because I'm going to need it.

I really want to start on this other tasty rainbow fiber I've acquired, but I feel obligated to return to this disaster above that was my first adventure in spinning lace. It just needs to be finished. It all started off on the Bosworth spindle in the middle, where I was spinning a wool sample from a Phat Fiber Sampler Box, and then this golden wool/flax/other batt sample. That part went all right.

Disaster struck when I decided to try hand carding the remainder of the two fibers together for spinning into the second singles for the lace. It became apparent I didn't do a very good job. Nor do I think, now, that a batt composed of wool and coarse flax fibers is a good candidate for re-carding poorly for spinning into lace. It kept breaking, and I'd keep placing the spun fiber aside, but I'm running out of spindles for spinning it on. After several months of ignoring it, I've finally reached that moment of peace where I'm just going to spin a thicker fingering yarn with the remainder of the sample and get it over with.

There is definitely an art, a zen to spinning (and knitting, and crocheting). Being able to accept a rookie mistake is a step in the right direction. But more on that later. My fingers should be on some fiber, not a keyboard.