I know that the Tour de Fleece is going on, and I guess this spinning I am doing is coinciding with it a little, but I did not begin at the beginning of the Tour de France bike race, nor can I watch it as it is going because I cannot watch TV.  But the idea behind the TdF is the same as what I am trying to accomplish.  My goal is to spin up all of the Fiber Binder Club samples and get my binder all up to date.  Here are the latest results:

Sandy brought in a Corriedale sheet for me to attach my spun sample and the knitted swatch.  This fleece is a joy to spin and the color is very pretty.  In fact, I first chose this animal’s fleeces based on the color.  I have enough to dunk into a dye pot, so as soon as I can get them going, I’ll get a dyed sample in here.

While I loved spinning up this Lincoln lamb fleece, I thought that Lincoln knitted up a bit wirey.  I do know that Lincoln is a long wool, and I can definitely see this as gloves, mittens, and they would make loooong lasting socks plied with something soft like Merino.  The color really captured me, though.  I loved this black color.  I can’t wait to see how it weaves up.  I have the feeling this would make a great warp because of its long staple and strength.  Coat?  Jacket?  Hmmm…

This Lincoln adult fleece had more crimp in it than did the lamb fleece and I liked it much better.  I think I would love to put the black on as warp and this adult fleece on as weft and see how they would weave up.

The llama was interesting.  I enjoyed spinning and plying it.  It was a bit slippery to knit, and I was glad I had wooden needles, but I love the hand of the knitted swatch.  Since llama has no natural elasticity to it, I would love to weave it up and want to see how it works on the loom.

Right now I am working on the bombyx silk.  5 grams of hankies is a lot of silk, so I have decided that I am going to spin it up several ways.  Right now I am trying to get as thin a thread as I can.  Next, I’ll spin it up a bit thicker, then thicker and so on.  The yarn I want to knit with I want to be about DK weight, so I have my work cut out for me.  This might take the rest of the week.

I have to admit I am really enjoying the opportunity to spin and knit all the different types of fiber.  And going to the sample bags is like being in a fibery candy store – which one do I want to try next?