Tour de Fleece

I am having so much fun with the Tour de Fleece that I have decided to try blogging a bit about fibrous stuff, rather than just being blog mama for Ben's blog. Last year was the first time I did the TdF, and we were travelling, so while it was fun, I wasn't able to participate alot online, and I was only able to work with a couple fibers on drop spindles. This year, we are spending the whole summer (such as it is -- the high is predicted to be 66 tomorrow!) in town, so in spite of needing to write a book chapter by the end of the month I have thrown myself in whole hog. Along with spinning every day, I have assigned myself two challenges: spin on the charka every day Ben is in daycare, and try a bunch of art yarns (using Jacie Bogg's "Sit and Spin" DVD as a teacher). I still need to do my charka time today, but I've gone through a c. 2 ounce ball of cotton, and plied it up into a three ply that I am very proud of. Cotton and the charka are both getting easier each day. I want to keep this up at least three days a week through the summer to really get them into my muscle memory. I may even make a dent in my big bin of cotton. Here are my singles (wound onto weaving bobbins for plying) and my three-ply yarn, drying.