Have you heard about the Tour De Fleece? The basic idea is to challenge yourself by spinning every day during the Tour De France, which is Saturday July 5th through Sunday July 27th. There are 2 days of rest during both the Tour De France the Tour De Fleece: Tuesday July 15th, and Monday July 21st. You can participate either commenting on the 2008 Tour De Fleece post on the Keep on Knitting in the Free World blog, by joining and posting to the Tour De Fleece flickr group, or by joining and posting to the Tour De Fleece Ravelry group.

My goal for the Tour De Fleece is to spin about 1 1/2 pounds of fiber, which should be enough for a sweater. I’ve got 3 rovings that I’m planning to card together for spinning: Teeswater/Cotswold Cross, Bond, and Cormo, which I previously talked about in this post about the fiber I’d picked up at Estes.

I test carded a little of these fibers together a couple of days ago to see if I’d like the results. Here’s what the carded batt looks like:

There are a few neps in it which should be pretty easy to pick out, but I think if I try using less fiber in my drum carder at a time, I’ll end up with fewer of them. If I can correct that small problem, I think I’m going to be happy with the results.

So who else is participating in the Tour De Fleece? What are you planning to spin?

A new issue of Spindle and Wheel was published recently, and it’s got a very informative article about preparing handpainted fiber for spinning. The article explains how to pre-draft or strip your fiber into the thickness you want for spinning, but more importantly, shows you how much difference the fiber preparation method you choose makes in the finished yarn you’ll end up with.

I encourage you to look at the article – you may be surprised at how dramatic the differences are between the pre-drafting, stripping, and combined pre-drafting/stripping methods. The pre-drafted sample shows a lot of color blending which more subtle color variations (although it’s hard to tell exactly now much because the single made from the pre-drafted sample as plyed with a white single), the stripping method resulted in a self-striped yarn, and the combined method resulted in longer, more distinct, stripes of color.

If you want to see the differences for yourself, buy some handpainted roving you like, prepare small portions of the fiber using the pre-drafting, stripping, and combined methods, and spin a sample from each of the small portions you prepared. Preparing small samples really is the best way to learn new techniques.

If you’re looking for a place to buy handpainted roving, check out the current auctions on eBay:

Handpainted BAMBOO ROVING SPINNING FIBER SPIN 4OZ OF US $12.99 End Date: Saturday Jul-31-2010 5:37:25 PDT Add to watch list

Handpainted Roving Soft Wool Blend "Erin" 4 oz US $15.00 End Date: Monday Aug-02-2010 6:52:48 PDT Add to watch list

Falkland Top Roving - Handpainted / 8 ounces US $23.95 End Date: Monday Aug-02-2010 10:47:58 PDT Add to watch list

Falkland Top Roving - Handpainted / 8 ounces US $23.95 End Date: Monday Aug-02-2010 10:51:51 PDT Add to watch list

Alpaca Roving - Handpainted - 8 ounces US $28.50 End Date: Monday Aug-02-2010 10:56:24 PDT Add to watch list

Merino Top Roving - Handpainted / 8 ounces US $27.50 End Date: Monday Aug-02-2010 11:17:51 PDT Add to watch list

CRAZY Handpainted 100% Baby Suri Alpaca Roving ^^ENVY^^ US $4.91 (0 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Aug-03-2010 7:51:37 PDT Add to watch list

CRAZY Handpainted Mulberry Silk Brick OLD GLORY roving US $41.55 (0 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Aug-03-2010 7:51:40 PDT Add to watch list

CRAZY Handpainted Mulberry Silk Brick SUNSTROKE REVISIT US $46.92 (0 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Aug-03-2010 8:03:06 PDT Add to watch list

CRAZY Handpainted Silk & Angora Rabbit 50/50 batt spin US $4.50 End Date: Sunday Aug-08-2010 20:57:39 PDT Add to watch list