Tour de Fleece day seven, 2026 and first week round up.

 We almost have a kitchen, they have been able to refit the original cupboards saving us the cost of a new kitchen which we really didn't want to shoulder at this point. The electrician is due on Monday to fix the new light fittings then I will thoroughly clean the walls and cupboards and see how it looks. To be honest it looks better than it was originally and the insurance has covered the cost.

This means that I carried on spinning this morning.

So we now have another 100gm texel to add to yesterdays spin.

I then decuided to take advantage of the warm weather and washed the weeks spinning, popped out for a quick coffee with my argonaut then set about labelling the skeins.

this is coming to the end of the first 50gm of Petes dyed fibres.

This weeks spinning, 300gm texel, 200gm ryeland and 3 small skeins of various wools.

Tour de Fleece day six, 2026

 A day without builders as they are waiting for the plaster to dry and we were out this afternoon at a prior engagement.  Its getting warm again so we opted to stay inside and catch up with odd jobs so I caught up on the spinning.

Second bobbin of Ryeland spun and plyed BTW these are 200gm bobbins

Second bobbin of orange world of wool fibre spun, slightly better result obtained from spinning on the e-spinner compared to the green fibre spun on the louet.

Plied  pic is a closer colour match, colour name orange marmalade.

I also managed an easy spin of 100gm texel split across two bobbins, not plied yet as I may do another couple tomorrow and mix the bobbins ie ply 1 with 3 and 2 with 4.

All in all a productive morning and evening, the builders are back tomorrow so I may get chance to spin some more and then wash week ones yarn in the evening. I'm hoping to get out and about next week  but it depends on whether the work is finished because I then have the task of trying to fit everything back in the cupboards.

Soed Idee Jubileum week twenty seven

 In amongst all the spinning madness of Tour de Fleece I still found time to stitch part 27. This time it's what we would call darning patterns and they were hard work!

Tour de Fleece day five, 2026

 The builders are still with us, this morning they plastered the new ceiling and we are now waiting on the decorators to come in and paint it. As a result I  had plenty of spinning time so 50gm of Ryeland destined to be a four ply weight.

50gm of world of wool carded wool, not sure what this will be.

Once they had finished I headed out to a favourite book shop cafe in town and spent around 1 1/2 hours more on the braid from Pete.

I now have to wipe down the kitchen again before thinking about dinner, I may spin a little more later or fall asleep as its hot again.

Tour de Fleece day four, 2026

 Today has been another wait in and hang around with the builders and fencing contractors (for next door) turning up. The kitchen now has a plaster board ceiling, no cupboards or lights.

First job was to finish a headband that's been in progress for a while. I still need to darn in the ends and give it  block but it looks ok

Next I dug out around 50gm of  white faced woodland that I popped in a dye bath a couple of weeks ago along with some texel.

Later I got the louet out and finished up the World of Wool carded wool, very neppy but It did spin up ok in the end.

Both of these are now ready to go in the wash at the weekend.

I have a few more oddments to spin alongside the regular 100gm bags that I have made up. I'm thinking something naturally dark next.

No posh coffee today, maybe later in the week, I have plans to travel around a bit more next week although it may depend on how long it takes me to sort out the kitchen once they have finished, all of this is due to a plastic waste pipe resting on a metal hot water pipe and slowly melting over time.

Tour de Fleece day three, 2026

Not a very productive day due to have to clear out the kitchen so that the builders could access ceiling but I tried . This is going to be the case over the next few days.

We now have 100gm plyed Ryeland making a total of 200gm of fibre finished so far.

The builders finished early as they are now waiting for the electrician before they can go any further so I escaped to Costa for an hour and treated myself to a free drink ( I've been saving drinks on all the apps )

Of course, I took a wheel with me, this is the progress on the Polworth from Petes Fibre Studio.

As for the kitchen, this is where we are at now. We are hoping that the cupboards will survive to be put back on the walls as we don't want to have to replace them.

The problem has been caused by a water leak ( now fixed) which has left the ceiling damaged.

Tour de Fleece day two, 2026

 Hi, to pick up from yesterday evening, I spun some Ryeland and then remembered that it was Saturday so checked my cross stitch pattern for this week. I had been hoping for a straight forward cross stitch band that wouldn't take too long to stitch.

Wrong, what I have is three pattern darning block all stitched in one thread over one thread. This is going to be  a challenge.

This is going to need good natural light.

Todays plan is to head out for coffee and then find an outdoor space to sit and spin for a while. I'm conscious of the fact that I may be confined to the house for the next few days and its going to get hot again so I'm making the most of the cooler days.

 

I remembered to take photos of the newer pieces of graffiti on the remains of the old shopping centre.

Before settling down in Coffee #1 which is one of my favourite morning haunts. They are quite used to me turning up with assorted crafts to work on.

I'm wearing my turtle trousers today and spinning some carded wool from World of Wool. This is a bit of a challenge for me as I usually wash and process fleece myself but I liked the colours and ordered a few 50gm bags to play with.

Its dyed on a base of grey/dark fibres so gives a muted almost tweedy look which I'm hoping will work with fair isle patterns.

My next port of call was an alternative and occult craft fair to touch base with a stained glass maker and woodworker who I know.

Then it was off up to Nottingham castle for a pot of tea and chance to sit in the sun for a while.

This sign made me smile

Once back home it was time to stitch  for a while more then carry on with the ryeland. 

Have a good evening, I'll catch up on Day three.

Tour de Fleece day one, 2026

Well, here we are again, I'm thinking about spinning natural coloured fleece that I have prepped myself on the Ashford 3, The World of wool dyed 50gm packs on the Louet Victoria, the dyed fibre from Petes Fibre Studio on the Argonaut and if I happen to need to take a spindle anywhere I will have some Shetland to hand.

I may reassess at some point but I have plenty of bobbins for the Argonaut and the Ashford so I will be able to swap around if needed.

quick update, builders turning up on Monday so replace kitchen ceiling so it looks like I won't be spinning in public quite as much as anticipated!

Also my senior !! bus pass has turned up, not sure if I have to wait until actual retirement date to use it but will try on the bus on Saturday, fingers crossed. Update... it works :-)

Day one

 New T-shirts and empty bobbins, let the games commence.

I was awake early so I had a little practise and spun 100gm Texel quite thick but tested out new brake band etc.

My plan for today was to head into town, grab a coffee then catch a bus over to Wollaton Hall and Deer park as they are holding an open weekend in the walled garden which isn't often open to the public.

Coffee done, off to the garden. I arrived a little early so wandered round with my camera for a few minutes.

There are a few old tree stumps scattered around, the decaying remains revealing interesting patterns.

Once inside the walls I explored the gardens and grabbed a few pics of the flowers before buying a cup of tea and getting my wheel out.

However, once my wheel was out on the table, I had a steady stream of people wanting to ask about it and the spinning, my brief tea break lasted for two hours !

As I made my way from the park I spotted a squirrel and he obviously saw me, ran up the tree and froze. Not a flicker until I passed by,

I'm home now, trying to decide whether to stitch or spin tonight, whichever it is will be revealed in the next post.