I’ve been pondering whether to join the Tour de Fleece 2008 since last week.
Reasons not to:
- I missed the first three days of the tour. I just returned to California last night, where the majority of my stash is.
- I have too many other things going on this month to add yet another thing to the to-do list. My cup over-floweth.
Reasons to tour:
- It’s not like I’m not going to be spinning anyway.
- My stash is of epic proportions that continues to grow. My stash over-floweth.
I arrived home to a box at the front door. Huh? I didn’t order anything. I specifically made sure that there would be no deliveries while I was up in Washington. I looked at the label…Shari McKelvy. Morro Fleece Works. Wow, she was fast! I forgot about the moorit merino fleece I bought at the winery from Janet Heppler (love her fleeces!) at the end of May. Her website says 4 month backlog, so I wasn’t expecting this quick turn around, and was expecting it in September. But Shari works in color progression, to reduce the down time for deep cleaning. She moves from whites to colors to blacks. I must have hit the queue just right with the moorit. Just over 4 pounds of creamy taupe goodness. Yes, it is pin drafted. I’m drooling even as I type this. (Never mind that I have probably 5, or more, fleeces in the garage processed by Shari in this fashion that are still waiting to be spun up.)
Oh, back to the Tour. There are 2 sets of fiber in my stash that I’m anxious to get through:
- 8 bumps (2 pounds) of Spinderella’s Thrums. While I love the looks of them, I realized that they aren’t really next-to-skin wear for me. I spun the first batch (I got heady looking at them and bought about 4 pounds of this, 2 of each colorway), and promptly put the 2nd batch away. Now that I’ve started weaving again, I see great potential for this as a blanket or rug. Now I really want to finish the remainder. Should be quick spinning since I spun the first batch worsted weight.
- Stash of Crosspatch Creations and Three Bags Full fibers that I’ve collected over the years. Again, I was seduced by the pretty colors and blends, but found that I really didn’t enjoy spinning it because I couldn’t control the slubs. (I’m still not very good at the “just let it go” business.) Anyway, there are at least one large plastic bin full of this stuff. Probably around 2 pounds worth.
Either of these would be great goals. More importantly, either one of these should be achievable withing the time frame given. Completing both stash would be awesome.
What do you think? To Tour or Not To Tour? That’s the question.
