Tour de Fleece 2010 - prep.

I'm already getting ready for the Tour de Fleece (ravelry link). I know it's more than two weeks away until the Tour de France starts this year, but I figure that given my challenge for myself, I had best start sooner rather than later.

The Tour de Fleece is a communal self challenge where you, simultaneous with several hundred other individuals, set a challenge for yourself which is spinning in nature. I suspect it has something to do with the way non-spinners use the term spinning to mean cycling. The goal of this particular yarn sport, is to accomplish this challenge during the Tour de France. And, if you like watching cycling, all the better.

Having a group of like minded individuals all trying to accomplish their personal spinning challenges in a limited span of time, with the occasional prize (ravelry link), makes this my favourite online yarn activity of the year.

It's lucky for me that we can join more than one team, unlike in the actual Tour. I recently acquired a dark chocolate coloured Shetland fleece. Yes, I know that I have other fleeces waiting to be washed and spun, and I am working on them. But, honestly! A Shetland! I love Shetlands. How could I pass that up?

So, I'll be spinning this chocolate Shetland for the Tour de Fleece. Since it is a Shetland, a good portion of the fleece will be spun lace. Which lead me to join the Sprinters 2010 whose focus is for fast spinning of fine yarns.

Then I thought why not make things extra challenging and set the challenge that I spin up the whole fleece (or just about - I might leave the back for felt making). This qualified me to join the Climbers 2010. Climbers is a group for people who are setting a big personal challenge like learning to spin for the first time, or in my case, crazy over commitment of spinning an entire fleece.

Which is why I qualify for the group, Hopelessly Over Committed. I think the name says it all. Let me just mention that I don't just intend to spin the entire Shetland fleece. It also needs washing and either combing or carding depending on which section I'm spinning.

I've started washing the fleece already to get ready for the Tour. I even carded up a little sample which spun up very nicely.

I'll do as much washing, carding and combing as I can before the race begins, but I think there will be a lot left to do during the Tour.