And it Begins!

The Tour de France begins today in Florence, Italy. It is the biggest and most popular bicycle race of the year. Most of the route is within France but the tour often includes stretches in other countries like Spain, Belgium or in this case, Italy. The other thing markedly different about this year's route, is the finish in Nice rather than in Paris. I will miss the bikers circling of the Arc De Triumph but Paris is hosting the Olympics this year so beautiful Nice will be the end of the race.

Just as certain as biking around France comes with June and July each year, our very own Tour de Fleece kicks in at the same time. We spinners get together every year to support those crazy guys flying around France on their spindly little bicycles by spending time spinning on our spindles and spinning wheels. It you do it right, you spin easy things on the bikers easy days and more difficult things on their hard days. You can even take a break from spinning on their holdover days. 

I have to admit, I've never completed the Tour de Fleece. Usually, I start off strong but somehow about halfway through I get diverted onto other things and stop spinning. This year I'm going to try to make it all the way. The tour starts today, June 29th and ends on July 10th. That's twelve days of spinning or eleven if you take their rest day which is July 3rd. I think I can do it!

I have several full bobbins of singles that need to be plied and I have a significant number of art batts calling out to be spun. They come from the Batt Girls - Mary and Sally plus some larger batts from Apothefaery. along with a couple of bags of interesting fiber I picked up last July at the Fiber Christmas in July in Kellyville, OK. The darker fiber on the left is Wensleydale/Gotland fiber and the white fiber on the right is Teeswater. Both come from Kate Lowder's farm and should be great to spin.