Have you ever spun Charollais? This July, for Tour de Fleece, my goal is to experiment with a new to me wool fibre and spin up a little bump of Charollais to see what it can do. And in today’s Taking Back Friday video, I share why I’d like for you to consider spinning some new-to-you spinning fibres this summer.
Every summer, during the period that the Tour de France runs, there is a parallel event called the Tour de Fleece. During the weeks of the Tour de Fleece, spinners will set themselves a challenge… maybe it’s spinning the most yardage you’ve ever spun, or maybe it’s spinning every single day during the tour. For me, the past few years were just about trying to see if I could spin 10 minutes a day for as many days as I could manage. Mostly I was getting my spinning time in the evenings before bedtime, spinning at my saxony wheel. July is a great time for getting into a handspun habit … and then you have handspun yarn to knit up into hats, or mitts, or weave into scarves for the fall and winter.
But looking back these past few months, I realize that I’ve been spinning my favourite fibre blend, Bluefaced Leicester and Silk or BFL+Silk almost exclusively. I realize that my hands haven’t touched or felt or tried any other wool fibre for the past long while. And so THIS year, for Tour de Fleece, my goal is to spin some fibre that I have never tried before.
The fibre I’m going to spin is a sheep breed called Charollais. We’ve dyed this wool into a fun colourway we’re calling Summer Sunsets. It is our special, limited-edition colourway that we’re dyeing just for Tour de Fleece this year.
Knitting CSM Socks with Handspun Guide
As mentioned in the video, I’ve compiled all of the details about how I spin and crank my socks into a downloadable “Knitting CSM Socks with Handspun” PDF guide, made for the School of SweetGeorgia. This includes notes about my handspun yarn, CSM cylinder comparison, links to supplies, tools and more. Download the guide below:
Join me in exploring Sheep Breeds for Tour de Fleece
We are meeting to chat together about Tour de Fleece and spinning at our SweetGeorgia Discord server. And if you want to explore and learn to spin many different sheep breeds, we have an amazing and in-depth course taught by Rachel Smith of Wool n’ Spinning called Spinning Sheep Breeds on the School of SweetGeorgia. To go along with the course, also have Sheep Breed kits where you can have a taste of many different wool fibres.
I would love to hear if you have plans for Tour de Fleece this summer. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever spun Charollais before or what new sheep breed you’d be interested in learning about.
