Plying Saturday: Part Two - Tour de Fleece

The guidelines for the Tour de Fleece recommend wearing yellow on the last day of the tour or any day you feel like you're doing especially well. I had this at the back of my mined when I got dressed on Saturday. I couldn't remember if I had a yellow shirt or not, but there it was, hanging in my closet.


And Saturday was a good day. After I plied my merino I tackled Navajo plying. I think I caught on pretty well. I'm doing it exactly like Rexene, but I found what works for me. (There's another 15-second masterpiece of my plying at a different angle here.)

Here's my bobbin part of the way through the plying. (I was taking a popsicle break.)

Here's a still shot of me Navajo plying.

I'm still using a single wrapped into ball instead of a Lazy Kate. It worked pretty well as long as I kept it in a bowl.

Here is the completed yarn. Once again, the larger bobbins on Mom's Louet saved the day. Mom said all this probably wouldn't have fit on one bobbin on her Ashford.

Next I wound it onto the skein winder.

Then I tied it off.

And here's the completed skein, all wound up.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if we hadn't replaced the part I broke. My Mom got a new drive band while she was at it. The wheel was old when my Mom bought it used about 15 years ago, so it was coming. The old parts were turning yellow. You can see the old parts, including the broken footman to treadle connector, here.

Here are all three skeins that I wound on Saturday. I made yarn!