What’s on My Wheel this Tour de Fleece

This is my 11th year participating in the Tour de Fleece (TdF), the annual spin-along that coincides with the Tour de France. Spinners all over the world are planning their spinning projects and challenges ahead of Stage 1 on Saturday, July 5th. In the Spin Off group on Ravelry, we share our plans and often band together around a challenge theme inspired by the pages of Spin Off magazine.

In preparation for the TdF, I am replacing my drive band, tightening up all of the screws to prevent equipment malfunctions, and cleaning my wheels and bobbins. This year, I am inspired to spin some new marled yarns after reading Amanda Buckley’s article in the Spring 2025 issue, “Wearable Marls.” I have spun several marled yarns in the past, usually sticking with gradations of a single hue. Now to branch out!

Collecting my pan of plans for TdF.

Perusing the official website of Le Tour de France, I saw beautiful photographs of Lille Métropole’s architecture in hues of clay, ochre, and coppery greens. These buildings reminded me of a set of braids from a new local fiber dyer that I had stashed away—I can’t seem to resist shades of green and deep oranges. I dug them out of storage and was reminded that the accompanying braid was dyed in a mottled manner.

American Shaniko Wool dyed by Snow Globe Fibers.

I decided to deconstruct it into three predominant color pairings: pink and orange, green and blue, and purple and brown. Then I gently blended each set of colors on my drum carder which resulted in 3 batts. Interestingly, two of the batts are very similar-looking at this stage, probably due to the mottled dye application being difficult to separate by color without pulling each staple length apart. I am excited to see how they spin up next month; perhaps the color groupings will show a bit more variation in a finely spun single.

Get a closer look! Click any image in the gallery below to open it in full-screen mode.

The challenge days of TdF are a great way to encourage us to try something new in a small, manageable way. For my first challenge (Stage 10, on Monday, July 14), I plan to spin a new-to-me fiber, paco-vicuña. It is exquisitely soft and has a short staple of about 2.5 inches (6 cm), so I plan to spin it finely on my electric wheel for a little luxury item. My second challenge for Stage 15 of the Tour has yet to be determined—I can usually be persuaded to accompany another spinner on their challenge journey if you have any ideas!

Paco-vicuña raw fleece, showing staple length.

Just when the TdF is about to end, the TdF Femmes begins (Saturday, July 26, 2025 through Sunday, August 3, 2025). And of course, we keep spinning along. I hope to spin alongside you this TdF!

Resources

• Find Spin Off's Tour de Fleece group on Ravelry.
  
• Find Amanda Buckley’s article, “Wearable Marls,” in the Spring 2025 issue of Spin Off.
  

When Stefanie Johnson is not protecting public health through environmental inspections and investigations, she enjoys creating unique items and helping others learn to spin, knit, dye, and weave. She has been in love with the textile arts for as long as she can remember. The Johnsons raise French Angora rabbits, honeybees, and a variety of chickens and plants on their hobby farm in the woods, Settlers Grove, in Illinois.