For 17 years, fibre enthusiasts have been spinning yarn concurrently with the Tour de France cycling race. This phenomenon is dubbed the Tour de Fleece.
“The concept was simple: they spin, we spin,” writes Star Athena, the originator of the Tour de Fleece spin-a-long in a 2020 SpinOff Magazine article. What started as an experimental online group of 16 people on Athena’s blog has snowballed into 10,590 registrants on Ravelry alone. This year is my first as an official participant.
I’ve had a couple of close encounters with both the Tours de France and Fleece. Two years ago I was given a bag of raw wool my in-laws found on a derelict school bus on their property, I had to backorder my carding and spinning supplies as the Tour de Fleece had cleaned out my local yarn stores.
And last year, my husband and I booked our summer vacation to Denmark not knowing that the tiny Scandinavian nation was about to host the Tour de France for the first time ever. It took several days before we realized what all the yellow banners were for. Luckily, we were heading home mere days before the race — and the subsequent crowds — kicked off.
The Tour de Fleece coincides with the cycling race in more ways than one. In addition to spinning fibre each day of the race, July 1-23, some days have special themes. July 9 and 16 are challenge days — for the cyclists, this means mountainous terrain; for us spinners, it’s a call to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves in our craft as well. July 10 and 17 are rest days.
This year, my spinning instruments are a couple of drop spindles and a drum carder (a significant upgrade from the ruinous hand carders I started with). In addition to the Bus Wool, I have some colourful alpaca roving and a ball of stunning combed Finnish wool (quite apt since I too have Finnish roots), plus avenues to even more fibre. My husband’s aunt knows a sheep farmer in Creston and my cousins in Vegreville recently expanded their farm operation to include fibre sheep. It’s a very exciting time.
I still have much to learn when it comes to spinning, but I am nothing if not eager.
I love that you are now in the tour de fleece! It sounds like such a good group for the knitting society! Can’t wait to go to the Fibre fair with you!!