Hello friends,

It's hard to believe that Tour de Fleece 2026 has already come to an end. I've enjoyed taking part this year and spending the past few weeks using my spinning wheel and drop spindles. It has been an opportunity to slow down, work through some of my fibre stash I found in a previous blog post, and enjoy the process of making yarn.

I thought it would be fun to share everything I spun during this year's Tour de Fleece, along with a few thoughts on each project and what I learned along the way.

"Tequila Sunrise" Corriedale Batt

Fibre: Corriedale

Colourway: Tequila Sunrise

Dyed by: Deepcreek Woolworks

Preparation: Batt

Weight: 20 g

As this was the smallest amount of fibre in my Tour de Fleece stash, I decided it would make the perfect warm-up project using my Majacraft Susie Pro spinning wheel. I split the batt in half lengthwise and spun each half using a short forward draw technique before plying them together into a two-ply yarn.

This was my first time spinning fibre from Deepcreek Woolworks, so I was curious to see how it would spin up. Overall, it spun well, although I found the fibre a little drier than I'm used to. There were also some small slubs and short fibre ends throughout the batt. As Deepcreek Woolworks is a relatively new fibre producer using wool from their own sheep, I wasn't too concerned by these minor inconsistencies and will be interested to see how their fibre develops over time.

The finished yarn measured 34.5 metres of two-ply yarn—a colourful little skein and a great way to begin this year's Tour de Fleece.

"Big Eared Wooly" Corriedale/Merino/Silk Batt

Fibre: Corriedale/Merino/Silk

Colourway: Big Eared Wooly

Dyed by: Dark Harbour Yarn

Preparation: Batt

Weight: 41 g

With my warm-up project complete, I was ready to move on to something a little bigger. My next project was a Big Eared Woolly batt, spun on my Majacraft Susie Pro spinning wheel. As with the previous batt, I split the fibre in half lengthwise. This time, however, I decided to spin it using a woollen long draw before plying it into a two-ply yarn. I was keen to practice my long-draw technique, and see how this fibre responded to this method.

Nikki Jones of Dark Harbour Yarn is a master of dark, moody colourways, and I'm a huge fan of her fibre and yarn. Spinning this rich green batt was wonderful. The colours have incredible depth and complexity, with tonal variations that revealed themselves as the yarn came together. The finished two-ply yarn is soft and squishy, exactly the kind of yarn I hoped to achieve with the woollen long-draw technique.

The finished yarn measured 87 metres of two-ply yarn—a beautifully soft, lofty skein and one of my favourite spins from this year's Tour de Fleece.

"Wrinkle-Lipped Free-Tailed" Corriedale/Merino/Silk Batt

Fibre: Corriedale/Merino/Silk Noil/Tencel

Colourway: Wrinkle-Lipped Free-Tailed

Dyed by: Dark Harbour Yarn

Preparation: Batt

Weight: 57 g

My next project was another Dark Harbour Yarn batt, this time the Wrinkle-Lipped Free-Tailed colourway, again spun on my Majacraft Susie Pro spinning wheel. As with the previous batts, I split the fibre in half lengthwise. This time however, I spun the fibre on the fold, before plying it into a two-ply yarn. The spinning on the fold technique produces a semi-worsted yarn with a lovely balance of loft and structure, while helping to control slippery fibres in the blend, such as silk noil and tencel.

Spinning this moody blue batt using the spinning-on-the-fold technique was a lot of fun. The finished two-ply yarn is airy and soft, and exactly the kind of yarn I was hoping to achieve with this semi-worsted spinning method.

The finished yarn measured 94.5 metres of two-ply yarn, creating a lofty, soft heathered skein in shades of blue.

"Moonlit Amethyst" Merino/Silver Nylon Glitter

Fibre: Merino/Silver Nylon Glitter

Colourway: Moonlit Amethyst

Dyed by: Myself

Preparation: Batt

Weight: 43 g

I wasn't entirely sure how to spin my Moonlit Amethyst merino and silver nylon batt, but the fibre eventually chose the method for me. My first attempt was a short forward draw on my Majacraft Susie spinning wheel, but I quickly discovered that the silver nylon fibres were separating from the merino, and drifting all over my lap and the floor.

Instead, I switched to a woollen long draw technique, which trapped the silver nylon fibres within the merino much earlier in the drafting process. This dramatically reduced the amount of sparkle escaping onto my lap and the floor. The fibre spun up quickly using this technique, producing a yarn that is very soft thanks to the merino. However, in places where the silver nylon fibres became more concentrated, the yarn felt scratchier to the touch.

The finished yarn measured 85 metres of two-ply yarn and is wonderfully soft and squishy, with all the characteristics you'd expect from a predominantly merino yarn. Although the silver nylon isn't completely embedded into every section of the yarn, this project proved to be a valuable experiment in discovering the best way to spin this fibre blend.

Ashford Cinnamon Merino/Silk Sliver

Fibre: 80% Merino/20% Silk Sliver

Colourway: Cinnamon

Dyed by: Ashford

Preparation: Sliver

Weight: 100 g

This project wasn't originally part of my Tour de Fleece plans. While we were visiting Christchurch, I stopped by the Ashford Factory Shop in Ashburton and couldn't resist picking up some of their beautiful cinnamon merino/silk sliver, along with a new drop spindle. Most of this yarn was spun in the evenings whenever I had the chance. It became a relaxing little side project alongside my wheel spinning, and the perfect opportunity to practice spinning with my new drop spindle.

As always, Ashford's Merino Silk Sliver was a pleasure to spin. It drafted well on my new drop spindle, and it was satisfying to watch the warm cinnamon tones gradually emerge as the yarn came together. The slow pace of drop spindle spinning means this project is still ongoing, but I'm looking forward to picking it up whenever I have a quiet moment over the coming months.

Overall, during Tour de Fleece 2026 I completed four projects, spinning a total of 602 metres of fibre, which became 301 metres of finished two-ply yarn. It wasn't my biggest Tour in terms of metreage, but that was never the goal. Instead, I wanted to make a start on reducing my fibre stash while practising a variety of spinning techniques. And looking at the extra space in my fibre storage container, I'd say it was a very successful Tour.

Thank you for following along on my Tour de Fleece 2026 journey. I hope you've enjoyed all the squishy fibre content as much as I've enjoyed creating it.

Have a wonderful day,

Julie-Ann

If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.

Tags: 2026, Acid Dyeing, Ashford, Carding, Dark Harbour Yarn, Deepcreek Woolworks, Drop Spindle, Drum Carder, Fiber, Fibre, Spinning, Spinning Technique, Spinning Techniques, Spinning Wheel, Tour De Fleece, Winter, Yarn

Hello friends,

The month of July is known to yarn spinners all over the world as Tour De Fleece month, where spinners who want to join in, prepare their spinning supplies and spinning wheels for spinning along beside the Tour De France. On the days that the cyclists spin their wheels, so do Tour De Fleece spinners. It's an online spin-along, and spinners from all over the world often share their spinning on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Ravelry, during the 21 days of the Tour De France.

You don't need to officially sign up to anything, or pay any money, or join a team (though some people do), just spin when you can during the Tour De Fleece and make whatever yarn that appeals to you. My goal this year was just to spin every day of the Tour De Fleece, using whatever roving and fleece I had in stash, using both my drop spindle and spinning wheel.

The first project I spun up was a 100 gram roving of Union Fibre's fine Haunui breed sheep in shades of pink, purple, yellow, green, brown and teal.

I spun up the singles on my Majacraft Suzie Pro on two bobbins, with the intention to make a 2 ply yarn. The plied yarn was so pretty, coming out at an approximately fingering weight/4 ply yarn with a total of 237 m of yarn. I don't have any plans for this yarn yet, so it'll just go into storage along with all my other spun yarn.

Next up to spin was 200 grams of Ashford 80% Merino/20% Mulberry Silk roving in the colourway Gelato. I just love to periodically spin up some of Ashford's beautiful colourways for fun, with the intention to use the spun yarn for handwoven and handspun scarves for my Felt store Hearth and Oak.

Once the two single bobbins were spun, it was time to ply them 2-ply style. The resulting yarn was approximately fingering weight/4 ply and had a length of 423 m.

After a quick warm soak to set the twist in the yarn, my gelato yarn was all finished and ready for weaving.

I just love the shades of blue, pink and white, and I think it'll make a pretty nice scarf when it's all woven up.

I just loved making so much time for spinning in July, it's such a cold month and it's really cozy to spin on my spinning wheel on freezing winter nights. I already look forward to next Tour De Fleece next year.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann

Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.

Tags: 2025, 4 Ply, Ashford, Crafting, Crafts, Fiber, Fibre, Fleece, Haunui Fibre, Spinning, Spinning Wheel, Tour De Fleece, Union Fibre, Yarn