The cyclists had a bit of a change of pace as they had their first Hors Categorie climb today, and the highest peak of this year’s Tour.

I had a lovely day out at a patchwork knitting get together. It was lovely to see everyone and catch up with what they are up to, and we had a very interesting discussion on colour lead by Mary. There are so many different ways of approaching colour, I find the whole subject fascinating. I’m afraid I was having such a lovely time I completely forgot to take any photos, so just imagine the scene of nine knitters having a wonderful day 🙂

This evening I caught up with the recorded Tour and have also started my personal challenge. I decided that this year I would like to learn how to card and how to do longdraw to create a woollen yarn (the yarn I usually spin is more worsted style).

I think my carding is improving, I have only drawn blood once so I am calling that success! I think I need to watch my carding DVD several more times though 🙂 My longdraw is also improving, there are fewer failed bits put in the bin than there were when I first started, and my yarn is getting a little more even. It is still quite lumpy but I am trying to embrace the texture and not stress about it.

The fibre I am using is a mixture of wool and alpaca oddments which fell off the machines at John Arbon. I think occaisionally he sells bags of this at shows, but it isn’t part of their usual line.

I don’t have a real feel yet for whether I am putting an appropriate amount of twist into this yarn. It is certainly quite light, airy, and hairy, all good characteristics for a woollen yarn, but I think I wont really be able to tell til I have plied it whether it is a good yarn or not. I shall plough on with more practising tomorrow!

Today’s coin is a Commonwealth Games £2 for Chris Froome’s win. It was great to see first and second for Sky, and to see quite a lot of action for the main General Classification contenders. Exciting racing!