A very dramatic time-trial for the cyclists today. With the rain affecting some riders and not others it certainly made for nail-biting viewing. Well done to Chris Froome for his third stage win of this year’s Tour.

Today I spun up a sample that I picked up from Wonderwool Wales last year, from one of the mills, although I’m afraid now I can’t remember which one. I totally failed to take a picture before I spun it, but it was prepared as a fine pencil roving, approximately 5mm diameter. With this I hardly did any drafting at all, just added twist. The fibre is wool, but I am not sure which breed, possibly Romney. I then chain-plied, giving me yarn which is approximately a DK or possibly aran weight.

It was interesting to spin, and I quite like the result – I intentionally over-plied a little and this seems to have worked well to hold the yarn together and make it more springy. I’m not sure I would want to spin huge quantities from this kind of preparation, although maybe practice would make me better at it. Since the roving is quite fine it doesn’t take much to pull it apart, which meant one had to be quite careful about pulling it out of its cheese-shape.

Today’s coin is an old Irish 10p sent to me by the wonderful Sue 🙂 (the other side is great too, and I shall be using that too asap). It has no connection at all to the cycling, but is just so lovely I had to use it 🙂