Tour de France or Tour de Fleece!

If you are an avid bike rider, you are in the midst of establishing yourself in front of the TV--watching all the action on the roads of France. 

The Tour de France (French pronunciation: ​[tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s]) is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France,^[1] while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1903 to increase paper sales for the magazine L'Auto;^[2] it is currently run by the Amaury Sport Organisation.^[3] The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars.^[4] As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI World Teams, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite.^[5][6]

But, if you are a spinner--you're on your spinning wheel making sure to keep up with the racers as you treadle away--producing all the fiber you can in the days of TDF!

• Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. The tour is 23 days long, including 2 rest days. (Just like the actual tour.)
• Spin something challenging on the challenge day (the stages that take place in the mountains and the toughest climbing for the riders)
• Wear yellow on the final day to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour – but here we are all ‘race leaders’) Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter – think FAST), Polka-dot (climber – as in challenges), and white (rookie or spinner under 25 years old).

The purpose of the Tour is to challenge yourself, not to compare yourself to others, and to share what you have done and the joy you have had in doing it!  Welcome! We are so glad you are here!

Pot Holder Quilts

So you have a few small blocks just sitting idly by and you don't know what to do with them.  Then try this method, Potholder Quilts or quilt as you go.  Years ago I had a mentor, Anita Murphy, who used this technique for many of her garments. quilts, etc.

Anita didn't invent this style of quilting, she just picked up a way of historic quilting.  Only difference-- The Civil War quilts used smaller blocks.  "It was the easiest way for a club or church group to make a quilt because each contributor took the instructions, worked at home, and then returned the finished block. Though it might appear this was also a quick way to make a quilt, the reality is that many such quilts made for Civil War soldiers and other reasons, such as fundraising, presentation, or friendship, took as long as a year. The earliest known potholder quilt – dated 1837 – "  This information from Pamela Weeks.

Soldiers' Aid Quilt with each block

 individually quilted and bound

The quilt-as-you-go sewing technique. “each block was individually bound with pale blue silk and then the blocks were closely whip-stitched together on the back.” They appeared to be “elegant eleven-inch-square potholders” fashioned into a quilt. Well-known quilt experts such as Gerald Roy, Stephanie Hatch, and American Quilt Society appraiser Vivien Lee Sayre confirmed that this “block-by-block” method (the preferred description) was informally known as making “potholder” blocks. Civil War Quilts

Noted Civil War Quilt Historian, Barbara Brackman, has an interesting page on her blog concerning these New England Quilts.

The Constant Quilter, Wendy Canton Reed, is working away on her star 'potholders', which will be assembled into a quilt.  This is a good way for groups to make the small blocks and assemble for a charity quilt.  

Wednesday--Again Already?

I'm working away on my Tour de Socks--the first pattern, that is!!

I'm Almost finished!

Yes, I'm getting close to the toe!

I'm so far behind the group--I'm the last of the last--so many are working on the third pattern!
speaking of which, I love this third pattern!!  and I have the perfect yarn for this pair.

Diamondback designed by Kirstin Hall--what a pattern!

and would you believe the fourth pattern comes out July 1st????

oh, well, I knew I wasn't going to race to the finish.

I admire those who get the pattern one day and are finished the next!

Remarkable!  

Small Quilt With Big Message

How about this for a big message for this Independence Day?

A free pattern from Temecula Quilt Company

Quilts That Talk!

Yesterday's blog was about secret codes in your knitting,

but if you are a quilter can you design secret codes in your

quilting.  Yes, quilts do talk! and they speak loudly!

Story quilts paint our feelings and thoughts!

And then there is the underground railroad quilts--The code "was a way to say something to a person in the presence of many others without the others knowing," said Dobard, a history professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. "It was a way of giving direction without saying, 'Go northwest.'"  

Oh, what a way to communicate--a special code to only those in the know!  Our works of art speak a billion words without uttering a spoken word!  

Hidden Knitted Codes?

Have you ever thought about knitting secret messages into your knitting?  The most famous or is it infamous character to do such a thing was Madame Defarge in Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities.  I came across this article the other day and found it fascinating!  How do you knit messages into your knitting? Purl one for this action, drop a stitch for this action--just fascinating!  Women are resourceful and knitting has been a supplier of assisting in passing secret messages--

so, if you have some time and want to learn how to pass secret messages through

your knitting--watch this video!

Just fascinating!

Magazine For Handspinners

In my many years of being a handspinner and weaver, I've gone through multi number

of publications for such fiberists.  About 5 years ago, I decided to discontinue my

connection to these magazines--mainly, there is so much you can receive through

digitization.  I have stacks and stacks of unused magazines--sometimes, I browse

through them, but mostly, they just sat there on the shelf.

Recently, I came across this magazine--PLY.  I thought--let's give it a try.

It is published four times a year--and I've received the latest issue

on Bulky yarns--I'm not the biggest fan on bulky yarns.  

I know there is a place for them in our fiber work, but not in mine.

This is a slick paper magazine--many colorful photos

and instructions on how to accomplish bulky yarns.

We'll see how the next publication is--

I'll pass this issue along to a bulky spinner.