It appears that every single one of you, or at least those who voiced an opinion, felt that I should start spinning for the Tour right away and not wait for the official start date. As I was of like mind, I sat down at my wheel immediately and began spinning.
I currently have 15oz. all spun up, 12 of which have already been plied and finished (washed, beaten, and hung to dry.) That means I'm a little over a third of the way there with plenty of time left to finish if I continue at this pace (which, it turns out, I haven't been. But there's still time.)
I have something cool to show you. Or at least I think it's cool, but it's very possible that I've simply spent too much time alone in my apartment in the past few weeks. Nevertheless, I'm going to show you anyway. I've finished three skeins now and I washed each of them on a different day and hung them up to dry. When I hung the second skein next to the first one, I was shocked (and a little worried) to see that it was four inches longer than the first! And it wasn't nearly as bouncy, either. And it's not like I hang up my yarn sopping wet, either. I wrap it in a towel and stomp all over it and swing it around in the air above my head after I wash it and it's really only a little damp by the time it gets hung up. I figured at that point that I had screwed everything up and had ruined all my plans of having an awesome sweater because one skein was lofty and airy and the next was kind of lifeless, but it turns out that as that second skein dried, it sprung up and shrank those four inches to match the first. So here's a picture of the three skeins together in varying stages of dryness. They're now all dry and look like the same yarn (and are the same length), which is good because they're supposed to be the same yarn.
This is going to be the greatest sweater ever. I've already designed it in my head (I think.)
