2015 Tour de Fleece colourways: Gamay

After a long stretch running along the northern part of france, the riders will hop on a plane and head to the far southern extreme of the country and hit the Pyrenees, the first of two series of stages in the high mountains. Stages 10-12 will be up and down, up and down, and up some more. After that punishment, the peleton will head out into the flatter regions of the Rhone Valley, a famous wine region, which is the inspiration behind the third colorway for this year's Tour de Fleece (because how can there be French-inspired colors without including wine?).

Gamay on Ile de France

The Gamay grape is a dark purple grape used in a number of red wines, and has been cultivated since the 15th century. It is the grape used in Beaujolais nouveau, which comes largely from a region a bit further north then this year's route, but it is also used in making a local version of Malbec (my favorite red wine). More importantly, the pictures of the grapes are beautiful - black, purple, hints of red undertones...

The final colorway also includes some of the deep red tones of the wine produced from these grapes. Although the top looks quite variegated, it spins up into a fairly semisolid yarn, and is a good contrast to the brighter orange tones of House of Orange.

The last TdF colorway is inspired by one of the truly iconic climbs of the Tour de France's long history. Check back tomorrow for the final reveal!

2015 Tour de Fleece colourways: Le Havre

After a trip through the Netherlands and Belgium, the Tour route stays flat as it heads across northern France. On 9 July, the 192 kilometers of Stage 6 end in Le Havre in Haute-Normandie. Le Havre is the second largest port in France, so what else could this colorway be other then nautically inspired?

Le Havre on Ile de France

This colorway has the dark navy blue of the open ocean, combined with lighter blues of shallow water and a dash of red as an homage to the French Tricolore. When I look at this colorway, I get a mental image of Audrey Hepburn in a French sailor shirt and culottes, strolling along the boardwalk. Or Jackie O in the same nautical stripes and huge, oversized sunglasses. You get the idea...

A bit of ocean waves, a touch of French style, and gorgeous bouncy wool. What's not to love?

Like the others, Le Havre will be available for preorders from 10 May, and will only be available until the end of Le Tour - 26 July.

2015 Tour de Fleece colourways: House of Orange

I'm a big fan of the Tour de France. As a post-graduate, I moved to Tucson, AZ to live with my cycling-mad boyfriend, and got sucked into a) cycling and b) watching the Grand Tours on television. With the 9+ hr time difference to Europe, that meant that if I got up early, I could watch the day's stage live before heading off to work - result!

On of the exciting things about the Tour de France is the route is different every year. There are some traditional places that get included on a regular basis, and the last stage always finishes on the Champs Elysee in Paris, but the actual route - the starting and finishing points of each day's stage, the mountain climbs and the regions visited - change. Not only does the route change, but very often the race visits other countries. This year's starting point in the Netherlands has inspired my first, limited edition Tour de Fleece 2015 colorway - House of Orange.

The House of Orange (really technically the House of Orange-Nassau) is the royal dynasty behind the monarchy of the Netherlands. William I of Orange founded the house in 1544, and it has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ever since. A later member of the house, William III, was King of England from 1689-1702.

This year's Tour route begins in Utrecht on 4 July with the Prologue, a short 14 kilometer course through the city. The official Stage 1 runs from Utrecht to the Zeeland Delta for 166 km on 5 July, finishing right alongside the ocean.

The Dutch are also huge cycling fans - there's always a large Orange presence in the crowds lining the route. On the iconic Alpe d'Huez climb, there's even a hairpin named Dutch Corner, where the riders are engulfed by a sea of orange. This colorway is a tribute to all those fans cheering on all the riders as they hurtle along.

These Tour de France colorways are also dyed on a brand new base for Porpoise Fur - Ile de France. Ile de France is native to an area near Paris, and was developed in the early 19th century through breed on Dishley Leicester and Rambouillet (it is also know as the Dishley Merino). The breed is primarily raised for meat, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this fibre - it is soft and crimpy, and spins up very much like Targhee, an American breed known for it's bounce and elasticity, as well as for it's softness.

The four limited edition colorways I've developed for the 2015 Tour de Fleece are only available on Ile de France, and will only be dyed through the end of the Tour - Sunday, 26th July. After that, these colors will disappear. I'll put a link in the shop for preorders on 10th May, but fibers will not ship until after I Knit Fandango (15-16th May).

Stay tuned for the next colorway to be revealed tomorrow - any guesses as to what the next route inspiration will be?

Deadlines are very helpful

So. Strangely enough, writing down that I was going to write up that pattern and post an update by this morning meant that yesterday I actually sat down and wrote up the pattern. It's in a rough form, and I need to add the charts, but it is written. A few photos, a bit more formatting, and I can send it off to the tech editor. Accountability works: who knew? 

I'm finding impending deadlines to be really useful in other parts of my crafting life too. In just under three weeks, Porpoise Fur is going to be exhibiting at its first show, the I Knit Fandango. So I've been dyeing like a mad woman (it's amazing how much I can dye when I have a schedule, a plan and - oh yeah! - a deadline), and also trying to knit up some samples for the booth to show off the spun up fiber. On Saturday morning, I cast off and promptly blocked what might be the world's biggest Nymphalidea.

This is knit out of handspun Shetland in "Clotted Cream" and "Yellow Fluorescent Protein". I spun this yarn last year, as part of the Porpoise Fur Two-Color Shawl SAL/KAL (which has sadly gone very quiet over on Ravelry, but I'm going to be resurrecting it ASAP), and finally cast on about a week and a half ago. It flew off the needles, once I decided which color combo to do (yellow welts with white lace, or white welts with yellow lace). 

Yesterday, I started up my second handspun Porpoise Fur Shawl - Penrose Tile, in The Far Pavillions and London Fog, also on Shetland. Bliss...

The Design Diaries: Writing the Pattern

The important starting elements

My Boat Race hat project is now at that critical stage where things can really go off the rails for me: writing the pattern. The prototypes are done, I've got several pages in my notebook covered in notes, and it's time to sit down and translate those scribbles into something semi-coherent that I can send off to test knitters and my tech editor.

I really enjoy writing patterns. In many ways, it's very similar to writing a scientific paper (as I suggested in my recent interview with Kate Atherley on the most recent Yarn in the City Podcast). There are very distinct pieces that need to be included for both types of writing to work well.

The important pieces of the writing

Kate talks in depth about the essential pieces of a knitting pattern in her new book, Pattern Writing for Knit Designers (which I think should be required reading for everyone who even begins to jot down patterns on the backs of Starbucks napkins), but the basic premise is: tell people why they want to knit your pattern, tell them whats interesting/challenging/exciting about the pattern, tell them what materials they need, tell them how to do it, and tell them how to end. Pretty simple, right?

Here's where I get in to trouble: I've got the prototypes, I've got the notes, I've got the pieces ready to go (if only mostly in my head), and I sit down at the computer and I...faff on the Ravelry forums, or check to see if I've gotten any new and exciting email in the last five minutes, play a few rounds of Frozen Free Fall, text Allison to harass her, hop on Twitter to see who's in a righteous outrage at the moment, check some pretty pictures on Instagram...

You can see where this is going, right? Pure, unadulturated procrastination. And I have to admit, right now I am procrastinating not only on writing these hat patterns, but also on writing a scientific paper, so my procrastination instinct is not limited (sadly!) to knitting patterns!

Here's where you all come in: I am, in this blog post, publicly announcing that I will use this weekend to write up these two patterns, with the goal of sending them to my fabulous tech editor at the beginning of the week (I don't know if she reads the blog, but if she does: consider yourself warned D!). And I give everyone reading this permission to call me out if I don't post some kind of update on this project by Tuesday morning.

I'm ready for some real pattern crafting this weekend. See you on the other side!