Le Tour and Fibre Arts - Dreams All Around

Today is Day 7 of Le Tour de France, and it's a hilly up and down until the final 40Km which are more-or-less flat. We're heading into the Pyrenees for two days, so this is the wind-up for some serious peaks to come. The Race has prohibited spectator vehicles from the stages in the hopes of cutting down on the crowds in these days of Pandemic, but the crowds are still there - hiking far up the mountains. The Pyrenees are always crazy with clogged narrow passages and presses of spectators from all sides, so I'll be very curious to see how many spectators will climb the peaks in the days to come. It might be a nightmare, it's impossible to say for sure. 

There's an impressive Cat 1 peak right in the middle of today's stage,
but the ending is custom made for the sprinters. Sagan lost the
Green Jersey yesterday, and he may push to get it back today. 

If you're like me and adore the mountain stages of Le Tour, here are the days you want to be watching: 

Saturday and Sunday, September 4 & 5 - the Pyrenees
Friday, September 13th - the Massif Central (probably misspelled, sorry!) 
Sunday, September 15th - the beginning of the Alps
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 16-18 deep in the Alps

Of course, all of these dates depend on testing and virus results. The first rest day is on Monday, and the first tests of the riders and their support teams in that day. Not all teams may make it through to the end, and the race itself may not make it. But a lot depends on what happens in the Pyrenees and what the test results show. Everyone is being careful, but it may not be enough. 

One of the things I've been looking at are Inkle Loom
patterns. I have an Inkle loom that I've never used, in
my sewing storage cabinet. I also have a couple of
Charkha looms for spinning cotton. I had some cotton
fiber in my Big Fiber Bag, and I remember taking an
intensive workshop with Stephanie Gaustead a few
decades ago in cotton spinning. I enjoyed it, and it's
very portable. Fun. 

I'm having fun reading articles on spinning from years of past issues of "Spin Off" magazine. I'm getting my money's worth from my digital subscription. My evenings have been spent with You Tube videos of fiber equipment or usage, and I'm relearning things I knew more than twenty years ago. I haven't allowed myself to grab a spindle and some wool yet, but I will. It's only a matter of time. I'm super excited to get back into fabric and fiber arts once again. It'll be a return to my roots, so to speak. Once I have my life to myself again, and don't have to go work every day, I can really explore fiber arts once again. I know I'll be able to work something out where I can use my various skills and bring them together into a cohesive whole. Why not? I have a ton of stuff, now I have to start using it. 

Have a wonderful Friday. We're cool here right now, so it would have been a wonderful few days at the State Fair with my BFF, Sharon. I miss it so much, but I'm not idle - I'm doing things, just not catching up with life in Colorado. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow.