Tour de Fleece 2021 has ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

I fell so, so very short of reaching my goals.

Of my original plan to finish six WIPs, I actually only finished two, and part of a third. I have no idea how much yardage I spun, or even an accurate measure of the fibers’ starting weights.

Clearly, I have no idea how long it really takes me to spin! Or of how little time I have available for spinning. Or both!

To understand the disconnect between my expectations and reality, I turned to what little documentation I have of previous spinning efforts. Unfortunately, I cannot really compare this Tour to last year’s, when I kept doggedly working on my same project through both rounds, and for several weeks after the Tour officially ended.

I’m also not sure it’s fair to compare this Tour to 2019, because, well, my supported spinning has improved dramatically. I’m also investing the time and effort to wind a tighter, neater cop. (Even if they aren’t really “fancy” cops!)

I have two lessons to learn so far from TdF 2021, neither related to the actual Tour. First, I need to be better about spinning a whole braid, start to finish, so I get some solid numbers for how long it takes me to spin four ounces. Too often I start a beautiful braid, only to discover my attention (and hands and spindles) wandered off to some other lovely fiber along the way.

Second – and perhaps more important – I need to actually write the numbers down once I have them! Blogging helps, but I don’t blog about everything I spin. (Until it has been sitting around unfinished forever and it becomes the subject of a post about WIPs!)

Now, the real question… do I finish the third WIP, with over an ounce of romedale / CVM – silk blend remaining?

Or do I return to my pre-Tour de Fleece spinning project, my Allons-y In Search Of merino-silk blend two-ply fractal spin? (Yes, the same project I had scheduled for WIP #4 in the first place!)

Or do something really wild and crazy, like practice chain plying on my EEW6 so I can finally finish last year’s Tour project? The possibilities are endless!

What would you do in my place? (After I allow my flicking hand a day or two to recover, that is…)