To define "Ravel"

Wordsmith.org's A.Word.A.Day offered this up yesterday - I added a third definition which isn't necessarily "standard", but is certainly in widespread use among a certain crafty set:

RAVEL

PRONUNCIATION:
(RAV-uhl)

ETYMOLOGY:
From Middle Dutch ravelen (to fray out), from ravel (loose thread). Earliest documented use: before 1540.

MEANING:
verb tr. intr.:

1. To fray or to become disjoined; to untangle.
2. To entangle or to become tangled.
3. To foster one's addiction to knitting, crocheting, spinning or weaving in an online community of like-minded individuals. See also enabling.

There, that's better!

That enabling thing is key. Fellow Ravelers and Tweeps encouraged me to try the Tour de Fleece this year - so far, so good. I have managed to spin every day, although I fell asleep before I could post in yesterday's thread (drat). I'm mostly working on getting through the giant pile of tussah top I brought home from MDS&W in May (see photo at top).

Day three was finishing up the rest of the purple fluff pictured above, and that's all done. There's six ounces total, and since 1.6oz previously got me 120 yards, I think I'll have enough to make something pretty once I'm done. I think it's going to be two separate yarns - the purples, blues and greens as one, then all the warm colors together. Except maybe the bright pink; that might be on its own. These are going to be singles, since the batch I did up pre-fleece actually looks like yarn:


Anyway, Here's Day 1, which is some superwash merino:


I have 4oz of this, and it's a LOT:



Here's Day 2, which isn't quite as spectacular, but it's still pretty:


So, that's the start of my Tour de Fleece, and I'm hoping to have a big dent in the stuff I bought at MDS&W, and have the skillz/courage to spin up the pretty orange fluff A sent me by the end of it all!