Les Champs-Elysées: the finish line

It's been a long time since I enjoyed a Tour de France quite so much as I did this year.  For sure, there were a few dark clouds (but considering that there were over 700 anti-doping controls, and only three riders thrown out, that's not bad, and gives me hope), but for the most part, it was a great race to watch each and every day.

And it's been great to watch what's been going on in the Tour de Fleece this year, too -- thank you for sharing your spinning with me, it's been a great inspiration -- but more on that tomorrow, for now, I want to hand out the maillots!

If you reached your goal, then please take one of the yellow jersey images below -- I've asked the tech guy to write some information on how that's done, and if you have any techie questions for him, please leave them in the comments.

Now -- let's say you didn't quite make it to your goal.  This happens.  Life is busy, stuff happens, and sometimes despite the best of intentions, we just can't do what we'd planned.  If that happened to you, and you know that you tried your hardest, then please take a red jersey -- that's the Prix de la Combativité, a little jersey I made up based on the prize that's handed out at the end of each day's stage for the rider who was the most combative, who tried something, who really pushed his limits. Did you try, did you push your limits, but you just didn't quite make it?  Then take the red jersey.

And now, I'm going to go watch the re-broadcast of this morning's stage, just to relive that great final sprint through Paris.  I felt a huge whallop of nostalgia this morning, following the cameras through familiar streets and around familiar places, but I hope the Universe will see fit to send me back one day.  Preferably at the end of July, so I can enjoy another arrival of the Tour!

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To display your Tour de Fleece Maillot Jaune 2008 or Prix de la Combativité 2008 badge on your blog or website, please download a copy of the image file of your choice to your computer and then upload it to the server that hosts your blog or website -- please don't just link to the image file here.

To download the image file, if you're on a Windows PC right-click on the one you want to download and from the pop-up menu select "Save Target As...", "Save Link As...", "Save Image As..." or something similar (depending on which browser you are using).  For Mac users, if you have a single-button mouse, you will need to Alt-click to get the pop-up menu and select the appropriate "Save ___ As..." item (sorry I can't be more precise, just doing this from memory...) from the menu.

Once you have saved it to your PC or Mac (you did remember to make note of which folder you saved it to, right?), upload the image file to your blog or website as you would any picture or image file.

There are two sizes of images provided, depending on how much space you have to fit it into -- choose whichever size of the badge you've earned fits best, and if you want to use both sizes please feel free to download both.

Here are the badges:

   

   

Comments

[Laura]

Thank you VERY much, Katherine, for sponsoring Le Tour De Fleece. Despite all odds, thanks to your incentive (and the fact that I got well enough just in time combined with the fact that I hate to let anything be left undone), I finished! Additionally, in honor of the completion, I broke down and bought a new camera. A picture of my green yarn is posted on my blog.

Of course (with a rueful giggle, I might add), I do mention that since I have completed all of the green, now I have to start spinning 20 ounces of the coordinating pink that I will need before weaving the shawl that this project will eventually become.

Spinning. No matter how much we complete, there's always more - lol!

[Fiberjoy]

Thank you Katherine for providing a Prix de la Combativité 2008 badge!

I had to be away from my wheel for most of the past week set my pace way back and so the final sprint to the finish line was longer than anticipated. An hour of steady pumping brought me close but not quite there. A dilemma of how to pack on the last .5 oz or so - of singles to be plyed, onto the stuffed bobbin was the hurdle that stopped my wheel.

[Frenchette]

Thank you so much Katherine, I had a great time doing this AND thinking of fun ways to blog it. I crossed the finish line this morning at the same time as Gert Steegmans, and felt so elated and proud. This adventure has renewed my interest in spinning, I even spun more this afternoon, just for fun.
Great inspiration you are.

[Dianna]

Merci beaucoup!!! That's the limit of my French, but I too want to offer my thanks for hosting this Tour! I have used my wheel more in the last 2 weeks than in the previous 6 months, and I have lots of beautiful 2 ply to show for it. I finished the one pound bundle of alpaca/silk and a couple of smaller mounds of various other fiber mixes. I am so pleased! Throughout the Tour I averaged more than an hour a day, so my goal was accomplished too. Now the trick is to keep spinning at that commitment!

[Sharon V]

I can't thank you enough for getting me behind my wheel!

If it wasn't for you and the Tour de Fleece, I might have spun once every couple of months - and I'd still be horrible. Instead, I spun singles and I plied, something I would never have attempted if I hadn't been spinning every day.

Thanks to you, I'm spinning so much better that I actually made something with the yarn I spun (and I did call it YARN!). If I had a blog page, I'd certainly take the maillot jaune because my goal was to spin even, usable yarn and I did just that.

Thanks a million!