Stage Four: Cholet Time Trial

Today's stage finds us in the town of Cholet, for the individual time trials.

Cholet will hold a special place in our fiber-enthusiast hearts, as it was settled by weavers. According to Wikipedia, the chief industry there is the manufacture of linens and linen handkerchiefs, and the Musee du Textile is here. If you have any vintage handkerchiefs, you might check them out to see if they were made in Cholet or France, and post a photo on your blog for us.

Click here for the official Cholet website. There is a button on the right hand side for information on the Tour in Cholet.

ETA: Debby is having trouble meeting the daily time limits posting the race report portion of our daily stage reports. Je m'excuse...a quick report today while the Co-Directeur gets her instructions in order.

Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) won today's individual time trial at 35:44, to win his first stage ever in a Tour. It was a stunning upset against Fabian Cancellara (CSC), the world time trial specialist, who just didn't have the legs today. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) is gaining time in his quest for overall GC and the yellow jersey.

Here are the Stage Four results:

Yellow Jersey: Stefan Schumacher (Team Gerolsteiner)
Green Jersey: Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia)
Polka Dot Jersey: Thomas Voeckler (Team Bouygues Telecom)
White Jersey: Thomas Lovkvist (Team Columbia)

Best Team: Garmin-Chipotle

Lantern Rouge: Wim Vansevenent (Team Silence-Lotto) (178th place overall)

Team Lampre update: Natalie has a list of projects lined up that leaves me feeling exhausted: the bloke sweater; two pairs of socks; a Montego Bay scarf; and a Forest Canopy shawl, all WIPS to be completed. Not only that, but when she finishes these items, she says "I could reward myself in the last week by knitting a Morning Surf scarf with the handspun I’m spinning for the TdeFleece." !!!

Cindy has already finished one sleeve and started the second for her Stargate sweater. Here is her sketch of the design.

Ann's Brea Bag is off to a mixed start. After knitting up most of one side, she wasn't happy with the way the linen yarn felt or looked, so started again, this time stranding it with a Cascade cotton/elastic yarn. 'The white cotton adds a very soft hand feel and gives a tweedy, variegated look to the multi-hued purples of the linen.'

Stacey, who just celebrated her second blogiversary, has cast on the February Lady Sweater using Dream in Color Classy.

Donna has a beuatiful start to her striped Tempest. See her blog contest entry as to why her project definitely qualifies as French inspired. Team FDJ News:
Janine is well on track for her green jersey, as she is racing along with her Clapotis. It's looking beautiful in the Silk Garden Lite:
Also in the green jersey category, Leah has cast on her February Lady Sweater:
Helen had a setback when some coffee managed to spill onto her yarn, but she is valiantly riding on by turning it into an opportunity to visit the yarn store to get a replacement. Some of the FDJ luck was smiling on her as only one skein of yarn was damaged. She has also written a lovely piece with some interesting trivia about the history of French lace for her sprint challenge.
Stacy has cast on for the baby sweater, and has also written a great piece for the sprint.
A few late starts in our team, but our other team members will have some progress soon! Vive Le Tour!



News from Team Liqiguas

Or "Leaky Gas" as some of us are referring to it ;-)

First up Betsydoodle whose stole is coming along brilliantly. It's her own design folks, and just look, she's half way through and on her very own "épreuve de temps" if you ask me!

Another sprinter here, Rosemary, just look at Montparnasse :-) it looks WONDERFUL so far you speedy knitter you.Linz has been busy coming up with VERY tenuous TDF links - oh Linz, you do make me laugh.

Kate it seems has had a change of plan and is proposing Monkey socks. Great choice Kate, I've just made a pair and they are lovely socks.

And me, Joy what have I been up too? Well, I have fallen off my bike a couple times but got straight back on, , and I now think I am ready to throw away the stabilisers. Look, I have a toe and am all ready for a chart reading instep now.

I am also celebrating 100 blog posts and for those of you who remember me from last year's Tour, here is another canapé ;-) being knitted in tandem with the socks. Now there's a tenuous cycling link if ever I saw one.

May I just remind my team members that I have emailed you all and also left a Team message on Ravelry 'cos I know we aren't all there iyswim. I can keep trawling blogs and Ravelry but it IS time consuming so please get in touch or point me in the right direction if you have updates. Otherwise, well done team for a great start.

Team AG2R-Mondiale is off to a slow start but take a look at what we have so far. (For some reason I'm having problems with blogger and this entry was entered yesterday but it didn't show up.)
Pam made a last minute decision not to knit with wool in the summer and is now knitting a lace and rib tank.

Gemma has taken the dragon by the tail and is off to a good start with her Here be Dragone shawl.
It doesn't look like I, Shirley, can do more than a row a day, so it will be awhile before I'll have a picture.

Team CSC: Disappointments Abound, but only for the cyclists
Oh, Fabian Cancellara. Our hope is diminished. What a disappointing day in the saddle for the World Champion and CSC big man.

Things look better for the CSC knitters.

Judy suffered an early injury but is making progress, even if slowly, on her After Dark Nightie. Way to get back in the race!

Elisa will finally start to see coverage today, as she arrives back home from a trip. She is doing well with her crocheted cable sweater, with the front, back and portions of both sleeves done.CathyAnn is progressing beautifully with her beautiful Gwenda. She is definitely challenging herself in the King of the Mountains, with cables, lace and everything in between.
Lori has made a dent in her large undertaking of the Pi shawl.

And finally, my (Teri) February Lady Sweater has progressed to the lace. Good thing it's an easily memorized pattern, because otherwise it would be poor TdF knitting.

Team Rabobank, in their magnanimity, would like to offer you the following for inspiration and pleasure during your quest for Tour glory:

You're welcome.

Update from Camp Credit Agricole

Apologies to my team mates. Yesterday's update was swallowed during a clash of handlebars with a fellow poster so here goes with a double helping of bragging from the Flying Sheep!

Lyn has consolidated her solid start by completing the left front and is already 12cm into the right front. I can see Lyn as our anchor woman for rhythm and discipline. Look at this piece of understated chic:

Susan is now cantering down the foot of her Rivendell sock and is planning a positive feast of sports spectating including an outing for the sock at her local Stitch and Pitch. We may have to ask her to explain the rules of baseball to those of us from cricket loving countries. In the meantime, here is the fruit of her labours so far.

Kit has cast on for a Baby Surprise Jacket in some beautiful handspun yarn.
Rachel is also flying along with her 'La Asphalt Chanteuse' or 'Singing Road Socks'. I think she deserves the team award for the best bit of Franglais in tonight's update.
Gina has already completed one square of her afghan - at this rate she will be freewheeling into Paris at the end with her hands on her hips.

Carolyn has reached the dramatic waist shaping on her Breton Girl. Ooh La La, Carolyn, more like Moulin Rouge!

You will be relieved to know that I have decided to stop whingeing and get down to some serious pedalling and have produced something resembling the beginnings of a lace shawl.

I have to say I'm very proud of our team's progress so far - allez les Moutons Volantes!

TEAM COLUMBIA update:

Devorah had high hopes at trying to salvage her project, but sadly, had to do some ripping, Her words were “It was while watching today's time trials that I finally came out of a Tour induced stupor and realized that if getting the sock over my heel was a struggle, then I probably was not going to wear the socks. I knit a few more rows after switching to a larger needle and then finally caved in and ripped it back. Time to start over.”

Mari spoke about her love of the Malabrigo lace and her project. “I managed to get a little bit knit [on her Clapotis] during the broadcast today. Since it was dvr'ed and the hubby forwarded through a lot it cut down on my usual Tour knitting time. I will make up for it later tonight with the highlights.”

Christine had quite a bit to say when interviewed “I’m making decent progress on my KAL project, the Simple Knitted Bodice. Because of heat issues in certain portions of my house, I’ve been trying to limit my computer time; so finally today I’m able to post some progress photos (see her blog). Checking the fit is a little bit tricky, since I’m knitting on smaller needles than the pattern calls for. I know that when the sweater is complete and I wash it, the silk is going to stretch somewhat, so I’m trying to counteract the anticipated growth by knitting it a little smaller. If this plan doesn’t work I could be in trouble, but so far I think I’m all right. I’m also helped by the fact that I have my unfinished SKB (knit in RH Super Saver) for comparison.”

Lyn has crashed, when interviewed she said “Help! I’ve crashed! Not sure if I will be able to recover in time … I’m not happy with the way the waistcoat is knitting up, in particular the left hand triangle. Should have done more training! I need to do a practice piece, trying different ways of doing the triangle. Also now not sure about my gauge, think it really should be on a larger needle. I need to do another gauge swatch and wash it (didn’t wash the first swatch, thought it would be OK but now not so sure … ) before I make up my mind. I will keep you advised as to progress!”

Kathy, another crash victim had this to say “I had a minor crash with my no-pattern moebious capelet, then started again over the weekend. Last night I had a panic, so I threaded a very long piece of contrasting yarn and pulled the capelet on to make sure the size was about where I wanted it. Surprise! It was perfect. So then I had to pick up all the stitches again and get back to my knitting. I’m on skein 2 of 5 and knitting fast for the finish line!”

Morgan stated “I am about half way to having the sleeve increases done on wicked. Probably equates to about 7 inches knit. That's about it for me. I just need to take some pictures. I am LOVING the Lion & Lamb (Lorna's Laces). Even in the hot weather it is cruising along on the needles.”