Tour de Fleece

On a whim, last week I decided I’d play along with the Tour de Fleece.  I had fun doing it a few years ago and stashbusted a big chunk of my spinning fibre. Sadly, nature (or me) abhors a vacuum, and the stash is right back where it was.  The idea of the Tour is that you spin along with the cyclists in the Tour de France, beginning the spinning when they do (July 3rd) and finish when they do (July 25th).  Everybody has a different spinning challenge, and mine this time is (just like last time) a certain weight – 1400g to be precise.  (I think that’s around three pounds.)

By my calculations I thought that meant that I had to spin about 62g a day, and that seemed doable.  I was feeling pretty good about it, since before I left for Port Ludlow and the silk retreat on Tuesday I had already spun about 300g of some gorgeous Spinners Hill stuff from the depths of the stash.

(Don’t ask for details, the tag’s long gone.)
I was feeling really properly proud of myself, I mean, that’s a pretty good head start, and I know that over the three weeks of the challenge I’ve got a retreat to teach/manage and two travel days and lots of other stuff going on, but really… that was like… 75g a day and that put me huge ahead.  Huge.

I actually managed to feel smug before I remembered one thing.

Plying.  Whoops.  That’s going to throw off the daily count.  Pictures of the red yarn when it’s plied, and when I’m back home.

For now I’m making good time on some 226g of BFL. I have tons to do for the  retreat, and I’m a little behind, since time is really at a premium when you’ve got a crockpot of cocoons on the boil (the smell is really something) but it’s hard to complain that you only have a little time to spin when the view is so nice.

400 grams down… only 1000 to go, and just over two weeks to do it in.  Anybody else got a challenge?

106 thoughts on “Tour de Fleece

  1. My challenge: Not being too terribly jealous of that gorgeous water view from my landlocked state!

  2. I’m not officially in the Tour–truth be told, I’d forgotten all about it–but I did coincidentally set myself a spinning challenge about a week before: to spin enough to knit a vest for SOAR. Yes, I know it’s not till October, but for me this is a challenge. I’m quite slow but making progress. Your stuff looks wonderful! I can’t imagine spinning 3 pounds in 3 weeks–I’m doing just over half that and October will probably find me still struggling. Have fun this weekend and don’t develop spinner’s limp!

  3. I have been spinning like crazy the past few weeks . I have been bitten by the spinning but big time but not for the Tour de Fleece – just ‘because’ – I am totally impressed by all the fiber you have spun up already – cannot wait to see it plied. It is very pretty!
    Vanessa in Upstate NY

  4. haha excuse me! I mean bitten by the spinning bug not spinning but – haha

  5. I’ve deliberately not tried spinning because I’m afraid I would like it – and I’ve already got more interests than I have time to pursue. I really like the BFL you’re spinning now. Coincidentally, I actually watch the Tour de France because I like it.

  6. Okay, so I realize that it’s your job and all (pay the bills, feed the family) but I’m beginning to develop some serious “employment envy with all of these stunning pics including nature and water.
    😉
    I’m just going to have to go back and read the sock camp preparation posts. (giggle)

  7. Hi Stephanie,
    What brand of wheel is that in your stunning photo? Is it a travel wheel or are you borrowing while on the road? Love the photos of your spun fiber. Do you remember the dyer on the BFL? Lovely colors.
    I am spinning for the tour as well, Team Knit Girllls (Have you seen their podcast? They’re nice girls!) on my Louet S10 DT.

  8. My challenge is get a handle on this spindle..I can get it turning, I can get the single twisting..then I get mixed up and forget to draft…crap!
    Or I get drafting, the spindle turning and get carried away and stand up and the twist goes into the roving…double Crap!
    However, I am keeping at it. Not sure that I “get” it at all, but the fiber is read and I love it.

  9. That BFL is gorgeous! I love that combination of colors and the tone. Keep up the spinning, I’m sure you’ll do great. Better than me anyway. I haven’t spun anything in months.

  10. To finish the cabled yarn for the scholarship-fund silent auction at SOAR — four plies of merinos and silks in peaches, lavenders and creams, but thin and loooooooong. And way too many steps.

  11. Just like Vanessa, I’m keeping myself away from spinning because I know myself well enough that it would quickly become an enormous black hole sucking all of my time, money and household storage space. I have a hard enough time keeping my husband from revolting due to the knitting stash. Though I think if I used the logic that making my own yarn (instead of buying it) would be less expensive (ha!) and more time-effective, he might buy into it. Of course, then I wouldn’t be able to buy more yarn . . . hmm. Must keep strategizing.

  12. My challenge, personal I guess since I didn’t sign up for the Tour, is to spin up the four bundles of fluff that I picked up at Great Lakes Fiber Fest in May. I have 2 balls of Polworth roving dyed by Briar Rose they are about 5 oz each and two 8 OZ braids of BLF top from Frabjous Fibers. I’m currently on a color experiment of spinning singles from two very different colorways (usually from the same dyer)and then plying them together to come up with a new color. I’ve been getting some interesting yarns from this.

  13. My friend and I are doing a Fear Factor challenge for Tour de Fleece, spinning all sorts of things that we’ve not spun and that intimidate us. Mohair locks were fun. One silk roving was pretty cooperative but the other was being a jackass. Milk is up next.

  14. I agree that I just can’t have another crafty hobby! I have a goal to finish the Mason Dixon Moderne Baby Blanket by the end of the month. I’m four color blocks into it and thankful that I’m a teacher on summer vacation!

  15. Someday I will learn to spin. I can’t afford another hobby right now though.
    OOH I love that red! Gorgeous.

  16. That’s the great thing about weaving, no need to ply. I’ve been spinning madly from my stash and stopping occasionally to admire the singles and feel clever.
    I’ll try not to smirk.
    Syne (That annoying weaver gal who shows up from time to time.)

  17. I am a newer spinner (started in Dec 2009) so this is my first TdF. I am attempting to spin up 2 pounds of my stash fibers, but it’s proving a bit difficult because I just started a new job and my knitting/spinning time has been dramatically reduced.

  18. Argh. I attached the wrong URL in my comment. I meant to post my blog, not a link to my online store. Stupid autofill.
    Okay, not feeling so clever now.
    Is my karma fast or what?

  19. I just wanted to spin every day. And maybe wind up with a sweater’s worth of 3-ply worsted weight. So far so good.

  20. Oh no, I forgot about it this year! I hope you hit your goal and get the yellow sheep coat.

  21. Simply surrounded by beauty. However do you manage?
    I like how the spinning is more beautiful as you spin.

  22. I’m a HUGE Tour de France fan and am somewhat challenged by the fact that the Tour and the World Cup overlap. All that television time has translated to a LOT of spinning (and a few extra lbs on the rear).
    I have challenged myself this year to make sock yarn, which is much thinner than my usual spin, especially since I’m 3-plying. I’ve got some I SAY is sock yarn in that I’ll make socks of it . . . but really saying doesn’t actually make it so. Good thing I happen to like thick socks.

  23. I had challenged myself to finish up everything already started on the wheels (didn’t add in the spindles), starting with some gorgeous alpaca/merino that I was really enjoying. I finished up the first bag and started the second only to get a nasty pinched nerve in my shoulder that stopped my spinning for a couple of days. 🙁
    I did some spindling at my son’s baseball game birthday party tonight, though, and that felt okay. I might have to switch goals . . .

  24. My challenge is to spin up enough for a sweater for my 6’6″ son. I’m a pretty new spinner (6 months) and I’m using a natural colored BFL – aiming for worsted weight 3-ply. Oh, and I’m just across the waters from you on Whidbey Island. Hope you’re keeping cool!

  25. My challenge is getting a few hours of sleep before my plane leaves in 5 1/2 hours from here to where you are for the silk retreat. I am so jazzed. I’ve packed about 3 times taking stuff out, putting stuff back in. What’s the weather like there?

  26. Like so many others, I am having trouble quashing my envy. I would *so* like to sit on a dock and spin. Sadly I am participating in the long, drawn-out death of a job I love. Sigh.
    In the meantime I have no time for spinning. Soon I may have all the time in the world, but enough about me. Your wheel is a Joy, right? I am torn between the Joy and the Little Gem as a potential travel wheel.

  27. I’m so glad there are already a lot of other people who say they won’t take up spinning because they’ve already got so much money and time in other things. I was the exact same way- said i wouldn’t take up spinning until I had my own steady income- until I totally JUST DID IT ANYWAYS! 😀 A lovely woman at my job spun, and was so eager to teach me, and even gave me some starter yarn and a free little spindle.
    and I love it anyways.

  28. Welcome back to the Olympic Peninsula just in time for our FIRST heat. Did you bring it with you? I was up there on the 4th and we had to wear sweaters! Enjoy your time working with silk.

  29. I just learned how to comb fleece! I’m working my way through as much as I can….I think I have 3 bags full, but I’m finding the heat a challenge!
    All the best to you and your challenges

  30. My goal is simply to spin everyday and have fun. So far so good. Amazing how much spinning gets done when a person actually sits in front of the wheel everyday.

  31. I’m not a spinner, so not participating in the Tour de Fleece (looks like fun though, and that red yarn would be perfect for autumnal knitting). My challenge at the moment is to finish a knitting a cardigan to wear to Knit Nation in three weeks – which _is_ a challenge, given that the forecast for this weekend should, basically, say “Good luck with not melting”. It’s so hot the yarn just glues itself to my sticky fingers! (It’s also challenging because it’s a self-designed cardi, and I’m not entirely sure what happens once I’ve finished the yoke…)

  32. i’m aiming to spin my first fleece – a beautiful alpaca fleece. not moving as fast on it as i normally do because there’s no – just the rest of this braid- incentive! but it’s pretty and soft 🙂

  33. Well I can’t spin but I am knitting a pair of Tour de France socks with my latest sock club yarn (I started doing the Ada Lovelace one but frogged it out at halfway when I didn’t like the look of it. So I’m knitting and cheering for BC’s Ryder Hesjedal and Toronto boy Michael Barry our two Canadian lads in the race.
    On a bragging mother note, my own son is wearing a different yellow jersey as he is in the lead in the Junior Tour of Ireland going on this week. The knitting helps me stay calm as I await news of each day’s stage

  34. My goal is to finish a cashmere blend braid in red for a Christmas present. I keep putting it aside, because red isn’t my thing, but I know my mom will love it. And Christmas is all about making your mom cry with happiness over thoughtful gifts! 🙂

  35. This isn’t really related to spinning, but I have always wondered, do you knit English or Contental style? Can you do both or is it like being left or right handed?

  36. Beautiful Spinners Hill fiber! I am doing the TdF for the second year – I loved it last year. Participating really gave my spinning a boost – I haven’t been spinning all that long. My goal this year is also 3 pounds and I am spinning 2 pounds of it for a sweater. The plying does hold up the works!

  37. I signed up for the Tour, and I pledged to spin at least 20 minutes per day every day of the tour (as opposed to an hour or two every other month….) So far, I have worked my way through most of my first bag of roving that I bought a year and a half ago. I’m hoping to finish it early next week and start on the second bag that I bought last fall. This is all on a spindle. Plying – yeah, after my second bag of roving. (I figure I can make a scarf from my first bag, and all of the learner’s mistakes will just be “charming” whimsies.)

  38. I fear you’re getting ready for another deadline crisis, but hoping for the best. Good luck! It’s really pretty.

  39. I don’t spin, but I LOVE BFL. While the spinning wheel on the dock is not calling to me(yet), the sail boats in the water are, though it does look a little calm(when you took the picture) for sailing. Enjoy your Knot Hysteria weekend to the max. Cheers and red wine, Hazel.

  40. Not in the Tour de Fleece but I’ve got a personal challenge to spin enough cotton to knit a lacy cotton summer top by the end of the summer. I’ve just recently learned to spin the cotton and have some amazingly prepared top that I just can’t stop spinning. I’ve got about 250 yards of lace weight done so I think I’m on track.

  41. Have you read Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama? It’s kind of a feminist utopia in the pre-Mao era silk factories in China. It tells a little about silk making on a large scale. No crock pots, though.

  42. I’m currently embroiled in Toni-in-Idaho’s (http://yarnontheside.blogspot.com/) insane 100-FOs-in-a-year challenge. And way behind. Fortunately we’re counting all crafts and not just knitting, but even so, I’ve got to get cranking. Would be much easier if I could craft in the pool–I’m also tackling Diane @ 11:28’s not-melting-into-a puddle-challenge. Crazy New England heat wave.

  43. My challenge is to do justice to the Kundert spindle that I bought at the Sock Summit 09 by simply spinning every day. Signed up for the Rookies and My Favorite Sheep Teams for support.
    Not having trained for this, the first three days just about did me in! But the morning of the 4th day, I must have hit my stride and now the whole process is ….FUN!
    I love to spin.

  44. I really should sign up for this one of these years, and practice my spindle spinning every day. I’m abyssmal, but won’t get any better without practice.

  45. I’m a newbie (and spindle only) so I’m aiming to get through all 2oz of Surina 70% alpaca/30% merino pencil roving, and to make Significant Progress on a merino/bamboo batt from Butterfly Girl Designs.
    The mission statement for Team Suck Less includes also spinning a mile in one day. For spindlers that’s knocked down to various interpretations such as walk a mile in one day, while spinning, and I think I’ll be able to pull that off this Saturday!

  46. I used to abhor a vacuum until I bought my Dyson.
    Sorry. Really AWFUL pun…(slinks off in embarrassment)
    I’m doing TdF as well. Luckily I’ve been sick for the past three days, so have had a good excuse to do nothing but spin!

  47. I’ve watched the Tour for years, ever since my cycling son got me hooked when he was in high school, about 2 decades ago. This year though, our roof is being torn off and replaced so my satellite dish is down and I’m missing about a week of the race. Also, since I take care of my 3 year old granddaughter, my goal is just to get any amount of spinning done at all regularly!
    For Jan… BFL is a breed of sheep. Blue Faced Leicester (I hope I spelled that right) commenly called Biffle.

  48. I hate it when my fingers don’t hit the same keys that my mind tells them to hit.

  49. Omg I’m so jealous! That view is gorgeous. I didn’t sign up to participate in the tour de fleece because I am taking a vacation for a week of it. I’m really hoping I will be able to bring my spinning wheel with me because spinning outside looking out at Lake Superior would be pretty incredible, but we aren’t sure if we can fit it in the car or not :/ fingers crossed!

  50. My goal was really more of a time one than an ammount–to do something spinning related for at least an hour every day, be that spinning, plying, skeining, drum cardng, whatever. So far, so good.

  51. So glad the wheel made its lonely trip in good shape! Very jealous of knot hysteria fun in beautiful Port Ludlow! Happy spinning!

  52. challenge ha, double HA. I just finished the sweater from the olympic challenge. Still need to block the lace (just to hot to be on the second floor bedroom for longer than 10 mins). I will spin just not set a challenge because from exprience I just don’t let go.

  53. “a crockpot of cocoons on the boil”?! Good heavens, woman, what kind of soup are you making! : )
    I’m doing the Eiffel Tower/Tour de France KAL (Ravelry) in laceweight and it’s been so hot and sticky here that I can’t knit at home. And it’s been too hot to sleep well, so then I’m tired and am making mistakes when I retreat to somewhere with A/C so I can knit. The humidity is supposed to break after Sunday, I think, so hopefully I’ll be okay to finish. But what’s really driving me nuts is not being able to get live video coverage of the Tour without paying $30 to watch it online. GRRRRRRRRR.

  54. My personal challenge: Make corespun yarn on drop spindles. But *dang* it’s slow! But I’m getting there!

  55. My challenge was to spin 1.5 lbs all for one project. I seriously miscalculated. Unless the space-time continuum bends in the next week or so, I’m will not even be close. So far I’ve spun about 200g of singles.

  56. Yeah, I have a challenge. Actually learning to use the Lendrum my Darling Hubby bought me for Christmas! I’ve hardly had any time to go to the local spinning group for their help. I feel like such a slacker, and my wheel sits in the living room taunting me!!

  57. Well, I didn’t know about the Tour de Fleece, but with rearranging my office and everything not having it’s place yet (ha!) my spinning wheel is here beside my desk. I managed to finishing spinning the fleece that’s been sitting beside it for the last 2 years. Then I got a bin of fleece out to show my niece, and found some llama/silk blend I’d forgotten about… Have to ply this off, then I’m going to start spinning a little every day… I hope.
    So .. a challenge? Yeah, to not move my spinning wheel out of the middle of the room because when it’s in my way, I remember how much I like to do it 🙂

  58. My main goal is just to actually sit down and spin each day of the tour, but my secondary goal is to, by doing that, spin one of my favorite sheep, Jester, divided into three colors (he’s a Jacob) for my first fair isle top down EZ cardigan.
    The normal TDF site is down this year so I started a group on Ravelry – Team My Favorite Sheep :-D. We’re having a great time.

  59. Boiling silk lets you know about it, definitely. (I think I’ll do some of that today myself, now that you’ve got my dyepot thoughts going!) So what color is in there? Something to ply with the Blue-Faced Leicester? (That’s to help answer the BFL questions.) Beautiful yarn you’re making there. Have a good trip!

  60. I challenge myself to find a nicer view than that to accompany my knitting.

  61. Well my original challenge was to spin 4.3oz of gorgeous Corgi Hill Farm merino/cashmere but I think that might have been a bit crazy. I just started spinning on a loaned drop spindle a week ago. One more day practicing on the basic wool and I’ll move to my merino/cashmere and my beautiful new Two Tails bloodwood/ebony spindle. 😉

  62. My first challenge was just to see if I could remember how to spin after a lapse of more than a decade. Turns out it’s much like riding a bike. Second challenge was to just spin something every day. So far, so good. A little cotton on a bead whorl spindle here, 4oz of merino on a production wheel there, some silk blend on a charka in between. Third challenge will be to get the great wheel in working order. Despite being on the Russian Underpants team I haven’t tackled that one yet. Fourth challenge, being saved for the 22nd, is to spin a mile of yarn in one day — so far I’ve been scared to calculate how many yards/minute that means I’ll have to crank out. Final challenge is to figure out how to keep on target for the 52 Pair Plunge now that I’ve become readdicted to spinning.

  63. I am on Team Crankypants (and believe me, with the heat we have been having in Baltimore that has been a very well-named team for me to be on). My challenge has just been to spin for at least 15 minutes every day. I just started spinning several months ago and this was a good way to do it every day. I can see improvement just this week, so I am happy. I have plyed one skein of yarn and then spun singles and plyed 4 oz. of BFL. Now I am working on 1 pound of merino to hopefully have finished by the end of the Tour. That has become my new challenge.

  64. I’m on “Team Becoming Art”. My challenge was to try new fibers/techniques. Hurdle 1 was learning navajo ply. Thus far I’ve only used bits of ends I had left. Next up comes spinning a whole real skein. We’ll see how that goes… at least I have gorgeous fibers to play with!

  65. My challenge is to finish at least one of the three bats I have started to spin. Plus all the little bits of fiber I got in a Phat Fiber Kit. It is going well for me so far, though I only have about an hour to spin during M-Th.

  66. Oh, to be sitting on that lovely bay, admiring that lovely view, basking in that lovely weather. May I join you?
    I love, love, love my Ashford Joy. It has gone with me to so many arts markets and spin ins.
    BFL is my favorite thing to spin.
    I do wish they’d install a luggage-type skate wheels and a retractable pull handle on the case for the Joy. Don’t you?
    And bellows-type outside pockets with zippers.

  67. melting in new jersey (103F last week!) and wondering where I can hide in the library to knit, that my co-workers wouldn’t find me. Two bedroom air conditioners just don’t cut it!
    I’d like to use more handspun, as I love the colors that are created by the plies, but I’d rather you all do the spinning and I’ll do the shopping! Maybe after the Tour de Fleece you spinners could show us what you did?

  68. I plied lace for 4 hours last night. Four hours! That took way longer than I thought it would.

  69. My challenge?
    A) spinning up a measly 150g of BFL/seaweed/bunny into sock yarn (along with the 50g already spun)
    B) starting on prepping some fleece for a shawl exchange (after C lets me do so)
    C) getting over the last chemo. Hooray! It is really slowing my spinning down.
    D) getting stuck into stash and spinning it for sale at my guild. I have waaaay too much yarn to knit up.
    Would love to be sitting on a deck, looking out at water/scenery/etc

  70. Oh, that view is making me homesick, erm, Inn-sick. That sounds bad. You know what I mean. I miss Port Ludlow!
    My challenge: maintain my sanity with a teen and a preteen and a musician husband who has a record company who wants a project yesterday (but hasn’t paid him for the last one). Oh, FIBER-y challenge??
    Not spinning….but finishing my mother’s Mother’s Day socks. I was cruising along, but needed to order more hand-dyed yarn for them….I thought the skein I was ordering was pre-dyed, but no, so that took three weeks. By the time it came, Mother’s Day was gone, but also, the partially knit socks had vanished off the face of the earth.
    They have just resurfaced in a box of stuff my husband was tidying away. Mm-hmm. But he claims to know nothing. Anyway….trying to knit like the wind here! And I’m not the speediest sock knitter on the planet. But I’m trying hard! And now I have both yarn (wound, even) and socks! So what’s to stop me now? (Don’t answer that.)

  71. No tour challenge for me – just knitting through a great sock book pattern by pattern, but for now, I am enjoying that wonderful view through your photo! Thanks for sharing. That looks wonderfully peaceful, and I don’t think I’d want to go back inside for a long time!

  72. Not participating in the Tour, since I was traveling when it started. But I’ve been spinning up a storm since I got home, and anticipate kicking it up a notch when my new production wheel gets here.
    As to plying slowing you down…that’s not a factor if you decide you meant to play with knitting something with singles, right?

  73. Sadly I have no wheel 🙁 And my spindle is in another country…
    I am jealous of your view though!

  74. Hi Stephanie–I posted about my challenge on my blog, which is to spindle-spin, ply and knit a lace scarf. Not sure that knitting really counts, though, so I may abandon the knitting part and spin something else. (It’s not like I don’t have any fiber laying around here that I could work with.)

  75. I have bobbin envy…just how many bobbins do you have for your wheel? Note to self: buy more bobbins!

  76. Nice Ashford Joy, BTW, it’s one of my favorite travel wheels. I’m stash busting for the TDF, but nature abhors a vacuum and 1 pound of BFL just got ordered, oops!
    I’m working on some grey/bamboo blend on my Canadian production wheel and some red super wash/sari silk on my Spinolution Bee (my travel wheel).

  77. I don’t spin yet, but read every year about the TdF and so appreciate watching the yarn appear from the big puffy wool balls.

  78. All I can say is that bikers only spin they do not ply so therefore you are within the rules to only have the yarn spun.

  79. hey steph, your pictures are beautiful. the yarn is beautiful. i also have beautiful yarn but am not inspired to knit! what is wrong with me? seriously. i have a knitting group at work & friends who are so talented with their knitting, i should be clicking away 24/7. have you ever had a knitting lull? if so, how did you get out of it. if not, any words of encourgement would be so greatly appreciated. thanks! alane

  80. if I could just use this forum to ask for some powerful knitter mojo for a young friend and excellent knitter
    she has been knitting on a beautiful baby blanket as they hope and pray for a child
    they are having “fertility issues” so if you could send some knitter fertility prayers out while you are working with your hands please whisper Meghan’s name
    Thankyou

  81. Sadly, I am missing the Tour de Fleece because I am far from my spinning wheel. However, yours is gorgeous and I’m cheering you on.
    This, of course, caught my eye:
    “since time is really at a premium when you’ve got a crockpot of cocoons on the boil”
    I thought to myself “Oh yes, yes, I know what you mean.” -not because I process silk or ever have, but because sometimes I boil bug bottoms for dissection and you’ve got to be alert or you’ll overcook them. Fun with Lepidoptera, non?

  82. I would love to learn to spin. No room in the budget for another hobby. I already make jewelry (big bead stash) and knit (bigger yarn stash). I really just cannot add a fiber stash on top of it all.
    It’s only a matter of time, though. I can only resist the siren call for so long. If we ever have a house where I can have my very own craft room, I’ll be done for. I won’t be able to buy fleeces fast enough to fill it. *sigh* So many obsessions, so little time.

  83. I’m knitting a pair of socks instead!
    You can see them on my blog: nenewbieknitter.blogspot.com

  84. Those cocoons look like giant sperm! Yuk! And smelly, too? Brave woman, you.

  85. I decided to do the challenge for the first time. I am loving it. I didn’t do a weight challenge, I’m just trying to see how much I can get done overall. And you are right, this certainly is a stash bust! This week, I’m working on 3 pounds of a natural wool top that I bought a couple of months ago. So far, 2 bobbins down which is a total of 6 oz (I think).

  86. That looks to me like an Ashford Joy wheel, made just down the road from us. Nice travelling wheels.
    I have considered getting one myself. How do you find it?

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