Two of my guild members participated in the sheep to shawl contest. Their team, Spin City won last year at Rhinebeck. The competition involves shearing a sheep, carding and spinning the wool and weaving a shawl in the allotted time. I was lucky enough to tag along Friday during some of the preparation -choosing the sheep and shearing a sheep for practice.
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| The Fearless Spin City team. |
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John and the team examine the two sheep he brought to determine which fleece is best for the competition. These beautiful sheep are from John and Kate's farm, Reflections at Roclans.
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A lot of preparation and practice are involved in this competition, not only for the spinners and weavers but also for the shearers. Geof of Ruppert's Corriedales and John prepare to shear the practice sheep. Geof shared that he believes the sheep to shawl competition is the most important part of the festival as it brings all the parts together - the shepherds, the sheep, the spinners, the weavers and the final product.
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The sheep was surprisingly docile during the shearing and it was a quick process, just several minutes. Below the 3.3 lb. fleece is examined by Lynn and John.
The Spin City team's theme was The Wizard of Oz. The costumes were great and the decorations included a yellow brick road, munchkins and the wicked witch's broom and ruby slippers. The crowd was delighted with this team's theme and creativity. |
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| Christina and Dawn holding the completed shawl. Sadly they did not win the competition but their shawl was the most prized. The shawls are auctioned off after the competition and the Spin City shawl got the highest price at $1475.00. |
1 comment:
What fun! I loved this. Thanks for posting!
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