Wisconsin Snapshots: Sheep to Shawl

(Feel like you have a sheep lurking in your computer by now? I am determined to give you as much of the ambiance of the Sheep and Wool Show as I can, given the format. I did come home, so you know there is a finite amount of this...)

OK, back to the show. Here we have more Icelandic Sheep. I wasn't happy with my photos of the Shetlands, but they are very much like the Icelandic. The fleeces from these little cuties provide VERY long fiber to work with, a spinners dream. One gal showed me how she can spin the Shetland fleece without even carding it first, a real time saver, believe me.

Anyway, this is where it begins. You have a sheep. With fleece.

You shear the fleece, clean it, usually wash it and dry it in wool drying baskets (very cool baskets!), then begin preparing it for spinning. This is where the carding combs come in. There are machines to do this, but watching a good hard carder is a real experience. And may convince you to get your spinning wool already carded, which is then called roving. I'm all for roving...

I absolutely adore these socks. This lady knit them both from the same varigated dyed yarn, but if you look closely you will see that her left sock has a sort of splotchy pattern while her right sock is striped. She was demonstrating how you can get different affects from the same yarn.

She wears these especially for spinning demos. They definately are a conversation starter!

She was fun to visit with as she spun the wool with a very plain little spinning wheel. Spinning wheels come in all sizes and prices. More on that in a minute... Watching her handle the fiber with such enjoyment and efficiency made my fingers start to twitch. I'm ready for a new adventure.

There were four or five spinners in the demo area to watch and chat with - this is a very social activity, making me think of the old fashioned "spinning bees", which went along with "quilting bees". So wonderful to see these arts still alive and well!

Spinning wool into yarn can be portable - reduce those spinning wheels to the very basic, and you have a "drop spindle". That's what this little spinner is using. And that's where I'll be starting, very soon.

From the spinning comes the yarn. Then it can be used in weaving, knitting, crocheting, tapestry and other needlework. The fellow (yes, men are active in the fabric arts!) working this loom was great fun to listen to, and fascinating to watch.

The sun was coming through a nearby door, which provided marvelous backlighting on the strands of fiber.

There were two buildings, each about 200 feet long with two aisles, full of vendors of all things pertaining to woolen products and fleece and yarn and sheep crafts. The yarns ranged from straight wool in natural colors or dyed in rainbow colors, to exotic fibers from bison, alpaca, angora rabbits, even dogs. It wasn't hard to spend several hours at a time browsing the displays and talking to vendors. Two days were barely long enough!

As the last day drew to a close, I found a seat in the judging barn, settled in to watch Jolene serve as ring steward for the youth show, and hauled out my single purchase of the weekend: a ball of soft Shetland wool yarn, hand spun and dyed in a shade the spinner called Autumn Sumac. She had a spare set of bamboo knitting needles left from a class, which went with the yarn. I love to knit, and that lovely yarn was all the enticement I needed for a new project. Call me easily entertained!

I had started a lacey knit scarf as soon as I got the yarn in my hands, early Saturday morning. The little brown box and project fit into my tote (which you may recognize from my sewing project while in Oregon last winter/spring) along with other necessities of comfort for enjoying an excursion to a sheep show.