The true cost of participating in a sheep-to-shawl competition

In a conversation recently, the question was asked about how much it costs to participate in a sheep-to-shawl competition. I thought it was an interesting puzzle as I’d never really written anything down.

A team is usually 5 people—weaver, 3 spinners, and a shearer/carder. Our team does not own sheep nor is anyone a shearer, so we have to find a shepherd and pay their vet fees to certify that the animal is disease-free. Shearers run in the neighborhood of $150 for the 10-15 minutes it takes to denude a sheep PLUS the time they spend driving to/from the event, the hour before the event and a few hours afterwards so that, if their team wins, they are present for the photos and the auction of the shawl.

The entry fee for the competition $10-30. Most of the above fees/costs are covered by our guild. The auction proceeds also go to the guild to offset the vet/entry/shearer fees, and the auction price can range from $600-$3,000 depending on the event venue and design of the shawl. So our guild can reasonably expect to receive at least $300. From that, they pay each team member $35 to help defray our travel/hotel costs, leaving the guild with at least $125 in profit. However, this does not take into account the costs incurred by the individual team members. This year’s breakdown for the team in which I was a member was roughly:

Days Inn, 4 rooms for 2 nights, $125 each (some family came

                to assist with hauling equipment)                                                 $   500

Gas for 4 vehicles to/from the event, $50 each                                                 200

Costumes, 5 members (we purchased the shearer’s

                costume for her), $37 each                                                               185

Practice fleeces (we went through 3 in 6 months), ~$60 each                          240

Food at the event, 4 people for 3 meals, about $40/person                              160

Display (required by the venues)--historic photos, graphics, yarn                    120

Total spent by the team to participate                                                           $1,405

That comes to an average of $351 per person (weaver & 3 spinners)! So our guild receives a profit of at least $125 and each team member spends roughly $350 out-of-pocket to participate in the competition. Wow! I never realized until I wrote it all out just now. And most of those costs are not negotiable. You must have lodging/food/gasoline and a display. A team could possibly cut down on the cost of practice fleeces if they know someone with appropriate fleece that they'd contribute free of charge, but that would only save the team $240.

I often wonder if people realize that, in addition to the work involved in designing a shawl around an appropriate theme and making the 2 shawls (a sample shawl is always required by the venue), there is SO MUCH MORE that team members do to make it a successful trip.

A Sheep to Shawl demonstration at the Indiana County Fair

Discussing how we'll proceed with the demo

As I mentioned on my Facebook page, we spent last evening in Indiana at the fairgrounds. We were asked to do a Sheep-to-Shawl demonstration. For those who aren't familiar with this type of competition/demonstration, there is a team of 3 spinners, 1 sheep shearer, and 1 weaver. The loom is pre-warped with the wool yarns but that's the only preparation allowed. Once the shearer starts working with the sheep, the rest of the team may not participate till the shears are turned off and the shearer throws her arms in the air to show that she's finished. Then the team moves in, going through the newly shorn fleece for dirty bits and taking the best of the wool. All 4 start to flick the wood to remove grass and hay and open it up for spinning. Once there's enough to start, all 3 spinners hit their wheels at top speed while the weaver continues to prepare wool for the spinners. When one of the spinners has a full bobbin she winds her yarn off onto a weaving bobbin and hands it to the weaver, who begins to create the cloth for the shawl. When the weaving is finished, all team members pitch in to help the weaver remove the finished shawl from the loom and present it to the public (or the judges if it's a competition). And all of this must be finished in under 2.5 hours! In a competition, there are a set number of points that can be earned in several categories--shearing, spinning, weaving, overall appearance of the team, difficulty of the woven pattern, and length/width criteria for the finished shawl. But this was a demonstration, meant for the enjoyment of the crowd while the Lead Line competition was taking place. We love educating folks in the process of wool-to-garment, love answering questions and discussing how our equipment works, why sheep need to be shorn for their health, and why we each have chosen this particular path of creativity. It's great fun for all involved!

Shearing begins

Are we done yet?

We start preparing the wool for spinning

Spinning begins while the weaver prepares wool

The weaver explaining how the loom and pattern work

Working away at the shawl weaving

My biggest regret is that I did not snap a photo of the completed shawl (Wini? Will you take a photo and send it?). At was late by the time we finished and my brain decided not to work after 9pm. However, the shawl was won by a lovely lady whose tartan exactly matched the colors in the shawl. And half of the auction price goes right back to the Indiana Fair for future development of their wool program. We hope to do this again next year, perhaps as a real competition if local teams can be persuaded to join us.