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.

A visit to a local historic house, and there's spinning/weaving, too!

Yesterday my guild went on a field trip in lieu of our usual meeting. We do this once or twice a year when the weather is nice and we don't want to be cooped up inside--we want to see fiber stuff instead!! We met at the Vicary Mansion which is a few miles down the Ohio River, just over the hill from Cranberry and Harmony, PA.

Although they are still working on the renovation (and what historic site isn't always working on renovation?), it was a treat to explore. They have one room dedicated to spinning and weaving and also collect and research old textiles. They are the proud owners of a rare Newcomb loom and currently have a nice rug warp on it. Here's two pix I managed to take, excuse anything that's not completely clear because the room is crowded with warped looms, working spinning wheels and fascinated guild members yesterday. The Newcomb is a semi-automatic loom, meaning that many of the operations usually performed by the weaver are handled easily by this loom. That automation increases the weaver's production rate because she/he has no need to stop and advance the warp, etc.
 

Back of the loom

Front of the loom--that's one heavy beater bar!

 We wandered through the house and up to the attic which was wonderfully spacious. The Mansion personnel store their costumes here, which are used when there's an event and volunteers need to borrow period clothing. Back in the corner I noticed 3 spinning wheels, and really like the little flax wheel all set up and ready to go.

 One of the functions of the site is to preserve local textile history. They had two woven coverlets out, both of which had been assessed by Rabbit Goody when she was here in October 2012 for a lecture sponsored by our guild. The first was standard red/blue coverlet of which I could only get a full photo. I don't remember if we asked the fiber content of the plain weave component (the white threads) but the red and blue are definitely wool.

The more interesting (to me) coverlet was the orange handspun hand dyed one. The plain weave (white threads) are cotton and the orange is wool. The weaving experts at the mansion are working on replicating this one, and Dorothy has all the wool spun up and dyed with madder. Her yarn is on the little bobbins in the back left-hand corner of the full photo, and they are currently weaving up samples to make sure they have the weaving draft written properly and that they've centered the design on the panels. Very few household looms in those days were wide enough to produce a one-piece coverlet so many of them were woven in wide strips (36-40 inches depending on the individual loom) and sewn together to cover the bed.

Notice the variation in color due to exposure to light?

Closeup. This is a section about 2" square.

All in all, we had a wonderful time. If you're looking for something fun to see and want a little local history too, take a ride down the Ohio River and stop at the Vicary Mansion.

Celebrate Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday with a SALE!!

Celebrate Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday--Starting immediately and through midnight on Monday, Nov. 26, all items in my Etsy shop will be discounted 20% when you use coupon code Cyber2012 when checking out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/feistywomandesigns

Buy fiber for your spinning friends, buy yarn for your crafting friends! And have fun shopping!

My article on carding has been published!

Several months ago I wrote an article on blending fibers/fibres with a drumcarder. A friend of mine did the photo shoot and we sent it off to Yarnmaker Magazine.  I've just gotten word that the November issue is on the stand in the UK and in the mail to subscribers. I'm so happy to be a part of this magazine and to be helpful in spreading textile pursuits around the globe. It's a great magazine with tons of informative articles--check your international news stands for a copy, although I'm not sure that it reaches us here on the other side of the pond.

New/old batts and other news

I've been revisiting old colorways, revamping some to bring them up to date with new materials and/or colors, and relisting them in the shop. The most recent additions:

Eggplant batts--Merino, silk and bamboo

Onion Chutney--Merino wool and bamboo

 

Apples and Oranges, inspired by Cezanne--100% Merino wool

Apples and Oranges--quick and easy marbled yarn!

After a hectic summer of teaching and traveling, I promised myself that I'd be more efficient and regular at posting updates and bits of information on spinning and knitting. Life keeps laughing at my attempts to be efficient and regular. I'll be off-and-on this blog for the next few weeks as family issues take priority over my time. But I'll be making batts, spinning yarn, tackling knitting mysteries and posting when I can.

Life is short, make it count!

What's old is new again

Despite the fact that there's plenty of inspiration around (those autumn colors were changing daily!), I decided to go back in time and rework some of the older colorways. Actually, some of them don't need any reworking as they're fine the way they were. Others need a bit of tweaking, a little different shade of a color or a different way of carding the wool for a better end product (yarn or felt). First up, finished this afternoon and originally inspired by Cezanne's still life, Apples and Oranges

Guild exhibit at Shaler Library during the month of May; Reminder to register for classes at Waynesburg Festival

The Butler Spinners and Weavers Guild is hosting a display of textiles at the Shaler Library on Mt. Royal Blvd. My friend and I are hanging the show and did a mock-up of the display this past week. Folks, there are some lovely pieces in the show. Our guild is full of talented people. I'm entering 3 pieces but have only photographed one, the handspun handknit linen market bag. It's a small bag but I'm sure I can fill it up at the yarn store (like I need more yarn?).

With apologies to my guildmates, here's a few shots of other pieces.....

This is going to be a great show!



And I wanted to remind folks that this is the first year classes are being offered at the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival in mid-May. There are some great knitting, spinning, crochet classes being offered for first-time crafters and this is a great opportunity to learn a new skill! Yep, I'm the spinning teacher and I'm looking forward to meeting some wonderful new spinners that weekend.

Summer Workshops 2010

At the request of my friends and fellow spinners, I've designed a few spinning workshops for this coming summer. Having released the info to my gang of spinners (well, they ARE the ones who encourage me--the wind beneath my wings, so to speak), I'm opening things up to the public. I'll be posting them in 3 parts because I'm not sure my host will allow the entire document in one post, and I'd rather be spinning than editing Word documents!

Workshop/Class Offerings, Summer 2010

Spinning Woolen vs. Worsted Yarn

Did you know that the preparation of your wool affects the type of yarn you will produce? That there are different methods of drafting your wool to achieve either woolen or worsted yarn, and variations of these techniques? We’ll be preparing our own fiber from washed fleece, and talking about the traditional uses for both types of yarn. Students should be comfortable spinning on either a wheel or spindle.

Supplies to bring with you:
Spindle or wheel (don’t forget oil, hook & extra drive band)
Handcards/minicombs, if you have them (one pair of each will be available to share)

June 26, 2010—12:30 to 2:30
$35 includes materials and handout

Payment Information
Register early by contacting me through this blog to reserve your space. Payment can be made via Paypal (I’ll send you an invoice once you’re registered) or personal check. At this time I’m not able to accept credit cards. Payment in full is expected three days prior to the workshop.

So there you have it. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions, comments, etc. And be careful out there--tornado warnings abound in Western Pennsylvania this morning.

How To Spin My Posy Toes Batts--Sweet Peas final

Hey! Remember this photo? It seems to have taken forever to get these socks finished. Wrapping up the outside work for the winter, getting samples ready for the October Phat Fiber Sample Box, preparing for a workshop on Textured Yarns that I'm teaching, yadda yadda. The socks are finished, washed and sitting in my sock drawer--yah!



Now for the techie stuff. This method of spinning yields a mostly-worsted yarn, which means I got more yardage out of the same weight of fiber--406 yards, to be exact. The size was the same, 16 wpi, but the yarn was less lofty and I had 158 yards remaining. The yardage used for these socks was 248, while I used 246 for the Snake Plant socks. Same pattern (You're Putting Me On socks by Judy Gibson), same needles (maybe).

So the difference in yardage can only be attributed to the spinning method. I have to say, the Snake Plant socks feel much thicker when wearing them in my Birkies! I think somewhere in the house move I switched needles? It looks to me like the left sock is thicker (US #1) while the right sock is rather wimpy and long and thin (US #2). Or perhaps my spinning changed in the 1-2 months between sessions? They feel just a little bit different when on my feet, which is a lesson on not letting your sons/friends pack and move your precious fiber and yarn!



Next up is the Caladiums batts, which will be spun in the third and final method recommended on the instruction sheet included with the batts. Since we're entering the holiday stretch here in the US, please have patience. I host all the holiday dinners here in addition to trying to keep my Etsy shop stocked. Speaking of Feistywoman Designs, I contributed to the Phat Fiber Sample Box for the first time in October--some of you who bought boxes may have already received yours! I've blended up a series of hand-pulled sock rovings especially for the holidays because, well, I just love wearing sparkle on my feet during the holidays and I thought some of you might, too! Here's the Snowdrift socks I just finished (fiber available Thursday) .....

How to Spin My Posy Toes Batts--Sweet Peas

I apologize for being a few days late with the blog post. I ate some eggplant on Monday that didn't agree with me and have been sick for several days. It was not wasted time, as I started work on a Christmas present--can't say who or what because they will read my blog and spoil the surprise. At any rate.....

For the second technique and pair of socks, I chose the Sweet Peas colorway because....well, I just wanted purple and deep pink socks! And I know that the worsted technique described on my handout as 'stripping the batt lengthwise' will yield long repeats of color. I usually spin up 1-1/2 batts onto a bobbin and then ply it on itself from a center-pull ball, then repeat for the second 1-1/2 batts. This mixes the colors in a way that I enjoy. I started by unrolling the batt on my dining room table.



Then I split the batt down the middle, leaving about 1-2" still joined.



I then split each of those halves in half again in the same direction, leaving a join at the ends. With this batt, I split the batt so each color would have just a bit of the next color included. Once I have 4 sections split, I start from the other end and split those 4 in the opposite direction, leaving a join at each of those ends. When finished, you should have 8 sections of the batt pulled apart lengthwise like a series of Z's. When I was a kid we used to cut a piece of paper in this fashion and open it up to make a long 'rope' of paper (we were easily amused kids).



The next step is to attenuate these Z's into a useable 'top' and rolling it into a ball. Starting at one end, with your hands about 5" apart, gently start to seperate the fiber as though you're drafting to spin. Actually, you ARE predrafting the fiber. Doing this makes spinning a fine yarn much easier as most of the work is done for you before you sit down at the wheel.



This is the yarn I've spun up on the first bobbin. This bobbin has been plied and the sock begun, but we'll talk about that next week.



I'd like to end with a little philosophy I learned in the last few months. As you've heard me mention ad nauseum, we've moved into the family home which my oldest brother occupied for many years. He managed to alienate himself from just about everyone and almost lost his life because of it. He had a 45-year long argument with the next-door neighbor who wanted him to cut down the walnut trees, and they haven't been on speaking terms for 20 years. It was this neighbor who called the EMS when the wife noticed that my brother had not been out of the house for 3 days, and she thereby saved his life. Tonight I delivered homemade soup and muffins to them because she's had a hip replacement and can't be on her feet long enough to cook (no, her husband can't cook--he can't even boil water!). And WE haven't cut down the walnut trees either, although we did have them trimmed thoroughly, and they've stopped asking us to cut them down. It was so simple to have a conversation about pruning the branches that hung over their yard and solve the problem instead of the name-calling and silence that had ensued for 45 years on BOTH sides of the fence. Life is too short to hold grudges and hate people (unless they're dangerous). Most problems are solvable with good communication; silence is the weapon of the truly stupid, and it NEVER works the way they think it will.

Off my soapbox and on to the knitting.....

How to Spin My Posy Toes Sock Batts AND Hiking Pix!

The Snake Plant yarn is finished.

It was spun on the 16:1 whorl of my Bosworth Journey Wheel, as will all the sock yarns in this series. I like to put a lot of twist in my sock yarn and then ply it tightly so it wears longer.

The sock has been started, and I can see the subtle variation between the forest green and the teal colors. The tan seems to be mixing in well--I wanted it to appear serendipitously in the sock. Hopefully I'll have the time this coming week to start spinning the Sweet Peas colorway.


On another subject altogether.....
We went out early this morning to a local park, Raccoon Creek State Park. The Audubon Trail is at it's peak at the end of April and I LOVE wildflowers!










Trout Lily and May Apples

About 9:30 we heard honking and saw a pair of Canada geese calling for their buddies to join them. After a bit they flew off and circled the area a couple of times before heading out to their destination.










"Hey Mable, it's time to leave!" and a Trillium

By 10:30am I was getting pretty sweaty walking around in the valley, but it was so worth it. sigh....If only I had the time and enough colored wool to interpret all these flowers in sock batts.














A hillside of Virginia Bluebells and Carpets of tiny white flowers










Virginia Bluebells and Wild Phlox