I am in the process of spinning my skeins up for our local county fair. I am trying to get at least one skein in each of 20 categories. So far I have my cotton singles, cotton two ply, wool two ply, a couple of dyed by exhibitor, blended fiber(kid mohair/silk), a yarn of cotton "chenille" made from strips of unbleached muslin cut on the bias, and a couple others I can't recall at the moment
Now I'm working on a cotton boucle. Oh boy is this one a challenge. I am using five natural grown colors in the yarn that will form the boucle. That was a good one to start out with because I was able to see how each color spun. The red color had very short staple, but spun easily. I will use that one as a binder. The green had a longer smoother look and longer staple, so would make a better choice for the core. There is another cream colored one that might make a better stronger core. Still undecided on that one. I could cheat and use sewing thread for the core, but I'm challenging myself.
Is anybody else planning to enter skeins in competition this season? Any big challenges? Do you plan, during spinning, or before spinning what the purpose of the yarn will be? I just used some of last years speed spun yarn in my rug project.
Aunt Janet
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And I envy and admire you both! I entered a skein in our county fair last year, and will again this year, unfortunately If there are other spinners here I'm not aware of them! We don't even have a class for spinning. Mine ends up the in the open class. I did ribbon (but no competition).
I will continue to enter my spinning and weaving!
Northeast Handspinners Association is trying to build a presence at our area fairs so I have been entering since I've been spinning. A whole 2 years, this will be my third. I've done well with worsted wool and wool/alpaca from commercially prepared fibers so far. Last year one of my skeins won its class in the state sheep and wool event. So this year I will enter woolenspun wool with more of my own preparation involved. And we'll see if that flies.
Our county fair, and the one just south, Humboldt and Mendocino, in California, have really good hand spinning and weaving presence. We get dozens of skein entries. There is great competition, and a novice and experienced division. Prizes are pretty good, too. A couple of local businesses sponsor special prizes. One is for a gift certificate to the local fiber arts supply store, the other is a $50 cash award for the "over the top" skein. (I won that one last year).
Humboldt has a spinning competition, on site, to attract new interest, and lots of fun for the competitors. Again, we have enough participation to have a novice and beginner class. One of my friends and I have a running rivalry, though he has never beat me at speed spinning, it is one of his life goals. Ain't never going to happen! A couple others of my friends are top competitors for the fine spinning competition.
We also have a sheep to shawl demonstration. We get a dozen or more participants in this one. The shepherd shears the sheep in the midway, so fair goers can watch. Then we work with the greasy fleece, card and spin, while one of our members weaves. It takes us abut five hours to finish the demonstration. Lots of fun.
Mendocino has a sheep show, a fleece show, and a fiber fair at their county fair! I usually participate in the spinning competition there, too. It is a great place to pick up some quality fleeces, too. They have workshops along with the fiber fair.
I'll post photos soon of my fair entries.
Janet
I've entered skeins in the New York and Maryland festivals and done pretty well, but I spin plain yarn, so I'm doing finished objects from now on. The NYS festival has a "featured breed" category (this year it's Oxford); I'm spinning a laceweight and plan on making a Barbie doll garment. Dolls and Bears is another lonely category, plus I don't have the focus to make a people-sized article!
I just barely got my entries in on time. I had the 9th stuck in my head as the day we needed them in, but it was the 6th! Fortunately for me one of my guild members called me up giving me just enough time to drive the hour and a half to the fairgrounds. My rug wasn't finished. I have still one quarter of the trim to put on. I entered it with thread hanging off the side. Poo! I really thought I had a couple more days to finish it. Oh well, it is what it is. I entered a dozen skeins!
Good idea to enter doll garments, and little toy things. My folks got into doing miniatures for a short time. Dad was an artist and made tiny paintings. He made a kit for a mini easle. I still have one. He also made a tiny mitre cutter, which i now have, also. Mom was making tiny knit things. There is a whole world of mini fairs and conventions out there. It is probably bigger than the weaving world.
Janet, that sounds really cool. Our county fair in Indiana doesn't recognize any spinning or weaving YET! There are no yarns on display. My husband and I did attend the Indiana State Fair last year though and saw a "sheep to shawl" exhibition. There were several groups of 6 to 8 spinners, weavers, carders with 2 groups being kids who worked at Conner Prairie and were in proper pioneer attire. It was amazing to see these kids at work. The boys finished first. It was very, very cool! Maybe someday, our county fair will come to life with this. My husband and I just got into the alpaca business. I had been a weaver for about 10 years, and now am excited about learning to spin and make my own yarns to knit, crochet and weave with. It is a very exciting thing for us.
Thanks for sharing,
Juvonda
