‘The Royal’ Sheep to Shawl Competition 2019
The final day of the The Royal Winter Fair each year draws fibreistas from all around the province—the day where all-things-sheep trump the mighty horse as the main attraction (in our humble opinion). Two key events bracket the day: the annual Sheep to Shawl timed competition and the fleece auction.
After a great 2nd-place-win experience in 2018, we decided to test our talents for a second time ’round of friendly competition.
We quickly put together our 2019 team, finding five spinners and a weaver to compete in the four-hour timed event. Added to this we designed our shawl, got the warp yarn, dyed the yarn, warped the loom, prepared a promotional display, assembled the equipment (there’s *lots* to take), arranged transportation, prepped everyone on their day-of-competition tasks… and we did it, with help from some pretty amazing people.
We owe a debt of gratitude to:
Romy and Ryan Schill, Circle R Livestock, Wallenstein, ON – for generously donating skeins of their sumptuously soft and lofty wool yarn for our warp. Great things grow in Ontario!
The Guild executive and members for providing seed funds to cover our project costs, and cheerleading our efforts before and during the event. So appreciated!
Finally, to our team of talented handcrafters. Not only did we make a beautiful shawl, we held our second-place position, bringing home another blue ribbon for our efforts!
- Weaver: Vickie Lynch
- Spinner/Plyer: Fran Boisvert
- Spinners: Melanie Bailey Cox (captain), Jennifer Earle, Leslie Falzone, Chris Hitchcock
Competition Day, Sun November 10
Our mission: sort and card a greasy (unwashed) fleece provided at the event; spin and ply the fibre into yarn; use the yarn to weave a shawl no smaller than 1,200 square inches (measured relaxed off the loom), fix errors and finish fringe; create and bring a themed promotional display and project information sheets.
Competition time: 9am to 1pm; judging and awards follow within 1-2 hours.
