Tag Archives: Lambtown

S2S- In Crochet, that is Sheep to Shawl

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It is always interesting to see how different events can present themselves from contact made years earlier. This last week I was approached to help on a Sheep to Shawl team.

What is a Sheep to Shawl?

A Sheep to Shawl is an age old competition that I have seen several times at many Fiber Festivals. Each competition has slightly different rules, but only slightly. Essentially it is a team of people (usually seven) that work in a set time limit. In this time limit they prep a sheep fleece, teasing the wool and carding it. They then spin it into “singles”, then ply these “singles” together to create yarn. The yarn is then woven on a loom to create a shawl of set dimensions by the competition.

I dusted off my spinning wheel…

This is usually entirely completed in 4 hours.

A Virtual event…

With the current situation of the world most Fiber Festivals have been canceled or re-imagined. The Lambtown Festival in Dixon, California has re-imagined this competition in a virtual setting.

Teams are allowed a total of 28 hours to complete this process, but need to provide all these hours on a Zoom presentation. The 28 hours essentially creates this shawl in the same time setting as in-person, as the hours are counted from every participant.

This means that everyone is working quickly, in their own home setting,. Then figuring out how to get need supplies to the next participants to complete the steps. It is an interesting undertaking.

Where I am Invited

So in this new setting a couple of ambitious woman decided to challenge the notion of this being a woven shawl, and see if one can be crocheted instead.  I honestly am not aware of any competition that has ever worked up a crochet shawl, and we are hoping to set a new level of encouragement and interest in crochet.

This is where I was brought in. I learned to spin yarn several years ago, but I haven’t put it to practice much in the last 9 years. So, I dusted off my wheel last weekend and spun up some singles.

Join Us….

My team started out as the Stygn Gold, but with some settling in it has now become “Stitch In Time” (Sponsored by The Sacramento Crochet Guild, a Chapter of the Crochet Guild of America) will be working over the next few weekends to complete our project, and you are welcome to join us. Visit the Lambtown site for our scheduled competition times.

Wish us luck. It will be interesting to see if we can essentially create the yarn and crochet a shawl in a combined effort….

What to Pack…..

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ScannedImageFall becomes a busy time of year, there seems to be some yarn related event happening almost every weekend across the nation. Since this last week there has been the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (OFFF), this weekend there is Lambtown in Northern California and the Knit & Crochet Show in North Carolina, Closely followed by the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (known simply as Rhinebeck) and Stitches East. It is almost enough to put you on yarn over load! (Okay only, almost, and I am sure that there are many other events taking place in this time frame as well). So what to include in your suitcase if you happen to be attending any said events?

If you crochet or knit, make sure and take something you have made, these are events where people actually really do know how time consuming, and intricate the hobby you have is. They will often stop and compliment your work, maybe even want to “pet” it. It is nice to feel like you are at a place where people understand you, and you often get great inspiration by seeing what others have done.MP900305798

If you are planning on attending, splurge a little and take a class, there are not many places that you can find great teachers like these venues offer. Even if you are like me and think, “oh, I’ll just buy the book and learn the technique that way”, there is so much more you can get out of the class. More than you can possibly imagine, and often well worth the price.

Bring your hooks and needles, and a project to play with. These are places you will feel like pulling up a chair and staying for a while, chatting with new and old friends and enjoying the atmosphere.

Make sure to leave extra room in your suitcase for yarn and goodies to bring home. If you sign up for the event and not just the show room shopping, you might find some free samples, but then there is the shopping you can do. Many vendors do not have store fronts, and some may not be available in most local yarn stores, so you can find the beautiful yarns usually only here or on-line (and I like to touch before I buy).

I hope I am remembering everything…oh, clothes to where I might need that, and travel supplies, but I guess I could go without and leave more space for yarn! (See you in North Carolina, if you can make it to the Knit & Crochet Show).