Home from Rhinebeck

Yesterday a friend and I drove to the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. We had a nice day together enjoying good food, wandering around admiring all there was to see, and buying a few things that we really liked.

I delivered The Great Wheel to Dave Paul of The Merlin Tree while I was at the festival.



Dave will work on it in his shop this winter rebuilding the minor head, replacing a spoke in the wheel and one of the legs, and giving it a thorough once over to get the wheel into good working condition. It should be ready this spring; something to look forward to when the snow melts and the trees and flowers begin to bloom. As a general guess, Dave estimates that the wheel was made between 1840 and 1880, much older than I thought it was.

The skeins I entered in the hand spun skein competition at Rhinebeck won a few ribbons. Very exciting for me. Rhinebeck attracts many highly skilled hand spinners and fiber artists; the competition there was much greater for me than at the Big E. The 6 skeins I had entered at the Big E were also entered at Rhinebeck plus three additional skeins. Below are the Rhinebeck results with the judge's comments (the Big E results are provided in my October 3rd post.). There were 15 points possible for Presentation, 35 points possible for Fiber Preparation, and 50 points for Spinning.

This photograph (I call it my Autumn Spinning Wheel) includes ribbons from both Rhinebeck and the Big E.



Rhinebeck Results:


2 ply Romney wool, 3rd place, 95 points
Fiber Preparation: (-2) "I would have blended the colors more, very nice shine."
Spinning: grist and twist (-2), plying twist (-1) "A little over twisted, could bias when knit"


2 ply blend, 67% merino, 33% German Shepherd Dog fur, 4th place, 94 points
Presentation: (-3) "needs figure 8 ties" ( I did use figure 8 ties, not sure about this comment)
Spinning: grist and twist (-2), evenly plied (-1) "SL uneven twist, not quite evenly plyed"


2 ply blend 60% Coopworth hoggett, 20% Shetland Hoggett, plus silk, angora and angelina, did not place, 93 points
Fiber Preparation "good choice for scarf"
Spinning: grist and twist (-4) "some variation" evenly plied (-3)
General comment: "Good choice using hogget Coopworth"


2 ply mixed yarn, one ply German Shepherd Dog Fur, one ply angora rabbit, 3rd place, 85 points
Presentation: "Good presentation"
Spinning: (-15) grist and twist "SL uneven", evenly plied "uneven plying"
General comment "lack of elasticity may not be right for gloves"


1 ply Mohair, did not place, 77 points
Presentation: (-5) "some knots and neps"
Fiber Preparation: (-8) "some debris"
Spinning (-10): "uneven"
General comment "watch for bias in lace"


3 ply Alpaca, 1st place, 90 points
Fiber Preparation: (-5) "SL uneven color"
Spinning: (-5) "SL overplyed"
General comment: "excellent skein"


2 ply Blue Faced Leicester, dyed, 2nd place, 86 points
Presentation: "well skeined"
Spinning: (-12) grist and twist "uneven" evenly plied "uneven because of singles, but balanced, soft good drape"
General comment: "good choice of yarn thickness"


2 ply blend, 85 % wool 15% German Shepherd Dog Fur, 2nd place, 97 points
Fiber Preparation: "Good choice of fiber percentage"
Spinning: (-3)grist and twist "SL uneven singles"
General comment: "good choice of yarn thickness"


2 ply Blue Faced Leicester, natural, 3rd place, 92 points
Spinning: grist and twist (-4) "uneven twist", evenly plied (-4) "underplyed"
General comment: "Good use of wool breed"

Getting ready for Rhinebeck















I am feeling brave after the Big E and decided to enter a few skeins in the spinning competition at the New York State Sheep and Wool festival. I am looking forward to going to the festival this year and hope to take my Great Wheel for repair/restoration.

The Big E Results
I am happy to say that my fiber entries at the Eastern States Expo won some ribbons!

I was able to spin a 3 ply alpaca before the entry deadline and it won the Champion ribbon for the camilid category. Very exciting for me! The other skeins I entered won a few ribbons, too. I liked reading the judge's comments

.

Big E results:

2 ply Romney wool; 2nd place
"A very judicious twist for the fiber. Gives it body and bounce, plus softness. Not the thinnest yarn, but great for sweaters. Good Job!"

2 ply blend 67% merino, 33% German Shepherd Dog fur; 1st place
" I couldn't believe German Shepherd Dog could look and feel so good! This reminds me of yak or bison. Beautifully blended and spun."

2 ply blend 60% Coopworth Hoggett, 20% Shetland Hoggett, plus silk, angora , and angelina; 1st place
"Very well blended and spun. Just the right amount of sparkle, not too much."

2 ply mixed yarn, one ply German Shepherd Dog fur (from Monroe), one ply angora rabbit; 1st place
"Amazingly fine. fibers well matched."

1 ply Mohair; 1st place
"I don't know how you get your singles so well-balanced"

3 ply alpaca; 1st place and Champion Camilid;
"Amazing again! Looks very professional. A good weight, very balanced. Practically Perfect."

My "Midnight Surfer" hand spun hand knit scarf also won a 1st place ribbon.

"A beautiful Combination of great spinning and great knitting. The elongated stitch pattern is very effective for your striping hand-spun."

And last but not least, the lined mittens I knit with millspun yarns placed 4th. (This is my own pattern. It printed in the Summer 2008 issue of Spin-Off magazine, p. 76.)
"Plain but very functional and well made. I love the lining!"