2009 Sheep to Shawl

Convergence will be over soon and Sheep to Shawl will be here before we know it! This is our big 40th anniversary year! The dates are Friday, September 9 through Saturday, September 25.This year the fair is going to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. However the 4-H kids will have shows on Monday and Tuesday the first week so we are opening the Shop from 10—2 on Sept. 13 and 14. We will not be demonstrating on Mondays and Tuesdays. We will have sign-up sheets for the shop and all the demonstration areas at the July Las Arañas meeting, so bring your calendar. We will also need help on September 8 & 9 and 26 & 27 for moving equipment, handling inventory and setting up and taking down the shop. All these activities count toward shifts if you are selling in the shop. If you need particular dates, you can call the chair person ahead of the meeting and get your name on their schedule—see the Membership book on page 26 for committee chair names, phone number and emails. If you are interested in the ETC table, Carol Grimm is the new chair. Thanks Carol. We will again be parking in the Barber College parking lot on the West side of San Pedro, across from Gate 6. Parking and entry passes will be given out at the August meeting.

We hope you are working hard at preparing items to be placed for sale in the STS shop—review pages 27-29 in the Membership book for the rules and guidelines. STS is a fun time of sharing and a great time for beginners in weaving, spinning or dyeing to get to know our members better, get mentoring on your new skill and share your love of fiber with the public. If you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact Becky Arnold—281-5542 bekjohn@gmail.com, or Ruth Ronan —268-0726, rbronan@gmail.com.

See the More Info page for more information about Sheep to Shawl and to download the inventory sheets.

STS Carding

Carding is an important step in the Sheep to Shawl process, demonstrating how we turn raw wool into workable roving. We will have several carders available: simple hand carders, small mechanical drum carders, and the large electric drum carder. (The wool must be washed before using the electric carder, and all drum carders must be thoroughly cleaned at the end of your shift.) In General there will only be one carding session each day from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM with the option to card all day. We are somewhat flexible with this schedule and if you want to card one shift and work one shift in another area we can arrange for that. Please consider signing up. If you don’t have any uncarded wool, perhaps you might consider trying your hand at carding two or more different rovings together to give you an interesting multi-colored or “pebbled” look. Contact Mary Ellen McMurtrie at 281-0306 if you have any questions or would like to sign up early to get the time slot you want.

STS Shop and Vendors

If you plan to enter items for sale in the STS shop, please read the guidelines in the Membership book on pages 27 thru 29. You will note that you need to work one shift for each item entered up to six shifts. If you are working six shifts you are requested to work one of those shift in the Shop. In addition to Shop assistants during the Fair, we also need help delivering and setting up items from storage on Sept. 8, checking in inventory and shop and demo area set up on Sept. 9. We will also need help with shop take down and returning items to storage on Sept. 26 and checking out inventory and cleaning the STS space on Sept. 27. Working at any of these times will count toward shifts needed. There will be sign up sheets at the July and August meetings.

See the Become a Vendor page for more information.

STS Dye-Pot

Our skeins, are currently under discussion. We have a lot of dyed skeins from Sept ’09 STS – The Guild does not seem to want them, and they were beautiful colors. Sock yarn with nylon has been suggested and we may add some other type of yarn (such as colcha yarn) to go in the dyepots. Also if you are going to put in roving, please make it superwash. The regular wool is felting too much in our dyepots. We might try adding them to the dyepot after the hour of cooking and let them sit all night without movement. There are lots of blooming plants out there guild members, yard plants as well as local native plants. We will always take marigolds, Mexican hat, dyer’s coreopsis, red dahlias, peach leaves, chamisa (rabbit bush), mullein, 4 wing salt bush and many more. It takes about a paper bag full of dried material, if you have less we still could use it. If in doubt, please call Linda or Denise and ask. We only have two months to prepare. I know many of you have taken natural dye classes - volunteering at the STS Dye Pot will be a great way for you to get more hands on and love the process. Of course we always plan to overdye to make many more colors. The Dyepot is some of the best hands on experience you can get and of course these skeins are sold to benefit STS. Please consider volunteering and/or collecting dye stuff!!! Linda DeBlois and Denise Davis. Our telephone numbers are in the Guild Book.

STS Etc

Here's a chance to show what  YOU do.  It could be Inkle, Rigid Heddle, Card Weaving or another fiber art.  Knitting, Crocheting,  or ------- you show us. To sign up call Carol Grimm at 28l-4910 or starlightacre@q.com.

STS Creative Arts Building

We need people to be at the Creative Arts Building from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm each day of the fair. There will be a warped loom that you can use to assist people to try weaving and, at the same time, weave part of a scarf for the people undergoing chemotherapy at the UNM Cancer Center. You will also point people to the main Sheep to Shawl demo area and shop. You will be provided with the weft, shuttles and all equipment. The weave structure is plain weave using 2 shafts If you have not done this before, it is a lot of fun! The kids just love to weave on the loom and often adults will try their hand at it. The Creative Arts building has a lot of people coming though so people are always walking by. You are encouraged to volunteer to man the Creative Arts Building even if you do not want to show people how to weave. You can do any fiber arts activity you want to at the Creative Arts Building – all the things that are done at the ETC table can be done there. On the sign up sheet, put a (W) after your name if you are willing to help people weave. Thanks for helping!!!!!

STS Spinners

We are again spinning under the tent in front of the dairy barn. We will have space for up to three spinners at a time. If you want to spin with your spinning buddies, talk with them ahead of time so you will be ready to sign up for the same time slots. But, don’t be afraid to come alone. It’s a great time to get to know your fellow spinners better. Do you consider yourself a beginner? We will want you to come too. Remember, you will know more than most of the fair crowd; and what a great time to get more practice and have others around to share their tricks of the trade. As you all know, when we spinners spin together, we have a great time! So make sure you are ready to sign up to get a time when you can come. We are continuing to improve the conditions under the tent for your comfort and security. If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, please contact Diane Witt at 897-6747.

STS Weaving

The 4-harness loom for Sheep to Shawl will feature a Point Rose Path (p. 177 in The Key to Weaving by Mary E. Black). It is an interesting 4 harness twill based weave with lots of variations. It is a one shuttle weave. Our natural colored wool warp this year will be New Mexico wool from the Mora mill. You are encouraged to use a Shetland weight weft. Please feel free to use your handspun yarn too! A sample will be available at the July meeting for you to admire! Come prepared to enjoy yourself and weave a lovely sample that may become a future treasure. Myra Chang-Thompson & Sue Phelps.

The 8-harness loom for Sheep to Shawl 2010 will be warped with 5/2 cotton in beautiful New Mexico colors. The inspiration for the colors was the Convergence 2010 special yarn. The colors include: Lipstick Red, Cinnamon, Eggplant Purple, Indies Orange, Dark Gold, Deep Turquoise, and Persian Green. These colors will be warped into 3” segments across the warp. The weave will be broken twill. I will bring samples to the Guild meeting in July and will have sample cards available. (Thanks for this idea from Myra and Sue, who had samples of their warp available for last year’s 4-harness weavers.) At the July meeting, you will be able to sign up for time to weave on the 8-harness loom. If you can’t make the July or August meetings, or really want to reserve a time to weave on the 8-harness, call me after July 11th (265-9053 – answering machine is always on – leave a message and repeat your phone number twice – thanks). I will be setting up times and will send a sample card to those who call and sign up. Should be another great weaving session at Sheep to Shawl 2010!!! Nancy Brouillard.

STS Other Opportunities

Most of you know about the opportunities to demonstrate and learn about fiber at the Sheep to Shawl at the State Fair.  What if you don’t feel comfortable spinning, weaving, and etc. but still want to be a part of this wonderful experience? You can assist in many ways and if you are a vendor, these areas will help you fulfill your shift requirements).

If you like to work with people in a retail setting the shop assistant is right for you.  It involves working with the customers (don’t worry if you don’t know about every type of product – there is always someone there who will help).  Under the direction of the manager-of-the-day you may be asked to neaten up or rearrange some areas.  There is some light cleaning that needs to be done at the end of the day.  You will NOT have to work the cash register.