2008 Sheep to Shawl

The summer is moving along fast and September and Sheep to Shawl will soon be upon us. 38 years ago the Las Arañas Spinners & Weavers Guild and the New Mexico Wool Growers joined together to start this wonderful tradition at the New Mexico State Fair. We started at the North end of the dairy barn with some straw bales around an area to define our space and keep the public at a controlled distance. We had plastic sheets over the ceiling beams to keep any bird droppings off our beautiful yarn and fabrics. It is so nice now to have an air conditioned demonstration area and shop that we can lock at night. STS has been a big commitment for our guild over the years and we hope to continue that commitment this year with our wonderful committee chairs and our many volunteers. The dates for STS are Friday, September 5 through Saturday, September 20. There are two shifts a day—9:30-1:30 & 1:30-5:30 (carding and Creative Arts building are the exception with one shift from 10:30—2:30)

Help is also needed three days prior and two days after STS for set up, take down and handling inventory for the shop. All the committee chairs will have sign up sheets for you to consider at both the July and August Las Arañas meetings so bring your calendars to the meetings and plan to sign up for your areas of interest. 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 24 for committee chair names, phone numbers and emails. We hope you are working hard at preparing items to be placed for sale in the STS shop—review pages 25 and 26 in the Membership book for the rules and guidelines. Admission and parking passes will be distributed at the August meeting. If you prefer a pass for Gate 8 rather than Gate 6, please let Janislee know by early August. 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.

The State Fair in 2008 will 5 - 21 September 2008. The daily shifts are 9:30 am to 1:30 pm and 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm. It is important to be early for your shift to get set up and ready to start at 9:30 am and to stay after 5:30 pm to clean up and lock down. Please be conscientious about the housekeeping chores.

See the More Info page for general information about Sheep to Shawl to include parking and inventory.

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.) There will only be one carding session each day from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM with the option to come earlier or stay later. If you do stay for the entire day, you will be given credit for two shifts. 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 25 and 26. 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 STS Shop. In addition to Shop assistants during the Fair, we also need help with cleaning the STS space on Sept. 2, Delivering and setting up items from storage on Sept. 3, shop and demo area set up on Sept. 4, shop take down on Sept. 21 and cleaning the STS space and returning items to storage on Sept. 22. 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, like last year, will be 4 oz instead of 2 oz so we can have more yardage in our colors. We will be dyeing 8 oz of yarn AM and PM If everything goes OK we should have a lovely 2 ply corriedale yarn (more on this later). 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), and many more. It takes about a paper bag full of dried material. If in doubt, please call Linda or Denise and ask. We only have two months to prepare and I know many of you are going to take the Guild’s Dye Workshop with Liesle Orand in August - volunteering at the STS Dye Pot will be a great way for you to get more hands on and love the process. We got beautiful colors last year and of course these skeins are sold to benefit STS. Please consider volunteering and collecting dye stuff!!!

STS Etc

Are you unsure about what area you would like to work in at Sheep to Shawl? Then sign up for the ETC. table! Look around for portable unfinished projects. I plan on working on my inkle loom. Last year I made a belt, and sold it too! I also finished a project on my triangle loom that was there from the previous year. Some ideas to do could include knitting, crocheting, felting, spinning, weaving on different looms (the public loves that!), using the children’s loom kit (we sell more when people see it used), tatting, making tamari balls, winding skeins of fiber into balls, twisting the fringe on a scarf: the list goes on and on. The Etc. work table will accommodate a small table loom. If you don’t have a warp on the loom, you might enjoy demonstrating the warping process. Any of the workshops offered by the guild can inspire you. I am taking a class on hand painting yarn, so may do that at the table. Last year someone demonstrated how to felt fiber, and someone else knitted a baby’s hat. You may have an idea of a project to demonstrate based on one of the workshops you attended. In addition to the many possibilities you can think of, the guild’s inkle loom will be warped and available for anyone wishing to try inkle weaving. Inkle loom strips make very nice book marks, straps and belts. You can sign up to demonstrate at the Etc. table at the July 22th evening guild meeting and the August 26th morning meeting.

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 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 here as well as spinning. If you decide to help people with the weaving, you will put out a sign to direct people to the loom. You will be provided with the weft and shuttles so you do not need to bring any yarn or equipment. The weave structure will be plain weave. If you do not want to help people weave, you just do not put out the sign.

STS Spinners

Calling all spinners! Each year, the hand spinners at the Sheep to Shawl exhibit at the state fair bring many visitors into our exhibit and shop. The magic of the wheels spinning around draws children and adults alike to watch the fascinating process. This is your chance to spin the yarn for that special holiday gift, or add to the yarn stash that will go into that fabulous sweater. The fair is the time to try that new fiber, work on your novelty yarn, or spin the fine yarn for the socks you’ve wanted to make. You can spin outside near the sheep shearing pen or inside near the carding or you can sign up to spin at the Creative Arts building. There will be a chance to sign up for the time and date of your choice at the July and August guild meetings or you may call or email to reserve your space early.

STS Weaving

The 4-harness looms will be warped in a rainbow of rich colors that tend toward autumn hues in 5/2 perle cotton. Each color will be warped in its own stripe with the threading pattern called “M’s and W’s” You can see a similar project on the cover and page 52 of the February 2004 issue of Handwoven. This year the warp width will be appropriate for a table runner. A sample will be available near the sign up sheets at the July and August meetings.

This year the 8-harness loom at Sheep to Shawl will be threaded in an M/W twill design. It will be in 5/2 perle cotton in two colors - #27 purple (a deep rich purple) and #59 Malay purple (lighter purple/lavender). The colors will alternate. With this threading it is possible to weave M’s and W’s, diamonds, and various unique combinations. It is also possible to alternate the weft colors to create a shadow weave. Two 8–harness Baby Wolfs will be threaded, so there will be plenty of warp for weaving. Light colors in various weights will work well for weft. Samples and examples will be available at the July and August meetings. If you want to sign up early contact Nancy Brouillard (505-265-9053 – answering machine is always on) or Mary Smith (505-292-8421). And remember, it is a great chance to weave without the hassle of threading the loom all you have to do is press a pedal and throw the shuttle!

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.

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Copyright © 2006 Las Aranas Spinners and Weavers Guild
Last modified: 03/07/06