Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival

[obafugakum]

Who else is going this year? I'm looking to buy a fleece or two... anyone have any vendor recommendations?

Also, alana_scyleia, I came back from Sievers with a drum carder, and if you would like to come over sometime to try out the combs or the drum carder to see how they feel, let me know.

Comments

[nidea]

I'll be going early Saturday with Kim and maybe Tracy. Woot! My main goals: new bobbins, Lanacet dyes. Probable bonus outcome: colorful roving.

[ohsochewy]

TChemGrrl and I will be going on Saturday. I have to take HG to the airport for a 9 AM flight, so I assume we'll leave fairly soon after that.

Are you thinking "fleece fresh off the sheep," or are you thinking more like "sheep's worth of wool"? (Noting that you have a new drum carder, I imagine it's the former.)

Yarn Harlot had a very nice tutorial on washing fleece within the last week or so. good pictures and good explanations on why this works for *her*, not necessarily "you must do this or it will fail horribly."

Anyways... TChem bought a big lot of wool last year that is not a full fleece, but she will certainly have better ideas than I;this will be at least her third outing to WSWF. I'll ask her, or maybe we can run into each other if you're planning on a Saturday run.

[ohsochewy]

Re: fleeces, T. says, and I quote, "I'm pretty sure I've seen fleeces (particularly with the farmers themselves in the barns), but I don't remember anything about breeds/prices/etc, because I wasn't looking for it. She might want to check out the list of vendors, because a lot of the shepherds list fleeces on their sites. If she sees something she's interested in looking at she could always email them and ask them to bring it with."

[obafugakum]

Cool, thanks for the suggestion. I was surprised, though, at how few non-Shetland wool fleeces I found on the sites. I did like the site for Frene Creek Farms, and I figure if I don't find something on Saturday, I may drive back on Sunday and buy a fleece from the competition. I would like to try a Romney fleece this year, and branch out from there.

[tchemgrrl]

*waves*

If I remember right, the Sheep and Wool Fest is also the National Shetland Shindig or something like that, so it does end up being largely Shetland (the two pounds of roving ohsochewy mentions above was Shetland). I bet there'll be other things there, though. I definitely remember seeing raw llama, for example.

I've been actively avoiding falling in love with fleeces; I just don't have the space. See also: weaving, dyeing.

[karenb2]

If only it were a week later! Maybe next year...

It was nice seeing you & the Goat and what's-his-name at J&D's, however briefly.