Sheep to Shawl & Have a Ball!

Sheep Dog Trials and the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners

The 29th Sheep Dog Trials will be held at Grass Creek Park this August 5-7, 2016 and the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners will be there.  Friday through Sunday guild members take turns providing interactive demonstrations of spinning and weaving, explaining the processes involved in turning a variety of fibres into useable yarn for a wide array of creations.

The Sheep to Shawl Competition is a highlight on Saturday.  Teams card and spin an unwashed fleece into a shawl within a 4 and 1/2 hour time limit.   This year there are 2 teams from the Kingston Guild as well as from Guelph, Belleville, and Prince Edward County.  Donated fleece are selected by draw and the carding, spinning, plying and weaving begins.  The finished shawl, presented to the judge by 2:30 p.m., is to have an area not less than 1,440 square inches, and a length of not less than 72 inches. A 10 metre sample of the spun yarn is included.

The judge, a very experienced spinner or weaver, judges the merits of the shawls, looking for technical quality of yarn and weaving, as well as the overall design and appeal.

The shawls are washed and blocked overnight (to make them ready to wear) and sold by auction at 12:30 p.m.  In previous years the bids have ranged from $75 - $250.  Fifty percent of the proceeds of each shawl go to the team who created it, and 50 % goes back to the trials.

See you there!

For more information:

Contact

Kingston Handloom Weavers & Spinners

Location

370 King St. West, Unit 205

Email

kinghws@gmail.com

Website

http://www.khws.ca

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/kingstonhandloomweaversandspinners/