Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival

The weekend of June 11th and 12th my mother and I went to the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival!! We spent some time networking, but even more importantly, we both took beginning spinning classes so we can get to work on that angora yarn we want to spin!! We had a fantastic time, minus the horrible car trouble we had on Saturday, but everything worked out okay. Here we are in the car waiting for the pizza we ordered for dinner Friday night after we had already gotten to the area:

The next morning my mother went to her spinning class while I dealt with car problems. She spent time learning to prepare the fiber, including carding, as well as drop spindling and working on a spinning wheel. She had taken her own wheel, which we both have dabbled with, but she finally had someone to show her how to work the wheel properly and she is turning out some lovely yarn! When I was home this past weekend I saw a skein of brown alpaca she is working on, and I can't wait to use it! (No pictures of that though, sorry!)

When I got to the fairgrounds later in the day we spent some time watching the sheepdog trials, which are always amazing to watch. One of the dogs that was working that afternoon had gotten 12th place at Nationals the previous year, and it was a joy to watch him work the sheep. They also had demonstrations late that afternoon where they taught people about sheepdog training while having the dogs work ducks, which was adorable to watch!

On the way back to the hotel Saturday evening we snapped a quick pic of me next to the Festival sign.

Here is the roving that my mother snapped up on Saturday afternoon. Isn't it beautiful?!

 Here lies the toils of my mother's class: some purple and white singles plied together on the wheel, and some purple singles on the drop spindle.

 Here is what I snapped up on Sunday. My drop spindling class was from 8:30-12:30, where I learned how to use a top whorl spindle. I had only tried a bottom whorl before, and I now completely understand why some people say it's easier to learn on a top whorl. The plastic zip-top bag at the top has an assortment of roving that my teacher gave us at our class, and then going clockwise we have: the Purple Heart wood top whorl spindle that I bought, two mini-skeins of two-ply yarn that I spun and plied during class, deep violet and bright yellow Merino top, "balsam" hand-painted BFL roving, "Cherokee" hand-painted Merino/Silk roving, and in the middle there is a skein of sock yarn that I couldn't resist.

 Here is a close-up of my new top whorl spindle, with some Corriedale roving that I started spinning two days ago.

 Here is one of the mini-skeins that I spun during my class. It's two-ply Corriedale, with S-twist singles.

My skein is a little thick-n-thin, but it's not too irregular. Here is a better picture with an American quarter to gauge the size.


During my class I spoke to someone who had purchased some angora at the fair. They said that they had paid a fortune for some clipped fiber and they had found a lot of vegetable matter in it, including droppings. I "subtly" hinted that she should buy some angora from me and started talking about my rabbits, but she didn't bite. :-) However, I did feel good about the fact that I know that I offer a superior product. Remember, we have angora fiber for sale!!! Please don't hesitate to email us with questions about any of our fiber.

It was a very informative weekend. My mother and I are already looking forward to the next fair we're hoping to attend. Hopefully all the details will work out and we will be attending that festival as well as taking a class that we know they are offering that is all about spinning angora fiber! We will keep you posted.

Also: my mother and I are planning on playing with her drum carder to create some wool/angora batts. I'll be sure to post pictures if this comes to fruition. If you would have any interest in this, don't hesitate to let us know!