Sheep-to-shawl 2007
Last night Dave and I were up until midnight watching the sheep-to-shawl contest at this year's Pennsylvania Farm Show. Our friend Libby, of Mad About Ewes fame, has been competeing as a member of the "Carl and the Not-So-Lazy Kates" team for the past four or five years.
To give a brief synopsis of the sheep-to-shawl, each team brings a sheep which is shorn at the start of the contest, and then the wool is carded, handspun, and woven into a shawl. It's amazing that you can start off with a fluffy sheep and then two and a half hours later have an actual wearable item coming off of the loom. Makes you feel all warm and gooey inside, especially if you happen to be watching it while snacking on Lunchables in a polyester leisure suit.
What made this year so interesting is that all of the shawls were really attractive. Usually there are a few where you wonder what the teams were thinking when they designed it, and two or three who are clearly up for the top spots. Dave and I waited with baited breath while they announced the winners, thinking that whoever won this year should really be proud because there really was no clear indication of who would win. Wouldn't you know, it was "Carl and the Not-So-Lazy Kates"? There was much whooping in our house, equal to the whooping that occurred when the Pats won the Superbowl the first of the last three times they've won. Their shawl was my favorite (and not just because I happen to know a few people on the team). Their theme was a picture Libby took of the Chillisquaque (brook? creek?) last Spring right after a snowstorm. There were different shades of grays and purples. If the shawl spends any time at her shop before being washed, I'll see if I can get a picture of it.
Dave and I agreed that we probably can't ever go to see the contest in person because there's no doubt we'd end up leaving with a very expensive shawl in our possession. True, true.