I had a wonderful time teaching wool judging to these amazing people his past weekend in Binbrook Ontario.  There was a very diverse group of people from producers, artisans, shearers, fair organizers/judges and even people with their PhD's in wool.  Needless to say I also learned a lot from this group.

We had over 60 fleeces to peruse and learn about.  Many brought their own fleeces so we could all go through them together and learn from both aspects. 

I even go to try some sheep ice cream made by All Sorts Acres!

Any part of a sheep's fleece can be made into these pellets which are a wonder for your soil.  Did you know that wool has a high nitrogen content?  I learned that this weekend.

Such a special thank you to Melinda Ramsay of Lickety Spit Fibre Farm for her hard work getting this course prepared and providing such hospitality and warmth.  I really enjoyed myself.  2 days of hard work for all but there were many smiling faces when the certificates were handed out.  Thank you to all who took part in this course. 

I had sent some of my older fleeces away earlier this year to the Dakota Fibre Mill for processing.  As I'm sure is the same with many of you, I have more fleeces than I can process on my own.  This was my first time sending fleeces away and my friend Nicole has had fibre processed at this mill in the past (she even took them down for me!)   I sent of my very first fleece which was from a Corriedale sheep named Viv.  I bought this one from Val Fiddler of Woolly Wool of the West when we took our Wool Judging course together in 2012.  I also used this fleece in many of my classes as a great example of Corriedale.  I didn't want it to continue to sit in my basement and now I can spin it up!  It. Is. So. Wonderful!  Val's fleeces are always exceptional and this one was no surprise.  I also had a giant Rambouillet that I bought at the Drake Sheep Show & Sale several years ago.  It was from a Manitoba Producer named Graham Rannie who I've not met on a bunch of occasions art different wool shows.  He also won Grand Champion with his Rambouillet at the All Canada Classic in 2015.  I knew a fleece of this size would be too much for me on my own and it is so fine, I was a bit scared I would wreck it so off that one went.  The 3rd fleece I had processed is a Romney X.. and to be quite honest, I can't remember where I got that one but wow is it squishy.  Overall I am so incredibly happy with the quality of the fibre and the care that went into making the roving.  I paid $145 for the 3 fleeces which came out to 5 bags full.  I will start spinning and weighting as I go.  These will be sweaters FOR ME!  They are so nice and light now without the lanolin, sweat, VM, etc.  So light in fact that I dumped the entire Romney fleece out into the snow without even realizing - oops hah

I often get asked which mills will process single fleeces and besides the Dakota Fibre Mill you can now also process your fleeces at Long Way Homestead in Manitoba!  Anna will be the next person I send my wool to (and I do have more of course). 
 really am happy that I could have each fleece kept separate.  Especially for others like me who have special fleeces that they want to use for a specific project.  I can't wait to show you how it all comes out!

This year I taught both levels 1 & 2 of Wool Judging at the Manitoba Fibre Fest.  It was an intensive 3 days of looking at the good and bad in many different breeds and fleeces.   

At the end of level 2 there was a written exam as well as a practical judging portion.  Every student did exceptional!

Above are examples of some of the very beautiful fleeces which were excellent examples of their breeds.

This fleece on the other hand is a VERY BAD example.  It weighs 26 lbs!!  This fleece came from a medium breed with the locks well over a foot long.  It is a bit hard to see in the pictures but it also show canary stain which is unscorable.  This fleece shows bad animal health, bad animal care and it should NOT be supported in any way.  Locks WAY too long for breed type is not a luxury.  It is animal abuse.  This case was different from Shrek in the fact that this sheep did not escape and hide in the mountains,  it was living on a farm not getting sheared.  Yearly shearing is important for the sheep's health.  The sheep that carried this 26 lbs of extra wool would have been very uncomfortable.  It's skin would not be able to breath and bacteria grew rampant.  Please keep this in mind when you see overgrown fleeces/lock online or in the field.  

Most of our 2 classes were here for the certificate award ceremony.  Many thanks to Gerry (3rd from left) who coordinated the course as well as sourcing all the fleeces and providing an insight that was immeasurable to class participants.    Much thanks also to Wool Growers who provided learning materials, funding and backed the courses and provided the certificates.
If you are ever interested in wool judging keep an eye out for upcoming courses with the Manitoba Fibre Fest.  

I wanted to make a bunch of the Manitoba Fibre Fest Collection patterns this year.  I decided to cast on Ice Flow by Johanna Giesbrecht using Feet of Clay Ceramic's colourway dyed by Cog Yarns.  All of these women were vendors at the festival as well.  The other awesome thing is the yarn went perfect with my newly made Carson Dress sewn specifically for the weekend :) and of course my Jul designs Sheep shawl stick.

I have been working hard the last month or so on a project involving wool.  Well of course :)  BUT this project spans the country.  I have been working with a couple Sheep Producers, Rare Breeds Canada and Wool Growers Co-op to bring the wool industry into the light.  I have seen first hand how wool has be pushed aside and it has come to the point that many sheep producers don't even realize that there is a value in their wool.  I've talked to people who are genuinely interested in the wool show but then say "that wool is nice but I only have Suffolk wool and its not good for anything."   SO not true!!  All wool has a value.

Sheep need to be sheared at least once a year, so not only is wool a natural, renewable resource it is self sustaining as well. With a little bit of work and breeding for good fibre, producers can make money on their wonderful fibre.  Entering fleeces into wool shows is a great start.  Producers receive the judging card back, so they can see areas they did well on and possibly areas that they can improve on for next time.  Depending on the show, there is a good chance of their wool selling to an artisan who is looking for their product.  They can also send their wool off to a mill for production and those who can't spin can buy the yarn spun from their flock.  I often get asked about sources for local wool, yarns and wool products.  

If I went into the many benefits wool provides, I may be here all night.  It is hypoallergenic, wrinkle resistant and fire-resistant and it makes a wonderful insulator - both in the cold and heat.  Wool is elastic and extremely versatile.  It really is perfection found in nature.  Each month leading up to the show, we will be profiling a different breed so you can see how vast the sheep world is.  We are planning a lot of great events which we will be showcasing at the All Canadian Classic Sheep Show in Winnipeg on June 24 - 27, 2015.  With the Campaign for Wool in full swing all around the world, I'm excited to share this experience with you.  You can keep up with all our plans on ourwebsite at www.all-things-wool.ca, Facebook, Twitter andPinterest.

I did get some knitting done this weekend.  I finished my chevron cowl which I knit with 8 oz of Merino.  Its got some weight to it and is super cozy!  I need to take pictures in the daylight, (which can be hard this time of year) it's much more vibrant than it looks.

I knit this hat for my sister last year and wrote down my pattern.  I tested it this weekend and I will be publishing the pattern here and on Ravelry ASAP.  It's quite nice because its double thick, especially with the super bulky wool and its almost impenetrable.  Perfect for the Canadian winter - and according to the Farmers Almanac, we could be in for another doozy again this year.  I promise - writing out my hat patterns are next on my list.  I have 3 to share with you. 

I have some wool on my wheel right now, and I am hoping to finish that off this week.  I've been itching to get a whole bunch more skeins done.  I've been working on a lot of projects in my head, I need to get them out and in wooly form.  

This was my third year attending the Grasslands Sheep & Wool Show in Drake, SK.  I always have a really great time because the weather is always nice, the drive up is scenic, the pie and the sausage are worth the trip and the sheep are just too cute to miss.  I enjoy seeing my friend Val Fiddler each year as she usually heads up the "Wool" portion of the show and I have been helping her out with both the wool show and promoting wool and its benefits to the sheep producers and the other people attending for the weekend.  

Val was the wool judge this year and I was helping as her scribe and Wool Show Coordinator.  We had 9 fleeces entered and saw several cross breeds and medium breeds common to Saskatchewan.  My friend Janet whose farm I was at earlier this year had one of her Corriedale fleeces entered and won a second place ribbon!  Click on the gallery below to see some pictures from the show.

There is a lot to see an do in Drake besides the wool show, there is Sheep judging as well and you can purchase sheep on the last day of the exhibition.  There is a Wine and Cheese on Friday night and a wonderful banquet on Saturday night.  There are several vendors there as well and one particular fibre artist caught my attention.  Arlette Seib from Watrous is a superb felter and her work was just - wow.  The details she provides in her skies, the shading in a sheep's face and the colours are really quite eye catching.  

Jeremy and I met this handsome fellow when we arrived.  Hamish is a Lincoln sheep and he was going home with Val.  He was probably the most affectionate sheep I have encountered.  He quite enjoyed the chin scratches, neck rubs and all the attention we were giving him.  

You should mark the Grasslands Sheep show on your calendar for next year.  It's a great way to spend a weekend.

Wow, Fibre Week once again was a dream.  I attended the whole week and it went without any problems at all.  Lots of fun and I met lots of new, cool people and got to see smiling familiar faces too.  Where do I start?
I traveled with two amazing women; Deb Behm and Coleen Nimetz.  Lucky me, because I got to converse with experts in the fibre field, learn and laugh all the way to Olds.  Deb, taught Master Spinners Level 1 this year and had a very full class. She taught me how to spin and has been my mentor ever since.  If you are looking to read up on her, you can check her blog and she also has an article on twist published in the most recent Ply magazine. Coleen, who usually teaches Level 6 and is one, if not the one, of the leading experts on silk in North America.  She also has lots of recent articles published in several magazines including Ply, Spin-Off and more (check them out).  

The first few days were spent getting settled and pouring over my books (and maybe checking the market).  The Wool Show was on monday and I was getting very excited anticipating the whole thing.  I judged 44 fleeces in several different classes.  Since this is the 3rd year I have helped out or have been involved in the Wool Show, I had an idea of the types of breeds I would find there but cross breeds always force me to think just a little bit harder and there was one fleece in particular that made me laugh to myself because it was such a mix; it was a Romanov, Suffolk, Cotswold, Jacob cross.  So, that means its a primitive breed, that is double coated, which also has characteristics of down breeds AND long wools.  Yeah.  It made the cogs in my head turn a little more then they are used to.  It was a lovely fleece and it won a first place ribbon in its class.  There were beautiful Shetland fleeces, Dorset, Corriedale, Jacob and BFL.  Cotswold, Arcott, Suffolf, Tunis, Cheviot and crosses of each and every one in between.  My friend Val Fiddler from Wooly Wool of the West and co-coordinator of the sheep show at The Grasslands Sheep Exhibition in Drake won Grand Champion for her BFL fleece!  So if you are looking for some really good fleeces you know where to turn.  She also has Black Welsh, Corriedale, Cotswold and more in her flock.  

There was a Cotswold fleece from Manitoba producer Gerry Oliver, that was absolutely stunning.  It scored only a one mark less than the BFL pictured above.  When I flipped the fleece over to look at its lustre, the people in the audience gasped at its shine!  Below is a gallery of pictures from the show and the auction.  Sorry about the poor quality of some of them, the fluorescent lighting in the building wasn't ideal for photos.  

The auction is always a very stressful time.  My hands were shaking by the end of it and I wasn't even bidding on anything!  You can see the love for fibre right here and I did enjoy seeing some very excited faces once the time was called.  

Once the show was over I got to relax a bit.  As some of you know, Kim from The Wacky Windmill and her lovely minion Donna were there.  Two of my favourite people <3  I got to spend lots of time with them, especially Donna and I hovered around their booth for the majority of the time the market was open.  I came home with a couple items; Alpaca/Merino/Silk in the "Kiss This" colourway, Merino/Cashmere/Silk "Remember That Time..." (luxury!) and a skein of superwash Merino in "The Hollow" colourway which I won in one of Kim's KAL's recently.  I also coudn't go home without some Painted Desert yarn from Pam's Wooly Shoppe, a travel niddy noddy and some fabric from"The Quilting Bee" (in the town of Olds) which I have no clue what I will do with it.  Every year students receive a fibre week tote, that is different every year.  Donna also made me this lovely project bag which had a lavendar sachet and handmade lavendar soap inside!  Have I ever mentioned how wonderful Donna is?

I may have also come home with a Suffolk X fleece..... maybe

I read an article about a spinning wheel collection donated to the Olds Museum and had to go check it out while I was there.  Donna and I went and saw over 45 wheels that had belonged to a man who's goal was to open a museum with them.  Among all the very unique and cool wheels were also over 20 drum carders, distaffs, mirrors, spinning wheel parts and also his anvil collection and other oddities.  It is quite amazing all the different styles of wheels he had, in all shapes and sizes.  Many of them still work including one that had been charred in a fire.  There were a couple wheels on display during Fibre Week at the college.  All of these wheels are being restored and photographed by a professional photographer and will be put up for auction in the very near future.  Some of them are already being added to the museums website and if you are looking to purchase any of these wheels, you can find out all the information you need here.  Click on the pictures in the gallery below to get a sneak peak on what wheels will be available.

As usual there are always social events in the evenings and I attended all of them.  There was a pub night on Monday, Spin-in on Tuesday and the Fashion Show on Wednesday followed the Fleece and Silent Auctions.   An item of Deb's that was in the show was her handspun/handkint cotton sweater which was featured in one of Kate Larson's articles in Spin-Off.  Zach Webster, who is the new Program Co-ordinator even tried his hand at spinning during the Spin-In.  Looks like he loved it. 

I did get my spinning projects finished while I was there.  I spun 5 skeins; Shetland, SW Merino/Nylon, Corriedale, Romney and SW Merino/Cashmere/Nylon.   I will be listing these skeins for sale in my shop if you are interested.

And what would a blog post about Olds College be without several beautiful photos of the campus grounds?  Enjoy

And while I was in the wetlands, there were other photographers there taking pictures, look at this amazing one!

On the last day of Fibre Week, there was a plant sale.  How could we say no?  If you've ever thought about attending, I strongly suggest you come next year. Fibre Week 2015 will be June 19 - 26, see everyone again next year!!

This year was a big success for both the sheep and wool shows in Drake Sk.  The event kicked off with a wine and cheese sponsored by Granite Quarry Farms with sheep cheese from the Cheesery in Kitscoty.  I have to say the maple/chive spreadable sheep cheese was the best I have ever tasted.  It didn't hurt that the wine was my favourite too :P
 I spent the whole weekend surrounded by sheep many of which are common in this province and the prairie provinces in general.  Down breeds such as Dorset, Suffolk, N. Country Cheviot and Arcotts are known for their superior meat but I like them more for their wool.  Down/Medium breeds have wool that has bulk without the weight.  Their staple lengths average 3-5 inches and the fleeces can be quite large.  To many of the producers in the sheep industry, the meat is the main focus and their wool takes a back burner, even though it also has a value.  The point of the wool show is to show producers that there is another side to their industry and wool DOES have a value and as a renewable resource it can be productive over and over.  Rambouillet sheep are also common in this province and their fleeces can be gorgeous.  I bid on one that was entered into the wool show and won.  Their fleeces fall into the fine category and can weigh between 9 - 14 lbs!  Next year we are promised a Targhee fleece :P I am still learning and seeing more breeds this year was great.  We had double the amount of fleeces entered this year compared to last and we even had an audience. We had the fleeces categorized by fine, medium (down) and coarse (longwools).  Winners were awarded ribbons at the end of the show and I chose a coloured BFL X Corriedale to win the "Judges Choice" Ribbon.  Prizes were awarded at the banquet on Saturday night.  Special thanks to my friend Lindsay of Wired WhimZee for helping Val and I make everything go smoothly.  

My friend Val Fiddler from Wooly Wool of the West  co-ordinated the show and is a big supporter of the wool industry.  She has a lovely flock of sheep and brought a few for the breed display; a Corriedale ewe and her lamb (so cute!), a big, beautiful Blue Faced Leicester and a handsome Black Welsh.