two weekends ago i participated in my first-ever fleece to shawl competition at the Ulster County Fair. five of us (all members of the Ulster County Handspinners Guild, which i’ve been neglecting to mention that i joined last winter), dubbed the Virgin Woolies (it was our first time!) took the virgin fleece of one sheep and carded, spun, plied and wove it into a shawl in less than four hours. miraculous! we were fairly surprised to even have finished in the allotted time, and then we were shocked to learn that we won SECOND PRIZE! there were only three teams, but we were certain we’d be third (that is, if we weren’t disqualified, which we would have been if we didn’t complete the shawl) since the other two have been competing for years. most importantly, we had a great time and it was a gorgeous day at the fair.
