Sunday, August 15th, was the Sheep to Shawl competition and it was held in the Opry barn in the Pioneer Village at the state fairgrounds. This year there were four youth teams all from Conner Prairie, and I must say that Sue Payne has every right to be proud of these kids she has been mentoring.
The day was very hot, but that did not slow down the teams nor the crowd. I was pleased at how many people stopped by and watched the competition. Sue Payne is going to submit her own report on this competition in the next few days, but I wanted to show you what I saw. Sue will have more pictures, histories of the teams, plus the results of the auction.
The four teams consisted of The Ewe Crew, The Princesses of the Treadles, The Pirates of the Treadles (back to defend their title as winners from last year), and The Traveling Gypsies.
First, the Ewe Crew. Here is their sign.
When the horn was tooted, they immediately started in and worked very hard carding, spinning, plying and weaving.
I thought their scarf design was very pretty, and their spinning and weaving were spot on. Unfortunately, their scarf was three inches too short, and that knocked them into third place overall. I really hope this team comes back next year as they have a good chance, in my opinion, at winning next year’s.
The next team is The Princesses of the Treadle.
It only goes to show you that royalty can work hard when they want, and these young ladies did just that. I love their crowns.
I wish I could have gotten a good pic of the weaving as it was being done, but the weaver was moving so fast that all I could get a shot of was her arm as she threw the shuttle or beat the weft into place. They placed fourth in the competition.
The Pirates of the Treadle came next.
These bad boys of the sea anchored long enough to show us that boys can spin and weave just as good as the girls. I loved their costumes and have to give them credit for not melting in the heat of the barn we were in.
The colors in their weft were bold and I loved that they had one pattern going on in the middle and another on each side of the red area. Very well designed!
The final group was The Traveling Gypsies.
Their costumes were my favorites and, if memory serves me correctly, they have been spinning and weaving the shortest time of any of the teams. You sure couldn’t tell it.
They seemed calm, cool and collected as they steadily worked. Their entire warp was naturally dyed and the simple twill pattern set it off very well.
All four teams finished before the 4-hour deadline and Kate Larson and John Salamone carefully judged each scarf.
At 3:00, the winners were announced and it was The Traveling Gypsies who came in first place!
As you can tell they were very proud of what they did and rightfully so. I am looking forward to seeing them back next year.
From left to right, the scarves are: The Pirates of the Treadle, The Princesses of the Treadle, The Traveling Gypsies and The Ewe Crew. Aren’t they all great? I know Kate and John spent a lot of time deliberating points and they loved everyone of them. John was especially impressed over the Princesses’ pattern, which he said was one of his favorite ones to weave.
Next year, I’d love to see some adult teams rejoin the competition. I have been asked to be one of the judges for next year as John is bowing out after doing it for three years in a row. Thank you John for being a judge. I could tell that you enjoyed it very much and I learned a lot by listening to you and Kate discuss each scarf. I have big shoes to fill.
