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Lambtown Sheep to Shawl
Saturday, October 2, 2010 10:00 am to 3:15 pm (45 minute lunch break from 12:30 to 1:15 pm) JUDGE: TBD Click here to view & print the Sheep-to-Shawl application. For more information, please contact the Sheep-to-shawl Committee Chair, Nancy Jane Campbell at toocoolcampbell@yahoo.com
 Click here to see pictures of the rainbow sheep taken by Marilyn Lewis Click here to see a full report and pictures of the Sheep -to-Shawl competition prepared by Denise Lai!
Object: To demonstrate and explain to the public the variety of processes necessary to create a garment from raw fleece to a completed handwoven shawl. Thusly, to prepare the fleece, spin the singles, ply the yarn, and weave it into a shawl in a four and one-half (4.5) hour time limit. Featured Breed: CVM (California Variegated Mutant)
Fleece Provided by: Patti Sexton Livestock
Fleece: The competition wool for the weft is California Variegated Mutant (See the history of the "CVM" sheep, a rare breed developed right here in the Sacramento Valley) at the bottom of this page). The teams may choose any fiber (as long as it is 75% wool) for the warp. Weft wool will be prepared for spinning during the contest by teasing, flicking, hand carding, hand combing, and/or drum carding. Other fibers (up to 10% by weight) can be added to the weft fiber. Rules: 1. Handwoven Shawl that must be a minimum of 19” wide and 72” long off loom, excluding fringe. No electric fringe twisters allowed. Design, color, and patterns to be at discretion of team and weaver, within weaving guidelines. 2. Loom must be manually operated, can use no more than 4 harnesses, AND sett must be a minimum of 8 EPI. Loom is to arrive at the competition warped and tied on only, no header woven. 3. Due to space considerations, only four teams will be accepted to compete. Each Shawl Team is to consist of eight (8) people as follows: 1 weaver, 4 spinners, 1 plyer, 1 go’fer PLUS one additional person (does NOT work on shawl) with the title of “Educational Liaison” whose sole job is to interact, communicate, demonstrate, and dispense information to the public. Any member of the team can exchange job with any other as long as the totals for any position are not exceeded, i.e., no more than 4 spinners, 1 weaver, 1 plyer, 1 go’fer, 1 Educational Liaison. All team members except Educational Liaison may work on weft fiber prep. 4. Warp can be commercial or handspun, natural colored or hand-dyed, but must be at least 75% wool. Extra points will be awarded for handspun warp (see scoring). 5. Weft fiber will be CVM. It can be washed and dyed, but must NOT be picked, prior to the competition. Weft fiber can be teased, flicked, hand carded, hand combed, and/or ONE non-electric drum carder per team can be used in weft fiber preparation during competition. Additionally, teams may add up to 10% (by weight) of additional fibers during the spinning. All yarns must be plied. Weft yarn can NOT exceed twice the size of warp yarn. 6. Entry fee: $35 per team, made payable to Lambtown, and mailed to: Nancy Jane Campbell, S2S Chair, PO Box 632, Cool, CA 95614-0632. Entry deadline will be Friday, September 4, 2010. Weft fleece will be mailed to team as soon as entry fee is received. 7. Prize money: $150 for 1st, $90 for 2nd, $50 for 3rd, $25 for 4th. There could be additional donated prizes. Judging: Points will be awarded for spinning, weaving (technical), pattern design, overall quality, team identification/display, handspun warp, and speed. The judge’s decision will be final. See scoring card for details.
Featured Breed: CVM (California Variegated Mutant) Patti Sexton is from a sheep herding family. Her grandfather and father maintained a 5,000 head flock of Romeldales and were very involved in breed improvement. The sheep were carefully graded and divided into bands…only the best were kept. The family farm was sold in 2000 but Patti continued with a small home farm and maintains a flock of about 200 ewes (140 Romeldales and 60 CVMs). She continued her family tradition of breeding for the very best and always towards improving the breed. Romeldales were developed specifically for the Sacramento Valley by Al Spencer in the early 20th Century (1914) and were the product of crossing Romney Marsh rams to Rambouillet ewes. In the 1940s, Patti’s family, who had been purchasing Romeldale rams for breeding, purchased Spencer’s entire flock when he retired, taking over the Romeldale breeding program. These are a dual purpose breed, selectively bred for quality carcasses and excellent wool, open faced and fairly clean legged to limit problems with foxtails and other stickers. Romeldale ewes have a high percentage of twins and the breed produces an average of 9 lbs of wool per year. The wool is a minimum of 3” in length, with well formed locks, a lot of crimp, and a very soft hand, averaging in the 60-62s. The first recorded CVM was born in the fall of 1968 on the Sexton Ranch in Glenn County, California, to a registered Romeldale ewe when Patti was 6 or 7 years old and she remembers helping her Dad move the ewe and her twins (one white, the other the first CVM) from the lambing barn so her grandmother could photograph the oddly marked little lamb. In the years following, a few more CVM lambs showed up in their flock. Patti’s father was trying to rid their flock of this recessive genetic coloring and Glenn Eidman, a world renowned livestock and wool judge, took an active interest in them…he had been partnered with Patti’s grandfather for a number of years, very involved in the grading of the Sexton flock wool and the selection of breeding stock. Glenn purchased the best of the CVM lambs born and it was his work and dedication that resulted in the evolution of the CVM as a breed in its own right. CVMs are the product of a double recessive color gene which gives it the characteristic badger markings and they can also have horns, otherwise they are essentially carbon copies of Romeldales. The typical CVM is usually tri-colored, either white/silver to gray to charcoal (these with black faces, legs, belly, etc.), or white/cream to light brown to dark brown. A tri-colored CVM can have all or just some of these colors present in the same fleece. Lambtown is thrilled to support and introduce this All-California breed at the 2010 Lambtown Sheep to Shawl.
If you have any questions please contact Nancy Jane Campbell the Lambtown Sheep-to-shawl Chairperson at (530)888-6074, or
contact us by
email at: toocoolcampbell@yahoo.com
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