Finally got to the Black Sheep Gathering! It's been on my to-do list for many, many years, and somehow just never happened. This year, Gloria and I decided to go. Wayne and Dave packed their golf clubs and off we went. Of course, the only thing Gloria and I needed were our cheque books! I had high expectations of this event (built up over the years) , and it did not disappoint.
(Wesleydale Sheep)
The Black Sheep Gathering is a large sheep and wool fair. Of course, sheep are big there, but it also has a large component of angora goats, with the national show being held there, as well. Many breeds of sheep and goats are shown and exhibited and quality of judging and livestock was extremely high. It was such a pleasure to be able to look at some of the rare breeds and see wonderful examples of their breed. The more common wool breeds, Romney, Merinos, Rambouillet, etc, were there, plus Shetlands, Jacobs, Wensleydales, Teeswater, Navajo-Churro and more. They even had coloured angora goats. Coloured fleece of any kind is big at Black Sheep!
(Some Rare Breed Sheep)
The trade show was fabulous. There were over 80 vendors, three buildings full! Prices were reasonable. Anything you would ever want to buy was there, fibre, knitting needles, books, dyes, patterns, yarns, etc, in thing you would ever want to buy was there, fibre, knitting needles, books, dyes, patterns, yarns, etc, in spades. Parking was free and admission to buildings was free, as well.
The fleece show was superb with outstanding quality. The fleeces were judged, then set out for the spinners to preview them before the sale the following day. Spinners lined up
(more than a block and a half long) before they open the doors for the sale. (Gloria and I just watched this amazed!) Instructions were given, there was to be no fighting over fleeces! High prices reflected the high quality, with prices well over $100 for top placing fleeces, with lots of outstanding fleeces in the $50, $60, $70 range. Black Sheep usually has over 500 top quality spinning fleeces entered each year.
There was a beautiful gallery show with many entries. We spent a lot of time in there just looking!
( Silk Shawl above and a Navaho rug below)
There were also many workshop and seminars to choose from. They were very reasonably priced, roughly $40 for a half day and $75 for a whole day. I spoke to a few Canadian gals there and they had good reports about their workshops. There were, of course, a lot of spinning workshops, however, they did cover all topics from rug hooking, sweater design, rug weaving, tapestry, dyeing chemical and natural, felting, and much more.
We also watched the Sheep-To-Shawl competition and brought home some new ideas which might be a consideration for our competition in the future. Some of these ideas might solve our competition's financial problems. More on that later.
(First place in the Sheep to Shawl competition)
There were some very beautiful shawls, but I've got to say, our teams could have stood up to any of them! Do teams in our competition (tucked away in a cozy corner in the Interior of B.C.) realize how beautiful their shawls really are and appreciate the high standard of quality they have reached, both creatively and technically? I hope so.
I'm convinced the teams that participate in our competition can hold their own in any sheep to shawl event, no matter where it's held.
Two thumbs up for Black Sheep!
jg
(Wesleydale Sheep)The Black Sheep Gathering is a large sheep and wool fair. Of course, sheep are big there, but it also has a large component of angora goats, with the national show being held there, as well. Many breeds of sheep and goats are shown and exhibited and quality of judging and livestock was extremely high. It was such a pleasure to be able to look at some of the rare breeds and see wonderful examples of their breed. The more common wool breeds, Romney, Merinos, Rambouillet, etc, were there, plus Shetlands, Jacobs, Wensleydales, Teeswater, Navajo-Churro and more. They even had coloured angora goats. Coloured fleece of any kind is big at Black Sheep!
(Some Rare Breed Sheep)The trade show was fabulous. There were over 80 vendors, three buildings full! Prices were reasonable. Anything you would ever want to buy was there, fibre, knitting needles, books, dyes, patterns, yarns, etc, in thing you would ever want to buy was there, fibre, knitting needles, books, dyes, patterns, yarns, etc, in spades. Parking was free and admission to buildings was free, as well.
The fleece show was superb with outstanding quality. The fleeces were judged, then set out for the spinners to preview them before the sale the following day. Spinners lined up
(more than a block and a half long) before they open the doors for the sale. (Gloria and I just watched this amazed!) Instructions were given, there was to be no fighting over fleeces! High prices reflected the high quality, with prices well over $100 for top placing fleeces, with lots of outstanding fleeces in the $50, $60, $70 range. Black Sheep usually has over 500 top quality spinning fleeces entered each year.
There was a beautiful gallery show with many entries. We spent a lot of time in there just looking!
( Silk Shawl above and a Navaho rug below)There were also many workshop and seminars to choose from. They were very reasonably priced, roughly $40 for a half day and $75 for a whole day. I spoke to a few Canadian gals there and they had good reports about their workshops. There were, of course, a lot of spinning workshops, however, they did cover all topics from rug hooking, sweater design, rug weaving, tapestry, dyeing chemical and natural, felting, and much more.
We also watched the Sheep-To-Shawl competition and brought home some new ideas which might be a consideration for our competition in the future. Some of these ideas might solve our competition's financial problems. More on that later.
(First place in the Sheep to Shawl competition)There were some very beautiful shawls, but I've got to say, our teams could have stood up to any of them! Do teams in our competition (tucked away in a cozy corner in the Interior of B.C.) realize how beautiful their shawls really are and appreciate the high standard of quality they have reached, both creatively and technically? I hope so.
I'm convinced the teams that participate in our competition can hold their own in any sheep to shawl event, no matter where it's held.
Two thumbs up for Black Sheep!
jg