For me, there is not much better than a day spent at the Estes Park Wool Market. It has been several years since it happened and I missed it. So I donned my N95 and headed up the mountain on Saturday. I saw so many people I haven’t seen in person for years. I chatted with fellow teachers and friends from the fiber world of Colorado and beyond. I ran into students I’ve only talked to online, students from past retreats, and even some Instagram friends and followers.
One reason for going was to get a fleece to use for teaching at SOAR in October. (Spin Off Autumn Retreat is run by Long Thread Media). I know. I’m teaching at a spinning retreat. But I’m not really teaching spinning. I’m teaching spinners how to use their handspun for tapestry weaving. I did manage to find many great fleece candidates, quite a few of which were already sold. But I came home with one complete fleece and three partial fleeces. Two of those are at least in part for the SOAR classes. Triumph! (Buying a fleece can feel sort of scary.)
The fleece judging
The fleece judge this year was Geoffrey Ruppert, a veterinarian, sheep farmer, and judger of premier spinning fleeces. I really appreciated his humor, willingness to share his knowledge, and his focus on fleeces that are best for hand spinners.
Dr. Geoffrey Ruppert, DVM and fantastic fleece judge.
I rushed into the vendor hall where they had the judging this year and found a seat up front. I staked out that uncomfortable folding chair and prepared to stay all morning. As it turned out, I sat there most of the afternoon as well as they moved the heritage breed judging to Saturday. The white fleece judging was first and I was primed to learn more about different breeds, crosses, and how to choose a great handspinning fleece. There were so many fantastic fleeces and my head was full of imagined stories of the sheep farmers and their amazing charges.
I believe the fleece below is a Gotland Suffolk cross by Evelyn Whitley (I am not 100% sure of that name because I didn’t write it down or take a photo). A seemingly strange cross resulted in this gorgeous fiber. She had four fleeces in the judging and three of them won. I attempted to buy one of them but someone bought all four of them right after the judging in one fell swoop. It would have made great tapestry fiber. I talked to Evelyn for a bit but her successful work in creating these crosses means the fleeces are snapped up and we have to wait for the sheep to make some more.
An unlikely Gotland Suffolk cross that would make a lovely fleece for tapestry.
It is so fun to watch handspinners explore fleeces. I was imagining how everyone had their own story about what they’d use this or that fleece for. How they might prepare it or dye it or spin it to create whatever magical fiber creations they love the most. In the photo below we’re examining the champion fleeces, the first place winners from each class that are then judged again for Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion.
Getting a close look at the Grand Champion candidate fleeces at the Estes Park Wool Market 2022
In the afternoon, Chandra Conklin did the spinners choice judging and chose a fleece by Dana Reuhlmann. I was mighty happy to see this because literally minutes before I had bought a fleece by this same farmer. The winning fleece (fleeces really, she had two in the running out of six) was gorgeous and though the one I bought was not as pristine, it has a lot of the same characteristics. Of course the prize winning fleeces were already sold.
Dana Reuhlmann’s spinners choice fleece. This is not the one I bought, but I wished it was!
The animals
I love to walk through all the barns and say hello to the animals. There aren’t as many sheep as there used to be, but there were a few lambs to say hello to.
Chatting with a lamb. Photo by Maggie Casey
Click the thumbnails in the gallery below for larger images and hover for captions.
Sheep shearing demonstration
I always try to catch the one of the sheep shearing demonstrations. James did a great job with two huge sheep. This Lincoln’s fleece was so pretty! The other sheep’s fleece was not one I’d want to attempt to spin, but she cooperated pretty well. See the video below if you want to see a Finn sheep being shorn. (And just a reminder if you’re not familiar with sheep, they HAVE to be shorn. These sheep were mighty happy to have their coats off and had a spring in their step when they left the shearing platform. Sheep brains calm right down when they’re turned upside down as you’ll see in the video.) My apologies for the audio. The wind noise in parts is pretty bad, but the farmer who was narrating did say some interesting things and I like the sound of the clippers.
Watch James’ feet while he is shearing. He controls the sheep with them and wears special leather moccasins so he can feel what is going on better.
James shearing a Lincoln ram at Estes Park Wool Festival 2022
The magical vendor hall
I didn’t spend a lot of time looking at the vendor booths. It is always second priority to me over learning about the fleece and animals. But I did take a quick tour and thought maybe I’d come back on Sunday to look some more. I was too tired to go up the mountain for the second day, but I did have a little chat with Roy Clemes who helped me choose a flick carder. I wanted a light one for my perhaps odd habit of flick carding dyed locks and spinning on a spindle in the field and then immediately weaving that yarn into little tapestries. I also grabbed some Power Scour to get at one fleece in particular that was already in my car. I enjoyed seeing the display of books from fellow teachers and friends. At least I think the authors of the books on that table would sign my copy if I asked! (I’m sure they’d sign yours too!)
I also caught up to Kimberly Perkins of Cat Mountain Fiber Arts. I first met her when I was living in the San Luis Valley of Colorado where she still lives and dyes her wonderful yarn combinations. These days I only see her at fiber festivals, but I recommend checking out her yarns and the patterns that go with them! I didn’t even remember to take a photo of her booth but I do know she’ll be at the new Taos Wool Festival (now in Santa Fe and called Mountain and Valley Wool Festival). Might be a good time for a visit home.
An end of the day ice cream was in order.
The fleeces I came home with
I came home with a few fleeces. I bought a few pounds of Lincoln from one of my favorite local breeders, Robin Phillips of Sheep Feather’s Farm. I also bought a few pounds of a Corriedale mix from the same breeder.
I couldn’t resist a pound and a half of churro. This breeder, Geri from Valley of the Wind in Loveland, CO, has at least one white churro sheep and it’s name is Charlie. I wanted to compare churro with the Icelandic fleece I’ve been using. They’re both dual coated fleeces. Charlie’s fleece showed up in the fleece judging with a special mention from the judge in part because it was so clean. That fleece was sold, but of course Geri had a few pounds set aside from this sheep from a prior year and I snapped up a pound and a half to play with.
The one full fleece I bought was from Black Eagle Sheep and Dana Reuhlman. This was the same breeder that won the spinners choice fleece as I noted above.
Fleece from Robin Phillips’ Sheep Feather’s Farm in Colorado.
The full fleece I bought from Dana Reuhlman of Black Eagle Sheep
This Lincoln fleece definitely smells good to a dog! That fleece is for me and is destined for the combs and tapestry yarn.
Estes Park Wool Market is a wonderful show. Thanks for tagging along with me and I hope you get a chance to visit this show or one like it especially to experience the whole cycle from lamb to ewe to fleece to yarn. Now to wash some fleece.