The day started with Breed judging. The first breed was Cormo.
More pictures of the Cormo fleece. I desperately wanted to take it home with me, but this was just judging day.
Such crimp! But you see that red dot? That means the fleece was not for sale. Terry Mendenhall had several gorgeous fleeces in for judging, but mostly not for sale. Dang it.
oh, the crimp. the whiteness. This is a top notch fleece.
Around the room were some great educational displays showing examples of bad wool, much of which I'd read about but never seen.
More educational displays, including my favorite sheep porn book, Beautiful Sheep.
Like they needed to sell the folks in this room on the wonders of wool.
There were over 150 fleeces to be judged.
Off to the side were the items to be judged tomorrow - handspuns and knits. I have a new goal for my own spinning.
More samples of handspun.
This was actually a fairly small table, especially when you turn around and see the room full of fleeces. But there are a few more pictures yet of the handspun waiting to be judged.
Yes, more handspun.
I had to have a close up of this one - that gorgeous white yarn was spun by a kid on a spindle. How cool is that?
During the fleece judging, the judges would take a lock and rest it against construction paper so they could more clearly see the crimp and any fault in the wool. See that second one in from the left, with a wave in it? That shows a sheep who went through some stress at some point that reflected in its fleece.
I had to go back to the educational displays at one point - I wanted to keep a copy of the details for my own edification!
You can't quite see the bands here, but it turns out that sheep with a copper deficiency have some very interesting color changes in their wool. Too much copper, like the amount that a goat or cow might need, and you'll have a dead sheep - not much chance to reflect in the wool.
Bacterial stain isn't quite the same as canary stain. Bacterial stain is caused by only one thing, and the effect is fairly gradual, though distinctive, on the wool.
I loved this little folder of common wool types and micron count examples. I think this may have been a 4H project, but whatever it was, it was a great reference for me during the judging.
A closeup on one of their interesting posters. I wonder if these are available somewhere for sale...
This is an example of canary stain, which can be caused by bacteria, diet, or something else in the environment. Nothing gradual about this, unlike bacterial stain!
And here were our wonderful judges, Wes and Jane Patton. They approached the judging with an eye both to the characteristics important for a sheep breeder as well as the ones of most interest to a handspinner. They were a great pair, with lots of stories just as educational as their comments on what they were judging in the fleeces!
Wes Patton was just a gem, and in this photo he is looking at a market fleece in the variegated category. I forget which micron/breed count this one was in, but I believe by the time I took a photo, they were looking at it for Grand Champion for the market fleeces.
Auction Day!
Fleece on parade
Slow Down - Wool Show thattaway
I win! I win! Two Janet Kepler fleeces and one Sue Reuser.
Do I look happy to you?
nom nom nom chocolate brown merino cross. I didn't think I'd win this one - it was the best brown in the auction.
Must gloat over fleeces
See how bright? The fleece just glows in a sunbeam!
Picking some out to take home. The rest went to Morro Fleece Works
