SAN JUAN COUNTY FAIR

LIST OF FAIR COVERAGE

SAN JUAN ISLAND WEAVERS WIN SECOND YEAR IN A ROW

Story contributed by Jeanie Fodor
Matt Pranger photos

Sally Stern, Judy Brandt, Kathryn Chadwick, Candy Hoeschen, weaver Peggy Hunt, Sue Brady, Sally Dickman, Barbara Shorett and Jo Critchlow won the blue ribbon for their shawl.

posted 08/19/03
Rene Metcalf, judge for Sheep to Shawl, had a very arduous task Saturday as she evaluated the three fabulous shawls presented to her at the 23rd Annual Sheep to Shawl Event. Orcas Island, San Juan Island and the Seattle-to-Olympia weavers were in great form as they carded, spun, plied and weaved their way into the late afternoon. This is the only event at the Fair that allows entrants from outside the county. Crowds surrounded the Fiber Court all day long to cheer the teams on. The first shawl off the loom was the Seattle-to-Olympia teams shawl, next came Orcas then San Juan. The teams then worked feverishly to finish the shawls so they could be presented to the judge.

After the weaver from each team drew a score sheet to determine the order of the judging the process began. With Seattle-to-Olympia’s shawl being the first, it was laid out before the judge. This beautiful shaded pink, mauve to burgundy shawl with grey mohair and silk striping was woven on a Payton counter balance four shaft loom. The loom itself was over 75 years old and had belonged to weaver Robyn Spadys’ great grandmother. The weave structure of this shawl was cannele’ (deflected weft). The members of this team collectively have over 145 years of weaving and spinning experience and two of the members have earned the Handweavers Guild of America Certificates of Excellence. The team members were: Robyn Spady (COE) – weaver; Joyce Chandler – fiber prep and drum carder; Georgean Curran, Molly Gerhard, Nancy Elken, Tammie Herridge, Mary Thurman, and Jean Schwartz – fiber prep and singles spinning; Mimi Anderson and Lana Schneider (COE) – fiber prep and plying; lastly, Chayla and Zana Herridge-Meyer – ticket sales and runners. This beautiful shawl came in second with a total of 95 points.

Next to be judged was the brightly handpainted shawl presented by the San Juan Island team. Preparations for this shawl began a full year ago resulting in a pattern called bumberet, which has characteristics of both plain weave and twill. A thick 4-ply yarn and a fine 2-ply yarn were spun for the warp. The thick yarn shows off bright spots of 16 different colors, dyed by handpainting in 2 inch intervals. For the fine yarn white wool was carded with Black Angelina, a fine synthetic fiber that adds a bit of sparkle. After spinning and plying, the fine yarn was dyed black. To make colors pop dramatically in the finished shawl, each thick multicolored yarn in the warp was flanked by two fine black sparkly yarns, giving a strong vertical definition to the fabric and also a subtle sheen.

Five different colors of blues and greens were blended during the competition to make the weft yarn resulting in a lively teal blue-green. This shawl was woven on a Schacht Baby Wolf eight shaft loom, using only four of the eight shafts. Peggy purchased this loom just for the project. Members of the San Juan team are: Peggy Hunt – designer and weaver; Candy Hoeschen – spinner and plyer; Sue Brady – first year spinner on the team; Judy Brandt, Kathy Chadwick, Jo Critchlow, Sally Dickman, Barbara Shorett and Sally Stern – spinners; Annette Dysart – spinner and shepherdess. This fantastic shawl earned First Place status with a score of 96. What a great 50th birthday for this fine weaver!

The third shawl to be judged was presented by the Orcas team. Their exquisite shawl consisted of shades of light gold, dark gold and russet. The weave structure used in this shawl was a plain weave with point twill insets. The overall design and glorious color shading in this shawl was marvelous. In this writers opinion the point twill insets were dynamite and the use of silk in this scarf gave it a wonderful sheen. This shawl was woven on a Baby Wolf eight shaft loom borrowed especially to weave this shawl.. Orcas team members were Hannah Boehm – weaver; Audrey Wells – plyer; Cathy Vierthaler, Christa Smith, Mary Minnis, Maria Nutt and Pat Townsend – spinners. This wonderful shawl accumulated a total of 93 points.

All of these shawls were beautifully woven and represent hundreds of hours spent designing, spinning, sample weaving. Special talents like the ones needed for this competition are only bestowed upon a few for all of us to enjoy. Thank you so much ladies for sharing these gifts with the rest of us.

After the judging was completed and ribbons were awarded the drawing for the shawls took place. Sue Brady, SJI’s youngest spinner and soon-to-be mom in September was asked to draw names from the three entry baskets. The first name drawn was Doris Van Alen who won the beautiful gold and russet shawl woven by the Orcas team; second to be drawn was Jaimie Shenoman who won the lovely mauve and grey shawl woven by the Seattle-to-Olympia team and the final shawl woven by the San Juan team was won by the utterly delighted Jeanie Fodor who as many know likes blue/green and bright! All the ladies on the teams would like to express their thanks for the community’s support, by purchasing raffle tickets, of their efforts put forth on this most exciting day of the year.

Backing up to the beginning of the Sheep to Shawl event, the crowd was once again entertained and educated by the shearing talents of Don Burt Jr. and his sidekick Larry Cochran who narrated during the shearing and answered many questions from the audience. Many thanks go to Monty Larson who provided the sheep that was shorn. Once again it is demonstrated how the community comes together during the Fair. Larry Cochran has been shearing for over 40 years and comes to us from Lopez Island, while Don Burt Jr. hails from San Juan Island and has been shearing for more than 15 years. Monty Larson ferried all the way from the quiet island of Shaw to bring his sheep. He too has many years of shearing experience.

All in all it was another very successful Sheep to Shawl. Many thanks go out to all those folks on the Fair Board and all their employees for their many hours of hard work to make the Fair a reality. Without this team we would be missing a great deal of fun, good food, comradery, a little competition here and there, and a look at what wonderful talented people we have here in our islands.

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