A visit to Estes Park Wool Market June 4-7, 1998 By Lisa Roskopf From
Start………………………………..To Finish Each year I like to go visit one of the larger wool festivals from around the U.S. Last year I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and the year before that, I visited the Michigan Fiberfest before it moved to its new home. Each show has it own unique characteristics and personality and I learn so much. I come home with so many ideas on how to make the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival livestock show even better. This year I chose Estes Park Wool Market in Estes Park, Colorado to visit. I was amazed at how big the Llama show was. There were some gorgeous animals as well as beautiful Peruvian music playing in the background in between the judging. The music was perfect with the heritage of the Llamas. I just had to introduce myself to the show announcer to ask how he did the music as it gave such a relaxing atmosphere. The announcer was so kind in letting me in on his secret. It was very easy and he said it was soothing to the animals as well. We'll see if we can do that in our Livestock barn at this year's OFFF! I am open to suggestions if anyone reading this has an idea for great fiber music. This was the first time Estes Park Wool Market had a Rare Sheep division at its wool show. I decided to enter 2 of my Icelandic fleeces and see what happened. I practically had to sit on the fleeces to get all the air out of the bags before getting them into my suitcase. Once I was there, I opened up the bags and "puff", the fleeces fluffed back to their original state. I was amazed! The Icelandic fleeces did quite well at the show. My ewe fleece won Reserve Grand Champion over the whole rare sheep division and I received a sheep coat as a prize. I have never used a sheep coat but I thought I might experiment with this one. The Icelandic fleece always seems to stay so clean on the animal because of its low grease that I don't know if the coat will be very helpful. It will be interesting to see what happens. One of the highlights of my trip was taking a "Felting A Hat" class by instructor, Anne Sneary. After standing at the classroom door at 7:30 in the morning (just after a snowstorm) the day of the class, and having already been told the class was full several weeks beforehand, I still had hoped the instructor could somehow squeeze me. Anne told me she only had enough materials for the 15 people so I offered to at least be a helper. I helped set up and was officially appointed the position of Anne's "Gopher". I had the duty of taking attendance and collecting money for the supplies for the class. After attendance was taken, to my elation, there was one "no show". I WAS IN!!! I was so excited as I had already signed up for the Felted Fiber Arts Competition at this years Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene Oregon with my hat that I hadn't made yet. Nothing like really being motivated! The hat is made from Llama wool and the design on the side (look familiar?) is made from dyed sheep wool felted right into the hat. I had made my own twisted rope hatband but it just wasn't right, so I searched the downtown Estes Park shops until I found just the right one. I was then ready to actually wear this funky hat in public. I had lots of compliments but now that I look back at it, the compliments were all from people wearing similar hats that had attended the same Felting class! Over all, the class was loads of fun and Anne was a wonderful instructor. I now have plans to make my own Icelandic wool hat. Stay tuned………
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