Thursday, May 31, 2012

Getting Close...

T-minus 9 days until Estes Park Wool Market!

I'm super excited.  Nervous and kinda stressed-out, but excited.  Being the superintendent for the Handspun Contest has been interesting so far, to say the least.  I'm loving interacting with contestants on Ravelry, answering questions and trying to make this contest run as smoothly as possible.  However, it's been a bit bumpy because I'm effectively the middleman between the contestants and the judge.  There's been some minor drama, but nothing terrible, and I'm looking forward to a fantastic contest filled with gorgeous yarn.  Because, really?  It's all about the yarn.  SO MUCH YARN.  :D

I volunteered to be Superintendent as sort of a favor, not exactly realizing what I was getting myself into, and boy howdy, now I know.  The biggest bummer is that I don't get to attend much of the festival at all.  However, I get to be surrounded by yarn all day both days, and should be able to shop Friday night with the class attendees, so we're good.  :) On Saturday, I'll collect yarn from contestants from 8:00-8:45 am in the Demo Tent, then will be  inside the judging room assisting the judge until her comments at 4 p.m.  At least, we sincerely hope the judging will be completed by 4 p.m.  There are 23 categories this year...23!...so finishing on time might be a daunting task.  On Sunday, I'll have a display up of all of the entries, and will stay with the display most of the day to answer questions and brag about contestants.  :)

We did a "dry run" of sorts last Sunday, with her judging a few skeins spun by me and one other spinner, and it was really successful.  I do have to say this...the judge this year is extremely fair.  I threw in some skeins that had some wonky spots (not skeined correctly, underspun bits) and she caught everything and had interesting and educational things to say.  I'm hoping that the contestants view this contest as a learning experience, because that is essentially the point of the whole thing.  Prizes and ribbons are great, but the information gleaned from the experience is what is truly valuable and leads to becoming a better spinner.   

One thing we noticed on the dry run was that a spot for describing HOW the yarn was spun was inadvertently left off the judging card.  Whoops!  The judge would really like to have this information, so she requested that I ask contestants to include this info when they turn in their skeins for judging.  It would be fantastic if this info (i.e. "This yarn was spun worsted from commercial combed top," or "This yarn was spun woolen from rolags," or "This yarn was corespun around a cotton thread,") could be included somewhere on the card, possibly under "Fiber History" if you can squeeze it in there, or on the back of the card.  It will just help the judge form a fuller picture of the yarn. 

I think that's about it!  To avoid having to drive round-trip from Boulder to Estes Park three times, I'll be treating myself and staying in a little cottage on Friday and Saturday nights. YEAH!! :)   Unfortunately, I couldn't manage to finagle Thursday off from my day job, but will be at the high school on Friday morning to collect skeins/money/entry forms from contestants who are taking Wool Market classes and seminars.  Here's hoping the contest is a great experience for all!

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