Fleece to Foot Challenge

Fleece to Foot Challenge

Ever heard of a Sheep-to-Shawl Challenge? It’s a race, where a team of spinners and weavers start with a sheep, and end up with shawl, and the first team to do it wins. How about the International Back to Back Wool Challenge? Same idea, only the team consists of a shearer, spinners and knitters, and they shear a sheep, spin and ply the yarn, and knit it into a sweater in less than 8 hours. (The current winners are the Toronto Spiders, who did it in 5 hours and 52 minutes.) 

Allow us to introduce the Fleece-to-Foot Challenge (F2F), an event that celebrates the same ideas, but is, of course, all about socks—and Sock Summit provides the sheep and shearer.

Spinners and knitters will form teams of five, and each team will be given a chunk of the same fleece. Working together, they will card, spin and ply the yarn… and then knit a complete pair of socks. First team to finish and pass the judge wins.

To be fair, all teams will complete the same pair of socks, and for that to be possible, we’ll be using a a modular pattern, where the sock is knit in pieces by row and stitch count, and then put together.

It will happen in Marketplace Hall A, on Sunday, July 31st starting at 9:00 am.

If you’re a designer (or just a smart cookie) there’s a contest for you too.

Wondering about the rules?

Your Goal: A pair of hand-spun, hand-knit socks right off the sheep. 
Rules:

  1. Have fun and try to be the first team with a pair of hand-spun, hand-knit socks finished.
  2. Due to space considerations, only five teams will be accepted to compete. Each Sock Team is to consist of five people. The ratio of spinners, carders and knitters is up to you. (Strategy will be important.) You may want to plan an alternate team member in case one of your members falls ill. Your team must have a Captain who is the designated contact person.
  3. You may not wash the fleece. (You won’t have time anyway) Your team will spin in the grease - straight off the sheep. The fleece will be freshly shorn, and come from well-kept covered lambs.
  4. Your team will spin a sock weight (fingering) two-ply yarn.  We’ll give you a sample of what you’re aiming for on the morning of the challenge.
  5. In keeping with tradition, there will be no electric wheels, electric carders, drum carders or knitting machines allowed. Your team may use hand cards, treadle wheels and whatever knitting needles you like.
  6. Shearing will commence at 9:30 am. Once there is enough wool to get everyone going we will start the challenge.
  7. In the event that no team finishes before 3:30 pm (which we don’t think will happen), the team farthest along will go to the judges table.

Prizes: 
This Fleece to Foot has noble goal. Each team will have a donation in their name made to the 501(c)(3) charity of their choice: $300 for the winning team and $50 each to the other teams.
Teams are encouraged to raise money on their own as well. Feel free to encourage other knitters to donate to your team during the F2F.
Please consider themes or costumes for your team. Are you Team Stargate? Team Little Women? Team Fruit Bowl? (We’re partial to the Stargate thing—but please don’t dress up as a Wraith. They give us the willies.) Feel free to enlist a cheering squad. (We think it would be great if there were actual cheerleaders, wouldn’t it?)
The money you raise (before, during and after the Fleece to Foot) should be for your 501(c)(3) charity.
The glory of participating in the first-ever Sock Summit Fleece to Foot? That’s yours to keep.

Judging: The first team to finish and have their socks approved by the judges will be declared the winner. The judges will confirm that all the rules have been followed, and that the pattern was knit properly. The judges’ decision is final.

Signing up: If this sounds fun and you think you can rally enough team members, please email us at attend@socksummit.com with “Fleece to Foot entry” in the subject line by 5pm PST on July 8th. In your email, please include:

  • The name, email and phone number of your team’s Captain/contact person
  • Names and email addresses of all team members
  • Your team’s theme and name
  • Where your team hails from
  • Any assistance you’ll need to make this work (such as a loaner wheel)


Wondering about the sheep and shepherd?

We’ve got two pretty little California Variegated Mutants from Jan McMahon.

Jan McMahon is owner/operator of the Spinning Ewe Farm (www.spinningewe.com) in Beavercreek, Oregon. Her award-winning sheep are crossbred and carefully selected for color, a soft hand, uniformity, and conformation. Her main breeds are Merino, Romeldale/CVM, and Columbia. Her specialty color is brown (called a moorit) but she has black, gray and white sheep as well.

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