Adventures with Madi at Blue Mountain Farms: Make It With Wool....

Hello everyone! I am very excited to report about this past Saturday. I went to a very fun event called The Make It With Wool Contest. To be a part of this contest, you must make a garment that has a minimum percentage of wool or wool blend (minimum of 60% wool or specialty fiber is required) for each fashion fabric or yarn used. Specialty wool fibers include mohair, cashmere, alpaca, camel, and llama in the garment or garments.

For my outfit, I knit a sweater with cables that is held together in the front with a button that I made out of modeling clay. I also knit a hat out of the same yarn that I used for the sweater with except I hand dyed that yarn. I used more of this hand-dyed yarn to weave fabric which I used to construct a pair of shorts and then lined the shorts with satin. The best part is, the fact that all of the yarn was made in our fiber mill and it all came off of my very own Leicester Longwool sheep named Boo! After my brother and I sheared Boo, I skirted his fleece, and then washed it. I made roving out of it and my sister Ashley and my mom helped to finish it into yarn on the spinning frame. The yarn I used to weave the fabric and the yarn I used to knit my hat was hand dyed with a lighter shade of purple and a mint green. I had a great time at the contest! I was in the junior category with other girls who had beautiful garments! I didn't know what to expect. After the fashion show, they announced the winners and little did I know, I WON! Now, I get the opportunity to represent Pennsylvania and go to nationals! Guess where... Nevada! I am more than excited now.