Kid N Ewe and Llamas Too
2003
By Sharon Bramblett
It
was cold, but the turnout was good for Kid ‘N Ewe and Llamas Too, a fiber
festival held at the Kendall County Fairgrounds in Boerne November 7-8. A wide
variety of fiber related products were available for purchase: spinning wheels;
looms; yarn-handling paraphernalia; books; raw and processed sheep, goat, llama,
and alpaca fiber; hand spun and machine spun clothing; to name a few.
Instructional classes on dyeing, spinning, knitting were well attended. A
silent auction and handspun competition spanned both days.
The highlight (to me) was the Sheep to Shawl spinning/weaving
event on Saturday in which several teams, of four spinners and one weaver each,
completed shawls in four hours. Our team, the Llama Mamas, included a WSSA
member, Carol Wyche, who provided the loom warped with rich brown tones of llama
yarn she had spun previously. Another WSSA member, Karen Conyngham, provided
light brown, carded llama fiber for the spinners. Tamara Chasteen wove the
shawl as the other team members, Carol Wyche, Margaret Schulze, Penny Skelley,
and Tamara’s friend, spun the weft. The many spectators returned periodically
to observe the shawls’ development, spending the rest of their time browsing
vendor’s stalls. Carol was the lucky recipient of the finished Llama Mama
shawl. 
My husband, Claud, was particularly intrigued with Barb Wilde’s sock-knitting machine. These relics from the early 1900s are being rebuilt and marketed by entrepreneurs for fiber enthusiasts. They were part of a cottage industry in which women could earn money while working at home, knitting socks that were then sold back to the company that provided the machine. During WWI, the Red Cross provided the machines to people who agreed to make socks for American soldiers. While the machines themselves are no longer manufactured, parts for them are still being made and several rebuilt models are available.
The Central Texas Wool Market - Kendall County Fairgrounds -
Boerne, Texas
Show and sales of fiber
producing animals, supplies for dyeing, spinning, knitting, and weaving.
Demonstrations, workshops, and sales of finished products made from Texas grown
fiber.
details at
TEXASFIBER@hotmail.com or 361
729-4161
Sponsored by
Fiber Producers of Texas, Inc.
South Central Llama Association
Texas Cashmere Association
Kid 'N Ewe History
The Kid 'n Ewe & Llamas Too was begun in 1989 by a handful of people who raise sheep and/or goats & are hand-spinners and/or weavers. Their aim was to promote Texas Fibers by educating & marketing the products of their animals.
In 1998 the group became a corporation known as the Fiber Producers of Texas, Inc. The aim of this corp. is to promote Texas fiber products, to educate, to sponsor an event open to the public, to sell products & equipment & to share knowledge about fiber producing animals & the fiber each produces.
The name of this event came from a young goat (KID) & a female sheep (EWE). In 1998, the South Central Llama Association joined us (LLAMAS TOO). In 2000 the Texas Cashmere Assoc. joined us.
The November event is free & open to the public. It includes Fleece to Fashion teams spinning/weaving shawls, visit live sheep, goats, & llamas, vendor booths, workshops, & country fun.
SCLA Fiber Booth