NDSU Extension Working With Wool Workshop

If you've wondered how the wool sheared from sheep turns into the sweater or scarf you wear, you'll have a chance to see how it's done at a workshop Aug. 2 in Jamestown.

The Working With Wool workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 2 at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds. The North Dakota State University Extension Service and North Dakota Lamb and Wool Producers Association are sponsoring the event.

Participants will learn about:

* Sections of the fleece

* Fleece quality and how factors such as breaks, stains or excessive vegetal material affect the quality

* How to prepare fleece for processing

* How to wash small and large quantities of wool

* Wool processing methods (carding and combing)

* Making rovings (long, narrow bundles of fiber) or batts (blankets of fibers)

* Spinning

* Weaving

* Dyeing wool

"Hand-spinners will be there to show how yarn is made, and weavers will show how the different cloth structures are made and their applications," says Julie Mangnall of Stirum, one of the workshop's organizers.

The workshop is designed for wool producers and anyone interested in wearing natural fibers. "To get paid top dollar for your harvest, you have to produce and manage that crop so your customer is delighted with your wool," Mangnall says. "Wool is a great year-round garment: warm in the winter and cool in the summer, depending on the type of material made from wool."

This workshop also is for those who want to learn more about environmentally friendly uses for wool, such as fertilizer, material for cleaning up oil or other fuel spills, and landscaping projects, she notes.

The workshop is one of several events scheduled during the North Dakota Lamb and Wool Expo set for Aug. 2-3 at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds. Other workshops are on cooking with lamb, training a stock dog and alternative sheep grazing systems. All of them will run from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 2.

Participants also will be able to attend presentations on lamb fabrication, lamb quality characteristics, the U.S. lamb market, flock health management and the future of the sheep industry. Those presentations will be during the afternoon and evening of Aug. 2.

Other expo activities include a lamb dinner on Aug. 2 and a lamb lunch on Aug. 3, a ram consignor sheep show and Jamestown ram and ewe sale on Aug. 3, sheep shearing and wool handling demonstrations on Aug. 2, and a vendor fair both days.

The cost of the workshops is $25 per person. The cost for the afternoon and evening presentations on Aug. 2 also is $25 per person. Full registration (both days) if registering by July 26 is $45 per adult plus $25 for each addition adult family member and $10 for each child age 5 to 17. The expo is free for children under age 5.

For more information, contact Reid Redden, NDSU Extension sheep specialist, at (701) 231-5597 or reid.redden@ndsu.edu. To register, visit the NDSU Animal Sciences Department website at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ansc/.