Details, Details

But wait there's more:

Rosemary, CCW Guild member and Mid-State Fair Project Guru, provided a helpful list of suggestions on how to submit competition items for judging. In addition to Rosemary's guidelines I was able to find online resources for entering the skein competition. Although I am a novice spinner, I'm an expert at following the rules. Googling around I found Leslie Ordal's four-part blog post, "Skein Competition How-To". I carefully read Leslie's suggestions several times and looked at her Judge's score card. After reading her posts I rewound my skein 4 times till I was satisfied.

Leslie Ordal Fibre Arts

 

Each of my Mid-State Fair entries included a 3x5 card attached to the project. In addition to the Fair Division number and Class number there was also information about the entry that I hoped the judge would find useful. 
 

Weaving, Beginner - 1st Project.

Woven Scarf, first project using hand spun/hand dyed yarn.

10" Cricket Rigid Heddle Loom.

Dark brown yarn (Malabrigo sock) for warp and weft.

Tan weft yarn is hand spun and naturally dyed with acorns.

 
Gathering acorns with Bitsy.

12/21/17

Shelled acorns from the driveway (smashed open courtesy of The Man's truck) only the inner pulp is used to make the dye.

Acorn Dye Pot, aka Acorn Sun Tea.

1/17/18

Sampling a tiny skein.

4/23/18

4/26/18

Acorn-dyed hand spun yarn.

 

5/4/18

6/5/18

6/21/18

Weaving, Accessory, Scarves.
Woven Pooled Warp Scarf.
10" Cricket Rigid Heddle Loom.
Lorna's Laces sock yarn for warp.
Suavel lace-weight yarn for weft.
  

6/21/18

Hand Spun Yarn, Skein, Wool, Two (2) Ply or more.
"Corriedale Cross: roving, commercially prepared.
Spun short forward draw on a spinning wheel, Scotch tension.
Naturally dyed in the skein with oak galls.
The skein was washed and lightly fulled to set the twist.
This yarn is intended to be woven, showcasing texture.


The yarn was spun and plied on the Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel.

6/17/18

Prewashing (scouring) the yarn to remove any chemicals that were added to the commercially processed wool. On the stove for one hour just under a simmer, 180°. 
 

The Oak Gall Sun Tea had been sitting in the sun for over a month. Making the oak gall dye was a little more labor intensive than the acorn dye. The galls were beat on with a meat tenderizer (next time I'll use a hammer) then ground into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. Two teaspoons of oak gall powder were added to six cups of filtered water and left outside on the front porch to steep.

5/9/18

Into the dye pot, rinsed, and dried.

6/18/18

6/21/18

Resources:
Earth Tones - Colors from Western Dye Plants, Carol Todd.
Harvesting Color - How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes, Rebecca Burgess.
The Modern Natural Dyer - A Comprehensive Guide to Dyeing Silk, Wool, Linen, and Cotton at Home, Kristine Vejar.