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B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 22,1983
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
In the ten years since she
learned to weave, Carol Buskirk
has become an accomplished
weaver who enjoys custom
designing and now gives lessons
and operates a small retail
business in her rural Dauphin
County home.
Carol was also the weaver on the
winning team, the Fancy Flock
Flyers, in this year’s Farm Show
sheep to shawl competition. When
questioned about whether it is
nerve-wracking to try to complete
the best shawl in the shortest time
with all those people watching,
Carol responds, ‘“lTie contest is
fun. Everything has been done.”
She points out that the most
demanding part of entering a
sheep to shawl contest is the ad
vance planning which must be
undertaken. Planning is probably
the most important and the most
time consummg part.
The team must be assembled, a
shearer must be chosen as well as
a sheep and a plan must be made
as to who will spin and who will
card. Another large part of the
preparation is designing the shawl
and preparing the warp which
must be in place before the contest
begins.
This year’s prize-winning shawl
was a lovely rose color, made in
two pieces, joined at the center.
The yarn for the warp was dyed in
naturally with cochineal, a new
dimension in sheep to shawl
contests which gained an extra five
points for the winning team.
Team members included
spinners Betsy Dilger, Lebanon;
Alice Winner, Grantville; and Jane
Eggleston, Harrisburg. Ken
Staver, Palmyra, was shearer, and
Carol adds, “The sheep is the sixth
member of the team."
Finding a sheep to be shorn in
January is not easy, according to
Carol. “A team that has someone
who raises sheep has an ad
vantage. The sheep must be
healthy and have good wool.”
The Fancy Flock Flyers located
a sheep owned by a woman who
took lessons from Carol, then got
her own sheep and took a course in
sheep husbandry. Carol says, "She
learned how to feed them. They are
really nice.” A sheep that is shorn
in January should either be ready
for slaughter, or the owner must be
willing to have it wear a covering.
The shearer must take great
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Carol models the winning shawl in the sheep to shawl
competition at this year’s Farm Show competition. The shawl
was produced by the Fancy Flock Flyers, with Carol serving
as weaver for the group. It was purchased for $220 by
Richard Brandt, a Reading farm realtor.
Weaver finds art, competition compatible
This loom produces many of the larger weavings Carol
Buskirk of Linglestown in Dauphin Co. makes. It is a Gatiinger
counter balance loom, made and sold by the Mannings at East
care in shearing the sheep so as not
to cut the animal and to keep the
wool in good condition. Once the
sheep is completely sheared, the
wool is carded. This is not required
as part of the contest, but unless
the sheep is exceptionally clean,
according to Carol, carding is
necessary for a nice shawl. Carol
often helps with the carding, and
once there is enough carded, the
spinners go to work. As soon as one
bobbin is full, the weaver can begin
work.
"Different teams organize their
effort in different ways,” Carol
points out. Sometimes everybody
cards and there is one spinner, and
sometimes a few card and then a
few spin.
Getting done first does not
necessarily assure having the
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From Farm Show's Sheep to Shawl
“1
winning shawl, although it does
mean an extra number of points.
This year the Fancy Flock Flyers
came in last in time, but first in
other considerations.
Points are also awarded for
team identification. This year the
team went “fancy” and wore lacy
white blouses and black slacks;
last year they wore wings! Points
are also awarded on the basis of
the shearing and the spinning, and
the design of the shawl accounts
for the highest number of points.
Other regulations require that
the finished shawl be a minimum
of 20 inches wide and 80 inches
long, with traditional shawls
having five incles of fnnge. The
warp had to be Hamsville two-ply
dyed wool and points were
deducted if anything else was used.
The winning shawl went to
Richard E. Brandt, a farm realtor
from Reading, who paid $220 at an
auction following the contest. He
has purchased the first place shawl
each year of the contest.
This is the fourth year for the
Farm Show event, although in the
first two years it was a northeast
regional contest, and now it is for
Pennsylvania only. The Fancy
Flock Flyers were first in the
contest three yars ago, and Carol
and Betsy Dilger are the only
present members who competed
then. Last year the team was
fourth. In the first year of the
contest, Carol served as a judge,
and that’s what sparked her in
terest.
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Carol says, “It’s really fun to
win. The mam thing I see in the
contest is the educational part of it.
We had a really big crowd this
year.” The education comes when
the announcer keeps a running
commentary during the contest,
including telling the benefits of
wool as a natural, replaceable
fiber.
Each year there is a team
award, selected by the par
tifinantc !" *i>c competition, who
Vfctnesiead t/nies
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Berlin. Carol enjoys custom design work in clothing, wall
coverings and other accessories, using natural fibers.
vote on the best shawl. This year
Carol’s group was also given that
recognition.
When Carol began weaving ten
years ago in Michigan, she made
primarily wall hangings for herself
and her family, she credits the
Bicentennial with giving “a real
impetus to weaving and spinning.”
Then she began selling her
weavings.
After their move to Penn
sylvania, Carol recalls, “1 had an
idea that 1 wanted a studio and my
husband encouraged me.” When
they moved to their farmhouse
near Lmglestown, she was able to
open The Fancy Flock Fiber
Studio. She says her retail business
is "limited,” but she sells yams of
all kinds and colors in natural
fibers, as* well as a portable
jacktype loom, a counter balance
loom and saxony-type spinning
wheels.
She also gives private lessons,
and in the fall organizes a variety
of one-day workshops which in
cludes information on dyeing,
warping, beginning spinning, off
loom weaving and developing
ideas into workable projects. Most
of her clients and students come
from a 30-40 mile radius.
Carol admits to being as busy as
she likes to be, but would like to
find more outlets for her own work.
She presently shows a few times a
year, including a pre-Christmas
craft sale at the Preservation
Pottery in Palmyra. She also
shows her work at the Doshi Center
for Contemporary Art in
Harrisburg and participates in the
Women in the Arts Series at the
William Penn Museum. She is a
member of the Art Association of
Harrisburg and has exhibited at
the Four Seasons Townhouses.
A member of the Blue Mountain
Spinners and Weavers, she said the
group is very loosely organized
and mostly shares their ex
periences with each other. “There
is no membership list and no
dues,” Carol says. They meet the
first and second Wednesday of the
month in members’ homes.
Carol points out, ”1 am begiMk
rung to specialize m clothing.” On#*
of her specialities is a “sherpa” .
jacket, which she says ? "was
originally worn by Sherpa guides t
in the Himalayas. She enjoys
custom orders, saying,
gotten some phenomenal
referrals.” She also feels sheep-to
shawl contests have been helpful in
gaining more clients. ''People
associate my name with weaving.”
Shawls, scarves and handbags
are also part of her work, and she
has begun doing rugs, which she
says takes her back to her original
work in tapestries. She likes that
kind of designing because of the
ability to work both with texture
and color.
Carol expresses great pleasure
in the growing interest in natural
fibers, saying, “I think people are
starting to appreciate them. They
look nicer for a longer time, and
although they cost more, they can
be passed down to children and
grandchildren if properly cared
for.”
Natural fibers are better iiH
sulators, according to Carol.
"Mostly you’ll find they’re porous
and are cooler or warmer. They
offer comfort.’’ In working with
them, she says, more
predictable. 1 know how cotton and
wool will react.” She says cottons,
silks and linens are “very drapable
and comfortable.”
Another plus for natural fibers,
she says, is that “you are not
supporting the petroleum industry.
When you buy wool you are sup
porting industry in our own state.”
To care for natural fibers, Carol
suggests washing them with a mild
detergent - ;she uses dishwashing
liquid. “Just lay the garment-in
warm water and resist squeezing.
Leave it along. Then squeeze
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