What makes a skein stand out to judges?

By Amelia © August 3, 2026

A pile of handspun after the fair,
waiting for their owners

Welcome to the final post of the handspun judging series ... in it we will detail the Finished Execution category on the score card. If you've just found this series, start with part one: How is handspun yarn judged at fairs? We've been working our way through the score card:

1. General overall appearance.
2. Preparation for exhibit — clean, properly skeined and tied, of listed yardage and/or weight, blocked if necessary
3. Suitability of fiber to yarn—amount of twist, diameter of yarn
4. Technique — twist evenly executed, appropriate plying twist, diameter consistent throughout, structurally durable, yarn designs consistent, dyeing/blending consistent
5. Suitability of yarn to use—direction of twist, amount of twist, diameter of yarn, handle of yarn, appropriate number of plies
6. Finished Execution – originality, creativity, complexity

The final category is Finished Execution, where the judge gets to consider originality, creativity, and complexity. This is often what bounces items into Best in Class and Best in Show awards. Dye the wool yourself, card or comb it yourself, do something more complex or exposing than a 3-ply - the judge recognizes you are showing an extra layer of skill. Yes, I said 3-ply. 3-ply hides mistakes in the singles better than a single or a 2-ply. Putting that extra effort in makes your yarn unique.

I loved sourcing rare breed fleeces to process myself, and will always state that on the submission for this reason. We are lucky now to have mills that produce specific breed yarns - I love seeing them in yarn stores!

Deneb, my Soay - I raised him, roo'd him,
washed, carded, and spun a 2-ply.
My most complex project!

This area is really where notes from the spinner can help. You tell me what makes this creative, complex, or original. Did you feed the sheep? Source it at the judging of a wool show? Develop the colorway to match a photo or flower? Generally spinners don't tell me this sort of thing and so I have to evaluate on what I see. Is it "wool" or a particular breed or blend or non-wool fiber? Is the yarn structure appropriate to use and more complex than basic singles or plying? Is there something special in its appearance, content, or structure that says "creative skein here"?

This category truly leans in to the creativity and effort of the spinner. If the skein is "just" a 2-ply, it can still excel in originality; perhaps the spinner used a suint wash on the wool fleece, or dyed the fiber or handspun with natural dyes they grew. I've had a future project planned for a while, where I "write" a poem with beads with words on them - like the fridge magnet poetry - spinning the beads into the yarn in the appropriate order to read as the poem, to be knitted or woven into a "page". The planning, inclusion of beads, and effort would definitely take the project up a notch - all I need is for it to pop to the top of my "most interesting future project" queue to be the next project.

That said, I do also love to see any entry - even the store-bought solid color top spun into a 2-ply yarn has a place. I've sometimes made an effort to cover all the categories in the fair with my submissions; it's a fun challenge. Some fairs only break up the entries by yarn structure, where others may have categories for tools used, preparation, or intended use. As a judge, I enjoy seeing when every category has several-to-many entries. It makes my job more interesting to have that variety, and I know I am going to uncover surprises as I work through them all.

At my local fair, it's the handspun items
that tend to take Best in Class/Show

Once all the entries have been judged, my job isn't done. I get to lift one item from each class for "Best in Class", one item overall for "Best in Show", and my favorite one of all, "Judge's Choice". The Best ones often are the highest points unless, for example, there's a stunningly spun simple skein that has fewer points than a more complex one in the same class. Choosing from among all the entries for Best in Show often takes me a while. I go take a walk once I've done all the judging so I can contemplate what I've seen. When I return, the Best in Show item often leaps out at me. Judge's Choice doesn't have to have top points. It is my favorite one. For me, it's easy to find it - I lay out all the skeins and run my hand above them - I will reach for just a handful, sometimes only one - and Judge's Choice comes from that pool. I don't consider the points I assigned, errors are even less important. it's the one I most want to take home with me. Though I never get to!

I hope you've found this series intriguing, and that it encourages you to enter your local county fair. I'm looking forward to fair season, and aspire some day to enter an item in my state fair as well!

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© August 3, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Spinner's Alphabet: What Begins With M? Micron count!

By Amelia © July 27, 2026

handspun wool with a tiny hedgie

M

is for micron count. This is used to tell us the diameter of individual fibers. Fine wools are about 20 microns; Cashmere is under 18, similar to cotton (which is 11-22 according to various sources online). And wikipedia's fun article on textile measurement says a micron is "about one-fourth the width of a strand of spider silk"!

The finer a fiber is, the easier it is to spin a finer yarn. It's like our hands are taking inventory of the fibers - 12 Wensleydale fibers are going to make a noticably thicker yarn than 12 cashmere fibers!

llama lace shawl and fine fiber skeins

I had the good fortune to have a llama (see What Begins with L? with fiber with a micron count of 18 - as an adult llama! Truly scrumptious.

If you want to read about wool and alpaca micron count in detail, I can recommend this blog post from Thread Collective: Understanding the Micron Count of Wool Yarns and Fibres

Other fun M's: Mohair (discussed in What advice do you have for spinning Mohair?), Merino (ahhh the softest wool breed), mordant (how we prepare fibers so dye will attach)

What's the finest fiber you've spun? I'm told Sea Island cotton is the finest of the cottons, so I'm going stash diving this afternoon!

Do you have an M to add to our spinner's alphabet?

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© July 27, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Spinner's Alphabet: What Begins with L? Llama!

By Amelia © July 13, 2026

is for Llama. That super fun, often mislabeled fiber. No, it's not just coarser than alpaca, it's also softer. Depends on the llama! My Mahogany, pictured here, had 18 micron fiber as an adult. Bolivian Llama is by far the nicest breed for fiber. And so many natural colors!

Llama, like alpaca, is a bit more slippery than wool as it has less scale on the surface. So I focus on making very solid joins with at least a staple length of fiber left when I add new fiber, ensuring old and new are drafted together. That said, llama can felt! I made some 100% llama socks and they were unfortunately put in the dryer - not by me! So do take care.

I love putting llama in a sock blend, in fact, as it can have a nice staple length and nice llama, like my Mahogany, can add softness as well. My favorite llama blend was Mahogany and Marge, a Shetland sheep with a moorit fleece. Their two colors went well together leading to a rich roving that was a pleasure to spin!

Llama was the fiber I turned to when I started trying to spin laceweight. It was lovely for that, so easy to draft. I was still early in my spinning career, so though I did knit lace with it, as seen in the image, it was not quite laceweight in thickness. Now that I am more skilled, I do still love spinning llama laceweight. I still have a bit of Mahogany's fleece in my stash, and I love combing it to have a perfect smooth prep for spinning fine.

Other fun L's: laceweight, the goal of so many spinners that Shetland Lace Ring Shawl, with yarn so fine the shawl can be drawn through a ring; luster, the natural sheen in mohair, longwools, silk, and viscose fibers (tencel, rayon, etc.)

What has been your experience with llama?

Do you have another spinning L?

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© July 13, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

How is Suitability evaluated by a Fiber Arts Judge?

By Amelia © July 6, 2026

A felt hat from my first handspun.
Gently judged with great feedback!

Welcome back to the handspun judging series ... this is our fourth entry of five, and in it we will detail the Suitability category on the score card. If you've just found this series, start with part one: How is handspun yarn judged at fairs? and then read part two: How are Skein Appearance and Preparation Evaluated? and part three: How is Technique evaluated by a Fiber Arts Judge? before continuing on with this part. We've been working our way through the score card:

1. General overall appearance.
2. Preparation for exhibit — clean, properly skeined and tied, of listed yardage and/or weight, blocked if necessary.
3. Suitability of fiber to yarn—amount of twist, diameter of yarn
4. Technique — twist evenly executed, appropriate plying twist, diameter consistent throughout, structurally durable, yarn designs consistent, dyeing/blending consistent
5. Suitability of yarn to use—direction of twist, amount of twist, diameter of yarn, handle of yarn, appropriate number of plies.
6. Finished Execution – originality, creativity, complexity.

In this post we address the two Suitability categories. I can evaluate suitability of fiber to yarn without knowing the planned use. However, if the spinner hasn't told me what they intend to use the skein for, I usually have to make up a use for the yarn to evaluate it. Of course, being a kind judge, I make up a suitable use, and mention that in the evaluation. Do they end up making what I've evaluated it? I never do find out.

The third category is suitability of fiber to yarn. Often I skip over this one and do the fourth category first as it helps inform me for this category. So I've done the same on my blog.

After evaluating Technique, I am very familiar with the skein and can return to Suitability of Fiber to Yarn. In some ways this is driven by intended use as well - does the fiber suit that use? First, I look at amount of twist. Generally acceptable: low twist for knitted hats and scarves and weft and decorative yarns, high twist for socks and warp and durable yarns. You may see some cross-over, and when I see it I lean into what the spinner told me to look for justification.

Something that is never acceptable without clear justification in the notes: corkscrewing in the singles. This can occur in thick and thin yarn, as twist gathers in thin spots, making them likely to curl up in pigtails. Without careful monitoring, those pigtails may sneak into the plied yarn as well.

Second I look at diameter of yarn. Finer fibers are more suitable for finer yarns, however only the single need be fine - for example, I had a friend make a 6-ply of a merino/mink blend to get to a worsted weight yarn, where the 2-ply might have only been laceweight. Coarser fibers may be seeen in a variety of diameters, and work well for thicker singles. If the spinner hasn't stuck to this, then diameter plays against twist - a thicker single in fine wool needs more twist to hold together well. There is also Anne Field's notes on spinning to the crimp, where the crimp in wool drives yarn diamater. Finer fibers tend to have tighter crimp. (Her notes are explained in Spinning Wool: Beyond the Basics, an excellent book [affiliate link but at those prices, get it from your local spinning guild's library]).

It's a natural transition to move from suitability of fiber to yarn, to suitability of yarn to use.

The hat with its skein and some newer skeins and hat.
I do like spinning for hats.

Our fifth category is suitability of yarn to use. In premium books that don't require the entry to state intended use, or when the spinner failed to provide the information, this can be tricky. If the information is missing, I usually provide a recommendation in this space and then grade against that at a reduced level. There are several sub categories to evaluate here.

• Direction of twist - usually we spin Z, clockwise, and ply S, counter-clockwise. Knitting likes a final twist direction of counter-clockwise, though, so a cable yarn ought to be either spun the other direction or rough finished to avoid untwisting. Some techniques, like tvandstickning (twined knitting) want a final Z twist.
• Amount of twist - durable yarns need more twist. Soft puffy hats need low twist yarn.
• Diameter of yarn - socks need fine yarn; lace usually uses fine yarn. Scarves are usually thicker yarns, but if they have a pattern specified, then the yarn needs to be close in diameter (and fiber, and structure) that the commercial pattern uses. Luckily ravelry provides many of those details. Unluckily many county fairgrounds are in low- to no-cell signal zones. So I make a list to check during lunch, off-grounds.
• Handle of yarn - how does it feel? scratchy yarn as a scarf or hat is not good. Super soft easily destroyed fibers in loosely spun yarn is not good for socks.
• Appropriate number of plies - nalbinding with wool, a single is best but 2-ply is not uncommon; warp is usually plied, so a good reason must be supplied for a warp yarn that is a single; more complex structures need reasonable uses for them suggested.

Whew! At this point I am close to done on the form and beginning to come up with some general positive comments I can write on the bottom of the judging slip. I want to see more entries each year, and will encourage spinners to re-enter and perhaps to give additional categories a try as well.

This is being posted in July, and County Fair season is fast approaching ... are you entering? I'd love to hear what you are preparing or, if you are reading this in the fall, how things went.

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© July 6, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/

Spinner's Alphabet: What begins with K? Kemp!

By Amelia © June 29, 2026

This is Pi, my Shetland sheep, in the early 00's

K

is for Kemp. Kemp is the coarse part of an animal's coat that is more hair-like and not nice to spin unless you really, really want to make ropy yarns. So it might have its uses. Shetland sheep get kemp in their haunches; Soay sheep have kemp and a really short but very crimpy fiber coat that can be combed off in the spring with their natural molt. That is, if you don't wait too long and find they've rubbed it off on the fences!

With my Shetlands, the kemp was mostly on their legs and back haunches; even though their fleeces were on the small side - being smaller sheep generally - I still skirted the kempiest bits away, as I never found a good way to separate it.

Deneb, my Soay, after a rooing session
Still had more to do

With my Soay, I would catch them once they started rubbing on the fences and could brush their fleeces off. Primitive breeds like Soay have a natural break that occurs in the spring, so it took nothing more than a normal dog comb to remove their fleece. Their kemp was throughout their fleece, so I had some despair initially. Luckily, I found that when I drum carded it that the kemp would fall out as the fiber moved from the licker-in to the main drum! Cleaning up that mess was a small price to pay for getting 95% of the kemp out. The rest I would remove as I spun the single, as it would stick straight out and a simple pluck removed it from the yarn. Over the years, I've found that making that plucking motion along the length of the yarn disturbed the strand less than pulling away from it.

And what did I do with that kemp? I put it in my garden as a slow mulch. I was excited to see "wool pellets" made from mills' wool waste show up at area wool shows, validating my small efforts at recycling the kemp.

Two questions to leave you with:

• Do you have any tips for removing kemp from fleece?
• What is your spinner's K?

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© June 29, 2026 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/