ILR Show Division

FLEECE COMMITTEE Minutes
January 7, 2010

Conference Call Meeting -         January 7, 2010, 8 pm EST

Committee Members Present -  Lynda Carothers, Betty Moe, Mary Jo Miller, Judy Ross, Fran Soukup – Chair, Pamela Tait – Secretary

CALL TO ORDER:

Meeting was called to order at 8:15 pm EST. All committee members were present.

MINUTES:
Minutes from September 23, 2009, meeting – approved by email and already posted on website.

AGENDA ITEMS:

Introductions of Members:

The committee has welcomed in our newest committee member, Judy Ross, from Ohio. All committee members gave a brief overview of who they are and how they are involved with llamas and fiber.

Election of Chair and Secretary:
Fran made a motion to nominate Pam to continue as secretary; Betty seconded. The vote was all ayes, and Pam will continue as the fleece committee secretary.

Betty made a motion to nominate Fran to continue as Chair of the committee; Judy seconded. The vote was all ayes, and Fran will continue as Chair for the fleece committee.

Fleece Articles:  
Pam has been working on a new article on weaving with llama, which is ready for submission to the committee and to the ILR-SD website. It was suggested that we have an archive of articles on the website. Fran will check with Dar on this. This article will be submitted to Camelid Quarterly for their March fiber issue, with a link listed to the ILR-SD articles.

Betty will be doing a locker hooking article, as well as something on the Knifty Knitter for members to read about. Judy is working on a fiber article currently and will send the committee what she has done so far on tips to keep a show fleece in good shape. Lynda will do an article on tips for submitting fleeces for processing to mills. Fran will do an article on knitting with llama. Judy will forward an article written by Mitzi Ross on Fleece Clerk instructions.

It was suggested that we have a link on the ILR homepage to our articles so that members can find them easier. Fran will follow up on this link.

Review of 2009 Goals:
The fleece committee looked at the goals that we set out to achieve in our first year (2009), and we are happy to report that we have met most of those goals. Our 2010 primary goal will be education of exhibitors, judges and the general public.

Fran will make the suggestion to the Judges’ Committee that they send out a reminder to all ILR-SD judges that they follow the ILR-SD guidelines and criteria and judge accordingly.

Subcommittees:
Fleece Products – Betty and Lynda will continue working on Fleece Products definitions, with the help of Fran.

Fleece Awards – Pam will work with Mary Jo on Fleece Awards.

Education – Betty, Pam and Judy will work on Education.

Betty made the suggestion that we get a listing of llama organizations to contact to get them some info on fleece. Fran will put together a list of organizations. Lynda suggested that we put out a mass email to members when we are ready to inform them about the existence of these educational articles.  

Annualized Weight:
A motion was made by Mary Jo to publish the annualized weight articles written by Fran for educational purposes on the website. Betty seconded motion. All ayes; motion passed unanimously.

The question was asked whether we should change the weights from pounds to ounces on the fleece scorecards. All committee members said yes. Ounces will be more accurate. Fran will contact Pam Jensen about changing this in the published Guide.

It was noted that we need to add the Composite Classes to the guide book. These were added after the original submission.

Fran fixed the scorecards available for printout on the website, removing the blank pages and putting two scorecards per page. She also posted recommendations for printing color-coded scorecards: Yellow scorecards for "With Crimp" and Green scorecards for "Without Crimp."

Recommendation for Fleece Clinic Participant:
There was one participant in last summer's Oregon fleece clinic who had not submitted some of her completed scorecards properly. These were recently submitted and scored by Fran. Participant did receive a passing score. Motion was made by Betty to approve this participant to move on to the apprentice program; motion was seconded by Mary Jo. All ayes; motion passed unanimously. The Judges’ Committee will be so notified.

Letters from Members:
Letters have been received from 4 members, and all letters have been replied to.

A reminder was given to the committee members that fleece committee business stays within the committee.

Recommendation for National Show:
The National Show committee had asked committees for recommendations of qualifiers for the 2011 ILR-SD National Show. All fleece committee members agreed that we would not require qualifying for the fleece division classes at the 2011 show.

Next conference call meeting will be set via email.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:58 pm EST.

Minutes submitted by Pamela Tait, ILR Fleece Committee secretary.