Francis Irving can spin a yarn longer than anyone else in Canada.
The La Broquerie, Man., farmer was the Canadian winner at a world competition called the Highland Spin-In, which is held every two years in Tasmania, Australia.
The competition tests for the longest plied thread hand-spun from 10 grams of raw sheep wool.
The 300 competitors in this year’s contest came from Australia, Canada, the United States, England, Iceland, Russia, Japan and China.
Irving heard about the contest from a woman in her spinning club who saw it on the internet. She has entered it twice and was declared the winner both times.
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Her first thread was 96 metres. This year’s winner was 175.36 m. It took her more than 60 hours to spin it on her wheel.
All the samples are sent to Tasmania, where they are weighed, measured and tested for strength.
“If it breaks while they measure it, you’re disqualified.”
Her thread was puny compared to the world winner from England, which was more than 1,000 m long.
Merino and Pullman sheep have the finest wool fibres, so Irving bought her 10 g sample from a Pullman sheep from Australia.
“Our Canadian sheep are mainly meat sheep and not bred for their wool, which tends to be coarser.”
A family friend taught Irving to spin in 1997, after she married her husband. They bought a sheep for their farm, intending to slaughter it in the fall. They relented and bought a ewe for breeding.
But they still had to shear the sheep and do something with the wool. That’s when Irving plunged into spinning, knitting, weaving and felting.
Her sweaters, vests, slippers and shawls go to family and friends. She does not intend to turn a time-consuming hobby into an even busier business.
Winning the competition earned her a brass plaque.
Irving plans to enter the next competition in 2003.
