ALTAMONT — From green pastures to the golden fleece, wool takes many forms, most of which are on display at the Altamont Fair.

In the Howard F. Ogsbury barn, sheep wear their own woolly coats, but just next door, ribbons hang next to knitwear made from yarn that no doubt sprouted on the back of an ovine. The in-between steps involve sheering at least once a year, washing the wool, and carding it before it’s spun into yarn.
"We’ve domesticated sheep," said Elaine Larsen, from behind her spinning wheel at the fair on Tuesday. "We have to take care of them and sheering is part of that."

Having kept sheep for about seven years on her Helderberg land, Larsen hires a professional to sheer her sheep every nine months. It costs between $5 and $10 a head, she said, but a shepherd is lucky to get 25 cents a pound for the fleece if it’s sold commercially.

For 35 years, Don Otterness, of Altamont, has been sheering sheep.
"I’ve done them in three minutes," he said. "But I average five minutes a sheep." During a sheep-shearing contest once, Otterness was next to a man who sheered 15 sheep in 11 minutes, he said. "Don’t put me next to him," he said. "I’d like to watch and learn something."

The 75-year-old farmer took a month-and-a-half trip to New Zealand last year, where he learned ways to improve his technique from a group of international sheep-sheerers.

The most important thing when sheering a sheep, Otterness said, is how you hold the animal. He balances the sheep between his legs, with its back leaning against the front of his shins and his toes underneath its bottom, so he can move the sheep with his knees.
He got started with sheep when his kids wanted something to show at the fair, he said. "The boys did cows and the girls wanted something smaller," said Otterness. After the kids were grown, he still wanted to keep the sheep, he said, and now he has 55 Cotswold sheep.

He switched to that breed five years ago because of the fine, long wool that they produce. The crimp in the fleece from Cotswolds is more of a curl, he said. The crimp in wool fibers, like curly hair, is what makes a wool sweater stretch and spring back to its original shape, unlike an acrylic sweater, he said.
Wool from the Cotswold sheep is also good for felting, which, he said, "I’ve zeroed in on."

The Romneys that Larsen keeps produce about eight pounds of wool each and she likes to knit with her own yarn.
"My first love is knitting," she said. "I’m a little conflicted because I like spinning, but it cuts into my knitting time."

As a child, said Larsen, both of her grandmothers taught her to knit; each with a different technique. Larsen got her sheep as weed-eaters when her neighbor was selling them, she said, and the wool started piling up in her basement, so, two years ago, she learned to spin.

Sheeps’ fleece have been used for more than keeping cozy, though. Centuries ago, when the Greeks were looking for gold, they would put fleece in a stream and, if it picked up enough gold flecks, they would start mining in that area, said Otterness. This practice is likely what led to the mythic tale of the golden fleece, sought by Jason and the Argonauts.

Today, a local spinning group has taken the name, the Golden Fleece; they meet on the first Sunday of the month at the big white church next to the town hall in Schoharie, said Larsen. The Mountain Treadlers, another local fiber-arts group, meet on the second Sunday of the month at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Altamont, she said, and all are welcome.
"Sheep people are easy to get along with," said Otterness. "If you do this, you’ve got to be patient."