In Louise Penny's mystery novel A Fatal Grace, published in 2007, the main character investigates a murder at a local Christmas bonspiel. [79] In Darvel, East Ayrshire, the weavers relaxed by playing curling matches using the heavy stone weights from the looms' warp beams, fitted with a detachable handle for the purpose. [21] Central Canadian curlers often used 'irons' rather than stones until the early 1900s; Canada is the only country known to have done so, while others experimented with wood or ice-filled tins. [22] Scoring [ edit ] A typical curling scoreboard used at clubs, which use a method of scoring different from the ones used on television Sway / Heatless curling ribbon / Made in USA / Cotton velour / Midnight Blue / Curls / Beachy waves / Beach hair

Perfectly suits little ones who dream of owning a funny animal playmate. Curlimals also help your child learn and grow; developing intelligence through pattern recognition and imagination play. Curlimals are great quality, safe and reliable. There are five to choose from: Higgle Hedgehog, Blue Badger , Popsy Mouse, Bo Bunny & Bibi Bunny; each sold separately. Curling;—a Scottish Game, at Central Park". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018 . Retrieved 16 February 2018. The stone must be released before its front edge crosses the near hog line. In major tournaments, the " Eye on the Hog" sensor is commonly used to enforce this rule. The sensor is in the handle of the stone and will indicate whether the stone was released before the near hog line. The lights on the stone handle will either light up green, indicating that the stone has been legally thrown, or red, in which case the illegally thrown stone will be immediately pulled from play instead of waiting for the stone to come to rest. Curling brushes may have fabric, hog hair, or horsehair heads. Modern curling brush handles are usually hollow tubes made of fibreglass or carbon fibre instead of a solid length of wooden dowel. These hollow tube handles are lighter and stronger than wooden handles, allowing faster sweeping and also enabling more downward force to be applied to the broom head with reduced shaft flex.a b "The History of Curling". Canadian Curling Association. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 10 February 2014 . Retrieved 10 February 2014. Guards are thrown in front of the house in the free guard zone, usually to protect a stone or to make the opposing team's shot difficult. Guard shots include the centre-guard, on the centreline, and the corner-guards to the left or right sides of the centre line. See Free Guard Zone below. Today, the sport is most firmly established in Canada, having been taken there by Scottish emigrants. The Royal Montreal Curling Club, the oldest established sports club still active in North America, [24] was established in 1807. The first curling club in the United States was established in 1830, and the sport was introduced to Switzerland and Sweden before the end of the 19th century, also by Scots. Today, curling is played all over Europe and has spread to Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Korea. [25] Curling is played in many countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom (especially Scotland), the United States, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, and Japan, all of which compete in the world championships. The granite for the stones comes from two sources: Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast of Scotland, and the Trefor Granite Quarry, North of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd in Wales. These locations provide four variations in colour known as Ailsa Craig Common Green, Ailsa Craig Blue Hone, Blue Trefor and Red Trefor. [35]

Main article: Wheelchair curling Team China at World Wheelchair Curling Championship in February 2009 Top curling championships are typically played by all-male or all-female teams. It is known as mixed curling when a team consists of two men and two women. For many years, in the absence of world championship or Olympic mixed curling events, national championships (of which the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship was the most prominent) were the highest-level mixed curling competitions. However, a European Mixed Curling Championship was inaugurated in 2005, a World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship was established in 2008, and the European Mixed Championship was replaced with the World Mixed Curling Championship in 2015. A mixed tournament was held at the Olympic level for the first time in 2018, although it was a doubles tournament, not a four-person.Spirit of Curling". RCMP Curling Club, Ottawa. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013 . Retrieved 23 March 2013. Saint Paul Curling Club – St. Paul, Minnesota – Founded in 1885. Club with largest active membership in the United States (over 1000 members).

McGhie, John. "The Curlers". ArtUK. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018 . Retrieved 15 February 2018. Following the "broomgate" controversy, these mustard-yellow broom-heads are the only legal broom-heads certified by the World Curling Federation for competitive play.Kerr, John (1890). History of curling, Scotland's ain game, and fifty years of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Edinburgh: David Douglas. p.402 . Retrieved 16 February 2018.

A stopwatch to time the stones over a fixed distance to calculate their speed. Stopwatches can be attached either to clothing or the broom. Something magical is happening at the bottom of the garden… The Curlimal friends are dreaming of a special child to care for them! These fantastic toy pets move, talk and respond to touch: woodland creatures with adorable features! Watson, Thomas (1894). Kirkintilloch, town and parish. Glasgow: J. Smith. p.312 . Retrieved 13 October 2017. The Club". The Royal Montreal Curling Club. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019 . Retrieved 18 November 2019.

In February 2002, the International Olympic Committee retroactively decided that the curling competition from the 1924 Winter Olympics (originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver, or International Winter Sports Week) would be considered official Olympic events and no longer be considered demonstration events. Thus, the first Olympic medals in curling, which at the time was played outdoors, were awarded for the 1924 Winter Games, with the gold medal won by Great Britain, two silver medals by Sweden, and the bronze by France. A demonstration tournament was also held during the 1932 Winter Olympic Games between four teams from Canada and four teams from the United States, with Canada winning 12 games to 4. [28] [29]