Current:Home > ScamsIn a Sheep to Shawl competition, you have 5 people, 1 sheep, and 3 hours — good luck!-LoTradeCoin
In a Sheep to Shawl competition, you have 5 people, 1 sheep, and 3 hours — good luck!
View Date:2024-12-23 21:10:54
At the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, the "Sheep to Shawl" challenge is simultaneously cut-throat competitive and warm and fuzzy.
Each team is made up of one sheep and five people: one shearer, three spinners, and a weaver. The team has three hours to shear the sheep, card the wool, spin the wool into yarn, and then weave that yarn into an award-winning shawl.
Preparation is the secret to success, says Margie Wright, team captain of The Fidget Spinners. She spent months looking for the perfect sheep for her team. "The hard part is finding a sheep that's not too greasy," she explains.
Because the competitors are spinning wool that hasn't been processed, it still has lanolin in it. This makes the wool greasier and more difficult to spin, so the ideal is finding a sheep with less lanolin to begin with. The teams also spent hours getting their looms ready for weaving. Wright explains this can take as long as seven hours to do.
One group of people hoping to weave their way to glory this year was much younger than the others. Four high schoolers from a local Quaker school participated as part of their fiber arts class.
"Learning to weave was the most difficult thing I'd tried in my life," says 18-year-old Caitlyn Holland. She and her teammates started learning just six months ago, and their teacher, Heidi Brown, says they're already impressive spinners and weavers.
Brown adds that this is the second junior team that has ever competed in the Sheep & Wool Festival. The first team was in the 1970s. She is already planning to continue the program for her students next year.
It takes a lot more than just speedy spinning to win the competition though. Former competitor Jennifer Lackey says the contestants are also judged on the quality of their shawl, teamwork and less fiber-arts related aspects such as the team's theme and costumes.
This year's teams were all enthusiastically prepared to earn points for themes and shawl quality alike. The high school students, competing as The Quaker Bakers, wore aprons and made rainbow cupcakes to match their rainbow-themed shawl. The Fidget Spinners chose "I Love Ewe" as their theme and covered their shawl in hearts. The third team, which arguably should have won an award just for their name — "Mutton but Trouble" — wore crocheted acorn hats and made a fall-colored shawl to represent their theme of squirrels.
Of the three teams competing for three awards, The Quaker Bakers placed third, Mutton But Trouble came in second, and The Fidget Spinners took home the first prize.
Overall, it's fair to say, a competition less wild than wooly.
See what it looks like for yourself — here's a video from the 2017 "Sheep to Shawl" competition at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival:
veryGood! (663)
Related
- Federal judge orders Oakland airport to stop using ‘San Francisco’ in name amid lawsuit
- Will Messi play in Orlando? Here’s the latest on Inter Miami star’s left leg injury
- Defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs will host Bengals in Week 2
- Is the Wiggle Pillow Worth It? Here’s How the Viral Pillow Changed How I Sleep Forever
- Georgia House Democrats shift toward new leaders after limited election gains
- Speaker Mike Johnson’s appearance at Trump’s felony trial marks a remarkable moment in US politics
- See Pregnant Hailey Bieber and Justin Bieber Step Out for First Time Since Announcing Baby on the Way
- Hunt underway for Sumatran tiger after screaming leads workers to man's body, tiger footprints
- Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
- Does grapefruit lower blood pressure? Here’s everything you need to know.
Ranking
- Hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field can be fixed for about $55M in time for 2026 season, per report
- Woman pleads guilty to plotting with a neo-Nazi group leader to attack Baltimore’s power grid
- American Museum of Natural History curator accused of trying to smuggle 1,500 spider and scorpion samples out of Turkey
- MLB may have to act on strike-stealing after catcher's gruesome injury: 'Classic risk-reward'
- Wicked Director Jon M. Chu Reveals Name of Baby Daughter After Missing Film's LA Premiere for Her Birth
- Meme stocks are roaring again. This time may be different
- Putin replaces long-time defense minister Sergei Shoigu as Ukraine war heats up in its 3rd year
- The Best Under $20 Drugstore Beauty Finds for Summer
Recommendation
-
Joey Logano wins Phoenix finale for 3rd NASCAR Cup championship in 1-2 finish for Team Penske
-
Gazans flee Rafah as Israel pushes its war with Hamas — and the U.S. and others push for an endgame
-
Why Oklahoma Teen Found Dead on Highway Has “Undetermined” Manner of Death
-
Minnesota couple celebrates state's new flag with a Statehood Day party
-
Blake Snell free agent rumors: Best fits for two-time Cy Young winner
-
Why Oklahoma Teen Found Dead on Highway Has “Undetermined” Manner of Death
-
Mississippi man suspected of killing mother, 2 sisters is fatally shot by state troopers in Arizona
-
The Golden Bachelorette Reveals Its First Leading Lady Ahead of Fall Premiere