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Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, Sunday, May 2 at the 2010
Starting with "Sheep to Shawl" a contest that starts at 8 a.m. with a sheep and ends at 11 a.m. with a shawl.
(Well, actually, there's still a sheep but it leaves the scene rather quickly, back to the barns with its buddies I dare
say.) The shawls are judged and then auctioned off, all proceeds to go to help keep this great Festival alive.
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| Waiting for the Sheep to Shawl contest to start |
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| Starting to shear |
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| Sheep are such patient creatures |
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One team opted not to card their wool. They said they had practiced
and as it was a young sheep the wool was okay without carding. There were many interesting and beautiful spinning wheel
designs.
| A compact and elegant spinning wheel |
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| One team had a Harley theme |
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Time to go look around the Festival. We'll look in
at the contest from time to time before the end.
| Middle class mom types |
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| Can't see the pink hair in this picture |
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| One of the Harley team's fans |
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Back to the Sheep to Shawl contest where the teams are finishing
up. You get more points the earlier you finish so there's some excitement now.
| Tying the fringe... |
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| Waiting to be measured |
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| Measuring the Harley themed shawl |
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I'm sorry to say that I don't know which
shawl won. They are all beautiful and so amazing that they are made in less than 3 hours!
If you go to the Festival,
some advice: come early (see photo), bring water and wear a hat (I know where to get a particulary nice one).
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| A proud team and their sheep |
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| Rather squashed looking here |
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| All done. Phew! |
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| A spinning wheel made out of metal |
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| My favorite: based on a blue jay feather |
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One of the really great things about the Festival is the different
types of people.
| A rancher and his apprentice |
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| Always obviously Muslim and Jewish folks |
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| Gentility and a great hat |
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Speaking of hats... I met a woman outside of the bathroom (Where
else? Beware, men. There was talk of a hostile takeover.) who showed excellent taste in headwear. We had on exactly the same
hat!
I attended the Festival with my friend and her family. We couldn't see her boy when we were ready
to leave one of the barns so started looking around for him. It took longer than we all wanted it too and we were starting
to be worried, but not too worried. Like my friend said, it's such a peaceful crowd at the Festival. Maybe the people
are taking their cues from the sheep? World Peace Through Wool! (The boy was in a nearby barn, so all was well, by the way.)
After the shawls are off the loom and the fringe is
tied, the shawls are taken up front to be officially measured (there's a length minimum).
| ... really intensely |
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| Official measuring |
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| The blue shawl, finished |
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| There were 30 cars here at 8am |
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