MD Sheep & Wool Festival

There is a big fiber happening here in the Mid-Atlantic region coming up called the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Last year I attended for the first time and I had a wonderful time. Howard County fairgrounds gets transformed into a big yarn and sheep and fiber extravaganza. You can buy all things wool/fiber-related from a live sheep, the raw fleece, cleaned, prepared fleece, ready-to-spin roving, and then there are vendors large and small with a huge selection of yarns, books, and tools of every description. I was overwhelmed as we walked from barn to barn in the warm May sunshine ogling the beautiful spinning wheels, handmade drop-spindles and knitting needles. I was truly overwhlemed, but I managed to find a few things to take home with me. One of the highlights of the festival is the Sheep to Shawl competition where teams of people shear a sheep, clean, process and spin the wool and then weave a shawl within a three hour time limit. I missed this event last year, but I plan to watch the event this year.

Several of us knitters in the D.C. area plan to car-pool on over to Howard County next weekend and catch the festival. It will be a wonderful time of seeing old friends, getting to see acres and acres of spectacular yarns and just get inspired.