Out The Window: This busy week

Its here...its the last week of April!! This is what keeps me inspired all winter. I look forward to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival all winter long. It is the beginning of the summer season for me. In a normal year it is our first glimpse of spring flowering trees and shrubs. The dogwood the rhododendron and the crabapple. This has been such an early spring we have them here before we even head south. I wonder what will be in bloom when we get there?

Some years I have shown fleece, some years I have shown sheep, but this year at the festival is new and exciting for me. We have entered the sheep to shawl. It will be on Sunday morning at 8 am. We have been working on this project for quite a while now. If you have been at the shop you could write this blog. You have seen it all already, but for those who have not been here...here is the story.

The first step was to find a sheep. Betsy did that, a nice covered corriedale from Jeff Ruppert. Next find a shearer (because none of us shear, maybe we need to work on that). I was given the name of Emily Chamelin to see if she had a list of names of shearers that would be at the festival. When she called back she asked if she could do it. Yes!!

Next, we needed a loom. Again, Betsy made it happen. We have a portable loom.

Next, what will the shawl be? We decided to go with a sunflower theme. I dyed the warp. It is Foster Farm worsted weight yarn.

Next Betsy warped the loom, with assistance from Mary-Jane.

Then we had a practice day. I will not show the pictures of the first practice day. It wasn't pretty. We made a mess and wondered if we had lost our minds. How would this every come together? But we learned a lot. Two days later we tried again. It was a full dress rehearsal. Sue brought the aprons that she made for us. Aren't they great.