Handcrafts, like spinning and weaving, may seem unlikely competitive events. Handspinners and weavers
tend to be a pretty mild-mannered bunch, often working away in solitary studios much of the time. But now and
then some of us like to get together and see what we can do under pressure. In a sheep-to-shawl contest, teams
race to turn the fleece of a sheep into a handwoven shawl in just a few hours. It has been described as the
NASCAR of handcrafts, but in some ways it is more like a steeplechase; a challenging course studded
with potential pitfalls. Points are awarded by judges all along the way. Some of the things they evaluate include
the quality of the sheep and how well it is sheared by the shearer, the fleece itself and the way it is prepared by
the carder, the evenness and consistency of the spinning and weaving, the colors and pattern of the shawl and
difficulty of the weave, whether it meets the required dimensions, and how well the group works together as a
team. Now add the element of time, and the pressure is on!

     In preparation for the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Sheep-to-Shawl contest our team, Dreamweavers,
practiced many afternoons in our team leader’s cozy kitchen, keeping one eye on the clock, and one on the
thickness of the strands being spun or the pattern emerging at the front of the loom. Tongues and ears were free,
however, to chat and visit, speeding the labor, and as the winter sun sank down behind the Pennsylvania hills, the
team gathered around the loom to cut another beautiful shawl free, knot the fringe, and marvel at what can
be accomplished by a group of friends in an afternoon.