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Shear will: Wool goes from sheep to shawl at a beloved Maryland festival

At the 51st annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, six teams have three hours to shear a sheep, spin the wool it into yarn, then weave those threads into a showstopping shawl.

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May 5, 2024 at 7:25 p.m. EDT
Zoe Burgess, from Sandy Spring Friends School, weaves wool into a shawl during the Sheep-to-Shawl Competition at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in West Friendship, Md., on Sunday. (Moriah Ratner for The Washington Post)
6 min

Inside the fairgrounds, past the sheep show ring, the sheep milk stand, the sheep jewelry artist, the sheep photo display and the barn full of sheep, the fiercest competition in sheepdom has begun.

At the 51st annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, six teams have three hours to shear a sheep, transform its wool into yards of yarn, then weave those threads into a showstopping shawl.