News

Warm up for the Festival with Winterfest 2024!

Posted: November 10, 2023

Registration for Winterfest 2024 is now open at https://www.lessonface.com/sheepandwool.

Our third annual Winterfest will once again offer two days of virtual fiber arts seminars. Winterfest 2024 will be held on Saturday, February 3 and Sunday, February 4 on the same Lessonface platform as last year and will feature the following instructors:

• Kate Atherley – Knitting
• Maggie Casey – Spinning
• Roy Clemes – Fiber Prep
• Shana Cohen – Knitting
• Jill Duarte – Spinning
• Laura Lineman – Knitting and Spinning
• Sarah Schira – Knitting
• Emily Wohlscheid – Fiber Prep and Spinning

Our keynote lecture on Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. will be A Year in the Life of a Handspinning Flock with Lee Langstaff. The lecture is free but registration through Lessonface is required.

Schedule

Time (Eastern)	Class	Type	Instructor
Saturday, February 3
10 am –12 noon	Getting the Most out of your Drum Carder	Fiber Prep	Roy Clemes
	The “Holey Grail” - Avoiding Gaps and Holes	Knitting	Kate Atherley
	Spinning Carded Fibers	Spinning	Jill Duarte
10 am –1 pm	Variations on Blending Tweeds	Fiber Prep	Emily Wohlscheid
	Ode to a Beautiful Braid:  How Do I Spin Thee, Let Me Count the Ways	Spinning	Maggie Casey
2 pm – 5 pm	Blending Textures: Creating Textured Batts	Fiber Prep	Emily Wohlscheid
	Gno Fun Like Gnome Fun (A Beginner Gnome Class)	Knitting	Sarah Schira
	No Pattern Needed Custom Fit Hats	Knitting	Kate Atherley
	Your Wheel is Smarter Than You Think It Is – Optimize Your Wheel	Spinning	Maggie Casey
7 pm – 9 pm	Scrappy Stuff – Textured Marble Fidget Toy	Knitting	Shana Cohen
7 pm –10 pm	Spinning for Socks 101	Spinning	Laura Linneman
	Spinning Textured Batts	Spinning	Emily Wohlscheid
Sunday, February 4
10 am – 12 noon	Mittens 101	Knitting	Kate Atherley
10 am – 1 pm	Gnome Beards & Bobble Noses	Knitting	Sarah Schira
2 pm – 5 pm	Better Afterthought Heels	Knitting	Kate Atherley
	Mix it up: Combining Handspun with Commercial Yarn for the Perfect Sweater	Spinning & Knitting	Laura Linneman
	Finishing Your Yarn	Spinning	Maggie Casey
7 pm – 9 pm	Exploring the Diversity of Wool	Spinning	Jill Duarte
	Handspun Wire Core and More	Spinning	Emily Wohlscheid
7 pm – 10 pm	Modular Knit Bowl	Knitting	Shana Cohen

2023 Featured Breed: Jacob

Posted: April 26, 2023

Our featured breed for 2023, the majestic Jacob Sheep is a special addition to flocks throughout North America. Unique, regal, useful, hardy – with their strikingly impressive horns and spotted fleece, there are few breeds that excite the interest of others as does the Jacob. Read more about this special breed here.

The Jacob Sheep Breeders Association (JSBA) was formed in 1988 through the encouragement and guidance of the American Minor Breeds Conservancy (now The Livestock Conservancy) and is of prime importance in maintaining this majestic and ancient breed in its present form, as it is considered “threatened” on The Livestock Conservancy’s list. The purpose of JSBA is to ensure the conservation of this heritage breed through inspection, registration, and education.

Learn more about the Jacob breed and talk to JSBA members in the Breed Display Barn (Barn 7-8 on the map) while you are at the Festival.

2023 Festival Gear Now Available

Posted: April 2, 2023

A selection of 2023 Festival Merchandise is now available! We have short-sleeved t-shirts, long-sleeved hooded t-shirts, three styles of bags, and two sizes of posters.

There are two ways to get your gear early:
1. In store – go to the Ceresville New Holland, Inc./Sheepman Supply Co. showroom in Frederick, Maryland and select from the items on display.

2. Online – order at https://www.sheepman.com/product-category/maryland-sheep-wool-festival-online/. You can have it shipped to you, or to save on shipping you can pick it up at Sheepman Supply (to do this, enter “would like to pick up at store” in “special instructions”, and you will not be charged for shipping when your order is processed). Sorry, we cannot accept pre-orders for pick up at the festival. Online orders will be accepted through April 26.

Lots of additional items, styles, and colors will be available at the festival on May 6 & 7!

2023 tickets and catalogs now on sale!

Posted: February 26, 2023

Tickets and catalogs for the 2023 festival are now on sale at https://mswf2023.eventbrite.com.

Don’t forget, registration for our 2023 in-person Fiber Arts Seminars is also open at https://www.lessonface.com/sheepandwool.

Registration for 2023 Fiber Arts Seminars Opening Soon

Posted: February 9, 2023

Registration for the 2023 in-person classes will open at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 19 at https://lessonface.com/sheepandwool.

Click here to download the complete class list.

Warm up for the Festival with Winterfest 2023!

Posted: November 17, 2022

Our second annual Winterfest will once again offer two days of virtual fiber arts seminars. Winterfest 2023 will be held on Saturday, January 28 and Sunday, January 29 on the same Lessonface platform as last year and will feature the following instructors:

• Jillian Moreno – Spinning
• Kristen Walsh – Felting
• Maggie Casey – Spinning
• Kira Dulaney – Knitting
• Alasdair Post-Quinn – Knitting
• Esther Rodgers – Spinning

Our keynote lecture on Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. will be A Look Inside a Small-Scale Carding Mill with Angela Muller. Angela, a shepherd and the owner of a small mill located in central Maryland, Angel Locks Fiberworks, will take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of her small-scale carding mill and tell you how she established Angel Locks. Angela will explain how she set up her mill, and describe the functions of each piece of equipment she uses. Then she will share how she decides which equipment to use to process different types of fiber, as well as share how fiber enthusiasts can get the best results when sending fiber out to a small mill. Attendees will leave Angela’s lecture with a clear understanding of what happens to a raw fleece and the different steps the fiber goes through as it is transformed in roving.

The lecture is free but registration through Lessonface is required.

Schedule

Saturday, January 28

Sunday, January 29

Registration will open at 1:00 PM ET on Saturday, November 19 at https://www.lessonface.com/sheepandwool.

2023 Catalog Cover Artist

Posted: March 30, 2023

Ashton Design

Since he first purchased three ewes from chairman Gwen Handler in 1985, David Ashton has been an integral part of every Festival. David created our iconic logo in 1987, giving us a visual identity that is now recognized around the world. Since then, David and the team at Ashton Design have assisted us with selecting our artwork, then taking that artwork and creating the design that we use each year for our catalog cover, posters, t-shirts, and other festival merchandise.

For 2023, we asked the team at Ashton to create an original illustration for us in honor of our 50th anniversary, and we believe they have done us proud.

ASHTON-DESIGN.COM

2022 Catalog Cover Artist

Posted: March 4, 2022

Susan Due Pearcy

Susan Due Pearcy has lived in the Agricultural Reserve in Barnesville, Maryland for 27 years and enjoys having sheep grazing next door and fibre artist friends nearby. She is continually inspired in her art and life by the natural beauty of her surroundings and works plein air in oil and pastel and creates her printmaking in Sugarloaf Studio behind her home.

Pearcy studied art education at Southeast Missouri State University and graduated with a degree in Printmaking, Painting and Sculpture from New York University. She continued studies at the Art Student’s League in New York City, Fort Mason Art Center and Graphic Arts Workshop in San Francisco, plus numerous continuing workshops. She has taught in schools, community centers, Alzheimer’s facility and volunteered with children hospitalized at the National Institutes of Health for over 20 years.

Photo by Chris Li

Susan has explored a variety of media, including watercolor, oil painting, pastel and printmaking. She usually carries a sketchbook with her, especially on travels and her sketches have been displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts and are in the permanent collection there and at the Library of Congress, the Rare Book Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Georgetown University and others.

Pearcy has exhibited across the country and abroad and is in numerous private, public and museum collections including the Pushkin Museum (Russia), Chemalier Museum (France) and Museum of Modern Art (Argentina).

Susan comes from a family of artists. Her mother was a watercolorist in St. Louis, Missouri, where Susan was raised. Her husband Glen Pearcy was a filmmaker/photographer and their two adult children pursue careers in the arts.

Susan is part of the Countryside Artisans Gallery/Studio Tour (www.countrysideartisans.com) where she opens Sugarloaf Studio to the public. Please come visit!

Susan Due Pearcy
Sugarloaf Studio
21900 Beallsville Road
Barnesville, MD 20838
www.susanduepearcy.com

Photo by Dalis Davidson

COVID-19 Protocols

Posted: February 19, 2022

Last updated: 4/29/2022

In order to protect all attendees, vendors, and volunteers, especially those most vulnerable, we strongly recommend that everyone age two and older wear a mask while indoors at the festival. There is also a chance that wearing a mask will be a requirement for admittance to specific indoor locations, i.e., you will not be allowed to enter those buildings if you aren’t wearing a mask. Therefore, if you want to experience the full range of what the festival has to offer, you should come prepared to wear a mask.

These protocols are subject to change. It is possible that they will be more relaxed by the time May arrives; it is also possible that they could become stricter if conditions warrant. We will be keeping a close eye on the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant to see if that will impact our policy.

List of Venues Requiring a Mask (as of 4/29/22):

If the Festival were held today, everyone ages two and older would be required to wear a mask in the following venues:

• Fleece Show & Sale Building
• Saturday Night Spin-In in the Dining Hall
• Sunday Lectures in the 4-H Hall
• Additional locations may be added.

Special COVID-19 Protocols for Fiber Arts Seminars

This policy applies to the Fiber Arts Seminars only.

You will be asked to acknowledge and agree to these policies before you are permitted to complete registration for any of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars. If you do not abide by these policies, your class registration fees will be forfeited. These policies apply to EVERYONE – all teachers, students, and volunteers – participating in the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars.

Please note that, because of the pandemic, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars will not be able accommodate anyone who cannot wear a mask or who needs to lip read as a consequence of hearing impairment.  

As of April 28, 2022, these are the policies for participation in Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars:

1. Show proof of full vaccination.

Full vaccination means the individual must have all required doses and initial boosters recommended for a vaccine approved by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than 14 days before first day of attendance at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars in 2022. Note: As of March 29, 2022, the CDC now allows for an additional booster in certain situations, but this additional booster will not be a requirement for participation in the Fiber Arts Seminars.

Please provide proof of vaccination in advance (following the instructions provided by Lessonface when you register), or be prepared to show your vaccination card, or a photo of your vaccination card on your mobile device, as you enter your classroom.

AND

2. Wear an N95 or KN95 mask that covers your nose and mouth at all times when inside; as of 4/28/22 students also have the option of wearing a surgical mask. Other masks will not be permitted. A mask must fit snugly against the sides of the face and cover the nose. These masks are currently available at low or no cost at many pharmacies.

Our instructors fully support the above requirements.

Eating and/or drinking will not be permitted in the classrooms.

We know these policies may make it impossible for some to attend classes this year. We ask for understanding and patience as we try to find the best path to keep students, instructors, and volunteers safe. We will miss those of you who cannot attend and look forward to welcoming you in the future.

Registration for 2022 Fiber Arts Seminars is now open!

Posted: January 30, 2022

COVID-19 Policy

Note: This policy applies to the Fiber Arts Seminars only. We are still developing our Covid-19 protocols for the rest of the 2022 festival. See https://sheepandwool.org/covid-19-protocols/ for the most up-to-date information.

You will be asked to acknowledge and agree to these policies before you are permitted to complete registration for any of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars. If you do not abide by these policies, your class registration fees will be forfeited. These policies apply to EVERYONE – all teachers, students, and volunteers – participating in the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars.

Please note that, because of the pandemic, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars will not be able accommodate anyone who cannot wear a mask or who needs to lip read as a consequence of hearing impairment.  

As of February 13, 2022, these are the policies for participation in Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars:

1. Show proof of full vaccination.

Full vaccination means the individual must have all doses and boosters recommended for a vaccine approved by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than 14 days before first day of attendance at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Fiber Arts Seminars in 2022. Please be prepared to show your vaccination card, or a photo of your vaccination card on your mobile device, as you enter your classroom.

AND

2. Wear an N95 or KN95 that covers your nose and mouth at all times when inside. Other masks will not be permitted. A mask must fit snugly against the sides of the face and cover the nose. These masks are currently available at low or no cost at many pharmacies.

Our instructors fully support the above requirements.

Eating and/or drinking will not be permitted in the classrooms.

We know these policies may make it impossible for some to attend classes this year. We ask for understanding and patience as we try to find the best path to keep students, instructors, and volunteers safe. We will miss those of you who cannot attend and look forward to welcoming you in the future.

As new information develops, we may change these requirements in the interest of public safety.