One of my favorite weekends of the entire year is the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. I save my yarn shopping money just for this weekend and make plans to go with my fiber-inclined friends.
Sheep and Wool Festivals (there’s one for NY and MD too) are different than yarn shows and cons. One of the reasons I love Sheep and Wool Festivals is that you get to experience the process of fiber arts from the animals themselves all the way to the finished products.
Also sometimes you’re waiting in line for a hot pretzel and a goat is waiting for his turn behind you.
The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival offers opportunities for 4H students and professional breeders to enter their livestock in competitions. I always find it cool to see where my wool comes from (and also sheepsies are cute).
There are also competitions like Sheep to Shawl. In this event teams make have to make woven fabric from fleece within a certain time frame. That means they get the fleece and have to make it all the way from preparing the fleece to spinning it to weaving it in about five hours. I know people who have done this and it is so awesome.
You can also sign up for all kinds of skills classes and there are equipment auctions and raffles as well.
The educational aspect of the event is really fun, and I’ve had non-crafty friends come along just to see how all the cool stuff is made and to pet the lambs (because of course you want to pet the lambs).
Then there’s the shopping. There are two large barns at this festival that sell everything from finished yarn to spinning wheels to notions to fleece.
Want to see my yarn haul?
Of course you do!
I may have found my new favorite sock yarn, A Hundred Ravens Yak Sock. It’s so cozy I want to crawl into a tub of it. I also got some of their Iachos sock yarn. The three colors I got left to right are: Eos, Here Be Dragons, and Halls of Lore. I also got some sock yarn from Bumblebee Acres. Left to right is Horn of Gondor and Return to Lallybroch.
Left to right is a cotton/bamboo blend from Ohmi Fibers, a skein of Targhee Sock from Oink Pigments in the show-exclusive colorway Wisconsin Malibu, a project bag from Kalediscope Fibers, and two mini skein sets from A Hundred Ravens in Pixie Surfer Madness and Dark Prism.
I was super excited for the mini skein sets because I’ve been doing more colorwork socks using Charming Colorwork Socks by Charlotte Stone ( A | BN | K | AB ).
If you plan to attend a Sheep and Wool Festival I have a few words of advice.
- You can bring your own bag in, so bringing a tote for your purchases is a good idea since not all vendors carry bags.
- Wear comfortable, washable shoes as livestock will be around and sometimes there’s poop when you’re walking between areas.
- Also they allow you to bring in bottled water so it’s a good idea to bring your own water bottle since the lines for food and drinks tend to be long and the prices pretty steep.
Have you been to any Sheep and Wool Festivals? What did you think?
Never been, but, wow, I would go just to see all the colors; goats and sheepsies waiting in line with me a big plus. I wish I could crochet. Or knit. Maybe I could just play with skeins of yarn. Thanks for sharing, Elyse.
Going to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival tomorrow in Virginia. A Hundred Ravens will be there. She is one of my favorites! Unfortunately, the rain will also be there.
There’s one in Ohio at Young’s Dairy that I’ve been too. So much fiber temptation, so little money and space.
The rain is why my knitting gang is hitting up SVFF on Sunday, SandyL! (also so we can visit the Miss Babs trunk show on Saturday at Fibre Space in Alexandria, VA) I love SVFF, it’s such a great show – smaller and much calmer than Maryland Sheep and Wool, so it’s easier to really see everything and not feel pressure to speed through. Not that I’m going to stop going to MSW, mind you, but I may actually enjoy Shenandoah more.
I’ve been to the Southeastern Fiber Festival in Asheville, NC. Lots of fun, although I’m more into watercolors and sewing now.
I miss Wisconsin Sheep & Wool so much! I lived in Wisconsin for ~15 years and went to Sheep & Wool most years. But I moved to California recently and there just isn’t anything comparable. I miss the sheep, watching the sheep dogs herd (!), and of course the yarn shopping. Glad it’s still amazing and you had fun!
Lucky you! I’ve been to NY Sheep and Wool once (it was a real treat). There are festivals closer to me in Vermont and New Hampshire (that I know of). One of my knitting peeps is an indie dyer, so I often hear about the events she travels to. Being able to touch the yarn and look at the colors in person is truly wonderful. I suspect that with some online searching, one could find more similar festivals (not to mention yarn crawls – special events organized around visiting the shops in a given area). Knit on!
I once attended The Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon and enjoyed it even though I don’t do any fiber crafting. Thanks for your fun post, Elyse!
I went to MD Sheep & Wool for the first time this year and loved it. Sadly it’s no longer local (we’re in Ireland), but I think it will be a good excuse to visit my parents.
That goat looked like it expected you to let it cut in front of you. 🙂 Too bad all the cool wool-festivals are far away from me, sometimes even an ocean away… thanks for the post, I loved it!
One of these years, I will get to Maryland Sheep and Wool and to Rhinebeck (the NY festival.) But don’t despair if you can’t get to any of the biggies. There are smaller fiber festivals all over the country, and a lot of them involve animals as well as fiber from raw fleece to yarn.
If you’re in Virginia, one of my favorites is the Fall Fiber Festival and Montepelier Sheep Dog Trials (which is a mouthful, so most people call it either the Fall Fiber Festival or just Montpelier.) It’s held in Montpelier Station, near the historic home of James Madison (but not on the grounds.) There are fiber and yarn vendors; a variety of sheep breeds and other fiber animals to look at; classes and demos, including sheep-shearing demos; food vendors; and sheep dog trials, which are always fun to watch. I haven’t been since Covid started, and I really miss it. Maybe I’ll make it this year…
Anyone know of fiber/sheep/ knitting events in Northern California now that Stitches is no more?
I love that Sheldon on Big Bang Theory mentions thinking about getting Amy an all-expenses-paid trip to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool show!
@F. Concolor: October 7-8, 2023 at the Dixon May Fairgrounds there is the 37th annual celebration of all things sheep, lamb, and wool… Lambtown.
(Info via the 2 Knit Lit Chicks podcast)
Attending the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is like embarking on an annual fiber adventure! I eagerly anticipate this weekend all year long, setting aside my yarn budget just for the occasion. It’s not just about shopping; it’s about immersing myself in the world of fiber arts, from the charming sheep to the exquisite finished products.