NORTHUMBERLAND, Pa. -- The shawl may look like it took days to make, but it actually only took about two hours. It's was the winning shawl in the Pennsylvania Farm Show's "Sheep to Shawl" competition. "Time Warp" won yet again.
"This was 12 out of 18 consecutive years competing. We've had a really good run," Libby Beiler said.
Libby Beiler and Jeff Johnstonbaugh are two of the six members of "Time Warp," a Sheep to Shawl team from Northumberland and Montour Counties. The team had won the competition seven years in a row but got second place last year.
"Kind of gives us that Schwarzenegger thing, 'we'll be back,' and then to win on top of that was absolutely amazing," Jeff Johnstonbaugh said.
Eight teams competed. Teams had two and a half hours to shear a sheep and weave the wool into a shawl.
"It starts right with the shearing, with the carding and the spinning. I'm the last stop in the process. The wool has to go through a lot before it gets to me," Beiler said.
"To prepare the wool for the spinners is merely a process of combing through with almost like a dog's pin brush," Johnstonbaugh said.
Time Warp's theme was 'Hygge', which is a Scandanavian word for a mood of coziness. The team felt cozy when they finished the shawl with a half-hour to spare.
All of the shawls were auctioned off at the end of the competition. This one was sold for $1,450.
The team says it is already planning ahead for next year's competition.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural exposition in the nation, featuring nearly 12,000 competitive exhibits and 300 commercial exhibits.
The 2020 show runs until Saturday, January 11, when it opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Admission is free. There is a $15 parking fee at all Farm Show Complex-operated lots.