BACK TO BACK CHALLENGE
The Back to Back International Wool Challenge is a timed event in which teams compete to process the wool from a sheep’s back into a jumper in the fastest possible time.
The Challenge took place on the 27th May at Craft Lab 23, part of Ballarat’s award winning Heritage Festival.
Two teams were pitted against one another to shear, prepare the fleece, spin and knit the wool from two sheep – both teams up against the challenge to beat the world record to turn the wool into a wearable piece of clothing as quickly as possible.
Visitors watched the sheep being hand shorn, yarn spinning and immediate knitting of two jumpers over the course of the day.
Additional shearing demonstrations, interviews and opportunities to meet the sheep were also available.
Although neither of the teams managed to beat the clock and the time limit requirement of finishing the jumper in 10 hours, over 600 people stopped by to watch and cheer them on.
WORLD RECORD IN THE MAKING
The event stems from Berkshire in the UK in 1811 where a thousand pound wager was made to make a coat from the sheep’s back to a person’s back in one day.
Watched by over 5,000 people, the coat was completed in thirteen hours and an international competition was born.
Today teams consist of a blade shearer, a sheep and seven handspinners and knitters – traditional skills of blade shearing, spinning and knitting are employed to process the wool in the shortest possible time. No new machinery is permitted.
The teams are working to beat the in Guinness world record of 4 hours 45 minutes and 53 seconds set by the Dutch/German Groenwond Team in Swalmen, The Netherlands in 2017