“My Journey Through the U.S. Heritage Sheep Breeds”
Margaret Radcliffe
Since early 2019, Margaret Radcliffe, knitting designer, writer, and teacher, has been exploring the most endangered of the heritage U.S. sheep breeds. Along the way, she documented the challenges and successes of her work with each breed. This lecture will follow her more than four-year journey of exploration, her discoveries about each breed’s potential and their distinct characteristics and provide information about The Livestock Conservancy’s Shave ’Em to Save ’Em (SE2SE) program.
“Professionally I am primarily a knitter and have tried to keep spinning and fiber prep in the realm of “hobby” so I don’t have to monetize those activities. Having worked my way through almost all of the 24 (now 23) Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em heritage breeds, scouring, preparing, spinning the fibers, and designing with them, I have become fervently attuned to the importance of matching fiber from specific sheep breeds to the final textile product and have incorporated this knowledge into my teaching practice.”
Margaret Radcliffe is a bestselling author of several knitting books, including The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques, and The Knowledgeable Knitter. Margaret has been teaching for three decades now at numerous retreats, festivals, fairs, guild workshops, and via the John C. Campbell Folk School. She publishes her own knitting patterns.
Like many knitters and spinners, Margaret has had a long and varied career. She has degrees in Medieval Studies and English Literature, has been an internal auditor, computer programmer, business executive, research administrator, dancer, and editor. Her current fiber arts interests include preparing, spinning, and designing handknits using heritage breeds and participation in The Livestock Conservancy’s Shave ’Em to Save ’Em program. She can be found at maggiesrags.com
