Christine Knobel wearing the pullover sweater that won top prize at both the California and National Make It With Wool competitions. Photo courtesy of Christine Knobel

DIXON, CA (MPG) – Christine Knobel is back at the Lambtown Festival this weekend, a year after being recognized for her knitting prowess.

Knobel won top prize in the wearable accessories category of the California Make It With Wool competition last year at Lambtown. She went on to take national honors with a pullover sweater she made over the course of three months.

“I was incredibly surprised that I won, because this was only the second sweater that I had ever knitted,” said Knobel, who is adept at an array of skills, including sewing, pattern drafting and draping, which involves positioning and pinning fabric on a dress form to develop the structure of a garment design.

Knobel lives in the Bay Area and works at The Sewing Room, a sewing and fashion school, workshop and retail boutique, in Alameda. She graduated from UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in design in 2016 and a master's in fine arts two years later.

She will be one of hundreds who will be attending the Lambtown Festival, the state’s largest salute to sheep, lamb and wool, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the Dixon May Fairgrounds on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4. 

Among highlights of the weekend will be this year’s California Make It With Wool contest, on Saturday, Oct. 3. Judging takes place in the morning, followed by the awards and fashion show at noon.

Knobel entered the competition for the first time in 2023. 

“A friend told me about the Make It With Wool contest, and I made something really quickly,” Knobel said. “It was fun and flashy, but I didn’t understand that the goal of the competition was to showcase skills.”

Last year, she pulled out the stops with a sweater she described as a willow pullover all-over basketweave stitch pattern. The all-over basketweave stitch uses a mix of knit and purl stitches to give the appearance of an interlaced woven basket.

She used the same sweater to take top honors at the national Make It With Wool sweater contest early this year in Reno. At Lambtown this year, she will be entering the wearable accessory and one-piece garment categories for adults.

Knobel said she’s been sewing most of her life and is fairly good at crafts in general.

She said Lambtown offers a great opportunity to learn and develop new skills.

“At the first festival I attended, I signed up for a workshop on making wool coasters, and it was really fun,” she said. “I always learn a lot when I go.”