The Newcastle Spinners and Weavers Guild will be racing the clock as part of the International Back to Back Wool Challenge.

“We shear the sheep, spin the wool and knit the jumper,” guild representative Carolyn Bourne said.

The Back to Back competition pits top shearers, spinners and knitters from Australia, Japan, Canada, Scotland and New Zealand against each other in a race to make a jumper from scratch.

Each team is equipped with a shearer, seven handspinners and knitters and, the essential item; a sheep.

They must all follow the challenge rules and knit to a pattern.

The two Hunter teams will raise money for the Mater Cancer Research Unit.

The origins of the competition go back a long way.

Originally, though, it was bad news for the sheep when the jumpers were knitted. It was killed and eaten as a celebration.

The modern version of the challenge began in 1995 when teams from Australia, Scotland and the Shetland Isles competed.

The back-to-back record is held by the Merriwa Jumbucks, who sheared, spinned and knitted the jumper in four hours, 51 minutes and 14 seconds.

The team retired after setting the benchmark time.

The Newcastle guild has not ruled out pushing to break that world record set by the Jumbucks.

“We’ll have to see,” Mrs Bourne said.

The Wool Challenge starts shearing at 9am on Sunday, June 8, at the Tocal Homestead.

There will also be mini-workshops and musical entertainment throughout the day.