Well spun! World Wide Spin in Public Day at the Ike Box

Yesterday was World Wide Spin in Public Day!

Inspired, no doubt, by World Wide Knit in Public Day, World Wide Spin in Public Day is a day to... well... spin in public! That is, take spinning out of wherever the spinning wheels are lurking indoors and get them outdoors so that people can see, hey, people still spin!

Our knitting group organized a WWSIP Day event at the Ike Box in Salem, the community center/coffee shop/concert venue where we meet. The building is owned by the YMCA, but the organization running the Ike Box is Isaac's Room, a non-profit that provides terrific services to at-risk kids. So to give them a hand and say "Thank you!" for hosting our group, we used our WWSIP Day event as a fundraiser and held a raffle to benefit Isaac's Room.

And there I was all afternoon and didn't even think to get my camera out until nearly the end! Trying to get non-flash pictures in the low light -- well, they all turned out craptastically blurry, but I have a couple to share that were less craptastic than others.

We had a good group of spinners, with three or four wheels and several drop spindles going at any one time, as well as two beautiful antique wheels, one from Lithuania, on display. Both will soon be in working order, as their owners got info on our local antique wheel expert, Ron Antoine (contact info in this resource list).

Over the afternoon, two women who had never spun before but were determined to learn came, saw, tried, and were indoctrinated, and one woman who stayed much of the afternoon went home with an armload of raffle prizes. Score!

We also had lots of knitting and general hanging-out going on. Stephania of Three Fates Knitting, our beloved local yarn pusher supplier came with a box of gorgeous temptation.

(If you're wondering about the pastel paintings of cupids and flowers and puffy clouds -- the building was a mortuary for years and years. Eh, it adds character.)

Thanks to several generous donors, the raffle was a success. Some gorgeous roving like this went home to lucky winners:

Along with craft books, yarn baskets, and a gift card for the Ike Box. We raised $158 for Isaac's Room, which, considering how late we got started organizing this thing and how little publicity we had this first year, was pretty darn good. Just wait until next year when we've got a whole year's head start on the project!

Many thanks to the following donors: Blue Moon Fiber Arts for two huge 8 oz hanks of dyed top, Rose and Ram Knit shop for a big 8 oz bump of Shetland roving from their own sheep, Tangled Purls for two hanks of beautiful dyed roving, Teaselwick Wools for Felt Frenzy, Dogeared Books (can't find a link to the shop!) for a big box of used craft books, and our own Betsey for angora fluff from her own rabbits, our Stephania for hand-dyed merino roving, our Laurie for a basket of yarn, and I donated the Ike Box gift card. And a round of applause to Helen for being the main organizer.