Happy St. Distaff’s Day…..Almost!

OK….so St. Distaff’s Day isn’t until tomorrow, but since we all have “regular” jobs to go to, we had to celebrate today!  (Click on the “St. Distaff’s Day” link for more info about the meaning a history of St. Distaff’s Day.  Alco known as “Roc Day”.

Reggie and Spencer organized a fun get together at the Centreville Library – complete with games, snacks, and trophies!   YES!!!!   We won trophies this year!

First up, we spun raffia.  It was VERY difficult.   I got a good twist going, but then it was so tight that it would get caught up in the hooks and not wind onto the bobbin well.   We spun in “competition mode” for a minute (or maybe two….I forget!).   I managed to get a total of almost 3 ft. spun, but it broke in the middle and un-spun a bit.  You can see my two pieces on the left in the photo above.

 

Spencer ultimately took the prize by spinning the longest bit of raffia….although Alice gave him a run for the money….she came close.

 

 

 

Later, Spencer could be seen trying to spin the raffia into submission.   After several frustrating attempts, the raffia was eventually added to the  trash….

 

 

 

Next, was spinning the longest and the thinnest with a catch – we had to use gloves.   I took the prize for spinning the longest in 2 minutes – 25 feet!   (It’s a bit unwound here in the pile….it was much thinner when we kept both ends under tension for measuring.)   I had spun several feet more than Spencer and Alice, but again…the two of them were neck-in-neck – less than an inch difference between Alice’s and Spencer’s results!

 

Alice took the prize for spinning the thinnest….again, the’s while wearing gloves.   The gloves really inhibit the drafting process, so it’s quite a challenge to maintain a consistent and thin yarn.

 

 

 

Reggie was content to join in and spin, but didn’t really enter into the competition…so we gave him the prize for organizing the event.