Our friend Melissa from Wild Hare Fiber sent some lovely highlight photos from WWSIP day!

She notes:

I hope you had as much fun as I did! Here is a picture of me spinning with other members of the Blue Ridge Spinner’s and Weavers Guild at the Bluemont Fair in Loudon County, Virginia (I’m the one in pink on the right):

And here is what I spun that day:

left to right: (1) spun from hand-dyed wool top, to be plied into a dk weight yarn, 3 oz. of fiber (2) spun from a blended batt, worsted-weight singles, 2.7 oz. of fiber (3) spun from hand-dyed superwash wool top, bulky single, 4 oz. of fiber, and (4) handpainted superwash merino top, spun to fine singles (haven’t decided on plying). I didn’t finish the bobbin on that one before the event ended, so there’s more to come on that one. (All the fibers are ones that I dye and sell in my etsy shop.)

Our friend Janet sent some photos to us from the Dublin, Ireland event at Airfield farm.

I absolutely loved this quote from Janet’s blog:
“We could think of other spinners at their wheels all over the world.  I thought of how New Year’s Eve is celebrated with it starting on the other side of the world and gradually moving around until it completes  its 24 hour cycle somewhere west of Hawaii.    When we started our spinning, spinners in Australia had probably finished and spinners in Seattle had yet to start”

And they could look on at ponies from where they were spinning – how nice!

There are only 12 Days left until Worldwide Spin in Public Day! So, head on over to our sister site – http://www.wwsipday.com/ and find an event near you. We are adding new events every day and I think it is going to be a very successful first year for WWSIP! Please take pictures of folks spinning and feel free to write your thoughts and experiences on the day and send them in to editor@spininpublic.com.  As with spinning, the community is what makes Spin in Public succeed as an outreach to spinners globally. We would love to hear from you and feature you!

And now a Flickr Find!

A weaver from the Zapotec town of Teotitlan del Valle Oaxaca spins wool to make yarn to weave a rug. This photo is from photographer lhuicamina on Flickr.  Check out the photostream here for more lovely photos of fibery goodness and Mexico.

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing lots of spinning and enjoying the cooler weather. I invite you all to participate in a big spin-along for this weekend. We are doing it on Ravelry but for those of you either not on Ravelry or who would like to follow along here, please post a comment and share any pictures of you spinning this weekend. We would love to feature you! You can join us art yarn spinners for the Turning Leaves Spin-Along here – http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/novelty-and-art-yarn-spinners/782961

A photo found on photographer Maid Mirawyn’s photostream – Spinning in the Peachtree Handspinner’s Guild booth at the Georgia Renaissance Festival(http://www.flickr.com/photos/maidmirawyn/)

Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver
Hosted by: Chrissy
Location: Kits Beach – grassy area at the foot of Yew Street
Time: 10:30am
Date: Saturday July 19, 2009

Those who come to the Kits Beach World Wide Knit In Public Day will be familiar with this location – we’re meeting in the same area.

How to get there:
We will be congregating on the grassy area at the foot of Yew Street at Kits Beach. This area is west of the main parking lot at Cornwall and Arbutus.

Please bring:
Join us for a celebration of spinning and all things fiber! Don’t forget a chair or towel to sit on, as well as a snack, water, and your sunscreen…oh yes, and your spinning!  Don’t spin?  That’s alright.  We’ll have drop spindles to teach you on, and even supplies to make your own drop spindle.  We’ll also have some practice wool to get you going.

Even if you don’t spin and aren’t interested in learning how to – please come on down and bring your knitting and/or crochet project, and have some fibery fun on the beach with us.

The backup plan is:
Rain plan is TBA.  Fingers crossed for sunshine.

This SIP is not spinning exclusive
There are free bathrooms available nearby.

Amber Peterson was kind enough to share with us some of her photos of Beduoins spinning in Oman. You can find more of her brilliant photos on Flickr here.

Traveling in Oman, my guide took me up in the mountains to view a canyon. The canyon was a bit disappointing but the Beduoins living there were quite interesting. A trio of two women and one man were by the roadside selling their crafts. The women would make bracelets and such out of the yarn that the man would spin on his drop spindle. While the women declined to be photographed and hid behind their tent poles, the man was quite willing to demonstrate his drop spindle for me and show his skill in making that spindle dance to his efforts. he showed me the entire process from start to finish and it appeared effortless for him to produce the yarn. I purchased some brightly colored bookmarks made from his yarn. As we were leaving the area, they headed for home, and he continued using his spindle as he walked down the road. truly a craftsman.

This photograph is by photographer ‘hilpalny‘ on Flickr. The photographer notes:

At the fleece festival in Prospect Park zoo in Brooklyn,  they had drop spindles, spinning wheel demos and lots of fiber for the kids to try. I taught my friend’s kids just the basics (which is all I know anyway…) and off they went with it.
The little one (4) is a natural! He flicks that spindle like a pro!

To see more of their photostream click here.

This photo of a Peruvian woman happily spinning some alpaca fleece was taken by photographer ‘foto_morgana’ on Flickr.  The photographer notes “Alpaca wool has a long and very fine fiber with a natural crimp that, when spun and woven, produces a soft, warm product. ” For more of this photographer’s work, click here.

This was a Flickr find by photographer ‘lindadevolder’. You can find more of her photosteam here.  This photo was taken in Thailand in U-lo Akha village. It is so wonderful to see someone so industrious, carrying their child and making it look so simple to spin such a find thread as she walks. Spinning really does show us the power of intention in all people. A beautiful shot!

This photo by Seligr on Flickr – this spinner was spotted walking up Edinburgh’s golden mile.

Link to images – http://www.flickr.com/photos/8865295@N02/2508628861/