How did you celebrate St. Distaff's Day 2014?

 

Spinners in Tulsa know how to have a good time. Photo courtesy of Diana Hartzmann.

Spinning blindfolded at the Tulsa Rock Day gathering. Photo courtesy of Diana Hartzmann.

Dale Lilies spoke to the Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild on Rock Day. Photo courtesy of Bob Devol.

St. Distaff's Day, also called Rock Day, held some extra challenges this year for some spinning guilds and groups around the United States. While this spinner's holiday is typically celebrated on January 7th each year, many gatherings were delayed or canceled due to snow, ice, and cold temperatures. Here are a few of the many spinners who gathered for a cozy day together in January.

   

Tulsa Handspinners Guild

Spinners in Tulsa had a great day together, complete with fibery games and challenges, snacks, and blindfolded spinners-sounds like fun, eh?

       

Pinellas Weavers Guild (Florida)

Sixteen members of the Pinellas guild spent a day together at Heritage Village in Largo, Florida, celebrating Rock Day. The group meets at the McMullen House, a home built in 1868 that now serves as a fiber arts center at the museum. Guild member Caroline Tacker said that there were at least eight different types of spinning wheels and a charkha at the gathering. Everyone was having so much fun that they forgot to take a picture!

         

Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild

Spinners in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area enjoyed a brunch and fiber gift exchange for Rock Day this year. During the gathering, Dale Liles, a founding guild member and well-known spinner and dyer in East Tennessee, gave a presentation on the early history of the guild. To learn more about Dale, check out this article that includes a video of Dale spinning on her great wheel.