The "Back to Back" International Wool Challenge

This last month, my guild had a booth at the local Fiber Art Fiesta.  It's a growing local event that draws weavers and spinners from the area, and showcases their work to the community.  There's a weaver's barn, and a music stage, and even a few live alpacas.  There's a lot of enthusiasm, and MOUNTAINS of yarn for sale.  Two of the tents shaded spinners and some of the San Diego "Back to Back" team.

Several ladies in the area have gotten really into competing in the International "Back-to-Back" Wool Challenge, where a team shears, cards, spins and knits a sweater as a timed event.  They have 8 team members and a goal of less than 8 hours to succeed.  The event benefits local shepherds and spinners, the industry as a whole, and cancer research.  The San Diego team demonstrates at local museums and fiber events to warm up for the annual challenge, and to educate about both cancer and fiber arts.

The current Guinness world record was established in 2004 by Australia’s Merriwa Jumbucks, with a World Record Time of 4 hours  51 minutes and 14 seconds (!)

Here's a fun article on the results of this past June's "Back to Back" event.

A team from the Netherlands placed first, beating both the Netherlands and Mainland Europe records.