The Downtown Knit Collective

International Wool Challenge

Back to Back Wool Challenge 2009

On a sunny but chill Sunday May 31, the Toronto Spiders-Julia Lee (captain and spinner/knitter), Wannietta Prescod (knitter), Lorraine Smith (knitter/spinner), Denise Powell (spinner/knitter), Karen Richens (spinner), Barb Aikman (spinner/plyer), Judy Pergau-Comfort (spinner), John Steele (Shearer), Joan Kass (timer/adjudicator) and Wendy Mauzeroll (timer)-once again undertook the Back to Back Wool Challenge.

We arrived early, set up, focussed, and then began about 10 am. After just four minutes, enough yarn had been spun and plied for Wannietta to cast on for the first piece. A minute or two later and Lorraine was off and knitting on the second piece (the front and back of the Challenge sweater are identical). The other five team spinners continued churning out singles and then having them plied to built up a stockpile. Less than an hour later, Denise stopped spinning and cast on a sleeve. A few minutes later, the second sleeve got started.

The knitters stayed focussed, trading off pieces between each pair occasionally to keep the length of the pieces in sync; the spinners did a tremendous job in keeping the supply of plied yarn flowing. Six hours, eight minutes, and 35 seconds after we commenced, we completed sewing up the sweater and handed it over to Joan as adjudicator.

Although we were thirteen minutes behind our Canadian record setting time of last year, we still feel that the event was a great success. What slowed us down? Perhaps mostly the cool weather- greasy yarn is sticky and harder to work with when it's cold. And cold fingers slow down a little, also. Let's hope for a bit of a heat wave for next year!

Back to Back Challenge 2008 - The Toronto Spiders Aim to Keep Their World Championship!

On Saturday May 31, the Toronto Spiders will take up the International Wool Challenge (Back to Back Competition) for the fifth consecutive year. This competition, involving teams around the world, requires that a sheep be shorn and the fleece spun, plied, and knitted into a sweater (according to a standard pattern) in one day.

Last year the Toronto Spiders were fastest in the world, setting a new Canadian record of 6 hours and 18 seconds.

After two years at the Ontario Handspinning Seminar, a year at Toronto's Riverdale Farm, and a year at the Pickering Museum in Greenwood, this year the team moves to Black Creek Pioneer Village. The team is made up of Wannietta Prescod (the fastest knitter in North America in 2006-7, third fastest in the world 2008), Barbara Aikman, Julia Lee, Judy Pergau, Denise Powell (Doctor Knit, President of the DKC), Karen Richens, and Lorraine Smith. Our shearer is Bob Comfort, and Joan Kass and Judy Findlay will be our timekeepers and educators. We look forward to having lots of interest and support from passers-by. Like all Back to Back Challenges, we will be raising money for cancer research.

We will be attempting to beat our time from last year, so hope to finish some time between 2 and 3 p.m. If you are in the neighbourhood, please do drop by and say Hi, but don't expect us to stop what we're doing to chat with you!!

More information about the Back to Back Challenge is available at http://www.ballaratweb.net/wdennis/story.html and http://www.ballaratweb.net/wdennis/.

To learn more about Black Creek Pioneer Village, and for directions, please see their web site: http://www.blackcreek.ca/