Guild Gifting

The December meeting of the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild featured two holiday staples - goodies and gifts.  The cookies were varied and delicious and the gifts were so temptingly wrapped that thievery was the word of the day.  Actually, this is how it works:  Everyone wishing to participate brings a prettily wrapped gift of 8 ounces of ready-to-spin fiber.  The packages are brought in plain brown bags so that no one knows who the giver is, and your name goes in a hat.  At the appointed time, the first name is drawn and that person gets first pick from the table of packages.  The following people have the option of either taking from the table or stealing from the first person.  The first few participants tend to select the most elaborately wrapped packages, but soon people are stalking the rows of spinners looking for 'that box' that they had their eye on which someone else selected first.  A person whose package is stolen can either select from the table of also steal from another person.  The game limits stealing to 2 people in a turn, so the third person finding themselves suddenly bereft of their gift has to pick again from the table - a time limit of necessity as about 40 people participated. Some packages changed hands a dozen times before landing with a spinner for good.

I had three boxes stolen away from me and finally ended up with this promising package.

Gift from a fellow spinner

And the contents did not disappoint......

Jackpot!

I'm the happy owner of four 2 oz. puffs of beautiful Romney batts from Longmeadow Farm in Freedom, NY.  This will be a special spinning treat for some time in deep winter when a mental pick-me-up is sorely needed.

Trust a spinner to know just what another spinner needs.