DIP Day

Knitters, crocheters and spinners are always making a skein in public.  We sit on benches in the park or at the bus stop and knit.  We take our spinning wheels to the rodeo to demonstrate... and to the Civil War re-enactment and the Pilgrim Festival, etc.  I almost always have a drop spindle with me so I can spin at the airport and while I'm waiting for my lunch at a restaurant or in the hotel lobby.  I am all for doing these things in public.  People watch even if they don't talk to me.  The kids are more likely to ask what I'm doing.  And everyone sees something they wouldn't otherwise.  June 11th is Knit & Crochet in Public Day and September 17th is Spin in Public Day.

I spent a couple of hours last week spinning on my drop spindle in the showroom of my automobile dealership while my car got it’s check-up. Lots of people watched surreptitiously but only the kids came to talk to me. I gave two little 8 year old boys a quick spinning lesson while they waited for their Mom’s car to be finished. I think they enjoyed it and I know I did.

Here is something else to do in public that I’m really not sure about. Päivi Hintsanen and Ulla Lapiolahti, Finnish artists who work with natural dyes, have suggested making September 2nd International Dye in Public Day. They have set up a blog and are encouraging everyone to dye something small or large on Sept 2nd and invite the public in to see it. You can check out there blog at http://dipday.blogspot.com/.   Fortunately, enough of their blog is in English so you’ll be able to figure out much of what’s being said.

We generally announce our dye days to our friends so anyone who is interested can come and watch or help. Those dye days when we haven’t invited anyone are the days that just pop up – sort of a spur of the moment thing. When I heard about DIP Day what came to mind was dragging our dye pots out to the road so everyone driving by could see what we’re doing. That’s not going to happen for lots of reasons but I will try to dye something on Sept 2nd and everyone is invited to come!