Sheer, Spin and Knit, All In One Day, To Help ‘Sarah’s House’ in Holden, Maine

A very different kind of fundraiser kicked off at 8 AM Saturday at the Penobscot County Cooperative Extension Office in Bangor.

The challengers are 8 people and 1 sheep. The challenge: to knit a sweater by the end of the day, but the catch is they have to hand shear the sheep, and hand-spin the wool first, then knit the garment.

It's called the International Back to Back Wool Challenge, and it's been taken up by a group of local fiber artists called the Mainely Spinners.  Organizers say the goal of the event is to raise money for Cancer Services, but also to raise awareness about what goes into the process of creating wool products by hand.

"The team here in Maine will be donating to the cancer care at Sarah’s House of Maine. At the event, there will be hats, mittens, socks, and other fiber items that the team has prepared for suggested donations and an online auction. Raffle tickets are also available for the sweater that was prepared at last year’s challenge."

You can watch the entire process live on the Mainely Spinners Facebook Page.

The challenge will end when one of the team members puts on the fully knitted sweater.

While challenges involving sheep have been around since the 1800s, organizers say similar "wool" challenges began in the 1990s to raise money for cancer research and support of cancer patients. That's when the first "Back to Back Wool Challenge" took place in the UK.

Today, there are several challenges that run, worldwide for the same causes.

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Records have been set throughout the years.

So far, the World Record for the shearing, spinning, and knitting event is held by a team from the Netherlands (Groenewoud Swalmen) who completed the challenge in 4 hours, 45 minutes, and 53 seconds.

In the US, the San Diego County Spinners set an American Record for 7 hours, 16 minutes, and 49 seconds.

Here in Maine, the Mainely Spinners out of Bangor set the State Record last year when they completed the challenge in 10 hours, 36 minutes, and 33 seconds.  They raised $2,800 for the cause.