Shop owner aims to set record for charity

Spinning yarn brings Vincent D'Aguanno a sense of peacefulness and it's how he earns a living, but at the end of next week he intends to use this rather Zen endeavor for the lofty goals of charity fundraising and earning a Guinness world record.

D'Aguanno, who co-owns Rumpelstiltskin Yarns in Stony Brook, plans to set a record for continuously spinning yarn for 48 hours and raise money for breast cancer research and patient support at Stony Brook University Cancer Center and Stony Brook University Children's Hospital.

"A lot of our customers are breast cancer survivors, and I'm finding out how many women have this," said D'Aguanno, 44, of Bohemia. "All of our clientele are women, so it's a no-brainer as well." 

Going for a record
He begins his record-setting attempt Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. at his yarn shop in Stony Brook, one of two locations where his wife and co-owner, Angela, teaches knitting classes and he offers spinning lessons. During that time Rumpelstiltskin Yarns, which opened its first location in Sayville five years ago, will hold a raffle and take donations.

There is no previous marathon record for spinning yarn and he only needs to continually spin for 24 hours, according to the Guinness World Records.

However, D'Aguanno doesn't want anyone to break his record and intends to go for 48 hours.

He has 22 monitors and is looking for about 22 additional monitors so he can shorten their shifts documenting his effort.

D'Aguanno is holding his event in conjunction with Stony Brook's 18th annual Walk for Beauty, a breast cancer research and patient support fundraiser that begins as his charity marathon draws to a close on Oct. 2.

"I think [during] the nights he's got to have enough people rallying him there," said Gloria Rocchio, president of the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which teamed up with Stony Brook University to present the walk. "I have to hand it to him. Frankly, it's really gutsy." 

For the sake of charity
D'Aguanno isn't sure where the inspiration came from, but once he researched the Guinness World Records and discovered no one had yet established a record for spinning yarn, he knew he wanted to do it and use it to raise money for charity. Rocchio told him about the Walk for Beauty, which has raised more than $1 million for its causes since it began in 1994. It was a perfect match, he said.

The event clearly resonated with his customers. Anne Burgess, a customer and a breast-cancer survivor, donated a crocheted pink blanket -- a piece of art over a year in the making -- for the raffle that the store will hold as part of the fundraiser as well.

"You can't even put a price on that," said Angela D'Aguanno, 45, displaying the blanket in front of her.

Local merchants pitch in
Other local merchants will donate raffle prizes, which also include an Ashford spinning wheel from Foxglove Fiberarts Supply, a distributor based in Bainbridge Island, Wash. And Kraemer Yarns, of Nazareth, Pa., will donate 10 pounds of pink yarn for D'Aguanno to spin.

His preparation for the event, he confesses, isn't much more than spinning as he usually does. D'Aguanno will be allowed 20 minute breaks every four hours. The longest stretch of time he's spent continuously spinning was eight hours, he said.

"I've never really gotten fatigued doing this, so I think I can do it standing on my head," he said.

He has no thumping soundtrack, no plans for mega doses of coffee or energy drinks. D'Aguanno figures he will make it through the 48 hours chatting with folks who stop in the store.

"It's not like Rocky, like I'm going to be in training," D'Aguanno said. "I'm just going to do it. That's it."