Gathering post-lockdown to share craft...

Our small group gathered on Thursday
to celebrate our craft and ourselves!

We all coped with our New Zealand lockdown
to combat the disease Covid-19,
 and were thankful we had 'stashes' of fibre at home
to carry on creating....

We had a great morning catching up and planning for the future,
next month we will learn about Braids and Cords - bring some yarn to practise with.
and August will be Felting... details  to come.

Happy crafting...

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year everyone,

Last day of January already,

we did have a Social get together on Monday January 20th,
with lots of show and tell included below...

But first,  details of our first Workshop for the year.....
please book in, and looking forward to seeing you throughout the year....

Crochet and Knitting workshops ...

Coming up very soon, are the workshops we are doing,
thanks to a grant from Clutha District Council Creative Communities,

Below is the poster with the details...

contact me - christinebennett290@gmail.com - if you have any questions
Happy crafting

Our day of Slow Clothing....

we had a wonderful day with Jane Milburn - Sustainability Consultant.

This is her 10 ways we all can help....

We all learnt a lot from Jane, through her Talk, her examples and by doing some ourselves.
I  now have a skirt that is wearable, instead of it hanging in the wardrobe.

Here is a selection of photos from the day...

Slow Clothing - International Tutor for Balclutha...

Yes, that's right...we have the opportunity to learn and be inspired
by Jane Milburn of Brisbane.  She will be here very soon - Sunday August 25th.

Please have a rummage through your wardrobes for your own loved clothing
that you can bring and learn how to "slice and dice" garments to make them Loved again.
Or pop into the local op shop to find something that appeals to you  -to upcycle.

All details below - please share, invite your friends, family and remember to
BOOK IN. Workshop fees can be paid on the day.

Club Day included travel to Japan...

Today's club day included discussion on getting ready for the Annual Exhibition

here are the dates -

that's the 14th from Noon for the Opening - Tickets then 15th to 18th

Then we had a great talk from our member Kerry, about her Fibery travels in Japan...
It was very informative and eye opening- and we also got to see some of her wonderful
kimonos, scarves, bags - even shoes.

Thank you Kerry for taking us to Japan with you...

Japanese Indigo 

Vintage silk

Silk printed jacket 

Vintage Silk obi

Shoe with toe covering for rain

It was a great day for all things Carding...

Our Social Saturday on Carding got us warmed up very quickly...

Lin showed us how to look after our drum carders,
by dismantling and cleaning and adding a bit of oil...

Then we got onto carding our roving (shout out to Tally Ho - amazing colours)
 - it is amazing the difference between each 'pass' through the machine with the one colour.

First pass and second pass blends the colour

You can blend with different natural colours so you can get a different blend using a black, brown or grey fleece. As shown with the below 3 blends  of natural coloured wool and alpaca.

This is the colour I started with...

We then added all the "pils; fribs; rubbish" (whatever you like to call them)

and Dizzed it off the carder -

gave this

Lin's Lavender afer Dizzing...

then adding the second colour Green - I got this

Wow, this was so much fun, and Lin was so good at teaching us -
and we still have so much to learn....

Our Sales Page is live....

Our blog is growing -

Look under the page title Home (to the Right)

to see our "NEW"  sales page....

we are kicking it off with our lovely Alpaca Shawl...

so please share it with all and sundry,  tell everyone...

The independence day in Balclutha...

We had a great Club Day at the Creative Arts Centre in Balclutha....

Discussed who wanted a 2020 Diary from Creative Fibre NZ....
well, it is July...

The Creative Arts Combined Exhibition is coming up = in six weeks,

   the Opening is Wed 14th at Noon,  Tickets are $5 for that,
   'usually' the entry to the Exhibition has been $2 on the other days,
    It runs until about 4 pm on Sunday 18th.

                         more details will come out after the committee meeting.

AND coming up...

we have some donated wool, fleece and carded bumphs....

so.    To start our Wool Fund, the fleece was sold for $25...

we will sell the rest for our funds,
then we can look around for some Wool Deals
to benefit our members by sourcing good quality wool (fibre) for reasonable prices.


Sound good????? watch this space for the wool for sale
  - and if you subscribe by email to this page you will be notified of updates -
I will add a Page with sale items, over on the right hand column,
 and add a blog post to highlight it. (over the weekend!!!)

Keep up the warm work of preparing items for the Exhibition....

Look for this at Exhibition - will be a bag

Christine Bennett,   Secretary/Treasurer

Social Sunday...

this Social Sunday was truly social...

the amount of Chat we did,

but we did do some crafting as well,

also worked on the upcoming programme dates, ideas for projects.

Twisting the scarf fringe - Before on the left, After on the right

Using the blending board for the first time...


Happy crafting

Our Club Day on Thursday June 6th was well attended by our members.

We continued working on our craft, and enjoyed seeing 2 cushions woven by Evelyn.
the wool was spun by Lin and Vallory, from fleece wool donated to the club.

detail of woven fabric for cushions

The club's correspondence was discussed and of note was the dates for the NZ Creative Fibre Education Event for 2020. This will be held in Nelson, May 7th to May 10th, 2020, at the Trafalgar Centre. Save the dates - interest was strong from our members to attend.

Otago Association sent a newsletter full of information and reports from other Otago groups.

Also Show & Tell included silk knitting, baby singlets, a shawl, Lin's "bitsy" yarn and more...

Plans were made to attend the Otago S&W Assn focus day in Mosgiel on the 8th. The focus is to be
on Weaving, but any craft can be done on the day.

Next Social Day is Monday the 17th June, then Sunday 23rd, with Club Day on July 4th.

Happy crafting.

Big Gap I know but LIFE....

Yesterday was Club Day - always the 1st Thursday of the month -

we chatted and knitted and spun-

also discussed the funds, the correspondence and coming events...

Show and Tell and a Sales Table, busy day.

Evelyn's fabric

This is a fabric woven by Evelyn - from spinning done by Lin and Vallory (I think)
It is from the Quarter Century old fleece donated to our club...
Made into some superb cushions,

close up of Warp spun wool, Weft "bits' spun wool

the 'bits' refers to Lin adding, as she spins, all the bits, the "rubbish" from your carding.

Next we are going to the Otago Focus day on Saturday 8th June,
Social Monday is 17th June, and Social Sunday is the 23rd.
happy spinning around