Invited by Southern Alpacas, a large Canterbury alpaca farm to spend the three days of the Show demonstrating the art of spinning in their marquee, spinning and discussing alpaca fibre was my focus.

The first day, Wednesday was children’s day with thousands of young people released from school attending. While many of them were aware of spinning most were surprised to discover that it was not sheep’s wool that I was spinning but alpaca fibre. There were plenty of smiles when they all left the site stowing away samples of raw fibre to impress their friends and families with.

The following day was more relaxed allowing many to try spinning for the first time and also giving spinners a taste of spinning alpaca for the first time. Many of them found it easier than anticipated and went away with supplies of raw fibre. A lot of the first timers had been looking for an opportunity to have a go at spinning as a hobby and many of them hope to be joining spinning groups in the near future.

The Friday is known as Peoples Day and being a public holiday I found myself surrounded by an interested throng of people asking a lot of questions about spinning and alpacas and sitting at the wheel having a go.

All in all while it was a busy and quite tiring week I found it most rewarding exposing a large number of enthusiastic people to spinning with the added interest of having the still somewhat novel alpaca fibre to spin.

After a warm welcome by Richard & Elizabeth Ashford, the current owners, of the 75 year old family business we enjoyed a most interesting and informative tour of the factory. It was fascinating seeing the spinning wheels and other tools of our trade being constructed.

Our wonderful learning experience brought to us by a host of New Zealand’s best tutors incorporating a range of topics including learning about the different types of carding and how to blend our fibres, the different types of silks and how they are produced; I must admit that spinning them was a challenge for most of us.

Other interesting topics included skirting a fleece correctly, novelty spinning, the art of spinning fine merino and using a knitting loom. The evenings were fun all having a wool related theme.

One of the highlights of the Retreat was the chilly day spent on a high country sheep station. The visit was delayed due to bad weather and a lasting memory of the day was the extreme remoteness of the location and the harsh snowy conditions, which high country residents endure, an eye opener for city dwellers.

I came home from the Retreat with new wool crafting skills and ideas a plenty. I have learnt to spin fine merino and, yes, practice does make perfect (I have vastly improved). Having the chance to use the Knitters weavers loom for the first time was excellent and I hope to put this new skill to great use in the future.

The Ashford Retreat was a wonderful experience, one that I would recommend to all wool crafters especially those visiting New Zealand.

I thought my site would be a good way to bring all my friends across the world and those closer to home up to date with what I am up to and share my world of spinning and wool craft with everyone.

Well, as you can see, while I have been recuperating from my fall (my shoulder now fully recovered) I have been busy getting my website up and going.

I have also been busy attending a screen-printing course which will enable me to produce the stunning designs that I have had done commercially done on my new products the Lap Cloth and Carry Bag.

In August I will be attending the Ashford Retreat and no doubt my next Newsletter will be full of the inspiration I will gain and share with you from this wonderful experience.

This 5 day retreat will be held in Ashburton at the home of the world-famous Ashford spinning wheels and looms. Along with visiting specialty growers including a working merino sheep station in the spectacular Southern Alps we will be learning a host of new skills and techniques.

Included in the Retreat are workshops on carding, blending fibres, wool classing, dyeing techniques, creating luxurious yarns and beautiful woven projects. I just cannot wait.

As well as the wealth of new skills and inspiration I gain from these events just as important to me are the wonderful new friends I make.

I spent a very pleasant few days in June with the Wigram Spinners spinning amongst the shoppers in a large local mall. While these public spinning events always create a lot of interest from fellow spinners and wool-crafters passing by, it was interesting to note the increasing number of people who had never been exposed to spinning take time out to have a chat about what we were up to.

We returned to the mall again on 14th June to celebrate and publicise Worldwide Knitters Day.