Spinners and Weavers at the Wool Shed

Packing up the caravan, we headed off to the Wairarapa for the weekend.  As usual, I packed my knitting, and my hand stitching, just in case I had some spare time.  But no handcrafts were done all weekend, although I spent quite some time with my nose stuck in my very interesting library book – I could hardly bear to put it down, wondering “who done it?”. 

We visited  the “Wool Shed” museum in Masterton, which is housed in in two relocated pioneer wool sheds and tells of sheep farming in New Zealand. The first sheep flocks were brought over from Sydney. Australia, and driven around the rugged coast from Wellington to the Wairarapa coast, and currently there are about 35 million sheep in New Zealand.  We were given a sheep shearing demonstration, with the shearer deftly removing two fleeces with seemingly little effort at all.  It must take a lot of skill and years of practice to make it seem so easy, I think

The fleece is almost off

The local Spinners and Weavers group meet regularly at the museum and the ladies were only too happy to show us what they were doing.  They all stated that spinning is a very soothing pastime, and they really enjoy their craft.

Showing us how to spin

A couple of  looms were set up around the museum, and one had a notice stating: “Project in progress, do not touch”.  This smaller one  invited visitors to “Have a Go!”. 

Have a go at weaving

Woven scarves on display

Remember those woollen cloaks from the Lord of the Rings films?  The Wool Shed museum has one on display.  The special fabric used to make the Magic Elven cloaks was woven locally in New Zealand by Stansborough Fibres. They grow their own unique naturally grey wool at their farm just north of Wellington. These rare and unusual grey Stansborough Gotland sheep, are the only flock of their kind in the world and produce fibre which is strong, soft and lustrous.

Elven cloak on display

Barry with Greybeard, one of the Gotland sheep

So if you want to know all there is about sheep, shearing and wool fleeces, this is the place to go.  We found it very interesting indeed.

Martinborough Treasure Trove

We were enjoying the Spring sunshine today and joined a group of friends over  the Rimutaka Hill at Martinborough.  Everyone remembered to put their clocks forward one hour for the start of “Daylight Saving” so all of us arrived at our meeting point at the correct time.  I’m a real fan of daylight saving, and just love the long summer evenings that it brings.  Our hostess Anne took us around a corner or two from the Martinborough Square to check out this establishment.  Billed as “The Shop that looks like a House”, it certainly was.  Chock full of collectables, and vintage treasures, it was like stepping back in time.  

Step this way to view the treasures inside

There were jars of interesting old buttons sitting on tables on the shady vine covered veranda.  Lots of crafters like to collect old buttons, I know, and some have huge collections.  I walked on by into the house to see what else was on offer.  I love old linen, and spent some time looking through the pretty embroidered table clothes.  As well as the linen, there were baskets of knitting wool and haberdashery.  Such things as cards of domes, of hooks and eyes, and we even found a couple of darning mushrooms .  You know the sort, all good housewives used to darn their husband's holey socks in days gone by.  “You don’t need to buy anything”, one of our friends commented, “you are moving house and you’re trying to de-clutter, aren’t you?” That’s true, we have our house on the market and have been very busy over the last few weeks sorting out what we don’t need and taking all sorts of things to the op shop. 

 

Lots of old linen on display

There was a huge variety of lovely items on display, pretty dishes, tea pots, and vintage clothing and hand bags.  But I was very good, just looked, and didn’t buy a thing.

  

China and tea spoons

Martinborough was humming with people, all out enjoying the lovely weather.  This town has quite a connection to the maternal side of my family.  My mother was born here, and her mother and other early family members are buried in the oldest of the town’s two graveyards.  I had hoped to re-acquaint myself with an old family photo hanging in the bar of the historic Martinborough Hotel.  But the interior of hotel was being repainted and the photo of my great-grandfather standing outside his boot and shoe shop in the early days of Martinborough was not to be seen.  All the old photos were safely stored away, I was told.  I hope so, it would be a shame if they were disposed of.

Martinborough Hotel – where’s my great-granddad gone?

Holiday Read – St Holst

I have been reading “A Home Grown Cook”, by biography by Alison Holst, who is affectionately known as St Holst in our household.  This unassuming Kiwi woman first appeared on New Zealand television many years ago to show home cooks how to prepare healthy, affordable and tasty family meals.  Who can remember Chef Graeme Kerr of the Galloping Gourmet cooking shows who used a plethora of high priced and exotic ingredients which were out of the range of most of us?  His show was a bit much for ordinary Kiwis to cope with, and we embraced Alison's style and down to earth presentations.  Alison Holst tells of her family history, idyllic childhood and how her cooking career progressed.  From tutoring, television appearances, to representing the Egg Board and Meat Board, she took her cooking skills throughout New Zealand and overseas.  She has also been a prodigious fundraiser for charities.  Alison Holst was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal in 1985, and appointed Commander of the British Empire for Services to Home Science in 1987.  In 1997 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Otago, and in 2011 was made Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

The chapter “Cakes and Quilts” tells how Alison started quilting after seeing a Toronto friend’s quilts.  A trip to the local quilt shop was a revelation, and Alison purchased fabrics and stitched her own designs of appliqué blocks during her long hours of travelling.   She designed the blocks to tell the story of her life and family, the Maple Leaf block to honour her first visit to Canada, and a block with scones and a tea pot in memory of her Mother.  The strawberries were for daughter Kirsten who picked the fruit during a holiday job, and a rooster in memory of all the family chooks.  Alison appliquéd two figures in centre of her quilt, herself and her beloved husband Peter, depicted gathering the bounty from their garden.

Hand appliquéd quilt made by Alison Holst

Alison Holst has produced 99 cookbooks to date, and a quick check in my kitchen shows that I have 9 of them.  A couple of them are falling to pieces, a sign of a well used cookbook indeed.  And wrapped up for Christmas was a nice new addition to my cookbooks, “100 great ways to use slow cookers and crockpots”, by Alison Holst and her son Simon.  Many thanks to grand-daughter Megan for this gift, it will be much used, I am sure.

Look what I got for Christmas

We have had a change in our holiday weather and the hot sunny Wairarapa sunshine has been replaced by heavy rain.  So the shorts and sandals have been replaced with warmer clothing,  shoes and socks and the gazebo has been forsaken.  It was a good time to visit Pukaha Mount Bruce and get a peek at the rare white kiwi chick.  Pop over to our other blog at www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com and read all about this rare and beautiful fluffy white baby.

Sew Carterton

We are currently enjoying our caravan holiday at the Carterton Motor Camp, soaking up the lovely Wairarapa sunshine.  Walking uptown, I came across Sew Carterton, and popped in to check it out.   I didn’t realise that Carterton had it’s own craft shop, and Pam, the owner told me that she opened her shop in March 2011.  Being so new, it’s no wonder I had not discovered it earlier.   It is always so nice to look through a quilting shop on our travels.

Pretty quilt on the wall

Sew Carterton has a nice range of quilt fabrics, and I enjoyed having a look through the shelves.  Pam has lots of the New Zealand themed fabric in store too, this is very popular with locals and tourists alike, she tells me.

View of the shop, with Pam at the counter

Quilt fabrics on display

This shop also caters for knitters and those who do all kinds of stitching.  There is a huge selection of buttons and lots of interesting trimmings to be found displayed in the wall cabinet.  This is a lovely shop and everything is very nicely presented, so do pop in if you are passing by.  I certainly wish Pam well with her new venture.  

Threads, buttons and trims

I haven’t been idle just because we are on holiday, and never travel without my bag of hand stitching.  To date while relaxing under our shady gazebo in camp I  have completed a little Christmas stitchery, and am currently working on a couple of teddy bear  stitcheries.  And read a couple of books, chatted to the other campers, and generally having a relaxing time.  We have been out and about too, checking out the local attractions.  Do check out our travel blog on www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com to follow our adventures.  

We climbed up to Castlepoint Lighthouse