Christchurch Visit (South Island), New Zealand

The first stop on our trip was a three day visit with Anne and Edward Field. Anne taught spinning at the shop last summer and is returning this July to teach a three day weaving class: The Wide World of Weaving. The left photo shows her shop from below -- that's her window with the weaving hanging in it on the 2nd floor. The photo on the right shows the entrance to her shop.

(L) Mariah shopping in Anne's shop. She finally settled on a purple (of course!) throw. (R) Anne and Edward Field with Mariah.

This is one of the two looms set up in her shop and I am getting a lesson in warping back to front. The warp is a braided Escorial yarn. Escorial is a very specialized and rare sheep closely related to the merino -- only with finer wool. Trust me when I say you have to feel this wool to believe it. I have a woven sample in the shop if you are interested in experiencing the ultimate in luxury. It has incredible "bounce" (crimp).  Good views of Anne's shop to the back . . . the "working" end of the shop. You can see her two looms -- an AVL and a LeClerc. Her shop occupies the entire top floor of a smallish building in the Christchurch Art Centre. She resides above a bakery that has absolutely heavenly smells emanating from it.

I was very fortunate in that during my time with Anne, there was a monthly guild meeting of the Christchurch Spinners & Weavers. They actually have leased space in the arts center full of "stuff" including looms and wheels for use by the members. The spacious room was full of inspiration -- from the ladies in attendance to the hanging on the wall. We had an informal session on spinning using Russian handspindles (I took a short class at SOAR in '00) and they showed me how to use the multi colored roving they had in their store (which is open daily in the Art Centre and staffed by volunteers). Plus, Sue showed me her drop spindles that were made in Nelson, NZ by Nola Fourier's husband and I quickly added a visit to Nola to my agenda. The perfect souvenir -- spindles made of NZ native woods! The wallhanging is an incredible work of art. It was designed by one woman and executed by the Guild. It is felted, woven, knit, spun and quilted. An awesome testament to team work.

Two other highlights of my visit with Anne (no photos): Tea with Margaret Stove (truly the queen of merino spinning and lace knitting) and a visit to Shona Schofield's Polwarth farm and fiber mill. What thoroughly incredible women! Margaret's home is a quaint cottage nestled on the inner slope of an extinct volcano in Lyttleton, a short drive from Christchurch. Although the weather was "yucky" on the day we visited, the site of the harbor and the mountains, even through the clouds and cold, was enough to take your breath away. Margaret made scones and we had a "proper" tea and a good fiber chat -- not to mention a tour of the new loo! Shona's farm is just outside of Ashburton. Shona is creative and ingenious. She has developed tools to solve the problems she needs solved. With the help of her husband and father, she built a "back end" to her 80+ year old mill that makes gorgeously thin sheets of batting for felting. Some of the sheets are fine enough to use to make scarves and others to make fabric. I brought back enough of the scarf-weight batts to have a class at the shop, so watch the schedule so you can share in a little bit of our NZ adventure. I got lots of ideas of Shona . . . as soon as I play a bit, you can stop in the shop and see what turns up!  back dddddddd home page dddddddd next