The 2014 Felters Retreat was held at a new venue near Waikanae Beach - an excellent choice made by Lynn and Sharon, our two new convenors. The weather was glorious all 3 days so some people worked outside and lines of wet felt dried very quickly. The main hall was bright and airy with a high domed roof so voices reverberated around the room and we could all hear everyone’s chatter which over the weekend created a companionable atmosphere whilst we felted to our hearts content. We covered the carpet floor with tarps so no water damage occurred either. Our sleeping setup was great too. There were several self-contained units – most had 7 twin bedrooms, 3 bathrooms & a common room overlooking a grass quadrangle, wow! We brought our own breakfast so sat chatting each morning with our house-mates – tea, toast etc on tap.
Traders set up in other Units - Tracy White, Inspire Fibre; Sheena Taylor, Ashfords; but Marie, not here – out of business, so no Corriedale & fancy knots. Yvonne Monk has her own grey/silver Gotland fleece and Alpaca, Romney etc. Denise has sold Kane Carding, the new owners (her niece Sara and husband Neil Thorburn) came from Dannevirke on Friday morning for 3 hours only which caused a frenzied sale at Kane’s stall.
Jenny and I planned to make a jacket together so we purchased 5 x 100g bags of mixed pink carded merino @ $35, a sell-out bargain, cos it’s Denise’s old stock. Think it’s a complicated process to do blended colours in sliver (new owners mightn’t do it again?), someone says. We needed more silk fabric so decide to buy a 2.4 m piece of hand-dyed silk chiffon from Tracy White when she arrived later. As always, she has a good selection, so buy one @ $30 and cut it into sections which Jenny and I lay out on our felt pieces, starting to take shape now.
Dinner time is 5.30pm. So early there’s no time for pre-dinner drinks and catch-ups with the 45 attendees. We all head up to dining room, a long walk from our location for older ones. The first meal wasn’t a good start but they improved significantly from then onwards. No alcohol was permitted in the dining room or elsewhere. As we’d finished eating early, most of us returned to the Main Hall and felted most of the evening – some later than others! Our Unit (next to the Main Hall) was very quiet as everyone settled down to sleep about 11pm - then a thumping noise starts – what is that? After 15 minutes it stops. Next morning at breakfast we’re all talking about it – then Penny (a new felter) owns up. She’d been rinsing and fulling her felt in the Hall kitchen sink, right through the wall to our unit! She was totally unaware of the disturbance she was creating. She was so embarrassed and apologetic. We all have a good laugh.
No demos or mini workshops this year? Some of the felters do help the “newbies”. Kristey Batten is guiding a new felter (Penny) with a design feature. Another group gathered to learn to make flowers with ? Most people didn’t wear name tags so often I don’t remember who they are, especially the new people. Why don’t we all make a personal name badge so we can put names-to-faces and maybe the area and which felting group they belong.
Saturday night – Show’n Tell seated in a circle outside in the Quadrangle before dark was fun. I pinned our pink jacket together, almost dry and modelled it for Jenny and me.
I spoke about Keiko, the Japanese tutor at NSW Convergence last Sept 2013 and passed around the “Pine Needle” silk chiffon scarf I made in Keiko’s class at Illawarra NSW where I’m a member.
To mention a few pieces that were passed around, we saw : Butterfly + dog held by Kirstey Batten - alongside is Sharon (seated)
with her Gotland rug
with her Gotland rug
Slippers – Shirley Hardwick had finished a red pair for herself (finally) after all these years.
Hats – Flo (see Lynn Evans wearing a helmet with her lovely holey top);
Red hat made by ? passed around on a cake plate.
Gotland fleece, needle felted to make a rug by Sharon Ferguson.
Cushion covers in natural wool and contrast stripes by Jacquie Collins
Various curious shaped objects ref Marjolein by Karen Workman, all white natural fleece.
Silk scarf double sided by Pam Robinson – hand stitched finish
(see more pictures in Lynn's post below)
(see more pictures in Lynn's post below)
Sunday - Last day: On a table in the sunny quadrangle Jenny and I stitch up our pink jacket. We’re joined by Andrea who is crocheting onto felt, Flo is drafting Romney wool for spinning and Pru is stitching a shell.
Then it’s our last lunch, after which we’re packing, vacuuming the Main Hall and accommodation units and saying our final good-byes.
The 2014 retreat at El Rancho, Waikanae, has been a much more suitable venue than the Otaki Backpackers. We all want to come here again next year and this has already been confirmed. Lynn and Sharon did us proud, the weekend was very well organised and we all had a very creative and fun time.
Written by Maggie Atkins, New Plymouth
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