Halswell Craft Group

This month I decided to visit the Halswell Craft Group.  They meet in the Scout den in the Domain on Wednesdays 10-12am during the school terms (and not during school holidays).

I was surprised at the number of cars parked outside, and walked in to find 21 women sitting around tables working away on a wide range of crafts.   I first chatted with Marion and Trudy who run the group and they told me that this was a small group compared to what they normally get - perhaps because of the bad weather.  They also introduced me to some of the women there, and to the activities that were going on in the room.
The room was humming with conversation and I moved around and chatted to many people.  Crystal made my day by telling me that she found out about the craft group through the Halswell Community Website and had been coming to the group since she retired.  She told me that her first projects were photo albums that she 'scrapbooked' for her family.  "The earthquakes taught me that for family memorabilia it is well work having copies in different places.  That way, if one gets lost, there are others around.

Carola had been helping another woman learn about beadwork - how to translate the instructions and the basic techniques to produce some great looking stars - perhaps Christmas decorations.  i could see possibilities for making some great earrings.  Next to her was a woman who showed me some fantastic cards while another was stitching some applique Christmas decorations.  Over at another table were three women painting and drawing, and at another was someone working away on some incredibly fine embroidery and someone next to her stitching a picture for a cushion cover.  A number of people there are also experienced quilters although no-one was working on quilts at the session.  Quite a number of people were knitting and there was one women wandering around and knitting whilst talking to people at various tables (I was very impressed, and had pictures in my head of Aran knitters known for their capacity to knit while walking, tending sheep and  range of other tasks!).

The craft group offers the women who go a great place to talk about the issues going on for them.  For some it was a useful outlet for managing the ongoing problems emerging from the earthquakes.  As Marion pointed out, as she dished out soup (served up as an end of term treat), it is quite easy to come along and not actually do any craft work because there are so many people to talk with.  Mind you, looking around, this is a great place to come to learn some new crafts or to work on crafts you've been working on for years and there's a huge depth of knowledge here to tap into!  

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