The Shop Bike

A new addition to the signage of Gather.

Thread Magazine

Lovely Willow Sharp is a Textile Designer and talented Weaver now residing in Hawke's Bay; fresh out of RMIT, Melbourne. She's also a regular contributor to NZ's Thread Magazine, and is the creator of this blog feature on Gather.

Bloggers

Working so intensely on one's own projects and being so close to it everyday can be a bit introspective, so its really great to read other people's perspective on what I'm doing. A beautiful Napier based blog called Cush and Nooks, has written a lovely story on her experience of Gather.

Amusing Yarns, has really nailed it here in her description of the Construction Knitting Projects, suggesting they work on a conceptual and practical level; where the serialized nature of the patterns are reminiscent of Conceptual Art of the 60's and 70's; and which one can experience without the price tag of the art-world.

WORKSHOPS

The next workshops at Gather for Construction Knittingr are 20 May which is full, but there are a few places for the 3 June. Last weeks group was very quietly focused. There was not a lot of chatting, but plenty of knitting and eating; Hawkes Bay figs, brie from local cheesemaker Origin Earth, and bread and cakes from Entice Bakery.

Balmy Autumn Nights & Fishing

We're still hanging on to the last remnants of warmth on our balmy autumn nights in Hawke's Bay. We often head to the beach on dusk, throw a fishing line in, light a fire, open a bottle of red, & watch the sun disappear, after foraging the beach for good driftwood pieces. Unfortunately I lost the light before I got a photo of some mussels being cooked on the fire. And we are now convinced - yes, NZ mussels are the best!!

Frankie Blog & Giveaway

My handpainted knitting needles from Gather are a give-away special on the Frankie blog this week. Drop them a line to win a pair.

New Costume Commission

Just completed another exciting costume commission for Jenny Irwin for a new Bangarra Dance Theatre production coming up, called Terrain. The costume design is to reflect 'scarification of the land'. Drawing of Costume Brief by Jenny Irwin

The Australian Ballet

Backstage view of previous Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre collaboration; featuring some of my costume design for Jenny Irwin, the knitted linen pieces with all the fringing etc..

Reading at Gather

Well there's more than just reading at Gather, these mags, periodicals and books will inspire, delight and inform. Brand new Anthology mag in just this week. Each publication has a clever theme that connects you with the culture of design, art, craft, creative travel and lifestyles across the globe, through non-pretentious and quirky editorial and photography. The new theme is 'Wit & Whimsy', and I still have previous edition of 'Handmade at Home'.

Kinfolk is a brand new mag from the US, which is printed on beautiful stock, and has such a refreshingly unique styling about it, you don't want to ever get to the end. Its lovely to read and to turn the pages, a design and art culture mag with stories of 'gathering'; around food, friends & strangers.

Selvedge is a UK magazine which every fibre enthusiast should have. Its the only magazine of its kind, full of beautiful and fascinating stories & photography of the culture of contemporary and historical textile design, industry, folklore, from small studio production to large industry across fashion, fine art, interiors, travel, shopping, craft.

Natural Dye Lab

This is a very old dye used since the beginning of time: Lac Resin. The resin is produced from an insect native to South Asia, and produces colours of violets & reds, depending on the amount of dye used, and which natural fixing agent is applied in the dye process. In its raw powder form it is a rich dark reddy violet colour, and it has a pungent earthy aroma. It's a joy to dye with this stuff.

The insect Kerria Laccca, is cultivated on Kasumbah and Tessu trees in South Asia and India. In India, the SeedLac is put into oblong bags of cotton cloth which is held over a charcoal fire by a man at each end, and, as soon as it begins to melt, the bag is twisted so as to strain the liquefied resin through its substance, and to make it drop upon smooth stems of the banyan tree. In this way, the resin spreads into thin plates, and constitutes the substance know as Shell-lac or Lac Resin.

I have both Lac Resin and Ground Lac Powder, as well as mordants of Soda Ash and Iron for dyeing at Gather; the dyes and mordants are sold by the 50g, or organic wool already hand-dyed is also available. From the top, is a pure dye of Lac which creates a light wash of violet, the next colour has been pre-soaked with Soda Ash then dyed with Lac which creates a brighter violet, and the darkest colour has been mordanted with Iron before dyeing with Lac, which creates a deeper violet.

The Vineyards

A vineyard outing in Hawkes Bay is an must - and a long, languid lunch at Craggy Range is a pretty awesome experience. The vineyard and restaurant sits in front of the Craggy range, where the light is so unreal it feels like a movie set. And this is serious food, we really wanted to take our time here.

This is what we had; Pan fried quail, apple,bitter leaf salad and hazelnut vinaigrette. Steamed clams, verjus, saffron mustard cream, shallot. Ok here's the best bit, this dish takes 50 minutes from order, so we sipped on some more Pinot Gris, went for a walk through the vines and herb gardens, to come back to Roasted carvery pork rack for two, crackling, apple jelly & Waldorf salad from the gardens. Its cooked on the open fire rotisserie inside, and carved on our table. We take our time here again, because there's dessert: Classic crème brûlée, pistachio & almond wafer, lemon. And then theres the wine: 2007 Craggy Range, ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’. Normally after consuming this much food and wine I'd be inclined to seek out a big tree close by to have an insatiately drunken nap, but, the meal was so delicate and light that I felt more elated than anything else; after the espresso shot I could have climbed the crag.

Wearing my filagree dress from the last Summer collection. 15 pieces of handknitted lace in linen joined together; There were only 8 of these made, and I can't believe there is still one at The House of Aroha, and its half price - serious!

A Gathering

A Sunday Workshop with Construction Knitting at Gather. First a very early morning trip out to the Hawke's Bay Farmers Market to get morning-tea treats for the workshop, plus BREAKFAST. Imagine freshly baked quiche in flaky pastry still warm out of the oven, coffee, wood fired pizza and blueberries all under the shelter of big oak and fir trees. In addition some groceries for the week, mixed herbs, a selection of cheeses, fresh eggs, organic turnips. This experience of the Bay is so sublimely beautiful somedays. Oh and of course, the small cakes for the workshop; lemon and chocolate with oozy centres, ginger and pear, raspberry & coconut, spicy carrot - &*(*@## YUM!. To accompany a big pot of rooibos tea, we're set up for knitting for the day.







Then to the table...

GATHERING

Our friend Anneliese took these beautiful photographs when we were setting up the shop.