Kapiti Island from Raumati Beach

Left- South near Poirura/ Center – path leading to beach points to the headland of the South Island off in the distance/ R is Kapiti Island. (Pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, the “iti” pronounced as the “iti” in Tahiti, KAP-iti)

I went to the Kapiti Arts and Crafts Spinning/Weaving/Knitting/Crochet group today and met a lot of fiber artists. We all speak the universal language of yarn and regardless of where you live in the world, we all have that passion in common. The knitters back home will appreciate this post. New Zealand Creative Fibre is the name of national organization that supports fiber arts of all types. The country is divided into 15 geographical regions. Each area has smaller groups that meet based on interests. The photo below shows all the different groups that compose the 240+ member Kapiti group. Notice they have an address. They have a dedicated building for the meetings and it includes a kitchen area, attached pottery studio and gallery where items can be displayed and sold. Artisans pay yearly dues to join and this helps to support their meeting place. They have raffles where people bring things like flowers, biscuits, etc and you can buy a ticket for 20 cents. The area where we met is as large as the gallery.

Gallery where various artists show their work and it is for sale. Closeups of displays, mostly pottery and paintings follow.

One of the members I met was Sylvia, who was I knitting the new Stephen West KAL “Twists and Turns”. Beautiful work!