Craft club cancels annual dye day as water shortage hits district
We looked at other ways of dyeing
yarn, such as microwave dyeing, but that still uses a lot of water for the
rinsing. Tracy Bowie, Dannevirke Spinners and
Weaver Club president
The critical shortage of water affecting Tararua has forced the cancellation of the Dannevirke Spinners and Weavers annual dye day.
The dye day was scheduled to be held on Saturday March 7.
The Dannevirke group has held the event for the past 46 years and is just one of two clubs in the country to do so.
It’s also one of the few groups that owns its own premises.
Club president Tracy Bowie said a meeting of members on Friday made the decision to cancel the dye day.
“It’s very unfortunate but we’ve been caught out with both the fire ban and the water restrictions.”
She said it was a unanimous decision.
“There was no hesitation among members.”
She said as far as members could recall it was the first time this had happened.
“This is community event and we felt we needed to be responsible.”
The dye day uses a huge amount of water.
Huge coppers are used to dye yarn which then also needs to be rinsed twice.
“We looked at other ways of dyeing yarn, such as microwave dyeing, but that still uses a lot of water for the rinsing.”
She said it was not practical to postpone the event as the plants used to dye yarn are ready now.
The event generally attracts around 50 craftspeople from as far afield as Wellington and Auckland.
“Some people come back year after year.”
She said she hoped next year would be kinder.
“As one member said, climate change strikes again. We have tried holding the dye day later in the year but on occasions it has been rained out. We also have to work in with other fibre related events run by other clubs.”
The dye day is a major fundraiser for the group but fortunately it has another big event planned on June 6 at The Hub when it will have a spin in.
Members are in the process of organising displays and gathering spot prizes and raffles.
The theme of the spin in will be then and now.