Year 9 Textiles students participated in the ‘Paddock to Wardrobe’ project at the end of Term 4.
The students first visited Glenwood, a merino farm just outside Wellington run by current parents and ‘Love Merino’ owners Pip and Norm Smith. Norm and Pip gave a fascinating talk in their shearing shed on modern practice, including discussions on genetic breeding, grading wool fibres, the importance of fibre length for the textiles industry and the manufacturing process from paddock to wardrobe.
Following this, the students went to Adagio Alpaca Mill in Orange where they collected yarn spun specifically for their project from community donated alpaca fleeces. Owner, Nadine Hulme, talked the students through each of the machines and detailed how their yarn was produced.
On Day 2 of the project, the students had a workshop from local yarn-spinning expert Michelle Snowdon. The students learnt how to hand spin yarn using drop spindles.
Following this, the students used our alpaca yarn to knit beanies on a loom as taught by KWS teacher Tina Moshkanbaryans. What a great way to finish the academic year!
