Building Connections Online

Yesterday, I travelled with Dorte Goodyer up to Wynyard for the Sea Eagle Spinners Open Day.

It was every kind of marvellous. Letisha Kirkland, Michelle Stevens and Jen Eddington had stalls of their respective produce: processed fibre, dyed fibre and yarns and gorgeous raw fleece.

Mary, Angela and Beartrice spinning in the sunny spot.

Fibre workers gathered in the light-filled Live Well centre, swapping ideas and stories.

Listening the Show and Tell presentation.

It is so inspiring to meet in real life. I always come away having learned something new.

Michelle modelling her completed jumper. She and the members of the Sea Eagle Spinners did a deep dive into dyeing with Marigold petals, and they shared their tips with us.

If I could, I would go to EVERY open day, and to every event members have a presence at: The Wooden Boat Festival, Craft Alive, the Oatlands Bullock Festival... all of them.

But, it is just not practical.

We do, however, have a website. As website manager, my plan is to build the connections between our groups and all members, to harness and expand upon our wonderful culture of sharing, so that we may continue to inspire each other and develop our skills with fibre, even if we can't get to see and experience all the happenings around the state.

For this to happen, I am trying to increase our online memberships. If you pay your membership online, you are then able to access all the hidden treasures, the sections of the site only for members.

What members see: NEWSLETTERS, PICTURE GALLERIES of events all around the state, and - our newest addition - MARKETPLACE for members.

Our new MARKETPLACE is a bit like Gumtree, or Facebook Marketplace, but it is for members only. You can post an advertisement for something you want to sell or buy, add your details for communication (email, phone) and other members can contact you for the sale.

This marketplace will only work, however, if more of our members go online to check what is for sale and what is needed.

I know, some people may be hesitant about paying their membership online in order to access the members area, but we can work around this. You just need to email me at website@hwsdguildtasmania.org and I will update your online membership status for you.

Two early adopters have already posted in the Marketplace.

To see what is there, follow these steps.

Open a browser and go to hwsdguildtasmania.org. Look at the menu banner and find Marketplace. If you use your smart phone, the menu is a hamburger, three little lines in the top right hand corner.

When you click on Marketplace, you will be taken to this page with the listings.

If you click on SELL ITEM, the website will ask you to log on. If you bought your 2026 membership online, you can just log on. If you didn't, email me at website@hwsdguildtasmania.org and I will upgrade your status. Then, you will need to go in an create a password. Do this by clicking on Forgot Password. Follow all the prompts.

Once you have done this, you will be able to navigate your way around the site, check out the past newsletters and the picture galleries, post items for sale and renew your membership each year.

If you can't find things, look in the margins of pages for ↓ little pink arrowheads. These indicate more items are available. They are called the drop-down menu arrows. I snipped the image below of the top right hand corner of the webpage. You can see that I am already logged in. The little down arrow next to my name indicates there are more options, the hidden treasures!

If you have read this far, you deserve to know that on the way home from the Sea Eagles Open Day, Dorte activated the Car Karyoke in her Tesla and we sang Country Road, Imagine and Rasputin. Well, I sang. She refused to. I also did some seated dancing to Knock on Wood.

It was a great day out. Check out more photos of the festivities in the Picture Galleries.