You might be surprised why some members of the Armidale Spinning and Weaving Group are drawn to and keep following the hobby, and why some of them started in the first place.
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Margaret Small said she started spinning in the 1970s.
"I started when wool reached rock bottom prices," she said.
"A friend of mine said she had bought a spinning wheel because she could buy enough fleece to make a jumper for one dollar, and that appealed to me.
"And from then I ended up with something like this. What I am weaving with here is handspun Alpaca, which was grown by somebody who used to be a member of spinners and weavers," she said.
"This is the natural colours of Alpaca, so beautiful."
Merryn Twemlow is also a 40 year veteran, but she was not always a spinner and weaver, in fact she did not always live in the bush. That was her husband's idea.
"We used to live in Sydney," she said.
"My husband decided he wanted to buy a property, and he said, 'If I move will you move with me?' and I said, 'If I get a pig and a spinning wheel.'.
"I'm now a spinner, weaver, dyer, felter. Over many years."
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Ian Lockrey has been spinning for 41 years, after suffering a stroke.
"The ladies at the Arts and Craft Society at Inverell, where I used to live taught me how to spin," he said.
"It's great therapy. I could nearly fall asleep sometimes.
"We had Angora goats and coloured sheep for years, so I used to spin and make things. I usually make scarves. I made a pram cover for my great-grandchild recently. I make all sorts of things, shawls, all sorts of things."
