Workshop on Knotmaking and Crochet Lace Plarn, Dingle

Next Thursday, 25th July, 5-8pm, I'll be hosting a workshop in the Dingle Library, on crocheting lace with plarn, recycled plastic. Alongside me, there will be a local fisherman, demonstrating knotmaking techniques. This workshop is the first, of what I hope will be a series of workshops, as part of MÓIDE+, a public art project in Dingle.  

MÓIDE+ is a Tidy Towns initiative supported by Údarás na Gaeltachta, NEKD and Leader. A cross-organisation, cross-craft, ambitious project to re-claim some of Dingles derelict buildings, and turn them into works of art.

Post Dingle Harvest Picnic with the Kerry Bicycle Festival!

Incredible! That is the only way to describe the day that was the Dingle Harvest Picnic. We had sunshine, kids on bikes, chilled out parents, workshops, talks, and SUNSHINE!! Its amazing what a sunny day does to Irish people these days. It was almost overwhelming, to be able to organise something outdoors, and not have it cancelled or moved because of bad weather...We had an escorted cycle around the marina and town before heading up to the town park for a day of fun and frolics. Talks, workshops, music, and even the match (Del-boy style, a TV on top of a van!)

Inspired! Music and Art in Fibre - Exhibition and Book

Each year, members of the International Freeform Crochet Guild set a challenge. This challenge is to create a piece of freeform crochet using a chosen theme. The pieces are finished and photos are sent via email to the organisers, and an online exhibition and book are created. None of the pieces are shown publicly until  the exhibition and book are ready, which this year was July 1st.

Interweave Crochet Magazine Summer 2012

When I got back from the Body and Soul Festival, I had a lovely package waiting for me -the summer issue of Interweave Crochet!

Máire Treanor has been writing a series of feature articles for Interweave Crochet Magazine on Clones Lace. In the edition above, Summer 2012 (part 4 of the series), Máire writes about modern interpretations of Irish Crochet in the Former Soviet Republics and around the world. I've blogged before (here) about the fantastic Duplet Magazine, an Irish Crochet Magazine form the Ukraine, and she mentions another Zhurnal MOD. You can find them both here www.duplet-crochet.com. 

I attended Máires lace workshop, 2 years running, in Monaghan a few years back, and have been pretty much hooked on lace since. I was delighted when she asked me to submit some pictures of my lace for inclusion in the article, and even more delighted to find the picture in the magazine and the magazine in my letter box! The lovely Máire had sent me a copy herself. (Thank you Maire!!)

Cú

Máire runs The Cassandra Hand Summer School of Lace in Clones, and other workshops throughout the year. If you are thinking of trying Irish Crochet lace, I cannot reccommend her classes enough. Not just for the knowledge and skills being shared but for the company; the very enjoyable few days to be spent in the company of some amazingly talented women.

www.cloneslace.wordpress.com

Hang Up's

Here's a piece I made recently for an exhibition, "Hand Up's", currently being organised by Prudence Mapstone, in Australia. The criteria was freefrom, on a hanger...so that what I did.

And now for something completely crafty... Crocheted Lace Panels

Still trying to catch up on blog posts about some of the stuff I made this year, so I'll keep the text short and sweet.

These are some WIP's, crocheted lace panels I started making last winter. They are extremely hard to photo for some reason, I'm not that happy with the pics, but you get the idea. They are made using traditional Irish crochet lace techniques, but made from recycled plastic bin bags. I made 2 panels using scrolls, one of my favourite motifs, but I didn't think they came out great, there is almost too much detail in it. (And the scrolls take forever...).

The 2nd panel, of flowers and leaves came out much better, especially with more open background. This panel is approx 150cm x 50cm. Its a bit worse for ware, as its been on display at 2 festivals and a disco. I hope to experiment a bit more with these, the original plan was to make something big, but lets see if I ever get that together...

International Freeform Guild 2011

I seriously need to catch up on blogging, before I make/do anything else. So, here we go...

While I was in the midst of packing for The Body and Soul Festival, the International Freefrom Guild opened its online show. 50 Freeform Artists from around the Globe were challenged to create one freeform piece interpreting a chosen theme.

We had a vote on the theme for this years show. During the voting, recycling was winning the vote, so I was trying to be organised and started on a recycled project. (That's another blog post!). This is a new thing for me, I'm usually an up all night the night before the deadline kinda gal. Then, to my dismay and well, delight, my actual favourite theme won the vote: Mythologies, Stories and Fairy Tales.

When I lived in Dublin, many moons ago, I spent 2 years doing night classes at the loveliest but strange little college Saor-Ollscoil na hÉireann in Stoneybatter. (Which celebrates its 25th year this year). I enrolled, just to do Folklore, but it was actually a degree course, and so I ended up doing a few other subjects; History, Archaeology, Environmental Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies (was more conflict than peace...) and more. Anyway back to Folklore, the course was taught by Dr. Micháel Ross. I loved every minute of this course, you could just listen to Micháel forever, a born storyteller. I ended up writing essays on Tolkien's use of old English poetry in his work, on present day Wiccan activities in Ireland, and The History and Construction of Irish Tower Houses, and well, lots more. It gave me an excuse to read lots of very unusual yet interesting books. The place is like mecca for knowledge; all ages, all types of people. I wasn't interested in doing the degree really, I just wanted to learn, and be around other people who like also liked learning.

So, I had to make something for this exhibition, something freeform, crocheted, based on mythology, and since I'm still in my lace phase, it would have to be lace, and of course it has to be Irish, and because I love Celtic illumination, and especially zoomorphics... etc. Enough said here's the piece....

Cú

Crocheted with a fine black wool yarn.
(Yarn weight and type unknown. Hook size, cant remember...)

So, the exhibition can be viewed online here http://www.freeformcrochet.com/2011/Pages/index.html and it can also be bought! Its published on Blurb http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2241770. All proceeds of which go to very worthy causes!!

Since I had a lace piece made, I decided to enter it into the Lace category of the RDS Crafts competition. I have never entered before because as much as I love the promotion of Irish craft, I don't like how expensive it is to enter, (€15!!). It seems that Irish artists and craftspeople are constantly having to pay out for the privilege of just entering competitions, exhibitions, etc, let alone the actually crafting, framing, travelling, etc, expenses. We are struggling to make ends meet, and galleries, arts centres, administrators and the likes have nice regular wages. It just doesn't sit well with me. The piece got into the finals which was quite a surprise, I never expected it to. I should be delighted, and I don't mean to bah-humbug, but a part of me wished it hadn't, as I then had to get it framed, and couriered it up to Dublin. I'm trying to save up for a new marquee for doing festivals and every penny counts at the moment. No marquee, no Electric Picnic!!

So, anyone want to buy a lovely framed piece of Lace??

Update on 'The Story of Lace' at the 2011 Pan Celtic Festival

This is where I double up on The Woolly Way blog, but there I have to try to sound impartial and official... here I get to be a bit more unprofessional and say Woohoo!!

Woohoo!!
16 Lacemakers form The Traditional Lacemakers of Ireland Guild are travelling over for the seminar, including internationally renowned Veronica Stuart. (Who I had a lovely lunch with, last Saturday in the Phoenix Restaurant in Keel)

Woohoo!!
Members of the Shaw-Smith family (makers of the Hands TV series will be personally attending the seminar. I have recieved a copy of the Lace making episode, that we will be viewing, and it is really amazing. (We are amazing, as in Ireland is amazing, as in Lacemakers are amazing. One of the most lively, enthusiastic and most of all encouraging groups I have dealt with, its about time we started appreciating the wealth of our textile history... sorry, stop rant before it goes on....)

WoOHOO!!!!
We are throwing in a book launch too, because, well, why not. Two books Clones Lace, and Youghal Lace have been revised and reprinted recently, so we are going to officially launch them at the event.

Workshops
There still a few places at the workshops, you can download registration forms from here http://panceltic.ie/irishlace.asp

That's enough for now, worn out with the excitement. And I still have to try get something together for Gig sa Tig, more on that later...

National University of Ireland

Over the past 6 months between bad weather, chickenpox and the mind-numbing fog of framing possibilities, I finally got my commission for The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics at NUI Galway finished, mounted, framed, plinthed and delivered!

What can a crocheter make for a Maths Department?
Why Hyperbolic Crochet of course? What else... The Maths Department in NUIG, are hoping to fill their corridor with maths-inspired art and sculpture over the next few years. And I am so delighted, not that my work is the first to decorate its halls, but that its textile, its crochet, and its one woman's ingenuity, Daina Taimina, that enabled this project. She will be thought of, every time a mathematician, young or old walks through that hallway.

The Work:
I made 3 pieces of Hyperbolic Crochet; 1hyperbolic plane, and 2 pseudospheres. They are made from 100% cotton, Debbie Bliss Ecobaby organic white cotton, crocheted with as small a hook as I could manage to make the pieces very firm.

The Frames:
It took a bit of searching to get the right frames. (Or lack of frame, as in a 3D perspex box!). But I finally found the most wonderful framers Fine Framers in Carlow. It was a bit of a drive, but the lovely Yvonne was incredible, patient and thank god, so professional! She was pretty much just handed the pieces and told to do her thing. I will admit I know nothing about framing. Finding the right framer, I think, is like finding a soul-mate. They can make or break a piece of work, and especially textiles...well, I can't recommend them enough.


The Photos:
I didn't get great photos, I'll be doing a trip back up, when they are all settled, but here's the few snaps I took. The plinths are approx 22"square and 22"high. The frames are just smaller, say 21"square, and 10" high. So, they are big pieces

For more info on Hyperbolic Crochet, visit Daina's Blog www.hyperbolic-crochet.blogspot.com/

The Story of Lace

I've been so busy trying to spread the word, that I completely forgot to blog about 'The Story of Lace on my own blog!! Here's the spiel...

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The 40th International Pan Celtic Festival will be hosted in the Gaeltacht of Corca Dhuibhne/Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry. This year the festival hosts a lively programme, very best of food, music, singing, dancing, and Irish Lace!

‘The Story of Lace’ is an exhibition, seminar and workshop on Irish lace making.

The Exhibition, 28th April – 30th April 2011, will consist of samples of different styles of Irish lace including Irish Crochet, Kenmare, Carrickmacross, Youghal, and more.

The Seminar takes place on Friday 29th April, and is open to all. Talks on the History of Irish Lace will be given by Máire Treanor, author of Clones Lace, and Nora Finnegan, who runs the Kenmare Lace Museum, two of Ireland’s finest lace-makers. There will be a viewing of ‘'Irish Lace' from *Hands* a series of documentaries made for RTE in the 1970s/80s, on the final years of traditional rural and urban life in Ireland. At the end of the seminar, there will be a Q&A session, where you can bring along your antique lace to be identified by Máire and Nora.

Workshops 30th April 2011
Kenmare Lace with Nora and Irish Crochet Lace with Máire are taking place on Saturday 30th April. Basic sewing and crochet skills is required for the workshop and places are limited to 12.
Cost: €40 (€20 non-refundable deposit to book your place).

Please make cheque or postal order payments to Pan Celtic Corca Dhuibhne, Ionad Forbartha Gnó, Páirc Ghnó an Daingin, An Daingean, Co. Chiarraí. Registration forms to book a place at the workshop can be downloaded from the Pan Celtic website www.panceltic.ie

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For information contact me, bookings, you can contact, well, me, and anything else to do with the event, please contact me!!! No, seriously, contact me, or email woollywayATgmailDOTdom. I'll be updating about the exhibition on The Woolly Way of Ireland blog.

I am really excited, because lately I have become obsessed with lace. (Check out my Lace Inspired collection on Pinterest!). And to have 2 of Irelands expert lace-makers teaching workshops, as well as an exhibition of antique and modern lace, in my town is just fantastic. I could spiel on about lace, its history, etc, but I think you should just come to Dingle, and find out for yourself...

Its going to be a fantastic weekend, because not only is the Pan Celtic Festival on, Feile n Bealtaine also kicks off. So Dingle will be hopping!

More Mushrooms, and more spots...

The worst part about getting chickenpox as an adult is not the scratching, (calamine and liquid anti-histamine are quite an anti-scratch combo), its the resting. How do you rest as much as you need to? I watched lots of films, read a lot, and then, once the spots eased a bit, threw myself into getting stuff done. The kind of stuff I had been meaning to do for ages. And the first one up is...Mushrooms!

I've made a good few mushrooms now, most for display at EP, but I finally got it together to write out the pattern for a small one. Its in the testing phase, and will be up on the blog soon.

These babies are now off to Bournemouth, UK, to be part of a wonderful project by artist, Pauline Stanley. She is creating a textile garden in the library. "An intergenerational community knitting/crochet project were we are knitting a 3D garden to climb, creep, blossom over 3 floors of Bourenmouth Library in an exhibition in May 2011.Participants of any age or ability welcome". She's looking for all manner of flowers, vegetables, leaves, etc, so if you have the time, make something for this wonderful exhibit. More info on her blog. http://bloomingmarvellous1.blogspot.com/ You never know I might finally get round to writting up my lemon/apple/pear/carrot patterns too! They all went off to the Manna Organic Farm, in Gleann na nGealt, Co. Kerry.

It is ironic I spent my invalid time sewing spots onto mushrooms, but then I went one step off the cliff, and messed around with said spots on the computer.

I have now had enought of spots thank you very much!

One too many paper chains, perhaps...

In a previous blog post, I had talked about the fun we had making our Halloween Decorations, and talked about bringing back the paper chain. Well, over the past 2 weeks I have gone a bit mad with the Christmas decorations. It’s my first year in my new house (and hopefully the first of many, many years in the same house...). So, because of a combination my Yarnaholics Programme*, and the appalling weather we’re been having over the past month, I have managed to have nothing to do! I don’t mean nothing to do, but no crazy community projects or deadlines, having to be here there and everywhere. And my god, it’s tough! Its way harder than working hard. I am usually rushing around chasing after projects as time slips away, but now I am humming and hawing about what to next. So, for my first year in my new house, I have managed to make nearly all the Christmas decorations.

Firstly I made these....

Then I made these.

Lots of these. These were my favourites as a kid, and with a few different coloured packs of crepe paper, it’s amazing how many you can make, and get carried away with...

The tiny little synthetic tree was unwrapped, and we made angels

Then a lino-printing session to make all the Christmas Cards

Then, I had to crochet some snowflakes, and well, got carried away with that too, and made a few for the tree, and the window by the front door, and a bunch for token presents to friends and family

Snowflakes blocking

Oh, and we painted the front door...

Inside and Outside

PHEW! To top it off some Christmas tunes from The Rat Pack and Leon Redbone... It’s a festive, very cheap and cheerful Christmas. I'm almost ready to be snowed in...

*Must update the Yarnaholic Programme, it'll be my New Years Resolution...

Happy Christmas

Bráisléad

Made a few bracelets for a friend for her birthday. I made her a few pinkish ones, then went and made lots more...Handy emergency presents!

I've put the instructions up on Stitchlily's Stuff

Pan Celtic Festival 2011

Whenever people ask me what am I up to, I can't think of anything to say. But I know I have been up to something as I suffer from fiddlyitus, I am always up to something. But lately, it's been more a case of thinking. I've been doing a lot of thinking. And yes, it involves thinking of yarnie things, day-dreaming about possible yarnie projects, (and how to take over the world, of course).

So, what have I been thinking about? Well, for once one of my schemes/projects has come into fruition. I was chatting to the lovely Máire Treanor at the last Clones Lace workshop, about a possible trip to Brittany in the Spring to do crochet lace workshops. I love Brittany, having spent a month there, years ago, (drinking cider, dancing at Fez Noz, and generally having a ball). This book has sparked it off for me...

Available on Amazon

And also Maire has just re-printed her wonderful book

Breton Lace and Irish Lace are interlinked. Though technique, nuns, common historical disasters (famine) and general Celticness...So, when I hear the Pan Celtic Festival was going to be in Dingle again in 2011, I contacted the committee about doing a possible textile event, (I think I scared them with my enthusiasm)... Long story, several emails later, we have official approval!!

Here's what’s planned so far:

(a) an exhibition of lacework from the Celtic countries,

(b) a talk on the history of lacework and

(c) a demonstration of the national styles of lacework.

If anyone has intrinsic knowledge of lacemaking in Celtic countries get in touch! Otherwise you can just join up here for a chat:

Ravelry http://tinyurl.com/23k85ep

The poor underused Woolly Way Forum: http://tinyurl.com/2cm6smh