Cork Cycling Festival 2011 and the History of Silk in Ireland

This years Cork Cycling Festival runs from Saturday 16th July to Sunday 24th July 2011. So, the piece I made for the Kerry Bike Festival is on its way to Cork, as this year they are sharing the Visual Arts Exhibition. (See this post!).

Its looks set it be a great festival and I hope to make it down one of the days. I am delighted however to have sold the piece, so it wont be coming home!! It was going cheap, but I was in the midst of Body and Soul chaos, and couldn't face the thought of it coming back, so its better to put an affordable price on it. Also it was all made from recycled materials, and just because its in a gallery doesn't mean it has to be over priced. With the proceeds I bought this book.

Just published, its written by Mairead Dunleavy, who sadly passed away last year. But I'm sure she would be delighted her book was published, because if it hadn't, we would have lost a gem. I have another of her books the excellent Dress in Ireland, a bible for Irish textile history. It is such a shame Dress in Ireland is now out of print. There are so few books on Irish Textiles, and written by Irish people.

I'm on a mission to try collect all the books on Irish textiles I can. I must compile a list here, so if I'm missing one, you good folks can tell me.

Recent Purchases...

Before I started my withdrawal programme, I made a few purchases. These were all very necessary, to prepare for a Freeform Crochet workshop I am doing in June. (Good excuse more like!!). Firstly were a few magazines from lado.etsy.com. These magazines may not be my usual cup of tea, a bit too windy down here in Kerry for these frocks, but what they are doing with crochet, and Irish Crochet Lace at the moment is phenomenal. AND the price of 4 Duplet magazines coming from the Ukraine, cost the same as buying 2 mediocre crochet magazines from Easons... I highly recommend them.

No, you don't have to speak the language! Thankfully they have all the patterns in international crochet symbols. A language I've yet to master, I must admit, but they really are incredible resources. The patterns themselves are beautiful to look at. I am tempted to just draw the patterns and not bother crocheting them at all...



So, I have the books and magazines, what about the yarn? I had just about run out of the cotton thread I bought at last year's workshops, so I needed to get more. I never realised until browsing through folks lace projects on Ravelry, that there was so many types of crochet cotton thread available. Coats, DMC, Clea, Venus, etc... So I did a browse online, and discovered a few places and brands, and here's what I bought.

Eldorado made by Coats from Willow Fabrics. No. 10 - suitable for 1.5mm-1.75mm hook. It came with a free pattern as well, on making little lace bags and edgings.

I've never done any coloured crochet lace, so I thought I'd have to dabble. A range of Coats Anchor variegated pearl cotton (no. 8) from Thread-Mill on EBay, who gave me some lovely free beads as well...

And now to my favourite discovery, Yarnstick. UK based, Yarnstick is an online shop dedicated totally to crochet!! That has to be a first for this part of the world. She had so many brands and ranges of size, I couldn't decide which ones to buy. So, I picked out a few, and very cheekily asked for a few samples, which the lovely Lalana, kindly did. The large ball, Clea, is very good value, and is quite soft. It is suitable for 1.25mm hook. I can see myself getting purchases from there again, once my withdrawal programme is over...