Oh, Knit & Stitch, how I do love thee....

One of Ruth Issett's stunning
textile pieces on exhibition
at K & S 

 We made it up and down to Dublin, Fionn and I, and had a great time.  Knit & Stitch time is my favourite time of year: a chance to get great new supplies, take in inspirational exhibitions, and meet up with friends you see mostly online.  I took a mini-workshop with Ruth Issett called "Running with Colour" and it was fab.  I adore her work and her use of colour--so vibrant and full of life.  I tend to like a lot of abstract work in the last five years and so I could get lost in the piece on the left.  I had this one on my computer desktop to study every day and so it was a thrill to see the original!


Fionn learned a bit of weaving, but it was disappointing that much of the student classes were rather flat.  There were school tours there on the day we were there and most of the craft learning stations were geared towards girls, which was unfortunate as there were plenty of lads there.  I am a strong believer in teaching boys to sew as its part of my Basic Skills for Life training that I teach.  Who wouldn't have to know how to do an emergency repair of a seam or how to sew a button back on?  Even if they aren't going to pursue a creative career, its a great thing to learn to express yourself creatively.  I was told that a group from England decline to come over and tutor in craft.  My response to that is WHY do they have to come from England?  I know Twisted Thread, the organizing group for K & S, comes from England, but there are plenty of talented people in Ireland who could organize and teach young people interested in craft i.e. patchwork, weaving, spinning, felting, stitching.  I did love their great emphasis on repurposing and upcycling clothing and the awareness of who is producing clothing and how they manage to keep their costs low (cheap labour overseas...).  But, it's my third show now and I do notice that the cream of the craft doesn't always travel over from the English shows; it's time that we make sure that the Dublin show is just as good as the English ones.


Now I am back in Dingle, it's time to start working on the Kerry Christmas Market full-tilt.  The deadline to apply is tomorrow and I have lot of PR to do, a poster to design, and one more celebrity Santy to find!  It's coming along great and we have a wonderful group of artisans so far.  The children Christmas carol service will be wonderful on the Saturday and I am working on music performances for the Sunday.  If you have time and a few presents left to get, please DO come to Dingle for the weekend of December 17/18.  Come on the Saturday and spend the day taking in the wonderful food and craft at the Christmas Market and the unique and vibrant shops of Dingle.  Splurge and spend the night and have a fab dinner at Doyle's or Global Village.  Appreciate Kerry as much as we do!


Craft club is going strong.  We felted the pieces to make angels for the top of the tree and next week we will sew them together.  For now until Christmas, we will be making Christmas decorations or presents.  Great fun and the kids are learning so much (and they are a great bunch to work with).


If you have any inquiries about workshops or participating in craft club, please ring 087-9111793 or email sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com to register.

Hats

Tuesday, November 29th
Wednesday, December 7th

Scarves

Wednesday, November 16th
Tuesday, November 22nd
Saturday, December 10th

Absolutely amazing quilt close up.  Won Judges Choice 2011.  Artist is
Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga.

Love this guy!!  

I also loved her sketchbook on how she designed the wonderful seahorse

Very impressed with this one as it was a kid!
Leif Sinclair from Leominster.

This is a panel of a quilt series from Genesis.

Part of Seascapes exhibition sponsored by CCOI.  This is
Marika Miklosi-Manning.

Rolling in November...

Merino and silk hat with resist
patches--looks fab on!

I've been busily felting for a pop-up shop that is opening in Limerick.  New hats and scarves are on the way.  All things going well, I will need to felt more!  Here are two new hats. Both are merino with silk pieces and hand-dyed.  The turquoise one is finished, but I have to think about the burgundy and see if it might need another bit of embellishment.  I have three new scarves I felted and dyed yesterday that need ironing and labels sewn in.  


I'm working on samples to send to Boston for a shop there.  I need to send my lovelies out into the world as the sales in Kerry just aren't enough.  I don't make as much money per item, but I am not making anything in Kerry!!  The studio is great and has put me in great space to produce a lot more, so now I need to put the head down and get some serious production going.  


Deadline is fast approaching for the Dingle Christmas Market (November 11th).  Participants must be in Kerry and all goods must be artisan produced/handmade.  I really want to showcase the talent in the county.  If you are interested in participating, please get in touch with me and I can forward you an application (087-9111793 or leave a message here).  Price is €25 per day and I would prefer that you are present for both days.  I know its a long way to travel, so if you come up with friend, I can assign you space next to each other so you can watch each other's work and not have to be there both days.  I am hard at work on all the details.  It promises to be a great weekend!!

Merino and silk pieces, hand-dyed.  I think these needs a
bit of bling yet!

I also wanted to let you know about an Indoor Christmas Market in Kenmare, Co Kerry. They are looking for potential stall holders that sell Irish Crafts and Christmas Gifts. The market will run from Dec 1st to 31st, 10am to 6pm. Prices depend on size of stall and are very affordable. Contact Sue O'Neill at 087 765 3319 or Anne-Marie on 064 6648907 to reserve pitches. Kenmare is a beautiful place and well worth visiting, so let's keep spending our money on original craft this year. 

 Buying Kerry goods = keeping Kerry jobs.

October is Transition Month...

Crocheted merino hat with hand-dyed felt pieces

Lots of transitions these days.  Transition to self-employed person, which is simultaneously exhilarating and creative and also very worrying on how I will manage a regular income.  Transition to a car owner once again.  Yep, I picked up my darling on Monday and so I am now the proud owner of a 2000 navy blue Ford Escort station wagon.  She has low miles and is ready to go!  I must get her washed again because she is filthy after driving up from Cork, but otherwise seems in great form.  The relief of having a car again!  Plenty to be doing, but must get the final license sorted ASAP as motor insurance is shocking here.

Felted and dyed three scarves yesterday with pics to follow.  Craft fair on tomorrow, so must get labels sewn in and all new pieces tagged.  Trying to keep a high production level, but darn busy life keeps interfering!  I do have samples to make and send to the USA for two shops who have expressed interest, so that will help me sleep at night if I can get that going.

All Kerry Christmas Market on at An Díseart in Dingle December 17 & 18 (Sat & Sun) from 10-5pm.  Standard 6 ft stalls INDOORS €25 per day.  Please give me a ring to register as space is going quickly!  There will be charity Santy, facepainting, excellent food and craft, and more surprises being organized.  Should be great craic! 087-9111793 for more info.

If you are interested in felting workshops, please note the dates below...

Hats

Saturday, November 5th

Tuesday, November 8th

Tuesday, November 29th

Hand-dyed merino felt hat with seed bead
embellishment

Wednesday, December 7th

           

Scarves

Friday, November 4th

Wednesday, November 16th

Tuesday, November 22nd

Saturday, December 10th

Ring 087-9111793 or email sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com to register.  Space and materials are limited.  Plan to make something lovely for yourself or a loved one for the holidays this year!

Time to think about your warmies...

It's mid-October and if the weather hasn't turned cooler where you live, then it will likely do so with a bang in the next week.  So!  Time to think about updating your lovely cold weather gear.  I am listing workshops for making hats and scarves on the following dates.  The price is €40 per workshop, materials included.  We will be using high quality Merino wool and some silk and alpaca fibres to create lovely scarves or hats for winter, which we will then custom dye to the colour of your choice.  All workshops 2-5pm on John St in Dingle, Co Kerry. 






Hats
Saturday, November 5th
Tuesday, November 8th
Tuesday, November 29th
Wednesday, December 7th


Scarves
Friday, November 4th
Wednesday, November 16th
Tuesday, November 22nd
Saturday, December 10th

Ring 087-9111793 or email sharon1_crandall@hotmail.com to register.  Space and materials are limited.  Plan to make something lovely for yourself or a loved one for the holidays this year!


I am also busily planning Kerry Christmas Markets in Dingle this year, with Kerry made food and craft.  Santy will be there with mulled wine and lots of fun.  Dingle has a fantastic array of original food and craft, so plan on spending some time with us!  We have a Jingle Bell jaunting tour and penguins for the kids.  The Christmas tree will be lit Sunday, December 4th. Plenty to do and see, so watch this space for more details...

Hikes and Tests and Christmas

Crocheted hat with hand-dyed red flower &
glass seed beads

I am starting to get that frantic feeling, like time is running out and I need to find a way to duplicate myself so that I will have MORE of what I need.  This week seemed to have so much crammed into it: Scouts meeting, craft club, special orders, planning meetings, Scouts hike, Dingle Business Chamber meeting, and insurance company issues.  It's no small wonder that I have had a hard time finding time to sit down and read my road theory test book, but I spent my day off yesterday reading the dang thing.  I think none of you will be surprised to know that it isn't the most interesting reading.  I have the test on TODAY and the good news is that most of the info was repeat on the test I took 28 years ago in the US.  The Irish government seems to think that they hand out driver's licenses on street corners with reckless abandon, but I did take 3 months of theory and driving lessons before I was allowed to sit my exam.  Ugh.  So aggravated to have to do it again, but it should be over with today and then 12 driving lessons and I can take my road test.  All the drama of this I don't need.

I've been finishing hats like mad and put in an order yesterday for supplies so I can start felting like a lunatic. I have so many hats and scarves to make and so many test pieces to get right so I can start making more.  I have a pile of finished product to upload onto Etsy, if I could find 2 hours to do it.  I ran out of labels to sew into my hats and ordered more, so that will be another relief.  I want to close my studio door and stop answering the phone so I can really concentrate.  I must find a kind of Zen calmness of I will not make it through the busy holiday season...

Craft club going well and we finished the books!  Pics to follow as haven't uploaded them yet.  We felted last Saturday and will cut them into strips and the girls want to make bracelets, so stitching and beading this Saturday--all good!

As much as I would like to rest now, I must get ready to head into Tralee to face the music.  Wish me luck on my second driving test!  

Crocheted hat with orange & yellow
flower and seed beads

Merino, Alpaca, and silk pieces resist-felted
and hand-dyed.  Hand dyed star decor &
beading!

A Foodie Hangover...

The Handmade Sessions on the Dingle Food Festival taste trail was a great success!  We teamed up with Bluíríní Blasta cafe in Lispole and offered up sublime, jamtastic desserts: they baked meringues with their Blás na hEireann nominated lemon curd, fresh cream, and raspberry coulis; lemon drizzle cake with lemon curd on the side; and strawberry jam sponge with fresh strawberries.  All gone by 445pm!  Craft sales for the day weren't great, but there were a lot of people in and out and appreciating the work, so hopefully a preview of Christmas sales.  It was pouring out of the heavens by 4pm and is quite wet now, but still another day of the Festival to go!  We are heading out on the taste trail ourselves and it should be a relaxing, enjoyable day.  I need me some oysters!

It was a rather frantic week of felting and embellishing.  I felted 7 scarves and resist-dyed them and felted two new hats and resist-dyed to match two of the scarves.  I embellished three hats.  And cleaning and hiding all the clutter so the studio would be ready for the general public.  Really, I need a good closet with shelving inside to just store things in and shut the door so my mess isn't out in the open.  The new hat wall looked well and Colleen Bowler and Ursula Tramski's pottery was fab, and the company great all day.  A huge success!

I held the Craft Club on Friday afternoon to make room for the Taste Trail on Saturday, so it was a mad two hours of sewing and helping the girls learn to use the sewing machines.  They really are learning the sewing machines fast for 10 year olds.  Their books are nearly done and next week we start on two weeks of bracelets.  We will felt a lot of pieces and then decorate our bits the next week with stitch and beads.  And then two weeks of Halloween projects, but I have to have a think about what we will do there...

It's all go these days.  I need to do a big stock up on wool as I have a lot of stock to make for Christmas.  Once I have many kilos of wool under my roof, I will sleep well!! New calendar of events for October up, but must get it online still--tomorrow as my day off and then will plot dates for Christmas gift making...Meanwhile, Ireland killed Italy today in the Rugby World Cup and we are slated to play Wales next weekend in the semi-finals--GO GREEN!!

A Quickie...

This is just a quick post to show off two new hats I completed this week.  I have a load of purple on the brain as I have a custom order and I am doing 2-3 different styles and the customer will choose their favourite.  So far, they are totally different!

The first one is hand-dyed Merino with dark purple Gotland curls on the brim.  I carefully stitched the brim up and added grape-like clusters of purple glass seed beads.

The second hat I resist-felted and was trying to
develop the pattern into a cute style I saw online.
The side tail was supposed to collapse inward into a swirl on the side of the hat, but the tail is too long, so must adjust the pattern and have another try at it.  I do like the tail, however, and I over dyed the hat which came out quite dark purple with hints of pink where the silk threads peek through.  There are also pieces of silk habotai and Wensleydale curls felted in, but it so dark that its hard to see them by camera.  I think I might do a sprinkling of beads on the tail...

Meanwhile, it's time to get myself ready to head back into the studio.  Lots to do!