Sock Crochet Workshop.        

Learn how to crochet socks for your little ones, family, friends and yourself.

A workshop on how to crochet socks, light, wearable and easily made. A little experience on how to crochet and basic pattern reading will be needed.

Hooks and yarn can be purchased on the day, but you are very welcome to bring your own. Please bring a 3.25mm hook and suitable yarn (for hook/needle size 3.25mm).

                  Starting Date: Tuesday, 7^th of May (and every following 3 Tuesdays)

                  Time:                7pm – 9pm

                  Location:          Brigit’s Hearth, Raheen , Tuamgraney

                  Fee:                    €55 / €45 Returnee (f you have joined a class before)

For bookings, more information and directions please phone Jenny on 087 0911275

Woolly Companions...

I like to write about new friends of mine, they are still a bit shy, but we are getting to know each other slowly. For months we have been looking at a rather shaggy meadow, neither myself nor my husband have managed to tidy it up over the last few months.
We are surrounded by organic fields, which are shared by horses, cows and sheep. It is the latter, we have now taking care of our disastrous meadow. Yesterday evening, our neighbour, Ross, has brought them through the hedge with the help of a yellow bucket and his most distinct 'sheep call' mmaaaaahhhh, maaaahhh....

One after another squeezed through the hedge, my son highly excited, jumped up and down, closed the poly tunnel and held bravely onto his fathers hand, fascinated by the new woolly mowing machines. Shy as they are, they welcomed the new juicy bushels of grass, but always watching the house out of the corner of their eyes. They didn't forget that they've been chased out of this garden more than once in the past years...

All the time I've been sitting in the living room, crocheting a jumper with gorgeous Noro wool for my little fellow, watching the sheep. My husband had gone off picking up our daughter, when I heard one sheep calling out and one by one left the juicy heaven to return into their own field. First I thought they got scared by some hammering noises up the road (they are very fleetly) or perhaps they just got to suspicious. My son was highly disappointed that they had gone, he wanted to surprise his sister.

Nonetheless, this morning, at ten o'clock I saw them one by one popping through the hedge into the garden again, enjoying a feast ever since. They love the brambles and ivy growing in the hedge. They had gone back into their field to sleep, at 9 o'clock this morning they very laying around the single hawthorn tree, waiting for the sun to touch the green grass... Our children will be delighted!

Woolly Gathering in the Wooden Spoon, Killaloe

Woolly Gathering in the Wooden Spoon, Killaloe, on Tuesday, October 25th 9.30am - 11.30am.

Everybody is very welcome, to join us for a coffee morning in the Wooden Spoon in Killaloe to do some knitting, crochet and other handwork; learn more about the Woolly Gatherings and Shop, meet the people involved and other craft makers from the area over a lovely cup of coffee. I it also a great opportunity to meet some of the tutors and to exchange some knowledge! It will be a lovely morning - looking forward to seeing you there! x Jenny

A tea party - handmade

 One day, my daughter decided, it would be lovely to have a tea party. After a lot of confusion between tea party and birthday party - doesn't the one come with the other? She managed to invite a couple of friends for an after school outing in the woods of Mountshannon. I love this woodland, the trees still carry magic, a little stream which intercepts your path here and there while you walk joining a more substantial river further on. Up until now, my two were wading in the river, walking along, while I walked the path. Under bridges, upstream and downstream, pushing brambles and grass out of their way while they walked.  But not now, autumn has come and a cold wind has settled in. We were lucky, her tea party enjoyed the last bit of warm sunshine in their woolly cardigans, vests and jumpers.

Giving a helping hand to climb a gate                                            

Mia has done a wonderful job creating this vest using Noro yarn

Handmade hat by Elizabeth using Kolibri Autumn. elishevaproject.blogspot.com 

My daughter wearing a cardigan I made- she choose Kolibri Purple

Watching horses

My son, this top has been made out of left over yarns he chose himself; the green is the irish donegal aran tweed, the red is a 2 string mix of red and orange alpaca wool and the multicoloured botton part is handspun, which I spun and dyed myself. 

All sitting on the gate, watching draught horses grazing.

This red cardigan has been hand knitted by this beautiful girl's mama, Rachel. It uses the same pattern like I used for my daughter's cardigan, but Rachel is the more adventorous and experienced knitter so she transformed it into something else! I got a lovely front flower pocket, which I am very tempted to copy ;)

The cardigan used the Kolibri Temptation (pure wool), Manos red would be a softer substitude (pure Merino)

Little boy busy at work collecting firewood. He is wearing a handmade vest, knitted in basket-weave, 

using DK weight Alpaca.

I enjoyed taking pictures of her, even though, she wasn't easy to catch ;)

Such a beautiful girl - enjoying cups of warm mint tea and cake

Playing by the river - you can see the drops of water - somebody threw a big rock in...

And here we are, wearing winter hats - autumn has come...

I hope you enjoyed our little tea party;

thank you.

'Basic recipe' - how to knit socks made easy!

Knitting Socks workshop! 

Knitting Socks workshop!On the 13th and the 27th of October 10am-12.30! Edell McLoughlin has kindly offered to teach knitting socks once more - 10 Euros/session. All yarns and needles are available in the shop, but you can bring your own, of course. Only 10 Spaces available, please book ahead! 087 0911275

IF you would like to see some more of Edell's work, please visit her ravelry page:

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/EddieMc

KNITTING Contemporary patterns and styles

KNITTING
           Contemporary patterns and styles

           Dates: Every Thursday
                      September 1st  - October 6th

There will be plenty of handouts along with a choice of easy-to-follow patterns or you can bring your own. Classes cover pattern reading, finishing items, buttonholes, cables, and a wide range of stitches.
This is a favourite class! Early booking advised.
.
Duration:      6 weeks 10am  12.30pm
Teacher:       Sarah Thompson
Costs:           €12 per session
                     €45 Returnees (single payment)
                     €60 First timers (single payment)

FREE workshops / demos in association with CELT

FREE workshops / demos in association with Woolly Gathering : Crochet, Knitting, Spinning, Natural Dyeing, Felting - bring along your own projects and join in, there will be Crafts and Supplies for sale! Also Herb Lore walk + talk with Kes Clarke


Saturday, 20th of August 2011
12 - 4pm


Community Garden Scariff, Co Clare


Contact for more info: Jennifer: 0870911275 or CELT office: 061-640765 (Sarah)

YOGA MAT - Felt your own yoga mat




Felt your own Yoga mat (slip proof) in a One-day session!
Tutors will help and advise during the design and felt process.
Feel free to bring your own design, if you got one in mind!
You will learn how to fix a design in place without loosing its shape.
There is no previous felt making experience needed.
Early booking advised, limited spaces available.


For bookings and more info contact: Jennifer 087 0911275

Date: August 6th Saturday  
Duration: 9.30am - 6pm
Teachers: Mia Foley & Jennifer Lienhard
Costs: €60 incl. lunch, tea & coffee
Spaces: 6-8
Materials: €35 - €45 approx.

Spinning with the drop spindle - a bit of fun!

Spinning with the drop spindle - an interesting art and craft. Beautiful to watch, but even more nurturing to do. We were a group of 8, some with experience, some without. After we established the differences between fibres and spindles we got finally started. Week one was prone to be frustrating and whenever you decide to pick up  spinning - rule number one: take your time. It is only through doing it again and again that you will finally be able to spin long stretches. Anyway, week two was a great meeting. By the end of it everybody seemed to have found an understanding of the fibre and were able to spin on the drop spindle. At least that was the impression I got ;)! Thank you for coming and hopefully I will see you again for the 'advanced class'!!!

Handspun Yarn

Carding the wool

Spinning the fleece

Getting a good twist!

Love these boots....

Henneke's first handspun yarn, from her own shetland sheep's fleece

KNITTING - Contemporary patterns and styles

 Dates: Every Thursday, September 1st  - October 6th 

There will be plenty of handouts along with a choice of easy-to-follow patterns or you can bring your own. Classes cover pattern reading, finishing items, buttonholes, cables, and a wide range of stitches.
This is a favourite class! Early booking advised.
.
Duration:      6 weeks 10am  12.30pm
Teacher:       Sarah Thompson
Costs:           €12 per session
                     €45 Returnees (single payment)
                     €60 First timers (single payment)

For booking call Jennifer on 087 0911275 or e-mail:
woollygathering@hotmail.com

Looking forward to seeing you there! :)

                                                                               
                                                                                                      Previous knitting workshop

                                                                                                 

Combining Wool and Silk - A marriage made in heaven...

To set up the workshop space for the nuno - felting has been an interesting experience. You just don't know what to expect; drowning furniture, swimming pool conditions... getting out goggles for everybody and keeping the snorkels close by - just in case... I settled on piles of towels hidden under chairs and tables and just as well; they were well soaked and hanging on the washing line by the time people were leaving! But no rushing ahead yet...

I loved the aprons!

I love giving workshops; I thoroughly enjoy watching people following their thought-train, developing an idea from simple information and a few suggestions and even though everybody got the exact same bit of information the final pieces couldn't be more different. The colour schemes, textures and designs are all so unique and yet created by the one and same technique - Nuno felting. Joining Cloth with fibre, best known as combining silk fabric with wool. I was as excited, if not even more so, as the participants themselves about their designs and the final finished pieces! It was great fun and hard work. In the first two sessions we explored the differences between felting wool into cheesecloth and wool muslin. Tedious work but worthwhile, if you want to learn how to felt into fabric; at least I think so, but than I didn't have to do the hard work ;)

The next couple of days we considered different laying out techniques as well as exploring general felting techniques like net-felting and cobweb felting.

Network felting without cloth....

And an interesting piece of cobweb felt .... 

Finally, we worked on the silk fabric; some applied the network technique, others came up with gorgeous flower designs and contemporary pieces. Because we only have 2.5 hour sessions, some had to take their great pieces home to either finish or store until the next session.

Silk scarf....

More beautiful silk scarves!

Some participants couldn't wait until the next session and finished their pieces at home. So we started on a pair of felted wrist warmers introducing resist felting method and adding marbles to add texture.

Adding wool around a piece of cardboard wrapped with netting 

Adding design

wetting the wool

Working the 'felt'

First finished wrist warmers!

Thank you all for joining our workshop; it was great fun and hopefully we'll see you all again!

Woolly Gathering - knitting & crochet & handwork get together

Woolly Gathering on Saturday, 2nd of July - 10.30am - 12.30pm

Caherhurley, Tuamgraney, Co. Clare

Your are all invited to join us for a two hour social session!
Please bring your knitting, crochet or other handworks you are working on!
Children are very welcome, but please bring a little snack along.
This session is great for people to see the shop and to get an idea of what
we are up to every Thursday or simply to join a social handwork session.
There will be NO teaching on this day; but plenty of exchange possibility!

For more info & directions phone Jennifer 087 0911275

Farewell to Spring

Farewell to Spring

Before it feels like Spring has finally bowed her head to Summer, I wanted to share some felted pieces that I made in honour of springtime.

I recall having a nature table in primary school and I clearly remember being captivated by the birds nest it held. The value of bringing the outside in, to the classroom or home is significant, particularly in more urban environments. Children love to gather natural treasures and put them in a special place, like a seasonal table, to remind them of that special walk, what's currently growing or changing in nature and the colours or creatures we associate with that time of year.

 Symbolic figures such as these reflect the changing seasons outside and welcome in the new. The figures have real presence, are sturdy enough for gentle play by older children and are ideal as central figures in puppet plays and storytelling.

Lady Spring's basket I made from hemp, I felted with undyed and plant-dyed wool. I tell you, working with plant-dyed is a whole other level of experience as a feltmaker. Every time I use it I swear I don't want to work with any other kind of wool. It is quite literallyalive and you can feel the energy of that in your hands as you work with it. It's also to do with the very subtle qualities of the colours.

Jenny of Woollygathering kindly photographed these locally in East Clare. They were the preliminary shots for a series of Spring cards, taken with the thought of making a collection of greeting cards that celebrate or mark each season. The seed of an idea to be further developed...

 These needle felted figures are made without any sewing, gluing or patterns, I work from my head. And why I love it..? They are100% Wool. I can take it absolutely anywhere when I'm working on it, (and I do!)without having to think about access to water. There's no clean-up after a work session and I can put it down and pick it up at will. In other words, it's perfect if you have a family, small children. I find I can do it right there at my kitchen table, in between getting up to stir the soup, or soothing my small boy's latest injury ; ) And I love the sound of it, of the fibres entangling with every stroke of the needle. Three-dimensional work was not a strength for me at art college and as I have mostly worked in two dimensions, I've found that the soft sculpture work really has developed my sense of that, and brought me on in ways I didn't expect. 

I cherish the way handwork can make you feel like you're making something (quite special) out of nothing. It is just so with this process, you start out with tufts of coloured fluff and end up with a figure you can hold and place, and look to. Enchanting, no? 

Written by Mia Foley - http://miafoleyart.blogspot.com