By Deborah Roed
I just got back from the Knit Social Irish Crafting Tour of Ireland, which was the best knitting tour I’ve been on so far. We started in Dublin, went on to Inis Mor, one of the Aran islands, Cork, and Blarney Castle to name a few of the stops and ended back in Dublin. Along the way, we had three knitting workshops, one for cables, one for how to use Doodle cards for colour knitting fun, and one that was colour knitting and steeking with Carol Feller. We crafted silver rings in Dublin and baked bread and scones in a castle kitchen. We got tours of a whiskey distillery, a pottery business, a wool mill and sheep farm, and a few of our group even kissed the Blarney Stone.
The workshop had projects that were appropriate to the length of time we had. There was a mug cozy for the Doodle cards with some information on how they could be used to make a custom colour work cowl. For cables, we got two patterns, a headband or a wine cozy. The headband had one three-cross cable, and the wine cozy had multiple types of cables so you could pick based on experience. At the workshop with designer, Carol Feller, she gave us a fingerless glove pattern to practice our colour work and steeking.
As with any knitting tour, there was lots of knitting time on the tour bus between stops. On this tour, there were informal knitting circles in the evenings. By the end of the tour, many of us had finished projects. I have a mug cozy, a new cable headband and one of the two fingerless gloves completed. I stayed on in Ireland after the tour ended, so that second glove is almost finished.
Needless to say, there was also yarn shopping. This is Knit in Dublin, Hedgehog Fibres, Blarney Woollen Mill store and Cushendale Mill. Cushendale is a working mill from fleece to yarn and even weaves blankets. We got a tour from the current owners.
We had a great group of knitters, from a beginner who had only been knitting for a month to experienced knitters who had been knitting for decades. The consensus was that we all got something out of all the workshops. In addition to the knitting workshops, we also made silver rings and baked soda bread and scones. Also, I have to thank Knitting Tours and Knit Social for planning and running this tour. Melanie and Fiona from Knit Social were great hosts, and Patricia from Irish Knitting Tours was a wonderful guide.
