knitting neels

I am still in Galway, so I am afraid this will be a text-only post. We had such a good time on the islands! We got the 1030 ferry out to Inis Oírr on Good Friday, and reached Bríd Póill’s B&B around noon. She made us tea and fresh hot scones (yum) which kept us going for a while. We walked the entire island, which is about 4 miles by 3, and got thoroughly sunburned. Because it was Good Friday, only the hotel was open, and no bar was serving. There was no other place to eat, so the hotel was mobbed that night. It took us about two and a half hours to get through dinner; there was only one proper waitress. It didn’t matter much because there was no place to go afterwards. We met the family staying in the B&B with us later in the evening. The father was like Tony Soprano’s brother, it was pretty funny. They were nice though, and were showing us pictures of dolphins that had come in with the Doolin ferry.

There was no sign of the knitting shop I’d been in the last time. I figure that she hasn’t opened up for the summer season yet. Try the website – although it wasn’t working for me. She does intensive 3-day knitting, crochet and weaving courses. From what I could glean from the cached text on Google, you spend a day on Inis Meáinn doing crochet, which sounds like fun. I saw some examples of the weaving on Inis Mór, and I would really like to learn how to do it. I think I will try ringing the number listed for more information. When I find out how much these courses are, what they entail, and if materials are provided, I will put the information up here. It sounds like a really fun holiday, especially if you dig your knitting and crochet. I would really like to think that someone from abroad read about the workshops here and went to one, and had a good time.

We walked almost the entire island. We found a buried church and went back to the shipwreck. I will post pictures and more about the island when I get back to Dublin 🙂 On Saturday, we got the Doolin ferry to Inis Mór, which was just mobbed with tourists. Inis Mór is definitely becoming more like the mainland – there’s a Supermac’s on it, like – but in a way, it pleases me to see tourists from so many different places there. I heard French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese there. Last time, we cycled around the island. This time, we were really tired from walking around Inis Oírr so we took the bus tour instead. We decided not to overnight on the island. The guide was full of interesting facts about the islands. There were many little shops selling a variety of tourist tack, of course, but the selection of knitwear was amazing. I love just looking at the stuff. I’d never buy something I could knit myself! I really like how every single item of knitwear you see in the shops has been handknit by someone on the island. I bought some wool on Inis Mór (of course) and was asking the woman in the shop about it. She said since they don’t have sheep on the island, the wool they use is shipped in. There are no tourists during the winter, and that’s when they do all the knitting. I had fantastic daydreams about whiling a winter away just knitting aran jumpers on the island lol… It would probably be really depressing. All that rain with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

Anyway, back on the mainland, I called into Yarn, which remains my favourite ever wool shop. I got more cotton for my mum’s top, some felted tweed for Salina, and I found the most delicious ball of mohair. You have to see it to believe it!!! Finally, got my hands on the Spring/Summer Rowan magazine too, which is a mixed bag I have to say. What is with the eco-warrior thing? Myself and Alb were laughing over some of the ridiculous photos in it.

I took all black and white photos so I’m really looking forward to getting back to Dublin tomorrow and developing them. I will post lots of pictures when I get back to make up for this being text only! I’m also really looking forward to shipping off some authentic Aran wool to both of my secret pals! Heeeeeee