Dozens of times over the years people have showed me handknit sweaters purchased in Ireland. Almost all of those sweaters have looked like the very same sweater: honeycomb cable up the front and a larger cable framing the honeycomb panel. I began to fear that the knitters in Ireland had forgotten the richness of their own traditions which included many more stitch patterns and many more ways to arrange those stitches into beautiful sweaters.
We are so grateful to our good friend and customer Carole, who introduced us to Rosaleen Hegarty. Rosaleen manages Cranaknits, located in the town of Buncrana, in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. She manages a group of cottage knitters who take wool home and knit sweaters. The knitters bring their work in to Rosaleen’s factory where a group of highly skilled women assemble and finish the sweaters, make corrections as needed, and ready the sweaters for shipment to stores. Our staffmember, Debbie, has visited there and witnessed these women correcting mistakes on cable panels with incredible speed.
Rosaleen also had a bag of sweaters with her that proved that Irish knitting has not devolved to one sweater with a honeycomb cable up the front. Rosaleen’s knitters knit many different styles–most of which are Rosaleen’s original designs. In fact, the Irish government has hired Rosaleen to teach throughout the country to keep up standards and to encourage innovation within the tradition. The European Union has also recognized her as a resource on this type of knitting and has hired her to record information that can be archived for future generations.
Join us for an evening with Rosaleen on Friday, April 25th, 2008, 6 to 9 pm. We will do some cable knitting in genuine Irish aran wool. We will hear some of her remarkable story, and we will get to see that beautiful bag of finished sweaters, some of which will be for sale that evening only. Cost for the evening will be $25 which will include approximately 2 ounces of Irish wool. Supplies needed will be size 8 needles, circular or straight. Call 219-462-1700 to register.
