theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I went to the Knitters Guild meeting tonight.  There was no real program, just a short meeting, a picnic and socializing with knitters.  My kind of event!  Kris, who I know from Yarnery knitting classes, was there.  She had just travelled to Ireland so I asked about her trip.  She was VERY disappointed in the lack of yarn.  Not the lack of sheep mind you — they’re everywhere.  But there is very little knitting wool.  What little she found was being hoarded by one of the few knitters of traditional Irish fisherman knit sweaters that she stumbled upon.  The woman would not sell any of it because she wants to continue using genuine Irish wool for her handknits and has great difficulty finding it.  Kris bought one of the sweaters.  She finally found a small amount of less than wonderful yarn and bought it just to have some from her trip. 

When Sally and I were in Scotland and England, we had trouble finding knitting shops.  You can buy yarn in some of the larger department stores, mostly Rowan and Jaeger yarns.  They do not have in-store knitting experts per se, but have company reps that travel to the different stockists to lend their expertise and promote their designs.  We thought we would find knitting nirvana, but really had to search for any evidence of knitting.  Jean Moss (the tour sponsor) said British designers love Americans because we do so much more knitting than the English. 

The wonderful place we did visit was the home of Wensleydale Longwool.  They have the sheep right there and sell the most beautiful colors of this unique wool in their own shop.  They do have a website, and the shop appears to still be in business (Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop). The yarn has a gorgeous sheen and knits up like adult alpaca — a long staple yarn that kind of fights you a little bit.  The sheep are the cutest you have ever seen:

 

Anyway, back to the Knitters Guild!  It was a great evening and wonderful catching up on the local knitting community.  I can’t get enough of all that.