Free irish Crochet Exhibit booklet

[darski]

http://lacismuseum.org/exhibit/Irish%20Crochet%20Lace.pdf

 

I was doing a quick search for some Irish Crochet ideas and this booklet (warning PDF) came up very high on the list.

 

It is for drooling purposes only as it is pics and not patterns but even so it is just lovely to look at.

 

I absolutely adore Irish crochet motifs even if I cannot do them in thread. Just go, look and (oh yeah and download too but your keyboard may need some pampers)

 

 

Also note... peel back the address to see all the pretties

[#1Crochetfan]

Thanks for sharing! I loved going through the beautiful work done. Can you imagine how long:scrachin it must have taken for the women to make the items? It's amazing to see such beautiful work!

[Miss Crochet]

I think it's beautiful. I'm Irish so maybe I'm a bit biassed, though.

 

You know, the Irish Famine took place in the 1840s but it was such a traumatic event, it still reverberates today. My grandfather wouldn't be treated in the local hospital because it used to be the workhouse in the famine times: as a boy, he remembers seeing old men who had been brought there, starving, when they themselves were boys. Ireland's present population hovers at 4 million. In the 1840s it was double that. Half the country's population was drained through famine and immigration, (I believe it's the only European country whose population is less than what it was a hundred years ago.)

 

So bearing that in mind, Irish crochet literally saved lives. It's weird to think it, but crochet - the ability to crochet - meant the difference between life and death, between being able to feed your children and watch them starve. It is quite extraordinary. And given the horrific circumstances it was made in, perhaps all the more beautiful for it.

[craziebunny]

beautiful!! what time was spent on those!

[wiz3283]

Oh would I love to have that dress. Just gorgeous!

[Granny Square]

Wow, that was fascinating (and beautiful). I didn't realize that the practice was, in part, to fabricate little bits that got 'assembled' elsewhere.

 

I was reminded of a recent thread where folks weighed in about using new-fangled charts instead of written patterns, where here the written pattern was eschewed in favor of copying from pictures in a sample-book.

 

And, such cobweb fine thread! Makes my #10 thread look like rope a tugboat would use

[MaryPat]

Thank you for posting. Fascinating to think that schools of crochet existed.

 

I really had no idea that it sprung up to save a country. Makes me want to spend a week in one of the schools.

[HappyOldCro]

How beautiful!!! I currently own two very old doilies, one is Cluney lace (a form of Irish crochet- I have been told).

There are several Irish Crochet (and cluney lace) patterns on the Antique pattern library site, for any who want to try their hands at this. However it is PDF...I recently downloaded and printed up one booklet from there. Hope to attempt it after the Holidays.

[birdlady1]

Yummy!

[hooklady]

What is even more amazing to me is that the Irish women made these beautiful garments with a regular sewing needle that were individually made into steel and then the eye was broken out or half struck and bent to make a hook (that's why crochet hooks were called crochet needles in early years). The women then put the needle into the handle of their choice to use for crochet.

 

Thanks for the topic. I am going to add this information to my blog with pictures of some of the early Irish crochet hooks. I don't have any of the hand made crochet needles but I do have some that were specifially made to use for Irish crochet.

 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[JillD]

Thanks for sharing this. The pictures are amazing but the commentary is even better. I never knew the history of Irish Crochet (or even what it was).

 

I'm part Irish as is my husband and I might just print this out to share with him and his family as they are all Ire-philes.

 

Oh, and it's a good thing there are no patterns in that book as I might be tempted to start the evening gown.

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

I love looking at things like this. I know i'll never be able to work up something like that (not enough patience, for one reason lol), but things like this to me are a work of art.