Áras Chrónáin, Clondalkin, Dublin in 3rd March 2012

Book a place with maureen@lozawool.com

22nd Annual

Clones Lace Summer Workshop

June 27- July1st 2012

in Ulster Canal Stores, Clones.

2012 Summerschool brochure

local B+B list

July 11 – 14th 2012

in Lacis, Berkeley SFO

July 18-20th 2012

in Los Angeles area.

Also Mineapolis/St Paul and Chicago

in July 2012.

Colpo, Brittany France in September 2012

(not confirmed yet)

West Cheshire,  UK  5-7 October 2012

More details of the above courses to follow in the coming months or by emailing me at 

maireslace@gmail.com

Email me personally at maireslace@gmail.com for more details

Clones Lace Summer Workshop  June 15-19th 2011

Máire Treanor cuts the cake to celebrate the

21st Annual Cassandra Hand Summerschool of Clones Lace.

Mother and daughter – Mary Martin with her daughter

Elizabeth, who made friendship bracelets for her friends,

while her mother concentrated on some fine crochet motifs!

Kathleen Kerley demonstrates some Carrickmacross Lace

in the Cassandra Hand Centre

A neck piece by Pat Tubb 2011

Ela Rzechula from Poland at summerschool 2011

Ela’s first piece of Clones Lace 2011

Famine tears Sept 2011

-presented to President Mary McAleese

President Mary McAleese and Máire Treanor

Sept 10 2011

Marcella Leonard, President Mary McAleese and Kevin Morgan with

‘Famine Tears.’

President McAleese talking to Eileen Crudden and Alice Carey

Clones Lace workshops in 2012:

Clones Lace Summer Workshop June 27th – July 1st 2012

Clones Lace Summer Workshop

local B+B list

Lacis, Berkeley 2012 – July 11-14th 2012 -date to be confirmed

L.A. 2012 – July 2012  Date to be confirmed

Minneapolis  2012 – date and venues to be confirmed

                     Mini workshops in MN:

Tuesday 2nd August 4-7pm in Steven Be Yarn Garage MN

Thursday 4th August 4-7pm in Bella Lana, MN

more comment and photos to follow…

StevenBe IC Workshop MN 2011

Shamrock Clones Knot Jabot

I first saw the Shamrock Clones Lace Jabot, below, in a chest of drawers, among other pieces of Lace, belonging to Eithne D’Arcy and her family, the Mc Gorrys, who were lace buyers in Clones up until the circa 1940s. Eithne told me that it was crocheted by an old woman in the hills beyond Roslea. It was probably crocheted with the help of her neighbours or family. When it was finished, she walked about 20 miles over hills and tracks it to sell it to Mrs McGorry. It was brown black, from the turf fire in her cottage. The McGorrys staff then ‘did it up’ in their laundry, so that it became white, crisp and beautiful.

I have always loved this piece, as it has the shamrock Clones knot filling stitch and would get it from the drawer each time I visited Eithne in the 1990s. When she died in November 1999, Eithne’s daughter, Daphne, kindly sold it to me and it is now a treasured part of my collection.

Venetian Needlepoint lace – sewn in early 18th century

according to lace experts  Jules Kliot (Lacis) and Anne MacIver (Sunnyvale Lace Museum)

The second piece is Venetian Point lace and dates from the early 18th century, according to lace experts. The bottom edging is done in bobbin lace, to make it easier to remove for washing purposes. This Venetian Point lace piece (small gros point) has been cut at either end and was part of a larger piece. It was part of the possessions of Lady Langham of Tempo Manor, in Fermanagh, formerly the seat of a senior branch of the Maguires, up until the early 19th century. We can only imagine its history… It has a raised outline around the motifs, which is one of the identifying features of Innishmacsaint lace, and which is a feature of one of the Brady neck bands. Comparing the Venetian Point lace piece with the Brady neck bands, I became more aware of how Venetian Point lace would have influenced Clones Lace and Irish Crochet lace in the late 1840s-1850s, before the  people began crocheting their own motifs, inspired by the wild flowers and commonplace items around them ( see Clones Lace, 2nd edition, by Máire Treanor, Lacis 2010)

1st and 2nd neckband are Clones lace samples from Edward Brady, a Clones Lace Buyer

The 3rd neckband was worn by the mother of Dorothy Scott, a school teacher in Temora, New South Wales between 1903-4. All three neckbands were crocheted by the same group of crocheters in Clones.

The 3rd and 4th neckbands are samples and came from a trunk, belonging to a Clones lace buyer in Clones – Edward Brady, who was a lace exporter from the late nineteenth century – 1940. Dorothy Scott sent me the third piece  from Australia. It belonged to her mother, a school teacher in the Boundary Villa School, near Temora, New South Wales, in about 1903-4. All 3 pieces were made by the same group of women in the Clones area, as they have the same motifs and shape. The  second piece has needle filling stitches. The 3rd and 5th pieces have the same water lily motifs. They are very similar to Venetian Needlepoint lace, which inspired Irish Crochet Lace.

More to be added…

French Restuarant, in upper Manhatten, NYC,  discussing Máire’s Antique

Clones Lace Collection and Dora’s forthcoming tour of

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyiv, Ukraine in August 2010

Máire and  Lacheryl Cillie  from Alabama, at the Knitting and Crochet Show in Manchester NH July 2010

One of the groups that took workshop in ‘Be Creative with Clones Lace’

at the Knitting and Crochet Show in Manchester NH.

July 2010

- Clones Irish Crochet Lace workshops

at the World Famous Lacis in Berkeley SF

July 2010

-after the Clones Lace workshop in JJ Hill House,

Minneapolis in July 2010.

Antonina Kuznetsova (Tonya) and Máire enjoy a boat ride in Kyiv, Ukraine

August 2010

June 24-28th 2010

The 20th Clones lace workshop was a great success. I will insert some photos to show you later.  It took place from June 24-28th 2010. As part of the evening events, we had our usual visit to the Sheelin Museum of Irish Lace in Bellinaleck, County Fermanagh, which is always a lovely evening, looking at all the various kinds of Irish lace – Needlepoint – Youghal, Kenmare and Innishmacsaint – the net lace of Limerick and the applique, net and needlepoint of Carrickmacross.  Of course the Irish Crochet was what fascinated most of us.

Every year, I bring a group here and every year, I am inspired  by the beautiful work that I see, thinking of the hours upon hours that these women spent, in dim light and squalid conditions, crocheting or sewing, to make beautiful creations that they could only dream about wearing.  After spending some time with Rosemary, we went  next door to the restaurant and had some scrumptious food and dessert to finish off a most enjoyable  evening, by the shores of Lough Erne.

On Friday evening we did the Cassandra Hand Trail. We started our evening in Clones, at the Church of Ireland, where Cassandra’s husband was rector from 1847 until the 1860s. We looked at the plaque in her memory and at the organ which she donated, bought with the proceeds of the lace industry, which she spearheaded. We then walked to the Cassandra Hand Centre, which was  built  as a school for girls and infants in 1859, again with the proceeds of the lace money.  We travelled out to her home at Altertate, which later became Bishopscourt.  Miriam Moore, who now lives in this beautiful house, welcomed us warmly and brought us through her home, where we decided that the brightest room must have been the lace room, where groups of women were taught crochet by women who had travelled from County Kildare, during the famine. We imagined how these women probably learned crochet as part of  a small group  and then went back to their own communities and taught it to other groups of women and girls.  By 1850, according to the Northern Standard, there were 1500 lace makers in the area, in a 15 mile radius. They probably copied Venetian needlepoint lace at this stage, but later, as they became more confident, created their own flowers, motifs and filling stitches.  It is impossible to say when the Clones Knot was created as a filling stitch, but as I learn more  about Clones Lace, I realize that the Venetian-like lace was probably what they made at this stage and then, as more people crocheted, they developed their own motifs from the hedges and flowers that grew around them.  We also went out to Cassandra Hand’s grave at Clogh Cemetery and were horrified that it was in such bad repair.  I will put up some photos to show its condition. We would like to raise some money and get it repaired as soon as possible.

is in need of some repair!

On Saturday, we had a lovely talk on Cassandra Hand, by Pat Tubb, who has been doing the family history of the Hand Family.

Orla Breslin then gave a powerpoint demonstration on freeform crochet, which developed from Irish Crochet. Orla had lots of examples of freeform, including a lovely bag that she had crocheted, and of  hyperbolic crochet.  We spent a couple of hours, listening to Orla and looking at her samples and then relaxed over a few drinks in the Lennard Arms Hotel.  Everybody enjoyed the weekend

To come:

Visit to the States:

The Met Museum, NYC

CGOA Conference, Manchester NH

Lacis Museum, Berkeley SF

JJ Hill House, Minneapolis MN

Trip to Kiev:

with Dora Ohrenstein and Tonya Dashkovskaya

lots of photos to come over the next few days.

Old Skills New Friends

January 2010

This is a cross community – cross border project between Clones, Co Monaghan and Maghery, Co Armagh. The inspiration behind the project was the reopening of the Ulster Canal which will enhance the two  communities, both socially and economically.  Clones is at one end of the Ulster Canal, quite close to Lough Erne and the river Finn, travelling through Monaghan, Castle Leslie, Tynan abbey, into Benburb, where it joins the river Blackwater, opening into Lough  Neagh at Maghery.

The Maghery group are bringing their boatbuilding and curragh skills to Clones, while Clones crochet Lace will be taught to the Maghery group. As part of this project,  in January 2010, Máire Treanor brought her skills to a group of 55 oaps in a cross community  project and a  similar number of kids from various schools in the area.

Karen Mc Cullagh's necklace