Oh my heart! Driving up the long winding driveway to the sight of daffodils, and lambs everywhere frolicking to keep up with their mothers on dewy grass sounds so very sweet but I assure you it’s a real scene I witnessed and experienced. It was a Sunday morning and Ciaran was hard at work trying to get a new born lamb to get back to his mother. The lamb wasn’t having it though- he would not leave Ciaran’s side.
Over the winter I had spotted Ciaran featured for his yarn line in an issue of the Slow Fashion Irish Magazine and got so excited to try some of his wool. I connected with him over Instagram and we hatched a plan to meet up at his farm for the yarn handoff when I visited in March.
I could have talked to Ciaran all day about his sheep and lambs, yarns & the milling process. But I knew he had a lot to do as all farmers do, always.
When I arrived at my next home base, I quickly put 1 skein to work by splitting it into test samples, scouring once more, and then cold soak mordanting. I foraging for dyes in the Irish country side in County Clare, Tulla to be exact. And I even had a bit to use at a last minute workshop I signed up for with Malú at The Cloughjordan eco village in Tipperary. Making these fiber connections was delightful!
I look forward to using the rest of Ciaran’s Irish Ryeland yarn in my upcoming workshops.
