Welcome to Episode 6!

As promised this is the second part of our visit to the Sheep’s Head Yarn Festival in May. In the first part, we met the organiser, Niamh Cooper, and some of the workshop teachers.

Another aspect of the Sheep’s Head Yarn Festival was the Market Hall which took place in Kilcrohane Community Hall.

So, this episode brings you the chats we had with some of the vendors:

• Kathleen McCarthy who was selling hand-knits
• Fiona Waters of Green Elephant Hand Dyed Yarns with her husband Ciaran.
• Sara Breitenfeldt of Smudge Yarns
• Caroline and Johnny Niland of Life In The Long Grass

I apologise in advance for the quality of the audio in our first interview with Kathleen. We chatted with her in The Old Creamery after the meet & greet but there was a lot of background noise and I’ve played with it a lot but it’s still quite difficult to hear. Just let it wash over you and pretend you’re eavesdropping!

Also, Happy Congratulations to Sara on her recent engagement to Justin!

To wrap up the episode I chatted with Greg who is a professional beer taster and who has recently started brewing his own craft beer.

Below are some visuals and links of what was discussed the interviews.

Kathleen McCarthy

• The Yarn Festival in Skipton mentioned is Yarndale
• Belinda Harris Reid
• Dunmanway Library and in particular the window display featuring a bicycle

Green Elephant Hand Dyed Yarns

• Green Elephant Hand Dyed Yarns Facebook page
• Green Elephant Crochet Facebook page

• Colourway “Child’s Play” described by Ciaran as reminding him of a Jackson Pollock painting

• Winnie’s Craft Cafe in Booterstown
• “Wibbly Wobbly Wonder” Colourway as named by Dearbhla via Instagram
• “Pink Panther” Colourway

Smudge Yarns

• Germans in Wisconsin
• Sara’s Kickstarter campaign as reported in Irish National Press
• Link to Smudge Yarns Etsy page
• “These Islands: Knits from Ireland, Britain and Scotland” book published by Anchor and Bee
• Beer Ireland – professional craft brewers association
  
  

  “Skibbereen” colourway purchased by Dearbhla

  

  Smudge Yarns’ range of colours is reminiscent of natural dyes

  

  Cross-thatched Cowl designed by Sara and pattern published in “These Islands” book

  Life In The Long Grass

  

  Caroline and Life In The Long Grass yarn

  • Link to Life In The Long Grass online shop
  • LITLG was featured in Issue 13 of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine
  • LITLG is available in the following shops:
    • The Constant Knitter in Dublin
    • Warm and Fuzzy in Cary, North Carolina
    • The Celtic Knot in Silverdale, WA
    • The Dublin Bay Knitting Company in Portland, Oregan
    • Mein Woll Shop in Germany
    • Sockmade by Hand in Nederlands
    • Meadow Yarn in Suffolk, UK
    • YAK in Brighton, UK
    • A Yarn Story in Bath, UK
  • Dyers that LITLG are inspired by include:
    • Miss Babs in US
    • Western Sky Knits in US
    • Hedgehog Fibres in Cork
  

  Colourways mentioned in the audio: Tinshed (Centre) and Turf (right)

  

  Colourways that went home with Dearbhla (from left to right): Heathcliff, Bramble and Atlantic Moss

  Beer-tasting with Greg

  • Umami
  • Beersmith App
  • Orange Saison Recipe from Beersmith
  • Raspberry Wit
  • DMS (or Dimethyl Sulphides)
  • Whitelabs Yeast
  • Images of a Fermenter Fridge
  • Images of a Belt Heater for Homebrew
  • Images of Immersion Heater for fermenter
  • Wort
  • Untappd Website
  • 4 VG phenolic or 4-vinyl guaiacol (a.k.a. clove)
  • Esters