Hands (Wool Spinning in Donegal)

cheap fares once a common feature of the Irish countryside are fast dying out replaced by Mart's and factories but in Carrick a Donegal village between Killybegs and Glen column kill they still hold the September fair oh we have to boil in about it these sheep are being tied up using hand-woven sugan straw ropes young farmers like Carl car from Mina cannon kill car mingled with Kenny sheep dealers for the business of buying and selling is deadly serious teeth and bones are critically examined for signs of age or disease today we have three and a half million sheep in Ireland yielding some twenty million pounds of wool each year of which approximately three-quarters is exported though we import almost as much again a far cry from the early days when a man might keep a few sheep for his needs mutton for the table and wool for back sheep have a long tradition in Ireland they were probably brought in by the first Neolithic farmers over five thousand years ago and there's two on the opposite side there please as a tray that begin t b6 b9 and b12 okay 12 this is a big pipe that one lying down there she's not for sale merely we give it a we hush up making a sad guy make a more private of our sale she's real pretty she's beautiful fifteen apace you must be joking laughter why did you get me for the shift anyway well a corner Duncan Ely mark yesterday 15 didn't even all the chords rusty do it will do and then write words I'll tell you what there's too much you give you but I'll give you a tenner no no girl oh well that's our new home and grind engine for night time per night no you guy I couldn't do that huh I mean when you study up this goddamn thing you take him home and maybe you lose to the more night what the hell jeez Jimmy I couldn't work Elena how I know how are you know got a buddy you got a Bodie off them all right there captain the year they have their Bengals in you know Artesia I wouldn't you know known ain't half about it no no wait no I know that all females which is a very good thing Lord you given to me at night no not a hope like yeah come on there I'll go through that six five thirteen new piece if you want them and if you don't you can keep them I always like the deference okay cut the difference right butters that's twelve apiece provocation on that's okay okay how much okay all right Martin you are hi Jeff when the final bargain was made the last animal sold there is time to spare and money to spend perhaps to buy a new suit of clothes from the traveling tailor once the Taylor walked from village to village carrying the tools of his trade a pair of scissors a bunch stick for measuring a flatiron called the tailor's goose spending a week in a farmhouse cutting and stitching making fine new suits from the wool spun dyed and woven by hand clothes to last a lifetime durable weatherproof warm is the fleece from which they were fashioned all summer long these Hardy mountain sheep have grazed the slopes of Glen column kill or around slieve league whose fantastic cliffs rise 2,000 feet above the wild Atlantic coast now they are going some for export more to be kept for breeding and still more will browse and new pastures until the lambing and shearing seasons come round once more why didn't you come our staycation did you know the chief one for your team from mid-june onwards the sheep are rounded up for shearing the cow family are farmers Frank Carr and his wife and their son cow who now runs the farm mrs. Kaur still cards and spins in the old traditional way kaha breeds the hardy blackfist Scott shows with the curly horns which have long been a feature of the duneagle scene shearing the Sheep is a highly skilled job methods of shearing and the tools used have changed little over the centuries the sheep shears are Divis as it is called an Irish that Carol is using is very similar to one which was excavated in High Street Dublin a relic of medieval times oh it's very warm Frank car takes a dander up from the new homestead to see how things are going sheep and the wool they produce have made duneagle strong since the days when the princely O'Donnell's large of the fish held sway for over 400 years princes and people withstood anglo-norman pressure remaining prosperous and ruggedly independent trading wool and homespun clothes to the great medieval shipping centers of Europe sheep can be broadly divided into long wolves medium and short wolves the Wicklow Cheviot is a medium willed sheep thriving and moderately bleak terrain the fleece of the gold eros common mutton sheep is also a medium name though of slightly better quality the land where it thrives is a better quality to this magnificent suffered down Ram is an example of the short world breeds which yield a yet finer wool his fleece though not yet fully grown shows the crimping and elastic quality of the wool fibers it shows clearly in this washed fleece the mountain black face fleece is long and coarse and is used mainly for carpet making and blending much of this wool is exported to Bradford in England mrs. Kaur uses the wool to knit the socks and jerseys for her family she does very little separating as she spins most of the fleece in Louisburg County Mayo mrs. Bessie Morrison sorts the fleece into three grades of wool first she discards the unkempt edges of the fleece when the fleece is separated and graded it gets a rough hand mixing then it is washed mrs. Morrison washes carefully pressing the wool gently so that it will not tangle or felt the soft mayo water is a help you when the wool is dry it is teased or pricked clean of any briars or sticks next the wool must be greased different spinners use different freezing agents mrs. Carr sprinkles her wool with vegetable oil which she gets from the factory in kill car mrs. Morrison uses paraffin oil the blending of oil and wool facilitates the carding in places where all was scarce the people used goose grease after the wool has been sorted washed teased and oiled comes the carding the Carters have fine wire teeth mounted in leather a handful of fleece is placed between two counters and combed backwards and forwards between the teeth until a tangled fibers lie side by side lastly the fibers are rolled on the back of the cauda mrs. Morrison in Mayo cards in exactly the same way though she rolls the wool on the back of a car door by hand now the wool is ready for spinning mrs. Morrison uses the big wheel that throw anymore the spindle is driven by a band of wool it is held in place by woven rush called ears in this district to start the wool is one round the spindle the wheel is turned carefully drawing the wool out as it gathers twists at this crucial point it is reversed and the end attached to the spindle the spinner stands in order to work the big wheel constantly moving backwards and forwards when a roll is spun the next is deftly joined on the whirling spindle twists the carded wool into yarn when spun the section is wound straight onto the spindle Mayuri Tolkien Ella do you 82 year old mrs. Kate Mitchell of Dingle County Kerry learnt to spin at her mother's knee it is over 40 years since she used the wheel for the art of spinning has all but died out in the south of Ireland spinning to her is a reminder of hard times long past in this district the spindle is held in position by two pieces of Sally willow the big kweilyn carry is similar to the big wheel in Mayo except that the spinner sits missus car uses the small flex wheel driven by a foot pedal it allows the spinner to use both hands and work faster the big wheel was also extensively used in Danny gold and it was common to find both types in the same house in 1796 the linen manufacturers in Ulster distributed 6000 flax wheels and 60 looms in Donegal alone in a single year to encourage flax growing before long almost every home and duneagle owned its own flax wheel which of course was used for spinning wool and this formed the basis of much of the 19th century homespun tweed industry the small wheel are torn II begged changed the social pattern the gears of a parish carried their wheels to a different house each night and passed the ours together carding and spinning storytelling and singing drinking the odd cup of tea and having a few dances in between when the men were ready to join them I and many as the match was made at the factory as they called it Old Country spinners once had the same it's best to spin when the sheep are asleep but night spinning and all the company and the crack in the core that went with it are a thing of the past only the occasional solitary spinner like mrs. car working quietly at home remains look the flyer evenly distributes the yarn onto the bobbin mrs. car now Rhys pins the yarn to make two ply wool you in high summer in north connemara it is traditionally the children's job to go out after rain to gather the scrapbook the gray lichen that grows in the granite rocks of the area in Donegal mrs. car still gathers the kruppel as it is called locally for dyeing it is also a lichen though a different variety the Latin name of this lichen is par Melia sex Attalus hello deli the method used to dye the fleece vary slightly from district to district in north connemara the dye pot is packed with alternate layers of fleece and lichen and left to simmer over the fire boiled down with the wool the lichen gives varying shades ranging from the pale buff of seafoam to the dark red-brown of bog oak often the dye was fixed with the juice of elder twigs and oak twigs and tips were used to produce a glossy black the early Irish loved color our legends and tales of long ago are full of accounts of beautifully colored clothes maidens with tunics of purple and green and gold red branch nights with cloaks of blue and yellow and crimson mrs. Mary coin waits patiently oh darling sis lovely city on the dip yeah two different shades we've got now then I only wonder than the Nazi didn't shake yeah no shop dies here all these plants yield natural dye stuffs which give vibrant splendid colors to homespun rules and the old traditional names linger on road called glassine and Irish used for a blue dye crimson obtained from a plant called Rudd or ruin the roots of water lily dye a dark rich brown these schemes of homespun wool are all naturally dyed the Aran Islands on the western seaboard have long been renowned for their hand knits fisherman's Ganz ease in banning wool still retaining the natural oils which keep them waterproof traditional knitting however intricate and skilled has always been purely functional kanzi's or jerseys to keep a body warm affording as much protection from the weather as a top coat sucks sturdy long-lasting knitted from natural wolves by patient hands like mrs. cars the cars reared 13 children and frugal comfort because they were largely self-supporting shoes and boots made and mended by mr. car who in his young days was apprenticed to the local shoemaker the craft of wool and home spinning is vanishing fast the echo of the wheelie turning and from far away the searching call of the Oystercatcher knitting needle knitting needle and the lonely cry of the Sheep you

Channel: undefined

Views: 178,049

Rating: 4.9420891 out of 5

Keywords: Carrick Donegal, Spinning (Hobby), Wool (Fiber), Kilcar (City/Town/Village), County Donegal (Administrative Division)

Id: ocf0J5qTenQ

Length: 26min 46sec (1606 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/madladhadsaddad]

An old Irish TV show called 'Hands' that highlights different crafts and arts throughout Ireland. From boat building and book binding to saddle making and tailoring.

It really highlights how much Ireland has changed in the last 40 years. Highlighting many traditional crafts have been forgotten also.

Another notable example that's more of a biopic:

Hands: Fermanagh County - 1980

Few playlists I've found on youtube:

23 videos

21 videos

14 videos

[u/AnyDamnThingWillDo]

Loved it as a kid. Probably one of the reasons I wanted to be a craftsman man and became a goldsmith.

[u/tmbgisrealcool]

Does anyone know of a site where these hand made Irish clothes can still be purchased? Possibly a store in Ireland that ships?

[u/Eirebolg]

This is just blatantly wrong. Everyone that's ever run a sheep factory knows that wool is secreted after vigorous massage, and thats only if you control for the other principle parameters like humidity, banter and miscarriages of justice in the surrounding area.

It seems like the above video was made by the same charlatans as in https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/8w3ul4/how_the_internet_is_made/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 They're only out to mislead and create fake news. Beware.