Last Friday I went tot he Knit & Stitch Show in the RDS Dublin with a small group of ladies from Ferrybank Textiles. We were driven to the door thanks to Kilkenny VEC Community Education. This was fantastic as some of the group have mobility issues.
The idea for the group to go from my perspective was to see first hand the variety of approaches that go under the banner of textiles. The ability to see such work by the top people on this field and ordinary everyday crafts people is very inspiring. The ladies went off by themselves for the first half our trip, which gave me the opportunity to search for exhibits that I felt would allow them to think about the diversity and the fact that any thing goes and that they already have huge skills that just need a direction that is personal to them. I really wanted the group to be inspired to do their own work and to see the uses that other crafts people put the skills that they are acquiring with this group.
The other essential aspect of a show like this is of course the possibility to shop! It is not easy in Ireland to be able to see and touch items that we use before buying them and even to see people demonstrate.
There were opportunities to do workshops at the show which we did not avail of, perhaps we did not have the money and also it is possible to just stand and watch the workshops as they are being run so lots of opportunity to look and learn.
I certainly came away refreshed and inspired to go create and even bought a few bits!!
