Irish crochet lace has been an inspiration to me since the 1980s, and so you might imagine how pleased I was to take an Irish crochet workshop from Máire Treanor at the Knit and Crochet Show earlier this month.
Máire is from Ireland, and she’s the author of Clones Lace: The Story and Patterns of an Irish Crochet.
Máire showed us some stunningly beautiful examples of crocheted lace from Clones. She said that the crocheters of old specialized in certain motifs. Someone else would buy a bunch of motifs and then crochet them together. She also showed crocheted laces from other countries, which were most likely inspired by Irish crochet lace.
See all the Clones knots in my class sample? They’re so cute! My favorite tip we learned was how to make the Clones knot by swiveling our crochet hooks back and forth.
My doily is about 12 inches (30 cm) across. Máire’s little crocheted doilies use even more motifs than mine, but hers measure no more than 5-1/2 inches (12 cm) across. She uses much finer thread.
When I’m finished joining all the motifs, I’ll take out the green tacking thread and remove the paper.
Several people asked me what yarn I was using, because they loved the pale pink and pretty butter cream colors. Aunt Lydia’s No. 10 crochet cotton. Really. The green shamrocks are DMC Cebelia No. 10.
Instructions for the motifs and the Clones knot appear in Máire’s book, which has been reissued recently by Lacis. The cover is slightly different than the one shown above. The catalog number is LH52, price US$28.00.
- Say Máire’s name more-or-less like this: MY-ra TRENN-r
- Clones is pronounced CLOH-ness. It’s the name of a town in Ireland.