While in the hairdressers recently, I was flicking through magazines past all the ads and looking for an article in The British edition of Vogue when I came across a fantastic article all about the Aran.

“The deliciously cosy, creamy coloured cabele-knitted sweater that whispers good taste – and this season no-cold winter wardrobe should be without one”.

According to Michael Kors it has “it has stood the test of time because it’s chic and practical “. The Michael Kors autumn collection featured an Aran with elbow-length sleeves and a Peter Pan collar.

A favourite in the Fifties and Sixties endorsed by Grace Kelly and Steve McQueen………..

Originating in the Aran islands, the cluster of islands off the West Coast of Ireland, winters were and are still harsh, fishing was the major source of income for the islanders and the local women hand knit Aran Sweaters to keep the fishermen warm and protected. At that time they were made from 100% untreated wool which still contained the lanolin making it quite water resistant.

Very few fisherman could swim, many families had their own distinct combination of stitches that identified family names so fishermen could be identified should they be lost and drowned and sea.

Thank you Vogue for a wonderful article on an Irish legend.

Made by Lee Valley in County Cork, we have been selling these stylish fitted Tweed waistcoats in store this year.

Teamed with a grandfather shirt or with a collared shirt and tweed bow tie as pictured here , the tweed waistcoat is a very smart accessory to any wardrobe.

Made using 100% Tweed outer and 100% cotton lining, they are warm and we find they are popular across the board , whether for a formal occasion or casual wear they look great with jeans.

Available now online in 2 tweed shades at €129.99.

After some research recently we discovered the history behind The Country Shop opened in Dublin in 1930 not too far away from us in Stephen’s Green Dublin 2.

A very remarkable woman called Dr. Muriel Gahan who was born in County Donegal in 1897. At the age of 29 Dr. Gahan moved to Dublin where she joined the Society of United Irishwomen in 1929 founding the Country Workers Ltd.

Dublin had been through some turbulent times in the 1920’s with the War of Independence and the subsequent Civil War, it was a wonderful time for women coming together to establish societies such as the United Irishwomen.

Her major contribution to the world of craft came in 1930 when she opened the Country Shop in a basement of a house on Stephen’s Green, with a coffee shop and restaurant on the upper floors it became a place to be in Dublin to meet and shop especially for women of the time.

This was the first time Aran sweaters went on sale in Dublin from 1930 onwards.

Dr. Gahan would visit the Aran islands and other rural areas meet the knitters personally and began buying from them directly and selling in the Country Shop.

Dr. Gahan’s inspiration for such a shop was the realisation of the lack of respect for craft workers and their need for a retail outlet for their products. Giving women in the cottage industry of knitting an outlet to sell their goods.

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We sell Aran knitwear all year round, in the Irish climate be it a chilly summer evening or windy Autumnal day they will always serve a purpose. This is the time of year when Aran knitwear really comes into it’s own. The winter is drawing in, the leaves are falling from the trees what better wardrobe accessory to have than an Irish Wool sweater.

This week we took some time out to work with the very talented Photographer Tristan Hutchinson to update our online knitwear range and we headed off to the beautiful Glendalough in County Wicklow 70km from Dublin. Asked why we didn’t go to Donegal for a photo shoot , when Glendalough is on our door step it’s hard to resist.

Glendalough meaning the “Valley of two lakes” Glendalough – renowned for an early  monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin. Monastic cemeteries and graveyards provide a wealth of history and places to visit as well as two stunning lakes provided a wonderful back drop to take photos of our Autumn/Winter range of knitwear and tweed.

Above shot Róisin is wearing a wool merino Poncho will be available in oat and charcoal and we’ll also have some other poncho style by Shades of Aran whom we blogged about last week.

We are always delighted to source new products, and this week we welcomed Shades of Aran a Donegal based company making beautiful contemporary Irish knitwear using merino wool.

Above is the natural Aran Merino wool zipper jacket which is already selling very well in store and it’s also available in a vibrant purple.

Shades of Aran always do something a little different such as this Aran hoody sweater with front pockets, a unisex garment that is also going very well for us in store, made

using Merino wool. Above is a vibrant red Merino wool cardigan with front pockets and a slight colour, available in a range of other colours in store, we found this bright colour was going well.

We are looking forward to stocking more of this range and expanding our Donegal Aran Range!

It’s been a very exciting month for us here , our crowd funding campaign to raise funds for an electronic make over of the shop was launched. We were amazed to see our goals hit in less than 24 hours!

Essentially Linked Finance are an Irish based company that provide finance to small businesses like ourselves by putting the loan out to public tender to the lenders who are signed up through Linked Finances website http://www.linkedfinance.com

There was an over whelming response to our bid , and were are delighted to be closing the bid in the next week. There is still an opportunity to lend and be a part of a busy Dublin based family owned business!

Peer to peer lending as it’s known is a great alternative to bank borrowing and offers people an insight into other fellow local businesses . We will offer a discount to all of our lenders as an incentive.

We look forward to updating our very out of date till system! Thanks to Linked Finance for all their support. It will be a nice bonus to our 20th Anniversary celebrations next month.

We had the pleasure of visiting the Fisherman Out of Ireland factory in Kilcar County Donegal last week. Fisherman was set up 22 years ago by Dubliner Des Byrne making high quality high end knitwear using local wools as well imported cashmere and extra fine merino wools.

Fisherman have always stood out from the crowd for their high quality fabrics and design blending the traditional with the very fashionable and contemporary.

Here is an example of a ladies polo neck made using 100% extra fine merino wool, extremely soft to the touch , incredible styling, a very modern take on an Aran Style Polo that we have ever seen before. This style will be in Stock the end of October 2015.

Here is a photo of the staff hard at work at the factory in Donegal. Each garment begins on a power loom for 30-100 minutes depending on the detail, it then passses 7-10 stages of checking , hand finishing, quality control, steaming and pressing. An incredible process, all here in Donegal, employing local people and sending Donegal products worldwide. It really is a special thing they do here.

Their brochure shots were taken in Killybegs County Donegal and blend the Fisherman look fantastically. Here is another style we having coming next month….

We are really looking forward to stocking this beautiful range all made in Donegal.

We have been stocking Carnaween Tweed caps made in Donegal for nearly a year now. They are in the high end of the flat cap range. Hand finished with extraordinary attention to detail such as the satin lining, a Carnaween Cap is something special.

The company was set up by Carmel Weir and her partner, Carmel has been in the business for many years, she has taken bespoke tweed carftsmanship to a new level such is their quality and style.

Pictured above is the Charrig style and the grey herring bone in Clochan style above, all named after place names in the Malin Mhór area of North West Donegal. 

Finished with the leather Carnaween logo on the side , these caps have a style of their own. Available in store and online at http://www.thedonegalshop.com

We love selling genuinely Irish made products , but particularly from Donegal. Eddie Doherty a weaver from Ardara in County Donegal learnt the art of handweaving when he only 16 years old. 

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With the Irish love of tea, most Irish households have a tea pot somewhere. Though these days there is little time to make and enjoy a pot of tea with hectic schedules all around, for those tea lovers out there you know there is nothing like a cup of tea made from a pot!

So we’ve been selling the perfect accessory for this in the Aran Tea Cosy. Handknitted in Dublin by Joan our very talented knitter, the tea cosy pictured above is made exclusively for the shop and retails at €29.99. It’s made using a wool mix so it’s soft and machine washable. It also fits small to medium size tea pots. It would also stretch over a larger size.

We are obviously biased and love our own knitters honeycomb pattern but we found this little beauty on Pinterest and love the combination of stitches and bobble head top.

As well as looking adorable, a wool tea cosy really works to keep a pot of tea warm and it’s a great momento to take home for visitors to Ireland as well as all the Irish living around the world, this is a lovely reminder of home!

Here is another example of an aran tea cosy we found on Pinterest, but we think you can’t beat Joan’s design that looks like the tea pot is wearing a little Aran Sweater adorable!