Back in April, we took an afternoon off from school to do a field trip to Avoca Woolen Mill, in Avoca, County Wicklow. It was just a short drive from the house, and it was a perfect day for a field trip.
Avoca Mill was opened in 1723, and has been in operation continuously since then. It is the oldest business in Ireland and the second oldest mill in the world.
Then we toured the working mill. It was free, and they let the visitors walk right through the middle of the rooms where they work and get up really close to see everything. I love to sew, and the girls love anything crafty, so this was quite a treat for us! In this photo, there was a man loading the threads onto the machine. We counted 28 across, 8 down, and 4 rows deep. That is 896 threads in the machine. They do this 4 times to make one large roll of 3584 weft threads. This is then taken to the loom and the warp threads are woven in, then the whole thing is cut to the desired lengths. If memory serves, they said one roll makes 200 blankets. We also got to see the woman who made the large spools of thread that are placed on this machine on the right of the photo. It looked very much like spinning a bobbin on a regular sewing machine, only a giant one!
In these photos you can see the different color schemes they use for blankets and scarves. In the one on the right, they had sample blankets made out of different kinds of wool so that you could feel the differences. They had shetland, merino, cashmere, and a few others I can’t remember. Up above were photos of the animals that kind of wool came from.
Then we went into the room with the machine looms and watched them making the blankets. Wow, was that loud! The warp of the machine loom moved so fast we couldn’t even see it.
As any good field trip should, this one ended with tea and lunch in the cafe and a trip to the gift shop. Inside, the walls were lined with photos of previous owners of the mill and stories from its long history. Just lovely!
When I retire, I’m coming back to Ireland and going to volunteer to work in the mill.
Brogans Across the Pond 
Or you could raise your own goats (for cashmere, I think?), sheep, and alpacas for wool and start a mill on your farm in TN! I hope you bought yourself one of those lovely blankets to bring home!
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We didn’t buy a blanket, because we are trying so hard to remain minimalist on this trip! However, the mill ships internationally, so I plan to buy one from TN 🙂
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lol I was also going to ask if you bought a blanket!
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