Log Cabin blanket minus cat!
I’ll be back to regular blogging once the ‘zams’ are over & I have treated myself to a new little camera that plays nicely with my laptop.
Tomorrow, I’ll be travelling to Mullingar via Portlaoise. Since I’ve never spent anytime in Portlaoise, I’ve decided to get there a tad early & have a wander about. The internet tells me that there’s a yarn store in the town called “Knit & Sew”. True to form this store doesn’t have any information about itself online (that I have found).
I only know it exists thanks to this. So I’ll be endeavouring to find “Knit & Sew” on Coliseum lane tomorrow.
Wish me luck!
It’s a great pity that Irish craft stores (and Irish business in general) have side-lined themselves by not having a web presence. This Is Knit being a wonderful exception.
Business Computing is what I’m studying & “This is Knit” provided a lovely Irish example of a ‘Click & Mortar’ business for one of my course projects. They’ve been shortlisted in the “Best Blog of a Business” category of the Bord Gais Social Media Awards. Fair dues to them.
I’ll have a modest amount of money to spend in Portlaoise tomorrow. I want to spend some of it in an LYS. If it weren’t for the portlaoiseontheweb DOT com site I wouldn’t know about “Knit & Sew” and most likely would have continued onto Mullingar without taking the time to find it. As it is, I don’t know what kind of yarn they stock & if I’ll find anything to my liking (a gamble that I’m willing to take) or if they’re even still in business! I have their number noted just in case & it’ll be nice to be able to say that I’ve actually been to Portlaoise and not just passed through there.
When I travel I enjoy supporting the Local Yarn Store, both as a knitter and as someone who would like to work within the yarn industry. It’s lovely to see how different owners layout their stores and see the differences in colour palettes and yarn types stocked.
What does it say about the amount of craft tourism lost to smaller Irish towns if a motivated crafter like myself finds it difficult to get online information on LYS?
I’d say it’s as bad as the tourism lost to Limerick City due to the lack of a backpackers hostel. Sure, we are over-accommodated with hotel rooms but back-packers don’t look for hotel rooms for a variety of reasons. I’m more likely to stay in a place if I can get a hostel room. Partly due to the fact that I’d rather spend my money on yarn purchases, travelling to local amenities and trying the local cafes than spend it on a hotel room. Hotels are great for privacy and comfort but there’s a lot to be said for a friendly, well-run hostel with communal areas where you can strike up a conversation with a fellow visitor. I’d love to see a proper hostel open in Limerick city. It would boost the city centre no end.
Anyway, that’s my kvetcing over with for today.
Back to the Business Information System Development study.
