WATCH: Women of the Islands series - Spinning a yarn on Cork's Cape Clear

WHEN Kirsty Affleck moved to the island of Cape Clear from Wexford in 2010 with her family, she didn’t exactly travel light.

Firstly, she had to organise her three children, including an infant who she was nursing at the time, as well as all the necessary items which she needed such as clothes, nappies and household goods. And then along came her menagerie onto the island ferry, including three dogs, a cat, a pony and some chickens.

“That took a bit of organisation, it’s true, the horse box with the pony had to be winched onto the boat, the pony was grand, but I was a bit nervous,” said Kirsty.

The hassle of moving down and bringing all of us over on the boat was so worth it though, I’ve never regretted moving to Cape Clear, it’s an incredible place.

“I still pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming when I am doing the washing up and I glance up to look at the view from my kitchen window. I look out across the ocean towards Crookhaven along the Mizen Head from my home in the east of the island, and the view is spectacular.”

Kirsty is originally from Dorset in the UK, and she had been living in Wexford for five years, during which time she had regularly visited friends on Cape Clear. Slowly, but surely, the island cast its magic spell on her and she decided it was the place where she wanted to live.

Growing up, Kirsty has always loved and cherished the natural world. She worked as a groom in stables after she left school, and when she initially moved from the UK to Ireland, she even brought a pony over with her.

Animals have always been a hugely important part of her life, and along with her interest in sustainability and living close to the natural world, all these elements added up to making Cape Clear a natural fit for the kind of lifestyle Kirsty enjoys.

The island community welcomed her with open arms, and were also extra pleased to welcome her three children. Having them move to the island meant the community were able to keep enrolment numbers up for the little Irish-speaking primary school which is situated in a stunning location close to South Harbour.

One of the biggest threats to sustaining island communities is the need to have families with children living there. Having a primary school open is essential, especially on an island as remote as Cape Clear, which is too far from the mainland for young children to travel for primary school on a daily basis.

Once children reach secondary school age, they are obliged to leave the island from Monday to Friday and return home at weekends from their boarding schools, as there is no secondary eduction on the island.

Despite the distance from the mainland, Kirsty has embraced island life with gusto and does not particularly miss anything, she feels contented living in the midst of nature with her family and her animals.

“I feel very ed by the local community, it’s so nice to be able to hang out with people I know when I go out socially. I don’t go out that often, but when I do it’s really great to see familiar faces at the music sessions in the pub, and you know if you ever had an issue there would always be somebody available to help out. 

We have two pubs and a club here on the island where we enjoy some great music and singing sessions, and we also have a shop which stocks basic groceries and essentials.

“I also keep a store cupboard, I have two freezers, and I always freeze milk. I have lots of tins just in case, and I have a little bit of a garden where I have a few bits and pieces such as chard and onions, and I also have a small greenhouse.

“You always have to be conscious of storms here, there can be some pretty wild ones on the island coming in from the Atlantic. I have a caravan which I keep strapped down, along with all the other islanders we all make sure to keep everything well secured in case of strong gales. Of course, the biggest problem for us is when the ferry gets disrupted, and sometimes when the power goes off. I have a stove when the heating does not work and as I have an electric cooker I also keep a gas hob to cook on in case of power cuts. I also use a rainwater harvesting system for my animals and the garden.”

Since settling on the island, Kirsty’s menagerie has expanded, she has more chickens now and ducks as well, and she also has a herd of self-shedding sheep.

“There are no natural predators on Cape such as foxes or mink, so that makes it much easier to keep the chickens and ducks.” she explained.

Kirsty’s craft business is called Caora Chéire, and as well as looking after her animals, she is also ionate about knitting and spinning.

“I am easily bored so the hand movements of knitting can calm if I am anxious, I also don’t like to sit and do nothing. So I knit everywhere - when I am waiting in line for appointments, or waiting for the ferry. I only knit on the ferry on calm days as I get seasick. I would typically watch Netflix or You Tube whilst knitting, and listen to music while spinning. 

Sometimes I knit in the pub or at meetings. Some people think I’m being rude but I can actually focus better if my hands are doing something.

Kirsty says she’s very proud of her three children and is delighted that she has now also has a baby granddaughter who she is busy knitting warm clothes for.

“I feel the cold myself, so that got me started into knitting warm things. I knit lots of different clothes including mittens, hats, jumpers, shawls and socks, and I sell some of them through the island craft shops on Cape Clear and in Baltimore.

“My sheep are a breed called non-purebred Soays - I call them Soay Crosses. They are part of a group of sheep called Northern European Short Tail sheep which also includes Shetland Sheep and Hebridean. My sheep self shed and have short tapered tails. They are light on the ground and are useful for advanced sheepdog training as they disperse rather than flock together. They have lovely colours including different hues of browns and tans.

“When they molt in spring, usually from April onwards, they have a hair coat underneath and everyone thinks they are goats.

“They also have horns, mostly two, but some have four, and one of them named Oggle Poggle has five, and he’s a proper character to go with it. The sheep inherited their multi-horns from my original ram who was a breed that I have been told would once have been running up and down the hills of Ireland, but which has since died out. These sheep are a small sized breed, with less meat and with wool which is somewhat tricky work to spin, and they don’t really have any monetary value.” she explained.

Kirsty’s sheep all have names and she says that they also have plenty of character and that, contrary to their reputation, they are far from stupid.

I love them in the same way that anyone would love their pets. 

"When I need to move them from field to field, I go out and rattle a bucket of sheep nuts, and they follow me. If I forget to bring the nuts and just throw in a few pebbles into the bucket to rattle, they know the difference and I do not have a hope of them following me. They are far from stupid, and it’s not easy to trick them.

“As well as Oggle Poggle, I also have sheep named Dolly, Ollie, Lolly, Bramble, Brownie, Gemima, Carlos, Badger, Toby, and Cinnamon. I also have two Dorest ewes named Emerald and Nova who I have to hand shear as they do not molt their white coats.”

Kirsty watches closely for when her sheep are ready to shed their wool. Then she runs into the field and grabs them by the horns and plucks the wool, which she then gathers to spin on her spinning wheel. This is a process known as ‘rooing’ which means that the sheep are ready to drop their wool so there is very little intervention needed. Kirsty keeps a close eye out for when the process is initiated by the sheep when their fleece starts to shed, and tries to gather it before it gets muddy when the sheep shed it onto the ground.

Kirsty says that in of wool gathering, it’s one sheep at a time.

“After gathering the wool, I wash it and I spin it. The sheep have lanolin in their coats which helps to protect them from the rain, so I wash it in really hot water with detergent to remove it, then I hand card the wool and spin it on my spinning wheel.

I wash it again once I have spun it into yarn. Between washing and drying, I use a spin dryer to drain most of the water.

“My spinning wheel is not an antique, I actually bought it new - it’s an Ashford Kiwi from new Zealand which I bought in the UK. It’s great to have a newer model in case you need to obtain parts,” says Kirsty.

“Learning how to spin was a slow process and I am still learning, I’ve been doing it for five years now. I looked at a lot of lessons on YouTube and then decided to do ten minutes a day, and gradually and slowly I got the hang of it.

“As I was already a knitter, I really wanted to try using hand- spun wool. Now I am at the point where I can give spinning demonstrations, but I tell people who are interested in learning that it takes time and patience.

“It’s one of those things you are not going to learn just by reading about or watching, you have to sit down and keep on doing it, but practice makes perfect. I kept my first yarn to demonstrate how not so great my first attempt was, and so that people interested in learning how to spin would not get discouraged.

It’s a really great feeling when it all starts coming together, I am currently knitting a jumper from wool which I gathered from my own sheep and spun into yarn.

“Crafts such as knitting, spinning and crochet are a growing trend again, and it’s great to see these hand crafts thriving. The women on Cape Clear traditionally knitted a blue jumper called the ‘Cape Clear gansai’ which were for the men in the family who were fishermen, and it’s fascinating to learn about the old ways and crafts which were practiced on the island.

“For anyone interested in spinning, I would recommend @irishfibrecrafters who have great information.”

More info: capeclearsheep on Instagram.