The highlight of last week...

... We've been to Barcelona this past week and it has been a lovely break. We stayed in wonderfully luxurious hotel - four poster day beds on the roof terrace and chocolates on your pillow at night!! - and wandered around the city marvelling at the modernista buildings in the sun, and until the last day of our holiday, I thought I would be sharing all of this with you.

However, on our last morning in Barcelona we went for a walk and stumbled upon something which totally made my holiday...

After wandering through the narrow alleyways of The Raval district we came to a palm tree lined open area where Spanish locals were setting up tables for a crafting session... I don't know if this is a daily occurence or just once a week like a WI meeting, but I loved it!

Tables lined this little Ramblas with ladies - and one man - making all types of lace, whilst having a catch-up with each other in the early morning sunshine...

I couldn't get over how complicated it looked navigating all the pegs and pins... I had never thought about the process of lace making and I was truly captivated by the process.

There was one stall set up selling patterns for the crafters...

Here is the lone man in this crafting group, quietly sat at the end making a beautiful piece of lace.

This little discovery on a walk through the old narrow streets of Barcelona was a complete eye-opener for me; I will never look at lace the same again. It ties in very well with what we were discussing in the last post about lost traditions and dying art. Here in the bright sunshine is evidence of a community where the art of lace making has not been lost yet ...





I wonder what the butterfly will be made into?

I loved all the funky hats...

Each pad is personalised with badges and brooches



I enjoyed wandering up and down these tables so much last week, soaking in the atmosphere and marvelling at this skilled work, and I hope I have been able to bring a little of this wonderful find into your lives today. I was so annoyed with myself as I did not take any crochet on holiday with me; I would have taken great delight in asking to join this group for a morning! Wonder what they would have thought about my work?

Wishing you all a week filled with happy times x

P.S.  Naihte has informed me that the ladies and gentleman at this gathering are from a very small town called Camariñas (Galicia, Spain). They are known as "palilleiras". They went to Barcelona to promote their crafts, so it was very fortuitous to stumble upon them!

Read Naihte's comments as they are very interesting... she is from Galicia.

Here is some information on the lace and the tradition:

CAMARIÑAS LACE


This fine lace is made with thin threads which are sewed using needles and sticks ("palilleira" could be translated as "stick-user"). Threads are distributed and held with pins on a pillow over which is placed a picture that is used as a pattern to get the final lace.

The ‘palilleiras’ are the artists on Camariñas lace craft. They elaborate with same doses of patience and skillfulness every kind of patterns and items of this intricate art.

This typical handcraft is especially prolific in the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death) –where the village of Camariñas is- but elaborated all over Galicia.

The characteristic lace activity of Camarinas, previously restricted to the domestic self-production, has acquired great fame in Galicia and in some international markets.

THE ORIGINS

Many legends run about the origin of this fine craft as that of an Italian ship which wrecked near Costa da Morte. To thank the people in the area for their help with food and shelter after the shipwreck, an Italian lady travelling on the boat taught the women in Camariñas the secrets of this art, which later spread along all the Galician coast. But the truth is that already in XVI Century there are documents that report on the existence of this exquisite art that had been probably inspired in the lace Italian and Flanders ships carried. Since then, it has passed from one generation to another.

http://patchwork.ndk.nysa.pl/index.php/articles/show/144