SNIPPET: Hand-knitting is a very old craft in Ireland. At one time hand-knitted sweaters, caps, stockings, shawls and even trousers were commonly worn. The hand-knitted sweaters of Donegal and the Aran Islands are known all over the world. The traditional fisherman's sweater was made of heavy, oiled wool, to keep out wind and weather; modern sweaters are lighter, not oily; but the designs are still the same. And many people will tell you that the stitches used in an Aran or a Donegal sweater had a story to tell, perhaps about the lives of the people wearing them, their marriages, the number of children they had. Some patterns are said to have a religious significance, some are said to represent the western landscape, some the nets of the fishermen, some their ropes. In John Millington SYNGE's play, 'Riders to the Sea,' a girl identifies the body of her drowned fisherman brother by the stockings he wore, and which she had knitted for him. Not only hand-knitting, but tweed has always been associated with Donegal, and the names of McNUTT and McGEE are synonymous with hand-woven tweed. An article called "The Textile Story," by Marion FITZGERALD appeared in Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine nearly 20 years ago (Mar-Apr 1985) containing insight into textiles in Ireland and the names of artisans working in 1985 may be familiar today. There is a photo of a smiling, grey-haired woman, Mrs. Theresa McGETTIGAN. knitting a sweater at home "for the firm of John MOLLOY of Ardara, Co. Donegal." A handweaver by tradition and training, MOLLOY was running an international business producing traditional and fashion knitwear. His traditional designs were knitted in thousands of home all around Donegal and he claimed to employ more home-knitters than anyone else in the country. In the modern factory he had set up four years earlier he also produced garments which were hand-fashioned on hand-operated machines in a variety of styles. Not far away, in Bruckless, Co. Donegal, Teresa GILLESPIE was sending beautiful lace and crochet and embroidered linens and knitwear to markets all over the world. Some 450 women worked for her, in their own houses and cottages all over Donegal. The lace was made by only a small number - 10 - as it was very delicate, it required great skill and much time going into one small piece. The pieces were used as inserts into hand-embroidered tablecloths. About 70 women did hand-embroidery, or "sprigging "as it is called in Donegal, and a hand-embroidered tablecloth passed through a number of hands before it reached its pristine finished state in the box that said that it came from Teresa's Cottage in the Hills of Donegal. One worker would do the lace, another would insert it, another would do the embroidery, a fourth would complete the cloth with a lace edging. The back again to Teresa, to be washed, washed again, bleached, washed once more, starched, spun, dried flat, and hand-ironed. Teresa's workers also made fine white lace crochet collars, gloves and blouses. A crochet blouse would take at least 90 hours to make, by several people, and carefully shaped and fashioned.