The Banshees of Inisherin is one of the 10 nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars, with other nominations going to the director, Martin McDonagh (who also got a nod for best screenplay; and actors Colin Ferrell, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon, among other nominations.
It didn’t get recognition for costume design, but knitters everywhere have taken notice of the sweaters in the film, putting the spotlight on Delia Barry, an 83-year-old Irish knitter who says she made each of the four sweaters she made for the film in about a week each.
She told the New York Times she knits for several hours a day, rising at 6 am and knitting until 8:30, when she walks to the beach with a friend. She knits for three or four hours in the afternoon, as well as after supper.
A post on CraftFix says the sweaters were all knit flat on two needles and seamed together. They used DK weight yarn. The post also includes some general descriptions of the designs, but since she made they up on the fly to fit the actors there are no patterns.
The film’s costume designer, Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, who had worked with Barry on other projects, gave her photos of fisherman’s sweaters from the 1920s to use as inspiration for her designs. The long-collared sweater Ferrell wears was directly inspired by a sweater in one of the photos, and its become a bit of a sensation on the Internet.
Esquire UK called the movie “the next great knitwear film,” describing not only the sweaters, but also the fact that all the shirts were made of Irish linen and other garments made of local wool. The clothes were aged by hand to make it look like they had been worn for many years.
The movie is available on HBO Max and other streaming service. Sounds like a great one to watch while you knit!
