We will be taking the 14 day tour in Ireland in October - My friend and I work in fibers - all kinds. Any recommendations on where to find great fabric, wool, yarn?
Hickey's has been the traditional go-to place for fabrics around the country. https://www.homefocus.ie/hickeys.html
If you're into textiles, you might like Newmills Corn & Flax Mill near Letterkenny. Unfortunately, I was through the area in May and it hadn't opened for the season yet. "Corn" I believe refers to oats and flax, as you would expect is linen. The visit is free, it gets great reviews. I assume they'll sell some linen fabric/products there (or at least tell you a good place to shop). Aran Islands seems to be the brand name on everything wool now. We spent a night on Inismor but the products and prices were no different than the many other "Aran Islands" wool shops we found elsewhere.
This won’t help the OP as the RS tour doesn’t go to this area. But to follow up on Brad’s post re: Newmills Corn and Flax Mill. We talked our way into a tour the day before it was scheduled to open for the season. A fascinating place and very interesting. They don’t sell yarn or fabric. The best place I found was Studio Donegal in Kilcar. They make their own yarn, weave, cut and sew on the premises. Yarn, fabric and finished garments are for sale on the first floor. You can tour the workshop on the second floor. It’s an easy stop on the way to Slieve League Cliffs.
Check out this link. I’ve posted it previously.
http://www.knitmap.com/