Spring has sprung here in my part of the world. How is the weather like where you are? We still have cold nights and some chilly days, but you can tell that warmer weather is nearly here.
One of the best things about Spring is the plethora of birds that show up at the feeder on our deck and in our yard. Of course, we have our fair share of winter birds too.
But soon we will have yellow finches and red finches too. While we are waiting for those lovely creatures, here are a few birds I have crocheted myself. I used Stacey Trock's pattern from her Craftsy class called Woodland Animals. They are super easy to make and so darn cute too!
Today is Saint Patrick's Day, a day for acknowledging and celebrating one's Irish heritage. I am a fourth generation Irish American whose ancestors immigrated to America prior to the potato famine. I used to think that being Irish was all about the fun and vibrancy of wearing green, chasing imaginary leprechauns to their pots of gold, and picturing oneself watching the sun set on Galway Bay. During my childhood and teenage years, I remember listening to albums by:
The Irish Minstrels [sorry, no video available]
John Gary
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem (get your hankies ready when you watch The Band Played Waltzing Matilda)
Paddy Reilly
and
The Wolfe Tones
Celtic Symphony will always be one of the best parts of several Saint Patrick's Days growing up. My cousins and aunts and uncles even built and entered family floats in dozens of Saint Patrick's Day parades, again singing songs of patriotism, rebellion, and drinking. And Celtic Symphony countless times. ~~~~~~ In high school, I became enamoured with William Butler Yeats' poetry. I dream of going to visit Innisfree and his gravesite at Benbulben some day.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now and go to Innisfree
A small cabin build there of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings,
There midnight's all aglimmer and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore,
While I stand on the roadway or on the pavement grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
~~~~~~
And, of course, I became one of the biggest fans of U2. In fact, I've liked them longer than Edge has been wearing a hat! That's a very long time!
~~~
In the mid-1980's, my hometown of Shawnee, Kansas and my dad, who was a councilman there at that time, established a sister city with Listowel in County Kerry. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to meet some wonderful people from there and develop friendships with them. What a beautiful town in a beautiful part of a beautiful country. Can you tell that I kind of like Ireland? The picture below is of Christy's pub owned by none other than Mr. Christy Walsh.
~~~
Green has been my favourite colour for ages. Now I love purple almost as much as I love green, thanks to my beloved lavender. Yet, as the old adage goes, a true Irish person can see forty shades of green. Or is that Johnny Cash?
~~~
I was lucky enough to travel to Ireland way back in 1989 while I was studying abroad. Unfortunately, I haven't been back since but I want to go so badly, especially when I reminisce like I am doing now. Until then, I will ensconce myself in Irish colour and culture whenever I can.
Along these lines, check out this article! You'll be glad you did!
~~~
I will leave you with one of my favorite passages of Yeats.
(I've changed the title of my posts because I haven't been able to keep up to one post per day. Sorry!)
We live in the middle of a large mass of land (North America), far away from any ocean, a fact that causes great consternation to my Pisces soul. For some strange reason, however, my husband loves octopuses.
For the last four Christmases, I have given handmade crocheted octopuses to my husband. I found the pattern on Etsy at a shop called Ruby Submarine. I started with his favorite color (orange) and I used weird googly eyes. But then my crochet and eye choice got more sophisticated.
What do you think? Do you have a favorite octopus?
And FYI, the plural of octopus can be either octopuses or octopi. I looked it up. :)
I think I like the purple one best.
And the best news of the day: my dad is getting out of the hospital tomorrow. :)
I made this colorful poncho last fall using Lion Brand's Sunset Poncho pattern. The yarn is called Landscapes and I chose to use the Boardwalk colorway. What a bold choice that was because I was stared at by many people the first time I dared to wear this in public!
This yarn works up like a dream. It is super soft and lovely. My only problem was the pattern itself. The back of the poncho is just too short to be useful. It was very easy to follow but I wish there had been a few more rows to cover more. I will have to adjust this if I decide to try this pattern again. Nevertheless, I loved making this cute crocheted poncho.
We have been blessed with warmer weather for the last few days, which makes everyone just a little more cheerful, I believe. So imagine my surprise when I walked into my classroom today to a very chilled environment: it was a mere 63°Fahrenheit! I had to get my space heater out of the closet so my students (many of whom were dressed in shorts and t-shirts) would not freeze their derrières off.
When I sat down at my Mac to open my grade book, my hands were super cold. So I brought out these wristers I made back in January and went about teaching my class while wearing them. A few girls asked me about them and were impressed that I had made them. One even asked if I would make some for her. As much as I would have loved to sit down and start crocheting right then and there (if for no other reason, so I could warm my fingers up even more), I had the very important task of teaching French to my French 2 class that hour. But the experience made me decide to make wristers my Day #10 topic.
Here I am wearing the first pair of wristers I made. They are really fabulous and warm, and they still allow you to use your fingers for fine motor activities.
It is no secret that I like to crochet. Sometimes I pick projects that take a lot of concentration and effort, but sometimes I like to just keep my hands busy without having to count or pay too close attention to my stitches. It is times like these that I like to make double crochet afghans. I have several sitting around the house that we all like to use. The first one I want to share with you is my daughter's afghan I made in 2013.
She picked Lion Brand Homespun yarn, which is a wonderful choice because it is super soft! And it is made in the good old U.S.A. I made this afghan for her using the Coral Reef colorway. It is a simple pattern but is self-striping so it looks like I put a lot more effort into than I really did. I quite like how it turned out.
Oops! With the time change, visiting my dad in the hospital (he is doing better), grading Spanish quizzes, and The Walking Dead, I forgot to post yesterday.
So here is yesterday's post:
Day 8: Amigurumi Cat
I made this amigurumi cat last summer just for the fun of it. I love the looks of cute little crocheted friends (what amigurumi means in Japanese), but it takes a lot of time, concentration, and counting to finish one successfully. I used Lilleliis' pattern from her Etsy shop, which you can find here.
Here is a link to the post from last summer: Limey
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