a simple yarn

Right, so the official start to summertime (or what you would call Daylight Savings Time in North America) has thrown my clock off in more ways than one.

And as we moved our clocks ahead one hour over the weekend, I feel the need to post Saturday’s activities one day later, er…today.

Admittedly, it’s been a busy few days…
Thursday: Return from Cork with kiddies
Friday: Bake
Saturday Morning at Ungodly Hour: Collect Husband-Will from airport
Saturday: Bake
Saturday Evening: Host Will’s birthday party until wee small hours to help him overcome jetlag
Sunday Morning, 1:00am: Move clocks forward one hour

Since Husband-Will is not a cake-loving man, it becomes pie baking at our house. Apple pie, that is. A nice variety of apples, especially some Granny Smiths, to throw a bit of zing into the flavour.

A good fair bit of sugar, cinnamon, flour, and butter for appley-pie-goodness.

When I’m in a hurry, such as now, the ready-to-roll crusts work a treat.

And hopefully the outcome of baking will yield many happy returns!

…off to Cork for a brief Easter holiday with family and friends, a few archive photos from one of my favourite spots in Ireland.

The Rock of Cashel, in Co. Tipperary, served as the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster. The majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion to Christianity of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century A.D.

Right, I realise I’ve been sounding like the Irish Tourism Board of late, but the Kiddies are out of school which minimises craft time. Sigh. Hope to finish a knitting project while on our mini break!

Hard to capture but yes, there is a second rainbow in the sky.

Wishing you and your family a very joyous Resurrection Sunday!

I confess that this photo is from last year’s salutations on this national holiday.  I  love the shamrocky nature of it nonetheless…with so many shades of green!  But my own well wishes to you are fresh and new this St. Patrick’s Day!

As Irish Language Week comes to a close…

…I wonder the future of the Irish language.

Is Gaeilge becoming obsolete?
Is it merely an academic exercise dreaded by students across the island?
Are the Gaeltachts reduced to being tourist attractions?

I confess I do not know.
But the signs of the times seem to point to a diminished need to understand and speak the language. That’s sad, I think.

Looking eastward, though, I’m encouraged by Wales and their fierce national pride reflected in a seemingly healthy Welsh language. So it is possible.

Well, ironically being only a non-Irish-speaking-blow-in, it’s my sincere hope that the Gaeilgeoir* does not become an antiquated notion.

*English = Irish speaker, learner of Irish

Or rather, shamrocks of the sugary kind…

Saturday baking came earlier this week as Daughter-Kate was enlisted to bring biscuits, er sorry…cookies, to school on Friday, a shortened party day in anticipation of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day and the two-week-end-of-term-Easter-holiday. So, what else would I bake but sugar cookie shamrocks?

As I hunt for the shamrock cookie cutter, which I am absolutely positively sure that I own I realise, after an exasperating search, that…oops, I was wrong. Cutters of all shapes and sizes but no shamrock. Rats. What am I gonna do? For crying out loud, I live in the country now and can’t just hop in the car to the nearest Cookie-Cutters-R-Us! Grrrr….

Right, not to be undone by this setback, I dig around for Irishy alternatives.
Gingerbread-Men-Turned-Leprechaun?
Jumping-Reindeer-Disguised-As-The-Island?
Santa-Incognito-As-A-Pudgy-St. Patrick?

Aha! The simplest solution found an unused circle scone cutter reshaped into a trefoil…love the power of pliers…

Admittedly the dough shapes looked a little shaky but the magic of baking covers a multitude of cookie cutting sins.

The icing…green, of course. Didn’t have any store bought sugar sprinkles, but substituted granulated sugar whizzed with a bit of green food colouring.

Apologies, Irish Cultural Baking Diversion:
The icing which is found here is a mysterious entity to me, the North American baker. The icing in Ireland, or the British Isles, or even perhaps Europe is usually that hard-roll-it-out-to-form-fit-the-cake type stuff and to be honest…it scares me a little. I admit I have never used it as the thought of it gives my hands little tremors. Where’s the fluffy frosting that I’m used to?

So, you will appreciate my relief when, a few years ago, this little familiar package finally made it to Irish supermarket shelves….and so my sugar cookies are saved!

Ah, baking is done and I’ve got plenty of sugary shamrocks for Kate’s class…and Alex’s…and the Infants class…the entire school, actually…yep, it’s a small school.

*english = ‘biscuit’

*english = ‘book and film’

It just so happens I’ve been engrossed…which would be different than just ‘gross’, mind you…in a book series of Celtic mysteries set in ancient Ireland. I began collecting and reading them about 6 or 7 years ago, before moving to Dublin. Have gone on a spree to purchase the last half-dozen unread books…I’m compulsive that way. But before delving into the last ones, I’ve started the series from the beginning again. That’s what happens when ya don’t have a TV.

Peter Tremayne, pen name for Peter Beresford Ellis, is a noted authority on ancient Celts, or so says the flyleaf of his books, so I guess it’s true. Besides solving mysteries in seventh century Ireland, the reader is inundated with the culture from whence the Irish came. Quite fascinating, really. Living in what is now a predominantly Roman Catholic culture, I find his description of the struggle between the Roman Catholic faith and the early Celtic Christian church especially interesting.

Okay, that sounds a little heavy. Lighter entertainment comes from a couple of inexpensive DVDs picked up at the supermarket.

Blog-Reader-And-Commenter-Tanya mentioned ‘The Matchmaker’ and never having seen it, I couldn’t resist it for a few euro. Love Janeane Garofolororodoeoe… Once again, slick Irish humor. Have to confess that some things strike me funnier now, having lived here awhile.

Spoiler Warning:
Well, Not Really, More Like It Won’t Make Sense Unless You’ve Seen The Film
Pattin’ myself on the back for understanding what yer man had to say in Irish when being pelted by rocks by the old coot on the Aran Islands. It truly is the universal question learned by school children at an early age. ‘An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas.’ There, that’s my Irish phrase for the day, translation…‘Can I go to the toilet?’ Trying my hand at the phonetics, hang on now…Ahn will kee-AHD a-GUM dull ga dee an LEH-heh-ress.

And also have been eyeing this Classic-But-Don’t-Mention-It-To-The-Locals-Who-Want-To-Shed-That-Image film, ‘The Quiet Man.’ Saw it once ages ago, I think, but certainly worth watching again. Saving it for the weekend, though.

Right so, media’s covered then. Great options for those occasional knitting breaks!

Bearing in mind I’m not an Irish speaker, the slaughtered phonetic pronunciation would be SHOK-ten na GWAYL-guh.

It’s Seachtain na Gaeilge at the Kiddies’ school this week…

Warning: Irish Cultural Interruption
Seachtain na Gaeilge is an annual Irish language-centred festival during the first couple of weeks in March in the run up to St. Patrick’s Day. More information (in English) can be found at www.snag.ie. Okay, advert over.

…and so, this week’s posts will have a wee bit more Irish flavour.

SnaG Trilogy Part One: Cniotáil*
It was raining and I was glad. Right, slap me. But the pouring rain gave ample time to finally finish the cabled yoke jumper in scrumptious Irish Kilcarra Aran Tweed. Just in time for warmish springtime weather…go figure…but yippee nonetheless! Certainly, this pattern tested my knitting abilities, so many alterations were there:

Body knit a few inches longer to lengthen a short-waisted me.

Elimination of 8 cables to make drastic reductions in neck diameter. Original neck measurement about 23 inches…altered version more like 16-17 inches. Also lengthened the neck for a higher collar, vain attempt at hiding middle-aged-neck-sag. Also bagged the zipper embellishment…why bother?

Didn’t fancy the seam up the raglan edge, so joined up the segments and finished off yoke on circulars. The down-side to this is that I didn’t correctly calculate the decrease and there’s a bit of a ‘pooch’ at the underarms, but I can live with that.

Despite complaining about the endless twisted rib, I think I like it better than plain ribbing.

So, sufficiently chuffed, I’m now drawn to spring knitting, but will be diligent (sigh) and finish the second over-the-knee sock so that winter knitting can be officially over.

*english = ‘knitting’

May have to get more of this…

…to take care of this.

Just collected from the lovely ladies, Lisa and Jacqui, at This Is Knit, who graciously sponsored the Crafts Category at this year’s Irish Blog Awards. Wow (again).

Now that my head has been sufficiently turned, I must turn back to knitting. Inspired to knit a lace-bolero-type-accessory-thing for summer wedding attire. But need to finish the heavily-wool-winter-jumper first. Grr…

It’s a good day.

I awoke to be presented with these two handmade-with-child’s-love Mother’s Day cards…

Holiday Observation Interruption
While living in North America, I had no idea that other countries celebrated Mother’s Day at differing times during the year. Today, the first Sunday in March is ‘Mothering Sunday’ in Ireland. And what about the traditional US holiday on the second Sunday in May? Perhaps if I play my cards right, I might be able to eek out another celebration, don’t ya think?

The only challenge is remembering where I put the cards purchased for my own mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother after buying them 3 months previously!

Anyway, after the lovely start, I was also presented with a stunner of a gift, certainly earning Husband-Will huge amounts of kudos. As most of his time is currently spent in the US for work, he nailed the occasion with this splendid antique pen from an estate sale. Mother of pearl handle, sterling silver engraved grip, petite. A-maz-ing. Think he might read the blog occasionally…

Could it get any better?
Yep.

A quick check of my email brought me news that I’ve won Best Craft Blog for the 2008 Irish Blog Awards. Crikey! There are so many great Irish craft blogs…I’m really appreciative. A very big thank-you to Coastal-Aussie, who made the nomination. Will this go to my bloggin’ head? I give you leave to enroll me in slap therapy if it does. And I know a few people locally who would do the slappin’!

It’s not even noon and it’s already been a great day!