Seachtain na Gaeilge
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’
excellent improvements — and you may yet have plenty of wearing opportunities. It is March, after all.
10 Mar 2008 at 2:13 am
It’s gorgeous! Great job of alteration.
10 Mar 2008 at 2:34 am
It looks great!
10 Mar 2008 at 3:59 am
As its Seachtain na Gaeilge, ta an geansai sin go halainn ar fad. Agus an dath! Iontach!! Trans. That jumper is really gorgeous and the colour - Wonderful.
Cheryl it really suits you and well worth the labour
10 Mar 2008 at 9:59 am
Wow - that’s one gorgeous sweater!
And thanks for the Irish lesson.
10 Mar 2008 at 12:27 pm
That’s really beautiful Cheryl, well worth it. The colour’s great, and the mods came out really well. Perfect for this weather too - warm and and a lovely colour to combat the grey. Can’t wait to see it in person.
10 Mar 2008 at 12:46 pm
Really beautiful. Well the the aggravation! Of course I wasn’t knitting it, but well done!
10 Mar 2008 at 1:06 pm
very cool! I’m impressed at your thinking so far ahead as to figure out the number of cables you could start out with, in order to end up with a neck of the appropriate size. I just never seem to think far enough ahead for things like that. . . .
Now: how would you pronounce “Cniotáil”? Inquiring minds want to know.
10 Mar 2008 at 1:55 pm
It’s beautiful - I’m sure we’ll see more of it come next winter. I’m impressed that you were able to make so many alterations and still have it coming out looking like a sweater!
10 Mar 2008 at 3:40 pm
Great Blog Cheryl!! And the award looks soo cool! Will you post up that pattern for the felted coffee pot cosy???? I never managed to get that one outa ya… And the jumper looks fab…. When we met on Friday you didn’t have it finished… you’re a great woman to go so ya are…..
xxxxxx
10 Mar 2008 at 5:22 pm
What a lovely sweater! Gorgeous wool, lovely cables–a real accomplishment! And congratulations on finishing it—unlike you, I will be continuing my winter knitting through the summer at the rate I’m going…
10 Mar 2008 at 9:21 pm
Nicely done! I’ve seen the word “cuffed” on a couple blogs and I haven’t decided if that’s UK/Ireland slang or knitting slang. I’m assuming it means proud? In any case, you should be proud.
When you 1st showed the yarn you were going to do the sweater in, I wondered if your gorgeous cables would show up, but you knew what you were doing. They look fabulous.
11 Mar 2008 at 1:01 am
lovely sweater! beautiful color! and the moderations you did came out really well. have fun with it. and be sure to brag! you did a great job!
11 Mar 2008 at 2:14 am
congrats! it looks gorgeous! what a wonderful colour as well.
11 Mar 2008 at 2:38 am
that colour !!! wonderful. I see a lot of red/pink/burgandy/purple in the yarn knitters are using now…probably because of this grey weather we have almost everywhere in Europe. I wish I could modify a pattern the way you do…I don’t feel enough experienced to do it now but I’ll try one day.
11 Mar 2008 at 9:23 am
Oh well done. Looks great on you. I know it was a labour of love but it really does fit you well. Enjoy knitting something else now!
14 Mar 2008 at 3:22 pm
Very beautiful, and the color is fabulous on you! This one is on my list- I am sure all your alterations will come in handy!
17 Mar 2008 at 4:56 pm