Leprechauns and Little People

After reading about all of my American friends whose children were building leprechaun traps in hopes of being taken to pots of gold at the end of rainbows, I decided that perhaps we should get into the St. Patrick's Day celebrations as well.  I asked around to a few friends to see if they would be doing anything for St. Paddy's Day and the usual response was a strange and questioning look on peoples faces.  There would be a very tiny percentage of people in our tiny population of New Zealand who actually acknowledge St. Patrick's Day.  I decided that we would be the first in our tiny town to do something "Irish" for the occasion.  Beef with Guinness, potatoes with parsley, sauteed cabbage and Baileys mousse with whipped cream and praline was my ode to the festivities.  9 adults and 10 children came over for our official St. Patrick's Day party and it was a huge success!  Wearing green and drinking an assortment of Irish stout, whiskey and baileys we enjoyed the first of hopefully many to come Leigh village St. Patrick's Day annual celebration dinners!

Of course because of all the action and little people running around that we had to tend to, the camera was shelved and completely forgotten about.  The food photos were taken the next day with the leftovers!!!!

At Long Last...

Not only has it been a long time since my last post but it's also been a very long time since I have finished a knitting or crocheting project.  I suppose in the summer that sort of craft is the last thing you want to be doing.  We've had many sunny summer days spent on the beach or outside in the garden instead of sitting quietly on the sofa knitting away.  I knew this project would take me ages even though it is big fat wool knitted on big fat needles which is why I started it in springtime knowing I would probably finish close to winter.  Just in time to need a warm shrug.  I finally sat myself down last week and MADE myself finish it once and for all.  And you know what?  I'm actually pretty pleased with it!  It is the softest cashmere/wool blend.  Debbie Bliss Como.  With all the leftover bits I am hoping to make a moss stitch patchwork cushion cover for the living room.  So without further ado, here it is....