Luck of the Irish...passed on to the neighbors.

In our house, we love Saint Patrick's Day, but we certainly celebrate it with an American slant. We wear green to avoid getting pinched by a leprechaun. We decorate with shamrocks. And we eat our own version of an Irish meal: corned beef and colcannon. Colcannon is one of the easiest, yummiest and least expensive dishes I know of. It is mashed potatoes mixed with boiled cabbage shreds and caramelized onions. You would think that kids would turn their nose up at it, but I am telling you, they love it! Once you have it the first time it goes straight to your comfort foods list.

I'm sure you can find a recipe online, but I like the fact that colcannon doesn't need an actual recipe. All you do is make some mashed potatoes, boil some shredded cabbage in the potato water, caramalize some onions, and then mush it all together. So good!

This shamrock garland is one that I made after seeing something similar on an Etsy wishlist. I thought it would be easy to make. And it was. The hardest part was finding kelly green cotton or wool yarn...I didn't. I had to make it from acrylic. I don't like to make things from acrylic yarn because it does a real number on my finger tips. Wool on the other hand, makes my fingers softer. I always think it's because there is lanolin in the wool, though I suppose it could be removed in the yarning process and the softer fingers could be all in my mind.

I made one shamrock garland for a trade and one for our home. Unfortunately, the one in our house didn't last very long. It kind of made our stairwell look like a gallows for a leprechaun, so it found a new home with one of our favorite neighbors, who has a mantel.

I followed a free online pattern for the shamrocks. The garland/string is just a ch20 between each shamrock, then a sc into the middle section of the shamrock.

I'd love to add to our limited repertoire of Saint Patrick's Day traditions. So, please comment below if you have a Saint Patrick's Day tradition that you're willing to share. Thanks!