been online looking for a pattern to make St Pat's sox
came across this article here
http://crafts.lovetoknow.com/wiki/St._Patrick's_Day_CraftsThe History of St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick is known as the patron saint of Ireland and the man who brought Christianity to Ireland. Born in England, he was stolen from his well-to-do family and sold into slavery in Ireland.
He was a shepherd for six years in Ireland before he escaped. Since his work kept him away from people, he spent a lot of time praying. On return to England, he was guided by a vision to go back to Ireland and spread the word of God.
He incorporated traditional Irish symbols such as fire and the sun into Christian religious symbols to make conversion easier for Irish people who until that time were pagan. He established many churches in Ireland, was made a bishop in his lifetime, and later, a saint.
His saint day is celebrated March 17, believed to be the anniversary of Patrick’s death in the fifth century. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the New York City in 1762. Since that time, St. Patrick’s Day has been a day of celebrating Irish culture, and remembering the myths surrounding Patrick. He did not, for instance, actually get rid of the snakes.
Wearing o’ the green
Some of the simplest St. Patrick’s Day crafts involve that tradition of wearing something green on St. Patrick’s Day.
This can be as simple as making a top hat out of construction paper for the kids or making green, white and orange jewelry items (in the colors of the Irish flag). You could make beaded wreaths out of these three colors of pony beads (or just green, or just green and white) that you could then make into pins.
Or use seed beads to make a green, white and orange necklace with matching earrings. You can also find
Irish and Celtic charms to incorporate into jewelry. A great idea is to get some St. Patrick’s inspired
ribbon, make a bow, attach a charm with wire or ribbon, and attach a pin to the back. Wear this on your shirt, coat or purse, or attach to a ponytail holder and wear it in your hair!
St. Patrick’s Day drinks
The traditional (or at least most famous) festive drink for St. Patrick’s Day is
green beer, there are many other options for festive drinks.
For instance, you could use the same recipe as given above for green beer (16 ounces of beer and three to six drops of green food coloring) to make green apple juice, green ginger ale, or green any kind of clearish liquid.
Another fun drink for a St. Patrick’s Day party would involve a container of lime sherbet and ginger ale or lemon-lime soda. Make up a batch by allowing the sherbet to melt slightly and filling a pitcher with it and the soda, or make individual cups by putting a scoop of sherbet in the bottom and filling the rest with soda. This makes a sweet, festive drink for all ages.
Clover everywhere
Another traditional symbol of St. Patrick’s Day is the shamrock or four-leaf clover. Both are thought to bring luck and prosperity.
You can decorate your house with shamrocks and four-leaf clovers easily by cutting the shape out of construction paper and making a wreath, making shapes out of felt and using them as coasters, or cutting shamrocks out of fabric and appliquéing them to a placemat, table cloth, table runner or napkin.
Another great way to add shamrocks, and the color green, to your home is to plant some shamrocks. You can find shamrock plants at grocery and garden supply stores before the holiday, and they are very easy to take care of.
All a shamrock asks is occasional water, some sunlight and a regular pruning. the life cycle of a shamrock is such that the stems turn brown regularly, so you have to get rid of those. The plant will act like it’s trying to push itself out of the soil, but that’s OK. And if the whole thing dies back, don’t give up on it. Just keep giving it more water and it will probably eventually come back to life.
I won’t say shamrocks are impossible to kill, but it is really, really hard. No wonder they are a symbol of the Irish!
