Guest Author - Kate Pullen

St Patrick's Day is looming, however there are a few days left to crochet a St Patrick's Day gift for someone special, or perhaps crochet a few home and table accessories for a special St Patrick's day meal.

Irish Crochet lends itself to the making of small items of crochet which can be worn as jewelry or other adornments. For instance a small Irish Crochet rose crocheted out of a fine silk could have a few pearls added for decoration and would make a lovely brooch or scarf clip. There are many patterns or instructions on the internet for making Irish Crochet and motifs from larger designs such as doilies can be used. A wide range of free Irish crochet patterns can be found here.

A BellaOnline project for an Irish Crochet inspired pot mat can be found here

Besides making a St Patrick's Day gift from actual Irish Crochet, Irish 'themed' items can easily be made. A coaster crocheted from green (emerald green for the Emerald Isle of course) cotton would be a great accessory for a glass of Guinness and talking about Guinness, anything crocheted from black and white will carry the Guinness theme. How about a crocheted beanie hat, knitted in black with a white rim to look like Guinness, or perhaps a scarf, crocheted from black yarn with white ends to suggest two pints of the black stuff. Okay, it looks like two upside down pints - but you get the drift!

Another variation on the Guinness theme would be to crochet a mug or bottle cozy in black and white, not quite the same as the real thing but, as you can remind them, it is the thought that counts!

Shamrock pins are a must for St Patrick's day and Irish people, the world round, will be wearing their pins with pride. Shamrocks are easy to crochet and instructions for making a Shamrock Pin and other St Patrick's Day items can be found at the fabulous CrochetPatternCentral here.

St Patrick's day would also not be the same without a leprechaun appearing somewhere. An Irish leprechaun will bring good luck, and a hand crocheted one will bring extra good luck! Patterns for dolls could easily be adapted to make little leprechaun characters, and are great fun to make. The word 'leprechaun' is said to mean 'small body', and leprechauns were thought to be cobblers and they also buried crocks of gold, so it is easy to adapt a crochet pattern for a doll into a leprechaun with a bit of cunning crochet! Remember to dress him in green and no self respecting leprechaun would be seen without a hat! Some ideas for dolls and doll clothes can be found here