Words to live by
This is one is the latest in a series of seanfhocail kits. Seanfhocal is the Irish word for a proverb, old-adage or words of wisdom - literally meaning 'old word'. Many of these sayings have been passed down for generations but still ring true to this day.
'Dá fhada and lá tagann an tráthnóna' translates to 'however long the day, evening will come'. In other words, no matter what happens time will pass and every problem will subside. Things will get better, or this too shall pass. When I said this phrase to my husband the other day he asked "is that not the wrong way around? Shouldn't it be however long the night, morning will come?" And maybe you think like this too. He sees it as more of a 'light at the end of the tunnel' version. We're so used to hope being associated with light. But the way I see it (and maybe many generations before me), the evening brings quiet, and peace, and hopefully sleep. There comes a stage when you say I'll deal with that tomorrow, but for now we rest. Which way around do you think works best?
We're using 3 pastel shades of thread on a dark teal background to give a sense of that peaceful evening sky. It's quite a delicate design so we're mostly using 1 or 2 strands of thread at a time. To get those lovely delicate details, I recommend keeping your stitches on the smaller side. Especially for aspects like the face of the moon and the lettering. If you wanted to go rogue with this one you could always add some stars to the background - metallic thread would look great for that if you're brave enough!
If you're unfamiliar with old Irish text, you may be wondering why there's some h's missing from the design compared to the typed title of the piece. Without getting too bogged down in the structure of the Irish language - there are some instances where the pronunciation of words change slightly. One such change is the séimhiú which in modern Irish is done by adding a H after the letter, but in older Irish was marked by a dot or buailte above the letter. This change was made to accommodate the increased use of typewriters and allow Irish to be written with the 'English' or Latin alphabet. just in case you thought I had made some typos along the way - I in fact just prefer the look of the buailte for this design!
Now, the last thing I want to ask you: which Irish words or phrases should be in the next kit? Do you have a favourite seanfhocal? Or a Hiberno-English saying? What should we immortalise in stitch in 2025?
So there you have it - July's Needle Nerd kit. Subscribe now to be sure you get this kit! You can find out all the info here.
If you've missed out on the subscription deadline (30th June 2024), you can also order this kit in the shop while stocks last.
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