YPF: The Late Night Edition

Before we jump to the yarn pron, yippee! A desperately needed 3-day weekend! I had a tough week recovering from the ravelympics (e.g., cleaning things that hadn't been cleaned due to non-stop knitting, actually cooking food again) and now that the end of summer is drawing to an end my one project of organize/redecorate our craft/gym/extra room must be done this weekend! In complete contrast to last weekend, I've vowed to put down the needles for the weekend to organize that room (with the exception of hopefully making it to Purlescence for knitting on Sunday for a couple of hours).

Hopefully, I will find a pretty spot to display my new yarn in the newly organized craft room (oh, and btw, it used to be an all-purpose...ummm...storage/junk room...so craft room/gym would equal heaven!). Because this yarn is gorgeous......

Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted in Ginger

This color is already gone at Woolgirl, but there are lots of other pretties there!

This color just screams fall to me. Any one else ready for the leaves to start changing?

Well, I had to get something for Snowboarder. Winter is coming. This is Tosh Worsted in Graphite (won't it make a pretty Koolhaas?).

And you know that Woolgirl with her extra goodies! Look at these yummy new colors of Miss Babs! So so so so tempting!!

Is it fall yet?

Happy Weekend!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Wicked Rocks the Olympics!

don't worry...just a few photos...sister took them....




Project: Wicked that Rocks! (ravelry link)
Pattern: Wicked by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted colorway Thraven
purchased at Purlescence Yarns
Date Started: August 10, 2008
Date Finished: August 24, 2008

Modifications: Cast on the stitches for the second largest size, but the bust ended up being knit for the third largest size and then I did shaping for the body. For the pocket, I added two extra stitches on each end of the seed stitch just to make the pocket a smidge bigger (had read that some people wished the pocket was more in proportion for the bigger sizes). Love the pocket! Think it makes the sweater a bit more fun!

Overall, I love my second attempt at this sweater! It fits fabulously! A bit more on the fitted side but I'd prefer that to the frumpy too big of my other one. I'm pretty excited to have TWO sweaters that I love for fall!! And this one will be perfect to dress up or down for work too!! The yarn is scrumptious and the color is just perfect! And I probably needed a deadline of the Olympics to get this baby done! I'm still a newbie at this sweater knitting and not too confident, but its building! Thanks again for cheering me on!! And a big shout out to Sam, our team captain for Team Blue Moon!! She did a great job keeping us all motivated! Thanks Sam!

Happy Monday!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A Sprint to the Finish!

I can't believe I did it!! I finished it at 3:49 AM Sunday morning!!!

Its all done blocking too! And I love how it fits!! I promise to round up one of my handy-dandy photographers tomorrow.....sweater is worthy of a photo shoot, don't ya think? I couldn't have done it without you all!! I kinda felt like I'd let you down or something!

My fingers needed a break Saturday night and I needed sustenance too! I made the easiest, and quite delicious recipe from Hearthead! Poo cookies!

I had to sacrifice this week....very limited blog reading/computer time and I got these new distractions and had to resist them (until tonight!). Phew...glad the Olympics are over...I'm exhausted!!

Oh, and I might, just might, have rewarded myself with some of the new MadelineTosh Worsted yarn at Woolgirl!

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Ravelympic Update!

I took your advice everyone...I'm going for the Sweater Sprint! I've got four inches to finish knitting on the body, then the pocket and sleeves. Must be done by 9am tomorrow (according to Beijing time says the Ravelympics rules). I think I can do it as long as I don't get distracted! I've got the Olympics and Saving Grace Season 1 (thanks for the suggestion Neuroknitter) to keep me entertained!

My cheering section!

Please excuse the recycled picture from last year's 4th of July! I thought the bandannas were appropriate for the Olympics!

Happy Olympics!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

WIP Wednesday: The What Was I Thinking Edition

I'm still alive, but barely! If I can get through the rest of this week at work, I'll be good. Kids starting back to school, always a crazy busy time of year for me at work. Of course, the Olympics end this weekend and although all I think I want to do this weekend is catch up on sleep, I'm going to try and finish at least one of my Ravelympics Projects. The question is...

Which one?? Which one do I stand a chance at finishing?!

No, that's not the same picture from last week. I knit 6 or 7 more rows on it. First sock.

And here's Wicked. Just a quickie picture, excuse the bad lighting, etc. I didn't even split the sleeves until late Monday night. I finished the first of two skeins yesterday, so I'm halfway done. To finish this, I would need to do the short sleeves, finish the body, and then the pocket. I'm going with the pocket version. Do we all think that will look okay? I didn't do a pocket on the first one and I thought it was a bit plain. Thoughts?

Okay, back to my deadline knitting. I think the Ravelympics deadline is on Beijing time, so I have until Sunday morning I think. Do I challenge myself and sprint towards the finish on the sweater? Can I finish it though? If I stopped working on the sweater I could definately finish the socks. My other thought was work like mad on the sweater until Friday night and then decide. I think I could finish 1 1/2 socks on Saturday (no plans for Saturday, none, nada) if the sweater is not looking close.

Now if there had been a destash decathalon, I would have won that! I've done tons of destashing the past two weeks.....still some left here though.

Okay, gotta get knitting!! Miss you all!!

Go Team Blue Moon!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

WIP Wednesday: Rockin' the Ravelympics Edition

Probably not as far along as I'd hoped, but with one gold medal already (yay for those quick baby booties!), I'm pacing myself (yeah, right! Just trying to stay positive here!).

In the Sockput Event, my Sweet Tarts sock in STR lightweight Valkyrie. I cast these on during the Opening Ceremonies. Love love love this pattern. I'm making the cuff/leg a bit longer than the pattern calls for (its at 4" now, I want it to be 5"). This is one of the Rockin' Sock Club July patterns and I love it in the raven colorway. It was hard to put these down, but I needed to start focusing on ...

...the Sweater Sprint. Also know as, what was I thinking? I started this Sunday and am making pretty good progress. I'm using BMFA Twisted in Thraven. I just love this yarn and the colorway is perfect for the sweater I think. I'm going to keep plugging away on this as much as I can! I'm about halfway through the increases.

Once these two projects are complete (hahahaha), I'll attempt the WIP Wrestling and finish off my Trickle socks!! Thank goodness there's more Michael Phelps to watch!

Random Irishgirlie Olympics side story (and hey, some eye candy!). This newspaper article is still on our fridge from four years ago. Snowboarder and I will get back together after the Olympics (shhh!).

Happy Olympics!!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Cuteness Alert!

I absolutely love love love this baby sweater!

So much so that I think this is the first baby knit I've knit that I actually want to keep and save! Alas, the baby shower for a very good friend is next week, so away it will go!

I think the buttons worked perfectly.

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (aka February Baby Sweater) from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac (thank you Disco!)

Yarn: Socks that Rock mediumweight, colorway Tanzanite

Needles: US 5

Modifications: The only modification I made was that I knit the sleeves in the round (I learned that from making the February Lady sweater!). Loved this pattern (um..two paragraphs, not sure I could have knit it without first knitting the February Lady...).

More cuteness! Those little baby booties! Of course, I did my button math wrong (thinking I only needed 5 but really I needed 7 total for both projects, phew lucky there were similar buttons in the box)...I must have been distracted by Michael Phelps!

Pattern: Saartje's Booties the Bockstark Way

Needles: US 3

Started and Finished: August 9, 2008

Modifications: The only modification I made was the buttonhole. I just did a y0 k2tog since I knew that the buttons were fairly tiny. Made for even less seaming!

These were my first completed project for the Ravelympics! Competition baby dressage :) I know, easy, but I have a few more projects to go!

GO TEAM USA!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Memories

I'm in Reno for a long weekend visiting my Great-Aunt Mimi. I finished the February Baby Sweater last night and told her I needed to go to the yarn store today to buy the buttons. She suggested looking in Cotty's (my other great-aunt who passed away last year...she loved to sew) button box. And boy am I so glad she suggested that!

These were just a few of the treasures I found!

Can you see the price on some of these- 29 cents!

I still love this machine. Cotty showed me how to do some basic sewing on this.

There were even needles and thread! I just got a kick out of this!

These are the simple buttons I chose, partially because there were five which will be the exact number I need for the sweater and baby booties (the booties are one of my Ravelympics challenges). 10 cents baby. Can't beat that! Plus, fortunately, I don't need to go to the yarn store. Jimmy Beans is one of my favorites, but I'm trying to resist its call.

So the sweater is done! I love it! But, since one of my dear friends wants me to post more frequently, this is the only teaser you get.....hehehehe. More pics to come later!

Happy happy!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Ravelympics 2008!

Bring on the Olympics!!!

Guess which team I joined?!!

Bailey

The Ravelympics have Bob as a mascot. I've got my own :)

Bailey and Puddles

Happy Olympics!! Let the knitting commence!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

WIP Wednesday: The Coming Clean Edition

Its time to come clean. I've probably been avoiding WIP Wednesdays because, um, the projects overfloweth! Goodness! So many, that I haven't even put some on my Ravelry projects page. And yet, I don't really see any of these making much progress during the Ravelympics except for the baby sweater below, which is quite close to being finished. Oh well. Now that I've come clean....

February Baby Sweater in Socks that Rock, mediumweight, colorway Tanzanite

yummy! and good stash knitting!

Poor Pa's Scarf. Dad wanted a scarf for Father's Day for when he walks the dogs at night. Well, I figured I could hold out til fall for the chilly walks (of course, it actually rained a bit last night on their walk). But I did cast this on on Father's Day. And it has remained untouched ever since. Yeap, he asks about it every once in awhile. Oh, and its Rowan Plaid from the stash!

I blame Summer of Socks! I am fully embracing it!

Sock #1 on my Garter Rib Pookie Socks, Miss Babs Yummy fingering, colorway Pookie

The yarn is indeed Yummy! and I'm resisting more even though its on sale at Woolgirl now!

Yeap, I cast these on last week right when I got home from vacation! I just couldn't resist!! Goody Goody Gumdrops! The Rockin' Sock Club shipment for this month. Cast on, and haven't touched it since....so sad....because I want to...but the baby shower will be here sooner than I think.

I know. Another sock. This one was cast on at the end of June for the Sock Knitters Anonymous (hehehehe, obviously I'm a member!) design your own sock challenge. I'm attempting to use the stitch from my Aubergine Scarf on the socks. Pretty, but fiddly. The pattern is much easier on size 8s as opposed to 1s. Oh well. Sock #1 too. Socks that Rock, lightweight, Eggplanted.

So what do I decide to do for the Ravelympics? Start another sock.

And yes, there are a few other projects on the needle. Wow. This is probably the most I've had on the needles for awhile. Oh well.

Happy Knitting!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Death to Pickle

Started: May 2007 (seriously, over a year ago)

Frogged: August 4, 2008 (rest in peace in project heaven, and may you look like this)

I feel better already. I figured the two sweaters that I have actually completed, February Lady and Wicked, were both done in under a month. This sweater was just not meant to be. I tried Turtlegirl, I tried ;) I think I'm not feeling the color anymore (yarn has already been listed to trade/destash) and the pattern...just not sure it would be flattering. I had already decided to not add the pattern across the girls, and then it would just be a green Pickle sweater...not for me.

Remember the cropped cardi for my SIL for last Christmas?? See the little stitch markers there to remind me! Well, its not on the chopping block yet, but boy was I reminded of this on vacation. So after the Olympics, we will be reviving this baby. I think this is taking forever because basically she picked the pattern, color, etc. Yeap, I love her that much! However, I think in the future I'm going to have to have a bit more say or else it will be a WIP forever :)

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted, colorway Thraven

Now this is more to my liking!!! Stash yarn too baby!! My ravelympics project, for Team Blue Moon!! is going to be a second Wicked. My first one was well, my first sweater. So way too big on top and too short on the bottom. A thing called negative ease would have helped. Here goes try number two! May it be half as pretty as this one!

Happy Sweater Knitting, hopefully!!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Sea World

I couldn't resist a few more pictures from our San Diego trip! These were all taken on our last day, Wednesday, at Sea World!

Yes, I snuck in a quick sock picture at the whale show! I finished the toe of my Trickle sock!

Sock #1, only because I got distracted by my February Sweater and then Summer of Socks! I finished the last few inches on the trip. Still loving this pattern but I don't think Sock #2 will be finished until after Ravelympics (I'm going to try to make another sweater!!).

Oh, wait. Did you all see any new yarn purchases in those pictures? Nope. Nada. We even drove past a sign in Old Town San Diego that said "Yarn" and we didn't even stop! Of course, I fell down today and joined the Sundara Seasons club (she re-opened it!). What is that saying, one step forward, two steps back?

Happy Friday!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits