Good morning ocean!

Can't really complain about a weekend where you wake up to this view!


Good morning beach!! Girls' weekend at the beach was fabulous!


And more berries!


And lots of knitting!


I finished my second Double Bubble sock! Rowan didn't mind modeling these...partly because I think she wants to steal them from me!



But I heart these socks!!

Pattern: Double Bubble by Samantha Roshak
Yarn: STR mediumweight, colorway Lover's Leap

Hope you all had a great weekend too! Here's to a short week ahead....I'm off on Friday for a 3-day weekend!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Blackberry Brambles

You know what we'll be having for dessert this weekend! Blackberry Pie! Courtesy of Whole Foods, but delicious nonetheless!


The Plucky Knitter Merino Cashmere Nylon Sock, colorway Ripe for Pickin'


Socks that Rock mediumweight, colorway Mochaberry




Socks that Rock mediumweight, colorway Siren Song

Thank you Knittinggolfer for test knitting and taking such fabulous photos! Check them all out here or here!

Summer berries, ripe for picking. As soon as I saw this stitch pattern, I was inspired. The berries travel down the sock on their brambles. Then, when you have colorways with names such as Mochaberry and Ripe for Pickin', well, enough said.

Pattern: Blackberry Brambles


Notes: The instructions are written for a cuff-down sock. Charts are also provided.

Yarn: 380 yards of fingering weight sock yarn; shown in The Plucky Knitter MCN, colorway Ripe for Pickin'; Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock mediumweight, colorways Mochaberry and Siren Song

Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge, either DPNs or circular needles

Gauge: 30 stitches = 4" over st st

Size: adult women's average/medium

Finished measurements: 8" foot circumference; 6" approximate leg length

Available for purchase here!



To celebrate the upcoming Cotty STR KAL (come join us!!), this pattern, Cotty and The Freestyle Snowboarder Hat will be marked down to $4 until July 7! Then this pattern will be available for $5 (similar to Cotty).

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions at irishgirlieknits AT gmail DOT com

Happy Berry Pickin'!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Berry Lucky Winners!

Thank you all for your help with the berry naming contest! To be honest, I think you all just made it more difficult to decide :) But I definitely have a few names for future berry-inspired patterns!

The new pattern, Blackberry Brambles, is just about done! Waiting for the perfect photo shoot!




And our winner.....

Gaylen

But there were lots of berry bramble suggestions (but also a few patterns with similar names in ravelry, so that narrowed down my choices), so the random number generator picked a few other winners.....

Zonda
Tricia
Marilynknits

And for the original suggestion that inspired the brambles theme....

Tapmouse

Congrats!! Email me at irishgirlieknits AT gmail DOT com and I'll get you your free copy of the pattern sometime this weekend when it is done!

Have you heard of the Breakfast Project? Cupcakefaerie brought it to my attention. You can also read more about it here. Here's my attempt...partially to show you all why blackberries have been on my brain! I tossed a few into some honey wholewheat pancakes I made the other night (yes, for dessert....), but they heated up nicely for breakfast! As much as I love the idea of this project, I'm not sure how many different ways I can take a picture of my everyday breakfast...granola bar, or apple, or cheese stick, or bag of berries. Well, maybe I'll take one of the bag of berries.

I'll be back soon with Blackberry Brambles!!

Happy Berry Pickin'!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Got berries?

Last week just flew by.... I can't believe it was just a week ago that I took a half day off from work to go to lunch in the city with girlfriends I have known since the 1st grade! We had such a fun time in the city and treated ourselves to a fancy lunch! Just look at this dessert!



I couldn't resist taking advantage of the photo-op with my new berry sock.

And then my trip to New Orleans for work....I'll share pictures in the next day or two. Not as much knitting done as I thought (you'd think I'd learn!), but I did finish my berry socks AND started another pair in Socks that Rock Mochaberry. I'm in love!



The pattern is just about ready to go, but it needs a name. Here's where you all come in... suggestions? likes? Help me out, leave a comment by Thursday morning, and then I'll pick a winner or two to receive a free copy of the pattern once it is done (which I'm hoping should be within the week!).

Ideas that have been floating around already..

Something berry special
Got Berries? (I'm liking this one today)
Berry berry (but I liked this one yesterday)
Berry Delicious
Blackberry Crumble
Berry berry cute
Berry berry bo berry
Raspberry Torte
Bushel of Berries
Blackberry Buckle
Bramble Berries (thanks Tapmouse!)
Blackberry Jam
Raspberry Buttermilk
??????

The colorways of the yarns I'm using.."Ripe for Picking" (see below) and "Mochaberry" (see above).


Just a little inspiration for you....

Happy Naming!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Meet Stitchy Bitchy

Just about every week, something happens or is said at my local Stitch n Bitch (aka Stitchy Bitchy among my dad, sister, and snowboarder) that I think, "I need to blog this." Finally, I brought my camera to our Tuesday night SnB...

First up, the destash. I brought a few skeins....

They didn't even let me set up a little photo of the bag of yarn before they grabbed it up!


Ilikecake's gorgeous handspun was not up for grabs though! Yeah, I wouldn't part with it either!


Is that a Cupcakefaerie under there?! In all fairness, the air conditioning is cranked way too high at our hangout...we freeze every week unless we wear our knits!


Look at GeekKnitterChic's just about done February Lady! So gorgeous in LSS Bleeding Hearts!!


By the end of the evening there were even buttons!


Maybe the best part though.....a first sock!!

I've been part of this group for almost 5 years I think! And many of the women have been part of the group even longer! I wouldn't be the knitter I am today without them!

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy Monday!

The weekend started out on Saturday at our local church's Festival!! Snowboarder, littlest Snowboarder and I had a blast! I put a few pictures on Flickr too!


Then Sunday was a quick drive up to Folsom to drop off my dad's truck to my brother! The driving was worth the lil' guy kisses!!


Of course the doggies came for the ride too!

Its looking like the Cotty pattern is going to be selected for the STR KAL!! Yippee!!! I went ahead and marked the pattern down today (hope I'm not jinxing anything!). On sale for $4, from June 15-July 7!





And the five lucky winners of their own free copy....

Michelle from PDXKnitterati
Pendie from Pendie's Purls of Wisdom
Shannan from Shannan's Stitches
Nutty Knitter
Beth from Needles, Threads & Crafts

I don't have emails for most of you, so please email me at irishgirlieknits AT gmail DOT com and I'll get the pattern right to you!

This is going to be a quick week...Thursday I'm off to New Orleans for work again!! Tough, I know :)

Happy Monday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A berry special sock....

Happy Friday!! Yay!! School is out!! Things should be settling down at work for the summer! Yippee!!!

I've finally made enough progress on my new design to show you!



It was definitely inspired by this gorgeous skein of Plucky Knitter MCN yarn in the colorway Ripe for Picking.





The stitch pattern reminded me of berries too!



Mmmmmmm....such yummy yarn! Maybe I'll be inspired with a name for this pattern while I'm at the farmer's market tomorrow morning! Either that...or Raspberry Torte...you know, Strawberry Shortcake's friend!

Speaking of patterns, I'm so excited that my Cotty pattern is in the running for the Socks that Rawk! Group's Quarterly KAL! Thank you all for being so supportive of my design! I can't even imagine seeing so many colors of my favorite yarn knit in one of my patterns!!! If you haven't had a chance to vote for which pattern is picked, here's the thread! Feel free to click the love button!

If you are thinking of buying the pattern, WAIT!! If picked, it'll be marked down to $4.00 from June 16-July 7!!

And, if you leave a comment in this post, I'll pick five lucky winners to receive a free copy of the pattern too! I'll pick the winners and email the pattern on Monday, June 15th! You have until 9am PST on the 15th to enter!

Here's to a happy happy weekend!!!!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

The List of things I was supposed to blog about this week.

Almost an entire week flew by without blogging?! Crazy! I sure was thinking of what to tell you all about. Just a bit too much work and play last week!

1. The pesto.






I modified the recipe from this book. I just used a lot less of the oil and parmesan cheese, and a few walnuts instead of the pine nuts. Delish! We sure did eat well this week.



I had this yummy sandwich a few times! Grilled bell peppers and onions, a bit of goat cheese, fresh basil, and a dab of pesto. Okay, these pictures are making me wish I had gone to the farmer's market again yesterday! Next week....

2. The yarn.




Plucky Knitter MCN, colorway Jezebel

This gorgeous color arrived from The Plucky Knitter for the Plucky Classics club. Just perfect! I've already traded a skein of Wollmeise for another one of these! Sooooo pretty!

3. The destashing!!

Yay! I think the yarn fast helped me realize that I can't knit as fast as I think I can. I did place a wee order from Blue Moon this week! Using destash money of course, but guess how many skeins I ordered? Guess??? two. seriously, two. Saving up for Sock Summit splurging!

4. The Workout for Yarn Smackdown

Speaking of Socks that Rock, Knittinggolfer and I started a Workout for Yarn Smackdown! hehehe I added the smackdown part. But when we were catching up this week, Marcy and I thought this would be a great way to motivate each other (more like me, she's a good friend that way!) to get moving! Basically, for every 30 minutes of working out, you get a point. We're aiming for 4 points a week. Whomever has the most points at the end of the month wins! The other person has to buy the winner a skein of socks that rock. This skein in particular. I really really want it. I would have ordered it if it hadn't been for our Sunkissed Sands Smackdown! So far, I've got 2 points. I'll be honest, one of them was specifically because I didn't want to fall behind!

5. The knitting.



Another pair of Toasty. Not sick of this pattern yet. Or the Aran Cashmere. Best $20 teacher gift I think! A very special teacher will be receiving these this week!

I also did the first repeat on Rogue Roses. Love the pattern.




But again, I've gotten distracted with a design that has been in my head for a bit. I'll show you that when I can.

6. The contest.

Speaking of patterns, go over and enter to win Samro's newest pattern. Its a great giveaway! And I may just have to do that too.....so keep an eye out here in the next week or so!

Never say never

Now we know I have lots of yarn in my stash. But, up until about two months ago, I had only 3 skeins of laceweight yarn in my stash. Seriously. Those were gifts too. Well, then ilikecake went and introduced me to the Plucky Knitter's 2-ply cashmere lace yarn. Oh. My. Cashmere. I quickly acquired two skeins of it from cupcakefaerie (I am spoiled by my yarn snobby friends! They have the best stashes!). Another three skeins from Churchmouse Yarns & Tea on the way to sock camp (that was restrained....I really really wanted two more skeins of Pumpkin). And I may have traded for two more skeins. And I really want some Geisha from BMFA now too!

I guess I never should have said that I would never knit with lace. Maybe I just needed to find the right patterns.



One skein of Plucky Knitter 2-ply cashmere, colorway Cupcake!


Just a simple 1 x 1 rib cowl that was a shop sample at Churchmouse. I can't wait for fall to wear this....every...day...!



Oh, and from the weekend baking...French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon from this book
(yes! I'm still loving it, though I finished it a week or two ago!). This is heavenly! A perfect summer afternoon cake. Or breakfast cake. Or dessert cake. Or, heck, it is Monday, so I can have two pieces cake. hehe

Happy Monday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits