{this moment}

{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo... oops..a few this week- no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit SouleMama leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
























Lil' Snowboarder and I had a fabulous day earlier this week at the CA Academy of Sciences and the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park.  A perfect, wonderful day.

Happy Friday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Slowly

...but surely the Cotty sock is coming along.



Actually, as I write this, I'm realizing that this sock parallels the progress on my knee.  Yeap, slow going. Slowly but surely, I guess.  We'll see what my doctor says next week.  I'm still on crutches when I'm not at home or if I have to walk far.  But, I am walking lots in the pool...up to 40 minutes!

I'm hoping to have the Cotty socks done by the end of the month for the IGK KAL!  Maybe then I'll be off crutches by the end of the month too?!

Do any of you have any slow going projects?  What's on your needles?

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A Fine Weekend Indeed

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  It was a pretty nice one around here.  It stopped raining so the doggies indulged me for pictures.  Beware, cuteness ahead...











My sister made her delicious Irish Soda Bread! Heaven!  Perfect treat for after Corned Beef and Cabbage.



Since the rain held off today, I thought I'd share a few more things from Stitches West. On the last day, I couldn't resist these two lovely skeins of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock.



Woodlake and Hoppy Blonde. Fitting for St. Patrick's Day weekend too, don't you think? I just can't decide if they should be used together or not. I just love them together!

And probably my favorite purchase from Stitches, this needle case organizer from Namaste (available at The Loopy Ewe). OMG! I should have gotten this sooner!





My circular needle case had grown a bit unruly due to the many needles I have. SO then they just were thrown in a bag, at least the ones that no longer fit in the case. So traveling between my house and dad's I felt like a packrat if I wanted to bring my needles. Instead, they all now fit in this petite case?!?! I seriously love it!  There is even room for more!

Okay, I think I may need to go have one more piece of Soda Bread before I get back to healthy eating tomorrow!  Oh Monday, please be kind.

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today will be filled with family, food, traditions, and music.  Toe-tapping music.  Oh, and a sale.  The buy one get one free kind!  See below.

But first a few favorites to enjoy...

















And this one is for Mimi.  I can still hear you and Cotty singing it.



The 2nd Annual Irish Girlie Knits BOGO Sale!  Today only!  EXTENDED through March 18! Because I love you guys..figured some of you may have missed it if you spent St. Paddy's day partying!

First, head over to my Ravelry shop and enter the coupon code: lucky

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA).

Discount can be used more than once, but can only do two patterns at a time. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

And of course we will be watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People!  This movie is why I believed in banshees as a child :)






I'll also be watching Once.  I heart this movie!





And of course, our favorite Lil' Guy....hehehe!

Did you get a chance to check out the adorable leprechaun Tricia made.  I'll wait.  Go look!

Okay, one more favorite.  Lil' Snowboarder loved this one last year and wanted to hear it over and over.  Finally, she asked, "What's whiskey?"



Happy St. Paddy's Day!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

3 more days...

Until St. Paddy's Day!  You know we are excited about that, right?!



The doggies have their bandanas!  I'm hoping to take some pictures of both of them but it has been raining here all week.

There is already Irish Soda Bread in the house.  Yum. Yum. Yum.

I'm getting ready for my favorite IGK sale that we started last year....buy one, get one free on all of my individual designs, for one day only...St. Paddy's Day!  Check back later for more info on that!

And to get you in the mood..



More toe-tapping songs from last year here.

Thank you guys for all the name ideas for the baby sweater.  Definitely a few to think on, but I'm still open to suggestions.  Unfortunately, there are a gazillion Diamond named patterns on Ravelry, so I probably will avoid those.  And Dianne hit the nail on the head with my mom's nickname as a child as a suggestion, but Mousey and Pettie probably won't work.  I wanted them to as the pattern is the same I used in the sock design I did for my mom.  We'll see...

Back to working on my Cotty sock and writing up a pattern or two...

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

And then there were...

Two!



Pattern writing has commenced.  Now we just need a name.  Any suggestions?

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Spring Forward!

Anyone else want that hour back?!  I know I do!  But I am looking forward to spring AND being home at an hour where there is still some sunshine to take pictures for the blog :)



I finally had a chance to take some pictures of the yarn I bought at Stitches West from some of my favorite indie dyers....



Wait, I didn't buy all that!



But these 3 pretties came home with me from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.



Another pretty from Knitted Wit and the cute bag is from Maria of A Needle Runs Through It (be careful if you click those links..lots more pretty).



This lovely skein of Miss Babs Northumbria BFL DK has already been swatched.  I love love love it!



And this, this my friends is the first skein of lace weight yarn that I have purchased that is actually intended for a laceweight project.  The only laceweight I have in my stash are 4 skeins of Plucky cashmere, meant to be doubled for some cowls...  But this gorgeous skein from A Verb For Keeping Warm is hopefully destined for something special!

I have a few more skeins to share later this week.  The best part of Stitches though are the friends!  I didn't take my camera out enough but did catch a few with my phone.



Debbi and Leianne were the best booth babes to hang out with :)  Seriously, love you both!!!  And Stephen too on Saturday and Sunday!



And it was great to hang out at the bar after with Leslie and Celia.  Definitely missed seeing Disco and Erica though...maybe next year!!

Now must to bed....I lost an hour today and I just know it is going to bite me in the butt tomorrow morning!  Is it Friday yet?!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Holbrook

The bright side of knee surgery is that I've had a bit more time to knit.  Well, not counting that first week after therapy when the pain meds made me too sleepy.  That is how Holbrook came to be.  The idea was there since the first mystery sock clue was released in January.  Then at TNNA, I swatched and found the perfect yarn with Anzula's Dreamy yarn.

Once I finally cast on, this lovely shawl flew off the needles.  It is worked from the outside edging in, and then uses short rows for the crescent shape.





We had such perfect luck on the day of the photo shoot.  A rainy February morning resulted in lovely weather in the afternoon at our neighborhood park, Holbrook Palmer Park. The blossoms served as a perfect backdrop for the shawl!









I love how versatile this one is to wear.  I've been wearing it more like a scarf the past few days when it has been chilly, but I can see it draped more like a shawl as the weather warms up.



Thayer, my gorgeous model, looked as lovely as ever and Tricia captured some great shots as usual!! This photo shoot was fun because there were some special friends there, as well as cute doggies, which I didn't take pictures of, but made the afternoon just perfect!

Thank you to Jill for doing another fabulous job on the pattern layout!



I hope you all enjoy knitting this one as much as I did!  Jocelyn, my super speedy test knitter, worked her shawl up quicker than me! Thank you Jocelyn!!

I'm offering Holbrook at a special introductory price of $4.50 from now until Sunday, March 11, no coupon necessary!

Pattern:  Holbrook   

Suggested Yarns: ~ 385 yards heavier fingering weight yarn such as Anzula Dreamy, BMFA Socks that Rock mediumweight, Cephalopod Yarns Bugga!, A Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna Cashmere Yarn, The Plucky Knitter Primo Sport

Gauge: 20 sts and 32 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch, after blocking

A perfect stash-buster for those single skeins of yarn, don't you think?!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Good stuff, bad stuff.

You take the good stuff with the bad stuff, right?  It has been like that the past few days.  Mostly good, but a little bad, or perhaps, just sad.

Good stuff.  I needed to find my vintage buttons to use for the baby sweater.



Bad stuff.  These buttons just make me miss Cotty so much.  They were her buttons.  She loved to sew and was so proud of my knitting.  She would examine each stitch and detail...not in the looking for the mistakes way, but in the look how much time and thought went into this way.  And of course, then I was really missing Mimi, because she would have told me how much Cotty would have loved the sweater.  She would have liked it too, but she also would have shared a fun story about Cotty.

Good stuff.  In finding the buttons, I found yarn needles that are so vintage they only cost 25 cents :)




Sad stuff.  Last month when my mom was in Reno going through some of my aunts' things, she asked if there was anything else I could think of that I would want.  She'd already brought me home a few special things, so I didn't think so.  And then I said, "Don't forget the button box."  Dear mom said, "Already packed for you."

Good stuff.  Cute, quick, wee baby things!!  In decadent Plucky Knitter Primo Sport yarn, colorway Bashful. Love. love. love.  Need two weeks BEFORE the baby shower?!!  Unheard of.



Bad stuff.  My doctor wants me on crutches still.  And 2 crutches, none of the 1 crutch stuff that I've been doing for the past 2 weeks.  No more TinyTim as Debbi would say :)   I know it could be worse and I have been gradually feeling better each day, but I really, really thought I'd be done with the crutches by now.  Shit, I thought I'd be done with them 3 weeks ago.  Ugh.

Good stuff.  My doctor is pleased with the progress so far and says this is where I should be 6 weeks out from knee surgery.  So I'm going with that.  And then I went to the pool and walked for 30 minutes.  Only thing I am allowed to do.  I'm going to be so excited this summer when I can swim laps and laps! No more taking that for granted!!

More good stuff.  I cast on for a second wee baby sweater.  Need a sample and a baby gift.  And probably another baby gift, but I already have another idea for the next wee thing.

Bye bye monday.  The rest of this week, I'm focusing on the good stuff!  You guys have any good stuff to share??!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

I Can't Explain It

But I'll try.

First, I bought some yarn at Stitches West.



This is not that yarn.  For a number of reasons, one of them which is I told myself I couldn't buy anymore blue or pink yarns.  This yarn is perfectly pink, so it must not be from Stitches.  Wait.  I did actually end up buying pink AND blue yarns, but it is still not from Stitches.

Second, this yarn did not arrive by itself.  Nope, it arrived with A LOT of other lovely Plucky Knitter yarn that I had pre-ordered back in January...I think just days after my knee surgery.  Hence, the pain meds-induced yarn splurge.  I don't remember ordering all that, but damn, I'm so glad I did.  It is just gorgeous!!  However, receiving it right after a weekend haul at Stitches...um...can anyone say yarn diet?  Commencing now.

Third, I don't have a new design on the needles and had planned to wind some yarn from Stitches intended for a new design.  I did actually do that last night.  But I couldn't keep thinking about my bag of pretty Plucky Knitter yarns that had arrived and so I wound that lovely skein of pink happiness.

And that is where I don't know what happened next.  Sure, I have a few baby showers coming up, but I wasn't expecting what happened next.



An amazingly quick new baby sweater design, featuring the motif from my Maryanne socks, suddenly appeared.  I think I cast on around 10pm last night.  And I'd finish it tonight if I could but I must go shopping with my sister.  I blame the new sport yarn that is just perfect.  Well, and the wee cuteness.

I mean the baby shower is still a few weeks away.  This just seems weird.  Efficient.  Timely.  Again, weird.

But I'm hooked!

Happy Saturday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Raindrops on Roses

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,

Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things.

A favorite song inspired this shawlette.  The raindrops trickle down onto the rose edging, creating a perfect little something to add to your wardrobe this spring. A new favorite thing.

I'm so excited to finally release my Raindrops on Roses Shawlette.  It seems fitting, with the rain that we have finally been getting here in the Bay Area. 

A very special thank you to Zonda for knitting a sample out of the lovely Madelinetosh Tosh Sock yarn.  We used it for the photo shoot and it was just perfect! Thanks Zonda!

And if you are in Portland this weekend for the Rose City Yarn Crawl, you'll find the sample and patterns available at Twisted, my favorite Portland yarn store!

Thank you to the lovely Thayer for her beautiful modeling and Tricia for capturing those images so perfectly.  I am truly blessed to have such talented friends!   Thank you too to Jill for her amazing pattern layout!

Pattern:  Raindrops on Roses Shawlette  add to cart

From now until March 4, receive 20 % off when you use the coupon code:  favoritethings  For the coupon code, click add to cart link above as the "buy now" button won't enable a coupon code.

Note: Instructions are written for a top-down shawlette.  Both charted and written instructions are provided for the lace edging.

Suggested Yarns: 390 yards of fingering weight yarn such as Madelinetosh Tosh Sock, Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock, The Plucky Knitter Primo MCN Fingering, Stricken Smitten Smitten Merino Nylon Twist, Knitted Wit Superwash Merino Fingering

Materials:

·         Size US 5 (3.75mm) or size to obtain gauge, knitting needles

·         Tapestry needle

·         Blocking pins

Gauge:  26 sts and 32 rows= 4” over st st

Finished measurements: 51” wide and 19” long at center points, after blocking

So grab that special skein of sock yarn and get ready to cast on!


Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits