March Madness

March is going to be a great month!

Did any of you catch Notre Dame's triple overtime win against UConn last night?!  I'm a huge fan of Skylar Diggin's and I so hope we make it to the national championship and win this year! Great win to start off march madness!

But it won't be all about basketball here, I promise.  There's a Mitts KAL going on over in the Bare Naked Wool group on Ravelry.  You've all seen my sleepy hollow socks that I'm working on. Well, I'm pretty sure Bare Naked Wool Breakfast Blend would work perfectly for the Sleepy Hollow Fingerless Gloves or Cotty Fingerless Gloves.  And if you pop over to that group, you just might find a coupon code for those two patterns :)

I'm also kicking off March Madness with a book giveaway!!

I'm sure many of you have seen the new Sock-Yarn Shawls  book by Jen Lucas, right?  I met Jen at the first sock summit and have followed her blog ever since.  It has been exciting to see her success as a designer the past few years, but I was thrilled to see her first book published!! So stinking proud of her!!

 

Jen and I had a great time hanging out at TNNA in January and we plotted this little giveaway for you guys.  

Why yes, we may have purchased new Namaste purses.  But back to the book :)

The book covers a variety of shawl constructions and designs, from top down triangle shawls to crescent shaped shawls, from all over lace motifs to garter stitch with lace edging.

Timpani

Francolin

I'm pretty sure you guys may be able to figure out that one of the main reasons I love the designs in this collection is because a few of them look deceptively simple, but are perfectly gorgeous.  I'm a big fan of easy knitting that has just enough style and design to make it a fabulous handknit.  I think quite a few of these fit that bill.  Well, and a few to challenge you a bit too, if you are looking for that!  

Wedgewood

Briargate

I don't know how you decide which one to knit first :)

One more favorite thing about this book.  Sock yarn.  You know we all have plenty of that in our stashes, right?!

Congratulations Jen on a job well done!!  Oh, and check out the fabulous book party her husband threw for her!  That post was one of my recent favorites because Jen is such a sweet, fun, and creative designer, and I love that her blog shares a peek into her life.  

So if you'd like to win a copy and have it personally signed by Jen, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post (and an email or ravelry id to get in touch with you if you win) with which one of Jen's shawls you think you'd like to knit.  Whether from her book, or her awesome ravelry designer page (beware! lovely shawl shopping alert!).  Contest will be open through Sunday, March 11.

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

p.s. March Madness will definitely continue this month!  I'm planning to still have my St. Patrick's Day BOGO free sale that I have every year on that day!  If you aren't already in my Irish Girlie Knits Designs ravelry group, you may want to join so you don't miss out on that!!