Sunday, December 6, 2015

Giftalong

Happy December!! Are you guys all working on your holiday knitting? Or are you opting for a little less stress this year...hahaha! I'm busy working on a design deadline but I'm still hoping to get a few holiday gifts in. We'll see.

I can't believe this will be my 9th year of blogging! Happy blogiversary month! We've got a few fun things planned in the next few weeks for you. To kick it off, I thought we'd have a guest post! Erica is going to talk a little about some of her favorite designs she's seen over in the Indie Design Gift-A-Long. I'm so excited to be one of the Designers participating this year! And be sure to read to the end....we're starting blogiversary month off with some fun!!
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Tick tock, tick tock...19 days left until Christmas. Can you believe it? I can't! I bet you want to knit a couple things and get them under the tree or in a stocking. Me too. I went searching through the Indie Design Gift-A-Long designs and thought I'd share my discoveries.

Mikkey by Lee Meredith

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A chunky cowl using slip stitches, one of my favorite techniques for working with color that is deceptively simple with a super cool result. Imagine how striking it would be in black and white!

Snowy Woods Cowl by Michele Bernstein

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I love the reverse stockinette design, leaving the tree branches highly visible. Fun, quick knit in Aran weight.

Faro by Jen Lucas

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Slip stitches. Stripes. Aran weight. What a fun and fast knit!

Owl in the Thicket by Sara Burch

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Cables and lace, with beads or buttons to accentuate the owl's eyes. Too cute!

Bluet by Bonnie Sennott

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Cables and lace? How could you go wrong?

X-Intercept by Star Athena

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Knits and purls that spiral! Simple technique, yet a striking striped effect.

There are 335 designers participating in the Indie Giftalong, with several KALs to participate in with oodles of prizes. It's not too late to join in the fun (details here) and get some gift knitting started and finished by December 31. Speaking of KALs, our Q4 KAL has started and the theme is Gift Knitting! Join in the fun here and also double dip by entering your WIPs and FOs into both ravelry group contests. I have SO MANY Irish Girlie favorites, as you may have guessed, but I thought I'd highlight a few of my go-tos for gift knitting.

Seamus by Irishgirlieknits

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I can't even remember how many of these I knit. So quick and so fun because the cables are easy, plus you have a ton of vacation rows in between. I recently knit one for Padraig in a tweed and he is obsessed with how squishy it is!

Alpine Lake by Irishgirlieknits

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This textured cowl is a dream to knit and works up in a flash in bulky. The loop is easily doubled for a warmer cowl and I love that the striking stitch pattern is unisex. I loved the version I knit in a bulky single

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and I'm going to stash dive to whip up another for a quick teacher gift.

Rathmore by Irishgirlieknits

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I love this for a gift knit! Stripes and lace make this a unique and impressive knit, that definitely delights the recipient. I knit this as a gift for a friend, and I must admit that I was a little sad when the knitting was done. It was such a dream to work up!

So tell me, tell me! What's your favorite IGK pattern to gift? And, hey, why not come on over and join us in the Irish Girlie Ravelry Group December KAL which is all about gift knitting to tie in with the Indie Design GAL! See you there. - Erica

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We usually celebrate blogiversary month with some fabulous specials and this time is no different. For the next two weeks, I'll be picking a few favorite patterns, with a little help from Erica and Tricia aka Cheeky Attitude, and marking them down for 50% off for 2-days only! So you'll need to check back here frequently so you don't miss out!

Erica's post reminded me of an old favorite, Alpine Lake. It really does knit up quickly in Bulky. The pattern is easy to memorize too! Don't have any bulky yarn? Double up some worsted and you are good to go...go up a needle size maybe if you aren't getting gauge.

So, from now until Dec. 8, 11:59pm PST, Alpine Lake is 50%, just $3.00! No coupon necessary!


Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

1 comment:

Bonnie said...

What a nice post. Thanks for featuring my Bluet cowl!

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