8 Years.

8 years of blogging! You guys rock for still stopping by this space- whether from the start, a few years ago, or just recently. It might be every few months, just to look at the pictures, it might be through a blog feeder (is that what they are called) or quickly on a break at work so I understand if the comments aren't as frequent. The main thing is that we have created this awesome knitting community through blogs, knitting, ravelry, twitter, instagram, LYS, retreats. You've become my friends, many in real life, and many more virtually. So thank you!!

The past few years we've celebrated here by putting some of my most popular patterns on sale for 50% off. This is the only time I do this, so please spread the word and take advantage! And since Tricia, aka Cheekyattitude, is on board this year as part of the IGK team and will be helping out, we are making this EXTRA fun! There will be three separate groups of patterns on sale over the next week or two, but they'll be a surprise. Plus we have some other fun things planned. It is the holiday season after all!

First up..... IGK Favorites: Accessories! All the patterns shown below are 50% through Dec. 8, NO COUPON NEEDED.



One of the most popular IGK designs this past year has been Fiar. It saw a revival this past year with the lovely gradient yarns, especially those of Black Trillium Fibres.





I also released a new sock pattern this year, Contorta, in the lovely Bare Naked Wools Breakfast Blend fingering. It had been awhile since I had designed a sock pattern so it was nice to see so many of you respond so positively to it. Thank you!



The Sleepy Hollow Collection, San Mateo,  and Cotty Socks are also on sale.



And of course, my most popular pattern by far, Summer Wind. This one and Cotty really jumpstarted my design career. But this infinity scarf (and San Mateo too) continue to be "potato chip" knitting! You can't knit just one. It also featured my fabulous duo of Thayer as my model and Tricia behind the camera, with one of my favorite yarns Plucky Knitter Primo.

Any of these would make great holiday gifts if you started now too. By the way, how is your holiday knitting going? Don't forget about our IGK fall/holiday KAL over on Ravelry. My holiday knitting is slow going while I finish prepping the new pattern that Tricia showed you in the last post. But our holiday celebrating did start last weekend with our annual trip to the Dickens' Fair.





Magpie is awake for tea this year!



And she didn't quite know what to make of Father Christmas.

Next on the holiday list is to get our Christmas tree this weekend. I'd love to hear how your holiday plans/knitting/merry-making is coming. Are you in the holiday spirit or is this time of year a harder time for you? If you don't particularly celebrate the holidays how is your December going? Any special knitting?

I did a little Black Friday shopping for you guys from Knitterella. Leave a comment sharing something about your holiday plans, traditions, knitting, etc. and one of you will win the prize below. And if you mention in the same comment that you'll spread the news about the contest or sale (e.g., twitter, instagram, ravelry, Facebook, on your blog) you'll be entered twice. Be sure to leave a way for us to contact you (e.g., rav id).



Oh, and one more sale I have to tell you about because you know I LOVE all things Knitted Wit. Lorajean's birthday is Sunday and she is celebrating with a birthday sale. Everything in her shop is 34% off with the coupon code: birthday34  More details here I'm definitely getting some Sassy Santa!!


Have a  great weekend!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

I Love Yarn Day

Who knew there was such a thing?! How perfect because since I'm visiting Erica and her family this weekend I was able to peek at her mom's Bare Naked Wools stash! I'm already a huge fan of Knitspot's yarn line, having knit with a  few of the yarns already.



I designed my Contorta socks out of Breakfast Blend fingering.



I knit a Polartorte hat out of Stone Soup DK. I think Stone Soup is probably my favorite yarn so far.



Here's Stone Soup fingering. I can't wait to try the fingering version of this yarn.



Erica's mom is knitting a Summer Wind out Stone Soup fingering and I just love how it is knitting up. It feels so lovely.



And here's Kent Worsted. This yarn looks amazing! Another I can't wait to try!

So what yarns do you love?!? Any new ones I should add to my must-try list?

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

p.s. Since it is I Love Yarn Day, and so many love the Loopy Ewe for our yarns, check out a fun Designer Interview they did on me today (and it features a coupon code on my patterns). Happy Yarn Day!

Spring is Here!

Happy Spring! To be honest, it has almost felt a bit like summer around here the past week or so with the weather in the high 70s! I wouldn't mind a bit more springtime weather...you know, rain maybe? We sure do need it here in California.

Thank you all so much for supporting my St. Patrick's Day sale! You guys are awesome. Just awesome. I hope to see your new projects on the needles soon :)

I have two new designs that I released this week and I wanted to share them a bit more with you. Both were long overdue for a release, so it is nice to have them out in the world.

Glacier Point

This one was cast on last summer on my trip to Yosemite, remember?

Glacier Point provides a spectacular view of Yosemite Valley, Half Dome, and Yosemite Falls. It towers 3,200 feet above the valley floor, and takes about an hour by car to drive up the winding roads from there. I was knitting on this design during my holiday at Yosemite, and glad I was the passenger during some of those steep, zig-zagging curves at the edge of the mountains. The chevron edging in this shawl reminds me of those curves, and the majestic views.

Love love love Anzula Cloud yarn that I used for this design.


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

Suggested Yarns: ~ 615 yards total of fingering weight yarn or for 3-colors ~225 yards (Color A), 125 yards (Color B), and 265 yards (Color C) of fingering weight yarn such as Anzula Cloud, A Verb for Keeping Warm Even Tinier Annapurna, Knitted Wit Cashy Lite, The Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering, Bare Naked Wools Stone Soup fingering

Finished measurements: 64” wide and 21” long at center points, after blocking; note that the size may vary depending on the fiber content of the yarn and how rigorously the shawl is blocked

I'm most excited about all the lovely color combinations this one allows for. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

A very special thank you to Tracey for her speedy test knitting, Nartian for her awesome tech editing, and Jill Zielinski, aka Knitterella, for photography (don't you love her snowy woods backgroud!!) and graphic design magic! I couldn't have done this without all of your help ladies. Thank you!

My next design features the absolutely lovely Bare Naked Wools Breakfast Blend fingering yarn. When I designed these socks, I wanted a design that was interesting, but also allowed the natural fibers of this yarn to shine a bit. I think this pattern works well for that.

Contorta

Twisty trees. Gnarled branches. The stitch pattern that travels down the center panel of these socks reminded me of just that. When you search "twisty trees" on the internet, you'll find pictures of Corylus avellana 'Contorta'. But don't let the twists fool you, this is a deceptively easy pair of socks to knit!

Notes: Instructions are written for a cuff-down sock.  Chart is provided on the last page.

Yarn: 360-400 yards of fingering weight yarn such as Bare Naked Wools Breakfast Blend fingering, Bare Naked Wools Ghillie fingering, The Plucky Knitter Primo, Anzula Squishy, Madelinetosh Tosh Sock, Knitted Wit Superwash Merino Fingering

Size: adult medium (adult large)

Finished measurements:  7” (7 3/4”) cuff circumference, stretches up to 9 1/2” (10”), 8” (8 1/2”) foot circumference; 6 1/2” approximate leg length

My sister-in-law modeled these for me last year (thanks Sis!) and I don't think Bailey was too impressed :) But she did want to get in on the photo shoot.

To celebrate the first day of spring, both of these patterns are 20% off through the end of March when you use the 
coupon code: spring

 

So I know I've raved about the Bare Naked Wools from Knitspot before, but I finally was able to cast on for Polartorte with Stone Soup Dk. OMG. Amazing. Soft, wooly, squishy, lovely. I just love it.
Ha! I didn't even know today was National Macaron Day (well, in NYC at least) when I took that picture.



A bit more yarn enabling is coming up. Plucky Knitter Bello Worsted. Wow. I love all things plucky...colors, primo, yarn, fun, and had heard such lovely things about Bello. When there was so much of it at Stitches West, well... I couldn't resist. I finally cast on a hat (my new design for Woolgirl's Robert Frost Kit that was just released) with it. Wow. I couldn't put it down.




I cast on at last night's softball game and it just flew off the needles. Hoping to finish it at tomorrow night's game. Yes, spring is here!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

p.s if you see a weird code on the left side of the screen, yeah...I don't know what that's about. Tomorrow is another day.

A weekend of celebrating!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We started celebrating this weekend- baking Soda Bread, watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People, playing Irish music all day. I think I love this holiday because it brings back such fond memories of my childhood and grandparents and St. Patrick's Day parades and Irish Dancing and family. There was lots of family time this weekend.



What a happy smile Magpie has! I just love her to bits! It is ridiculous the amounts of photos I have of her because every time I see her she is changing. And the baby coooing....I love the reciprocity when I coo, she coos. So sweet!



Haha! Here she is modeling for Keegan.Those socks are coming off if she has her way. Too funny!

There was time for knitting this weekend too.





At softball...





With sangria by the pool. A quick one skein cowl, Seamus, which is being prepped for a new IGK release. The yarn is A Verb for Keeping Warm's Pioneer and it is beyond lovely. The cowl is blocking now, so I can cast on for my Polartorte hat. The yarn arrived Friday and wow oh wow is Bare Naked Wools Stone Soup DK just fabulous!



So soft!



This was in with my package from Knitspot. Do tell Erica or Anne?!? Don't make us wait...hints??

Speaking of Bare Naked Wools, I finally released Contorta, my new design in Breakfast Blend fingering.





I'll do a proper blog post about them later this week, but did want to let you know the pattern was available in case you wanted to take advantage of the St. Patrick's Day Sale!

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

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

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA). However, see below for some new patterns that are now IGK patterns as well!

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier!

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

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

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA). However, see below for some new patterns that are now IGK patterns as well!

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier! - See more at: http://wedonothaveaknittingproblem.blogspot.com/#sthash.TM6JDBht.dpuf

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

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

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA). However, see below for some new patterns that are now IGK patterns as well!

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier! - See more at: http://wedonothaveaknittingproblem.blogspot.com/#sthash.TM6JDBht.dpuf

I'm glad we did most of our celebrating this weekend because I did not feel well at all today :(  Really tired and lots of head pain. So I spent a lot of the day sleeping, but don't worry, I did enjoy the leftovers from last night's dinner again today! And I think a spot of tea and soda bread is just perfect. And these photos that my sister texted me....





Guess who rolled over this weekend?!



Tired from all the celebrating! And don't touch her giraffe....

And because I love you guys, I think I'll release Glacier Point  in time for the sale too! Sneak peek....



Happy St. Patrick's Day!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits