Fun! Fun! Fun!

Wow! I've had a great few days vacation but lots of catching up to do!

First, Harry Potter was awesome! We had a great time at the midnight showing! Fortunately, I saw it again today as I'll admit, I was a bit sleepy during the midnight show!

SnBLeslie, me, Madeleine, & Diane

I went to Portland for a long weekend to visit one of my best friends from high school, Christy. We had such a good weekend! Hanging out with her two kids (love them to bits!), knitting, visiting friends, knitting, swimming, eating, just fun fun fun!

Here's just a few of the pics from this weekend......

Voodoo Donuts


Berries galore! Seriously, I could live here just for the berries!


I finished the Jabberwocky Monkeys I was secretly knitting for a friend and was able to give them to her! Looks like they fit!


Got a few hugs from these two! Can. Not. Wait. For. Sock. Summit. It is going to be amazing!!!


Don't you love the sign outside the convention center!!!


We also met up with Neuroknitter and Woolgirl for some shopping and knitting! Look at these two Cotty socks!! Made my heart happy (left one is Neuroknitter's, right one is Christy's!)


Here's a picture of Christy's youngest. In his Darth Maul (?) pose. I get to see this sweet little face in just two weeks!!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Monkey Monday!

Yippee! Its been a long day, but I just had to finish the toe on my sister's Monkey socks when I got home from work.



This photo shoot was all my sister's idea! Her monkey too.



I find it interesting how much more she is interested in the modeling when the finished item is actually for her.



She picked the yarn out herself too. Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, colorway Chuckanut Drive, from Woolgirl. Lots of leftovers too! I'm thinking this would be perfect for a Barn Raising Quilt Square. Are you all knitting your squares to donate for Sock Summit? They need them by June 9th.....details here. The finished blankets are going to be auctioned or raffled off as a fundraiser for Doctors without Borders. Great idea!

Happy Monday!! (seriously, how many days until Friday?!?!?!)
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Can you believe...

... it has been 21 days since I last bought yarn!! No biggie for some, but for this Irishgirlie, it is progress.

... until this past Wednesday evening when I finished my Shawl that Jazz (thank you all for the love by the way!), it had been 9 days since I had last knit on a sock. No biggie for some, but for this Irishgirlie, it was weird.

So what did I do? Late Wednesday evening, I cast on a Monkey sock.


Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, colorway Chuckanut Drive



There wasn't a lot of progress made yesterday because this lil' guy spent the night.



Can you believe how cute he is?!! And how crazy his auntie is to make him hold up the sock!

Happy Friday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Jingle bells, jingle bells...

Oh wait. Its January. Oh well, they'll be ready for next Christmas!

Socks that Rock lightweight, colorway Jingle Bell Rocks

Cast on on Christmas Eve, then put aside to finish up the gift knitting. My first finished pair of the new year!!! Monkeys + STR = LOVE! Right, Neuroknitter?

Happy Monday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Let's Talk Socks!

I knit 22 pairs of socks in 2008.

Wow.

Still doesn't justify my sock stash (but its such a pretty stash!).

If I had to pick a favorite pair of 2008, well it would be my Lucky socks from the Rockin' Sock Club. Mainly for sentimental reasons! They were quite lucky for me in so many ways!




I left three WIPs socks on the needles...one of them, my Jingle Bell Monkeys! They'll be done soon though!





And those WIPs socks didn't stop me from casting on a new sock, early in the new year!



They are Leyburn socks, in STR mediumweight, colorway Potomac. Love! We're having a little KAL over at the Socks that Rawk! group on ravelry....wanna join us?? You know you do!

I've been thinking of goals for the new year, and one of them is definitely going to be trying to use my stash as much as I can! Fortunately, my dad and sister stocked up for me for Christmas!




Gorgeous yarns my sister picked out for me over at Woolgirl! (beware, Woolgirl's having an awesome New Year's Sale, click at your own risk)

Here's to many more socks in 2009!

Happy New Year!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

On the fourth day of Christmas...

We're still celebrating the holidays here in the Irishgirlie household. Lil' Guy and his parents are down for the weekend to celebrate! But I did want to share a very special gift that I received this Christmas....



I think the hardest part was waiting to open it...a big box arrived from my dear Disco and I had to wait days until I could open it!! But it was so worth the wait! A book I'm dying to read, handmade coasters, Posh and Beckham!, a picture of two cutie patooties! and more!



And this absolutely gorgeous Rare Gems! Its screaming my name I think!! But even the STR was not the best part....



Look at my new fetchings!! Gorgeous, perfectly blue, fetchings for me! Made for me by Disco!! I practically cried :) Thank you Disco!!



And as a gift to myself, I cast on Jingle Bell Rock Monkeys for me on Christmas Eve. I'm at the heel of the first one, but needed to put them down to cast on a Christmas hat for Lil' Guy.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

Oh, and I couldn't resist this picture...as I am blogging this at 11:40pm, lights out except for the tree, this is the sight I see.... Lil' Guy wide awake, not wanting to go back to sleep.... my brother looks ready though...





Sweet Dreams!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

More Monkeys!

You know its been a long week when I finished these monkey socks last Saturday and I'm just now posting pictures! Rowan is quite happy with her new socks!

She really likes that they match her fingernail polish too!

Pattern: Monkey Sock

Yarn: Socks that Rock, mediumweight, colorway Rare Gems

Happy Halloween!! Here's to a relaxing weekend!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A Cold Winter's Night

I tried so very hard to resist the call of the Monkeys. So many socks on my needles already.

I have a hard enough time when looking at Neuroknitter's pictures of hers. So imagine my weakness when I'm with her in person, yarn shopping no less, and she even lets me borrow her needles, encouraging me to cast on. I wound the yarn by hand last Friday night and finished them while I was waiting for my sister to pick me up from the airport Monday night. I so love this pattern! I'm ready to cast on another!

Pattern: Monkey

Yarn: Dashing Dachs, Dach Sox: Sport Superwash Merino from Woolgirl colorway Rufus (but it reminded us of A Cold Winter's Night)

This was my first time trying this yarn and I loved it! I especially loved all the different changes in color, so rich. And they are even softer now that they have been soaked :)

Happy Socktoberfest!!!!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

The Sweet Smell of .....

Victory!!

Who am I kidding?!! These poor babies didn't make it through the preliminaries of the sockput competition for the Ravelympics '08, but they are still a victory, nonetheless!

The journey began during the Opening Ceremonies. I couldn't wait to cast on a pair of new socks! It continued through to Michael Phelps' first gold medal. And then I realized I better start knitting on that sweater. The poor socks fell behind.

I figured, no problem. Ravelympics are done. These will be finished in no time. Then the craft room project began and these languished on the needles. And still last week, I figured these will be done in no time. Well, I did cast on the second sock while waiting for Dad in the Emergency Room on Tuesday for five hours (he's okay and home the same day, but it was quite a little scare!).

I brought them to Sacramento thinking they'd definitely be done after I put Lil' Guy to bed Friday night (Auntie Irishgirlie forgot how that kid moves!). The exhausted babysitter did not knit on them AT ALL. Then comes the OMG! Notre Dame barely beat San Diego St. game on Saturday where very little knitting took place (too busy cheering/praying?!).

It took some relaxing with friends at Purlescence on Sunday to make some headway! But I finished them last night. And absolutely love them! I took our depraved dyer's suggestion to knit these in a raven color and they look fabulous I think!! And despite the month-long journey (yeap, didn't even finish in time for the last few weeks of summer of socks!), they were easy-peasy!! Love this pattern by Hot Flash!!

Pattern: Sweet Tart Anklet by Marilyn Kaleikilo (part of July's Rockin' Sock Club kit, the pattern, not the yarn)
Yarn: Socks that Rock, lightweight, colorway Valkyrie
Mods: Knit the leg for 5" instead of making them anklets.

Happy Monday!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

My Favorite Ones So Far...

The Monkey KawKaw socks are complete!! I already wore them today!

Today was a good day :)

Happy Knitting!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Still Monkeyin' Around!

Monkey Sock #1 done. Still loving that colorway (which you can all get now!),

Socks that Rock, lightweight, KawKaw

And sock #2 is already started and will be saying hi to the Yarn Harlot tomorrow!

Happy Weekend!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Uh-Oh!

I did finish two socks this weekend.....

And started a third.

Uh-oh.

Happy Socks!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Wild Monkeys

The color is a bit wild for this pattern I think.

But I did need any easy pattern for airplane knitting to New Orleans.

And they don't look so wild with my shoes!

And I love the yarn and colors (most accurate above)!

Yarn: MadelineTosh fingering, color Twain

And hey, finishing this pair put me over the Knit-A-Mile mark!!

Happy Stashbusting!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

WIP: The UFO Edition

Cast on June 2006. Ack! Didn't touch at all last year. Gorgeous clapotis-to-be...please forgive me.

I'm just not sure why this has been a UFO for as long as it has been. Its my second Clapotis (I love my first!) in the same yarn. I splurged at Stitches West 2006 and bought this from Oak Grove Yarns. The yarn is Gemini (50% silk, 50% merino) in the colorway Desert Sand. I absolutely love it! And since Disco finished her Clapotis, I've been wanting to get back to mine. Throw in some encouragement, and this UFO is now a fully-functioning WIP! I'm half way done and started a few rows last night. My first goal is to maybe have it done by the end of the month for the January Finish a UFO contest over at Skeins Her Way. We'll see. If not, definately in time for Stitches West to show Disco when she comes to visit!!!!!!

But there are a few other WIPs that may distract me between now and then.

Monkey socks for me!

Cropped Cardi for Little Guy's Mom!

Thank goodness I have an understanding SIL who doesn't mind very late Christmas gifts!

I do have a nice 3-day weekend coming up to get some serious knitting done!!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits