Good things.

Definitely one of those weeks where daily I tried to find the good things. Here are just a few as I look back over my week.

1. OMG. Want. All of these. Seriously. The one that caught my attention originally was 'Unfriended a Racist' but other faves include 'Stopped Caring About Bullshit,' '   I could cover my Field bag in them.

2. Speaking of my knitting bag, I love it.



Yep. That's unfinished Christmas knitting. Oh well. It happens to the best of us.

3. And I was pretty proud to be part of the knitting community last weekend. I was there in spirit. I was working with an awesome team of women that morning and we shared our own stories... our own mini-march of sorts, since we couldn't be there. Four American women. Diverse and similar our small group was- Christian, Muslim, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, people of color, white, affected by autoimmune disease, cancer, autism....And that's just what little we know about each other. We don't know everyone's complete story. When one of the women talked about the pink pussyhats, I was so honored to share pictures of you guys on IG and explain more about it. Whether or not you agree with the movement, it is still an awesome thing to see the power of knitters. Kay Gardiner summed it up perfectly I think.

4. Knitted Wit's new colorway, Be Mine, where 10% of the sales of this colorway will forever go to Planned Parenthood.

Photo courtesy of Knitted Wit, colorway Be Mine

5. Knitting sure does soothe the soul. I'm so glad I've found my needles again after such a hard year last year. This morning I knit a bit while I was watching church on Facebook. Yep. That's a thing now. I try to get home to Church every other weekend. I love my Love Center Church family and am so blessed to have found a church family, and then I moved. I'm sure there are lovely churches here, but I'm just not ready yet having just found a church family I love. It is such a welcoming, non-denominational church, if you happen to live in the Oakland/Bay Area community, with an amazing music ministry too (you can check out some of the services/music on periscope).



Pattern: Naylor Street

I also took it to my mani/pedi  this afternoon, part of my self-care routine these past few months.



6. Yes, that is sparkly gold nail polish. Not my typical go-to color, but kinda goes with one of my anthems this month.



Now if that isn't bubblegum pop, I don't know what is. I don't even know who Britt Nicole is. Little Snowboarder must have downloaded this song on my phone way back when. I added it to my workout playlist this January since it was peppy. But damn. Those lyrics got to me.

You're one in a million. This, this is for all the girls
Boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told
You're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high
It's your time to shine
From the inside out it shows
You're worth more than gold
You're worth more than gold.

We are enough and so worth it. But I think sometimes we women need to hear this message a little bit more, and definitely more from each other. So sure, sparkly gold nail polish today :) Shine.

7. Victoria. And not just because of the Cavi.



8. Baby sweater just needs a button. Woohooo!!



And yes, this one is a new design at some point.

9. Sunsets. Seriously, this beauty was on my drive home this week.



10. All the Steward love you guys have shown this past week! Thank you supporting my new pattern release.



The Plucky Knitter featured it as The Ox Mystery Match too!



I wanted to share better photos of the one I knit with speckled Plucky yarn and a contrast brim, but unfortunately this is the best I can do. With the crazy rain we had a week ago, my hat went missing somewhere. Hopefully, someone is wearing it and giving it lots of love. One can hope.



It is on sale for a few more days if you haven't had a chance to purchase it.  


11.  Daily gratitude list in my bullet journal, which I love by the way. This daily act of remembering all I have to be grateful for has been helpful in so many ways.



11. Candle light. I've found this simple act of lighting a candle calming these past few weeks, especially amongst such chaos. Focusing on the positive, the light, instead of the darkness.   A daily act, similar to the gratitude list, that is making it easier to focus.



It prompted me to find a few of my favorite light/dark quotes to share with you guys, in case you needed a bit of inspiration for the week ahead.













Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Blog Love

Let's celebrate the last of our blogiversary sales with a fun one! These seven patterns are 50% off from now until Monday, Dec. 21, 11:59pm PST, with the coupon code: BLOGLOVE.



(top: left to right) Fiar, Peek-a-boo Penelope, Kenmare Lace Hat, Ballydesmond, Wish I Might, Naylor Street, and Golden State.

A few of my favorites and a few of this year's new ones! A little something for everyone.

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Good things.

I've been writing this post to you for a few weeks now. So many blessings and happenings, and good things. I'm trying to savor each and every one and focus more on the good things than the stress and health stuff. But, I'd be lying if I said things are all sunshine and rainbows. Tonight though, we have good things.

1. Emmypie. I have no idea if this will be her blogname forever, but it was either Taco Salad, el bebe dragon, or Emmypie. Or Mouse. She is just the sweetest thing! We love her.


Naylor Street hat, Plucky Primo Sport




Keegan hat, Plucky Knitter Primo

2. Big sister, Magpie, turned 2!!





3. I'm still trying lots of new healthy recipes. This delicious pumpkin bread recipe is here.



4. I've released quite a few new designs. I was pretty inspired by Plucktober. I only have one of these designs left to release.



I love all of the new designs, but Ballydesmond has really taken off this past week! It was even featured on The Plucky Knitter's blog and newsletter this week (fyi.... update time!!)! The intuitive cables, the unisex nature of the design, and how quick these knit up certainly help. Plus, with the holidays coming up, I think everyone is thinking gift knitting (Tracey has already knit two pair this week for teacher gifts!).

5. Speaking of gift knitting, this year I'm participating in the Indie Design Gift-A-Long 2015! Plus I plan to try to get some gift knitting done too!



Here are a few of my designs that will be on sale, along with lots of other indie designers (over 300!) patterns. The Gift-a-Long starts tomorrow, Nov. 19 at 8pm EST. Use the coupon code: giftalong2015 to receive 25% off my select GAL patterns, as well as many other designers. The sale ends Nov. 27, but the gift knitting fun will continue until the end of the year.

6. Happy Halloween!






Man, I wish Lil' Guy lived closer. Look at that soccer star!

7. Chilly evenings and the first fire of the year. It is amazing to me that as the seasons change, I fall in love with each one again. But really, there is something about this time of year that I just love.



Yes, I'm stuck on fingerless gloves. These are in Primo Worsted Cold as Ice. Probably one of my favorite colors lately.

8. Our IGK Fall KAL. I love when the KAL just clicks and everyone is active and enjoying the KAL. This one has been a fun one and will be wrapping up at the end of November.....just in time for our Gift-Knitting KAL!



9. Notre Dame Football!!! Our entire family is looking forward to the Stanford-Notre Dame game right after Thanksgiving! It is here in Palo Alto, so we'll have another big turnout. Exciting that this game could be a make or break it for the Irish in getting into the playoffs. And I love knowing that there are a few of you who are just as obsessed with college football as I am. All the games are so exciting lately!!!

10. Sisters. I'm blessed to have a sister, brother, and sister-in-law. But there is something special about sisters. To think I used to not talk to my sister when she was little (I was a middle child. I guess I had issues.). She's my best friend now. I don't know what I'd do without her sometimes. And the past two months, seeing her with her new daughter, getting to spend more time with her while she's on maternity leave, it has been perfect. When I'm with her, I definitely am glad I didn't move to Alaska. I wouldn't want to miss moments like this.



There you go. A bit of a catch up. And so much to be grateful for this time of year. I hope your days are filled with good things too. I'd love to hear what you guys have on your needles or have been up to lately. I promise to be back soon.

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

1000 & Blogiversary Special #3

1000 posts! That is crazy to think about. As I looked back through some of my older posts I found these sets of pictures and they summed up what this blog has meant to me!





Thank you guys!!! I think I'll have to make an updated friend photo collage for an upcoming post.

So our next blogiversary special is all about quick gift knits. I can't believe it is less than two weeks until Christmas! I definitely am not as organized as the Yarn Harlot with her spreadsheet. In case you are like me, I've picked some of my quick knit patterns on sale for this special.

From Dec. 12-15 (11:59pm PST), receive 50% off the following IGK patterns:

Alpine Lake
Dotty
Lilianna
Miles to Go
Naylor Street
Sorin
Sweet Baby Kate
Winter Wonder



All of these patterns require just one skein of yarn. Ok, well, not Alpine Lake, but it is knit out of bulky yarn and it knits up quickly, I promise. And if you don't have any bulky yarn, mix those bases. Take your favorite worsted and sport weight and knit them together. The cowl can be oversized!



There is a smaller cowl version of Winter Wonder that takes just one skein and would make a perfect gift. Erica knit this one above a few years ago. I think it would look great knit up it the yarn I just ordered from Bare Naked Wools, Kent Worsted.



So a quick update on my gift knitting. It isn't going that well, and I really only have two or three gifts to knit.



The tween's fingerless gloves are moving along slowly because going back to work full time has kicked my body's butt, literally. I was exhausted on Saturday. And this week in a lot of pain again. Ugh. But I'll have time off over the holidays soon!

And I know I mentioned the glove pattern would be done soon. Next week....I promise! They are super quick!



Then I need to knit this cutie pie a little something. I'm thinking a stuffed animal maybe. We'll see. She's not tolerating hats too much lately. Hmmmmm.....

How's your gift knitting going? Any last minute deadlines?

Oh, and speaking of gifts. Our contest winner is Renee Anne! Congrats Renee!!! Send me an email or message on ravelry with your address and I'll mail them out to you. I hope you and the boys survived the nasty storm we've had here in the bay area this week.

Lots of rain today......Puddy was a bit wet after her walk tonight.



Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

How Long is Too Long?

I'm pretty good at making things for people when they ask me to. As long as they don't have a scary deadline (I've mentioned that I'm slow, haven't I?) or are way beyond my skills. No sweaters. I've never knit a sweater. Not for anyone. They scare me. I have images of mismatched sleeves and droopy necklines dancing in my head.

Anyway, a hat was requested and the request was specific enough for me to be able to choose the pattern and yarn. But there were requirements. It had to be black and it had to be manly - nothing fancy he said.

I knew of just the pattern - Naylor Street, and I had some lovely Plucky that would be perfect. I set to cast on.




Everyone seems to have a favorite cast-on. My go to cast-on is the long tail method that my grandmother taught me when I was learning to knit. The only problem is that I can't seem to set aside the right amount of tail. I heard that you can wrap the yarn around the needle 10 times and then use that as a the 10 stitch measurement to cast on. I did this with this hat, and it seemed way too long. But I kept going, I was following a rule. I was about half way done and I should have stopped, but I didn't. When I got to the right number of stitches on the needles I had about 3 FEET of tail left! How did that happen? I must have miss counted. So I started over. The second time showed promise. But again, way too long a tail - about 2 feet. I have no idea where I was going wrong. The tail was over my thumb while casting on so I was using the "correct" yarn.

The third time, I decided to be "smart" and measured the space between first and last stitches of the horrible cast on knowing that had to be the right measurement. And theoretically it should have worked. So this was the long way of excusing myself for this extra long tail.



No way was I going to start again so I just kept going and despite the crazy start the hat itself turned out lovely. But it still leaves me wondering about cast-ons options. 

I polled the knit night group:

• Person A would just knit it into the beginning, holding the tail and working yarn together.
• Person B would just leave it as I did.
• Person C would have cast on again.
• Person D doesn't like long tail and only uses the cable cast on.

What say you smart knitters out there - What would you do?

Don't forget about the sale!

A Day (or Two) in the Life

In the life of a hat to be more specific. Do you ever have a special birthday gift that you just can't think of what to get? I had that this past week and then my friend suggested a hat and I immediately thought, why didn't I think of that?! Fortunately I already had a day off of rest planned for Friday, so I just needed to see if I could knit it in time for the party Friday night.



Pedicure knitting, plus some progress from Thursday night tv knitting.



Car wash knitting.



Tv knitting Friday night. Did you watch The Honorable Woman? What a great series! Loved it!



Working the decreases at Saturday morning's soccer game....almost done!



Can't beat Naylor Street for a quick last minute, guy gift. One skein of Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted, colorway Flying Monkeys. Since I love Naylor Street so much, I've put it on sale for $4.00 through the end of September for those of you who don't have this pattern. I love it for baby hats too! And if you use the Plucktember coupon code: WELOVEPLUCKY  you'll receive that extra 20% off too! (good on all IGK patterns $6 or less through the end of September)



Paired with the perfect gift tag from Knitterella.

Just in time for the party! And what a fun party it was.....fabulous food, great friends....



Margaritas! Yes, please! This is the way to start a party!




How was your weekend? Hopefully relaxing and filled with knitting!

Happy fall!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits