52 Weeks of Happy (22/52)

• Road trips with friends are always fun, but Erica, baby Padraig, Erica's mom Candy and I had a bit too much fun on our middle of the night because we were still awake drive from Detroit to Columbus!

• Truck stops in Ohio are quite interesting, especially at 5am.  You can apply for a job immediately or buy a gas mask??

• Baby Padraig is such a little love....I've missed him since I've been home!

• Knitting at the Hyatt Lobby/Bar area last Saturday night was filled with too many laughs.  Melynda was knitting away with some Bare Naked Wools, so I had to take a picture (love that yarn!).

• Jeni's ice cream. Delish!!!

Contest is still going, so be sure to leave a comment and help me out with my interview please :)

This weekend went by way too fast and it was way too hot here in the bay area. But it has been nice catching up on the blog! What made you guys happy this week?

Here's to a great holiday week ahead!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

TNNA and Friends

I still can't believe that just a week ago I was at TNNA having an exhaustingly great time! Time seems to fly when I'm with my knitting friends.  TNNA was great to be able to see friends that I don't get to see very often and meet friends that I've only talked to online.



First, I was so lucky to be paired up with Hilary Smith Callis, aka The Yarniad (you know, of Citron fame!). We both have the same wholesale distributor, Deep South Fibers, which is why we were able to share a booth (one-stop shopping!). Both of us are bay area girls and had met a few times at Nine Rubies Designer events, so it was nice to hang out together over the weekend. I just love her one of her new designs, Glacierre!



And look, Hilary was one of the featured designers in Knit Scene magazine!



Knitterella is also distributed by Deep South Fibers and her booth was just perfect! I so love Jill's sense of style, which I think makes working with her so easy!  Here she is modeling next to the big poster of my San Mateo pattern!



The nice part about having a booth at TNNA is that lots of people stop by to say hi! Thank you to everyone who came by to say hi!!



The Yarnover Truck girls stopped by!! I was so excited to see that they won the TNNA Business Innovation Award! Well-deserved! I'm hoping IGK patterns will be coming soon to the truck :)



Lara, of Lara Smoot Designs, and I have been blogging friends for quite some time so it was so nice to finally meet her and her lovely husband Andy! I can't wait to show you the pretty Shalimar Yarns that Lara gave me...gorgeous!!!!



The lovely Allyson from The Sweat Shop of Love came by to say hi too! I'm so glad she did because she is super sweet and oh so nice and a college football fan! And she went to Michigan too?! haha.... We promised to be great friends 360 days out of the year....except when Michigan and Notre Dame football intersect! Go Irish!!



It was so great to give Sheri of The Loopy Ewe a big, big hug! She has been so supportive of my designs- I still think Summer Wind was so successful so quickly because she blogged about it over and over!!



Melynda of French Press Knits, another Deep South Designer, stopped by to say hi too! 

Across from my booth was the fabulous Wooly Wormhead! Here's group shot of us with Donna, the fabulous lady behind Deep South Fibers!



I was able to get out of my booth a bit too! I was so excited to see everyone loving Knitted Wit's gorgeous colors!!  Fickleknitter took this picture of us but I forgot to take a picture with her! You guys, my very first TNNA a few years ago, Michele was sooooo supportive of me as a newbie designer and I am so grateful for her advice throughout the years. If you aren't familiar with her designs (I'm sure you are) or if you haven't looked at them lately, check. them. out. To. die. for!





Since I drove down to Columbus from Detroit with Erica and her mom and baby knitspot, I was thrilled to see the Knitspot booth was also right across from the IGK booth! You guys know I'm a huge fan of Anne Hanson and her designs- I loved seeing her booth and all of the lovely knits!



You may notice that her pattern posters look similar to mine. Well, Monday before TNNA (that is you know, just 4 days before set up, and 2 days before I was leaving) I was talking to Erica about how I loved Anne's poster at their Squam pop-up shop and how I wished I had something like that for TNNA. She then tells me about Drew from Lovan Enterprises, a printer who did that for Anne and that he was super fast. Which led to me having a few very last minute posters made up and delivered by my favorite honeybadger, Anne! That Erica, she comes through for me all the time! And Anne too! Thanks ladies! I had such a great time hanging out with you guys. Oh, and in case you guys wanted to know, Erica and Anne were also my fashion consultants throughout the weekend...thank goodness for them!



I was also able to see a sneak peek of one of the yarns for Anne's Fall in Full Color club! Wow, it is gorgeous!! I'm going to be doing a blog interview with the knitspot crew this next week, so if there are any questions you have for them about the Fall in Full Color club (or I guess any other knitspot questions) please leave me a comment. I'll also pick one lucky commenter who has a question to win a knitspot pattern of their choice (up to $8.00 value...my treat!).  Check out her newly released Scottish Reel (so pretty!). Remember to leave an email or ravelry id so I can contact you if you win.

You know, when I look at all these pictures, I realize why it has taken me a few days to recover from TNNA....a whirlwind of fun!!

Quick reminder, Wish I Might and Falling Leaves, my two new shawl designs, are on sale for $4.75 through July 8!  And thank you for all the love for Wish I Might...it has been hanging out in the Ravelry Top 20 Hot Right Now patterns since yesterday!! Yay!!!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!! It is hot hot hot hot here, so I'm sitting by the fan knitting today!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

TNNA and Anzula

My new design, Wish I Might, was a huge success at TNNA and I'm so glad that Anzula asked me to collaborate with them and design with their new yarn, Nebula. The new yarn has a perfect amount of sparkle to it, and based on all the orders they received for Nebula at the show, sparkle is definitely in this fall! The yarn and pattern were sold as a kit at Sample It on Friday night, and it sold out, twice!



I featured the shawl right at the front of my IGK booth and it seemed like every yarn store owner that stopped by the booth commented on how they just ordered the yarn, so of course they needed the pattern. Sounded good to me! I'm so excited to see my patterns in more yarn stores!



Here's the lovely Sabrina, the creative genius and dyer behind Anzula! We had such a good time collaborating that we have lots planned for future IGK designs! Let's just say I came home with a lot of Anzula yarns for new designs. Check out the three skeins of Sebastian that I couldn't resist (pretty pretty, right?!).



Look at that rainbow of gorgeous colors!



Jill has her hands full with some Anzula yarns too! You may recall that Jill's lovely Chevron Stripe infinity was designed with Sebastian....so pretty! You can see it in Jill's TNNA recap here too.





Jill did such a lovely job modeling in these photos! Her and Alisa make such a great team! If you are a designer in need of a fabulous photographer and model, Jill is the one to contact. Thanks Jill and Alisa!

Wish I Might  

Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may. I wish I might. Have this wish I wish tonight. 

Inspired by the sparkle in Anzula’s Nebula yarn, this shawl dazzles with a star bright edging. A perfect shawl to wear on a chilly evening, while wishing on a star.

Note: Instructions are written for a top-down shawl in two sizes.  Both charted and written instructions are provided for the lace edging.

Suggested Yarns: ~ 560 (650) yards total of fingering weight yarn or for 2-colors ~300 (350) yards (MC) and 260 (300) yards (CC) of fingering weight yarn such as Anzula Nebula or Anzula Squishy or Anzula Sebastian

Finished measurements: 49” (56”) wide and 23 1/2” (28”) 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

The pattern is on sale for $4.75 from now through July 8, 2013 (then it will retail for $6.00).  

If you haven't had a chance to knit with Anzula's gorgeous hand-dyed yarns, don't wait any longer! Check them out at your LYS or these yarn stores online. I can't wait to show you some of the pretties I took home with me from TNNA!

Thank you Sabrina and your fabulous team for all of your support and making this collaboration so fun!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

TNNA Day One

I had such a great time this weekend at TNNA, the knitting industry trade show. The event is held at the Columbus Convention Center and for years I've been reading with envy as everyone has blogged/tweeted/shared their adventures there. Not only does everyone seem to go to this event, but there is also a Jeni's Ice Cream just steps away at the North Market.
So Day One had to include a trip to Jeni's.



What better way to experience Jeni's than with friends, right?! Hilary, aka The Yarniad and my fabulous booth mate for the weekend, Melynda, aka French Press Knits, and Jill, aka Knitterella aka my fabulous graphic designer aka model and photo shoot coordinator.

Day One flavors included two of my favorites, Cherry Lambic Sorbet and Brown Butter Almond Brittle! Delish!!
On the way back to the Convention Center we were able to get a peek at the Columbus Pride Parade. I don't know how everyone survived that humidity!! Well, truth be told, not everyone was wearing a lot of clothing at the Pride parade.

Back at the show there were babies to be seen :) Baby Padraig aka baby knitspot and baby Frenchpressknits were just too cute!

Knitterella had a great booth at TNNA and I can't wait to show you some of her new products! I had so much fun hanging out with Jill!

I have lots more to show you and tell you about, but I'll be landing soon. More great pictures are over on Knitspot's recent blog post. Check that out in the meantime.

Home sweet home.

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

TNNA Set-Up

Today was a whirlwind, but I think my booth is ready to go for tomorrow!



Lots to share, but must to sleep. Quick fun news though, my Wish I Might pattern sold out at Anzula's Sample It, and my Falling Slowly sold quite a few too for Knitted Wit and has been hanging out on Ravelry's Top 20 Hot Right Now patterns all day! Yay!!

I'm in booth 251 tomorrow under my wholesale distributor, Deep South Fibers. Please stop by and say hi if you are here!

Happy TNNA!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

TNNA Designs!

I've had a great day relaxing in Detroit with Erica, her mom and Baby Padraig.  Just what I needed to relax before a very, very busy TNNA (knitting trade show event) this weekend. We leave for Columbus, OH, tomorrow morning, set-up the IGK booth, then the fun begins. I'll have two new designs debuting at the Sample It event Friday night.

In Anzula's Booth, you'll find Wish I Might....





It features two skeins of Anzula's new sparkly yarn, Nebula!  It'll be available on ravelry next week and hopefully at many of your LYS soon!

In Knitted Wit's booth, my new shawl is Falling Slowly, knit out of her lovely Cashy Lite.





I can't wait to tell you more about both of these, but we need to be on the road tomorrow at 7am. For now, I can tell you that Falling Slowly is available now at a special sale price of $4.75! Enjoy!!

I'll try to post lots of pictures from TNNA.....so excited!!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

In the Air

I'm flying somewhere over the middle of America right now and here's my view...




It might not look like much, but this is the first knitting I've done in eight days. Thank goodness for long airplane flights. A baby Naylor Street and it is exactly the kind of mindless knitting I need since I'm tired from packing, but too excited to sleep since I'm off for a week of vacation! Well, a few days of vacation hanging out with Erica and baby Padraig for a day or two before and after TNNA. TNNA is going to be some work, but mostly fun!!

I'm going to have two new designs being featured at Sample It! at TNNA on Friday! One for Anzula and another for Knitted Wit. I'm hoping to release the one for Knitted Wit either tonight or tomorrow.....I'll be sure to let you know when! I can't wait to show you both of them!

Happy flying!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

52 weeks of happy (20 & 21/52)

First, I want to wish the wonderful dads in my life a very Happy Father's Day!!





Now time for some happy the past two weeks....

• hanging out with the girls and finishing some knitting

• watching Lil Snow read at her last day of school writing celebration. So proud!

• magical knits that appear in the mail from my wonderful friends and sample knitters! I could not have survived the past few weeks without them! Thank you thank you!  The Blue Lake Springs Shawlette is from Josie and knit in the lovely Anzula Dreamy....isn't it gorgeous?!

• speedy test knitters have made me so happy with each mistake they find :) 

• doggies :)  Enough said.

 What has been making you guys happy this week?

Happy happy!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Coming up for Air

It has been a whirlwind the past few weeks. Work has been beyond busy. End of the school year busy, but it has felt busier than usual. Then the knitting deadlines for TNNA. I don't typically feel like I have two jobs with designing, but the last few weeks I've felt it. A lot. Like two migraines this week alone a lot.

But I'm coming up for air tonight. I don't want to say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, because I haven't even done the booth prepping for next week or the gazillion other little things that have to be done. But, the two must must must deadlines will be met, and for that, I'm so grateful.

This week was spent pattern writing, but last week was all about finishing the knitting in order to make my photoshoot deadline, which was already pushing it really really close.  The good news last week was that I could knit on the design at knit nite...



Last Friday was a long day at work, but I had a decadent hour lunch break in between clients that I took full advantage of.



The weekend involved lots of catching up on tv and Netflix, and knitting, knitting, knitting. Caught up on Necessary Roughness, Wire in the Blood, The Fall (new on Netflix and awesome!), and a few others I'm too tired to think of :)  Oh, The Commander. I'm watching that now. But I did take a break from tv to knit with the girls Sunday. I just kept knitting and knitting....



Bottomless mimosas seemed to help me knit faster.

The Tony Awards were on Sunday night and I knit away during those too. So many great musicals this year. I even downloaded the soundtrack to Matilda because I couldn't get those songs out of my head.  I think we may need to see this next year in London, ok Disco?  A girl can wish.

Speaking of wishes....here's a sneak peek at the shawl that kept my needles so busy last week.  Wish I Might is a new design featuring a brand new lovely yarn from Anzula. I can't wait to show you more!



So what have you guys been up to? I've been quickly scrolling through my blogs and twitter when I've had a few seconds, and barely on ravelry...I'm looking forward to a more relaxing summer!  Hoping to be back this weekend for my week of happy post.

Happy Weekend!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits