Thursday, December 17, 2015

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.

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

Friday, December 11, 2015

Comfort & Joy

The best roomies ever

Happy Happy Blogiversary!

I can't believe that 9 years has passed. I met Irish Girlie through our local Knit Nite (I've met the best people that way) and have enjoyed being part of her posse as she discovered and shared her wonderful design skills. The picture above is from our 2009 trip to Port Ludlow and my first Sock Camp so so long ago. So much knitting, food, and fun.

It didn't take long for IGK Designs to start going gangbusters and I got to take pictures of the gorgeous designs usually with the stunning Thayer to model.




Miss you so much Thayer!
The shoot for the Comfort Food  mitts and cowl set was a blast and just looking at the pictures makes me want to head to a cafe for some comforting hot chocolate.


Untitled

I love how a soft chunky yarn makes them feel like a warm hug. Especially if you do them in a luxurious Plucky Knitter yarn like the ones above.

The pattern of cables is so easy to memorize that I chose it to accompany me to Italy last year.


IMG_8171 - Version 2


So many good memories come back whenever I slip these on.


Untitled
Comfort Food mitts knit in Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Chunky


This pattern has become my go-to holiday knit. And paired with the cowl or separately, they are sure to be treasured by anyone who receives them. The pattern is 50% off from now until Dec. 13, 11:59pm PST.

Untitled

Be sure to check out what other IGK designs are popular gifts for the holidays over in the Irish Girlie Ravelry Group December KAL So much loveliness to choose from.


Pattern: Comfort Food  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Note from Irishgirlie~~ CONTEST TIME & MORE SALE PATTERNS

Since it is the weekend, let's celebrate with a contest and a few other patterns on sale. First, Tricia mentions that Comfort Food is one of her go-to holiday gifts. What are your go-to holiday gifts this year? They can be knitting related or not...leave you suggestion in the comments and you'll be entered to win an IGK pattern of your choice and a few Knitterella gift tags and cards that I'll put in the mail to you next week!

Gift knits for the babies in your life....Sweet Baby Kate and Dear Baby Francis are both 50% off this weekend, until Dec. 13, 11:59pm PST with Comfort Food.

Dear Baby Dex

Sweet Baby Kate 1

And one of my favorite go-to knits from last year, Sorin and Sorin Fingerless Gloves, also on sale this weekend!

image

DSC_0030

Have a great weekend!! More blogiversary fun next week!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits & Tricia aka CheekyAttitude


Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Good things.

This time of year I can't help but reflect and focus on all the good things, even though it may be hard with what is going on in the world around us or around the holidays when people we love aren't with us. Two years ago at this time I was going through radiation, so it is hard to not feel blessed. I'll be honest, last year was a hard year too, and this year has been filled with so many blessings. So my list of good things may be a bit random. From sentimental, to my typical good knitting things, to a favorite recipe. And our blogiversary sale continues. Just a heads up :) I'm trying to find the light.

1. I'm going to start with an easy one. Did you see Clara Parke's 2015 Gift List? So many lovely things on it. I'll be honest. I ordered a little something for myself from Tolt Yarn and Wool. Sister, don't look....I have dreams of knitting this for Magpie (or me and Pa someday!). 

2. For all of us MI-5 lovers out there, did you know there was a movie that just came out?! Quite enjoyable!! We rented it this weekend and loved it. Oh how I wish Netflix would bring MI-5 back. It was perfect for knitting deadline marathons. I should also mention Jon Snow is in MI-5. Enough said.

3. Balancing the holiday treats with healthy cooking! I'm still trying new healthy recipes to keep it interesting too. New favorites include this Baked Oatmeal (so good for a holiday brunch!). There are a few different versions of the same style recipe by Heidi Swanson here and here. I used raspberries and almonds, btw. Delish!

image

Another winner was this beef, leek and barley soup from Smitten Kitchen. I made this for the second time this past weekend and substituted stew meat (less fat) instead of the short ribs and added more veggies (green beans and carrots and celery). Another winner!

image

4. Knitting by the fire. I'm on a secret design deadline, so the view of the fire is all you get for now (sorry!).

image 

5. 'Tis the season for flannel sheets and falling asleep to the nutcracker soundtrack. My seasonal favorites.....da da da da da da da da da da dadadadadada....

image

6. Our next pattern sale! Adare and Adare Fingerless Gloves. I just love this set, and I especially love some of the projects that have been popping up on the project pages too! You should check them out (this is my favorite probably...every hat now needs a pompom!)

AdareMitts_0972-web

AdareMitts_0946-web

AdareMitts_0922-web

Adare_0867-web

Adare_0862-web

Each pattern is 50% through Dec. 10, 11:59pm PST, so just $3 each! Maybe a knitter you know has them in their queue....perfect time for a RAK?

Speaking of which....those of you on Instagram, have you seen the #getyouryarnwishesgranted? Talk about warm and fuzzy...I love it! I've already granted one wish....I'm just not fast enough granting the other wishes before someone else has gotten there. And also self-striping sock yarn is a very highly-wished for item. And I have none. Well, one skein of Canon Hand Dyed on my needles.

7. The munchkins in my life. My cup runneth over when I'm with them.

image

image

image
Someone else loves gingerbread cookies just as much as Auntie does!!

8. Yesterday (well, technically I'm still up late so really today in my book!) marked the start of the Year of Mercy for the Catholic Church. It is a Jubilee Year and Pope Francis has deemed it the Year of Mercy. Quite fitting for our world right now. A good thing in my book.

mercy: a broad term that refers to benevolence, forgiveness and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social and legal contexts.

Notre Dame has a prayer site that I kind of love. It emails you daily prayers (anyone can sign up). I don't check the email every day, but on days that I need it, it is perfect. A small passage from the bible, a prayer, and a relevant story. And by relevant, I mean meaningful for us. How I remember the homily being during Mass when I was in college. Not something over my head or about something I couldn't relate too. Anyways, I thought I would share this today, in case one of you needed a little extra love and light.  Insert your words for your God/faith/divine power where it says Holy Spirit/Lord or instead of Church, I like to think of me/us/community.

prayer_card

9. Happy Hanukkah to those that celebrate it!

10. Not necessarily a good thing....but 15 knitting days til Christmas. I'm so behind!

11. YAY!! I'm adding this one...it wasn't available last night when I posted. Kate Davies' new book is available (or here it is on ravelry). I've enjoyed seeing each of the new patterns she's released....the one club I've kicked myself for not joining! It looks lovely. I splurged and just ordered it. Thanks Santa!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits



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!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

DSC_7673_medium2

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

image_medium2

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

Faro by Jen Lucas

300dpi_Faro4_medium2

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

Owl in the Thicket by Sara Burch

cowl2_medium2

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

Bluet by Bonnie Sennott

Bluet_4_medium2

Cables and lace? How could you go wrong?

X-Intercept by Star Athena

DSC_4600-1200px_copy_medium2

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

image_medium2

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

IGK-AlpineLakeCowl_0103

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

IMG_0154

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

Rathmore by Irishgirlieknits

image_medium2

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Monday, November 30, 2015

Grateful.

After spending a lovely holiday weekend with family and friends, I can't help but feel grateful. I hope you all had a nice weekend and are ready for the holiday season. I know I am! I'm sitting at my favorite cafe, with their lovely holiday decorations up, enjoying a cafe au lait on this chilly afternoon, listening to Adele (do you love her new album as much as I do?!).

A few favorites from this weekend....

image

ND Tailgate

image

We had awesome seats for the Notre Dame-Stanford game! And I finished my hat just in time Friday night. The yarn, Plucky Knitter Cachet, is absolutely divine! The pattern is going to be a new one....the Chugach hat, slouchy version.

image

The game was a heartbreaker....not quite enough luck for the Irish!

image

image

image

image

I think Lil' Guy liked his Grown-Up Keegan! Yes, yes....it has been forever since I knit him anything. We called this a cool skater hat and that seemed to help! What other 8 year old gets a Bello Worsted hat (that should read 45% cashmere!)?!?!

If you haven't had a chance to take advantage of my Thanksgiving sale, today is the last day.

Happy Thanksgiving

And if you missed it, don't worry, December is blogiversary month! And you know we like to have some awesome specials for that!

I've also started a healthy for the holidays thread over in the IGK ravelry group! I'm starting the 21day fix program again tomorrow- serious commitment for the next 21 days! Feel free to pop over and join us as we share healthy tips and cheer each other on!

Healthy for the Holidays

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits



Wednesday, November 18, 2015

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.

BabyNaylorStreet
Naylor Street hat, Plucky Primo Sport

image

image
Keegan hat, Plucky Knitter Primo

2. Big sister, Magpie, turned 2!!

image

image

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

image

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.

image

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!

giftalong.signup

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!

image

image

image
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.

image

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!

Fall KAL 2015

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.

image

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



ShareThis