My Kind of Saturday

Yesterday we spent the day with my brother, sister-in-law, and little guy.  It was a perfect Saturday.



Can you believe how big this kid is?  He'll be six next month!  And the way he swings that bat...watch out!







Thanks for all the suggestions for my sister-in-law's next knitting project.  I love that Dianne suggested some of my patterns....duh! I don't know why I didn't think of that.  But ultimately, she went with the Honey Cowl and I brought her some Plucky Knitter yarn for it.



I finished my Sleepy Hollow socks (btw, I need a name for those....any suggestions?  Don't really want to call them sleepy hollow), so I worked a bit on my easy sock.  The heel is ready to be turned.





Bailey and Puddles had a great day in 'The Land of the Big Backyard,' as Pa calls it.  Seriously, Puddy was out there all day.





My sister-in-law made us a delicious corned beef and cabbage dinner. It was delish! As well as the key lime pie, sticking with the green theme :)



Shadow has been feeling better, but I think the doggies may have worn her out a bit by the end of the day.

Today is a day for catching up around the house, some designing, watching a ND ladies basketball win, and hopefully finishing House of Cards (thanks for the rec Disco! Very addicting!). And it is the last day to enter the Sock Yarn Shawls giveaway.  This time next week, be sure to take advantage of our annual Irish Girlie Knits Buy One, Get One free pattern sale.  More details later this week!

Hope you guys all had a great weekend!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

For Disco

Disco has come to visit for Stitches West a few times so I always miss her extra when she's not here.  I promised to take lots of pictures for her though, so tonight is a quick post of pictures before bed.



My favorite Blue Moon ladies :)  I really help out at the booth so that I can hang out with them!



They immediately showed me one of Tina's new yarns, Worthy.  My oh my.  Cashmere and silk.  A little bit of heaven in a skein.



A new sweater pattern from BMFA, Ariadne.  Everyone was buying Woobu for it tonight.



Check out Anna Zilboorg's sweater..BMFA LSS and heavyweight STR.  Just lovely!  



My first shopping stop was A Verb for Keeping Warm.  Once again their booth is just lovely.  I purchased the kit for Romi's mystery shawl.  I used birthday money for this one :)  A little indulgent treat for me.



Hi Romi!  I just love her designs and shawl pins!

Just a quick drive-by post for you guys.  Hopefully I can take some pictures in the morning of my goodies from tonight and get another post to you guys tomorrow night. 

Oh, and here's the info of where to get IGK stuff at Stitches.  And the Blue Moon booth has my Slip Jig pattern too!  I'll be there most of the time Friday and Saturday!

Happy Stitches!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy October!

A week of my favorite month has already flown by and it sure has been a busy week!

Two design deadlines were met!  Yay!  And while I'm working on one more, I finally caved and cast on some comfort knitting....



Last Friday I had a minor surgical procedure...really hoping we see good results finally!  But first, it was a weekend of sleeping and pain meds and ice...kind of like this...





Despite still not feeling great on Sunday, my mom drove me and the kiddos to the pool....I slept while they did this...



Off to the deep end go my two favorite fish!





Check out little guy without training wheels!!! His mom was just standing close, but he can do it all by himself!



I have to say the kids were awesome with taking care of me!  "Okay, we'll be quiet....we know you have "frankenstein stitches" (the stitches are right above my eye).  After another day of rest today, I'm hoping I'm up for heading back to work tomorrow.  Stitches come out tomorrow too!  Yay!!

How's your October going?  Hopefully well.

Happy October!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

p.s. Check out our IGK KAL for fall!  Plus there is a coupon code in the group good until Tuesday, Oct 9, midnight PST.
p.p.s.  I bought yarn today.  It has been 3 months since I've bought any yarn!!  And it was two yarns that I don't have in my stash.  And I had surgery.  There, that's my reason :)
p.p.p.s.  I love you guys!!!  Thanks for hanging in there with me :)

Spring Forward!

Anyone else want that hour back?!  I know I do!  But I am looking forward to spring AND being home at an hour where there is still some sunshine to take pictures for the blog :)



I finally had a chance to take some pictures of the yarn I bought at Stitches West from some of my favorite indie dyers....



Wait, I didn't buy all that!



But these 3 pretties came home with me from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.



Another pretty from Knitted Wit and the cute bag is from Maria of A Needle Runs Through It (be careful if you click those links..lots more pretty).



This lovely skein of Miss Babs Northumbria BFL DK has already been swatched.  I love love love it!



And this, this my friends is the first skein of lace weight yarn that I have purchased that is actually intended for a laceweight project.  The only laceweight I have in my stash are 4 skeins of Plucky cashmere, meant to be doubled for some cowls...  But this gorgeous skein from A Verb For Keeping Warm is hopefully destined for something special!

I have a few more skeins to share later this week.  The best part of Stitches though are the friends!  I didn't take my camera out enough but did catch a few with my phone.



Debbi and Leianne were the best booth babes to hang out with :)  Seriously, love you both!!!  And Stephen too on Saturday and Sunday!



And it was great to hang out at the bar after with Leslie and Celia.  Definitely missed seeing Disco and Erica though...maybe next year!!

Now must to bed....I lost an hour today and I just know it is going to bite me in the butt tomorrow morning!  Is it Friday yet?!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

This much I know is true.

I am a sock knitter.  As much as I love knitting fun things like Summer Wind, when I need mindless, refreshing, comforting knitting, there is nothing like casting on a new pair of socks.

Socks that Rock Lightweight, colorway Princess Plummy

And if the yarn is Socks that Rock, well, all is right in my world in that moment.

Life is good.  Knit socks.  Hey, that may be my motto for the week.

Happy Sock Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

p.s. First day of our IGK KAL for Summer Wind!  And the last day to receive 20% off the pattern with the coupon code: happysummer

{this moment}

{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo (oops...maybe a few more this week) - no words - capturing a moment from the week (or in this case, the past month). A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit SouleMama leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

A sock camp morning dyeing yarn with DepravedDyer and Anna Zilboorg just can't be beat! 

Happy Good Friday!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Surviving Sock Camp

It sounds like a vacation.





It looks like it may be a relaxing, peaceful week of knitting.

But it is not.

It is more like boot camp.

Where the requirements involve knitting, yarn, silliness, late nights, bacon at breakfast every day, classes, dessert with every meal, awesome awesome people, honey badgers, Twilight and Glee watching, and laughing with some of my best friends.







I'm still recovering from the week.

Seriously.

Where else do you get to play Knitting Jeopardy?



Or Knitting Boggle?



Or claim to proudly be a Jubjub all week?

Where learning to spin involves hula-hooping?



And Anna Zilboorg literally teaches you to spin? Or in my case, attempts to teach me to spin :)





There was a tea party.



And silly hats.











And some things which are better left unexplained.








Sock camp. Boot camp. No matter what you call it, it was amazing!

A bit like being in Wonderland!

Happy happy sock camping!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits