Good things.

1. Fresh flowers. I try to buy them as often as I can when I know I'll be home to enjoy them. My rule of thumb, under $10. Mostly thanks to Trader Joe's :)



2. Reading. Actual books. It has been awhile, but with summer upon us, I've been making more time to sit and read. My current faves.



3. The love of a doggy. Our sweet Puddles went to heaven two weeks ago. It happened suddenly. Her heart was literally too big. Oh, I miss her so. And so does Pa and Bailey. But we were blessed with that sweet girl for 12 years. I never, ever, ever thought I was a dog person until these sweet doggies entered my life. I'm misty-eyed now just thinking about how she was always the first to greet me at the door (Bailey is a bit too, um...lazy, dare I say?! ha.). You guys were awesome with your love and prayers on IG and FB. Thank you. But, dear Puddy filled this blog with her sweet little eyelashes and tongue, so I had to share a few more pics. My heart.



 And for a trip down memory lane, here's all the posts with Puddles in them...oh my sweet girl.

4. Designing. And seeing you guys knit the things I design. I've released another hat pattern, Chugach. Remember, the glaciers and that crazy 2 mile tunnel in Alaska?!  Finally that hat pattern is done. Next up. The matching mitts.

When my fabulous friend, knitter, model, and graphic designer, Knitterella shared her picture of her finished Chugach this week, I thought, heck let's have a sale! So grab the pattern now for $3 til tomorrow night! Jill is such a talented designer, I have to say I'm honored and flattered that she still enjoys knitting my patterns once in awhile :)





And Sarah of the Plucky Knitter shared the sneak peek of her June Classics in my Steward Hat pattern so I couldn't help but put that on sale for the month of June too! I'm so blessed to be part of this awesome, support knitting community!! Sarah is celebrating her 10-year anniversary sale this weekend so grab a skein and cast on!





5. Quiet. I'm craving it so much lately. The peace and quiet and solitude. Whether it is the quiet of my morning swims, the silence of my mind while I'm journaling, or meditating or praying, I find myself anxious if I don't get enough of it during the day. I've been listening to Shauna Niequist's Present over Perfect (LOVE!) and here are a few quotes that I just loved from the book. So many.





6. Cooking. New recipes too.



Blueberry Crisp



Summer Salad

Any new easy recipes you've guys recommend for all the lovely summer fruits and veggies at the farmer's market?

7. A lovely weekend with Pa and Bailey Boo, in my town :)



8. Casting on new things. Simple garter stitch of Cobh.



Hope your weekend is filled with good things too.

With love and gratitude xoxo
Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's a toe-tapping, soda bread eating kinda day!



Check out those sweaters. And listen to that brogue. Oh, it makes my heart smile. We will definitely be listening to the Clancy Brothers today.



And watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People.



Of course, I've made sure my knitting is appropriate...cables...and a lovely handmade Irish stitch marker from ReneeAnneKnits! Thanks dear! Love it.



And Irish soda bread. OMG. Best part about this bread is I discovered it at a LOCAL San Mateo bakery (Cake Creations) and they make it year round, and dad loves it! Not as good as my sister's, but pretty darn close!

Friday we'll celebrate with the munchkins....they are growing fast!


Emmypie


Magpie

And let's not forget it's also time for our annual Irish Girlie Knits BOGO free pattern sale!

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily and Sleepy Hollow Collections included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here.

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier!



I'll be wearing my Ring of Kerry today!



Be sure to check back tomorrow! We'll have a special guest post from Erica!

What are you all enjoying today and this weekend? Aren't we all a little Irish today?
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

I Knit a Hat.

And a few other things I think I need to catch you all up on. Where has the time gone?!

First. The hat. Plucky Knitter designed the perfect hat to watch Netflix subtitled Mystery Series to (note: I loved Dicte and Witnesses). Meet the Conversationalist Hat. Modeled by not so little snowboarder, but I pretty much have worn it every rainy day we've had!





The gray definitely makes my blue eyes pop! It seems to do the trick for Emmypie's blue eyes too!



At the beginning of January I went to TNNA in San Diego. I debuted a new design there, Cobh, in Anzula's lovely fingering and DK yarns. I love this design....it's basically a Summer Wind shawl and perfect for playing with color.




Sabrina and Charlie, the lovely ladies from Anzula, and my shawl at Sample It





And our holidays were all about making memories, as they should be. I sure do hope you all had a lovely holiday and new year with your families too. Despite my absence here and ravelry, I've tried to keep up on Facebook and instagram and it looks like most of you have been busy too!


Because I LOVE this picture.









And sweet baby Emmypie looked like a Downton Abbey baby at her baptism too.



So there's the catching up. Today, I still haven't quite found my knitting mojo. I finished this single Ballydesmond back at the beginning of January at TNNA, and I'm still working on the second one?!



I have three new designs I need to write up, and I think that is what has stumped my mojo. I want to cast on a new design, but I won't let myself until I get those designs done. But at the same time, I don't really want to knit anything else.

But the days are getting longer, which is lovely. This was my view after work tonight.



A reminder to look up once in awhile :)

And I know this is late, but like last year, for the rest of the month we'll be celebrating birthday month around here! All patterns are 20% off for February! No coupon necessary. And hopefully by the end of the month I'll have those three new ones ready to go!



Next week is Stitches West so I'll definitely be back MUCH sooner to talk knitting!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

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....







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.



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









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.



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!



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