Good Things.

So many good things the past few weeks that I've been wanting to share with you guys, I feel like I've been writing mini-blogposts in my head to you. Here goes.

1. Did everyone have a happy Halloween? I spent it with the cutest unicorn! I loved watching her walk 10-12 steps down the hallway at Grandma's house! Such a big girl. She's been taking steps for a few weeks now, but it is so exciting to see her get better and better each week.





The tween aka Lil' Snowboarder went as Beyonce and looked Flawless but you know how Beyonce has contractual issues with appearing on knitting blogs...haha!

Now, we all know how crafty Lil' Guy's mom is, right? Are you ready to see the makeup she did for his costume? They do pictures together every year for Halloween....I always look forward to their card... are you ready???





Amazing, right?! I love it!

2. Almost as amazing as #OrangeOctober and the Giants winning the World Series!



It was an awesome week! An awesome month of playoff games actually. Lil' Snowboarder and I spontaneously decided to go to the divisional game where the Giants clinched it and went on to NLCS. The game was awesome!



First, our friends who live a few hours away happened to have the seats right in front of us (crazy, right?!) and then lil' snowboarder was determined to catch the ball that Juan Perez was tossing to the crowd in between innings after the outfielders were warming up. So she went down there and lo' and behold, her pointed right to her and tossed it to her! She was on cloud nine the entire night!







3. Now if you read my last post, you may remember I mentioned I was trying to finish knitting Magpie a sweater for her birthday party last weekend. Oh, us knitters and our deadlines. I think I gave myself a week to knit a baby sweater. No problem, right? Well, here I was the Friday morning before the Sunday morning party.



I'd divided for the sleeves and was now at the body. I was feeling somewhat positive.



Saturday morning I was on the first sleeve by the end of the soccer game. Feeling very positive. But then there was party prepping for a few hours, and then my stupid head pain problems caught up with me and I was down for the count for a few hours. But then the sleeves were done, and the sweater was blocked and dried overnight with multiple fans on it! The buttons were sewn on two hours before the party.





So worth it! My own design, similar to her baptism sweater, but this time in a sport weight yarn, The Plucky Knitter Primo Sport, colorway After Dark.

Magpie had a fabulous time at her party. She loved her cake, made by her Auntie, Lil' Guy's mom (you know we LOVE her cakes!).







4. I have some fun blog news to share! Many of you longtime blog readers have heard me mention my friend Tricia, aka Cheekyattitude, over the years. She's my friend, a knitter, she's been an IGK photographer, a librarian, and an amazing blogger. And now she'll be part of the IGK team! I'm not sure assistant is the right word for what she'll be doing since she is overqualified for everything she'll be helping me with, but I'm excited to have her on board. You'll see her in our IGK ravelry group, she'll be behind the scenes cleaning up the blog about, but most exciting will be that she'll be blogging here, putting the "we" back in the "We" Do Not Have a Knitting Problem. Please help me welcome her this week when you see her post.



Cheekyattitude, behind the camera

5. I made these Banana Yogurt Crumb Muffins this morning. It seems like forever since I've had energy to bake, so  I'm slowly trying to get back into the groove. These muffins are from Jennifer Perillo's magazine, Simple Scratch Cooking, and I've been wanting to make them since the magazine arrived. They are delicious and the family has already requested more.



I've made another recipe from the magazine too, the apple salad (I can't remember the exact name off the top of my head), and I love the dressing from it. I paired it with these sweet & savory candied walnuts from her blog- so good! It was a hit at the birthday party last weekend.

6. Autumn Rainbow colorway from Knitted Wit. I ordered this yarn after falling in love with it over on Neuroknitter's blog.





So much pretty in one skein of yarn!

7. Pretty flowers. Thanks sis! They sure made my week.



8. Knitted Wit has a new sock yarn, Victory Sock, and to launch it she's donating $5 for every skein of Camo and Purple Heart purchased from Nov. 1-15 to Fisher House Foundation and Wounded Warrior Project. And what to knit with this gorgeous yarn? I'm joining her and I'm donating $2 from every pattern purchase of Uncle Frank, Dear Baby Francis, and Fine Fella from Nov. 1-15 to Fisher House Foundation to support our military families and veterans. After all, my Great Uncle Frank gave his life for our country in World War II and received the Purple Heart, and I named all of those patterns after him, so I'm glad to give back in a small way. To encourage you all a bit, I've also marked the patterns on sale during this time to $5.



Hightower Socks by Sorren Kerr (also participating in this with us) shown in Victory Sock colorway Camo (right), Uncle Frank shown in Victory Sock colorway Purple Heart

So there you go. Lots of good things. I hope your weeks have been filled with good things too. I'd love to hear about them. Here's a great week ahead filled with more good things.

Happy Knitting!
Irishgirlieknits

A Fine Fella

This hat was born almost two year ago.  So I am quite excited to finally share it with you.  August was full of hat knitting, but I think I finally perfected the pattern.  Introducing...

Fine Fella    

Shown in The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted, colorways Fine Fella (MC) and Oz (CC)

My great-aunt Mimi described her brother, my great-uncle Frank, as such a caring, friendly guy.  They grew up during the Depression, and she says he always brought home a friend when he was on leave.  When their mother would wonder how she would feed an extra, “Frankie” would say, “Ah mom. Give him mine.” 

I designed the Uncle Frank socks in my great-uncle’s honor and used that cable pattern again here. I just know this hat is something he would have worn. After all, he was quite the fine fella.

Shown in The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted, colorway Garnet Martini

This one also works for the ladies too!

Pattern: Fine Fella  

Suggested Yarns: ~ 170 yards of worsted weight yarn such as The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted, Madelinetosh Vintage, Malabrigo Rios, Kolláge Yarns Solace, Miss Babs Yowza, A Verb for Keeping Warm Toasted

~10 yards of worsted weight yarn for contrasting trim, if desired

Materials:

Size US 6 (4.00 mm) either DPNs or Circular 16” with DPNs needed for decreases or size to obtain gauge

Cable needle

Stitch markers

Tapesty needle                                                                                                  

Gauge: 22 sts and 32 rows = 4” over st st      

Size: one size fits most adults

Sizing Modifications: The ribbing on the hat provides a lot of stretch and accommodates most head sizes.  However, if you would like to make the hat smaller or larger, it is recommended to make these modifications by working fewer (e.g., for smaller hat) or more (e.g., for larger hat) of the first row at the beginning of the pattern.                               

Finished measurements:  6 ¼” unstretched (9” streteched) width, 8 ¼ ” length 

I'm also having a special introductory sale price of $4.50 through Monday, Oct. 17!

Once again, I have to give a huge thank you to Thayer (the gorgeous model!), Tricia (the awesome photographer), Dianne and Debs (super-speedy test knitters!) and Jill (the amazing graphic designer)!  I seriously couldn't do this without them!  And a special thanks to Snowboarder for modeling too!

I have to admit, this picture is probably my favorite :) 

Speaking of fine fellas.....I'm watching Lil' Guy all weekend while his parents are out of town.  I can't wait to see him play soccer tomorrow!  We had a great evening at the park....I just love him to bits!







Last night I went to the Cal vs. USC football game at AT&T Park, where the SF Giants usually play.  It may not have been a win for Cal, but it was a gorgeous night in the city.  This was our view from our tailgater, complete with this fine fella...





Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy Socktoberfest!

I can't believe the first week of Soctober, I mean October, has already flown by!  One of my favorite months, filled with football, pumpkin bread,  pumpkin patches, fall leaves, and that chill in the air.  And sock knitting.  Well, usually it is filled with sock knitting for Socktoberfest, a month long celebration of knitting socks.  But my needles have been filled with hats, gloves, and not socks.   I plan to change that these next few weeks hopefully.

First up, I need to finish my honey badger socks.  Especially since there are two Honey Badger KALs going on, one in the Socks that Rawk group and one in the Irish Girlie Knits group.  Come join us!!

I did accomplish one sock related thing though. Slowly, but surely, I'm reformatting my older patterns and I'm so excited that three!!!  of them have been reformatted and are ready to share.  A very special thank you to Jill for helping me get these ready.  She does all the pattern formatting for me, so I'm trying to keep her busy before her baby arrives!

Cotty, Winnie, and Uncle Frank have all been reformatted.  Cotty even has charts now! And to celebrate Socktoberfest, from now until Oct. 15, these three patterns are on sale for $4.50 (they'll be $6 after Oct. 15).  


I've also celebrated Socktoberfest with a bit of stash enhancement. A few weeks ago, Sheri at The Loopy Ewe had posted that she had just added Alisha Goes Around yarn to the store.  I've been coveting this yarn since TNNA in June, where it seemed like everyone was talking about it and her colors were so vibrant and stunning!  I waited a few days and finally bit the bullet.  Look at this beauty!

Last week Sheri blogged about her Summer Wind knit out of Alisha Goes Around's yarn....go check out how pretty it is!!  Which also has me itching to finish my third Summer Wind (it is knit with sock yarn afterall)!

Oh, and you don't think I let my skein of Alisha Goes Around arrive alone, did you?  Another yarn I've been dying to try is Studio June's Super Cash Sock.  Her yarns are so pretty it was hard to narrow the choice down to just one.  Trust me, Violet Navy, Pansy Purple, Frosty Night, and Shallow Water were all calling my name, but I chose Burgundy Raisin.

Have any of you stocked up for Socktoberfest?  Or are you waiting to make those purchases at Rhinebeck?  Someday I hope to go to Rhinebeck, but this year, my patterns are going! They'll be in Miss Babs booth!!

I just realized that I haven't told you guys some exciting news!  I know I've told you about my favorite not-LYS, Twisted, in Portland, right?

I'm thrilled that they will now be carrying all of my Irish Girlie Knits Designs patterns!  I heart this store so much, I just can't wait til the next time I go to Portland to see my patterns there :)  It makes sense, since they carry some of my absolutely favorite yarns which I have designed with such as BMFA Socks that Rock, Plucky Knitter Primo, Kollage Yarns Sock-a-licious, to name just a few!  You can even shop their online store too, and if you need to purchase a pattern or two to get you to the free shipping, here is my pattern page.  They even have some Plucky Knitter Primo in stock right now!

Although there wasn't any sock knitting happening this weekend, I had lots of fun with lil' guy (seriously love being Auntie IGK....he makes me so happy!!) and lil' snowboarder.  Check them out...

So much fun that now I'm exhausted.  I feel a bit like the doggies did earlier today.....

Night, night.  Here's to a fabulous week ahead!!

Happy Socktoberfest!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

P.S. Don't forget that Comfort Food is on sale through Oct. 11!

Got Hats?

There really has been knitting going on around here, despite all of the life events of the past few weeks.



The challenge of course is translating that knitting to pattern writing, test knitting, editing, etc., when life throws a curve at you.  Fortunately, you guys are awesome and hang in there with me! Keeping my fingers crossed that Dear Baby Francis will make its debut in the next week or two (I can't wait to show you the pictures!!), with the Uncle Frank hat not too far behind.  Surprisingly, despite that big pile of hats, I'm not sick of knitting it yet!  And I've inadvertently created a pile of gift knits, since only two of those need to be trunk show samples! 

I didn't even try to write up anything last week.  And as much as I was enjoying my new sock design, I wanted something a bit more mindless, comforting.  I needed to just knit.  And then the design jumped out at me and it was on the needles.

 

A cozy, slightly-oversized, cowl, inspired by my Winnie socks, in luxurious, 100% Aran cashmere from The Plucky Knitter.  Talk about chicken soup for the soul.  I've been saving this yarn for something special and the cowl flew off the needles.  The matching fingerless gloves are almost done too.  This is going to be such a fun holiday gift knit.  My sister commented that too bad it wasn't in her colors.  My mom, smart lady, said, I'll take it.  To both I say no way!  But, it was such a quick knit, I'm thinking my mom may finally get her gray fingerless gloves this year!

The only thing I need now is a name.  I would love to call it Mimi, but there are a gazillion patterns named Mimi.  I also thought Comfort Food, because that was what it was for me.  But, the colorway is called Golightly, and part of me wants to focus on the cozy, happy, cheerful ness that that name says to me.  I'm tempted to call it Golightly.  There are just a few patterns with a similar name, but not quite Golightly.  I will say, I can't wait to wear this when it is snowy up in Tahoe with a cup of hot cocoa.  Or enjoying a big scoop of ice cream :)

Then I thought you guys may have some thoughts.  Anyone? 

I'll be back later this week with a few other fun knitting related updates!  What do you guys have on your needles this week?  Oh, and any new tv shows you've been knitting away too?  I really enjoyed Prime Suspect and Revenge last week!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Recharged. Relaxed. Refreshed.

I wish sometimes you could bottle up a feeling and save it for a rainy day.  In my case, I would bottle up this past weekend.



Good friends, a perfect view, yummy food and drinks, movies, and knitting.  What more could a girl ask for?




I think I've finally got the Uncle Frank hat worked out!  That is after frogging a good four inches on Friday evening.  Fortunately I had already had some sangria, so it made the frogging easier to deal with.



Now I just need to write up the pattern and get it out to test knitters!

In the time it took me to knit, frog, and reknit the hat, SnBLeslie practically had her Just Enough Ruffles in BMFA LSS done! So pretty!



And the wee baby frank socks are just about done!



I didn't get to start my next project, but these gorgeous skeins of Plucky Primo Worsted are ready to be cast on.  Hopefully they captured a bit of the fabulous weekend too and will remind me of this refreshed feeling I feel tonight.



So, are you refreshed on this Sunday evening or early Monday morning?  How was your weekend?
Happy New Week ahead!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits