The List of Stuff I've Been Meaning to Tell You

I've been writing this post to you guys for at least the past few days.  Well, writing may be a stretch.  Composing in my head may be a better way to put it.  A running list of oh, I have to remember to blog that too.  And before the list gets any longer, here you go!

1. Contest winners!!!  The big winner of an IrishgirlieKnits Tote bag and yarn and goodies is Sue!  I've emailed you for your address info.  And since so many of you shared what you were looking forward to, and I so enjoyed hearing about it, I thought I'd pick a few more winners to pick a free pattern from my Ravelry Pattern Store.  Any pattern, including my newly released Dancette and Capitola patterns! Those winners are:

• Liette
• Katbetty on Rav
• DianeV on Rav 

Just PM me on Ravelry with the pattern you would like and I'll send it over!  Congrats!

2. I did some frogging this past weekend!



A few projects that were just lingering for way too long! It felt good to free up some yarn!! And needles. And project bags :)  Come on guys, you know you probably have something that has been on the needles for way too long.  Frog something.  Go do it now before you lose your nerve!!

3. I finished reading The Help and absolutely loved it!  I can't wait to see the movie.

4. I promptly downloaded Rachel Herron's new book, A Life in Stitches.  I can't wait to see the movie (well, hey, you never know, right!)!  I love it already and I'm only a few stories in.

5. I cast on for a new sock.  One of my favorite knitting things in the world, that I can't imagine ever tiring of, is starting a new sock!



Look at that pretty pretty One-Hit-Wonder skein of The Plucky Knitter's.  Of course, there hasn't really been much knitting progress beyond casting that on.  See #6.

6. In the last week, I've had 4 doctors appointments, and another tomorrow!  Tomorrow is a follow-up on the knee problems from last month, but the other four have been about some forehead pain that is seriously cramping my style! I'm over the bump on the side of my face.  Ugh.  This is the second time this has happened, so that is making my doctors and me a bit nervous, but the recommended treatment right now is to ice it?! Ok, enough whining about a pain that feels like a neverending headache.  Thank you all for the well wishes and good thoughts over on Twitter today.  I do appreciate it!

7. I had the pain even before the let's-not-talk-about-it Notre Dame loss last weekend.  What a buzz kill to the start of college football season!  But, Go Irish Beat Michigan!!!  Saturday night game is going to be awesome!

8.  I discovered a new type of apple last weekend at the farmer's market.  Pink Pearl.  LOVE! I'll be getting more this weekend :)



Did I tell you I just love fall!!!???!!!

9.  Speaking of fall, our IGK Fall KAL is here!  Come join us as we knit either the Honey Badger Socks or Love Letters sock.  As always, the selected pattern will be on sale for a limited time for the KAL, so Love Letters will be 20% off between now and Sunday, Sept. 11 when you use the coupon code: bringonfall    




10. Those glorious stitches I cast on at Knit Nite last night. Frogged. haha. Oh, knit nite fun!

Okay, must to bed!  Hope you guys are having a great week!! 
Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Knit Nite

After a few weeks of absences, I made it to knit nite tonight. Can't you tell? Two hours later and this is all the knitting. But my cup runneth over with all the laughter, love and support of my knitting friends! So worth it!

Back tomorrow with a contest winner, the new IGK KAL, and more! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy knitting!
xoxo irishgirlieknits

{this moment}

{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 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.

Happy Friday!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Capitola

Seems fitting that as summer winds down, I'm able to release my Capitola sock pattern for you.  They are such a quick knit, you could start them now and have them ready to wear in a week or two when fall is here!  A little bit of summer for your feet.

These socks were originally knit for a kit for Sunshine Yarns.  Of course, I think it was Dani's plan to just ensure my love for her yarns, because I think since knitting these I've enhanced my stash with a few more skeins of Dani's gorgeous yarns!

Capitola 





Shown in Sunshine Yarns Luxury Sport, colorway Desert Cactus

I LOVED knitting with Dani's yarns.  The Luxury Sport was, well, luxury.  And talk about a quick knit!  Her colors are just gorgeous!

This pattern reminds me a lot of all the things I love about my Cotty Socks. Its written for both sportweight and fingering weight yarns, looks great in both semi-solids and variegated yarns, and features an easy to memorize pattern.





Shown in Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock, colorway Caramel Swirl




Once again, Jill did an awesome job with the pattern layout.



Summer knitting at the coast. Feet up on the balcony, listening to the ocean waves crashing against the cliffs below. Sun shining down. Just imagine yourself in Capitola, the charming beach village in Santa Cruz County, CA where these socks were knit. The easy to memorize pattern on these socks, paired with the gorgeous Sunshine yarns, make them the perfect summer project!

More info is listed here.  I think I may need to get a start on holiday knitting and cast on another pair of these!  Perfect chance to take advantage of the IGK back-to-school sale too! From now until Sept. 5, all of my individual patterns sold through my Ravelry store, including Capitola, are 25% off when you enter the couupon code: backtoschool .



Happy happy weekend!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Got Crepes?

When a cute lil' 8-year-old proudly says she'd like to cook tonight from the cookbook she checked out of her school library, how can you say no?  The requirement was that as long as we had the ingredients at home, we could do it.

So crepes it was.  Someone fell in love with crepes at her summer camp this year!



She was so proud!  She read all the directions and did each step herself (well, I helped a bit with the egg cracking).



Quite a yummy dessert!  We were pretty creative with the fillings too.  Pa loved the peanut butter and jelly one.  Snowboarder went with peanut butter and bananas, and lil' snowboarder chose ice cream and sprinkle-filled. Yeap. On a school night.  Have to reinforce the little cook, right?

In other news, I just have to say how much I'm enjoying reading all of your comments on the contest post (not too late to enter!).  Looks like everyone has some great things to look forward to!  Me...it is almost Friday and a 3-day weekend!!! And my sister says thank you so much for the engagement wishes!!  She has been quite funny the past week or two....she goes back and forth between glowy happy and overwhelmed I can't think about planning a wedding!  So any wedding planning on a budget blogs that you guys love...please let us know!

Happy happy!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Time for some FUN!

Whoa.  So that relaxed, recharged feeling I talked about last week.  Well, thank goodness I felt that way at the start of the week because this was a crazy, hectic week.  Pretty eventful here.  Let's just say that last Sunday, I had knit one of the baby socks, and that second sock there, well that was all of the knitting that happened since until late last night.



Just pitiful, right?  And that cute Uncle Frank hat...pattern should be easy peasy to write-up, but that hasn't happened either.

To catch  you guys up, here are a few of the highlights from the week.....

1.  First, happy happy news for my sister!!!  She got engaged last Sunday!!



Look at these two silly kids!  This is one of my fave pictures of them from last Christmas.

2.  School started this week....which means the problems, reports, school meetings, and such started rolling in at work.  I always know it is the first week of school when my email practically doubles overnight.  Fun fun.

3.  My mom had a bit of a scare this week with an emergency appendectomy surgery on Tuesday, which led to 3 days in the hospital.  She's starting to feel better now that she is home from the hospital.

4.  My sister's fiancee graduated from the police academy, which means party time!! And brownies of course!



And although there has been little knitting, hopes for a sweater seemed a bit closer when these gorgeous skeins arrived this week!



Hoping to turn them into a Sprossling!

Other fun mail included the Knitpicks Catalog which featured my Merrily Socks!  So cool to see them featured :)



Another cool designing thing....my designer page on Deep South Fibers is looking awesome! I am so excited that they are distributing my designs to Local Yarn Stores!!

So now it is Sunday night and I'm glad to put last week to bed.  Here's to a fresh week ahead....September, one of my favorite times of year, is coming right up!  And a 3-day weekend!  It is going to be a good week. 

Just to be sure though, let's have a contest AND a sale!!  Time for some FUN!!

Sale details.....I've always loved this time of year...back to school shopping (even though I'm a grown-up!), football season, autumn coming.... so what better way to celebrate than to give you guys a deal on that back-to-school knitting!!  Receive 25% off of any of my patterns available through my ravelry store between now and Monday, Sept. 5 when you enter the coupon code: backtoschool

Now for the contest fun....just leave a comment telling me what you are looking forward to, whether it be a new project, new book, end of summer vacation plans, anything.....,  on this post and one lucky winner will win a fabulous IGK tote bag filled with yarn, patterns, and goodies!!!  Leave your comment by Friday, Sept. 2 by 12pm PST.

I know I'm definitely looking forward to a week with a little less excitement, Notre Dame football next Saturday, knitting, and watching The Pioneer Woman's new Food Network show that I recorded yesterday!  Can't wait to read what you guys are looking forward to!

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

{this moment}

My view for the weekend. Just add knitting and good friends!

Happy Friday!
Xoxo irishgirlieknits