Thinking

Although I've been away from the blog for a bit, I've been thinking about you guys a lot.  Miss you.  I do write little posts in my head though.  Do you?  Or is that just me?  So while I'm thinking again, I'll share.


Things I've been doing/thinking/watching the past few weeks

• Being patient with the healing process and using my crutches as needed
• Joined a new gym with an awesome swimming pool! 
• Swam!  Yes, real swimming.  I got the go ahead from my doctor last week to start swimming and after months of either no exercise or only walking in the water, I was so excited to get in the pool!  My knee felt great, I felt great, and then I got out of the water and umm...yeah...knee still hurts. But is getting stronger!
• Caught up on a lot of tv!  Being on crutches for 11 weeks has cramped my out and about style a lot, but I've watched the following:
• Forsythe Saga
• Sherlock
• The Last Enemy 
• rewatched Game of Thrones!!
• all of Season 1 of The Killing (Seattle does not rain that much?!)
• NCAA Women's Basketball!  Go IRISH!!! National Championship game Tuesday night!
• rewatched Mad Men

• Saw the Hunger Games!  Loved it!  
• Studying.  Lots of catching up to do for the grad class I've been taking.  Took my final last night...passed.  Woohooo!
• Walked through a rainforest and saw butterflies up close.

• Thought about knitting.  Ha!  Wish I had done more knitting the past few weeks, but have needed to focus on pattern writing, errata (eek! no fun! Holbrook and Raindrops on Roses both have been updated on Ravelry), etc.  This absolutely gorgeous handspun that Zonda spun for me has me thinking pretty thoughts.

Things I thought about/did/watched today

• Got a pedicure!  It was a little tricky with not being able to bend my knee too much, but the toes were desperate for pretty!
• Got a good night's sleep
• Watched a great Notre Dame basketball victory over UConn
• Game of Thrones.  Mad Men.  The Killing.  Lots of tv knitting time :)
• Started knitting on this bit of honey...

Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet, colorway Honey Wilkes (love, love, love)

Things I'm looking forward to

• More knitting
• A few days off for Easter/Spring Break.....taking a long weekend next weekend, which means a short work week this week
• Swimming
• Ditching the crutches
• Sharing a new design that I collaborated with Sarah, The Plucky Knitter, on! Soon...
• Seeing Lil' Guy next weekend
• Wishing Lil' Guy a happy 5th birthday tomorrow!  Seriously...how did that happen!  

1 month old


2 years old


3 years old




almost 5 years old, and ready to take on the world!

Happy Birthday Lil' Guy! Auntie IGK loves you sooooo much!


So what have you guys been thinking about/doing/looking forward to?

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

{this moment}

{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo... oops..a few this week- 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.
























Lil' Snowboarder and I had a fabulous day earlier this week at the CA Academy of Sciences and the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park.  A perfect, wonderful day.

Happy Friday!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Slowly

...but surely the Cotty sock is coming along.



Actually, as I write this, I'm realizing that this sock parallels the progress on my knee.  Yeap, slow going. Slowly but surely, I guess.  We'll see what my doctor says next week.  I'm still on crutches when I'm not at home or if I have to walk far.  But, I am walking lots in the pool...up to 40 minutes!

I'm hoping to have the Cotty socks done by the end of the month for the IGK KAL!  Maybe then I'll be off crutches by the end of the month too?!

Do any of you have any slow going projects?  What's on your needles?

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A Fine Weekend Indeed

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  It was a pretty nice one around here.  It stopped raining so the doggies indulged me for pictures.  Beware, cuteness ahead...











My sister made her delicious Irish Soda Bread! Heaven!  Perfect treat for after Corned Beef and Cabbage.



Since the rain held off today, I thought I'd share a few more things from Stitches West. On the last day, I couldn't resist these two lovely skeins of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock.



Woodlake and Hoppy Blonde. Fitting for St. Patrick's Day weekend too, don't you think? I just can't decide if they should be used together or not. I just love them together!

And probably my favorite purchase from Stitches, this needle case organizer from Namaste (available at The Loopy Ewe). OMG! I should have gotten this sooner!





My circular needle case had grown a bit unruly due to the many needles I have. SO then they just were thrown in a bag, at least the ones that no longer fit in the case. So traveling between my house and dad's I felt like a packrat if I wanted to bring my needles. Instead, they all now fit in this petite case?!?! I seriously love it!  There is even room for more!

Okay, I think I may need to go have one more piece of Soda Bread before I get back to healthy eating tomorrow!  Oh Monday, please be kind.

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today will be filled with family, food, traditions, and music.  Toe-tapping music.  Oh, and a sale.  The buy one get one free kind!  See below.

But first a few favorites to enjoy...

















And this one is for Mimi.  I can still hear you and Cotty singing it.



The 2nd Annual Irish Girlie Knits BOGO Sale!  Today only!  EXTENDED through March 18! Because I love you guys..figured some of you may have missed it if you spent St. Paddy's day partying!

First, head over to my Ravelry shop and enter the coupon code: lucky

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

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA).

Discount can be used more than once, but can only do two patterns at a time. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

And of course we will be watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People!  This movie is why I believed in banshees as a child :)






I'll also be watching Once.  I heart this movie!





And of course, our favorite Lil' Guy....hehehe!

Did you get a chance to check out the adorable leprechaun Tricia made.  I'll wait.  Go look!

Okay, one more favorite.  Lil' Snowboarder loved this one last year and wanted to hear it over and over.  Finally, she asked, "What's whiskey?"



Happy St. Paddy's Day!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

3 more days...

Until St. Paddy's Day!  You know we are excited about that, right?!



The doggies have their bandanas!  I'm hoping to take some pictures of both of them but it has been raining here all week.

There is already Irish Soda Bread in the house.  Yum. Yum. Yum.

I'm getting ready for my favorite IGK sale that we started last year....buy one, get one free on all of my individual designs, for one day only...St. Paddy's Day!  Check back later for more info on that!

And to get you in the mood..



More toe-tapping songs from last year here.

Thank you guys for all the name ideas for the baby sweater.  Definitely a few to think on, but I'm still open to suggestions.  Unfortunately, there are a gazillion Diamond named patterns on Ravelry, so I probably will avoid those.  And Dianne hit the nail on the head with my mom's nickname as a child as a suggestion, but Mousey and Pettie probably won't work.  I wanted them to as the pattern is the same I used in the sock design I did for my mom.  We'll see...

Back to working on my Cotty sock and writing up a pattern or two...

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

And then there were...

Two!



Pattern writing has commenced.  Now we just need a name.  Any suggestions?

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

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