Merry Making

I love that the holidays linger and the celebrating continues during the week after Christmas! All the shopping, present wrapping and baking are done. Just time for spending time with family, friends, and relaxing!



Well, there was some baking Christmas morning. But that was because it was a relaxing morning. I've been wanting to make scones all holiday season and was so glad to finally have time to.



The cranberry orange muffins were delish too!

I'll admit, initially, I was a little bummed to have to go to my last radiation appointment the day after Christmas.


The lovely tree in the lobby.

But I'm so grateful to be done and the best present ever was the good news from my doctor that I've had "a complete response to treatment." Yay! Thank you so much for all the positive thoughts and prayers. Other than being really tired and having a very itchy head, I'm feeling so much better too!



We celebrated in the city Friday by seeing the Beauty and the Beast musical, dinner, and a bit of shopping! Perfect day.



Then Saturday morning we watched the Irish beat Rutgers in their bowl game! Go Irish!!!




More scones and my new David's Tea teapot and cups from their Boxing Day sale! Too cute, right? And both for $15?! Love it!


We had an Irish breakfast too. One of my nurses told me about  Food Ireland and so glad she did!

There hasn't been too much knitting this holiday season. The one pair of Toasties I knit for a teacher I forgot to take a picture of?! Of course, this little hat for Magpie is my favorite knit of the season!





Mrs. Claus is in the background admiring this cutie!



I do have a little something sparkly on the needles. And each row I knit, I'm grateful for my sample knitter Tracey who is knitting the real thing instead of me! I'm the slowest knitter I know lately :(

Have any of you started your selfish knitting for yourself yet? Or are you finishing up any presents? If you haven't already taken advantage of my holiday sale, you still have time. Receive 20% off any IGK pattern $6 or less (including my new Alpine Lake and Alpine Lake Socks which are already on sale) with the coupon code: happyholidays

Yesterday and today we are hanging out with Lil' Guy! Goodness he's cute!





I hope you all are having a very special end of the year!

Happy Everything!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve is here! I still can't quite believe it! We've been busy celebrating the past week or so, from the Dicken's Fair, to the Nutcracker, celebrating mom's birthday in the city and seeing Book of Mormon, to cookie baking, to an early family Christmas this past Sunday. Lots of merry making!













The Christmas lights near my sister's house are fabulous, and quite an event!









A little time off of work means I've had a chance to re-release two new designs under the Irish Girlie Knits Designs label. I'll blog a bit more about them later this week, but I did want to share that they are now available on ravelry and on sale for $5.00 each (and see the end of the post for an additional coupon too!).



Alpine Lake, in The Plucky Knitter Bulky 



Alpine Lake Socks, in Kollage Yarns Sock-a-licious 

The perfect quick knits for yourself for after the holidays!

I haven't forgotten about the blogiversary winners! The winners of either The Woods Family Collection or Sullivan Family collection are:

•  Olivia (oforney on ravelry)
• Dana (DanaRae19 on ravelry)
• Jane (Prairiepoet on ravelry)
• Colleen (ColleenMarie on ravelry)

Message me on ravelry (irishgirlieknits) with your choice and I'll send the collection to you! Thank you!!

The winner of the Plucky Knitter MCN Aran is Culabrat (on Ravelry) and the Knitterella cards will go to Dianne  Congrats ladies! Either email me you addresses irishgirlieknits AT gmail DOT com or message me on ravelry and I'll get them out to you!

Thank  you all so much for sharing your holiday traditions! I love hearing about them :)

Last but not least, the HOLIDAY SALE! From now until January 2, 2014 11:59pm, receive 20% off any IGK pattern $6.00 or less with the coupon code: happyholidays   Yes, that includes both Alpine Lake and the Alpine Lake Socks ($4.00/each with coupon)!! Feel free to share, tweet, post, etc.!

This next week or so is one of my favorites....relaxing, knitting for yourself (hopefully!!), movies, family, fun!! And lots of rest here!



Wishing you and yours a very warm, happy holiday!!!

Merry Christmas!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Almost Nine Days til Christmas

Are you freaking out or counting down with excitement? Hopefully, it is the latter (and if you are freaking out, I've got some last minute gift ideas at the end of this post). I've been trying to get a jumpstart on the holiday to-do list things since I'm getting more and more tired each week. But, well, reality is setting in. I'm definitely not going to get much baking done this year, but I had two little elves who helped this weekend.



Mimi's sugar cookies still remind me on my childhood and I miss Grandma, Mimi and Cotty more than ever around the holidays.

Most of the gifts are almost done. Just a few things left. How about you guys? As much as I'd like to knit more things this year, again, just not going to happen. The one favorite teacher present of cashmere toasties is just about done. I've been wanting to knit a little hat for the magpie and so Saturday night I started with this....



Here are the makings of a not-just-for-Christmas hat for the magpie. A skein of Plucky Knitter Primo Sport in Blazing Saddle (that fabulous red!), and a bunch of minis that I picked up from Canon Hand Dyes when she was here for Interweave Knitting Lab I've had this particular color combo idea on my mind for awhile.(beware, clicking the Canon Hand Dyes link takes you to her fabulous etsy shop filled with Downton Abbey inspired colorways. I try not to click often because it is soooo hard to resist!).




Knitting away by the fire last night. I stayed up late so that she'd look like this today...





We had a fabulous day at the Dicken's Christmas Fair today! I'll show you more photos this week...too many for this post!

Anyways, I can check that gift off the list now :)  I have been coming across some fun last minute gifts that I thought I would share with you guys, in case you have a few items you still need to check off your list. Or put under the tree yourself!

In the book department...


Melissa Leapman's new stitch dictionary is lovely, with both charted and written directions.


Clara's new book is fabulous as well!


Still my favorite cookbook of the year. Hoping to try more recipes over the holidays too!


I loved this book! I read it this fall (well, Audible read it to me! Thank you guys for convincing me to finally try audiobooks!).



I'm reading The Book Thief now because I've had it for forever and really, really wanted to read it before I see the movie.


This was my favorite read this summer. In case I forgot to tell you :) 

 
Well, this one is more for people like me who can't wait for this one to come out. Pre-order. March will be here before you know it! Just love the cover too and from what I can tell, looks to not be knitting related- I kind of love that because if you read her blog, Steph has a funny spin on pretty much anything!

Ok, that's it on the easy amazon links. If you do by chance purchase through those links, whether it be the books or anything else once you click through, a little bit goes back to me, so thank you!

I do love Joy the Baker's book of winter reads....quite a few of those are on my to-read list.

Now in the knitting department.....


Many of you know that I love the yarns that have been released this year from Anne Hanson's Bare Naked Wools line, so of course it is on my list!I'm really hoping to get the Herrington Cowl on the needles at some point, which is what I ordered the Breakfast Blend shown above for. I'd also strongly suggest signing up for The Bare Naked Yarn Club! It starts in January!

I love the ladies from Sincere Sheep and Knitted Wit and am very familiar with the different clubs they offer through their Among Friends collaboration. So I clicked on this ad above when I saw it in my Ravelry group and was so excited that they had also joined up with Canon Hand Dyes! This kit looks fabulous, but I just ordered the gradient minis kit!  No hexipuffs for me, I'm just loving the idea of using these gradient minis creatively...I'm feeling inspired! Plus, the kits ship this week, so under the tree for me.



Remember the lovely gradient yarns I ordered last month from Black Trillium? Well, through Dec. 16th, she's having a birthday sale (info here, but receive 20% off if use the coupon code FLASH). I'm trying hard to resist another set.


I do love my new ornament from Jennie the Potter. Ok, I love anything she makes. I hope she does these again next year! Although she is out of this ornament, her store is stocked with her lovely stitch markers, necklaces (I've purposely NOT opened the box with mine in it so I will be a little surprised on Christmas!), and more.

More yarn....The Plucky Knitter will be having her cashmere update on Friday, Dec. 20. Cashmere. Plucky. Done.

Other stuff on the list...

Nordstrom- Still time left to order online, free returns, love them. Especially for that hard to get for person.

Etsy- dangerous, creative, you can get lost here. Ok, actually, any of you have a particular jewelry store on there you'd recommend? Or other favorite etsy shop?

There you go. My last minute gift list. Hope it helps.

Don't forget you have til Monday night to enter my blogiversary bonanza contest or purchase any of the sale patterns that are 50% off. Details here. Feel free to share the info too!

Here's to a fabulous week ahead!

Happy knitting!!!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Blogiversary Bonanza!

I can't quite believe this blog has been going strong and we are now celebrating 7 years of blogging!! Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, cheering, laughing, and knitting along with me. You know I wouldn't be here without you!

For the past few years, we've celebrated the blogiversary with a different pattern at 50% off each day. But I'll be honest, I'm too sleepy to blog that much for the next week, so I hope you'll enjoy this option instead! I've picked 7 of my most popular patterns and marked them on sale until next Monday!  Easy-peasy :)



Summer Wind  San Mateo 

Wish I Might   Lilianna 
Cotty 
Honey Bunches Naylor Street


All of the above patterns are $3.00 until Monday, Dec. 16, 11:59pm PST (no coupon needed). After that they will go back to their regular price of $6.00.

With less than two weeks til Christmas, if you have a last minute gift to knit, I definitely suggest Naylor Street. With sizes that range from baby to adult, it'll work for anyone on that list! The little magpie loves hers!



She came over to hangout last night and we had a blast! 



Auntie selfie



Doggie photobomb



And lil' snowboarder photobomb :)

Enough of the cute baby, let's get back to that blogiversary! This is where the bonanza comes in....time for prizes!



I stocked up on some of my favorite knitting cards from Knitterella recently and I'll be sharing them with two lucky winners.

Four other winners will receive a digital copy of their choice of either The Woods Family Collection or The Sullivan Family Collection.

Another will receive a lovely skein of Plucky Knitter MCN Aran. I knit myself a Gobi Hat, from last year's Bare Naked Knits Club, with my skein and I love it!



Love it enough to post a make-up free selfie :)  By the way, thank you all for the awesome hat suggestions! I'll keep you posted on which one I pick next. I'm halfway through my treatments, the "bump" on my head is significantly smaller, and the pain is minimal... just exhausted. And my head is getting a bit itchy, as expected. They say the other side effects start in the next week or so. Anywho, I have a cute hat least.

So how do you win the above prizes? Just leave a comment below and a way to contact you if you win (e.g., rav id, email). And I love hearing about your holiday traditions, a link to your favorite treat you'll be baking, or what gift you are hoping Santa will bring you this year. I also love to hear which blogs you enjoy reading, or the book that you can't put down, or what movie is a must-see when I have time off!

Contest and sale are good through Monday December 16, 11:59pm PST.

Feel free to share, tweet, facebook, post, etc. about the blogiversary sale and contest! And thank you all again for being on this fabulous ride with me!!

Happy, happy knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits