Happy Thanksgiving

There is so much to be thankful for this year! Especially this new little addition to our family, the magpie, my baby niece.



She is just the sweetest little nugget! My sister brought her with us to my first radiation appointment yesterday and she slept the entire time. She was the perfect distraction to any worry and after my first treatment now, I feel like most of my anxiousness is gone too! So thankful to start this before the holidays. I want to start the new year off right!





We had a relaxing brunch this morning, and then home for a nice long nap, before dinner.



Puddy and Bailey are big fans of naps too :)

My tummy is full from a yummy dinner, and now it is time for some Black Friday shopping my way....online! MarlyBird has put together a great list of Indie Designers and Yarn companies featuring Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. I just stocked up on my Knitterella cards and gift tags since she is having a 25% off sale with coupon code: GIVE25

And I've started my After-Thanksgiving Sale too! Receive 25% off all IGK patterns and ebook collections (the only time of year I include the collections in the coupon) in my Ravelry Pattern Store, NO COUPON necessary.



Wishing those of you who celebrate it, a very Happy Thanksgiving!! And as The Yarn Harlot pointed out, for those of you who don't, happy 27 knitting days left til Christmas! Get going!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Homemade Holidays

Thank you all so much for the extra big hug and love you left on my last post! I so appreciate it!

Now I'm not usually a fan of all the Christmas decorations out before Thanksgiving, but with Thanksgiving later this year, this past week I've been itching to put things out. I've also been wanting to watch Love Actually, but that tends to come after Thanksgiving too. However, I think I've held out long enough, right?

I'm definitely hoping to avoid the mall after Thanksgiving, so when I've been feeling well, I've tried to do a bit of holiday shopping here and there. Knitting is everywhere this time of year.....






I love these pom poms!! How fun!


Not technically a handknit item, but I LOVE these candles!


And this, well, I just loved it! I left it at Anthropologie though.

I'm hoping to do more of a handmade/homemade holidays this year, but you know I always think I can knit faster than I can. Or cook and bake faster than I can.  But it isn't quite December yet, so I'm hopeful and can be wistful that it will all magically happen.

I'd love to knit Herrington, the new cowl by the lovely Knitterella!

 

Photo copyright Knitterella

This version is knit out of the lovely Bare Naked Wools, Breakfast Blend Fingering. Isn't it stunning!??! I'm so tempted to join their KAL here.

Another pattern I recently purchased is Snawheid, from the talented Kate Davies.

 

photo used with permission from Kate Davies 

 

Is that not the perfect winter hat?!  I guess between this hat and Herrington, I'm itching to do some colorwork.

I've also purchased some lovely new yarns (oops....more retail therapy, but hey, at least it isn't a car like Dianne bought! haha! loved that comment Dianne) that just may become holiday gifts.





I'm in love with A Verb for Keeping Warm's Pioneer yarn! It is just so lovely! And in stock again!!





And these stunning gradient yarns from Black Trillium Fibre Studios. I've been drooling over all the Fiar's knit with these and just love them!

Also on my homemade list is some baking. I've loved every recipe from this cookbook (I was excited to see it at Anthropologie too!), so I can't wait to try some of the muffin ones and a few others for holiday cooking. If you aren't reading In Jennie's Kitchen, you really should. I love her and her blog! Raspberry croissant bread pudding....seriously?!?! Yum.\


Homemade with Love, by Jennifer Perillo

A little note about those Amazonlinks....I do receive a bit of commission on any purchases that are clicked through from my blog from Amazon. Just something to keep in mind as you do your holiday shopping :)  Same with those Craftsy links too :)

Oh, and in case you missed it, I'm having a little thank you sale for you guys. So from now through 11:59pm PST on Monday evening, I'm offering you guys a coupon code for 50% off any of my IGK patterns that are $6.00 or less! Time for gift knitting right!  Coupon code: grateful

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Time to kick some butt.

Cancer's butt, to be more specific.

I know I've mentioned on the blog that I haven't been feeling well. Last year I was diagnosed with a rare, indolent (slow-growing) type of b-cell follicular lymphoma (my doctors all say that if you have to have cancer, at least it is a good kind). That's the bump that has been on my head. Well, technically, in my head, but the inflammation looks like a bump. The excisional biopsy last year had hopefully removed it all, but it didn't, and that was before I was referred to the fabulous team I have at Stanford. So we've been in the watchful waiting stage this year. Back in October, I began having a lot of pain on the left side of my face/head that was similar to the incidents I've had before with the tumor. My doctor trusted me right away, despite there not being a large amount of swelling.  An ultrasound showed a mass, two weeks later the swelling was definitely there again along with excruciating pain, and a biopsy confirmed the tumor. A PETscan last week showed the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else (yay!!). Next step is radiation for 4 weeks. I was supposed to start this coming week, but the PETscan showed the tumor is a bit closer to my eye than they thought, so they want to do a different type of radiation, and that'll probably start in another week or two (waiting for insurance to approve it). But my radiation oncologist is 100% confident that radiation will kill the type of tumor I have!

The hardest thing the past few weeks has been the pain in my temple/head area and the crazy amount of fatigue. Like sleeping 14-15 hours a day. With a fancy ice machine on my head the entire time I'm asleep (thank you sister! She invested in this crazy fancy ice mask machine that stays continuously cool after one of her sinus surgeries since it helps her migraines.....I will never tease her again for the funny looking mask! She's let me borrow it for the past month and it has been amazing!). You know it's bad when I can barely knit. They started me on a new medication that kicked in two weeks ago and seems to be helping a lot with the pain. When I met with the radiation oncologist two weeks ago, I knew I was going to need radiation. But the nurses had prepped me for 3-4 days. So I was a bit surprised to find out it would be 3-4 weeks because my tumor is different. I'll be honest, I was a bit stressed about that.  So what's a girl to do?



It was the first thing I saw at Nordstrom later that day, on sale, and so bright and cheery I could just hear it say, "F.... cancer! You got this!" A positive attitude and a fabulous handbag make all the difference, right?!

And what's a knitter who is too tired to knit do?



When Interweave Knitting Lab was here a few weeks ago, I did a little retail therapy. I couldn't help it. You might not help it either, so be careful of these links....

• Canon Hand Dyes (Amy is so fun and I met her a few years ago at Sock Summit, but I can't wait to collaborate with her next year! I fell down at her shop!)
• A Needle Runs Through It (you guys know I LOVE Maria's bags! The Christmas one is my new fave! I always stock up at Stitches West!)
• Knitted Wit (love love love) 
• Sincere Sheep (love love love).

Fortunately, I've been feeling a bit better and the knitting mojo is coming back. Plucky Knitter bulky yarn certainly makes that easier too.



So I'm thankful today for so many things....I'm feeling well today, I'm going to kick this cancer's butt, I'm going to use the extra week or two before radiation to get the holidays started, I have the best family and friends, Notre Dame won today, and I had time to blog. I've missed you guys! I even have another post or two that I think I'll share in the next few days....don't worry, this is probably the only post I'm going to mention stupid cancer in.... back to yarn, knitting, doggies, baby niece, and fun! I believe in prayers and positive thinking and I know you guys rock that, so I did want to share what I've been going through.

I know I've barely been around the blog and ravelry the past few months, so thanks for sticking with me. A little thank you appreciate sale sounded good too! So from now through 11:59pm PST on Monday evening, I'm offering you guys a coupon code for 50% off any of my IGK patterns that are $6.00 or less! Time for gift knitting right!  Coupon code: grateful

Now back to watching some football and knitting!!!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Turning on the light

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
--Albus Dumbledore.










It has been a tough few weeks around here, which is partially why the blog has been quiet. Sorry about that! But I'm trying to turn on the light, as one might say, as much as possible. A little knitting with Plucky Knitter Bulky brightens up the day too.




As well as dear friends. And mimosas. And yummy food.










And text messages with pictures like this of the cutest nephew!




And Bailey.




And Puddles.



And of course this little nugget.




The magpie.

All lights that I am turning on to brighten things up. What has been lighting up your days lately?

Happy Knitting!
Xoxo irishgirlieknits

My Kind of Saturday

Despite the early rise and shine, lil snowboarder's soccer game was awesome!



First win and first goal scored of the season!

Then a nap. Perfect nap.


Family dinner. Check out the moon!

Ok, it would have been a better day if the Irish had won. Heartbreaking loss.



And then there's this kid. Love him, but my response was go to bed.

Oh, and I'm blogging from my new iPhone (first ever iPhone !!).

Happy Weekend!
Xoxo irishgirlieknits