Good things.

Definitely one of those weeks where daily I tried to find the good things. Here are just a few as I look back over my week.

1. OMG. Want. All of these. Seriously. The one that caught my attention originally was 'Unfriended a Racist' but other faves include 'Stopped Caring About Bullshit,' '   I could cover my Field bag in them.

2. Speaking of my knitting bag, I love it.



Yep. That's unfinished Christmas knitting. Oh well. It happens to the best of us.

3. And I was pretty proud to be part of the knitting community last weekend. I was there in spirit. I was working with an awesome team of women that morning and we shared our own stories... our own mini-march of sorts, since we couldn't be there. Four American women. Diverse and similar our small group was- Christian, Muslim, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, people of color, white, affected by autoimmune disease, cancer, autism....And that's just what little we know about each other. We don't know everyone's complete story. When one of the women talked about the pink pussyhats, I was so honored to share pictures of you guys on IG and explain more about it. Whether or not you agree with the movement, it is still an awesome thing to see the power of knitters. Kay Gardiner summed it up perfectly I think.

4. Knitted Wit's new colorway, Be Mine, where 10% of the sales of this colorway will forever go to Planned Parenthood.

Photo courtesy of Knitted Wit, colorway Be Mine

5. Knitting sure does soothe the soul. I'm so glad I've found my needles again after such a hard year last year. This morning I knit a bit while I was watching church on Facebook. Yep. That's a thing now. I try to get home to Church every other weekend. I love my Love Center Church family and am so blessed to have found a church family, and then I moved. I'm sure there are lovely churches here, but I'm just not ready yet having just found a church family I love. It is such a welcoming, non-denominational church, if you happen to live in the Oakland/Bay Area community, with an amazing music ministry too (you can check out some of the services/music on periscope).



Pattern: Naylor Street

I also took it to my mani/pedi  this afternoon, part of my self-care routine these past few months.



6. Yes, that is sparkly gold nail polish. Not my typical go-to color, but kinda goes with one of my anthems this month.



Now if that isn't bubblegum pop, I don't know what is. I don't even know who Britt Nicole is. Little Snowboarder must have downloaded this song on my phone way back when. I added it to my workout playlist this January since it was peppy. But damn. Those lyrics got to me.

You're one in a million. This, this is for all the girls
Boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told
You're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high
It's your time to shine
From the inside out it shows
You're worth more than gold
You're worth more than gold.

We are enough and so worth it. But I think sometimes we women need to hear this message a little bit more, and definitely more from each other. So sure, sparkly gold nail polish today :) Shine.

7. Victoria. And not just because of the Cavi.



8. Baby sweater just needs a button. Woohooo!!



And yes, this one is a new design at some point.

9. Sunsets. Seriously, this beauty was on my drive home this week.



10. All the Steward love you guys have shown this past week! Thank you supporting my new pattern release.



The Plucky Knitter featured it as The Ox Mystery Match too!



I wanted to share better photos of the one I knit with speckled Plucky yarn and a contrast brim, but unfortunately this is the best I can do. With the crazy rain we had a week ago, my hat went missing somewhere. Hopefully, someone is wearing it and giving it lots of love. One can hope.



It is on sale for a few more days if you haven't had a chance to purchase it.  


11.  Daily gratitude list in my bullet journal, which I love by the way. This daily act of remembering all I have to be grateful for has been helpful in so many ways.



11. Candle light. I've found this simple act of lighting a candle calming these past few weeks, especially amongst such chaos. Focusing on the positive, the light, instead of the darkness.   A daily act, similar to the gratitude list, that is making it easier to focus.



It prompted me to find a few of my favorite light/dark quotes to share with you guys, in case you needed a bit of inspiration for the week ahead.













Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

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

Happy May!!

More specifically, happy Mad May if you are a Madelinetosh fan! I remember releasing Summer Wind during Mad May a few years ago....knitting on a deadline to finish. Sometimes those deadlines bring out the best in us knitters, right?!


The Plucky Knitter Primo version


The Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light version

To celebrate Mad May, I'm offering 20% off any of my IGK patterns or ebooks from now through the end of May, with the coupon code: madmay

This weekend is TNNA in Indianapolis. Although I won't be there, my designs will be. Among them is one of my favorites, Glacier Point, designed with Anzula Cloud, a lovely yarn.

This design and quite a few others can be found in Anzula's Booth #467 and all of my patterns can be ordered from Deep South Fibers, either at the show in Booth #260 or online.

Also stop by Knitted Wit's Booth #205 to see quite a few of my designs as well, including  my favorites.... Falling Slowly

and Warwick.

I am enjoying see all of the tweets and pictures on Instagram though. Mostly I miss all the friends I get to see during this event. Next time though.

Any fun plans for your weekend? Hopefully it is a fabulous one.

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits