Holiday Magic

I may not have any presents wrapped yet, but I made cookies today. The most delicious crispy, chewy  gingersnap cookies from In Jennie's Kitchen. I've had a thing for gingerbread all holiday season so I'm glad I finally had a chance to make these.

They were delicious. Next on the list I want to make these and gingerbread coffeecake once my copy of simple scratch cooking arrives this week. 

More freezer jam. We'll see how this one tastes tomorrow. 

Baking and catching up on sleep has been how I've spent my first few days of holiday vacation so far. The next few days will be spent enjoying the holiday magic with family. I've loved seeing how our sweet little Magpie is experiencing the holidays this year.

She already knows the tree is just for looking :)

And loves reading with her big cousin.

That smile melts my heart every time.

We also have an extra family member visiting this week. Bailey and Puddy don't seem to mind sharing the couch with my mom's sweet dog, Maddie.

Baking, sleeping, relaxing, family, and .......knitting (and writing about knitting, as in those patterns). That's my plan this vacation. Speaking of which....

Sorin Fingerless Gloves    

Pattern photos by Tricia Soto, aka Cheekyattitude

Shown in The Plucky Knitter Primo Sport, colorway Decorum Dictates

These fingerless gloves are so versatile. The pattern is written for either sport or worsted weight yarns, and the worsted version is a quick gift knit too! The cables pop in a variety of yarns and will look good on everyone in the family. 

Shown in The Plucky Knitter Scholar, colorway Strawberry Wine (worsted weight version)

Suggested Yarns:  ~155 yards for sport weight version such as The Plucky Knitter Primo Sport, Bare Naked Wools Stone Soup DK, Anzula Cricket, Knitted Wit Victory DK

~185 yards for worsted weight version such as The Plucky Knitter Scholar or Primo Worsted, Anzula For Better or Worsted, Big Bad Wool Weepaca

Sorin Fingerless Gloves are on sale for $5.00 through Dec. 28 BUT use coupon code: HAPPYHOLIDAYS to receive an additional 20% off this pattern and any other Irish Girlie Knits Design pattern $6.00 or less (through January 4, 11:59pm EST) 

I certainly haven't gotten very far on the tween's Sorin Fingerless Glove. One is almost done at least. I'm looking forward to getting some knitting done tomorrow.

Oh, Cheekyattitude and I have a present for one lucky reader that doesn't need wrapping. Contest time!!

Time lovely skein of Plucky Knitter Primo Sport would be lovely for a pair of Sorin Fingerless Gloves, but it could be anything you want it to be! Just leave a comment on this post with what you have planned for the week ahead....will you be baking, relaxing, knitting, entertaining family? Anything special? Have you wrapped all of your presents? Are all of your holiday gifts knit? Will you be casting on something special for you soon? Be sure to leave a way to reach you if you win (e.g., ravelry ID or email).

Oh, and our relatively new family tradition the past few years...tomorrow night we are seeing the Nutcracker. I can't wait.

Happy Holidays!

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