Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It may not be decorated yet, but I love having the tree in the house.



Cranberry orange muffins. Now we are ready for the holidays. Something about cranberries just mean Christmas to me. Here's the recipe. And in a pinch I've used orange juice in that recipe and they still taste perfect :)



And some Christmas socks for me. I probably should be working on the gift knitting, but Saturday I was exhausted and needed some comfort knitting. My friends often tease me for having matchy-matchy project bags and yarn, but this yarn was specifically dyed to match this fabric! Yarn is from Canon Hand Dyes and I'm loving it!

Today is the last day to take advantage of the first blogiversary sale!



More details in the last post. I'm also loving your holiday traditions comments in the contest too! Still time to enter that too.

I hope your week is off to a good start. We'll be back tomorrow with the next group of patterns on sale!

Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Summer in NYC

Why yes, I know, it isn't summer and I'm not in New York City. But one of the things I love about this blog is that in addition to sharing my knitting, it is a space to remember special trips or events. I still can't quite believe that I haven't shared my quick two and a half days back at the end of July! And since  I'm on another quick trip this weekend, I figured I better share that trip first.



I arrived late Tuesday night and planned to cram a lot in in just two and half days. The agenda...... Food, Fun, and Broadway (I'm a theater junkie!!!)!

I followed a lot of Tricia's, aka Cheeky Attitude, recommendations from her blog. Being on my own in the city I could go wherever I wanted. In someways that was awesome, but in other ways, there were almost too many choices. So it was nice to have some trusted recommendations.





First stop, the basement of the Plaza hotel has a food hall that is amazing. So many choices. The lobster roll was delicious. And I couldn't resist trying a marshmallow or two.






Even though I had seen it before, I just couldn't resist seeing Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams in Cabaret at Studio 54! It was awesome!! That's how I started my Wednesday. Then of course, it was time for dinner. Ha! More food.





There is no way to describe how HUGE this pastrami sandwich was! I could only eat half! It was so good though! Now the amount of walking I had done that day was more than I had been able to do in months so I felt absolutely no guilt eating the next thing later....



A perfectly scrumptious vanilla cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. Day made. Except for one more amazing thing.



Seeing Audra McDonald perform her one woman show, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. It was such an intimate theater too, plus I didn't realize when I purchased my ticket that I was practically front row (the theater is set up a little differently, so she sang two or three songs literally about six feet away from me....just amazing!). She truly embodied Billie Holiday.

As perfect as Wednesday was, Thursday was even better. I had planned to meet up with Tracey, a friend I had met through knitting and Ravelry. Of course, there's always that little bit of worry that maybe we wouldn't hit it off in person, but, honestly, I just couldn't imagine that. And I was right. We both can't wait for the next trip!!! We had such a fun day!

We met up at Balthazar's in SoHo. It was lovely and relaxing and perfect.



Look at that big bowl of a cafe au lair. Just how I like it!




Balthazar selfie :)

I think we ate the flaky almond croissant too quickly to take a picture. Afterwards we made our trek to mecca, aka Purl Soho.



Tracey even came with a special yarn gift.....an gorgeous skein of Madelinetosh in a colorway dyed exclusively for her LYS! Isn't it gorgeous! Thanks again Tracey.



And then, I introduced Tracey to Laduree. I had scoped the place out the day before to see if it would be a good spot to just sit and knit for a couple hours (ok, a bit decadent to sit and knit, but it was on my list of things to do and thought it would be fun to do with a friend). We had so much fun!! Oh Tracey, I miss you!!









We sat out on the patio and enjoyed tea and sweets and knit and laughed and had a lovely afternoon. It was a perfect afternoon.







Macaron, anyone?

Tracey headed back home and I went back to the hotel for a bit before heading out for the evening. One fun part of traveling alone and going to the theater is having an early dinner. I was able to get a last minute reservation at the popular restaurant, Rubirosa's. Their pizza was AMAZING!



And then I headed up town to see Idina Menzel in her new Broadway show If/Then. The show had received mixed reviews, but I absolutely loved it. Yes, it was Idina and I had seen her perform in Wicked before. I think I loved this performance because I could relate so much to the character and the story and where she was at in her life. I really enjoyed it! And Idina was stunning and amazing and incredible and yes, I'm gushing!!

Friday was a quick morning....but I did grab lunch at Shake Shack (I was told it was a must!) at Madison Square Park.









And then it was back to the hotel to wait for Leslie to head to the airport together. Thank you Leslie for letting me tag along on your business trip and for staying at a swanky SoHo hotel that has a lobby that looks like this!

So yes, a few months later, but a great few days....thanks for traveling down memory lane with me. I promise to share this next trip with you a bit more promptly!

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy Plucktember!!

Can you believe we are half way through September, well, in the knitting world, I mean, Plucktember, already?! I'm exhausted, so I do believe it! I always look forward to this time of year. Somehow college football and the new school supplies and apples and the leaves changing help me forget what the beginning of the school year is usually like for my job, which is why I'm exhausted and just now coming up for air.

But there has been knitting, so let's get right to that!



So lovely to start off Plucktember on Labor Day by the pool just knitting away. This new fingerless glove pattern knits up quickly in Primo Sport. I just love cables!!



The first glove was done by the end of the week, but I wanted to knit it up in a worsted weight version too.



So at the soccer game that morning I made a bit of progress. This is in Plucky Knitter's Scholar. Definitely not Primo, but still lovely.

I did put the knitting down to play with this cutie for the Notre Dame-Michigan game!





Enjoying our walk at halftime!



She's a good luck charm for sure!

By the end of the weekend there was a finished glove!





I thought I'd have the second one done in no time, but with working out of town one day this week, working late another night and not feeling well (long story, but I've been dealing with some chronic pain issues at the radiation site on my head for the past few months...and with trying to work more, I'm off the meds that were really helping manage the pain because they made me too tired to work and trying to find new meds to help...fun fun), well, it isn't done yet. Hopefully I'll finish it at knit nite this week.

The Lowney Sock KAL is going strong too over in the Plucky Knitter group (as well as many other KALs!).



I wanted to share some of the fabulous projects being shared!

The project below is Linda's Lowney sock, aka lgphillips on Ravelry, and I'm in love with the colors she's chosen! My favorite part of KALs are seeing a design knit up in different colors, but especially when color work is involved!!

Photo courtesy of lgphillips on Ravelry

Photo courtesy of YezSoCrafty on Ravelry

This is Chris, aka YezSoCrafty's, fabulous sock. I just love her 2 color version. I also think Lowney sock knit up in just a solid single color would be fun too.

Thanks ladies for letting me share your projects with the blog!

Anyone else participating in Plucktember over in the Pluck Knitters Group? I'd love to hear what you are working on.

Remember, all Irish Girlie Knits Designs ($6.00 or less) are 20% off though the end of the month when you use the coupon code: WELOVEPLUCKY

Happy Plucktember!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A Blink

Summer seems to be flying by with the blink of an eye. I can't wait to show you pictures from my fabulous trip to New York City, as quick as it was, but that trip deserves its own post. In the meantime, a few happy things I've been wanting to share, including a new design and a SALE (scroll down if you want to get right to that!).

A week with views like this were wonderful.







It was Little Guy's first time at the cabin and I think he had a blast! I know Grandma, Lil' Snow, and I had a great time having him with us!











But with four kids, Auntie IGK needed some down time too.





Two grandmas, one auntie, four kids. It was a week filled with sun, swimming, ice cream, Harry Potter movies, limited wifi and cell phone coverage, reading, lazy mornings, knitting, board games, crafts (teaching the kids how to latch hook and the girls finally learned to knit!), and fun.






I released a new design this weekend, Lowney. A sock design for Plucktember, the month long celebration (September) celebrating all things Plucky Knitter! Be sure to check out the Plucky Knitter Group on Ravelry to read more about it, including this thread, where there is a special KAL for the Lowney Sock!









And to celebrate Plucktember, I'm offering 30% off all of my Irish Girlie Knits Designs (patterns priced $6.00 or less) through the end of August, when you enter the coupon code: PLUCKY2014   (you'll need to enter the coupon code on ravelry).

I hope you guys have been enjoying your summer too! I'd love to hear what you have been up to! Let's be sure to enjoy this last week or two!

Happy knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits