When will it be warm enough for deck knitting?

We were inside again today where there was lively discussion about grandchildren, comparing how we parented our kids to how our children now parent their kids. When babysitting the grands, rules are enforced with a calm voice and a stern look and laughed about the reaction from them when they thought we weren't listening. I love the direct quote from one of the granddaughters who told her grandmother, "Sometimes I like Poppop better than you but today I like you." LOL!!! It's a good thing we've learned to let those comments roll off!

Our treats today were Barbara B's sourdough apple cinnamon muffins with oatmeal crumbles on top. They were moist and not sickeningly sweet and just light enough to hit the spot for a mid afternoon snack.

Jan finished her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater. 

We are so proud of her first completed sweater, as is she!

Now she has moved on to the Malt Blanket, a pattern from Tincanknits which is free on Ravelry.

It reminds me of the Flax sweater, designed by the same person.

I've got my two sleeves on one long circular needle to knit magic loop style. It's the Newborn Top-Down Cardigan, a very easy pattern with a very easy to knit cable down the button bands.

Barbara B. is ready to add the sleeves to her bottom up seamless cardigan called Isle Royale, a free pattern from WEBS, also available on Ravelry.

The instructions said to use three needles but she is using one long circular needle which works more easily in our opinion. Here the sleeves have just been incorporated into the body of the sweater and the raglan decreases start at this point up to the neckline for shoulder shaping.

Barbara K. is finishing up her 2X2 ribbed hat. She picked up some Plymouth Encore at the annual blowout sale at WEBS which happens to be not far from her son's place in Connecticut. Her car just automatically veers in that direction all on its own! LOL! I know, my car does the same thing!

Nancy picked out a soft pastel for her baby cardigan that she's knitting for her granddaughter who will be arriving in late June. Like Dorah, she is making the Knit Baby Jacket Set.

Maureen finished the body of the Baby Sophisticate and has started one of the sleeves. When they are completed, she will pick up stitches up the fronts and around the neckline to make the shawl collar.

Annika's Eyelet Stripe Baby Blanket is still growing. This is great social knitting when you want to participate in a conversation and can't pay too much attention to your knitting.

Dorah chose DP's to knit the sleeves on her Knit Baby Jacket set. She forgot that when you want garter stitch in the round you have to knit a round and purl a round so she had a bit of frogging to do. Join the club Dorah! Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt! 

Margaret is on the third iteration of her Flax pullover. She is determined to knit this sweater and I give her credit for her persistence. I give a yarn and project three chances. After that I decide the yarn wants to be something else so I move on to a different pattern.

My "supervisor" decided that watching my neighbor mow the lawn was more exciting than watching me type but I know any second now, he will be begging for food.

Come to think of it, I am feeling a little peckish myself so I'll end here and wish you a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Another windy day!

The sun is shining brightly and the temps are in the mid 60's but the wind is making it too cold to sit outdoors so we had lively conversation around the dining room table. In June Nancy will be welcoming her first grandchild for whom she is knitting a lovely blanket you will see a little later. We all compared notes on what we did with our children and how "forbidden" those same routines are now. Our kids grew up to be healthy, stable, well-adjusted human beings who were put in the crib on their tummies and were swathed like sweet smelling burritos. But apparently those are BIG no-no's in this era! LOL! It was funny comparing notes. I hope we didn't scare Nancy!

I finished the Simple Baby hat that goes with the Dexter vest I made a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday I started the Newborn Top Down Cardigan using Plymouth Encore DK. It has an easy cable pattern running alongside the button bands and lots of markers to remind me when to increase for the raglan shaping.

We are all so proud of Jan with the progress she has made on her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater. This is her first time making sleeves and she is doing a bang up job! Once she feels comfortable with the process, I think she'll want to try magic looping the sleeves.

Maureen is working on Baby Sophisticate, a darling cardigan with a shawl collar that makes a baby look like a little old professor. All one needs is shoulder patches and a pipe!

Here is the lovely blanket I mentioned earlier which Nancy is knitting for her future grandbaby. She couldn't remember the name of the pattern but she said it's easy as pie. Sometimes we need to take a break from complicated knitting and just relax with a good TV project. What's that joke? I'm taking a break from two sided lace knitting...I'm knitting a sweater to relax. LOL!

Carole's Wee Bean is growing some sleeves and she is using the aforementioned magic loop two at a time method.

Barbara B.'s Elevenses Hat looks great! The yarn is a perfect color and shows up those beautiful cables to their finest. The yarn is Lion Brand Wool Ease.

Barbara K. is working on the 2X2 ribbed beanie, another good pattern for socializing or TV watching.

Annika's blanket is growing each week. It's the Eyelet Stripe Baby Blanket which can look different depending on color choices.

I forgot to take pictures of our snack of the day, homemade by Barbara B. You'll just have to take my word for it, the Snickerdoodles were delicious!!!

Have a good week and keep those needles clicking!

 

We almost sat outside today

I had my lawn chair set up and ready to sit outside but gusts of wind were blowing all around me making a little chill in the air so Plan B was put into effect. It's just as well since it's too hard to eat Barbara B's delicious chocolate cupcakes and knit at the same time. Having the table to spread out makes it much more comfortable.

Carole is almost finished with the body of the Wee Bean Cardigan. She is going to attempt to knit both sleeves simutaneously using the magic loop method. The hardest part is wrapping one's brain around the instructions. Once you figure that out, the rest is a breeze.

She finished a lovely hat called Twig. I tried to link the pattern to share with you but the link to the page seems to be broken. I also could not access the designer's blog page so unfortunately, I can't share it.

Dorah made progress on her Knit Baby Jacket set using self patterning yarn in a machine washable and dryable fiber.

Margaret is working on the Flax pullover from Tincanknits. Ravelry has the free pattern available in three different yarn weights. She is planning on frogging and starting over because she thinks she got distracted and has too many stitches for the body which would make it way out of proportion. But hey! It's only knitting and can be frogged and re-knitted...unlike sewing when once the fabric is cut, you're commited!

Jan is finishing up the body of her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater and is looking forward to knitting the sleeves. She's not up to trying two at a time but baby steps are still progress in the right direction.

Barbara B. finished the Avery's Happy Cap (for which I have no link) and The Gift cardigan.

The details on the sweater are adorable right down to...

the eyelet lace ribbing at the bottom of the body and sleeves.

I finished the Dexter vest using Plymouth Encore in DK weight. I used the sizing for 3-6 months.

Now I have a hat started to go with it. It's called Simple Baby Hat and I'm crossing my fingers that the size will correspond with the size of the vest.

Barbara B has another project going. It's the Elevenses Hat made with Lion Brand Wool Ease in a pretty heather pink.

Annika finished her first eyelet stripe baby blanket and has started a second one. 

And Barbara K started a hat using a tweedy style Plymouth Encore in worsted weight.

Nancy started a blanket for her soon to be born grandchild. It's a machine wash and dry yarn and a good project for tv knitting which doesn't require too much concentration.

I'm going to have to get in gear and clean off the screened porch so these windy days don't interfere with our outdoor knitting. In the meantime, have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

Welcome home Snowbird!

Maureen flew back from her winter home last night and joined us for a sunny afternoon of knitting. She said as long as we could sit outside spaced apart, she would join us. We missed her so it was a good thing Mother Nature decided to cooperate. Look at that blue sky!

Maureen jumped right back into her knitting with a hat for our inventory.

As soon as I finished last week's bonnet, I cast on stitches for the Dexter Vest in a 0 to 3 month size. The yarn is Plymouth Encore (machine wash and dry) in DK weight. It's knitted flat and then side seams are sewn to attach the underarms.

Nancy's Helix Hat is nearing the portion of the crown when the decreases begin to close the top of the cap. She is able to use every last inch of yarn left over from other projects. I don't know about you, but I can't stand to throw out ends of a skein so this is a great way to put them to use.

Barbara B. is working on The Gift, a beautiful little cardigan.

 The bright sun washed out the design but...

I was able to get a shot of the pattern page to show you the adorable motif on the yoke.

Dorah's Knit Baby Jacket Set is looking like a sweater now. The self striping yarn does all the work without all the hassle of juggling multiple balls of yarn.

 

Barbara B. also completed an Avery's Happy Cap to pair with the above cardigan. It's a darling little bonnet with a sweet ruffled edge.

I've been working on a scarf for myself using the yarn I dyed with Wilton Food Coloring and I've finally finished! I wrote the "recipe" for it on my Ravelry page if you want to make one for yourself.

I love it paired with my raspberry colored blouse! 

It's so beautiful outside that I think I'll go for a quick walk before I have to start cooking dinner. 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!