Moose and Friends

In my email today were some photos of Moose at his local farmers' market in Pennsylvania. He called to tell me he visited the eagles. I thought he meant the football team until my daughter told be about a pet rescue group that was visiting the market with their rescued parrots. BOY! They are beautiful! This Moluccan Cockatoo behaved very nicely while Moose introduced himself.

He got a kick out of the Umbrella Cockatoo (or is it a Sulfur Crested?) who whistled for him, but was sure to keep his distance.
Then when he was appropriately introduced he decided to have a kiss! I wouldn't have tried this! Those birds can crack open Brazil nuts with those beaks!
Soon it was time to say goodbye to his new bird buddies.

Moose is coming up for a visit this coming weekend. I can't wait to see him again and hear all about the "Eagles"!

An Update with the Chicks

Maureen finished her first Chullo Peruvian hat made with Berroco sock yarn, using the pattern called "Tympany" from the Berroco site. The colors are lovely together. Now she's all psyched up to make another.

Kathleen had an afghan that she made over the winter and didn't like the way it blocked out. She decided to frog the whole thing and make something new. She is, as are the rest of us Chicks, very happy with the resulting Feather and Fan Afghan.
Barbara and Elaine have done their gauge swatches for the helmet liners and have started knitting them. I'm feeling so inspired by them that I may have to put aside my current project and join them.
I finished the baby version of the "Tympany" and my daughter's childhood babydoll, Susan, graciously agreed to model it for a photo.

It's an exact replica of the original adult size but made to fit about a 12 month old.

I have some real pretty sock yarns in my stash so you might be seeing a few more of these hats before the year is over. Right now I'm going to go knit a swatch for gauge. Wish me luck!

Serenity

The Serenity afghan was a bridal shower gift I knitted in May for my friend's daughter. Her shower was two weeks ago and I just now remembered to show you.

I used five and a half skeins of Plymouth Encore which is a wool and acrylic blend yarn which makes it machine washable and dryable.
It took me three weeks to make and I like it so much I might make one to keep for myself.

If you are a member of Ravelry, the pattern is available for free.

A New Member to the "Shop Til You Drop" Club

It looks as though Elaine's one year old granddaughter is in training for the shopping Olympics. Alex is ready to pick out a new summer outfit.

And off she goes!
I think she has found her size.

I want this one, Daddy!Thanks to Alex's Dad and Mom for these darling photos! And watch out! My daughter started out like this too....She's a fashion designer now.

A Drive in New England, Two FOs, and a WIP

Saturday night DH and I had reservations for dinner in Manchester, VT at a nice little place called "The Perfect Wife". He was able to place the winning bid for the dinner at an auction so we had a full course, delicious meal for about $50.00 plus gratuities. It was well worth the drive.

We were going to go to see the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit at the Clark Art Institute

(http://www.clarkart.edu/) in Williamstown, MA earlier in the day but we couldn't find a parking space in the lot and figured the museum would be so mobbed we might not get to enjoy the exhibit. On to plan B...

Take a leisurely drive up Route 7 and enjoy the scenery on the way to Manchester. It just so happens they were having the annual sidewalk sale at the outlets. Can we say "Bingo!"?

How about a $200 cashmere sweater for DH for $29? Yes, I said twenty-nine dollars!!! It was worth the trip! Not to mention the three skeins of handspun, baby blue alpaca I managed to find at half price. When that project is finished I'll post photos. In the meantime....

I finished the ruffled shawl with the hand dyed wool. When I found this yarn I immediately pictured a femininely ruffled shawl that would go perfectly well with a dress or jeans. I made the shawl with your typical triangular shawl formula, threw in three rows of yarnovers for a little interest, and finished it off with a 4 inch deep ruffle from Nicky Epstein's book "Knitting on the Edge" http://www.amazon.com/Knitting-Edge-Essential-Collection-Decorative/dp/1931543402/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250695241&sr=8-1

I love the way it turned out and it's nice and wide, just the way I like a shawl to be. I must admit I knitted the last few inches holding my breath because I knew I wouldn't be able to get anymore of this yarn. Just in case I ran out before the end, I ran a lifeline along the edge to stop me from frogging too far back.

And this is how much yarn was left over after that long, ruffly, picot bind off. Just the ruffle alone took a whole skein of yarn!
This week's "Work in Progress" is from Liz. She's working on another Feather and Fan afghan. The pretty yellow brings to mind a fuzzy baby chick.

Elaine finished a baby sweater for her granddaughter. Isn't it sweet with those darling tulips delicately gracing the edge?

My finished object this week is another Chula hat to be donated with our ponchos to St. Margaret's Center.

The yarn is Online Supersock and I have enough left to make a baby version.

Some of the Chicks have started their gauge swatches for our next project, the helmet liners. Maybe we'll have something to show you next week. Until then, keep those needles clicking!

TAH-DAH! Socks for the Summit

On July 30th my friends who meet at our local Panera's restaurant to knit, gathered one more time before Karin went off to sell her hand dyed sock yarns at the Sock Summit in Portland, OR. It just so happens that was the same week that Moose was visiting so he stopped in to say hello to everyone. Here he is showing off some of the socks that were going to be on display in her booth. That's Elise standing behind Moose and Karin seated.

Without any prompting from anyone Moose let out a big "Tah-Dah!" when he saw these.
Karin had a good time visiting with famous knitters at the Summit and if you would like to hear all about it, check out http://www.periwinklesheep.blogspot.com/

A very "Inventive" Chick!

I have to admit I'm pretty lucky to have this group of talented knitters in "The Chicks" and to prove how talented and inventive they are Liz showed us her handmade DP's. She lost one of her size 10.5 DP's and decided to take her needle gauge to Lowe's Lumber Yard to see what she could find. After trying a few dowel rods in the needle gauge, she chose the one that fit her needs and even picked out a couple of other sizes as well, took them home, cut them down to the length she needed and then ran the ends through an old fashioned pencil sharpener with the hand crank. When the points were to her liking, Liz used sandpaper to smooth everything so the needles wouldn't catch the yarn and then polished them all with Butcher's wax. These turned out every bit as good as the ones you buy at a yarn shop. So ladies, our next yarn crawl just might include a stop at Lowe's!

Liz also showed us her finished cape for the St. Margaret's donation. She used Plymouth Encore Purple and Colorspun. So sweet!
Here is Liz again, hunting through a bag of recently donated yarn for inspiration for her next project.
Elaine and I posed for the final shot of her pink poncho because we made it a joint project. She was running out of yarn to finish the rolled neckline and asked if I would crochet an edge which would not require as much yarn as the original collar. I gave it a backwards SC which made a sweet little picot edge and there was even a few yards of yarn left over.

Judy was back from her beach house and searching her I-phone trying to find the photo of the cute little hat her daughter knitted.

And you can tell by the cheerful expression on Maureen's face that she is finally finished with the interminably long stockinette poncho!

Good job, Maureen! It turned out great! Thanks!

Pattern for Helmet Liners

My cousin Lisa asked about the pattern for the helmet liners the Chicks will be knitting for our next project so she could make some to send to friends of her sons who are currently serving in the Middle East. Here is the link for anyone interested in knitting them. Included in the directions is one of the addresses where the completed liners can be shipped. From there they will be distributed to the military personnel.

http://www.usmcmuseum.org/knitpattern.pdf

Another address where these can be sent is:

Citizen SAM

PO Box 10565

Peoria, IL 61612

I found this pattern just by googling "free helmet liner knitting pattern". I hope you will feel inspired to join in our project and send along some helmet liners of your own. Thank you Lisa for inquiring. And thank you "Chick Elaine" for making this our next project.

Some knitting, more Moose!

Amanda had never been to WEBS (http://www.yarn.com/) before, so on Monday we took a ride to Northampton, MA to check out their end of summer sale. She bought some yarn to make some baby gifts which are supposed to be a surprise so I can't show them to you. I picked up three skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash to make helmet liners to send to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, which is The Chicks next project.

This hand dyed 100% merino is from Peru and it screamed at me to make another Mitered Baby Jacket. This will go into The Chicks inventory for a later donation.
I needed some new #1 DP's because I broke one of my favorite wooden ones recently. I found these metal square needles and decided to try them. They claim to be good for people with arthritis, and while I don't suffer from this, I thought it couldn't hurt! And then I saw the circular square needle (can we say "oxymoron"?) and thought I would use it for that Mitered Baby Jacket I'll be making. The bamboo DP's are to fill out my inventory. I can never find my #10's when I need them, so now I don't have to hunt anymore.

Last week Poppop and I took the Collins family to Hoffman's Playland in Latham for a day of fun. The first ride was on the train through the park to check out what rides we wanted to try.
The helicopter ride was tons of fun and Moose wanted to fly it as high as it would go.
Poppop suggested trying out the carousel. It seems that Moose thinks that's a great idea!
I would say they are enjoying this ride.
Since it was a very hot afternoon a cool ice cream cone seemed to hit the spot.
Hey! Who put the paper on my cone?
The hot air balloon ride was fun for Moose and Mommy.

Moose was too busy driving to take the time for a photograph.

Daddy and Moose really enjoyed the caterpillar.

And the carousel was so much fun that Moose asked me to take him for another ride.

But even a fun day at the park has to come to an end. So the boys head back to the car so Moose can nap and dream of all the fun that he had at Hoffman's Playland.

On Wednesday morning Moose and his mommy took me to see the Giants practice at the SUNY Albany campus. Moose spotted Eli Manning right away.

And there he is wearing his number 10 jersey!

When practice was over the players walked back to the clubhouse and signed autographs on the way. Moose called very loudy to Eli Manning but he was too far away to hear. Some lucky kid on the other side got his autograph instead.
Well, I guess a souvenier rock is just as special. Or was it a bug?

I have had a busy three weeks with Moose's visit and I'm sure going to miss him when he goes home this weekend. But I'm also going to get a much needed rest. I forgot what it was like to chase after a two year old. LOL!