Cuteness everywhere!

Kathleen started off Show and Tell with her not-quite-finished hoodie. She spent the afternoon picking up stitches around the neckline to knit the hood portion. The yarn is a self-striping, washable blend of acrylic and nylon and has a bit of shine to it.

 Adding to the inventory was another little bonnet from Kathleen and lastly....

 another darling pullover. 

 Liz put the finishing touches on this sweet little sweater...

 and then moved on to another color of the same sweater.

 Cinzia picked out a baby blanket pattern and worked up a gauge swatch. Bless her heart! You all know how I feel about those!

 In spite of sundown, it was pretty steamy and hot on the deck by evening time so we all opted to stay in with the AC.

Carole finished blocking the cute little set she had been knitting.

 The lace is such a pretty touch and the flower buttons are so cute!

 Next up on Carole's list is a colorful version of Sunnyside. We talked about how great a resource Ravelry is to handcrafters. Carole knew how much yarn she had and what weight it was so she just googled the particulars and came up with a pattern appropriate for her requirements.

 Maureen and Dorah worked on their sweaters too. Maureen wasn't able to make much progress since last week but Dorah's sweater looks bigger.

 It's just about ready for the ribbing and bind off and then on to the sleeves.

I finished blocking my eyelet baby blanket and it improved the appearance tremendously.

There was enough yarn left over to make a baby hat too. It's knitted with size 2 needles so I'm finding I need to rest my hands more often. 

Those tiny needles make my fingers cramp if I knit too long. I guess I'll just have to do more "Hand Yoga"!

Keeping babies in style

Barbara's project this week is a sweet pair of baby mittens. As you can see, they will have a safety cord attached to slip through the sleeves of a jacket so they don't get lost. I think I could use one of those. Or maybe the little elastic clips that connect to the cuff of your jacket. Do any of you remember having those when you were a kid? Or am I just showing my age?!

Barbara is using a colorful tweedy yarn. I'm sure she'll be finished by next week.

Liz put the finishing touches on her pink girly hoodie by sewing the picot hem.

Then she started a baby cardigan from a free pattern she found while surfing the net.

As you can see in the pattern photo, it is knit seamlessly from the top down, using a circular yoke with a little lace patterning.

Kathleen finished the Baby Sophisticate cardigan. I love how it reminds me of a professor's cardigan. All it needs is elbow patches and a pipe full of chocolate tobacco! LOL!

I doubt that a professor would wear such "stylin'" buttons though!

Adding to our inventory were three more bonnets that Kathleen just whipped up during the week.

And she's already on to another pullover, using a washable acrylic yarn.

Cinzia (our newest Chick) started another stylish cardigan from a book she borrowed from the library. Sorry I didn't get the name of it. It is knit in an unusual way.

It is cast on from the bottom back edge...

Then at the designated spot more stitches are cast on to make sleeves. The pattern then instructs the knitter to continue up and over the shoulders and down the front. Pretty ingenious, if I say so myself!

My Sunnyside is finished. And I love the cables...

not to mention the cute buttons I found in my stash! It took the last five buttons I had. I'm so glad too. I hate it when I'm left with one sorry button.

Maureen's cardigan made it to the row where she had to put the sleeve stitches on holders so she can continue on down the body. This is our favorite Cabin Fever Cardigan pattern.

Here is Beth's Flax pullover I told you about last week. That bright, sunny yellow will look great on a happy baby. It's from Plymouth called Encore, another washable yarn blend.

And this wonky mess is the before picture of an eyelet baby blanket I finished last night. It's knit from the center out, first on double pointed needles and then switching to circulars when it's big enough. I purchased the pattern from Staci Perry on Ravelry. It's called Eyelet Baby Blanket, oddly enough!

I'm hoping to find time this week to block it so you can see how pretty it really is. So I guess I had better get a move on! See you next week.

Knitting Outdoors and In

   Two weeks in a row we had lovely deck weather. It was about 84 degrees out yesterday but with      the drapes blocking the direct sun and the fans blowing, it was balmy enough to enjoy knitting                       outside.  Unfortunately for the night time group of knitters, we had a doozy of a thunderstorm around dinnertime which prevented us from knitting out on the deck in the evening.             

                                 

I finished the Mitered Baby Jacket using a few yards of Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors II in Hot Pink to make an I-cord edging. The main body of the sweater was Zitron Trekking XXL. Both yarns are fingering weight sock yarns.

Then I caught up with my Sunnyside Cardigan. This is made with another Periwinkle Sheep yarn, color Raggle Taggle Gypsy. As you can see, I've just started one of the sleeves. I love those little cables accenting the raglan lines and the button bands!

Barbara is making a sweater for her granddaughter from the pattern book 60 Quick Baby Knits. She followed the directions and didn't like the wide kimono sleeves for such a petite little girl. So she adjusted the sleeve portion of the pattern to suit a smaller arm and will frog the wider one and reknit it to match the other.

Kathleen brought a selection of FO's this week, again! She makes the rest of us look bad! LOL!

Her current project will be a Baby Sophisticate cardigan. It is constructed from the top down to make it seamless. Then stitches are picked up along the button bands and the collar to make the cutest shawl collar.

Beth finished her green Wynkyn cardigan. This was the one she was panicking about running out of yarn so she knitted the sleeves before she finished the body.

And it's a good thing she did! That's how much yarn she had left at the end of the sweater! That's what experience will do for you. She could tell just by squeezing the ball of yarn that it might not be enough!

The buttons Beth chose for the sweater are perfect. They reflect the blues, grays, and greens in the sweater and look so cute.

The other sweater she was working on last week was "Flax" from Tincan Knits. It's a freebie on Ravelry. Since it was a gift which had to be mailed, Beth took a photo to show us the finished sweater.

And now she has started another one using Plymouth Encore in this bright, cheerful yellow. Encore is a great worsted weight yarn for children's clothing since it can be machine washed and dried.

Dorah finished her "Eden Prairie" shawl last night. It's gorgeous! It's all garter stitch and modular knitting with a touch of Intarsia at the end.

It has lots of loose ends to work in but it's worth it to have such a lovely finished shawl. Every time I see it I think of Frank Lloyd Wright's beautiful stained glass designs.

Great job Dorah! What's next in your queue?