WARNING: Our Yarn Fairy Godmother paid us a visit

We are now set for a long time! We sorted 9 more bags of a yarn donation and the afternoon ladies oohhed and aahhed their way through all kinds of beautiful fibers. Liz was setting up for her winter knitting and Barbara became dizzy with ideas.

Barbara was telling me that this skein was calling my name.

 Kathleen left with an armful. No doubt she will knit it all in a few weeks!

 My evening ladies were taken by surprise too. DH stood watch in case anyone swooned and needed resuscitation. LOL!

It was like Christmas morning. 

 Look at this one! Feel this one! I'm taking this one!

 Now for some show and tell. One of Kathleen's daughters is a master quilter and made this lovely lap robe for her. Since we all appreciate any kind of fiber art, Kathleen knew we would love this. The colors are beautiful.

 Margaret's skills are perfect. Look at those corners!

 The center star has Kathleen's and her late husband's name embroidered in the points.

 And that pinwheel is all stitching. The fabric selections are a gorgeous array of patterns and colors. Beautiful work!

 Back to our knitting. Kathleen continues to knit on a sweater vest using Cascade 220 Heather blue. But those huge sections of stockinette get kind of boring so...

she is working on another sweater vest using a soft merino yarn with a subtle color change.

 In between those sweaters she also finished a pair of "Dorm Boots" with a sturdy acrylic yarn. They will really stand up to a rough wearing.

 Liz added a lace scarf to our inventory and...

 a nice warm Mistake Stitch Scarf and...

 a lovely cowl, which needs a large wooden button to add the finishing touch.

 This week Liz will be working on a slouchy hat to go with the purple scarf.

 I finished the hat to match my DD's design for the Parallelogram Cowl. By sheer dumb luck, I had exactly the right number of buttons and spaced them out just right.

 Barbara's Dorm Boots practically glow in the dark! No need for a nightlight. LOL! I love their cheerfulness.

 Barbara's current project is a Mistake Stitch Scarf using some of our newest yarn. Pretty colors!

 Carole has only five more leaves to knit on her scarf. She's glad it's almost finished. Those long scarves get to all of us. We feel all excited and inspired when we start them and then about three quarters of the way through, we can't wait to be finished. But it's such a great feeling to bind off that last stitch!

 Maureen finished the leafy slouch hat.

 Such a cute pattern and a beautiful color!

Now Maureen is finishing up this very textured cowl. I can't wait to see it completed.

 Dorah started this lovely hat tonight.

By night's end she had quite a lot done.

A great big thank you to our Yarn Fairy Godmother. She knows it will be put to good use and we really appreciate every beautiful fiber! Now I have to figure out where I'm going to store all of it. We joked tonight that we are sure we're all going to live long, healthy lives because we can't die until it's all knitted! LOL!

Filling the coffers with yarn

Barbara's pretty cabled hat is finished. She used Periwinkle Sheep Yarn. Our friend, Karin, kettle dyes in small batches the most beautiful colors!

 She also made a baby afghan as a gift for a friend. She was 8 rows from binding off and ran out of yarn! She emailed all of us and other knitting friends and stores until she found a skein to finish it off. We've all had nightmares of that happening. Thank goodness she found some yarn to complete those last rows.

 This pattern is from the Plymouth Encore 8 Hour Blankets pattern book. Each blanket uses two strands of yarn and work up quickly. This blanket has a nice modular looking block pattern that's knitted across the whole row so there is no sewing together little squares of knitting.

 This afternoon Barb started knitting a scarf using this beautiful bamboo/cotton blend yarn but she wasn't getting the results she expected so it was frogged and set aside until inspiration strikes. I can't wait to see what she creates with it.

 Kathleen arrived with her usual tote bag filled with finished items. Barb and I laughed at those striped mittens because we had so much of that striped yarn that there must have been at least 3 hats, 2 sweaters, and now these mittens. I think that's the last of that yarn.

 Kathleen's magic bag also magically produced this lovely hat and matching mittens and...

 this beautifully bright Chinook scarf, which Barb so graciously offered to model for us. Kathleen used more Periwinkle Sheep Yarn for this.

And YAY! The never-ending scarf is finished! The pattern is only 4 rows long and easy to memorize but after awhile it gets tedious. So Kathleen was happy to be done with it.

 And lastly, Kathleen added a pair of slippers which she decorated with little handmade flowers.

 This week Kathleen will be making this sweater vest using...

 this heathered Cascade yarn. Pretty color!

 On to the evening knitters.
 Beth made a baby sweater using our favorite Sunnyside Cardigan. It's a baby gift
for a friend.

                                          She finished her cowl and moved on to...

a Mistake Stitch Scarf. We talked about how sometimes we need a mindless knitting pattern that we can just breeze through without thinking and this fits the bill.

Carole's Saroyan has grown in length since last week. It's going to be a beautiful addition to someone's wardrobe.

Look at all the progress Maureen made since last week! I can't wait to see her slouch hat finished.

Ravelry offered a free pattern called Color Theory and I had some Plymouth Gina yarn and 

Tah! Dah!

This is my DD's pattern for her Parallelogram cowl. Now I'm working on a hat to match.

And here's my Lil' Scarfette. I'm using the Magic Loop method of knitting in the round instead of using Double Pointed needles. This scarf will be a double thick, long rectangle with points on both ends using a sock weight yarn. The beginning was a bit tricky but once I had more stitches on the needles it started to breeze along.

The weather is getting cooler around here so soon we'll be knitting bigger projects again. Check back next week to see what we're adding to our inventory. Have a great week!

Somebody is 3 years old! And Moose is visiting while the Chicks are knitting

Somebody had a Dinosaur Birthday Party to celebrate turning 3 years old! His Mommy made a volcano cake and his big brother, Moose, decorated it with dinosaurs getting caught in the lava.

Yes, my grandson Leo turned 3 yesterday and we went to Pennsylvania over the weekend to help him celebrate. That was a delicious peanut butter and chocolate cake with strawberry "lava" sauce.

 Moose read all the birthday cards to Leo so he could get right to the gifts.

 Then Moose came back home to NY with Poppop and me for his first overnight vacation without the family. We have been having all sorts of outings. Uncle Drew joined us at the Funplex where he and Moose got caught in the water jets in the Bumper Boats ride.

They got very wet!

 Then Moose tried to run inside the bubble like a hamster but had trouble maintaining his balance. It was hysterical to watch!

 He even tried hitting a few pitches in the batting cage. Once he got the hang of it, he did quite well.

On Monday, since I had to leave my car with the mechanic we had to walk almost two miles to the local shopping center to find something to buy for Leo. It was a sunny day and Moose was a real trooper, never complaining about the long walk. As a treat we stopped for lunch and then browsed through a used book store where we found "Strega Nona Meets Her Match" by my favorite children's author and illustrator, Tomie dePaola.

 On Tuesday, after we visited Great Grandpa Billy, we went to the local library to pick out this week's bedtime book. Moose likes the Henry Winkler series about Hank Zipzer so we picked out another one.

 That evening called for a treat so off to the local Tastee Freeze for a twister cone. Don't ask Moose for a taste! LOL!

Today Moose met Uncle Drew's favorite barber, Nikki. She gave Moose the royal treatment and a great haircut! Doesn't he look handsome?! That's Poppop Ron photobombing in the back. As Moose was cuddling at bedtime last night he said to me, "Deedee, I'm so glad I came to spend the week with you. I'm having a good time. I love you."

 Now for some knitting. Last night Carole showed us the progress she made on her Saroyan scarf. The yarn she is using is a blend of fibers with angora and cashmere. Very soft!

 And her cowl is finished!

 It can be worn as one loop....

 or doubled around the neck.

 Maureen finished her leaf hat from last week and ...

 already started another one in a slouchy version.

 I'm about halfway through a neck warmer pattern designed by my daughter. I'm using one strand of Cascade 220 and two strands of Kid Seta mohair and silk. It makes a lovely halo and is very soft.

Well, since Moose is still here I think I've just about used up my free time and need to check what he's up to. It's just a little too quiet!