A Visit from The Ninja and His Brother the Power Ranger and Our Final Tally

This weekend my DD and the grands came for a visit in their Halloween costumes. Catwoman, the Ninja, and the red Power Ranger joined us for the annual Halloween Party where they were quite entertaining.

 We had to keep breaking up the boys but they had some good moves! And this was before they had a ton of candy and cookies!!!

This afternoon my Chicks helped label everything for delivery to the homeless women veterans. Hopefully, we will be able to make the drop off next week. Arrangements still have to be verified.

Some last minute additions to the inventory were Kathleen's Reversible Stripes Scarf and...

 her matching heathered hat and scarf.

 Kathleen started a Boomerang Scarf for a future donation. She doesn't like working with fingering weight yarn but it's looking beautiful!

 I finished Through the Woods which I was planning on keeping for myself. Unfortunately, I wasn't crazy about how it looked on me even though I was pleased with how it knitted up. In addition, I found the wool too itchy for my sensitive skin so I will be donating this lovely hood.

 Elaine started a cowl using this pretty heathered rose colored yarn. The basket weave stitching is complimentary to this yarn and has nice stitch definition.

 My evening Chicks finished labeling the last few items and then we categorized and photographed them.

 There were cowls, hats, scarves, mittens,

 socks, tote bags, and vests. We had a grand total of 84! There is really more if you count each of the mittens and socks and count matching sets individually. Great job ladies!

 When the counting was done we picked up the needles and got to work. Carole started another cowl.

Beth started a pair of mittens. 

 And Dorah was going to make a cowl with these lovely colors. Unfortunately, the pattern called for bulky weight yarn and this was DK weight at best. On to Plan B.

 I designed a cowl pattern which is almost finished. I will be writing up the directions and putting it up for sale on Ravelry soon. 

First I need it to be test knitted and then I can post. I'll let you know when it's ready.

One more week of knitting and then the labeling begins

As we wrap up this quarter's donations, Barbara's lovely set is complete. This Cascade 220 yarn is called Pea Pod. The original pattern was for the mitts and she ran with the ball and converted it to make the hat and scarf. 

Now she is using a Malabrigo yarn to make a triangular scarf/shawl. There were two balls of yarn that were so close in color but not close enough to use together, as in knit one ball until it's finished and then use the second ball. Soooo....she is knitting two rows from one skein and then two rows from the other. There won't be a defined difference in colorways since they will blend all the way through the project and will become a lovely, homogenized fabric. See? You can't tell, can you?

 Kathleen used up the last of the pretty blue heather to make a hat and now she is finishing up a matching scarf. Knowing Kathleen, it will be done by next week.

 Elaine's lovely cabled hat is ready to go. The patterns repeat around the crown to make a warm Fisherman's knit.

 From her personal knitting stash, Elaine asked about blocking this cowl which will be a gift for a friend. Cowls can be tricky as you don't want a crease down the sides if you block it laying flat. Some suggestions that were made were to stuff it with a pillow wrapped in plastic wrap or ball up a towel and place it in the cowl. A bowl of large enough proportions would also work.

 Elaine's neighbor's little girl is too young to collect candy for Halloween so she is knitting her a pumpkin hat.

 Cinzia finished her cabled hat using a Malabrigo yarn. I wish you could touch the screen and feel how soft this yarn is!

 Now she is trying to feel energetic about her reversible stripes scarf. Both she and Kathleen are working on the same pattern and they have both hit a stalemate with it. Scarves can get especially boring because they have to be so long. Let's hope they find new inspiration so they can finish these soon.

Cinzia finished up the crochet infinity scarf her daughter Elena started. Elena started the new school year and just didn't have the time to complete the scarf what with all her school work and activities, so Cinzia graciously offered to finish it for her.

 Speaking of finishing, this is all the yarn Beth had left after she finished her....

 basic cable mittens. They turned out beautiful!

 Dorah worked all night on her hat...

 until the circumference became too small to fit around her circular needles. Now it's onto the DP's (double pointed needles)!

 Carol almost finished a hat using a Takhi bulky yarn. That name cracks me up! Who wants to knit with tacky yarn?! LOL!

Carole did finish her Berroco Jasper cowl and it blocked beautifully. 

 Beth started another hat. I think this one has cables.

 And Maureen is still plugging away on her cowl.

 Beth had a little show and tell last night. She is knitting Christmas gifts for the men in the family, a whole batch of hats in their favorite team colors.

 This set is for the Dad, Big Brother, and Little One on the way. So cute!

I received an email from Liz because I didn't hear the doorbell and she didn't want me to miss her drop off. She finished her scarf and wanted to be sure I added it to the inventory so she tucked inside the door knocker at my back door. It's a good thing I found it quickly. I wouldn't want the neighbors to try to figure out what kind of door decoration I was displaying. LOL!

 I am four patterns past the halfway mark in the tubular cowl using Berroco Vintage yarn. I'm liking how this is turning out.

I'll let you know if I still like it after I have to Kitchener the ends together.

A good yarn is worth your time

Last time we met I finished a scarf using two tones of violet. Kathleen was kind enough to knit a hat to match the scarf so we can donate an ensemble. The yarns are machine washable, one is Plymouth Encore and the other is Berroco. 

 In addition to the hat she made a cowl using the Feather and Fan Stitch. It's the same cowl that Liz tried out last week and ended up frogging it in favor of a mistake stitch scarf. This looks pretty and the buttons look like shells. This yarn is also a wool and acrylic blend making it machine washable.

 Or maybe tortoise shell.

 Now Kathleen is working on a no-purl ribbed scarf. The heather blue yarn is beautiful! For people who don't like to purl, this is supposed to be the same stitch as a mistake stitch scarf but without the purling. Frankly, it might as well have purling because you still have to bring the yarn in front of the needle to slip a stitch. But it's pretty just the same and warm!

 Liz finished the Liberty Wool Mistake Stitch Scarf. This was the yarn she used to make the above cowl Kathleen knitted but the yarn didn't like the pattern and refused to cooperate. On to Plan B!

 Liz had some pretty sock yarn but didn't want to spend weeks knitting on small needles so...

she combined it with a worsted weight solid yarn and...

 look at the pretty results! That's two birds with one stone! A good way to use up lots of yarn on one project is to combine the strands together and make a totally different look.

 Liz decided after all the donation knitting that she would like to make something for herself. This is the cowl she has chosen and...

 this is the yarn. The pretty periwinkle blue is Berroco Comfort Chunky.

 Dorah brought in her Eden Prairie for us to see. It's beautiful Dorah! And she finished it in time to wear to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at the Duchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY this weekend. This annual festival is a tradition for many knitters and other fiber artists. If you are in the area and have the time it's worth a stop. But take you time, you don't want to miss anything!

 Here's Dorah's hat showing progress. I love her markers!

Maureen is still working on her cowl but it will be done soon. It's a pretty deep red but the color here looks too burgundy. One of these days I'll figure out how to get the color right.

 I finished the Boomerang Scarf. It can be knitted using any weight yarn with the appropriate sized needle. I used Zauberball sock weight with a size 4 needle. The slow changing colors of the yarn make an interesting pattern.

 Now I'm working on a Chevron Tube Cowl, which is a free pattern. The yarns are Berroco Vintage in worsted weight and a size 10 needle. At the halfway point the pattern changes to wide purple stripes and narrow green stripes and then the ends are grafted together with the Kitchener Stitch.

 Kathleen knitted this cute little poncho quite a while back and is just getting to donate it now. The yarn is a pretty pink cotton but is very warm. And it's one size fits almost all!

Just two more weeks and we'll be done with this project and ready to donate everything. Now comes the time when we put our heads together to find another group for whom we can knit. Any ideas?