Back from a holiday break

While everyone was celebrating the 4th of July last week with fireworks and picnics I was watching some very skilled crewmen remove eight trees from my property. All but one of them were cottonwood poplars which had reached the end of their usefulness and the last one was an ash which was suffering a slow death. For three straight days all I could hear was the buzz of the chain saws and the roar of the wood chipper. Now we have the glorious morning sun shining until 2 in the afternoon as it rounds the property. Our backyard looks so much larger now too. In the fall we'll be looking to fill in some of the space with a Bloodgood Japanese Maple so we can have something pretty to admire as we knit on the deck.

The Chicks noticed right away how open and airy things felt minus the trees. It kept us chirping for quite a while!

Elaine finished her baby blanket which has been featured these last few weeks. She still has a ton of that yarn so she started another one today.

Debbie finished embroidering the eyes on all the little owls so some cute baby can be warm and snuggly in this sweet sack and hat.

Cinzia completed her cowl using Encore acrylic and wool blend yarn. The high contrast colors make the pattern stand out beautifully.

I finished the Phazelia Mitered Baby Jacket and substituted the I-cord edge with a crocheted edge instead. I usually like to do the I-cord but I was having a heck of a time getting the fabric to stop puckering so I opted for the crochet instead. It still needed a thorough blocking though.

I couldn't find a good button so I crocheted one to match.

Now I'm working on a matching hat.

Liz added a thick, cozy cowl to our inventory.

And Beth added a hat. It stretches nicely so it will grow with the lucky child who gets it.

Liz started a hat using the same mosaic pattern as Cinzia's cowl.

Notice how Liz's pattern looks a bit smaller because she's using a different size needle.

Debbie added the sleeves to the baby sweater which now needs to have stitches picked up for the button band and neck edge. I think she will be making a hat to match too.

Cinzia and I bought Turkish spindles on our last visit to WEBS so we could teach ourselves how to spin yarn on a drop spindle. She's doing a great job! We agreed that it's very relaxing to spin (almost more so than knitting but don't tell anyone we said so). LOL!

Carole's Chinook scarf is much longer than when we last met. 

And Dorah's hat is almost finished. Just a few more rows of decreasing and she'll be running in those ends.

Beth showed us a scarf she's making for herself. It's a Martina Behm pattern called Trillian. It's lovely with this self patterning yarn.

Then Beth got to work on her donation item, a hat with a nice neutral color that goes with everything.

Now that summer weather is finally here we will be conducting our knitting outside. It is so nice to listen to the sounds of nature when we knit.

Keep those needles clicking!