Field Trip!

This past Saturday Debbie, Dorah, and I went on a field trip to our favorite place, WEBS in Northampton, Massachusetts. We arrived in time for lunch so we could have the whole afternoon to shop without interruption.

 The Chicks have plenty of natural fiber yarn in the inventory but we were lacking in a good machine wash and dry yarn for the baby clothes which we are currently knitting. So we stocked up on Plymouth Encore, a 75% acrylic/25% wool blend which is a pleasure to knit and blocks nicely too. Keeping watch is Rachel Raccoon whom you'll get to see up close later on the page.

 The afternoon Chicks worked busily on our projects so we could dive into the lovely Encore yarn soon.

 Debbie hasn't too much more to knit on her baby sweater for which she used Lion Brand Ice Cream.

 And Elaine worked on her baby blanket until she discovered four stitches which were purled instead of knitted. Luckily, she could drop those stitches down and correct them with a crochet hook so she didn't have to rip out a whole whack of stitches!

 Last week Barbara K. wasn't sure she liked the yarn she chose for a hat but now that she's further into the knitting she is content with her choice.

 Cinzia worked on a cotton blanket with a big block stitch. This will be a perfect blankie for some cutie pie to cuddle up.

 Dorah took one of those new skeins of Encore and started a baby hat.

 Carole's Cuddle Bug Baby blanket is settling nicely into stripes.

 And here is Rachel Raccoon up close and personal. I used the Pretty Izzy Dolls pattern for the shoes, hair, and dress. The directions said to make curly hair, wrap yarn around a skinny bamboo needle, soak it with hot water, and then bake for 30 minutes at 200 degrees while still on the needle. I found a size 1 metal DP and instead of putting it in the oven I used my flat iron a few times up and down the length of the wrapped yarn and left it to dry overnight. The curls were perfect in the morning!

 This afternoon I finished the Dexter vest for which I used Berroco Comfort yarn. There was just a bit of yarn left out of the 210 yard skein when I was done.

 Barbara B. made a set of preemie hat and booties with a soft baby acrylic.

 And had enough yarn left to make a darling cardigan with bright green buttons.

It's been a productive week and I look forward to seeing what else the Chicks come up with. Until then, keep those needles clicking.

New critters joined the Chicks this week

We start off this week with FO's from the Chicks. Barbara K. finished her spiral hat and the colors worked up beautifully. At first we were concerned there would be pooling of colors but the winding pattern breaks them up enough to make an interesting pattern.

 Rocky Raccoon with his cabled sweater was a very quick knit and with each one I make I figure out a shortcut or easier way to make them.

 Hootie Owl was a Youtube video tutorial I found one night when I couldn't sleep. You'd think that since the whole thing was spoken in Russian I would get drowsy but not so much. And no, I don't speak Russian, I'm just good at following the video.

 Here is an example of how to make small amounts of yarn stretch to complete a project. Both the socks and the hat used the same variegated yarn but the hat has one row of red between the patterned yarn. I thought I wouldn't have enough red yarn to make a whole hat so I interspersed the self striping yarn.

 The hat and pullover sweater that was drying last week is all blocked and ready to go.

 And a crocheted kitty joined the menagerie of critters. That's his tail wrapped around his side.

 Carole finished her Simple Pullover. It's adorable with the brightly colored buttons.

 And she finished her Helix hat too.

 Barbara B. put the finishing touches to her crocheted blanket. I love the high contrast colors.

 Debbie started a chevron blanket today and...

 Barbara K. started a hat. She wasn't confident this yarn is going to be a good selection for it so by next week it might be something else. We'll see.

 Margaret started this sweet sweater tonight but was having issues with the clarity of the written pattern or the lack there of.

 She started it and is working the short rows but between the two of us, we're not sure it's working.

 Barbara B.'s cardigan is coming along very quickly. She started this just a few days ago!

 And Maureen is making a hat with the leftover yarn from Dorah.

 I started a Dexter boy's vest which called for DK weight yarn but I didn't have any appropriate for a more masculine look so I had to bump it up to worsted weight. I'm using Berroco Comfort in a tweedy brown. It's going to look like a grandpa vest.

 Carole finished knitting and sewing her little Teddy and needs to embroider a face and attach ears and then it will be ready.

 She also cast on for a diagonally knitted blanket. This is a good standard pattern for a quick knit.

 And many thanks to Carole for the donation of yarn. She went to WEBS last weekend to check out their annual blowout sale and came home with this Plymouth Encore, a great wool and acrylic blend yarn that is machine wash and dry. It's great for baby clothes!

Thanks again Carole!

Guess who's back

I told you I would have a new critter to add to our inventory this week. My piranha was made with worsted weight yarn and a size 5 needle to keep the stitches dense enough so the stuffing wouldn't peek through.

 Barbara K. brought us two baby blankets which she made using patterns from the Plymouth Baby Blankets book.

 One looks like the Mistake Stitch and the other...

 looks like a brick stitch.

 Barb also brought a spiral hat for inventory.

 Elaine finished another cute variegated hat with a top knot.

 And Barbara B. made a matched set using Berroco Comfort yarns. This yarn is so soft. I think it's an acrylic and nylon blend so it's machine washable and dryable.

 I had some small scraps of yarn that I put together for a hat. The top is squared off at the four points.

 Using Opal Sock yarn in the Sunflowers colorway, inspired by Vincent van Gogh's painting of Sunflowers, I made up a hat to go with...

 a baby pullover inspired by the Flax Light pattern.

 One of the many nights I couldn't sleep I was watching Youtube. There was a tutorial for a hat filmed by a woman who was speaking a language I couldn't quite determine. But after watching it a couple of times I was able to figure out how to make the hat. 

 This week Elaine worked on a baby blanket using a soft green palate.

 Barbara worked on another spiral hat using a short color change yarn.

 And Cinzia finished her crocheted vest.

 I started the cuffs on my TAAT (two at a time) toe up baby socks. That row of pink stitches with the yarn hanging off to the right is the lifeline yarn for the afterthought heel.

 Dorah finished her cute little striped hat and wove the ends into the inside for a nice neat finish.

 Carole's helix hat grew many inches since last week.

 And look who's back! Maureen's busy tax season is over and we were overjoyed she had enough energy to join us tonight.

I found another cute critter pattern over the weekend so maybe next week we'll have another breed of animal to add to the zoo. Stay well and keep those needles clicking!