Packing Day

Before the Chicks arrived I readied the assembly line for labeling every item to be donated with our Chicks logo label and laundering directions.

And they jumped right in on the task of attaching and sorting and counting.

We had made 59 hats, 7 shawls, 2 scarves, 5 sets of hats with matching scarves, 

a pair of fingerless mitts, 5 baby and toddler sweaters,8 cowls, 

3 blankets, 6 pairs of socks, and an adult sweater which was a gift from someone who can't wear wool.

For a whopping grand total of 97 items, if you count them as sets. If you count pairs of socks and sets as separate items we get 109! I once heard that a pair of socks contains more stitches than a whole sweater so why not count them individually?!?!

Barbara B. added to her collection of Mason Jar cozies. We couldn't decide if it was cozy or koozie. Anybody know?

Jan A. held up her Hepsi's Cowl to see if it was long enough.

It turned out it was so she bound off the stitches and it's ready for a bath.

You can tell by Barbara K.'s expression that she is not thrilled with her yarn. Here she was trying to decide if she should go on with the project.

But she and the rest of us really like the color so we'll see what she decides next week.

Janna's Morton cowl is still growing.

And Dorah didn't want me to show you her Declan's hat because she frogged it to start over. Cinzia is making an asymmetrical poncho.

Carole is adding length to her shawl made with the pretty color changing yarn.

And, after three starts and ripping out, I am on track with my Heddle shawl. I was using the written directions since I hate knitting from charts but I kept finding myself in a sea of confusion and wrong stitches. I finally relented and decided to follow the chart and it's knitting up very nicely.

I couldn't resist showing you my Fozzie, Today is his "Gotcha Day", the one year anniversary of his arrival in our family. He's been a bundle of fun, all 20 pounds of him. Yes, he's a BIG kitty as you can see yourself by the way he hangs over his bed.
 

And he's a good boy who never jumps on my knitting but waits patiently by my side as I put it away so he can cuddle. He is not familiar with the term "Keep those needles clicking!"

Hats, hats, hats

The blue hat on the left is the 1898 hat you saw me working on last week. Then I tried two sizes of the Beloved pattern that Carole sent to all of us. The more I think about it the more I want to take the pompom from the large hat and put it on the baby hat. That will be tomorrow's project.

Dancing Flames is the name of this one Barbara B. knitted. It's a purchased pattern on Ravelry.

She also made The Little Gnome Hat from a Ravelry pattern. It's partly knitted flat and partly in the round.

The Panini Beanie is another Barbara B. creation from a free Ravelry pattern.

Next up are Margaret's FO's. She was able to make these two colors go a long way.

Version 2, Broken Stripes Hat

Version 3

And now we've run out of pink and purple. Some nice neutrals in the mix.

The easy 2x2 ribbed hat is a fan favorite.

Barbara B.'s daughter asked if she could make Mason jar koozies for her breakfast cereal.

Sure! Just use a pattern for a beer koozie.

#2 on needles now.

Cinzia visited Westerly, Rhode Island last week and attended a local yarn store knit night so she had to find a library with knitting books to grab a pattern. She said their local library was like a museum, a beautiful place to visit. The scarf pattern is Arum Shawl.

Janna continued making progress on her Morton Cowl.

Margaret started a bandana style cowl in the round but the pattern was giving her a hard time so it was appropriate to frog it and make something else.

Jan A. found a pattern for a cowl/neck warmer that called for bulky yarn but she didn't like the result so she subbed worsted weight and it's working out fine.

This was her pattern from which she took the info.

Three times this pattern kept showing up in my Facebook feed so the fourth time I caved and bought it.

When I searched through the stash, I found the perfect yarn for it and started last night. I'm still having to read every pattern line but I have the feeling I'll be able to memorize it soon.

Dorah's Declan's Hat is at the start of the cables. That's her red cable needle peeking out the back of her work.

And there, surrounding the central bar you can see the cable leaning left on the left side and right on the right side.

My cousin sent us a Brooklyn Blackout Cake in the mail so the Chicks and I had a little taste of the chocolate-y goodness in between stitches. Now I feel like I need to run around the block. I think I'll sit down and knit until the feeling passes! LOL! 

Keep those needles clicking!

 

Back to our usual routine

I was working on a Throwback Pixie Hood last week which I finished last night. I love this pattern because it is easily memorized so it's a good tv knitting project.

Next up on my needles is another 1898 Hat which is also easy tv knitting. I'm a few rows away from closing the ear flap and making the crown.

Barbara K. made lots of progress over the week on her pastel 2x2 ribbed hat. Add this pattern to your list of easy tv knitting too.

Here we have a leg to the teddy bear that Barbara B. is making.

She's making the tall one in blue overalls on the far right. We had to hunt through the stash to find some red yarn so she can make his hat. 

Dorah made the ribbing for her Declan's Hat and was slightly distracted but got back on track with Carole's help.

Dorah brought another of her beautiful shawls to show us. Made with Bad Sheep Yarn from a vendor in Alaska, the colors are so saturated and lovely.

It's called Changing Staircases and is a freebie on Ravelry. Looking at all the lace sections below might make you think it would be a challenging pattern but it's not.

Janna's Morton Cowl grew since we last saw it. The pattern is another easy one made of knitting and slipping stitches.

This Berroco yarn is a slow changing variegated, perfect for...

Carole's scarf, which we found out is a pattern which is no longer available for sale.

Jan A. is working on this shawl using a Malabrigo yarn.

It's coming along beautifully and once blocked will really highlight the lace sections.

I had a new baby announced in our family and picked out Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn to whip up a sweet little ensemble for her to wear. The hat is quite stretchy so it will fit for longer than a day.

I have three projects actively in progress, two shawls which will take months and the hat mentioned above. We won't talk about the few that are in time out because I found them terminally boring. ;) So I better sign off for now and get to work. Gotta keep those needles clicking!