The rain didn't touch us...

Although we could feel a breeze and a bit of a drizzle when the wind blew in the right direction. It was a welcome relief from the heat today. We spent the first half hour catching up with Dorah who just returned from a hiking tour of the Canadian Rockies around Banff. It sounded like a magical vacation with beautiful scenery everywhere she looked.

Barbara K. added quite a few inches to her Mistake Rib Hat and she gave me a completed Beloved Hat which you'll see a bit later.

Dorah added length to her Close to You Shawl. This will be quite large since she had a sizable skein of yarn from which she is knitting.

She brought her Bella Shawl to show us her progress. The little bit of lace at every sawtooth edge is a nice touch!

Barbara B. is well into the darker blue of her baby blanket. It makes a nice transition from one color to the next.

Carole was bored with her project and felt inspired to make two at a time mittens from the TinCanKnits pattern for easy mittens.

I thought my Easy Shawl would have been finished by now but I forgot how slow-going it is. Each row gets longer than the last and I still have over a dozen stitches to pick up in short rows to complete it.

Jan A. worked a cable pattern without a cable needle to make this hat.

It's called the Sweetie Pie Hat and it's free on Ravelry.

Maureen's cowl looks so warm and cozy. The yarn makes for a quick knit, if you have the time, "If you have the time" being the operative words. ;)

Jan A. turned in the Easy Scarf for inventory. Her choice of yarn was perfect for this pattern.

And here is Barbara K.'s Beloved Hat I mentioned earlier. The crown decreases lined up beautifully to make a four point top.

The seed stitch was a challenge to some of us when it came to the decreasing portion but Barbara knitted it beautifully.

 I am determined to finish my Easy Scarf so I'll end here and wish you a great week and remind you to Keep those needles clicking!

After the storm

We had a sudden downpour, thunder and everything, just before the Chicks arrived today. Then it all cleared up in time for us to sit outside and enjoy the clear air and breezes.

Carole's Close to You Shawl is growing. She loves the pattern but decided it isn't conducive to travel. Some patterns scream "knit me on vacation or a long car ride" but this isn't one of them. She agrees however, that it is an enjoyable project.

Barbara B. just started a new color on her gradient baby blanket. You can see the first few rows of a deeper blue at the top of the picture. The yarn is labeled DK weight and she's using a size 3 needle so it's making a beautiful fabric, soft and smooth with a nice drape.

Maureen was planning on making a cowl with a pattern that required knitting 3 stitches together through the back loop but the yarn was making that step too difficult so she opted to make a pattern more suitable to the yarn. 

Jan A. experienced some fiddly bits on her Easy Shawl but is back on track and sailing along.

Margaret loves using bulky weight yarns so she jumped right in when she saw this pattern.

Here is the very beginning of what promises to be a nice warm hat.

I have an abundance of this Malabrigo yarn donated by my daughter (I was mistaken, it was Arucania Chunky yarn) so I thought I would start with mittens and add a hat and maybe something for around the neck if there is enough. I modified a Claudia Krisniski pattern for mittens by using a method similar to closing the toe of a sock instead of knitting 2 stitches together until the top was closed. Next week I will have the thumbs finished too and show you the completed mittens.

If you will indulge me for a moment. It has taken 18 months for our kitty, Fozzie, to trust my husband enough to allow pets. And now that he understands how much he is loved, he looks for cuddles from Ron when the opportunity presents itself. Just look at those adoring eyes and sweet smile.

I wish the family who had to surrender him to the shelter due to unforeseen circumstances could know how grateful we are to have found him and that Fozzie is living like a king!

Enjoy the week and keep those needles clicking!

The heat is back

Even with the ceiling fan blowing it was pretty hot today. But I got to spend the afternoon with my Chicks so it wasn't a bad day. 

Barbara K. started a hat, I think she said a Mistake Stitch hat. It will probably be done by next week. She just returned from a wonderful week at Lake George with her son, daughter-in-law, and her beautiful granddaughter. They had one rainy day which was spent browsing through the outlet stores.

Jan A. showed us her progress on her Easy Shawl/Scarf. The gradient yarn is from Lion Brand so it's machine washable.

Barbara B. added length to the cotton baby blanket which will gradually change colors to a deeper blue. She bought the kit for $10 at a garage sale we both went to a couple of years ago. It included all the yarn and the pattern. So that was a bargain!

Carole is using up some acrylic sparkly yarn for the Totally Biased Cowl. It's funny how sometimes a yarn which is still in a hank might not be inspiring but when you find the right pattern it becomes a stunning project.

The same thing happened with Liz's project. The yarn in the ball was just so-so but knitted up into a cowl which will be large enough to pull over your head becomes a nice garment.

Janna worked steadily on her Easy Guernsey Hat and before we left for the day...

It was done! Yes, this is the same purple hat. It's funny what lighting does to change color.

Jan A. finished a hat also. This is the same brand yarn as the cowl Liz is making only a different colorway.

And that garage sale I mentioned before...I got this Papaya themed sock yarn which I'm using to make a simple triangular shawl. I'm hoping it will show off the colors at their best. Yes, I paid $5 for it instead of $30 list price if I had found it online. Unfortunately, it looks like the shop is no longer in business so I feel lucky that I found it when I did!

My kitty is crying to be fed...AGAIN! This seems to be a pattern, no? LOL! So before he gets into mischief, I'll just say, Keep those needles clicking!

 

The oppresive heat and humidity are gone

The last week around here has been like a sauna! So glad we had a few thunderstorms to break the heat wave. And now we can meet on the deck again.

Maureen finished her Easy Scarf. How nicely those colors blend into each other. And it really is easy!

Janna completed her Morton Cowl and a hat that makes me think of wine grapes.

Jan added a colorful hat to our inventory. It's a quick knit made with 1x1 ribbing.

Carole also added a hat to the inventory. Using bulky weight yarn makes it a quick knit too.

Dorah completed two Helix hats and a denim blue cap made with a thick, warm wool.

I had tons of bulky variegated yarn so Liz took some to make a cowl. This is another project that will be finished in the blink of an eye.

Dorah is working on her Close to You shawl. She loved the colors of the yarn when it was in the skein but now she's not too sure. I'm sure someone will love it to go with a neutral coat.

Maureen started the Beach Pebbles Cowl using a bulky yarn with lots of color.

Jan is adding length to her Easy Scarf/Shawl. Soon she will change direction of the knitting and make short rows to knit perpendicular to these stitches.

Janna added to her Easy Guernsey Hat but was confused by the directions. Many time designers will write "knit rows 1-4, repeat four times" which can be confusing to some knitters. I always have to read ahead to find out if the designer wants a total of 16 rows or 20 rows. But we put our collective brains together and figured it out.

Barbara B. picked up this pattern and yarn at the garage sale a couple of years ago and decided 

to make it.

She said the yarn is kind of splitty but I'm sure it will make a nice blanket.

I finished a couple of cowls and decided to make a mindless 2x2 ribbed hat to give my brain a rest.

The first cowl is Hepsi's Neck Warmer using a tonal worsted weight wool. I modified the pattern a bit to make a garter stitch edge instead of a 2x2 ribbing.

And this cowl is the Basket Weave Cowl I designed after being inspired by the stitch. Both cowls were knitted with yarn donated to the Chicks by my daughter.

Well, my kitty is tugging at my pants leg hinting that he should be fed, YET AGAIN! It's hard to ignore his pleading and I'm NOT the one in the family who feels sorry for him and gives in. LOL! But it's close enough to his feeding time so I'll say so long and keep those needles clicking!