A surprise visitor

I didn't tell anyone before today, just that there was a surprise for them. If you look to the far right you might recognize a face from when the Chicks had two weekly sessions, an afternoon meeting and an evening meeting for the Chicks who were not yet retired from their day jobs.

It's Beth Mashmann! She had the nerve to move all the way to North Carolina to be near her grandchildren and children. LOL! I'm sorry Maureen and Carole couldn't be here today to enjoy the visit too. 

Beth did not arrive empty handed either. Since she lives in an area of the country where it doesn't get as cold as the northeast, she donated her beautifully knitted cardigan so someone up here can benefit from it's warmth.

Her knitting skills are beyond reproach! Look at that beautiful stitch work!

She also donated some warm wool socks. The sweater and these lovely socks will be added to an upcoming inventory after the yarn bombing in November. It was so good to see you Beth. I'm just sorry the whole gang wasn't here to greet you.

Jan so enjoyed her first hat with the Latvian Braid that she cast on another and applied two braids! 

Nice job, Jan!

She started a shawl with a tonal purple yarn which has a pretty lace insert between garter stitch bands.

It's called Galaxy Lemonade Shawl but it shows up as no longer available online. If you're interested and belong to Ravelry, maybe another member could share a copy with you.

Dorah's neighbor asked for a pair of socks so the two of them dove through her stash of yarn and picked out this self patterning sock yarn for...

a really cute pair of socks. Since they won't match each other exactly they will be fraternal twins. 😉

Janna finished one green 2X2 ribbed hat and dove right into a second. She had all this yarn left over from another project and wanted to put it to good use.

The decreasing portion of the crown has an interesting flow up to the top.

I started the Stair Climber Hat with a skein of Plymouth Encore from the stash that was begging to be knitted. It's a very easy design composed of just knits and purls in groups of 8 stitches so I marked off the round every 8 stitches to ward off any mistakes.

Margaret announced her hat would be finished before we were done for the day. And true to her word...

it was completed and all ends were woven in.

She jumped right into her next project which will be a Helix Hat.

Cinzia made the Sonoma Vine Toque which she said knitted up quickly. However, she was on such a roll, she knitted about three inches past the length according to the pattern. Instead of frogging all that work she just made the hat slightly slouchy and a scrunchy top.

She also knitted this lovely cowl which was inspired by the lace stitch from the Panopeia sweater. Not only will it be a fashion statement, it will keep the recipient nice and warm.

Now she is using up stash left overs to make another slouchy hat. Love that tweedy look!

We had a contractor start demolition on the en suite this morning and my poor kitty, Fozzie, is traumatized by all the noise and commotion. So I'm going to sit with him for a while to calm him down. It will be a good time for me to add some inches to that hat. 

Have a good week and keep those needles clicking!