Working on our KAL

We had a full house today and this wasn't even all of my Chicks! When everyone attends, we might have to move into the dining room with the larger table.

Somehow our topic of conversation switched from knitting to lost and found in the schools. Dorah's kids would lose jackets every autumn when the days started out cool enough to need them but ended with an Indian Summer temperature which was too warm, making every kid forget that he had one that morning. And the tables set up at the end of the year with all the items which had been collected over the course of the semester would always include one shoe! As Nancy said, who loses just one shoe and wouldn't they miss it on the way home?!?!

Anyway, we finally did get around to our KAL of the Zuzu's Petals Cowl. We all came to the conclusion that this is definitely NOT social knitting. Carol's is coming along nicely but she came to a point in her yarn that was knotted to a totally different color making a sharp change from one color to the next instead of the gradual gradient as in the rest of the cowl. So she put it back in her bag to work on when she gets home.

Luckily, she always carries a couple of projects in her bag 

so she could cast on the beginning of a Helix Hat.

 

Barbara K's Zuzu's Petals was making progress but she hit a snag and had to put it down too.

Then Dorah found she was off on the stitch count and since she had already given the pattern more than enough chances to behave, she decided the yarn wants to be something else. So all this progress has been frogged in favor of a more "fun" pattern to knit. This color is too pretty to be angry at it!

She had these two lovely sock yarns in her bag so they will become her new favorite obsession, 

the LOSY Hat.

 

I had a very rough start on my Zuzu's Petals last week and was ready to ditch it. However, I found the hard copy of my original download of the pattern before the designer decided to "improve" on it and tried one more time and have now reached the bind off row. I think knitting this during the week when I could lock myself in isolation helped too. It's going to need a hard blocking to bring out the lace.

Nancy made it into the lace section and then found the stitch count was off on hers too so she has decided frogging could possibly be in the offing. She is using the yarn I dyed for her and she doesn't want to waste it on a project that is so aggravating.

After seeing all the stress the rest of us are experiencing with the KAL, Barbara B decided to make the Breathe and Hope Shawl by Casapinka. I think this is an excellent decision Barb!

Janna is working on the Dissent Cowl which was designed in memory of RBG. It's going to be lovely!

Cinzia is working on a set of placemats which she will donate to a fund raiser for an organization to which she belongs. The yarn is a soft cotton and a very pretty color.

Annika made the hat on the left and wondered if it's too large but our motto is, "It will fit somebody!" You never know if the recipient might have a lot of hair and this would be perfect. Her second one on the right is still in the ribbing stages.

Carole made a Squarshy Hat for herself with a lovely gradient. 

She explained that if she knitted straight from the ball of yarn she realized she was never going to get to the pretty turquoise/teal section of the yarn so she pulled out yards of dark blue to reach the color she wanted and finished up the crown portion.

I tell you, my Chicks are quite a clever bunch!

There's a very dramatic kitty staring at me for food (when is he not!) so before he starts eating the cable on my computer, I'll wish you all a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

Packing up and starting a KAL

The Chicks and I wrapped up our current project today.

Knit the Rainbow is an organization based in New York City which supports homeless LGBTQ youth.

We knitted a total of 56 items to send downstate.

There were 28 hats, 9 scarves, 5 cowls, 12 pairs of socks and 1 pair of mittens, and a vest. We managed to fit everything in 2 large boxes. There is a drop off location in Albany where we will bring them.

Dorah proudly showed us her scarf which uses a pack of mini skeins. 

This is one she will keep for herself.

And Nancy wore her Papillon. It's the second one she's made. She gifted the first one to me!💗 Lucky me! Nancy likes knitting short rows and this pattern certainly has many opportunities for short rows.

Now she's making a cloud soft cowl for herself.

She was drawn in by the sample she saw at Cece's Wool  in Guilderland and just had to have that gorgeous mohair yarn.

Some of us decided to do a KAL (knit-a-long) of the Zuzu's Petals Cowl by Carina Spencer. This is one of four that I made way back in 2012. I used a DK weight yarn and size 6 needle.

So Barbara K, Dorah, Carole, Nancy, and I cast on stitches to begin today.

Barbara B was going to make one also but after seeing us struggle with the revised pattern, she is having doubts.

The designer updated her information to include weights of yarn other than the original DK weight and reformatted the pattern from the way she wrote it years ago. Unfortunately, we think she should have left well enough alone. Mine started out like this and ended...

like this! Not too much progress for almost two hours of work! I think I'm going to have to see if I saved a paper copy of the original pattern and will follow that since I don't like her updated version. I thought I still had it in my Ravelry library but apparently when it updated, the original disappeared.😞

Nancy chose a fingering weight yarn and size 6 needle and hers is beautiful! BTW, that yarn she is using is the skein I dyed using Wilton Icing Dyes. I love how it's knitting up!

Barbara K is using the yarn she bought on our trip to the New England Fiber Festival in November. Looking good!

Dorah bought her yarn at the same festival and like me, she has started it a few times and is giving it a time out.

Carole's is knitting up nicely. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I see changes in my future as far as needles and gauge are concerned.

After all the complaining Dorah and I were whining about, Barbara B decided she would work on a pair of baby mitts. LOL!

 Well, I need to go look for the original paper copy of that cowl. Wish me luck! In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!

We’re taking a snow day

Fozzie can sense the storm in the air so he’s keeping me company while I knit by myself this snowy Tuesday. The roads were treacherous so everyone elected to knit at home and return to normal activities next week.

For your knitting amusement, I’m showing you the reversible hat I made for my son’s 40th birthday at the end of the week. It was inspired by a pattern called Equinox from Berry Meadow but I adapted the design to my own specifications. The DK weight, superwash yarns are from Urth Yarns so hopefully my son won’t be able to shrink this one. Don’t ask! LOL!

Stay warm, stay well, and keep those needles clicking!

 

There will be snow!

While the snowflakes silently fell outside, we Chicks were toasty warm as we knitted our projects for Knit the Rainbow and talked about travel and food. 

Cinzia's kids were home for the holidays from all over the world. One of her son's lives in Japan, another in California, a daughter in Pennsylvania, and another away at college. It was quite the story about them all getting back to their jobs and classes with transportation delays and changes to make things interesting...she said sarcastically. ;)

 Cinzia's project for this cycle was going to be a scarf but her plans changed and it will now be a cozy cowl made with a fuzzy boucle yarn.

Nancy's hat is nearing the crown portion to begin decreases for the top to close.

Barbara K. is getting the opportunity to use all her small bits of yarn with the Helix Hats she's been making. She's a Buffalo Girl and recently bought some yarn to make a red, white, and blue Helix Hat for herself to represent the Buffalo Bills.

Carole started a Staggered Cable Rib Beanie.

She's using Plymouth Encore in a beautiful teal color. 

I have the 1898 Hat on my needles which starts with a provisional cast on for the brim. The yarn was in my stash without a label so all I know is that it is wool because I could spit/splice it.

Carole has been away since October because she was helping her twin grandsons' prepare for the arrival of their baby sister, Ruby. She is adorable modeling her Santa hat that Carole made for her. She'd be adorable even without the hat! Look at those kissable cheeks!!!

Since she was going to be away for so many months, some of us volunteered to babysit her houseplants. I was trusted with her lovely phalaenopsis orchid which was in full bloom when she dropped it off. Here we are four months later and those same flowers are still in bloom. I can't say I didn't feel a little bit of pressure to be sure I didn't kill it while she was away. But it did survive and as a thank you Carole made for me...

a cute little project bag and filled it with a lovely Malabrigo yarn called Mechita, a fingering weight single ply, superwash merino yarn. Hmmm...what to make. I guarantee I will fall down the rabbit hole to pick just the right pattern for this yarn.

Some FO's this week are the four in one Equinox Hat which was a kit I bought at the Adirondack Fiber Festival in September. The pattern is a double thick reversible hat that starts at the crown of one hat, is knitted all the way to the crown of the other and then is tucked inside. It can be worn four different ways depending on your mood. The pattern includes a striped version for a more masculine version.

Another of Barbara K's Helix creations which you might have seen her knitting last week. Just like Lay's Potato Chips, you can't make just one!

Nancy finished the baby blanket she was knitting for her daughter's friend. It's the perfect size for a stroller or carseat.

Carole used up the last skein of Berroco Jasmine to make the Squarsy Hat. This is the yarn which was donated to the Chicks and we laugh every time it is used because we think that must be the last of it. But nope! Another skein always turns up in the stash. Carole assures me this is absolutely the last of it. We'll see. ;)

She also completed another Sonoma Vine Toque from NichKnits on Ravelry. We were able to download a bunch of her patterns when they were initially offered for free. They are nicely written patterns and fun to make.

The sun is setting and there's a chill in the air so I'm going to grab a cozy shawl and a cup of hot tea and remind you to...keep those needles clicking!

 

Happy New Year

Barbara B, Margaret, Nancy, Barbara K, and Dorah joined me for a quiet afternoon of rest and recovery from the holidays. Some of us had a holiday filled with family and happy chaos and some of us celebrated in a more tranquil manner. We all agreed that elastic waistband pants are our friends!

There were some wonderful additions to our inventory for Knit the Rainbow. Barbara K has become a quick convert to using up stash yarns to make Helix Hats. Even if you think two or three colors might not be friends, they will go together beautifully in a Helix Hat.

Here is Dorah's Helix Hat too. The pattern works with solid colors or gradients and even speckled yarn.

But Dorah's absolute current favorite pattern is the LOSY Hat. This hat is made up entirely of leftover sock yarn, hence the name.

This is Dorah's hat that she was looking forward to keeping for herself. She bought a kit at the Fiber Festival of New England which included the amount of yarn and directions for one hat. The only problem is that it turned out too small for her head so she is adding it to our inventory. She did a great job on the stranded colorwork too!

Margaret used up small amounts of two different yarns to make this soft cozy hat that will surely become someone's favorite.

This hat I made is called A Cabling We Will Go and it worked up very quickly from clearly written directions. It takes approximately 170 yards of yarn so one skein of worsted weight yarn is all you need.

Barbara B is following a chart to knit the dove gray blanket called...

ABC Baby Blanket. She is using a long circular needle to accommodate all the stitches required for the width of the blanket.

I'm working on the Equinox Hat from Berry Meadow  which was a kit that included the pattern, yarn enough for one hat, and directions for two hats, a lacy version and a more simple striped version. The hat is started at the top of the inner lining with a pinhole cast on, knitted all the way to the other end, and then decreased to the crown at the top of the outer hat. When completed, the striped portion will be stuffed inside the lace portion to create a double thick, reversible hat.

Dorah's current project is the Splendid Squares Hat.

She is using a luscious purple worsted weight yarn that is creating a thick, warm fabric.

Barbara K has another combination of colors for yet another Helix Hat. 

At this rate she is going to run out of yarn! LOL!

Nancy is working on a very textured stitch for her hat using a colorful alpaca blend yarn.

And last but not least Margaret is almost done with the cuff portion of her 1898 Hat, a favorite hat for all of us to make. The ear band/cuff is knitted flat combining contours for the earflaps. This piece is then folded in half to make it double thick, grafted together at the ends to make a continuous band and then stitches are picked up from the edge to knit the crown in the round. It is a cleverly designed hat and I'm told it's very warm. It was designed for the Seamen's Church Institute: Christmas at Sea and their website has free patterns for other clothing items as well.

As I look out my window I can still see bright green grass and sunshine but that could change by the end of the week. It's a good thing I have lots of yarn and great patterns to keep my needles clicking! Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and hope there are good things ahead for us all!