Brownies for Dorah

"Someone" was the first to arrive at knitting group today. He took the chair right beside me and stayed until the first Chick arrived. He made a couple of appearances to check out everyone's knitting bag to be sure they weren't trying to sneak in any contraband. LOL! Then Fozzie scurried away until 3 o'clock when he heard the door close after the last Chick left. 

Since Dorah missed Barbara B's homemade sourdough brownies the last time she made them, Barbara was kind enough to bring them again for all of us to enjoy.

In between nibbling the delicious brownies and knitting we talked about composting do's and don'ts and how you can now be composted after death instead of the traditional burial. I wouldn't mind giving back to Mother Earth after all the good she's done for me! Then Dorah piped up that we managed to not talk politics all the way until 2:17pm! It's one of the by laws that we try to obey but Dorah always brings it up and we get a good belly laugh at the timing. Barbara B. is usually the one to make note of the time but Dorah played timekeeper today. Luckily, we are pretty much like minded individuals so there's never an argument and sometimes we get new information we might have missed. But for the most part we try to keep our discussions light and entertaining.

Carole completed the Helix Baby Hat I showed you last week, adorable! And has already picked yarn...

for the next one. It's a great way to use up small left overs that would otherwise 

wind up as trash or bird nests.

She is currently working on this cute little cardigan called Knit Baby Jacket Set. It's a freebie on Ravelry.

And just look at the adorable self patterning yarn she chose for it! The process strategically dyes the yarn to produce little flower buds and saves you from having to knit Fair Isle patterning.

Nancy finished her Dot Shawl by Casapinka and wore it to show us how beautiful it is. She did a lovely job of knitting and blocking it for a perfect finish!

Her current project uses these two yarns. The one on the right was the remains of a baby blanket she knitted for her daughter's friend.

Now they will come together to make a helix baby hat. We both loved how the little blips of color pop up every now and then for a pretty pattern.

Dorah is finishing up the body of the baby sweater she's working on. This is the point where she will start the garter stitch edge to match the button bands. The next step will be to put the sleeve stitches on a circular needle to knit them in the round. I have found that when I transition from flat knitting the body to knitting the sleeves in the round that the stitches look different. That's because when you knit a row and purl a row for flat stockinette stitch the wrong side stitches are looser than the right side stitches, as opposed to knitting every round where every row is knit stitch, it becomes more tightly knit. So I always go up a needle size to make up for the discrepancy.

I started the afternoon trying to finish up my Easy Shawl by Martina Behm but was easily bored and switched to...

the Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater for which I am using a self striping yarn. I have a few inches more to go before I can start the sleeves. I think I will use the magic loop and knit two at a time so they are the same exact size.

Margaret is about halfway through her helix baby hat. She will knit it to 5 inches or so and begin the decrease portion to close the top of the hat.

Barbara B. finished one of her baby socks and has the second started. She's using DP's, double pointed needles to knit them.

Jan's Changing Staircase Shawl is coming along nicely. She said she has the rubber mat tiles that fit together like a puzzle so she can block and pin it into place to open up the pretty lace sections of the shawl.

That's a wrap (pun intended) for today. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!