Knitting to the tunes of Lazy Cat Jazz

We had a tranquil afternoon on the deck with the soft sounds of smooth jazz playing in the background. Spotify has a station called Lazy Cat Jazz and I'm sure they had Fozzie in mind when they compiled the selections.

Barbara B made cinnamon chips cookies this week, just like chocolate chip cookies but with cinnamon mini chips instead. They were soooo good!

You might remember the pullover Cinzia designed and was making during the last few months. She couldn't make it today but I was able to get a picture of it. She completed it in time for her trip to Sweden when it came in handy.

Nancy finished the adorable Berry Baby Hat for her granddaughter who is due to arrive late June. The pattern is free when you follow the link.

She also completed two other hats and is already on to a third.

Jan just started Marianna's All-in-One Matching Newborn Baby hat. It is also a freebie on Ravelry. It starts out with a seed stitch cuff but all the pictures show it with a ribbed cuff. Sometimes free patterns are a bit dicey to follow.

Carole's Wee Bean Sweater had to take a back seat to a busy week so it's not much farther along than last week. But she does nice work!

Maureen's Bert Baby Blanket has two more wide bands of color since we last met 

so she's making progress.

Barbara B started the Slouchy Two-Color Baby Hat by Betsy Lowery. The yarn has such pretty colors!

Do you remember last week when I knitted four rows in the round forgetting that garter stitch in the round requires a knit row alternating with a purl row? No one would let me frog it and suggested I make it a design element. So this was the solution to my mistake. I kind of like it! Now I have to pick up stitches along the front edges to make the button bands. This it the Yarnspirations Knit Baby Jacket Set, another freebie on Ravelry.

The pollen is getting to me so I'm giving up and taking an allergy pill. I thought I could tough it out but not so much. How many more months until winter? LOL! 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

We had two visitors today

We have jumped right into summer weather! It wasn't too long ago that we still had the heat on and now the AC is going strong. We did have some breezes cooling the outside air.

Even Fozzie decided to sit with us and enjoy the fresh air. He was our first visitor of the day. There was something about Carole's project bag that kept his attention, until he heard thunder rumbling in the distance.

Then Fozzie sat beside me for protection. 

He's getting braver each week as he gets used to the Chicks' Tuesday visits.

Barbara B finished a darling crown hat for a family member who is expecting. The yarn is from our visit in April to the annual sale at WEBS. The green yarn is Haydenville, a blend of merino and acrylic and the yellow is Plymouth Encore, all machine washable.

The matching cardigan uses the same yarns. 

I'm slipping at getting the proper names for patterns this week but here is another set Barbara B finished. This one is for donation.

                            

The little helmet hat even has a chin strap.

Barbara K had variegated yarn that was comprised of yellows, greens, and pinks, for which she wanted to make a blanket. However, she did not want the pink in the blanket so she carefully knitted to the start of the pink strands and cut them out, tied them together, and now she has a whole new ball of yarn made of just the pink colors.

She started the Umbilical Hat which starts at the cuff and ends with a little I-cord to finish the crown making it look like the stub of the umbilical cord. I can't seem to find the link to that pattern either!

Maureen said she'll be working on her Bert Baby Blanket for a long while. Maybe it will help people to appreciate how much work goes into a project if they see it week after week.

Carole found cute sour apple green buttons to finish off the Wee Bean Sweater.

And completed another adorable cardigan. Carole has the patience of a saint! She was able to get exactly matching sleeves by pulling out the skein of yarn so they would start at the same sequence of colors!

She also completed a hat for herself called Twig Beanie.

On her needles now is another Wee Bean Sweater for donation.

Dorah is rounding the bend, fast approaching the heel of her second sock.

And don't let me forget today's sourdough delight, Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins. 

Barbara B is too good to us! Delicious, as usual!

You might not be able to tell but I have started the sleeves for my Knit Baby Jacket Set. And because I was paying attention to the conversation, I inadverdantly knitted the sleeves in stockinette instead of garter stitch but the ladies wouldn't let me frog it. They convinced me to make it "a design element". That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Our second visitor hopped on by just as the ladies were leaving. I was wondering why Fozzie kept peering out the side of the deck before the ladies arrived. Now I know why!

Well, it's time to make dinner so have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

A gorgeous day on the deck

A sunny 78 degree day required that I put up the drapes so we wouldn't roast on the southwest facing deck. Thankfully, there was a most welcome breeze keeping us comfortable and ringing the outdoor chimes every now and then.

Barbara B. graced us with sourdough scones this week, cranberry/orange and blueberry/lemon. They were delicious and so moist! She was glad to have one of those segmented baking pans because the dough was more like a batter and would not have been easy to cut. When asked how she finds so many ways to use sourdough starter and discard, her response was Pinterest! She said you could spend hours going down the rabbit hole trying to choose a recipe from the hundreds that are available. We are so grateful for her generosity and great baking skills each week!

Cinzia played a game of yarn chicken and had to revise the original plan for a long sleeved sweater. It looks like this might be the Knit Baby Jacket Set pattern with a short sleeve adaptation.

Barbara B. finished The Gift cardigan with its beautiful yoke and fancy ribbing. She added the Avery's Happy Cap which compliments it perfectly.

On her needles now is the Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater which is knitted in one piece so there is no sewing required, except for the buttons.

It's hard to tell by the picture but she is knitting both sleeves TAAT (two at a time) on magic loop to make sure they are identical.

Maureen finished the adorable Baby Sophisticate cardigan but has not picked out buttons yet. The is another top down knit which requires picking up stitches along the front edges and neckline to make the shawl collar.

She has just begun the Bert Baby Blanket. She found all this baby weight yarn in her stash and can't remember why she bought it so she is thinking of using a few different colors in this blanket so she can use it up. Who of us hasn't purchased yarn thinking "Oh, I'll make that when I finish this."? And then you come across it in the stash a few years later and wonder why the heck did we buy it! LOL!

Barbara K. is using the same Plymouth Encore yarn that she used for the ribbed hat from last time to make a matching Mistake Stitch Scarf. This will make a lovely ensemble for a mom of the babies for whom we are knitting.

Jan has made progress on her Malt Blanket which has an asymmetrical square design for interest.

Dorah needed some comfort knitting so she decided to make a pair of socks. Her favorite go-to pattern is from Knitting Pure and Simple. This is an easy, very basic pattern for a woman's or man's sock in sock weight yarn.

Cinzia is just starting a little girl's dress which will have a tank top bodice so it can be worn as a dress or layered over a shirt as a tunic.

I'm working on the Knit Baby Jacket Set using Plymouth Encore DK in a denim color. The sleeve stitches are on holders while I knit the body then I'll go back and pick them up to knit TAAT on magic loop just as Barbara B. is doing on her sweater.

Jan's yarn became yarn barf so Dorah and Barbara K. jumped in to help. As they were performing their magic, it brought back memories of many years ago when Barbara, and some of the original Chicks spent two hours playing Twister to untangle hundreds of yards of yarn that was donated in a wad. We managed to wind it into a usable ball and turned it into a warm item that was donated. Luckily, this tangle didn't take that long to straighten out.

I think I'll be serving dinner on the deck tonight if it continues to be this nice. I might even stay out there and knit the evening away.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

First day of deck knitting!

What a glorious day to sit outside! We knitted to the tunes of Diana Krall and Elaine Elias playing quietly in the background while discussing the benefits of sourdough baking and what the college age kids have planned for the summer. 

Barbara B's raspberry rhubarb coffee cake was a hit! She used to grow her own rhubarb when she lived elsewhere but now she has to buy it. The recipe called for 1/2 a cup and now she has leftover rhubarb because she had to buy a bunch of stalks to the pack. 

Maybe a strawberry rhubarb pie to use it up??? 

Or jam?

Jan finished the body of the Baby Boy 5 Hour  Sweater and is moving on to the sleeves. The pattern was confusing so Barbara B helped her figure out that it was written to put all the body stitches on holders and knit the sleeves which seemed more difficult than it needed to be. So Jan made the body first and...

put in lifelines for insurance. Now she's ready to make the sleeves on DP's. She tried magic loop but feels she needs a little more experience with the technique before she tries TAAT sleeves.

Barbara B is working on her second "The Gift" sweater using a machine wash and dry DK weight yarn. It has the sweetest details for the yoke and cuffs.

Nancy's Knit Baby Jacket Set is almost finished. We discussed the concern about buttons vs no buttons and decided we don't really put a baby into an unsupervised situation while wearing a sweater. And I personally use the same yarn to sew the buttons on since I think polyester thread might cut through the yarn and loosen the button.

Janna is working on the Someday Baby Blanket which in DK weight and smallish needles is taking a while to complete. The color is stunning!

Maureen finished the body of her Baby Sophisticate cardigan and has picked up all the stitches to knit the button band and shawl collar. Just after I took this picture she started the EZ's Sewn Bind Off method to finish the edge.

I have the Basic Baby Hat on my needles, ready to begin the decreasing portion of the crown of the hat.

It didn't take long to make using Plymouth Encore in DK weight and size 6 needles on magic loop. It matches the Newborn Top Down Cardigan I finished last week.

The forecast for the next six days is showing high probability of rain so I'm going back on the deck to soak up more sun now that the neighbors have finished mowing lawns.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!