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!