The KAL progresses

There were 8 of us so my husband took our picture before he left for his appointment.

Then as soon as he was gone, Cinzia arrived. I didn't want to miss her so here's another group shot.

Today's treat from Barbara B was sourdough pastry love letters. There were two flavors from which to choose, cherry filling or fig filling. The pastry was buttery and the filling yummy!

Carole finished the cowl from last week after frogging it because she didn't like the rigid fabric that resulted from a too small gauge needle size. She upped the needle size and now the fabric has some movement and drape to it.

We were talking about two color brioche last week so Nancy brought in the cowl she knitted for herself using the two color method.

It is knitted with a Main Color and a Contrasting Color so the MC is more dominant on one side and the CC is dominant on the reverse side. If you knit it flat it requires sliding the just knitted row back to the end of the needle instead of turning your work so you essentially knit the same row twice. Knitting two color brioche in the round also requires knitting the same round twice but MC round is knitted and the CC round is purled. You get two cowls in one!

Barbara B was the first one to finish our KAL, Royal Icing Headband. There is a small seam to sew that creates the twist feature at the front.

Maureen made a cowl with this stunning pink acrylic yarn making it machine washable.

She also completed another Helix Hat for our inventory.

Dorah added two more Helix Hats and a LOSY hat. She loves the LOSY for it's a good stashbuster.

   

Carole wore her necklamp again. It has made a world of difference for her ability to knit with smaller gauges again.

The light and magnifying glass take the strain away from knitting in less than ideal lighting conditions.

Barbara B started a hat called Misterioso Hat which was a free offer from the Cascade Yarns site but is no longer available.

She is using the last of the yarn that my daughter dyed using Kool Aid.

Cinzia got a late start on our KAL so she is just casting on for the Royal Icing Headband,

as is Dorah. She never knitted brioche before so she sat beside me for a quick lesson.

After an hour or so she decided to give her brain a rest and picked up a LOSY in progress.

My Royal Icing is almost long enough to fit around my head so I will be binding off and sewing the seam in the near future.

Maureen's headband is about the same length as mine so she'll be seaming it up soon too.

Nancy's headband is just a little past the halfway mark.

As is Barbara K's.

Margaret measured her headband and it just about meets at the ends so she'll probably be sewing it up tonight.

It is bitterly cold today and my toes are cold so I'm going to put on my wool socks and get cozy with my knitting. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

KAL (knit-a-long) and a Valentine treat

Barbara B had a Valentine treat for each of us today, sourdough bagels with assorted toppings. They will be perfect for serving my turkey burger dinner tonight! Thanks Barbara!

We had great conversations about childhood memories and the card games we played with family. Maureen and I grew up in neighborhood apartment buildings where all ethnicities got along and watched each other's children. She learned how to play pinochle in the park across from her home. 

At the age of 3, I learned "bad words" from the Italian couple who lived next door! LOL!

Last week we decided on a pattern to make together so we could learn how to knit the brioche stitch. The Royal Icing Headband is knitted flat and then the short ends are sandwiched together and sewn for a cute folded feature. Carole's is first up and she's doing a great job for the first try, as is everyone participating. 

 

Margaret chose a heathered mauve DK weight yarn and as you can see on her paper pattern, she has made notes because we found easier ways to make the I-cord edging than the way the original pattern is written. The original pattern makes you k1,sl1,k1, on right side for the first and last 3 stitches and on the wrong side you have to sl1, k1, sl1 which can get confusing. 

But an easier I-cord edge is to knit the first 3 stitches and slip the last 3 purlwise with the yarn in front on every row. 

Barbara K had a second go at it after she discovered a mistake (we've all been there!). This pattern definitely teaches mindful knitting since every time I spotted a mistake in my work it was because I let my hands operate on automatic pilot.

Maureen chose a lighter weight yarn than Barbara's so she also had to downsize the needle.

Nancy took her time to concentrate on the steps involved and eventually we all decided to scrap the written copy and opt for the simpler method to make I-cord edges.

Barbara B had a few false starts until she was able to wrap her brain around the process. This brioche stitch is definitely a brain exercise but once you get it, you get it.

The ladies all think this knitting stuff comes easy to me but as I often tell them, I make all the mistakes so they don't have to. I must have started this 6 times before I figured out how to "read" my stitches so I could see which stitch came next.

I almost forgot to show you Carole's neck lamp with magnifier. She bought it recently to help with her knitting and now she can work with light weight yarns and needles again.

I think we've all exercised the little gray cells enough for one day. I am going to pick up a brainless pattern to relax so I can keep those needles clicking! Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

An almost full house

Even though three of my Chicks were absent, we still had a pretty full coop today! We were all happy to be inside protected from the blustery cold outdoors.

The treat du jour was Barbara B's sourdough raspberry shortbread bars, so good! I wonder if she ever makes a dud. Maybe she just doesn't tell us about those. LOL!

 

Barbara also knits in her spare time 😂. The top of this hat is striped as in a Helix Hat so she is working out how to best arrange the three yarns to make it easy on herself.

The Cold Brew Hat pattern is for sale on Ravelry. 

It has lots of design features to keep the knitting interesting.

I started the Ottlie Scarf and everything was going smoothly, as long as I was knitting alone in my room. This afternoon was a different story. I always stop knitting a repeating pattern at the last row of the repeat so there is no question about where I left off. But this time, it didn't look right. This was the picture I took last night before everything went south. Now I have to frog it back to the beginning and start all over since I haven't been able to figure out what row was my last. UGH!

Luckily, I had a brioche ear warmer started. This is Royal Icing Headband which is offered on Ravelry for sale or free with a code. If you read the description, it tells you how to get it for free. The Chicks have requested we do a KAL of this pattern so look for it in the coming weeks.

Nancy started the Dotty Cowl, a pattern she has enjoyed knitting in the past.

You can see the start of the checkerboard design emerging.

Dorah is finishing up a pair of socks for her daughter before winter is over. She had a recommendation for everyone that gave us all a chuckle. After recently flying out of state to visit one of her kids, she remarked how pleasant it was "flying while gray". She said she never had so many people be so helpful in getting her luggage into the overhead compartment. See! There are some advantages to being a senior citizen. Personally, I always ask if there's a senior discount. 😉

Margaret jumped on the Helix Hat bandwagon and picked a pretty combo of colors.

And Barbara K's Helix Hat is almost finished. What a pretty pastel combo!

Maureen continues to work on her Helix Hat and started a hat for which I forgot to get the pattern name. It looks like bulky weight or Aran weight yarn so it shouldn't take too long to knit.

Carole finished a pretty powder blue cabled hat using bulky weight yarn and 8 and 10.5 needles.

The Easy Cabled Hat is a freebie on Ravelry.

And she's pretty close to finishing up her colorufl 2X2 ribbed beanie.

A couple of weeks ago I was working on the Hoodola by Laura Nelkin. I thought I wouldn't have enough yellow yarn to make the casing for the opening and still have more for the I-cord so I found two sock weight yarns that had just enough yellow to hold the theme and made the casing with them held together. Then there was plenty of yarn for the I-cord!

The Helix Hat that was in progress last week is now in the inventory. I made this with superwash merino yarn so it can be machine washed and dried, gentle cycle.

And I slipped a little something in between donation projects for myself. It's the Easy Goes It Scarf, not to be confused with the Easy Does It. I bought the merino/bamboo fingering weight yarn at a Whole Knit n' Caboodle studio sale last summer in a one of a kind colorway. I love the way it turned out! Teri said she was experimenting with dying a cake ombre' and I love it!

Well, I guess I better get crackin' on that mistake in the Ottlilie scarf. It will have to be an isolation project that I knit all by myself without interruptions! So have a great week and check back next time. Maybe I'll get back on track by next Tuesday. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!!!