It's time to attach labels

Today was the day we sort and label all the items we knitted for the Falcon Boutique at Albany High School. We've gathered quite a collection since we started knitting this cycle in late December 2024.

The Chicks were busy knitting 92 hats, 16 cowls, 

11 scarves and shawls, 15 headband/ear warmers,

and 6 sets of hats with matching mittens or cowl or scarf. The grand total of the collection is 144. You might think that's a mistake but we count individual items in the sets, so 2 mittens and a scarf and cowl bring the total up. I used to count pairs of items as one but it's twice the work so I decided to give credit where credit is due! My Chicks work hard and I appreciate it!!!

After all that counting we were rewarded with Barbara's Sourdough Apple Cider Donut Quickbread that tasted exactly like Indian Ladder Farms  (a local apple orchard) apple cider donuts! They are my absolute favorite in donuts. None other can compare so it's saying a lot about Barb's quickbread. 😉

                            

The next recipient for our hand made goodies is Moms Start Here of Albany, NY, an organization that supports families on their parenting journey. My project is the Phazelia Mitered Baby Jacket. It has been many years since I knitted one of these adorable sweaters and I'm happy to bring it back into my repertoire.

Jan started the Horizon Hat with it's varied stripes. We got to talking about spacing of stripes which led us into a conversation about the Fibonacci Sequence and how it appears in nature.

Mother Nature is the greatest designer and I happened to have a succulent which shows the Fibonacci Sequence. It is also visible in the seed head of a sunflower. That symmetrical patterning is pleasing to the eye. Look it up! It's fascinating!

Anyway, to get back to knitting...Jan started the first stripe in her Horizon Hat. It will be pink and lavender.

Margaret started the Mt. Airy Trail Hat with a pretty red yarn with a soft feel. She also had a quick course in how to use Ravelry. Many people use it just for a pattern search but it can be so much more. I like to keep detailed notes on my projects so I can refer back to them if I want to repeat a project and need to know if I made modifications. 

Barbara B is knitting a hat for her daughter based on a photograph she was sent. The Chevron Rib Beanie is the closest she could find to the photograph.

And it's a free pattern too! Barbara said it is not a difficult pattern to knit and judging that she was knitting and talking this afternoon, I would have to believe her. By the way, that light blue line going through the stitching is a lifeline so if there's a mistake, Barbara can frog back to the last row that she knows is correct. Whoever thought of lifelines is a genius!

Nancy worked on her Bright Side Shawl, the pattern that uses a specifically dyed yarn so the little blips of color hit randomly across the fabric. This is also a freebie on Ravelry.

Tina's One Chevron Scrap Cowl had grown since we last saw it. It uses fingering weight yarn and starts with a provisional cast on which is later grafted to the final row making this an infinity ring.

Next Tuesday will be delivery day. I'll see if I can get some photos to show you the Boutique. Until then, have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

It's a beautiful day for deck knitting

The heat and humidity have dissipated so we are back outside! Yay! 

We caught up on current events and book reviews. 

It was a perfect setting for Sourdough Snickerdoodle Muffins.

We added quite a few FOs to the inventory. Barbara B's granddaughter, the very talented 14 year old crocheter, made these hats for my Friday group, The Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels. I'm thinking of keeping a few to add to the Chicks' next project, Moms Start Here, in Troy, NY.

Carole completed her Oh Baby! Cardigan and made a sweet 2x2 ribbed hat to go with it.

Cinzia knitted a beautifully cabled cowl...

And Margaret brought a bag filled with goodies! She made two knotted earwarmer/headbands...

four Helix Hats...

A Welter Hat and a Fair Isle hat...

and finally, 1898 Hat, Look Out Winter Hat, and two more of her own design with a pair of matching fingerless gloves.

I completed the headband/earwarmer I designed. I like the way it turned out so much that I immediately cast on for another to donate to my other knitting group. If you would like to knit one, the pattern is written up on my Ravelry page.

For the Falcon Boutique, our current recipients, I started a Helix Hat with small amounts of left over yarns that didn't have enough quantities for anything else.

Jan worked on her Triangle with a Twist Shawl. 

This is a good basic shawl that looks more difficult than it really it to knit.

This hat pattern was available for free for a limited time so I grabbed it for the Chicks to share and...

Margaret was the first to start the Mt. Airy Trail Hat.

Carole just started the 1-2-3 Baby Beanie. It's a freebie on Ravelry so if you have any babies that need a hat, this would be a good one to knit.

Maureen has been busy with grandchildren so she might not have her Reversible Stripes Scarf finished in time for this round of donations. Not to worry, there are plenty of opportunities coming up in the future.

Tina is just starting the One Chevron Scrap Cowl.

As you can see in this picture, it can be made using left over scraps of yarn.

Barbara B is almost finished with her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater. At least that's what I think this pattern is. She'll let me know if it isn't.

Dorah is working on a Helix Hat to match the fingerless gloves she was knitting these past few weeks. However, she started the hat before remembering that the blue and gray yarns were supposed to be...

used for the thumbs on the gloves! We tried to convince her to just bind off the thumbs now. 

We'll have to wait to see how she resolves this.

Nancy made progress on her Brick by Brick Cowl which uses the mosaic method of knitting. Those colors are glorious!

We are waiting to hear from the boutique to find out when we can deliver so next week we will probably label and sort everything. Until then, keep those needles clicking!

'

Another hot day

Ninety degrees in full sun is just too much when you're knitting with wool, so we opted for another day inside. Happy knitters make nice clothing!

Our treats from Barbara B's magic oven were sourdough chocolate chip cookie bars. She makes many of these recipes with the part of the sourdough starter that is removed when the batch has to be fed. They call it discard but it would be a shame to waste it when you can make so many yummy treats with it.

 I finished the headband I was knitting last time. It can be worn with the knot in front like a turban or...

with the knot in back. It's a simple seed stitch design with slipped stitch edges.

This week I'm knitting another headband using a stitch pattern I found on YouTube. When it's long enough, I'll stitch the short ends together.

Dorah ripped out the section of her mitten that was supposed to be knitted with blue yarn and started over...

only to speed on automatic pilot and almost do it again. She caught it just in time to add in the blue yarn.

Maureen's Reversible Stripes Scarf is coming along. She is doing a great job of keeping in pattern. I don't think I would trust myself to knit this in a social setting.

Jan is knitting the Swirl Hat and her yarn is complimenting the pattern perfectly. A soft tonal or solid helps to highlight the movement of the design. A heavily variegated yarn would camouflage those diagonal bands. 

Barbara K's basic triangular shawl has grown since last week. She wanted the yarn to take center stage so a simple triangle with 4 increases on every right side row fit the requirements.

Carole decided to frog back some sleeve stitches on her Oh Baby! Sweater to shape the sleeves differently. I think she said they were too narrow and she wanted to make them a little fuller.

Barbara B was having issues with her sleeves too. The Top Down Raglan didn't have any decreases and she wanted to have some shaping in the sleeves so we checked out a couple of other patterns and she decided to throw in a few decreases along the length of the sleeve to make it less boxy.

Last week Nancy wanted to know the difference between Fair Isle knitting and mosaic knitting. After hearing how much easier it is to knit mosaic and slipped stitch knitting, she searched for a pattern and she's hooked!

You can see where the slipped stitches ride above the stockinette round in her Brick by Brick Hat.

Margaret made a ton of progress on her Helix Hat since last week. Now you can see the stripes traveling up the hat.

That wraps up another session with the Chicks. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!