Raindrops and Blueberry Lemon Bars

The raindrops and muggy air kept us inside with the AC today. No one seemed to mind though.

Barbara B made sourdough blueberry lemon bars for us. Soooo gooood!!! She used whole fresh blueberries so the taste was fresh and bright.

 We had a few FOs today too. Nancy finished the Helix Hat that was knitted with a gradient yarn and solid white yarn. We both love the results. And the pompom for the finishing touch is perfect.

I finally remembered to get a picture of the shawl that Jan completed. This was one my daughter designed and started and then life got in her way and she never got back to it. She gave me a bag filled with WIPs and this was the one Jan chose to complete. I am so proud of her too! She was able to examine the pattern and read the stitches so she could continue the design and finish it. This will go into our inventory for a future donation.

Barbara B knitted a Raglan Cowl using Plymouth Encore Worsted. Such a pretty teal color! It starts at the top of the neckline and grows through the raglan increases.

Maureen worked on her Close to You Shawl and...

an 1898 Hat. She had a lightweight variegated yarn left from another project which blended perfectly with the solid blue yarn. What a great way to make this hat unique!

This is Jan's Leftie scarf by Martina Behm. It uses mini skeins of multi colors to create these cute little leaves at the long edge of the scarf. Jan is knitting it for a friend and wondered if it was long enough. We all agreed, if you have to ask, it probably is so, you can stop knitting. She appreciated that answer!

Tina wasn't here when we all started the Welter Hat so she got a private lesson on the short row portion. As I said before, the pattern can be a little tricky so it's important to use stitch markers to denote every finished short row and another of a distinct color to signify the right side of the work. Maureen had a great suggestion to make all the short row indicators on the right side one color and all those on the wrong side a contrasting color to make them easier to count.

Barbara B bought this adorable yarn at WEBS called Plymouth Dream Baby DK Paintpot and it's perfect for her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater. It's a self patterning yarn and now I feel like I need to get some too. LOL!

Carole used her fancy neck lamp magnifier while she worked on her Welter Hat. 

And while I planned to knit on my Welter Hat, I found I was too easily distracted from the pattern by good conversation so I put it aside to work on it later.

I knitted the Bandana Cowl instead that started out as another shawl my daughter was going to knit but I couldn't bring myself to knit yards and yards of this pretty yarn for what seemed like an eternity. Plan B was put into effect and a cowl it is. I think a few more inches of stockinette and then I'll give it a garter edge border and bind off.

Nancy received a free pattern called The Bright Side when she purchased a skein of "Dark Side of the Moon" by Alexandra-The Art of Yarn. The yarn is dyed in sections so that the shawl is knitted in stockinette stitch until you reach a burst of color. The pattern is available for free on Ravelry.

 Then you knit that colored section in the opposite stitch that shows up to create this raised section that shows up randomly across the fabric knitted. It's a very clever method which Nancy says is good for social knitting but also has enough going on to keep boredom away. 

Nancy was inspired by one of the knitters in my other group who was knitting the same shawl with a black background and multi colored bars.

It's still raining but I won't complain. Next week the first heat wave of the summer is supposed to strike and I'm not looking forward to it. Between allergies and humidity, I'm already looking forward to winter. But I am grateful to have air conditioning so I can hunker down in my comfy chair and knit the day away. Until next week, keep those needles clicking!

Our KAL is coming along

I'll start by showing you Barbara B's soudough cinnamon coffee cake treat. It was sooo good! Honestly, I don't think this woman can bake a bad batch of anything!

She also finished her second Welter Hat. 

Her first one was the one where she learned the short row lessons and it turned out great!

Nancy's looked great too. But she was concerned that it looked much larger than the others. There are a number of factors which could influence this. She might be a loose knitter or the worsted weight yarn she used was slightly different in gauge than the others. In any case, I always say, "It will fit someone!"

My first Welter Hat was certainly a learning curve. The pattern said it required 225 yards of worsted weight yarn but as you can see, I had plenty of yarn left over from a 200 yard skein!

My guess is the pattern designer just listed the yardage on the skein of yarn she bought to use for the hat and not the actual yardage she used. This is my second hat and it certainly knitted up much more quickly than the first one. I like to remind my knitters when they are feeling stumped and discouraged that I make all the mistakes first so they don't have to. This is definitely a fun pattern to knit!

Everyone looked up long enough to snap a picture and then...

Got right back to work on their respective projects.

Dorah brought her rainbow socks she is knitting for her daughter to show me how lovely the yarn is. She couldn't remember the brand but it was so soft! She likes to knit with DPs from the cuff down with a heel flap and short row heel.

Her Chicks project is the Helix Hat which made her question the color choice 

but we both agree it looks perfect!

Carole worked out the kinks on her Welter Hat. The directions are not very clearly written but with all our heads together we are figuring it out.

Margaret sat beside me for moral support but she did a great job. This is one of those patterns that makes you question every step because at first glance it doesn't make sense. But I keep reminding the knitters, this is one of those patterns that you need to follow one row at a time, don't read ahead, and please don't overthink it. Just trust the process.

Barbara B finished a sweet pastel beanie and started another.

Nancy chose a pretty variegated yarn to make a beanie which she is still deciding if it will be a Helix Hat or something else.

Barbara K started a basic 2x2 beanie like the 2023 Soldiers Hat.

And Maureen started the first welt on her Welter Hat. The ribbing is tricky because it's a twisted rib which instructs you to Ktbl on the right side when knitting in the round. But when making the wrap and turn short row, you are now knitting from the wrong side, back to the 16th stitch from the beginning and on the wrong side those stitches must be Ptbl to show up twisted on the right side. As we discussed, this pattern really exercises our brains which, as we move on in years, is very important for our health.

I'm giving my brain a short rest for my next project to knit a bandana style cowl. This is the yarn my daughter gave me which she had already started a triangular shawl but I didn't think a high school student would want to wear a shawl so a bandana cowl it is! 

It will look better after a thorough blocking.

"Someone" is sitting directly in front of the refrigerator, hoping I'll notice and feed him...AGAIN!

Sorry Fozzie, dinner won't be served until 5PM, which means I need to get going to prepare it! 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Starting our KAL

If you look closely, right in the center, we had a visitor today. Elena Fasullo is Cinzia's daughter and she stopped by to say hello before she prepares to go off to law school. 

She has been stopping by to say hi since she was a little girl and even made it into a story that aired on WNYT when we Chicks celebrated our 10th anniversary. She spent the afternoon crocheting soap pouches with cotton yarn. The bar of soap is inserted into the pouch and then it serves as a washcloth. I can't believe she is off to law school soon! Best of luck Elena!

                                             

This is the KAL we are starting together. It's the Welter Hat which was inspired by...

 the hat that Carole brought to show us last week. She couldn't remember where she got the pattern or what the name was so I had to put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and do some investigating. At first I thought I would examine the hat and try to figure out how to knit the short rows and write up the pattern myself. But that soon turned out to be an exercise in futility. So for the third time, I searched Ravelry and narrowed down the parameters of the search further and lo and behold! The pattern showed up! I was so excited but it was short lived because it came from a book which was out of print.

I remembered that I could search sites for books out of print and HOORAY! I found a copy which arrived in the mail yesterday! I stayed up late last night figuring out the short rows on the ribbing portion so I could help everyone who wanted to participate in the KAL. 

I always say, I make all the mistakes first so you don't have to. 

It was a little fiddly and I decided to put locking stitch markers at every station where there was a wrap and turn. Nancy, Jan, and Margaret surrounded me so we could follow, step by step, each row.

Margaret worked on the twisted ribbing for the required 1 inch and then the "fun" began.

The instructions were a little muddy, written by someone who knows what she's talking about but maybe isn't the best at writing a clearly planned out pattern. There seemed to be a lot of looking back and forth across the page for clarity. 

Nancy's hat is almost the same color as Margaret's. 

Barbara B called me last night to get some help so she was a little further along but then we discovered that, because of that lack of clarity, she had knitted too many short rows and had to tink back. She's on the right track now.

Jan started it last night too but needed to go down in needle size so she started again this afternoon and was able to reach the short rows where she needed some hand holding to get going.

 That's what I'm here for!

Cinzia worked on the back portion of a sweet little dress she is knitting for our other group, The Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels.

Carole worked on the self patterning yarn baby sweater. She opted to work on something a little less stressful while looking on as we worked out the short rows situation.

We earned our break for some Sourdough Rhubarb Quick bread from the magic oven of Barbara B.

Barbara B thought the name of the designer of the Welter Hat sounded familiar so she searched her FOs on Ravelry and sure enough! She knitted the Ruckle Hat by Jennifer Dassau, the exact same designer!

Tina had a previous engagement today but she sent me a picture of her completed 1898 Hat

 and Totally Biased Cowl.  Both these patterns are free on Ravelry.

Well, I have to get back to my Welter Hat. I need to keep one step ahead of everyone else so if they have another question, I'll have an answer...I hope. 😉

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!