Beth came to visit

If you look closely to the right side of the picture, wearing a white sweatshirt, there's Beth who was one of the original evening Chicks when we had two separate groups. Those were the days before everyone was retired. Beth made her annual trip to visit family and always squeezes in a day to come back to the flock. Barbara K and Dorah are the only ones in attendance today who knew her way back when. The other Chicks who know Beth had conflicts of schedule and were bummed to miss her. 

There's always next year.

Barbara B made sourdough apple fritter bread for our treat today. 

It was a tasty treat with lots of flavor and a moist texture.

                              

Nancy started the Little Ears Hat, a darling pattern with sizes from baby to adult. The pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn held together. Forgetting that she doesn't like to knit with bulky yarn and fat needles, Nancy was disappointed in the experience. I suggested she could use one strand and a slightly smaller needle and size it up or down accordingly. The next one she knits she will try my suggestion.

Dorah made good progress on her diagonal blanket and is so much happier with it 

than she was with the cardigan. The cheerful self-striping yarn will certainly brighten a little one's day.

I broke a Chicks rule of not knitting personal projects because I need to finish my grandson's hat on a deadline and I have many inches to go. I wove the scarf for my daughter using the colors of Ursinus College where my eldest grandson attends classes and plays football. The hat in the foreground is for him in a variation of the burgundy and gold. It looks large because it is based on the Musselburgh Hat which is reversible by tucking one hat inside the other. It's also larger in circumference to accommodate all his hair! LOL! The green and white hat is for my other grandson who requested a hat in the colors of the Philadelphia Eagles. That hat is based on the Soldiers Hat, a 2x2 ribbed cap.

Jan is using a nice navy tweed yarn to knit the Brooke Baby Blanket. It has a neat garter stitch border which transitions into a textured frame around the edges. This is a free pattern on Ravelry.

Beth is making socks from Cuff Club Volume 2 by Summer Lee. The cuff is adorned with lovely little cables and the heel uses the partridge stitch.

Tina is past the halfway mark on her Beloved baby hat. 

This is a great pattern which can be adapted for any size head.

Barbara B is making the Bernoulli Hat which has a panel of cables running up either side of the hat. This yarn is perfect for such great stitch definition! This is also a freebie on Ravelry.

Barbara K just started her favorite scarf, The Mistake Stitch. It's a good pattern for social knitting as it doesn't require a whole lot of concentration. It creates a nice thermal fabric to guard against the wind and is another free pattern!

As soon as I turned my back to walk the knitters to the door, guess who jumped up on a dining room chair. I always keep them covered when not in use because I know Fozzie likes to sit under the tablecloth. I think it's like when we were kids and made blanket tents or forts using the chair backs and a blanket. He enjoys his solitude.

Well, I need to get back to the hat knitting so I can deliver it in time. 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Lots of talk about food today

There were six Chicks today. It was a rainy day so we felt cozy around the kitchen table. We learned about food favorites like Carole's grandfather's beef stew and Dorah's tradition of chicken every Friday. And all our grandparents cooked without measuring anything. When I asked Nana how much I should add of a certain ingredient the answer was always, "Enough". Oddly, that's how I cook and it took many years to understand, but I get it now.

Last week Dorah mentioned her favorite snack was pumpkin spice flavored Goldfish crackers but no one was brave enough to try one. 

This is a hat I knitted for my youngest grandson who likes the Philadelphia Eagles and he was concerned that I knit it in the alternate green of their jersey not the teal green. My daughter assures me he will love it. I used the 2023 Soldiers Hat pattern and added stripes. I remembered hearing that when knitting 2x2 ribbing and adding stripes, to avoid the blip of color on the purl stitches, you should knit the whole round of the new color and then return to the 2x2 ribbing. You can't see the knit row unless you examine it very closely and the stripes make a perfectly smooth transition.

Carole finished two baby hats for the grandbaby who is still gestating. The hat on the right is knitted using her favorite yarn for baby clothes, something that can be tossed into the washing machine and dryer.

Do you remember Dorah's colorful Toybox Candy Cardigan? She frogged it recently because it has been sitting in time out for so long she couldn't find her place in the pattern. So she started it again but even between the two of us, we couldn't figure out stitch marker placement for the raglan section. After numerous tries she decided the yarn wants to be a blanket. She is having more success with the Diagonal Baby Blanket! And since her yarn is self striping, she won't have to fuss with changing colors and skeins of yarn!

Carole started another baby hat, this one for donation. It's just like the blue one in the photo earlier in the post called the 1-2-3 Baby Beanie.

Maureen is adding a sleeve to her Simple Baby Pullover. She is modifying the sleeves to be longer because the original pattern made the sleeves so short they would hardly keep a baby warm.

I'm waiting for Nancy to text me back with the name of this lovely pattern and yarn. Mistakenly, I thought I would remember both but... Nancy is our Queen of the Short Rows and every time I see a pattern that includes them, I think of her and send it to her. 

Her preferred method is the German Short Row. Update: Floatini Shawl with Arcane yarns

Tina started the TinCanKnits Beloved. It's a multi-size pattern for the cutest bonnet for infants to adults.

I am nearing the last few rows of the I-cord tie on my version of Beloved. It's a quick and easy project with just enough going on to keep you engaged but 

not so much that you can't be sociable while knitting it.

I like Yogi teas for the flavors but also for the inspirational quotations on the hang tags. This one was especially meaningful to me so I'd like to share it with you.

Next week we'll have a surprise visitor who pops in once a year when she's in the area. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!

Who knew October 7 would be a deck day?

The AC was turned back on after a couple of days of cooler nights and days. But yesterday was a high temp of 81 degrees and today was a pleasant 76! 

The prettiest tree in the neighborhood is trying to tell us fall is coming but the blue sky and warm days are telling a different story.

Dorah and Barbara bought yarn at the Adirondack Fiber Arts Festival a couple of weeks ago to knit the Grid Gambit Cowl. Dorah started hers with the solid colored yarn as the backdrop...

Barbara B is a little further along. She reversed the yarns and used the variegated yarn as the background color. Same cowl, slightly different look. Both are lovely!

Tina added some length to her Little Fisherman's Beanie since last week. Great colors for the fall.

Nancy's River Rush Slouch Hat is at the beginning stitches too. Her yarn color choice is so rich!

Barbara K just returned from a dream vacation with her siblings to Sicily and Italy, the home of her ancestors. She had a fabulous time and has great photos to show for it. Her hat is just beginning with a deep purply burgundy yarn in a bulky weight so it should be a quick knit.

Jan has arrived at a new color on her Beach Colors Baby Blanket. I love how cheerful it is!

Maureen was away this week celebrating her granddaughter's birthday so she didn't have much time to knit but there is some progress on her Simple Baby Pullover.

Take a good look at Dorah's Toybox Candy Cardigan because it is no more! She couldn't find her place so she frogged the whole sweater except for the sleeves! She didn't mind because it's a quick project so it won't take long to get back to this point.

I had to put the Beloved Bonnet aside last week because the beginning required too much attention. I finished the first half during the week and...

now I feel confident knitting the second half in public. That is until I reach the very end when it will require my full attention again.

That wraps up another week with my Chicks. Enjoy the nice weather while you can and keep those needles clicking.

P.S. I forgot to take photos of our weekly treat. Barbara B made delicious chocolate chip cookies!