Sharing plans for Thanksgiving

Everyone is making plans for Thanksgiving next week. Some of the ladies are cooking and some are guests and some are doing both! Some will stay home and some will celebrate while on vacation. Nancy said she is not known for her cooking prowess but her SIL loves her carrot cake so she's making it for him. I'm waiting to hear what my kids are doing before I put my plans on the calendar.

We had some FOs this week. That hat that Barbara K was knitting for the last few weeks is ready for the inventory, the 2x2 ribbed hat.

Barbara B finished the Flight Formation Beanie, a pattern from our favorite hat designer, Benjamin Matthews. His patterns are so well written and easy to knit.

I finished the I-cords on the Kitty Toy Hat which was a modification of a pattern for a toy hat. The headband on the right is something I just played with until I liked what I got. The pattern is written on my Ravelry page.

 I had leftover yarn that was too much to just toss but was just enough for a baby headband.

I knitted almost nonstop for five days to complete my Grid Gambit Cowl and loved every minute of it. This was so easy to knit and easy to memorize and for me to say that is high praise! I like it so much I set aside two lovely colors to start another one someday soon.

 This is Tina's Grid Gambit for which she is using the yarns she trusted me to buy for her at the last yarn festival I attended. We all swooned over the colors and how beautiful it looks!

Barbara B and Jan are knitting the same Simple Sideways Triangle Scarf. Barb's is knitted in DK weight yarn with a size 6 needle and Jan's is fingering weight with a size 4 needle so they will be slightly different in dimensions. Ravelry still lists the pattern in the files but it is unavailable unless you printed it out or saved it digitally.

Barbara is using Whole Knit n' Caboodle sport weight yarn for hers...

in a pretty autumn fiery variegated yarn.

and Jan's is a souvenir yarn she picked up in Canada I think she said. 

It reminds me of roasted autumn root vegetables! Pretty!!!

I had some left over Plymouth Encore yarn and decided to make a jogless single stripe hat using 

Grace O'Neill's technique.

Dorah is still working on her corner to corner baby blanket. Great colors!

Carole's 1-2-3 Baby beanie is for her newest grandson. The pattern has two versions available so she's making the first option.

Maureen's baby cardigan is getting the lower ribbing and then she'll pick up the stitches to knit the sleeves.

I don't know how Margaret does it but she's following a charted design and talking at the same time! I have projects that are strictly "alone knitting" and this would fall under that category!

Nancy is knitting a 1-2-3 Baby Beanie too.

I could have sworn Barbara K said she found this pattern on Ravelry but I'm not finding results. Anyway, she said she'll turn this into a scarf since she doesn't tend to wear cowls. 

Edited: Barbara B found the link to the pattern on Ravelry. Thanks Barb!!!

Her yarn choice is lovely!

She has good taste in colors as you can see by the pretty scarf she wore today. 

It's the Country Rows Shawlette which I designed in 2009.

Barbara B's treat today was a sourdough hand pie. We had our choice of filling, fig or blueberry. 

Mmm, mmm, good!

We haven't decided if we're meeting next week since it's so close to Thanksgiving. So if I don't get to say it then, here's wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving and keep those needles clicking!

Check out the new additions to the stash!

The Chicks all showed up looking beautiful in their shawls and scarves. By this time I had already removed my cowl due to overheating but you'll see it later. The buzz today was all about...

 Saturday's annual field trip to the New England Fiber Festival at the Big E in West Springfield, MA. It was Jan's first time here but Dorah, Barbara B, and I are veteran shoppers. Sunday Jan confessed that she probably won't be going again but after speaking to a friend who said she would love to attend, Jan jumped right in and offered to drive her next year! LOL! There seemed to be more vendors than in the recent past so maybe it has recovered from the COVID years now. We had a great time petting all the lovely yarns and checking out everyone's knitted garments. 

Dorah purchased such gorgeous colors. I think one of the combos will be for the Grid Gambit cowl. We all love Terri Bartosik's hand dyed yarns called Whole Knit n' Caboodle so there are a couple of those here on the far right.

Jan made wise purchases from Whole Knit n' Caboodle too. The two on the right might become the Sister Act:Twisted Sister Scarf by Lyrical Knits, a mosaic knit pattern. I've searched all over Ravelry but can't find the pattern. You might have better luck. She's still pondering what the other two colors will be.

My purchase of two DK weight yarns from Whole Knit n' Caboodle will become the Grid Gambit.

Then I found my new favorite jewelry for your knits called Jul Designs. The designer collaborates with a metal worker in Indonesia to make the most beautiful buttons and shawl pins. This is my new shawl clasp which comes apart so the two buttons can be used individually or with the leather clasp. I wore it on my Shift Cowl today which is knitted with another great color combo from Whole Knit n' Caboodle.

Tina couldn't come with us to the festival so she put me in charge of choosing a set of yarns in autumnal colors for her Grid Gambit Cowl. I was so relieved when she said she loved them! Again, a great find from Whole Knit n' Caboodle.

We got straight to work winding the skeins so she could start knitting right away.

I finished a baby beanie, no pattern, just cast on a bunch of stitches and knit until it's time to decrease. Just above the hat are two little pieces which will become teddy bear ears to sew to the hat.

Barbara K's 2X2 ribbed hat is growing longer. This hat is good to make when you don't know the exact size needed because those ribs expand or contract to whatever head it needs to fit.

We had moments of "I have a question" that made the rounds. But putting our collective knowledge together means someone always has an answer.

Jan needed to make a pompom for the hat she knitted and because Margaret uses a similar accessory to make hers, she was able to assist.

And there you have a sweet pompom for the hat.

And here's the hat! I got so busy helping that I neglected to get 

a picture of it with its new pompom though.

Nancy is working on a 1-2-3 Baby Beanie.

The border is knitted in the round in garter stitch which is done by alternating a knit round with a purl round. This leaves a little blip where the first and last stitch meet so Margaret and Nancy tried to fudge it. After trying many different methods they asked me what I do. I'm not sure they liked my answer of nothing. I just let it ride, blip and all! LOL!

Barbara B picked up this gorgeous red yarn for free at the festival on Saturday. Periwinkle Sheep was giving yarn away for free to people who had been furloughed. Barbara offered to pay for it but they wouldn't let her. She mentioned she knits for charity so it will be donated through our group. That made the people at the booth very happy. She is knitting the Simple Pleasures Hat from Purl Soho.

Speaking of Barbara B, her homemade treat today was Sourdough Date Walnut bread. I was so busy I didn't get to have any yet but my after dinner treat will be this with a cup of warm tea. 

Mmmm! I can't wait! (my husband said it was delicious!)

Mr. Fozzie spent almost the whole afternoon sitting at the head of the table and we didn't realize he was there until I got up to take photos. He's becoming quite the social butterfly!💗

But right now he's just being pesky by trying to eat the wires to my computer, my sleeve, my ankles, whatever he thinks will get me up to feed him...AGAIN! I never had a cat that was so food obsessed! So I better get going before he electrocutes himself. 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!