Red Velvet Cookies and knitting

Barbara B. made sourdough red velvet cookies for us to munch on today. They were moist, chewy, and chocolatey good!

You don't see any knitting on the table because we were so busy talking and snacking that I almost forgot to have my husband take our picture.

 Everyone had packed up to leave when he was summoned to be on duty.

Barbara brought two FO's today. The Bella cardigan is a lacy little sweater with sweet details on the sleeves and button bands. It's a purchased pattern on Ravelry.

Her second FO is the Twig Bonnet, a free pattern with a size range from newborn to 2 years old. It begins with flat knitting and then is joined in the round to close the back of the hat. 

The I-cord ties are knitted on last.

Currently on her needles is the Tiny Isla cardigan, another freebie on Ravelry.

She's using a DK weight yarn and will have a sweet ensemble when this is completed.

Last week I showed you a cowl which Nancy had started using two pastel yarns. The further she knitted, the more she was dissatisfied with the result. So she frogged it and decided to use the yarns, combined with other colors, to make two Helix Hats.

She is much happier with these two projects.

Annika is working on a project for her church bazarre.

 It looks like a variation on the Feather and Fan lace scarf.

Her friend gave her the yarn to make it. 

There is a sparkly strand that runs through the yarn that adds a bit of pizazz.

I started the Sweet Pea Cardi because the pattern said I had just the right amount of yarn to make the smallest size. But the more I knitted, the more I realized there was a problem. It turns out I read the description incorrectly or confused it with another pattern. Instead of 300 yards of yarn, the Sweet Pea uses a minimum of 400 yards. Ooops! So what you see here is no longer on the needle. 

Plan B will have to be consulted.

Maureen started the Totally Biased Cowl which begins with a provisional cast on that is later grafted to the last row, completely hiding the seam in the stockinette section for an endless infinity cowl.

Jan picked up her Changing Staircases Shawl. The short color change of the yarn moves along the pattern of lace and stockinette sections.

Janna is finally nearing the end of her Someday Baby Blanket. 

This ball of yarn is all that is left as she nears completion.

Sending you all best wishes for a safe and happy Independence Day. And keep those needles clicking!

 

Brownies for Dorah

"Someone" was the first to arrive at knitting group today. He took the chair right beside me and stayed until the first Chick arrived. He made a couple of appearances to check out everyone's knitting bag to be sure they weren't trying to sneak in any contraband. LOL! Then Fozzie scurried away until 3 o'clock when he heard the door close after the last Chick left. 

Since Dorah missed Barbara B's homemade sourdough brownies the last time she made them, Barbara was kind enough to bring them again for all of us to enjoy.

In between nibbling the delicious brownies and knitting we talked about composting do's and don'ts and how you can now be composted after death instead of the traditional burial. I wouldn't mind giving back to Mother Earth after all the good she's done for me! Then Dorah piped up that we managed to not talk politics all the way until 2:17pm! It's one of the by laws that we try to obey but Dorah always brings it up and we get a good belly laugh at the timing. Barbara B. is usually the one to make note of the time but Dorah played timekeeper today. Luckily, we are pretty much like minded individuals so there's never an argument and sometimes we get new information we might have missed. But for the most part we try to keep our discussions light and entertaining.

Carole completed the Helix Baby Hat I showed you last week, adorable! And has already picked yarn...

for the next one. It's a great way to use up small left overs that would otherwise 

wind up as trash or bird nests.

She is currently working on this cute little cardigan called Knit Baby Jacket Set. It's a freebie on Ravelry.

And just look at the adorable self patterning yarn she chose for it! The process strategically dyes the yarn to produce little flower buds and saves you from having to knit Fair Isle patterning.

Nancy finished her Dot Shawl by Casapinka and wore it to show us how beautiful it is. She did a lovely job of knitting and blocking it for a perfect finish!

Her current project uses these two yarns. The one on the right was the remains of a baby blanket she knitted for her daughter's friend.

Now they will come together to make a helix baby hat. We both loved how the little blips of color pop up every now and then for a pretty pattern.

Dorah is finishing up the body of the baby sweater she's working on. This is the point where she will start the garter stitch edge to match the button bands. The next step will be to put the sleeve stitches on a circular needle to knit them in the round. I have found that when I transition from flat knitting the body to knitting the sleeves in the round that the stitches look different. That's because when you knit a row and purl a row for flat stockinette stitch the wrong side stitches are looser than the right side stitches, as opposed to knitting every round where every row is knit stitch, it becomes more tightly knit. So I always go up a needle size to make up for the discrepancy.

I started the afternoon trying to finish up my Easy Shawl by Martina Behm but was easily bored and switched to...

the Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater for which I am using a self striping yarn. I have a few inches more to go before I can start the sleeves. I think I will use the magic loop and knit two at a time so they are the same exact size.

Margaret is about halfway through her helix baby hat. She will knit it to 5 inches or so and begin the decrease portion to close the top of the hat.

Barbara B. finished one of her baby socks and has the second started. She's using DP's, double pointed needles to knit them.

Jan's Changing Staircase Shawl is coming along nicely. She said she has the rubber mat tiles that fit together like a puzzle so she can block and pin it into place to open up the pretty lace sections of the shawl.

That's a wrap (pun intended) for today. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

A snowbird returns

If you look at the far end of the table, between Dorah on the left and Barbara B on the right, you'll see Jan who has returned from her winter break. She spent time in California and Florida where she said it was too cold to do the usual vacation activities so she had lots of time to knit. 

It's good to have you back Jan! 

Today's hot topic was about sourdough because Barbara B made delicious carrot cake cupcakes! She schooled us on all the varieties of food you can make with sourdough starter. It's not just for bread!

Nancy was getting pointers from Carole on how to make a Helix Hat. Carole loves them because they use up small amounts of yarn leftovers.

Carole wasn't sure about the selection of leftovers but they blended together beautifully to make a cheerful little baby hat.

Nancy is nearing the finish line on her Dot Shawl. She has decided to do the edging in just the purple yarn to highlight the little bobbles.

Janna found a lovely superwash merino in her stash in enough quantity to make a baby blanket. The Someday Baby Blanket in this yarn will have great stitch definition to highlight the basket weave design.

Barbara B started a pair of baby socks using TAAT magic loop method (two at a time). It's a good way to insure you get two socks of the same exact size...ask me how I know. LOL!

I will never knit two socks separately again!

Jan started a Changing Staircases Shawl, a free pattern on Ravelry. The variegated yarn will add some movement to the stockinette sections.

Dorah started a baby cardigan for a friend's baby and set it aside. That baby is probably in fourth grade now so the Chicks' inventory will benefit from her procrastination.

Cinzia designed a sweater for herself and is working both sleeves together on one needle. This will insure all decreases and design motifs will be the same on both sleeves, just like the TAAT socks.

Annika's lace scarf is getting longer. She said the pattern is an easy one to memorize even though it looks complicated. There is only one row to which you have to pay attention. The others are just knit or purl all stitches.

Margaret cast on 60 stitches to start a baby hat.

I didn't get a chance to ask, but these are the two yarns she will incorporate into the design. 

I'm thinking stripes most likely.

I'm working on the Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater which is a free pattern on Ravelry. It suggests buttons all the way to the bottom edge but I think I'll just use three.

Barbara B completed this adorable Short Row Baby Hat using the yarn that my daughter dyed with Kool Ait. The yarn is a soft baby alpaca which will require gentle care but hats don't get washed all that much...do they?

Carole used a 100% acrylic yarn about which she wasn't all that crazy but the finished Beach Pebbles Cowl turned out to her liking. It looks great and has such nice texture.

I spent ages vacuuming cat fur off the velvet seat cushions this morning so the Chicks wouldn't leave my house with "souvenirs" attached to their clothing. Guess what happened the second the last person left and the door closed! You can tell by the expression in his eyes that Fozzie knows the rules but just doesn't care! LOL! 

It's a good thing he's cute! 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

My cheeks hurt from laughing so much

Our topics of conversation today turned hilarious but unfortunately cannot be repeated delicately enough to tell you about them. Let's just say some of the conveniences that benefit our children would have made our lives so much easier if only they had been invented 40 years ago! Barbara B. really got us rolling with laughter when she said she couldn't wait to read the blog today to see how I was going to word it. I promise not to throw anyone under the bus but my face still hurts from laughing! Ahhh! It's nice to have friends to share a hearty laugh!

This week's episode starts with some FO's. Margaret did not run out of yarn on the hat she was knitting last week. She was down to a very small ball of yarn and wondered if it would make it to the end. Even if it didn't, there's always Plan B where you bind off early and leave a hole for the pony tail to fit through.

Dorah went stash diving and found this lovely hand dyed yarn that is so soft! It didn't have a label so we don't have the fiber content but it's like a silky cloud!

Barbara K. is hooked! We told her she would enjoy Helix Hat knitting and she agreed with the first of her Helix knitting using Cascade 220 leftovers. A few pictures down you'll see the second one she has already started.

Dorah blocked her Changing Staircases Shawl and it's ready for the inventory. It's a lovely shawl and she said an easy pattern to knit while watching TV or having a conversation.

I finished the Carol's Clever Little Shawl for myself in time to get some wear out of it over my summer sundresses. It took me about 8 days to complete and I love the tencel/wool fiber content for the way it drapes gracefully over my shoulders.

Currently, I'm working on two projects simultaneously. This is the 1898 Hat which I dropped the needle size down to a 6 to make it a bit smaller. The stitches become denser as a result so it will be totally windproof!

 

The second project is called Waldkind which translates to Kid of the Forest. It was a paid pattern on Ravelry and starts out in a very unconventional way. The pattern instructions have you pull off a length of yarn to completely knit the leaf from a provisional cast on and then the stitches are picked up to continue knitting the I-cord and scarf or shawl if you prefer. It ends with another I-cord and leaf at the opposite point. I estimated how much yarn to start with and ran out about 3/4 of the way through the leaf. Luckily, the yarn is alpaca and I could spit splice the other ball of yarn to finish the leaf.

Barbara B. is working on the Elis cowl which is a free pattern on Ravelry. The lace stitch is called Indian Cross stitch and will need to be blocked to reveal the beauty of the pattern. The yarn is such a pretty color and very soft to the touch.

Maureen added some length to her Close To You Shawl but needed to work on...

the baby gift she's making for a friend. 

She has one sleeve done, one to go on the Olive You Baby Sweater.

Margaret started another Helix Hat as well. It's a great pattern for stash busting those small balls of leftover yarns that are too much to just toss away.

And as promised, here is Barbara K's next Helix in the works already. 

Dorah couldn't find the name of the pattern for this shawl she started but it is knitted straight along one edge and increased on the other until you reach half of the ball of yarn used up and then the side is decreased down to the other point. She is using a Poems yarn that has a gradient effect.

The name of the pattern Jan is knitting made me LOL! It's called Sleeping with the Zucchini! It is an asymmetrical triangle with a lace border so it's easy but will hold the interest of the knitter making it.

My husband came home from serving his duties as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador for the Capital District and bought dinner from the ribbon cutting celebration. The restaurant serves authentic Lebanese food and I can't wait to dig in. I'll let you know how it is next week but just the aromas tell me I'm going to love it.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!