A delightful day on the deck

Nancy, Maureen, Barbara B, and Margaret joined me for a delightfully breezy afternoon on the deck. Topics of conversation included pickleball pet peeves, who likes to do laundry (yes, some of these ladies actually enjoy it), who likes to cook and who doesn't, and pets. Fozzie came out to visit for a couple of seconds but disappeared again after he discovered no one was going to give him treats. 

Where's Dorah when you need her?!?!

It is quite obvious that Barbara B is one of those who likes to cook as evidenced by her wonderful contributions each week. 

This week we had sourdough oatmeal quick bread which was heavy and dense with flavor.

Maureen started a hat for her grandson who outgrew his previous teddy bear hat and wants another one.

Barbara and I attended the Whole Knit n' Caboodle studio sale last week and came away with some goodies. She fell in love with a kit that Terri assembled with all she needs to knit 

On the Spice Market Shawl.

The kit contains all the colors in the required amounts to knit the shawl so there is no waste.

I restrained myself to three skeins, two taupey beige colors to knit men's hats and this lovely light aqua on the right to go with the deep teal which was a gift and has been begging me for a friend. I'm thinking of knitting the "I Am Not Who You Think I Am" cowl 

but will have to find out if the yarn agrees with me.

Margaret worked on her Helix Hat. She said somewhere along the way she dropped one of the colors and cannot retrieve it so she's just going with the flow. Design element!

Nancy started this Dotty Cowl with...

two very pretty autumn colors.

She completed her Chevron Rib beanie and made it a little shorter as per Barbara B's suggestion.

Nancy also visited Terri's studio sale and came away with two lovely fall colored yarns. She's waiting for them to tell her what they want to be.

I'm still plugging away at the Phazelia Mitered Baby jacket. Just 10 more increased stitches to go before I can move on to the next step, sleeves.

Oh, I forgot to tell you Margaret attended the studio sale too and bought this lovely variegated yarn to make a little sweater for her grandson. Terri does such a great job dying her yarns. I always find something to love!

"Someone" is trying to convince me it's close enough to dinner time to refill his dish but sorry Fozzie, you'll have to wait until 5PM just like the rest of us.

It's only another 45 minutes from now. He won't waste away ;). 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

An almost full house

Even though three of my Chicks were absent, we still had a pretty full coop today! We were all happy to be inside protected from the blustery cold outdoors.

The treat du jour was Barbara B's sourdough raspberry shortbread bars, so good! I wonder if she ever makes a dud. Maybe she just doesn't tell us about those. LOL!

 

Barbara also knits in her spare time 😂. The top of this hat is striped as in a Helix Hat so she is working out how to best arrange the three yarns to make it easy on herself.

The Cold Brew Hat pattern is for sale on Ravelry. 

It has lots of design features to keep the knitting interesting.

I started the Ottlie Scarf and everything was going smoothly, as long as I was knitting alone in my room. This afternoon was a different story. I always stop knitting a repeating pattern at the last row of the repeat so there is no question about where I left off. But this time, it didn't look right. This was the picture I took last night before everything went south. Now I have to frog it back to the beginning and start all over since I haven't been able to figure out what row was my last. UGH!

Luckily, I had a brioche ear warmer started. This is Royal Icing Headband which is offered on Ravelry for sale or free with a code. If you read the description, it tells you how to get it for free. The Chicks have requested we do a KAL of this pattern so look for it in the coming weeks.

Nancy started the Dotty Cowl, a pattern she has enjoyed knitting in the past.

You can see the start of the checkerboard design emerging.

Dorah is finishing up a pair of socks for her daughter before winter is over. She had a recommendation for everyone that gave us all a chuckle. After recently flying out of state to visit one of her kids, she remarked how pleasant it was "flying while gray". She said she never had so many people be so helpful in getting her luggage into the overhead compartment. See! There are some advantages to being a senior citizen. Personally, I always ask if there's a senior discount. 😉

Margaret jumped on the Helix Hat bandwagon and picked a pretty combo of colors.

And Barbara K's Helix Hat is almost finished. What a pretty pastel combo!

Maureen continues to work on her Helix Hat and started a hat for which I forgot to get the pattern name. It looks like bulky weight or Aran weight yarn so it shouldn't take too long to knit.

Carole finished a pretty powder blue cabled hat using bulky weight yarn and 8 and 10.5 needles.

The Easy Cabled Hat is a freebie on Ravelry.

And she's pretty close to finishing up her colorufl 2X2 ribbed beanie.

A couple of weeks ago I was working on the Hoodola by Laura Nelkin. I thought I wouldn't have enough yellow yarn to make the casing for the opening and still have more for the I-cord so I found two sock weight yarns that had just enough yellow to hold the theme and made the casing with them held together. Then there was plenty of yarn for the I-cord!

The Helix Hat that was in progress last week is now in the inventory. I made this with superwash merino yarn so it can be machine washed and dried, gentle cycle.

And I slipped a little something in between donation projects for myself. It's the Easy Goes It Scarf, not to be confused with the Easy Does It. I bought the merino/bamboo fingering weight yarn at a Whole Knit n' Caboodle studio sale last summer in a one of a kind colorway. I love the way it turned out! Teri said she was experimenting with dying a cake ombre' and I love it!

Well, I guess I better get crackin' on that mistake in the Ottlilie scarf. It will have to be an isolation project that I knit all by myself without interruptions! So have a great week and check back next time. Maybe I'll get back on track by next Tuesday. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!!!

Time to take inventory

Today was the day we look through all the items that were painstakingly created over the last few months and try to remember the names of the patterns. Or what fiber we used. Or who made it! It's always fun to revisit a project after it has been completed and set aside for a new one. 

Included in our donation to Things of My Very Own are as follows:

3 Hat and scarf sets, 3 hat and sweater sets, 55 hats, 3 pairs of socks, 8 cowls, 8 baby and toddler sweaters, 4 scarves, 1 pair fingerless mitts, and 5 stuffed chicken toys. Our grand total is 90 items (100 if you count pairs as two separate items because it's twice the work). Great job Chicks!!!

We will make the drop off tomorrow then decide our next project recipient.

In the meantime, we are all casting on for new projects because, well, because we can! I don't know about the rest of you but I cannot let knitting needles sit idly by and not be working with my hands.

I started the Orchard Harvest Beanie, a really nice pattern designed by one of my current favorite designers, Benjamin Matthews. His patterns are well written and easy to follow. He releases his patterns for free for a limited time and then they must be purchased on Ravelry. If you join a Facebook page for Ravelry Free Patterns you could be one of the lucky ones who finds his patterns when they are still free.

Jan also just started a hat called Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend and it's a freebie!

Her color choice for the yarn is a good one for showing off the lacy diamond pattern.

Carole started the Squarshy Hat, another freebie designed for bulky weight yarn. See how nice the details show up in this color yarn. 

She is also working on a Mistake Stitch Cowl. I don't know if this is the exact pattern she is using but it's one of many on Ravelry.

Barbara K laughingly calls this The Scarf that Never Ends. It's a lovely fabric but it takes so long because of the small gauge needles and yarn. It's the Mistake Stitch Scarf FYI.

Nancy picked out two complimentary colors to make a cowl which she is finding a lot of fun to knit.

The Dotty Cowl is a colorwork project with so many color possibilities. And it's free!

Barbara B is getting beautiful stitch definition for her new hat.

The Spruski Hat uses a DK weight yarn and has nice design elements. It's a paid pattern on Ravelry.

And don't let me forget this week's delicious contribution, Barbara B's sourdough cinnamon buns! MMMM! I'm still licking my fingers!

Well, I need to prepare dinner and feed the always hungry Fozzie so 

have a great week and keep those needles clicking!