A tableful of knitters

We had almost a full house of 9 Chicks today. Somehow we started reminiscing about schooldays and mean nuns in Catholic school and the teachers who were on the verge of nervous breakdowns because the kids in the class who were undiagnosed with ADHD would drive them bonkers. I began to name the "trouble makers" in my fourth grade class who would push poor, old Mrs. Kelly to her breaking point and Dorah was impressed I knew their names from 1958! Just don't ask me what I ate for breakfast! 😉 

Speaking of eating, Barbara B made sourdough chocolate-chocolate chip brownies for today's treat.

I was so busy knitting, I forgot to eat one so when the house was quiet, I poured myself a glass of eggnog and savored a yummy brownie. Soooo Good!!!

 Last week Dorah mentioned that one of her cowls she made a few years ago was coming apart, would I be able to fix it for her. This is The Shift which was a very popular Andrea Mowry pattern from 2018. For some unknown reason it had come apart right where the back seam is sewn. Some of the stitches were unraveling and we needed to catch it before it was completely ruined. Luckily, Dorah left a long tail from the end of a row which, after I caught the stitches with a crochet hook, I was able to anchor and knot using that strand of yarn. Saved just in the nick of time!

Dorah is working her second sock using the Knitting Pure and Simple pattern for a basic, vanilla sock. It is a well written pattern and makes a nice sturdy sock.

                                         

Nancy wore her Floatini today. The designer is very creative with her short row designs and Nancy loves knitting patterns which include short rows. Beautiful!

She is currently working on the Moss Hill Beanie which starts with a long cuff that folds up to make a warm, double thick brim. 

This hat is another pattern from our favorite hat designer, Benjamin Matthews.

Tina is working on a scarf using the honeycomb stitch. I didn't get a photo of the ball of yarn from which she is working but I have a hunch she could knit scarves for a small village and still have yarn left over.😂

Barbara B is making a DK weight, single stripe helix hat using the technique for jogless stripes from Grace O'Neill on YouTube. She is using another technique for the provisional cast on which uses a barber cord so she can fold the fabric to the inside and knit the provisional stitches together with the live stitches on the needle to create a double thick cuff.

Jan is working on the Be Simple Variations Shawl. 

She saw puffins on vacation and brought back souvenir yarn dyed the colors of the birds. 

It's going to be so pretty!

Maureen is working the ear flaps and cuff of the 1898 Hat and is planning on making stripes for the crown portion of the hat.

Do you remember the fingerless mitts with caps that Margaret was knitting last week? She was afraid she would run out of yarn before she could finish the second mitt so I suggested she stop knitting the first one and knit the second mitt to the same point as the first so she would have an idea of how far she could knit with each color. You can see on the right mitt that she has picked up stitches to knit the removable top.

She is working on a hat which requires less attention paid to it. Some projects lend themselves more to social knitting than others.

Carole has the last of the James C. Brett Marble yarn and is making a Mistake Stitch Scarf.

She has a neck lamp with an integrated magnifying glass to make knitting easier on her eyes. We all have noticed that we require better lighting when we knit than we used to. 

I found some bright red yarn in the stash with no label and started the Fifi Cowl for a donation project. The pattern is very easily memorized and works up quickly. The white yarn on the edge is my provisional cast on because I was too lazy to use the barber cord. LOL!

Now that the sun is setting, my hands and feet are feeling cold so I'm going to make a cup of tea and start cooking dinner. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Twas the week before Christmas

All the Chicks were knitting! And...

eating! We had two treats today! Barbara B made sourdough molasses gingerbread cookies and Jan made chocolate bark. Yummy on both plates! Barbara was out sick last week and Jan was afraid we'd go hungry because she wasn't sure if Barbara would be here this week so she made the bark. My Chicks take such good care of each other.

Carole finished the Squarshy Hat for the inventory. It uses bulky weight yarn so it works up quickly.

Nancy made a Swirl Hat for her 6 month old granddaughter. 

The yarn colors are perfect for a little baby girl!

Maureen's Helix Hat has such great colors! And even though it's an easy pattern, there is just enough going on to keep you interested but still be easy social knitting.

Carole chose a Christmas-y green bulky weight yarn to make...

the Easy Cabled Hat. The pattern calls for a size 8 needle for the ribbed cuff and size 10 for the crown. This would be a good pattern to practice cabling without a needle.

Nancy's current project is another hat for her granddaughter who will be the best dressed baby in town.

The Luuk Hat pattern includes instructions for sizes from preemie to adult and it's free!

Jan started a new project with the prettiest bright red yarn.

The One Skein Lima Neckerchief is a pattern that was designed specifically for alpaca yarn. Jan did bring to my attention that there is a mistake in the pattern 

but you can find the correction on the project page.

 

Dorah had some Noro yarn in her stash so she's making a basic beanie, cast on a whole whack of stitches, knit some ribbing for an inch or so, then knit every round until it looks like you should start decreasing the crown, then decrease to the closure at the top of the hat. 

I may have simplified that a bit. ;) LOL!

Barbara B started a new project called...

Basic Men's Large Beanie. She's practicing the technique for jogless stripes for multiple rounds of color and single rounds of color. 

On my needles is a DK weight yarn. I started to make a 2X2 knitted cap and then decided to make tiny twists with the knit2 stitches so it looks like mini cables. 

Nancy wore a gorgeous shawl she knitted for herself called Floatini. It requires a smooth fingering weight yarn and a mohair to create the leaves. If you like knitting short rows as Nancy does, this is the pattern for you. She used the German Short Rows technique but YouTube has many videos to teach other methods for short rows as well.

 We won't be meeting through the weeks of the holidays so let me take this time to wish you all a blessed holiday season and a happy new year. And don't forget...keep those needles clicking!