Summer feels like it has arrived

It was 84 degrees this afternoon so it's a good thing I had both fans going and the curtains up or we wouldn't have been able to sit outside. I guess it was too hot for the local bears to be out and about today too. That was a topic of conversation today since just a couple of days ago there was a black bear spotted a block away and the wrought iron bird feeder pole was bent down to the ground with the feeders scattered. It's been about 5 years now (since a new set of townhouses were built) that we have a "visitor" at least once each spring. One of the big boys was walking down my driveway last year like he paid the mortgage!!! They are magnificent animals but I'd rather see them on tv, not while I'm taking a walk! 😟

 Barbara B made a beautiful hat called "Through the Forest" with American Ewe yarn. That red is stunning! It has a good amount of stretch so it will fit a wide range of head sizes.

I ran out of yarn before I could finish 7 repeats of the cable motif on the Benjamin Matthews hat called Rock Ridge Beanie. Even cutting it short by 3 repeats it will fit an adult with a small to medium sized head.

The whole weekend was a washout as far as my knitting goes. I tried to use a very soft baby alpaca yarn that was gifted to me but after frogging 5 different patterns, I decided to put the yarn away and try something else. Last night my DH had to tell me to step away from the knitting and go play a video game because I was still having issues. But today I took a kid silk mohair and a merino and held them together to knit a simple triangle and so far it's working. I'm thinking I'll knit it wide enough to fit over my head and around my neck and turn it into a cowl.

Barbara B's Workday Scarf is nearing completion. It's such a pretty yarn!

Maureen made tons of progress on her Bankhead hat. Another stunning red yarn but this is a Malabrigo yarn. Both the Workday Scarf and Bankhead patterns are freebies too!

Check out the beautiful detail on Cinzia's Cassidy Rose Scarf!

It's a paid pattern on Ravelry. It's one of those patterns that you knit from tip to tip and it's reversible. It's a good idea to weigh your yarn so you know when to start decreasing for the opposite side so you don't run out of yarn before finishing.

Tina told me what she was making but I neglected to write it down. I'll have to ask her next week.

  

But her French Twist Scarf is finished with its sweet little scalloped edge.

Nancy's Workday Scarf, like Barbara B's is almost finished too! I'm going to have to hunt through my stash to find a yarn and make one of these. I really like the simplicity of it but the lace edge has enough going on to keep it entertaining.

I found the picture I took, from a good distance, of Yogi, who wandered down my driveway last year. He's (or she's) a big boy/girl! If you don't bother them, they won't bother you. We just make sure there's no food around the house. 

I would love to see Fozzie's reaction to it but he's always asleep somewhere and misses the visits. 

That's all I have for you this week. Check back next Tuesday to see what we've finished...and maybe see another bear!!! Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

I just realized I forgot to show you our sourdough treat from Barbara B for this week! Sorry Barb! We had delicious Fudge Brownie cookies! How could I forget?!?!

Can you believe I didn't knit from Friday afternoon to Monday?!?!

But I had a legitimate reason! My babies were visiting!!! Well, I guess since they're both towering over me I can't call them babies anymore. They finished their first year of college and high school and are looking forward to summer jobs. I wish they didn't live so far away. Three days isn't long enough to spend with them. We had a great time though. Leo (the younger one) made a delicious chicken and dumpling dinner from scratch on Saturday for all of us. He loves his culinary arts class this semester and I love having him show me what he's learned! Poppop took them for a golf lesson and then a quick 9 holes before it rained on Saturday. So it was a full weekend of fun, hugs, and kisses. 

Now, on to the knitting news this week.

It was almost a full deck today. Cinzia and Carole had conflicts but everyone else was here.

 Margaret just started the Bewind Hat. It is a freebie on Ravelry and has a nice raised diagonal stitch design on a stockinette background for an easy project.

Jan worked on her Simple Little Scarf and by the time she left...

it was finished and just the ends needed weaving in. This is also a freebie pattern on Ravelry.

Dorah is working hard at making her One Row Handspun Scarf longer (another freebie). She is using a baby alpaca yarn for the softest fabric!

And Nancy confessed she hasn't worked at all on her Workday Scarf. But she had a real good reason. She was touring the island of Kauai!!! She had a lovely time and is back to her knitting projects.

Barbara B is about at the middle of her Mill City Shawl (another free pattern) for which she is using a pretty variegated fingering weight yarn.

Maureen finished her 1898 Hat and has start a ribbed cuff for another pattern of which I didn't get the name.

Barbara K didn't have a label for this pretty yarn but...

she is using the same One Row Handspun Scarf pattern that Dorah is knitting. The long slow color changes will make a pretty effect to the overall look of the fabric.

The cuff is growing on my Rock Ridge Beanie, a Benjamin Matthews hat pattern. I think this is  a Cascade 220 superwash wool yarn. Somewhere along the way I lost the label.

Tina is on the decreasing side of her French Twist scarf. It looks just like the sample in the pattern!

And don't let me forget to describe Barbara B's sourdough apple donut cake! It was moist and tender and not so sweet that you could feel the decay forming in your teeth!!! LOL! Deeeelicious!!!

Well, I need to make up for the missed knitting hours this weekend so I better wrap this up. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Back inside!

The sun has not yet reached the deck so it was much cooler outside today therefore we are back indoors. My photographer had previous obligations today so I had to come up with a method for taking our group picture. I just happened to have a little cheap plastic easel that I propped up in the corner and was actually able to set the self timer on my phone camera to give me time to be in the shot with everyone else. My IT guy (aka my son) will be so impressed! NOT! LOL! 

I finished two projects this week for the Falcon Boutique. This first one was a VERY close victory in the game of yarn chicken!

This is the Fifi Cowl, a paid pattern on Ravelry. I used a Periwinkle Sheep yarn that I purchased at the Rhinebeck festival in 2013. Sometimes you have to wait for the yarn to tell you what it wants to be. In this case, I should also have listened to it tell me to read the pattern requirements more than once. In my defense, I might have been tired. I could have sworn the pattern said "a skein" of 100 yards of DK weight yarn. As I was rapidly running out of yarn to make a reversible cable, long cowl, I reread the pattern and saw it called for TWO SKEINS!!! Oh well, it is now a small cozy cowl. 

I did the same thing calculating yardage for this headband. At least I didn't have to rip it out. Maybe I should have my knitting license revoked. 😟

 Carole started a Sophie Scarf using a pretty lilac yarn. Her I-cord edges are so neat and tidy!

Maureen is making the Olive You Baby sweater. It has an asymmetrical front with this lovely cable. She's using a stunning Malabrigo yarn, a color that will knock your socks off!

Jan is working hard at her Simple Sideways Triangle Scarf. Sometimes a project seems like it's taking forever to complete. And sometimes, it is! 😉

Tina finally used up that huge skein of yarn and completed her Petal Showers Hat.

And she has moved on to the French Twist Scarf using a pretty variegated green fingering weight yarn. It looks just like the scarf on the pattern page on Ravelry.

Dorah is enjoying the experience of knitting Stephanie Pearl McPhee's One Row Handspun Scarf. The baby alpaca yarn makes it soft as down.

Barbara K started a scarf at home and didn't like the results so she is making up a triangle as she goes. Looking great so far!

I have yarn left over from a previous project so I am winging it too. I was thinking of knitting a mosaic design but after casting on all those stitches and realizing I did not have the correct multiples to accomplish a complete motif, I decided to knit a corrugated ribbing all the way. We'll see what these next few hours bring. There might be some frogging in my future.

My stomach is telling me it's time for a piece of fruit so I'm going to try to sneak a mandarin orange without Fozzie hearing me. Wish me luck! In the meantime, have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

It feels like spring!

Aw! I just noticed that we didn't get Jan in the group picture today! She had an appointment and arrived late but we did enjoy her company today. We caught up on news about the grandchildren, future trips, and who we saw at the No Kings Rally on Saturday. Those of us who were able to attend wore our red Melt the Ice Hats. It was a very well attended and uplifting gathering where we saw many of our friends.

 Barbara B's treat today was a seasonally appropriate Hot Cross Buns...

Sourdough of course! The apricot glaze and orange zest played nicely with the raisins.

Carole worked on her cowl with the vintage yarn from her stash. I asked for the pattern name but she is making it up as she goes.

Her second project is the Squarshy Hat with the vertical focal points running up the crown.

Barbara B worked on the 1898 Hat with a Valley Yarns heather green yarn.

Margaret worked on the same hat pattern but she isn't as far along as Barbara.

Jan started the Dotty Cashmere Cowl. The dots are made by knitting a purl stitch in the field of knit stockinette. It's a very subtle design element.

Nancy's project is the Copycat Cowl. 

It is a freebie on Ravelry and I believe there are hat patterns to match.

Barbara K's scrap happy hat has grown many inches since last week. This is another basic beanie made up on the fly.

I was in the home stretch of the French Twist scarf and...

finished it just in time to snap a picture. I used Universal Yarns Bamboo Pop, a bamboo and cotton blend yarn.

I made a Grid Gambit cowl for a dear Pennsylvanian friend and it will be delivered to her in a week. But she'll get to see it tonight when we FaceTime. She picked out the yarns when I visited Terri's studio and connected through FaceTime. It's a great way to shop. That's how my husband bought me an Irish knit Coat Sweater and Poncho when he visited Ireland on a golf trip a few years ago. I still remember how kind Geraldine, the sales lady, was and how helpful it all turned out because both items fit perfectly!

I was so inspired by how quickly it knit up, 7 days start to finish, that I immediately cast one on for myself and just yesterday knitted 60 rows already! And I'm not a fast knitter by any stretch of the imagination!

Lastly, I finished a cowl which started out as a lace shawl but 13 rows in I was already having issues with stitch count and splitty yarn. I made the mistake of falling in love with the lovely gradient hues and not the fiber itself so I made a simple cowl which showcases the colors. I still have a lot of this yarn left over but will give myself a break before I struggle with it again.

Life's too short to fret over yarn and as I always say, if it's not fun, don't do it! 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!