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!

Beth came to visit

If you look closely to the right side of the picture, wearing a white sweatshirt, there's Beth who was one of the original evening Chicks when we had two separate groups. Those were the days before everyone was retired. Beth made her annual trip to visit family and always squeezes in a day to come back to the flock. Barbara K and Dorah are the only ones in attendance today who knew her way back when. The other Chicks who know Beth had conflicts of schedule and were bummed to miss her. 

There's always next year.

Barbara B made sourdough apple fritter bread for our treat today. 

It was a tasty treat with lots of flavor and a moist texture.

                              

Nancy started the Little Ears Hat, a darling pattern with sizes from baby to adult. The pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn held together. Forgetting that she doesn't like to knit with bulky yarn and fat needles, Nancy was disappointed in the experience. I suggested she could use one strand and a slightly smaller needle and size it up or down accordingly. The next one she knits she will try my suggestion.

Dorah made good progress on her diagonal blanket and is so much happier with it 

than she was with the cardigan. The cheerful self-striping yarn will certainly brighten a little one's day.

I broke a Chicks rule of not knitting personal projects because I need to finish my grandson's hat on a deadline and I have many inches to go. I wove the scarf for my daughter using the colors of Ursinus College where my eldest grandson attends classes and plays football. The hat in the foreground is for him in a variation of the burgundy and gold. It looks large because it is based on the Musselburgh Hat which is reversible by tucking one hat inside the other. It's also larger in circumference to accommodate all his hair! LOL! The green and white hat is for my other grandson who requested a hat in the colors of the Philadelphia Eagles. That hat is based on the Soldiers Hat, a 2x2 ribbed cap.

Jan is using a nice navy tweed yarn to knit the Brooke Baby Blanket. It has a neat garter stitch border which transitions into a textured frame around the edges. This is a free pattern on Ravelry.

Beth is making socks from Cuff Club Volume 2 by Summer Lee. The cuff is adorned with lovely little cables and the heel uses the partridge stitch.

Tina is past the halfway mark on her Beloved baby hat. 

This is a great pattern which can be adapted for any size head.

Barbara B is making the Bernoulli Hat which has a panel of cables running up either side of the hat. This yarn is perfect for such great stitch definition! This is also a freebie on Ravelry.

Barbara K just started her favorite scarf, The Mistake Stitch. It's a good pattern for social knitting as it doesn't require a whole lot of concentration. It creates a nice thermal fabric to guard against the wind and is another free pattern!

As soon as I turned my back to walk the knitters to the door, guess who jumped up on a dining room chair. I always keep them covered when not in use because I know Fozzie likes to sit under the tablecloth. I think it's like when we were kids and made blanket tents or forts using the chair backs and a blanket. He enjoys his solitude.

Well, I need to get back to the hat knitting so I can deliver it in time. 

Have a great week and 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!

The last fiber festival of the year and April Fool! Or should I say November Fool?

Dorah, Barbara B, and I attended the Fiber Festival of New England two days ago. This is our favorite since it is held indoors at the Mallory Complex of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA so we don't have to deal with bad weather or the huge crowds of the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. My favorite expression is from Yogi Berra who said, "It's so crowded that no one goes anymore." I know what he meant and I agree. The attendance at the New England festival is a decent size which allows you to get close to the fun without getting stepped on.

And while we were there we had to thank our fiber friends for their contribution to our obsession I mean, our hobby. I just love those cute alpaca faces!

Barbara B's homemade treat this week was this delicious Nutella Sourdough Star Bread. The bread is a brioche recipe with a hint of sweetness and a light, fluffy texture. You can find the technique for folding it on YouTube here.

The reason I said November Fool! was because last week I honestly thought we wouldn't be having deck knitting anymore this year. And yet, here we are with a 70 degree sunny day and lovely breezes.

It was so nice even Fozzie decided to come out and get a breath of fresh air. At least that's what I've decided. It could have been that he heard the word "food" and thought we had something for him.

I've reached the decreasing portion on the Look Out! Winter Hat so it won't be 

long now to the finish line.

I sent the Chicks the link to a free pattern I saw over the weekend and Nancy jumped right on it and started the Foliage hat. It was free for a limited time but now it's a paid pattern. She didn't have the appropriate yarn for it in her stash and HAD to buy some. She couldn't decide between two colors so she got both! That's what I would do! 😉

This is the yarn Barbara B bought at the festival on Sunday which was accompanied by the pattern for the Sunset Bridge Shawl.

 The pretty yarn colors are reminiscent of the desert of the American Southwest.

Dorah made progress on her Mistake Stitch Scarf and has more yarn to make another.

Maureen's Totally Biased Infinity Scarf will be knitted to twice this length so it can be wrapped twice around the neck.

 If I recall, the pattern explains how to knit this in any weight yarn and your desired width.

Jan started the Reverb Shawl with a pretty variegated yarn. It begins with a garter tab cast on to create a neat continuous garter edging along the neckline.

Dorah completed the tweed hat she has been knitting these past few weeks. The white yarn has a slightly tan variation to it that creates depth to the fabric colors.

I'm going to spend a little more time on the deck now before the sun goes down and it gets too chilly. Enjoy the week and keep those needles clicking!