We knit so we won't eat

Today's hot topic was our family food traditions and ethnic flavors. Some of us remember The Feast of the Seven Fishes in our Italian families, the German butcher in Albany where you can still buy wursts, or the traditional foods we brought to school in our lunch box that drew curious stares from fellow students.

And then Barbara B. presented Dorah with her homemade sourdough Jewish Deli Rye that she made from scratch. Dorah cut into it immediately so we could all have a taste. Mmmm! And of course we all admired Barbara's skill at scoring the crust! It was a beautiful boule! And Dorah is stopping at the deli on her way home to get the makings for a Reuben sandwich for dinner.

As soon as Fozzie heard us talking about food he had to check it out in case a crumb might fall. Don't worry, Dorah made sure he got one of  his "cookies" too.

I picked up my long abandoned Northeasterly Blanket and added about 5" of the new color last night. Unfortunately, when I picked it up this morning, I saw a huge error where I knitted stockinette stitch instead of garter stitch on only one side of the chevron. I thought, "Oh, I'll just ignore it. After all, you can't see it from a galloping horse". But then my husband said something like, "Did the stitch change on that row?" Now, if he noticed it then I HAVE to change it. So I frogged back 4 of the 5" of progress in preparation to repair it, forgetting that...

                                          

the last stitch of every wrong side row connects to the side of the previously knitted band with a slipped stitch. I started knitting the next right side row only to discover that I released all the previous connecting rows and they had begun to unravel down the edge for about 3"!!! After saying a few choice words and grabbing my crochet hook, I was able to reattach the side edge, the part in the red box. Then before the Chicks left for the day, I noticed another mistake. And this one throws off the whole chain down the middle so I can't ignore it. I think I need a nap.

This is why Barbara K. decided to put her Zuzu's Petals cowl aside in favor of a more sociable Mistake Stitch Scarf. Some patterns are meant to be knitted while talking and some are definitely not!

Annika used to fly to visit family in Europe via Iceland where she bought wool for those beautiful Icelandic knit sweaters. She had bunches of yarn left over after the larger projects and decided to put it to good use by making hats. They are super warm and she's cranking them out like a machine!

Dorah decided not to make the Zuzu's Petals Cowl and instead is repurposing the assigned yarn for a Light and Up Shawl. It's a great sociable knitting pattern and will be a good use for her gradient yarn.

Carole had to spit splice more of the Poems yarn to get a gradual gradient for her Zuzu's Petals Cowl. Since she is using a worsted weight yarn

 it will be large enough to cover the whole chest of its recipient.

Carole put her cowl away because like most of us, she needs to change up her knitting often and so continued knitting on a Helix Hat. The color combo is very pleasing to the eye. You almost can't go wrong with these hats. Even colors that you don't think blend well, look great in a helix.

   Barbara B.'s Breathe and Hope Shawl is growing by leaps and bounds. 

The striped section looks so neat up close. It's important to make sure to use highly contrasting yarns to achieve a good design. If you're not sure if the colors contrast enough, take a black and white photo of the two yarns beside each other. If they look gray and too close to each other, they won't show up the design in the finished garment.

I blocked my Zuzu's Petals Cowl and wore it today. You might be able to see it in our group picture.

The day I dropped off our Knit the Rainbow donation to the Spinning Room Yarn Store in Altamont, two skeins of 100% baby alpaca in my favorite color just jumped into my purse! I played around with a pattern in my head and after five starts and stops, I finally knitted the gauge that made me happy and here is the result. It's not a huge triangle because there were only two skeins left in this color but I managed to get a comfortable kerchief out of the 220 yards of DK weight yarn.

I think I'll go take that nap before I tackle the blanket again. 

So even if I'm not, you can still keep those needles clicking!

Sunny day but chilly

Cinzia and Janna joined me on my front lawn, or at least what's left of it, for an afternoon of knitting. Cinzia found some pretty gradient yarn in her stash so she cast on for a lace cowl. There isn't enough knitted yet to show you but I can show you...

The parts to a lace, bolero length sweater she made. It needs blocking and assembling but it's going to be a knockout!

Janna's scarf looks so pretty with the gentle changing of colors in her feather and fan style lace scarf.

I finished two hats in two weeks. The pattern is called Ephemeris and is an addictive knit. Since I belong to two charity knitting groups, I have to decide which hat will go to which group.

These were both lots of fun to make and took only about four days to complete, once I figured out how to knit the pattern. It required some concentration but not so much that I couldn't memorize the pattern.

This afternoon I worked on a personal project, my Northeasterly blanket. It is composed of all fingering weight yarns and knitted with a size 3 needle. This will be for me, if I ever finish it!

And I have an announcement...There's a new member to the Mason family. Meet Fozzie! He's a three and a half year old domestic short hair kitty that's as sweet as my son's kitty, Joules. He even looks a little like her. All during this pandemic I would surf the humane society page just to look at cute animals. But one day this adorable face looked into my eyes and I was a goner. We have a bit of work to do with him because his previous owner allowed him to grow to twenty-five pounds! But we have three staircases and lots of toys for him to play with and he's already trimmed off five pounds since he moved in almost four weeks ago.

He understands that he is not allowed to touch my yarn or knitting and so far, so good. It's also my responsibility to remember to keep the door to my knitting room closed when I'm not in there. So I might not have as much time to devote to knitting as before but I'll certainly have fun with my new furry companion. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!