Smoke and Heat

Had it not been for the Canadian wildfires and the heat today, we would have been knitting on the deck. However, when you can smell the wood burning in the air, it's best to stay inside with the AC. There were just seven of us today but that didn't mean there was any shortage of conversation. We've broken our own rule about no political talk so many times already that we just start off with it so we can get the venting done early. We moved on to knitting patterns, grandchildren, books, and of course yarn.

Dorah said she put herself on a strict yarn diet until she uses up what she has. But she was drawn in by the pretty colors of this variegated yarn from Purple Lamb. It was the name of the colorway, Texas Bluebells, that put her over the edge since her oldest lives in Houston. She is planning to make something for her but needs inspiration.

 

I forgot to show you Jan's purchase from her recent vacation to Nova Scotia where she saw cute little puffins in their natural habitat. So naturally she had to buy the yarn that is dyed and named for them.

Margaret is working on a Helix Hat. You can see the first stripe peeking out from under her needle.

Nancy is working on a Fair Isle Hat. She felt confident that she could work on it while socializing until she noticed she repeated a mistake four rounds back. We tried to talk her into calling it a design element but it would have bugged her so she tinked back to reknit it. I'm right there with you Nancy. I would have done the same thing. (It turns out this isn’t a hat, it’s a cowl.) http://papersensei.blogspot.com/2011/04/cowl-for-japan.html

Jan's shawl is coming along nicely. Sorry I didn't catch the name of the pattern.

Maureen added to her Reversible Stripes Scarf and questioned her choice for knitting it in a social setting. I didn't hear any sighs so I guess she's good with it.

Barbara K said she didn't like the first color that was showing up on her shawl so she frogged the whole thing, cut off the offending color, and started over.

Dorah started the cuff of the second mitten. She got as far as the thumb gusset with the gray yarn when I looked over and made her promise not to be angry with me for pointing out that she forgot to knit the palm with blue yarn to match its mate (see next photo). Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt!

I had to tink back four rows because I forgot which project I was knitting and started the edges incorrectly. My last two scarves and this headband all had I-cord like edging but made 3 entirely different ways. Sometimes I have to remember to turn off the automatic pilot in my brain. 😉

This is one of those scarves with the I-cord edge. It's called Ottilie and I'm using Crystal Palace Mini Mochi fingering weight yarn, my absolute favorite gradient yarn! But I heard it's been discontinued and possibly the whole company closed. Bummer! This will be added to the inventory for The Falcon Boutique at Albany High School.

This is the other scarf with an I-cord edge knitted in yet a third style. And you wonder why I'm confused! I followed a YouTube video and wrote down the instructions as I followed along. About halfway through I had to abandon what I had written and just follow my instincts and I think it turned out pretty nice. If you'd like to try it, these are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 videos.

 https://youtu.be/Vm0q8e7rvUY?si=TSCabttVzscPRgRy

                                          https://youtu.be/cE4UkCbYZnY?si=0kusye4CmV4B9xLi

If you hadn't already guessed by the color, this one is for me.😉

There were no treats from Barbara B's magic kitchen this week. It was a close call but we survived.😂

Now I'm off to finish this project so I can choose a new one. 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

A quiet day with my Chicks

Our gathering was small and peaceful today. Lazy Cat Jazz from Spotify played softly in the background. And since Barbara B was absent, we had no treats today.😢

We started off with a few FO's. This is my finished Ottilie Scarf, a paid pattern on Ravelry. I had seen it pop up in an email and talked myself out of buying it. Then, as most often is the case, the thought of it haunted me and I couldn't remember the name of it to hunt it down. Weeks went by until it happened to show up in a list of suggested patterns "I might like" so I jumped at the opportunity before it disappeared again. If I were to knit it again, I might not follow the directions for suggested length. I think it turned out just a little too short which I tried to remedy with aggressive blocking. That made the texture of the stitch a little too subtle so next time I'll knit it longer and be a bit more gentle blocking it. I had to block it because it curled faster than my hair on a humid day.

Barbara K finished her Royal Icing Headband and sewed it up while we heard all the highlights of Jan's trip to Brazil. 

This is my version of the Royal Icing Headband. It is a quick knit, as long as you don't get cocky like I did and think you know how it goes! LOL! Brioche stitch is easy to mess up until you get a rhythm going.

Barbara K immediately casted (cast on? casted on?) on for another headband and she is enjoying this one much more now that she has the confidence to know how to proceed.

And Carole frogged her original Royal Icing in favor of a lighter, brighter color and is having better luck with this one.

I'm working on an original design, trying to use up little bits of hat leftovers. It looked like it would be enough for another headband. Keep your fingers crossed! I'll sew up the ends in the same fashion as the Royal Icing headband.

Jan had a lovely trip to Brazil and then to California to visit family. I think she lucked out and missed the worst of the winter storms while she was gone. Now that she's back, she's working on the Reverb Shawl. She's not crazy about the yarn but I think it suits the pattern.

It's a raw kind of day today so I think I'll put on some warm woolen socks and get back to my knitting. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Choosing the right yarn!

Choosing the right yarn for a project is as important as the project itself. As I sit in a waiting room knitting my Ottilie Scarf, I can’t help but notice it compared to my Racimo Cowl I’m wearing. The “busy-ness” of the variegated yarn I used for the cowl obscures the design of the stitches. In fact, it helps to break up the pooling which might occur if I knitted plain stockinette. Had I chosen a solid yarn it might not be as pretty. A tonal yarn might work because it adds depth and movement to the knitted fabric. However, the scarf has a delicate texture which would be totally obscured by the chaotic symphony of colors of a busy variegated yarn.

Carefully consider the yarn you choose for a project so you don’t waste time and energy only to discover you don’t like the finished garment.

                         Here ends today’s lesson in choosing yarns. 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!!!