Before we take a break

Janna and Carole finished their cowls this week. This lovely green Chevron Cowl is Janna's creation.

 And Carole finished her Swimming with Salmon cowl. The coral colored yarn even looks like salmon.

 Janna wanted to start a new scarf this week and bless her heart, she knitted a gauge swatch first! 

 The cuff of Elaine's hat is a few inches longer this week.

 As is my Chevron Cowl. The yarn is from the talented Karin Maag-Tanchak of Periwinkle Sheep fame.

 Cinzia grasped the concept of brioche stitch and was off and running with her two tone cowl.

 Dorah's Railroad Tracks hat is working up nicely. The deep cuff has a distinct ribbing created by knitting into the back loop to give the stitch a twist.

Carole's brioche cowl has grown since last week and she is finding her rhythm with the stitches.

Barbara is getting the hang of her brioche cowl too. 

Last Friday my son texted me the photo below of a sticker and asked if I could knit a "cat size" version.

So when faced with a challenge, I step up and give it a try. And sure enough, I knitted a pretty close duplicate for Joules. She was VERY patient with my son and me while we tried to get her photo. About 60 seconds into the photo shoot, she let us know she had had enough and tossed the hat aside.

I don't know if I showed you this project in progress but I realized that Joules was the only family member who didn't have a Christmas stocking so I had to remedy the situation. And yes, I know it's huge! It has to be to fit her treats!

                                       

Well, the Chicks and I will be taking a two week break for the holidays. We all send our best wishes for the season and a happy and healthy new year. Keep those needles clicking and we'll see you back here on January 8, 2019.

WHAT? I use my exercise bike!

This beautiful gradient yarn was hand dyed by my friend Karin of Periwinkle Sheep fame. It came as a blank on which she painted the dye colors for a long and gradual color change. Since the undyed blank is actually a length of knitted fabric, it is kinky curly when unraveled to use as yarn to be knitted. This kinky-ness can alter the gauge of a finished knitted item so I soaked the unraveled yarn in a cool bath and now it is hanging to dry on my recumbent bike. When I have finished knitting my project I'll show you the gorgeous colors as they change in my shawl I have planned in my head.

 I have a second skein taking its bath as we speak. This one has a family of pinks and blush colors. I think I will make a Wolkig with it.

 Last week I finished my Lady Lindan cowl using the softest baby alpaca yarn from Cascade called Eco Alpaca. When I tell you it's soft, believe me! It's soooooft!

 I saw Maureen over the weekend and she had time between her tax season duties to finish the Yarmouth Fair Isle Watch Cap. If you remember, I started this hat in November 2015 and slogged through the charts only to put it in hibernation for many months. Then at the end of last year I read a post from a yarn store owner and knitter who said she reviews her UFO's at the end of the year and frogs the projects which no longer interest her. So I frogged my hat and Maureen decided she would like to try it. She has more stamina than I! Now we have a beautiful Fair Isle hat to donate to the women veterans, our next recipents.

I hope those skeins of yarn dry soon. I'm itching to get at them with my patterns. Maybe I'll point a fan at them. Maybe I should finish one of the other 9 projects I currently have in progress. LOL!

Knitting til the Cowls come home

Remember those buttons that took me 8 hours to felt? Well, here they are in place on the cowl. I'm happy that they turned out the way I pictured them. I would hate for all that time to be wasted, not to mention the amount of yarn it took to make them.

 And Margaret shared the pattern for the hat she deconstructed and wrote up so we could all make it. It took two days from start to finish for me to knit and I do love the stitch definition I got with this Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn. It's a superwashed merino and about as soft as a cloud.

 Barbara finished her Spiral Hat using Berroco Vintage, a great washable blend with some wool in it.

 Carole found an interesting slow color changing yarn in the stash and started the Totally Biased Cowl. It starts with a provisional cast on and is grafted together at the finish so you won't even see a seam. The pastels colors are really pretty too.

 She also started a project for herself using some Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors II sock yarn in the color Elderberry. It's the Hitchhiker scarf which for some reason I want to call Windbreaker. 

 Margaret and I started a cowl called The Cooler Side of Warm. She was making the Birthday Cowl but her yarn wasn't cooperating so she switched to this pattern and it's much happier.

I had a bit of a head start so I'm further along. I'm using more of the Debbie Bliss Rialto. I like the warm chocolate color.

                            

Barbara started the Present Cowl with a pretty teal yarn. And you can see part of her cowl which was inspired by Copenhagen Calling Cowl. She did a lovely job with her constrasting colors.

We're expecting anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow tomorrow so I'll have lots of time to knit. And heaven knows, I have plenty of projects to work on!

Holidays and knitting

Christmas time is for making memories and my grandson and I made a good one. I showed him a Youtube video of a woman shaping loaves of Challah bread and after watching it once he made perfect braids of bread. Can you tell he's proud of himself?

 His younger brother was thrilled that he received new clothes for Christmas.
Whew! I'm glad that was a success! 

 And I received some beautiful baby alpaca yarns straight from Peru, thanks to the generosity of my son and his partner from their recent vacation to Machu Picchu. Now what shall I knit? I need to pat it and cuddle it for a while to know what it wants to be.

 Two Saturdays before Christmas Eve I visited Karin's studio and fell head over heels for this gorgeous deep red silk/merino blend yarn and knew immediately that it HAD to become 

Childhood Memories. I wanted to wear it to a Christmas Eve party so that meant I had to knit it and block it in two weeks time. I started it on Sunday, December 11 and worked like a crazy lady every day. I kept saying to myself, "I'll never get this done." But by the morning of the 24th I had bound off my last stitch and dunked it for a bath. With the fireplace going, two fans blowing, and 212 T-pins, I did get it done and was able to wear it to the party! I love it and I'm so happy I made it.

 The afternoon Chicks had conflicts today so it was the evening group only. Beth showed us her Hitchhiker scarf she made with Periwinkle Sheep yarn. It's hard to tell here but it's a tonal blend of browns and beige which make it a warm and cozy wrap.

 And that's all that was left of the yarn when she finished!

 Beth's next project is a pair of these socks.

 And more Periwinkle Sheep yarn. That's a gorgeous blue!

 Maureen started this shawl tonight and felt she needed a cheery color to pick her spirits up on this gloomy weather day we've been experiencing.

 I'd say this is cheery!

 Carole finished her hat and cowl, all blocked and ready to wear.

Now she's ready to cast on for this pretty cabled hat.

This yarn is very soft and will show nice stitch definition too.

One more row and then the bind off row and I'll will finish the Birthday Cowl. 

I'm using Paton's Classic Wool Tweed yarn.

While we were on a break for Christmas I finished a pair of fingerless mitts and...

a Handbrake cowl. The mitts were made with DK weight yarn and the cowl was worsted weight.

I love these smaller projects. They work up quickly and they are satisfying to make. I think I'll go  stash diving for some more worsted weight yarns to make some more quick cowls. 

The Yarn Fairy paid a visit

Liz and Barbara were the first Chicks to arrive this afternoon and they dove right into the stash. Ideas 

were swimming through our heads as we checked out the yarns.

 When Elaine arrived a few minutes later she was impressed with the selection. We all let it sink in so we can plan what we're going to use and how.

 Then we got down to work on finishing our current projects.

Barbara worked on her Cushy Cowl and started her bind off row...

with just enough yarn to finish the last stitches. Now that's a good game of yarn chicken!

Then she picked up her Mistake Stitch Scarf. This is Plymouth Encore yarn in a beautiful shade of red, so rich and creamy.

Liz bound off her Present Cowl and worked on weaving in the ends.

Then she picked up her Last Minute Cowl which is nearly finished too.

Another of Liz's finished hats just needs the ends woven in.

I blocked Miss Winkle this morning so she sits on the family room floor drying now. Periwinkle Sheep Memories of Summer colorway.

When Beth, Maureen, and Carole arrived tonight they had the same reaction as the afternoon ladies. Where will they start? What will they take?

Show and Tell started with Beth's finished Baa-ble hat.

Carole graciously offered to model it for us. Beth enjoyed knitting it so much she started another right away.

Carole said she has a ton of this yarn, a very soft blend of fibers. I suspect we'll be seeing many items in the next few weeks which look similar.

And Maureen started a hat with this gorgeous purple yarn. I didn't catch the name. Sorry!

And lastly, my Friend of the Forest hood is done and ready for the inventory.

We have only a few more weeks before we distribute our items throughout downtown Albany. If you have items you've knitted and would like to add them to the yarn bombing, keep watching this blog for the details of when we'll be placing them around town.
And thank you Laura for the beautiful yarns you donated to our group!