Our Annual Field Trip to WEBS

Last Saturday Carole, Elaine, and I made the trip to Northampton, Massachusetts to our motherland, WEBS (America's Yarn Store is what they call themselves). We had a lovely 1 hour and 15 minute drive on a beautifully sunny day.

 The front showroom was filled with beautiful yarns and tools and sample knits. And then we made our way back to....

 THE WAREHOUSE! It's row after row of shelves filled with heavenly fibers! We were overcome by the fumes of yarn everywhere! And if you buy $60 worth you get another certain percentage off so how could you not take advantage?!?!

 I came home with these lovelies that are an alpaca and merino blend. My plan is to knit a chevron stitch scarf alternating two rows of each color. By the time I get to it I will probably change my mind a dozen times.

 My other purchase was this 100% Baby Alpaca that must have been spun by the angels themselves! Talk about soft! They will become this shawl called Everyday Shawl. I just have to finish the skillion and one other projects on needles first.

 I did manage to finish this little bonnet called Bonnet Camponesa. There is a video showing the technique of knitting it, however, it's all spoken in Portuguese! I followed along watching with the sound off. 

 It was a very entertaining knit but I'll warn you there are mistakes in the written English version of the pattern. But if you watch the video you will be able to figure out the corrections yourself. I've written to the designer but haven't heard back from her yet.

 Another FO I made over the last week was the Cushy Cowl using my friend Karin's DK yarn of merino and silk in the color Ominous. It's really a deep teal but it didn't photograph very well.

 Barbara finished the hat she was knitting last week....

 and the scarf too. Now there's a nice set!

 Elaine added many inches to the baby blanket. She explained that she intended to make a sweater but it turned out so wide she decided to make it a blanket instead. When I asked her if she "got gauge" we all laughed hysterically!!!

 We started off the evening group with cheesecake. The afternoon ladies got some too. I can't have that stuff sitting around the house or I'll eat it all so it was nice to have someone to share it with. And look who's back to the land of the living! It's Maureen! (Third in from the left) 

Tax season must be over!

 Dorah switched back to making this a scarf instead of a cowl so she has a few more weeks of knitting to go.

 Beth put the finishing stitches on a pair of man's mittens.

 Then we all tried to figure out why the pattern designer made such pointy tops. Actually, once they are worn they look more normal.

 Maureen is almost finished with the hat she started before her hiatus.

 And Carole is working on her never-ending Minty Bricks. It's a lovely, easily memorized pattern but it feels like it will take forever!

Well, my projects are not going to knit themselves so I better get it in gear and knit. 

See you next week.

Sitting outside on a beautiful day

Hallelujah! We sat on the deck yesterday! The Chicks and I were trying to recall when the last time was that we sat outside to knit and I think it was the day the TV news reporter came to interview us for a spot on her show. That was in either June or July. We have had so much heat and humidity that it was more comfortable to sit inside with the AC.

 Even though Kathleen couldn't be with us, she sent in some finished sets with Liz. They are related through marriage. Kathleen's son is married to Liz's daughter so they get to see each other often. Thank you Kathleen for sending in your knitting. We love you and miss you!

 The Wham Bam Thank You Lamb cowl was a quickie Liz knitted up using a bulky weight wool. It's a free pattern on Ravelry.

 She liked it so much she decided to cast on for another one right away with the second skein of that pretty blue wool from Crystal Palace.

 It took me about two and a half weeks to knit my Mistake Stitch Scarf but I finally finished it. I used Paton's Classic Wool so it will be nice and warm. The skein has 200 yards and I used 2 skeins until there was no yarn left. It made a nice looooong scarf.

 Elaine is almost finished with her cowl for which she used a boucle tweed. Pretty yarn with a bit of sparkle.

 

 Even though my hat looks like it has a way to go, I finished it this morning and added it to the inventory. I used Paton's Classic Wool for this too.

 The evening group was so happy to be outside too! I don't think that we sat outdoors at all this year. Last night was a lovely, cool evening with no humidity. But we could feel a touch of fall in the air.

 Carole showed us her finished hat and...

 Lovely cowl. This is a free pattern from the great Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and it goes like this:

Cast on a multiple of 4 plus 2. 

Row 1: K2, Ktbl, P1

Repeat for every row for as long as you desire.

(Ktbl= knit through the back loop)

 Beth finished the thumbs on her mittens to add to the inventory. Shhhh...don't tell anyone but she accidentally used two different sized needles. You can't even tell, but we all had a good laugh over it and our own mistakes that we've all made.

 Now she has cast on for a cowl that is knit in the round on 95 stitches, K3, P3 for as deep as you like and then bind off. There is no need to put a marker at the beginning of the round as it changes with each round. When finished it has a lovely spiral design.

 Maureen was asking how much longer does her Mistake Stitch Scarf need to be. Our collective answer was "For as long as you have the patience to knit!" I have a feeling she's binding off as we speak. 

 I started a ZickZack Scarf with two colors that really don't look like they should go together but all the others I've seen knitted up have crazy combos too so we'll see how it goes.

And to show you the progress I've made on the Sock Blanket for my son, my husband is a bit over 6 feet tall and there are 484 squares so far and I still have at least a third more to knit. At 30 minutes per square, I've been knitting on this for 242 hours so far. When the blocks are finished I still have to knit an I-cord all around the edge.

I better stop talking and get back to knitting!

Warmer heads coming your way

Carole brought two FO's tonight. Julia's Cabled Headband is a free pattern offered on Ravelry. She used Cascade 220, a 100% wool, in a worsted weight. It shows off Carole's impeccable cabling skills.

 Another FO of Carole's is her Petite Honeycomb Cowl, also a Cascade 220 wool yarn in worsted weight. I love those colors together!

 Her next project is this Turban(d) Headband, another free Ravelry pattern.

 The pattern calls for knitting the headband flat and then sewing the two ends together. But Carole has decided to use a provisional cast on so there won't be an unsightly or bulging seam.

 Dorah put the finishing touches to her Lamb's Pride wool hat. The yarn is a bit heavier than worsted weight so it will be nice and warm in these cold winter months.

The last time we met I mentioned I would show you my finished Ripples Scarf. The original pattern called for a single row of bead work separating the ruffled section from the shawl section but I misinterpreted the directions and decided to do my own thing. I am very happy with the results.

 My current project is a linen stitch cowl using a fingering weight yarn with short color changes. Since the stitch is a slip stitch variation it will help spread out the color and avoid pooling. The orange yarn at the end is a provisional cast on so I can make this an infinity cowl. Hopefully I will be able to make it long enough to wrap a couple of times around the neck.

We've had several days of single digit temperatures out there lately so it's been nice to just sit by the fire and crank out some knitting every day. I hope you're enjoying some knit time too.

There were only three of us knitting last night. Carole used a Cascade worsted weight yarn to make a headband/earwarmer. We all had a chuckle when she made the observation that post it notes only work when you remember to move them to the next row of your pattern. LOL!

 Maureen used Lamb's Pride wool for a creamy white headband. The yarn was left from a previous project and she thought there would be enough to finish the headband. Unfortunately, she was only a few yards from the end of the ball of yarn and no where near the end of the headband. But I remembered having seen another small ball of the same yarn in our stash somewhere. I found it in the second bag of yarn! I'm so glad I didn't have to go through ALL the bags of yarn!!!

 I used a Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors yarn which I think has since been discontinued. It's called Saffron and the pattern is from Ravelry.com called "Ripples". This will be a shallow shawlette that can be worn as a scarf too.

I liked it so much I decided to make one for myself. This is Periwinkle Sheep Wink, a lovely fingering weight yarn with a small sparkle thread here and there. This color is called "Quinceanera". I decided to put beads on all the yarnover spaces between the ruffles.

It seems to be taking forever to knit this one but it will be worth the extra effort to bead the ruffles. Maybe it will be done for next week's post. I'll be keeping those needles clicking. How about you?

Catching up

Two weeks have elapsed since I last updated you on our progress. The last time we met Kathleen started a mistake stitch scarf. I'm sure she has finished it by now.

 I used some stash busting yarn to make this reversible cowl of my own design. The chevron stitch edge was a bit of a challenge because I had to twist yarns to achieve this technique. By the time I got to the end of the round it looked like a cat had his way with my yarn. But the next round reversed the twists and so it all worked its way out.

 Carol used the softest alpaca yarn to make this lovely lace hat.

 Beth showed us her mystery shawl in progress. The clues to the stitches are given in stages so you don't get the whole pattern at once and you don't even know what's it going to look like until it's finished. Can't wait to see it blocked and beautiful.

 And after many weeks of knitting her scarf is done!

 I used Cascade Eco Alpaca and Alpacas of Grafton Mountain yarns for this Foolproof infinity scarf. 

 I like it doubled up cozy around the neck. It was a very captivating pattern that was easy enough to knit by the TV but interesting enough not to bore me.

 Barbara chose this pretty coral/pink Baby Alpaca Grande yarn to make....

 This cowl but didn't like the way it was turning out. On to Plan B.

 She designed her own cowl pattern and it is beautiful! And sooooo soft!

 To the inventory Barbara added two pairs of dorm boots. She used silicone on the soles to make them slip-proof. It really works.

 And finally she finished the cabled headband in a pretty purple tonal fingering weight yarn.

 Tonight's collection started with Carole's baby alpaca Koolhaas hat. The pattern can be purchased from Ravelry.

 Maureen finished her two tone cowl. Her stitching is so even and the colors look great.

 On to her next project, a headband earwarmer.

 Just like the one Dorah made a few weeks ago.

 Carole started a Honeycomb Cowl tonight. I love her colors!

I'll be taking a few weeks off to care for family matters. Take care and keep family close. 

Enjoy your holidays.