Hats, hats, hats!

Since our afternoon ladies have conflicts for the next few weeks, Barbara joined the evening group of knitters for the rest of the winter. She started a spiral hat tonight with a pretty teal yarn.

 Maureen added a few inches to her Yarmouth Fair Isle Hat brim. After tonight she'll be working long hours for tax season so we won't be seeing her until after April 15.

 Carole worked some more inches on her Birthday Cowl and is almost finished.

 Margaret's hat is showing progress. It has really nice stitch definition to show off the pattern too.

 Last week I showed you this Birthday Cowl I had started (just like Carole's) but after I saw how nice the stitches looked on Carole's cowl I realized that this yarn was just a little too lightweight for the project. So I frogged it to make something else and...

 found this lovely forest green Berroco Vintage to make the same pattern. The yarn is just a little heftier and made much better stitch definition for the cowl. Now I'm happy!

 I also finished the Reversible Rivulets scarf. I'm going to keep this one in my repertoire. I really like the way it turned out.

 Can you tell I had startitis? I just had to cast on for different projects! This cute headband earwarmer has a button in back so you don't have to mess your hair to wear it. It was a suggested video tutorial on Youtube and I knitted it in a day.

 Then I saw another suggested Youtube video which was in German so I had to pay close attention to the tutorial since I had no idea what the knitter was saying. I did finally figure out the numbers she was reciting as she counted. Anyway, this was the Rapunzel Schal and after some hunting through Ravelry...

 I found the written pattern in English! The ladders are knitted and then intertwined to become the braids.

I think it looks sort of like a loaf of challah bread. No? It's a fun project to knit and when it's long enough I will sew the cast on edge to the bind off edge to make a cowl. Maybe I'll have it finished in time to show you next week. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!

Wrapping up our donations

The afternoon ladies and I worked on labeling our current items to donate to Community Maternity Services in Albany, New York. Actually, Cinzia knitted on a communal project started by our night time Chick Maureen. Her friend's daughter recently received a cancer diagnosis so we are all knitting some inches on a lovely, warm, cuddly prayer shawl to send to her so she knows we're all praying for her recovery.

Our inventory contained toys, sweaters, booties, vests, a bib, and some mittens....

blankets, hats, scarves, and cowls for a grand total of 80 items. We decided to include some gifts for the moms too to let them know we think about them too.

Our evening meeting started with Carole knitting her share on the shawl while Maureen thought about the Yarmouth Fair Isle Watch Cap which she started.

Her knitted ribbing for the beginning of her hat is so nice and uniform.

Margaret started a beanie hat with a provisional cast on which she will rip out later to reveal live stitches for knitting the edge. I like the colors together.

Carole started a Birthday Cowl not knowing that...

I did too! I like the way her stitches are nice and firm and uniform. My stitches are kind of wonky. I think it's because she used Cascade 220 which is a heavier worsted weight than what I'm using. I think I'll frog it and start over with a smaller needle.

I'm still working on my Reversible Rivulets scarf too. I have knitted more than half of the second ball of yarn so I can't be too far from finishing. Maybe by next week I'll be able to show you a finished scarf.

Cinzia's daughter, Sofia, finished her sweet Cabin Fever jacket and asked Cinzia to bring it to include in our inventory. She did such a beautiful job for the first sweater she ever made that I convinced Cinzia to keep it because it is so special. I still have the first sweater I ever made and it's not nearly as professional looking as this! I think she should keep it as a remembrance of our lessons together.

She can always knit another to donate later.

Rounding up the baby clothes

This week's projects are showing lots of progress.

Dorah's baby sweater has a body and she started one of the sleeves tonight.

 Margaret designed a baby bib pattern. The loop for around the neck is on the left.

 Maureen started a shawl/wrap for a friend's daughter who is going through chemo. We are each going to knit a bunch of rows to contribute our prayers and support for her recovery.

 Last week I looked up a new technique, well new to me anyway. The Purl Soho pattern for the Reversible Rivulets scarf recommends the tubular cast on which I had never done before. So off to good ole" Youtube to find a video tutorial. Sure enough Roxanne Richardson had a great one to follow. I'm pretty pleased with myself and the results. ;)

 And in a week's time I've knitted almost all of the first 220 yard ball of yarn.

Since I have two balls of this lovely pink yarn, I'm going to knit until there is enough to bind off and that will have to be long enough. Now I have to hunt for a video tutorial to learn the tubular bind off.

That will be next week's lesson. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!