Beth came to visit

If you look closely to the right side of the picture, wearing a white sweatshirt, there's Beth who was one of the original evening Chicks when we had two separate groups. Those were the days before everyone was retired. Beth made her annual trip to visit family and always squeezes in a day to come back to the flock. Barbara K and Dorah are the only ones in attendance today who knew her way back when. The other Chicks who know Beth had conflicts of schedule and were bummed to miss her. 

There's always next year.

Barbara B made sourdough apple fritter bread for our treat today. 

It was a tasty treat with lots of flavor and a moist texture.

                              

Nancy started the Little Ears Hat, a darling pattern with sizes from baby to adult. The pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn held together. Forgetting that she doesn't like to knit with bulky yarn and fat needles, Nancy was disappointed in the experience. I suggested she could use one strand and a slightly smaller needle and size it up or down accordingly. The next one she knits she will try my suggestion.

Dorah made good progress on her diagonal blanket and is so much happier with it 

than she was with the cardigan. The cheerful self-striping yarn will certainly brighten a little one's day.

I broke a Chicks rule of not knitting personal projects because I need to finish my grandson's hat on a deadline and I have many inches to go. I wove the scarf for my daughter using the colors of Ursinus College where my eldest grandson attends classes and plays football. The hat in the foreground is for him in a variation of the burgundy and gold. It looks large because it is based on the Musselburgh Hat which is reversible by tucking one hat inside the other. It's also larger in circumference to accommodate all his hair! LOL! The green and white hat is for my other grandson who requested a hat in the colors of the Philadelphia Eagles. That hat is based on the Soldiers Hat, a 2x2 ribbed cap.

Jan is using a nice navy tweed yarn to knit the Brooke Baby Blanket. It has a neat garter stitch border which transitions into a textured frame around the edges. This is a free pattern on Ravelry.

Beth is making socks from Cuff Club Volume 2 by Summer Lee. The cuff is adorned with lovely little cables and the heel uses the partridge stitch.

Tina is past the halfway mark on her Beloved baby hat. 

This is a great pattern which can be adapted for any size head.

Barbara B is making the Bernoulli Hat which has a panel of cables running up either side of the hat. This yarn is perfect for such great stitch definition! This is also a freebie on Ravelry.

Barbara K just started her favorite scarf, The Mistake Stitch. It's a good pattern for social knitting as it doesn't require a whole lot of concentration. It creates a nice thermal fabric to guard against the wind and is another free pattern!

As soon as I turned my back to walk the knitters to the door, guess who jumped up on a dining room chair. I always keep them covered when not in use because I know Fozzie likes to sit under the tablecloth. I think it's like when we were kids and made blanket tents or forts using the chair backs and a blanket. He enjoys his solitude.

Well, I need to get back to the hat knitting so I can deliver it in time. 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Lots of talk about food today

There were six Chicks today. It was a rainy day so we felt cozy around the kitchen table. We learned about food favorites like Carole's grandfather's beef stew and Dorah's tradition of chicken every Friday. And all our grandparents cooked without measuring anything. When I asked Nana how much I should add of a certain ingredient the answer was always, "Enough". Oddly, that's how I cook and it took many years to understand, but I get it now.

Last week Dorah mentioned her favorite snack was pumpkin spice flavored Goldfish crackers but no one was brave enough to try one. 

This is a hat I knitted for my youngest grandson who likes the Philadelphia Eagles and he was concerned that I knit it in the alternate green of their jersey not the teal green. My daughter assures me he will love it. I used the 2023 Soldiers Hat pattern and added stripes. I remembered hearing that when knitting 2x2 ribbing and adding stripes, to avoid the blip of color on the purl stitches, you should knit the whole round of the new color and then return to the 2x2 ribbing. You can't see the knit row unless you examine it very closely and the stripes make a perfectly smooth transition.

Carole finished two baby hats for the grandbaby who is still gestating. The hat on the right is knitted using her favorite yarn for baby clothes, something that can be tossed into the washing machine and dryer.

Do you remember Dorah's colorful Toybox Candy Cardigan? She frogged it recently because it has been sitting in time out for so long she couldn't find her place in the pattern. So she started it again but even between the two of us, we couldn't figure out stitch marker placement for the raglan section. After numerous tries she decided the yarn wants to be a blanket. She is having more success with the Diagonal Baby Blanket! And since her yarn is self striping, she won't have to fuss with changing colors and skeins of yarn!

Carole started another baby hat, this one for donation. It's just like the blue one in the photo earlier in the post called the 1-2-3 Baby Beanie.

Maureen is adding a sleeve to her Simple Baby Pullover. She is modifying the sleeves to be longer because the original pattern made the sleeves so short they would hardly keep a baby warm.

I'm waiting for Nancy to text me back with the name of this lovely pattern and yarn. Mistakenly, I thought I would remember both but... Nancy is our Queen of the Short Rows and every time I see a pattern that includes them, I think of her and send it to her. 

Her preferred method is the German Short Row. Update: Floatini Shawl with Arcane yarns

Tina started the TinCanKnits Beloved. It's a multi-size pattern for the cutest bonnet for infants to adults.

I am nearing the last few rows of the I-cord tie on my version of Beloved. It's a quick and easy project with just enough going on to keep you engaged but 

not so much that you can't be sociable while knitting it.

I like Yogi teas for the flavors but also for the inspirational quotations on the hang tags. This one was especially meaningful to me so I'd like to share it with you.

Next week we'll have a surprise visitor who pops in once a year when she's in the area. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!

Guess what! We're back outside!

After what seems like decades of rainy days, we had a delightfully balmy day for deck knitting. The cool breezes wafted the 75 degrees all around us, keeping us cool while we discussed our children and grandchildren, knitting projects, and food. There's always talk about food.

Speaking of food, today's Barbara B treat was sourdough chocolate chip cookies. She didn't have many leftovers to bring home ;). They were sprinkled lightly with a little sea salt, making the perfect flavor pizzazz!

                                          

Carole went stash diving and found some FOs that she forgot she had. The Man Hat is one which goes into our inventory.

This is another she found which she remembered a friend of hers made and gave to her for our group. However, when she called the friend to inquire about the name of the pattern, she didn't recall knitting it, let alone the name of it. Carole and I did a quick search on Ravelry but there were 50 pages of patterns! Between the two of us, we figured out there are short rows involved so I think I might be able to duplicate it and write my own directions. But hey! If you recognize this pattern, would you please save me the trouble and tell me what it is?!?!

Carole remembered that it's a man's hat but I tried it on and it makes a cute woman's slouchy hat too!

She found a UFO using this self patterning yarn from Hayfield called Baby Blossom.

She started the Oh Baby! Cardi and forgot it in a project bag so she decided to pick it back up again and finish it. The yarn is dyed so it will automatically knit the flower design as long as you knit it in roughly the same gauge as is on the label.

I felt like some mindless knitting so I started a 2x2 ribbed Soldier's Hat. It's one of those patterns you could practically knit in your sleep!

Nancy is back from her vacation to Greece where she and her husband stayed on the island on which his mother was born. The pictures of the ocean view from her Air B&B were breathtaking, as was the photo of the narrow road with switchback turns overlooking a beach with turquoise waters her husband drove, but breathtaking for a different reason! Her current project is a Helix Hat.

These two yarns will make a subtle stripe, sure to be loved and warm.

Margaret is working the brim/ear flap of her 1898 Hat using two colors held together.

Cinzia brought some yarn and needles and waited for it to speak to her.

She has a pretty lace pattern going on here but still doesn't know what it will become.

Barbara B is almost finished with her 1898 hat. 

Once the ear flaps are knitted, the crown finishes up lickety split!

Maureen's Close to You Shawl/Scarf has grown quickly since last we saw it. The self striping yarn knits up to look like she's using two different balls of yarn but it's really only one.

Dorah's Helix Hat is coming along great. At first she was a bit unsure if the colors would coordinate well with each other but I think it looks great!

Jan worked on her Reverb Shawl. I'll bet she's glad she doesn't have to knit with black yarn anymore!

A few weeks ago I think I showed you this scarf my daughter started but doesn't have time to finish. Jan stepped up to "read" the stitches and figure out how to finish it. And here it is! She did a beautiful job! There will be a few more of my daughter's WIPs being completed in the future as I am working on two right now.

I'm going to go back outside for dinner on the deck tonight since we don't know how long this nice weather is going to last. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

The weather is lovely today

It was so nice in fact, that we were talking about farm shares and visits to the farmers' markets for fresh veggies. The subject of how our own gardens would produce enough zucchini to supply a small village for a year led to Barbara B telling the story about never leaving your car unlocked at the office lot for fear someone would load unwanted zucchini into the back seat. She actually left some in a friend's car only to find out it wasn't actually the friend's car, it only looked similar! LOL!

Speaking of Barbara B, her baked treat this week was Honey Spiced Sourdough Bread with pecans. Yummy! That was another reason we were on the subject of zucchini and how it was the only way some of us were able to get vegetables into our children when they were little ones...until they discovered green stuff in their "cake". ;)

With all the talk about food, Fozzie thought he was getting some too. 

Sorry Fozz! Kitties can't have cake.

Dorah completed the LOSY Hat she has been working on these past few weeks. 

The colors are perfect together!

Barbara B finished a Look Out Winter! Hat with a nice self striping yarn to add interest.

She also completed a Cable All the Way Hat by Lisa Overby, with a lovely cable accent down one side.

I'm having a slump with my knitting so a simple 2x2 ribbed hat is all I can handle right now.

 Startitis will hit when the weather gets warmer.

Carole started a bias scarf but didn't like the narrow width so she frogged it and started over with a few more stitches for extra width.

The yarn is one of those that reproduces when no one is looking. But it's pretty so she doesn't mind.

Dorah is starting a Helix Hat with these three colors. We discussed her next project to use up some of the scraps of sock yarn she has so she might be making a Musselburgh Hat or Equinox Hat next.

Barbara B started a Mountain Snowcap Hat, a free pattern on Ravelry.

I think I'll go search through my stash to see if I get inspired to make something other than 2x2 ribbing. Or maybe I just need a nap. LOL! Anyway, have a great week and keep those needles clicking!