A gorgeous day on the deck

A sunny 78 degree day required that I put up the drapes so we wouldn't roast on the southwest facing deck. Thankfully, there was a most welcome breeze keeping us comfortable and ringing the outdoor chimes every now and then.

Barbara B. graced us with sourdough scones this week, cranberry/orange and blueberry/lemon. They were delicious and so moist! She was glad to have one of those segmented baking pans because the dough was more like a batter and would not have been easy to cut. When asked how she finds so many ways to use sourdough starter and discard, her response was Pinterest! She said you could spend hours going down the rabbit hole trying to choose a recipe from the hundreds that are available. We are so grateful for her generosity and great baking skills each week!

Cinzia played a game of yarn chicken and had to revise the original plan for a long sleeved sweater. It looks like this might be the Knit Baby Jacket Set pattern with a short sleeve adaptation.

Barbara B. finished The Gift cardigan with its beautiful yoke and fancy ribbing. She added the Avery's Happy Cap which compliments it perfectly.

On her needles now is the Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater which is knitted in one piece so there is no sewing required, except for the buttons.

It's hard to tell by the picture but she is knitting both sleeves TAAT (two at a time) on magic loop to make sure they are identical.

Maureen finished the adorable Baby Sophisticate cardigan but has not picked out buttons yet. The is another top down knit which requires picking up stitches along the front edges and neckline to make the shawl collar.

She has just begun the Bert Baby Blanket. She found all this baby weight yarn in her stash and can't remember why she bought it so she is thinking of using a few different colors in this blanket so she can use it up. Who of us hasn't purchased yarn thinking "Oh, I'll make that when I finish this."? And then you come across it in the stash a few years later and wonder why the heck did we buy it! LOL!

Barbara K. is using the same Plymouth Encore yarn that she used for the ribbed hat from last time to make a matching Mistake Stitch Scarf. This will make a lovely ensemble for a mom of the babies for whom we are knitting.

Jan has made progress on her Malt Blanket which has an asymmetrical square design for interest.

Dorah needed some comfort knitting so she decided to make a pair of socks. Her favorite go-to pattern is from Knitting Pure and Simple. This is an easy, very basic pattern for a woman's or man's sock in sock weight yarn.

Cinzia is just starting a little girl's dress which will have a tank top bodice so it can be worn as a dress or layered over a shirt as a tunic.

I'm working on the Knit Baby Jacket Set using Plymouth Encore DK in a denim color. The sleeve stitches are on holders while I knit the body then I'll go back and pick them up to knit TAAT on magic loop just as Barbara B. is doing on her sweater.

Jan's yarn became yarn barf so Dorah and Barbara K. jumped in to help. As they were performing their magic, it brought back memories of many years ago when Barbara, and some of the original Chicks spent two hours playing Twister to untangle hundreds of yards of yarn that was donated in a wad. We managed to wind it into a usable ball and turned it into a warm item that was donated. Luckily, this tangle didn't take that long to straighten out.

I think I'll be serving dinner on the deck tonight if it continues to be this nice. I might even stay out there and knit the evening away.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

First day of deck knitting!

What a glorious day to sit outside! We knitted to the tunes of Diana Krall and Elaine Elias playing quietly in the background while discussing the benefits of sourdough baking and what the college age kids have planned for the summer. 

Barbara B's raspberry rhubarb coffee cake was a hit! She used to grow her own rhubarb when she lived elsewhere but now she has to buy it. The recipe called for 1/2 a cup and now she has leftover rhubarb because she had to buy a bunch of stalks to the pack. 

Maybe a strawberry rhubarb pie to use it up??? 

Or jam?

Jan finished the body of the Baby Boy 5 Hour  Sweater and is moving on to the sleeves. The pattern was confusing so Barbara B helped her figure out that it was written to put all the body stitches on holders and knit the sleeves which seemed more difficult than it needed to be. So Jan made the body first and...

put in lifelines for insurance. Now she's ready to make the sleeves on DP's. She tried magic loop but feels she needs a little more experience with the technique before she tries TAAT sleeves.

Barbara B is working on her second "The Gift" sweater using a machine wash and dry DK weight yarn. It has the sweetest details for the yoke and cuffs.

Nancy's Knit Baby Jacket Set is almost finished. We discussed the concern about buttons vs no buttons and decided we don't really put a baby into an unsupervised situation while wearing a sweater. And I personally use the same yarn to sew the buttons on since I think polyester thread might cut through the yarn and loosen the button.

Janna is working on the Someday Baby Blanket which in DK weight and smallish needles is taking a while to complete. The color is stunning!

Maureen finished the body of her Baby Sophisticate cardigan and has picked up all the stitches to knit the button band and shawl collar. Just after I took this picture she started the EZ's Sewn Bind Off method to finish the edge.

I have the Basic Baby Hat on my needles, ready to begin the decreasing portion of the crown of the hat.

It didn't take long to make using Plymouth Encore in DK weight and size 6 needles on magic loop. It matches the Newborn Top Down Cardigan I finished last week.

The forecast for the next six days is showing high probability of rain so I'm going back on the deck to soak up more sun now that the neighbors have finished mowing lawns.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

We almost sat outside today

I had my lawn chair set up and ready to sit outside but gusts of wind were blowing all around me making a little chill in the air so Plan B was put into effect. It's just as well since it's too hard to eat Barbara B's delicious chocolate cupcakes and knit at the same time. Having the table to spread out makes it much more comfortable.

Carole is almost finished with the body of the Wee Bean Cardigan. She is going to attempt to knit both sleeves simutaneously using the magic loop method. The hardest part is wrapping one's brain around the instructions. Once you figure that out, the rest is a breeze.

She finished a lovely hat called Twig. I tried to link the pattern to share with you but the link to the page seems to be broken. I also could not access the designer's blog page so unfortunately, I can't share it.

Dorah made progress on her Knit Baby Jacket set using self patterning yarn in a machine washable and dryable fiber.

Margaret is working on the Flax pullover from Tincanknits. Ravelry has the free pattern available in three different yarn weights. She is planning on frogging and starting over because she thinks she got distracted and has too many stitches for the body which would make it way out of proportion. But hey! It's only knitting and can be frogged and re-knitted...unlike sewing when once the fabric is cut, you're commited!

Jan is finishing up the body of her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater and is looking forward to knitting the sleeves. She's not up to trying two at a time but baby steps are still progress in the right direction.

Barbara B. finished the Avery's Happy Cap (for which I have no link) and The Gift cardigan.

The details on the sweater are adorable right down to...

the eyelet lace ribbing at the bottom of the body and sleeves.

I finished the Dexter vest using Plymouth Encore in DK weight. I used the sizing for 3-6 months.

Now I have a hat started to go with it. It's called Simple Baby Hat and I'm crossing my fingers that the size will correspond with the size of the vest.

Barbara B has another project going. It's the Elevenses Hat made with Lion Brand Wool Ease in a pretty heather pink.

Annika finished her first eyelet stripe baby blanket and has started a second one. 

And Barbara K started a hat using a tweedy style Plymouth Encore in worsted weight.

Nancy started a blanket for her soon to be born grandchild. It's a machine wash and dry yarn and a good project for tv knitting which doesn't require too much concentration.

I'm going to have to get in gear and clean off the screened porch so these windy days don't interfere with our outdoor knitting. In the meantime, have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

Welcome home Snowbird!

Maureen flew back from her winter home last night and joined us for a sunny afternoon of knitting. She said as long as we could sit outside spaced apart, she would join us. We missed her so it was a good thing Mother Nature decided to cooperate. Look at that blue sky!

Maureen jumped right back into her knitting with a hat for our inventory.

As soon as I finished last week's bonnet, I cast on stitches for the Dexter Vest in a 0 to 3 month size. The yarn is Plymouth Encore (machine wash and dry) in DK weight. It's knitted flat and then side seams are sewn to attach the underarms.

Nancy's Helix Hat is nearing the portion of the crown when the decreases begin to close the top of the cap. She is able to use every last inch of yarn left over from other projects. I don't know about you, but I can't stand to throw out ends of a skein so this is a great way to put them to use.

Barbara B. is working on The Gift, a beautiful little cardigan.

 The bright sun washed out the design but...

I was able to get a shot of the pattern page to show you the adorable motif on the yoke.

Dorah's Knit Baby Jacket Set is looking like a sweater now. The self striping yarn does all the work without all the hassle of juggling multiple balls of yarn.

 

Barbara B. also completed an Avery's Happy Cap to pair with the above cardigan. It's a darling little bonnet with a sweet ruffled edge.

I've been working on a scarf for myself using the yarn I dyed with Wilton Food Coloring and I've finally finished! I wrote the "recipe" for it on my Ravelry page if you want to make one for yourself.

I love it paired with my raspberry colored blouse! 

It's so beautiful outside that I think I'll go for a quick walk before I have to start cooking dinner. 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!