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!

When will it be warm enough for deck knitting?

We were inside again today where there was lively discussion about grandchildren, comparing how we parented our kids to how our children now parent their kids. When babysitting the grands, rules are enforced with a calm voice and a stern look and laughed about the reaction from them when they thought we weren't listening. I love the direct quote from one of the granddaughters who told her grandmother, "Sometimes I like Poppop better than you but today I like you." LOL!!! It's a good thing we've learned to let those comments roll off!

Our treats today were Barbara B's sourdough apple cinnamon muffins with oatmeal crumbles on top. They were moist and not sickeningly sweet and just light enough to hit the spot for a mid afternoon snack.

Jan finished her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater. 

We are so proud of her first completed sweater, as is she!

Now she has moved on to the Malt Blanket, a pattern from Tincanknits which is free on Ravelry.

It reminds me of the Flax sweater, designed by the same person.

I've got my two sleeves on one long circular needle to knit magic loop style. It's the Newborn Top-Down Cardigan, a very easy pattern with a very easy to knit cable down the button bands.

Barbara B. is ready to add the sleeves to her bottom up seamless cardigan called Isle Royale, a free pattern from WEBS, also available on Ravelry.

The instructions said to use three needles but she is using one long circular needle which works more easily in our opinion. Here the sleeves have just been incorporated into the body of the sweater and the raglan decreases start at this point up to the neckline for shoulder shaping.

Barbara K. is finishing up her 2X2 ribbed hat. She picked up some Plymouth Encore at the annual blowout sale at WEBS which happens to be not far from her son's place in Connecticut. Her car just automatically veers in that direction all on its own! LOL! I know, my car does the same thing!

Nancy picked out a soft pastel for her baby cardigan that she's knitting for her granddaughter who will be arriving in late June. Like Dorah, she is making the Knit Baby Jacket Set.

Maureen finished the body of the Baby Sophisticate and has started one of the sleeves. When they are completed, she will pick up stitches up the fronts and around the neckline to make the shawl collar.

Annika's Eyelet Stripe Baby Blanket is still growing. This is great social knitting when you want to participate in a conversation and can't pay too much attention to your knitting.

Dorah chose DP's to knit the sleeves on her Knit Baby Jacket set. She forgot that when you want garter stitch in the round you have to knit a round and purl a round so she had a bit of frogging to do. Join the club Dorah! Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt! 

Margaret is on the third iteration of her Flax pullover. She is determined to knit this sweater and I give her credit for her persistence. I give a yarn and project three chances. After that I decide the yarn wants to be something else so I move on to a different pattern.

My "supervisor" decided that watching my neighbor mow the lawn was more exciting than watching me type but I know any second now, he will be begging for food.

Come to think of it, I am feeling a little peckish myself so I'll end here and wish you a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Another windy day!

The sun is shining brightly and the temps are in the mid 60's but the wind is making it too cold to sit outdoors so we had lively conversation around the dining room table. In June Nancy will be welcoming her first grandchild for whom she is knitting a lovely blanket you will see a little later. We all compared notes on what we did with our children and how "forbidden" those same routines are now. Our kids grew up to be healthy, stable, well-adjusted human beings who were put in the crib on their tummies and were swathed like sweet smelling burritos. But apparently those are BIG no-no's in this era! LOL! It was funny comparing notes. I hope we didn't scare Nancy!

I finished the Simple Baby hat that goes with the Dexter vest I made a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday I started the Newborn Top Down Cardigan using Plymouth Encore DK. It has an easy cable pattern running alongside the button bands and lots of markers to remind me when to increase for the raglan shaping.

We are all so proud of Jan with the progress she has made on her Top Down Raglan Child's Sweater. This is her first time making sleeves and she is doing a bang up job! Once she feels comfortable with the process, I think she'll want to try magic looping the sleeves.

Maureen is working on Baby Sophisticate, a darling cardigan with a shawl collar that makes a baby look like a little old professor. All one needs is shoulder patches and a pipe!

Here is the lovely blanket I mentioned earlier which Nancy is knitting for her future grandbaby. She couldn't remember the name of the pattern but she said it's easy as pie. Sometimes we need to take a break from complicated knitting and just relax with a good TV project. What's that joke? I'm taking a break from two sided lace knitting...I'm knitting a sweater to relax. LOL!

Carole's Wee Bean is growing some sleeves and she is using the aforementioned magic loop two at a time method.

Barbara B.'s Elevenses Hat looks great! The yarn is a perfect color and shows up those beautiful cables to their finest. The yarn is Lion Brand Wool Ease.

Barbara K. is working on the 2X2 ribbed beanie, another good pattern for socializing or TV watching.

Annika's blanket is growing each week. It's the Eyelet Stripe Baby Blanket which can look different depending on color choices.

I forgot to take pictures of our snack of the day, homemade by Barbara B. You'll just have to take my word for it, the Snickerdoodles were delicious!!!

Have a good week and keep those needles clicking!

 

Spring is here but still too cold to knit outside

I opened all the windows today to make it seem as though we were knitting on the deck today but then it got so chilly I had to close them again. I keep hearing that spring is coming but aside from all the rain last week, I don't see evidence of it. I just know we're going to jump into hot summer weather with two feet!

Debbie brought us her finished cardigan and matching hat and one sock. She had the second one on needles this afternoon so it will be done soon. The yarn is Martha Stewart acrylic blend and is very soft and machine washable. We talked about doing a group KAL (that's knit-a-long for those who don't know) to learn how to knit two socks at once on magic loop from the toe up using Judy's magic cast on and an afterthought heel (all the videos I could find have you knit the waste yarn across the heel stitches and then slip all those stitches back to the left needle. Instead, I just purl back across those waste yarn stitches and then use my working yarn to continue the sock. It makes it much easier to see the two rows of stitches to pick up later to make the heel). It's the only way I make socks since I learned the technique and I don't need a pattern either. I'm going to line up the Youtube tutorials for the Chicks so they can acquaint themselves with the techniques before we go live.

 Liz checked out her pattern for the baby sweater she was working on because the yarn is running out quickly and she feared there wouldn't be enough left to finish the bodice of the sweater. This is where gauge is so important. She thought the sweater looked bigger than it was supposed to be and since we don't have anymore of that yarn Plan B must go into effect...changing the cardigan into a shrug.

 Here is her progress so far. The sleeves are done and the skirt of the sweater has been started.

 Janna's Dexter vest looks like it's done but the last few inches to be knitted are hiding in the back. I'm sure it will be finished by next week.

 I ran out of portable small projects to take along so I started a pair of baby socks. Magic loop, two at a time, toe up as I said before. A plain vanilla recipe with fancy self patterning yarn does the trick!

 During the week I finished my Baby Sophisticate sweater and added a matching hat.

 And just by luck I had only 4 buttons left to complete the project!

I had a meeting tonight so the evening Chicks had a night off but they will be back to work next week. Now I'm off to knit and Netflix. I'm sure I can find a good British murder mystery show I haven't watched yet!