We had a visitor this week

My sister visited this week from Connecticut. We've been sitting on the deck (when it isn't 89 degrees and 100% humidity), making yummy recipes, and taking in the local sights. She even remembered to bring her afghan that she's knitting so she could join the Chicks. She met the evening Chicks today but my afternoon group had conflicts so she'll meet them some other time.

We have some lovely hats to add to the inventory this week starting with Dorah's baby cable hat. The heather green yarn shows the stitch definition nicely and look at those cute little cables!

Margaret also finished a hat to add to the inventory. She said she made a mistake but we were all able to convince her it was just a "design element" so she wouldn't have to rip out the whole thing. It looks great! I don't see a problem!

Maureen wove in the ends on her Zoe hat and....

it is also ready for inventory. Nice work Maureen!

Carole asked for my forgiveness because she found an orphan skein of yarn at her home and used it instead of one of the hundreds of skeins I have here in our Chicks' stash. LOL! As long as she doesn't make a habit of it! The pretty pastels will make a sweet baby hat.

Dorah was inspired by Maureen's Zoe hat and cast on stitches tonight to make one in a pretty pastel pink. We watched a video on knitting right twist and left twist stitches so she doesn't have to use a cable needle for a 2 stitch cable. It saves so much time and cuts down on fiddling with that extra needle.

Beth's hat has a deep ribbed cuff and the pattern will show up soon. The oatmeal colored yarn makes a nice neutral item to wear with anything.

I started a plain vanilla ribbed hat to give my brain a rest. Over the weekend I worked on a couple of projects which required my full attention.

This little bag was a bugger to start off. I decided to use Magic Loop but the pattern calls for a provisional cast on. Talk about fiddly! Next time I'll just use DP's for the beginning and switch to magic loop when I get to the pouch. Once I got past the folded eyelet section the rest was a breeze. The four corners have a row of beading. I think it's pretty cute.

That's all for now. Keep those needles clicking and I'll see you next week.

It finally happened!

Well, it's finally happened! After almost 12 years of working with The Chicks with Sticks I met someone who received a gift of ours. I was getting into my car (which has the Chicks with Sticks sign on the door) in the Glenmont Shopping Center and a woman called across to me, "Hey! I know you!" After seeing the confused look in my eyes she explained that a few years ago her children were recipients of one of our donations to The Bus Stop Club, an organization which gives support and provides activities to siblings of chronically ill children. Her oldest child has autism so her two younger children participated in the club at a time when we Chicks donated hand made stuffed animals and trendy items for teens. I thanked her for letting me know we made a difference in their lives. That's why we do this after all!

 And so now we continue to make items for our HATAS donation this fall.

Elaine has reached the midpoint on her baby blanket and will now start the decrease portion. We laughed at the size of the ball of yarn beside her. It doesn't even look like she made a dent in the quantity! She thinks there is enough to make 3 more afghans!

 Liz spent a few minutes untangling her yarn from 2 different projects. She regrets having put them both in the same bag, exclaiming she zigged when she should have zagged.

 Beth finished the little set for her grandson. It's so cute!!! I love the elephants.

And she finished the socks she's been working on for the last few weeks. She used a size 6 needle and worsted weight yarn so they are thick and dense, the best for warding off the cold. And the yarn is superwash so they can go in the machine and dryer.

Margaret and Dorah both started a headband and hat, respectively.

Dorah started over with the hat she worked on last week. This time her baby cables are looking perfect.

And Margaret's Christmas Headband is flying off her needles.

Margaret finished her slouchy hat. It's so soft and fits the head perfectly. 

Very styling!

As is Maureen's finished hat. She wove in the ends just in time for a photo. It's a free pattern on Ravelry.

I made an adult hat and had too much yarn left over to throw away but not enough for another adult size so... baby hat it is!

We had to knit indoors this week because it rained AGAIN! Dorah is building an ark and I think I'm growing gills and webbed fingers! I'm hoping to see sunshine soon though. I wonder if I'll recognize what it is...

Knitting interrupted

Two weeks ago these hats were just an inch or two long. Now they are close to arriving at the point where the crown decreasing will start. Elaine and Barbara are making nice progress.

 We started talking about annoying phone calls and all the scams that are so prevalent now and how we handle them. While having this conversation my cell phone rang and it was a call from a maintenance company reminding me of an appointment tomorrow. Not ten minutes later Elaine's phone rang but she didn't recognize the number so she decided to let it ring. We googled the number and it came back with a name she never heard of. When it rang again Barbara answered it for Elaine and the rude person hesitated identifying herself. It turned out to be the same person who had just called me with a reminder calling Elaine to remind her of her appointment tomorrow too! We all had a good laugh but you just can't be too careful anymore! 

Debbie noticed that the hat she worked on last week looked a little wonky (that's a technical knitting term, LOL!) and it turned out she worked a twist of the cable in the same direction twice instead of alternating the twist. So this week doesn't show as much progress since she had to rip it back a bit. But it's perfect now.

 The ladies worked diligently tonight.

 Carole's hat has stripes of green and tan which gradually shrink and grow respectively as the hat gets longer.

 And Margaret's hands are buzzing along with her hat.

 Beth is making boot socks with a light worsted weight yarn. 

They go a lot quicker with the heavier yarn.

 She finished a pair of short socks which are great for warmer weather. That's Periwinkle Sheep yarn.

 Her mittens are finished too and ready to go into inventory.

 Margaret felted the clutch purse and...

 a shoulder bag. This one has Lopi yarn which is a great yarn for felting. 

 I finished the Copenhagen Calling Cowl that I started last week. 

I used a Knit Picks tweed yarn from the stash.

 It's long enough to wrap twice around the neck and makes a lovely, cozy wrap.

 A Cascade 220 yarn hat in a vivid green just fell off my needles! Since I translated the pattern by watching a video, I offered it to the designer so she could post the English version on Ravelry but I haven't seen it available yet.

If you'd like to make it too look on Ravelry for "Czapka" by Jolanta Mazurek and then wait until she posts the English version. For now, keep those needles clicking on another project!

Memorial Day visit with the grands and knitting galore

Our daughter and grandsons continued their annual tradition of visiting from Pennsylvania to watch our Memorial Day Parade. They don't need an excuse to visit but they love the bands and fire trucks. What little boys don't?

I love that we don't even need to prompt Moose to salute when the flag goes by.

I think their real favorite part is when the people marching throw candy to the crowds of viewers on their route. Leo needed some time to warm up to the idea but he got the gist of it after a few Tootsie Pops were confiscated by the kids on the neighboring blanket! After the parade, we went home for a picnic of turkey burgers and fruit salad. They left mid afternoon for what should have been a 5 hour drive back home but didn't arrive until almost 7 hours later. Oh, the joys of holiday travel!

On to a visit with my Chicks. We talked about our vegetable gardens, or the lack thereof! Barbara has decided to plant her tomatoes in pots on the deck this year and I've given up altogether. We don't get the minimum required amount of sun to sustain a tomato plant so I don't bother anymore. I did get two pots of hanging begonias and petunias to put out in the yard and a beautiful pink and white fuschia to hang on the deck. That spikey plant between Barbara and Elaine is a pineapple my son started from the discarded top of a fresh one from the grocery store. It's been growing for a few years now and just this year has taken off and grown very tall. Check out Youtube for instructions on how to start one.

Sophia came with her mom Cinzia today. Because we had so little snow this year her school didn't use up the snow days allotted for the weather and all the students had the day off. It was good to see her again. We miss her when she's busy with school activities. She picked out some yellow yarn to make a cardigan which Cinzia is preparing for winding.

Barb and Elaine worked on their hats while...

Sophia cast on for her sweater, Cinzia worked the sleeves on her cardi, and I added a few more inches to my scarf.

My evening Chicks arrived before the sun went down. Maureen finished her baby hat...

                            

and started another one for our inventory.

Beth made the cuff last week on her Apple Pie hat from Tin Can Knits. This week she worked on all those little cables. This is going to be a gorgeous hat!

Carole picked a pretty soft green yarn to make a baby cardigan. It's one of those top down pattern which does not need assembling when it's finished. I love those kind of patterns.

Dorah finished the never-ending scarf!!! She got 3 cheers from the crowd!

Now she has to put sleeves on this cute little baby sweater.

After that the next task will be to find some buttons. I can't wait to see what she'll choose!

First Nice Day of Deck Season

Spring might actually be on its way since the Chicks knitted on the deck today! We were so excited to see Liz back from her winter sabbatical too! Winters are way too long without her.

 She arrived with a goodie bag filled with items she knitted while performing her snowbird duties.

 First up are the sweet baby hats she knitted. The Christmas tree hats on the right are so cute!

 To that she added scarves, cowls, and hats.

 And now she is working on a baby blanket using our favorite standby pattern from way back when. It's free from Ravelry or Lion Brand yarns.

 Barbara started a hat today and...

 Elaine added a few more inches to her blanket.

 Carole's yarn was talking to her last week. It said, "I don't want to be this hat. Make that other one we like so much." So she frogged back to the ribbing and made this lovely cabled cap.

 Maureen is working on a hat also. This one starts where others usually end. It's called "Start in the Center" appropriately enough.

 I finished my Minty Bricks and blocked it this weekend. Dorah, Carole, and I compared notes because they are making the same scarf but Carole is using a size 3 needle and Dorah is using a size 4 and I made mine with a size 5. When next we meet we'll have to get Beth to compare hers to ours because she is using a size 2. Then we can see the difference a needle size makes.

 I showed you this little cutie last week when it was blocking. I found buttons in my Nana's button box and they match the color exactly so the leaves stand out.

 With the hat it makes such a sweet newborn set.

 I had some Berroco Comfort yarn and it called to me to become a baby blanket so here it is finally finished. It measures about 36" X 30", just right to be a cozy blankie.

Next week I'll show you the scarf I'm making now. It needs to be a little longer so you can see the great pattern being created. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking!