It’s time to see what the Chicks are doing

Carole, Dorah, Margaret, Janna, and Annika joined me for our monthly Zoom get-together. We’ve all been busy making those needles click.

Margaret showed us her 1898 Hat in the beginning stages. 

Carole had been very busy and had a few things to show us. The Helix Hat is a great stash buster for using up small leftovers.

This teal toque had a great texture to the stitching.

And her Close to You Shawl finished up beautifully.

This scarf will have great warmth for the wearer because of the texture of the fabric.

Janna had a few tries at casting on for her two-at-a-time mittens on magic loop. I still have to look up YouTube videos to help me through the steps.

Annika took the opportunity to wind a skein of yarn for her upcoming project.

               And look at these cheerful socks Dorah is working on! Great colors and self striping too!

Annika showed off her 1898 Hat that her sister, Janna made for her. I just might “borrow” the striped idea for one I have to make.

I made an 1898 Hat for my son’s birthday according to his custom design. The whole while I was making it, I was thinking the green stripe around the face might be too snug, as all the methods I tried were not working until I decided to duplicate stitch it with crochet. It turns out it was too snug. So I’m going to rip it out and try again with a larger hook.

But at least now I know I can do it.

Hope you all survive the crazy winter weather we’re experiencing in our area. And for those of you who read from warmer climates, stay well. And as always, keep those needles clicking,

 

Riverside knitting

There were people all along the shore enjoying the Henry Hudson Park today. The air was dry and the light breezes made the 78° day feel very comfortable. We didn’t see any herons or eagles this afternoon but we did see a fisherman. I wonder if he caught anything.

Barbara K., Barbara B., and Janna sat facing the river so they had the best view.

While Debbie, Liz, and Annika sat in the dappled sunlight.

Janna finished her teal blue scarf (around her neck) and added to the length of the Palindrome scarf.

Liz worked on her “Old Shale” Pattern scarf using yarn that has a sparkle thread through it. It glittered beautifully in the sun.

Barbara K. started the brim of a hat using a bulky weight yarn which will make it knit up quickly.

Annika’s scarf is coming along nicely too. The self striping yarn gives a simple triangular shawl some pizazz.

Debbie put the finishing touches on the hat she worked on last week.

My Sightseer Cowl is about an inch longer than ot was last week...

While Barbara B.’s is about the same size. I love her color combo!

Liz brought her winter knitting to add baby and adult hats, sweater, fingerless mitts, and a scarf to our inventory for a future donation.

We’re hoping the weather continues to be this beautiful so we can meet at this lovely park each week. It’s a peaceful spot to spend a few hours enjoying the fresh air while we knit. So keep your fingers crossed that Mother Nature will continue to bless us with pleasant temperatures and light breezes that we may keep those needles clicking.

Down by the river

With the restrictions being a bit more lenient here in New York State, we decided to cautiously meet down by the river on a breezy, beautiful, sunny day. 

It felt so good to gather and see each other in person instead of on Zoom! And as you can see, we were appropriately distanced from each other.

Our biggest surprise was seeing Liz appear from her car! None of us knew she had returned from her winter quarters in Florida. 

Barbara B. wore her fancy mask that she made while she knitted a baby blanket.

And Barbara K. and Debbie chatted about where to get the best take-out while enjoying the light breeze.

On the far left is Janna's twin, Annika, who has so graciously led our weekly Zoom meetings. The Chicks were happy to finally meet her in person.

It's a good thing my camera has a zoom feature so I could get close up pictures without crossing the 6 foot barrier. Debbie learned how to make a double thick brim on the hat she is knitting.

Barbara B. had yarn left from a previous project which worked out perfectly for the baby blanket.

Janna picked up where she left off on her eyelet scarf.

And lastly, I am making progress on a cowl called "Sightseer". These yarns were destined for a different cowl pattern which I purchased but after getting through a few inches of the chart which was very difficult for my eyes to read (the designer used two dark colors and dark symbols, a bad combination for someone who hates knitting from charts) I saw a huge mistake and the frustration I felt overwhelmed me so I threw the WIP on the floor, said a few choice words, and abandoned it for Plan B. 

I'm a happy camper now and very happy with the results of the new pattern.

If the humidity doesn't overwhelm us, we will meet by the river again. In the meantime, we continue to maintain our distance and wear our masks. It has been a challenge to say the least but we will do what is necessary to keep healthy so stay healthy, stay happy, and stay home (unless you have a nice river to park your chair) and keep those needles clicking!

Chipmunks and bunnies

This week’s hot topic was the brazen chipmunks which have invaded everyone’s yards. Annika has a family of bunnies as well. Carole was able to harvest some rhubarb from her garden to make strawberry rhubarb pie. She made great progress on her “Close to You” shawl too. Those colors are lovely.

 Janna (bottom center) knitted the whole border of her variegated blues and purples and teal shawl..

 After watching a YouTube video tutorial to learn the I-cord bind off, she is well on her way to the      finish line.    

New York State is slowly opening up but we still need to be careful and wear masks and wash our hands if we need to be in public. Be kind to each other as we try to return to the outside world. Stay healthy, stay happy, and if you don’t absolutely have to go out in public, stay home and keep those  needles clicking!

Garden talk

In between catching up on what we’re knitting, we heard about Janna’s experience with the vegetables she bought from the Cooperative Extension. She bought a bunch of things to put in her raised garden bed, thinking she would receive 4” pots with good sized plants. Instead, she was handed teeny weeny seedlings which had to be cared for like a baby in an incubator! 🤣 Not feeling confident with her skills for hardening off the seedlings before planting them outside, Janna decided to return them and look for already hardy plants to assure a better outcome.

Carole told us about her friend who shared rhubarb plants with her for her garden. If all goes well, might we expect a rhubarb pie in the future???

Maureen went stash diving and came up with this pretty rosy yarn for a baby sweater (the top right picture). Jan is working on her Emiliana shawl, Janna is finishing a long border on her blue shawl, and Annika added rows to her striped shawl.

In the bottom left you can see Carole’s “Close to You” Shawl. Her yarn is a slow changing variegated fiber and I’m excited to see her progress next week.

I’ve seen some funny memes online about Zoom meetings but so far every one of ours has been a good experience, not like Jennifer who forgot her coworkers could see her in the bathroom!

It feels good to see my Chicks each week to keep our connection. I’m going to have to figure out how we’re going to celebrate our anniversary this year. After all, we will be marking our 15th year together! Maybe by August things will improve enough to have a celebration in person.

For now, stay healthy, stay happy, stay home! And keep those needles clicking!

There were some four legged visitors

If you look closely, in the picture in the upper right corner is Dorah’s kitty who decided to join us this week.

 Then Annika’s kitty made an appearance as well. She’s right in the middle, top row.

 Not to be outdone by the felines, Debbie’s dachshund stopped by too. He’s in the middle band of pics, to the far right. I love that all the fur family members showed up for the Zoom meeting tonight!

 On the very bottom, Barbara K. showed us her Mistake Stitch Scarf in progress.

 Dorah made good progress with her scarf/shawl called “On the Spice Market”. The colors are lovely. 

 I almost had a catastrophe with my second time around making “Shawl with No Name”. As you can see in this photo, there wasn’t much dark brown yarn left and I still had four rows of over 250 stitches and growing to complete before moving on to the next color!

 But the Knitting Goddesses smiled upon me and I found a whole skein of yarn, same color and dyelot, in my stash so I could knit to the end without worry of running out.

It needs to be blocked and then it will be stored in our inventory for donation to the homeless women veterans when we’re able to make deliveries again. Until then, stay well, stay happy, stay home! And keep those needles clicking!

Knitting and baking

 This week on Zoom with the Chicks I remembered to have them show their projects. Maureen is making the Sunnyside baby cardigan. Janna is working on a Palindrome scarf to go with the hat she made last week. Carole frogged her original cable hat because the cables drew in too much fabric making it too small. She added enough stitches for another cable and now it’s perfect. Annika is making a variegated yarn scarf and Debbie is making the ribbing for her project. Barbara is between projects at the moment. But she told us about the yummy oatmeal cookies she made which required one quarter cup of batter per cookie! 

I’m wearing my latest FO, the “Shawl With No Name” and I casted on for a second one to donate with our next round. The picture below is my shawl but the one I am currently knitting for donation will be cream, russet, and brown colored yarns.

We talked about recipes of interest and I’ll be sharing the no knead white bread recipe I found on a YouTube video tutorial. The top crust baked up more like a crunchy artisan bread, so as soon as it came out of the oven, I rubbed it all over with butter to make it a soft sandwich bread. My son declared it the best he ever tasted.

Janna told us the story of when her son was in grade school, studying foreign countries, he had to bring items that represented the country and maybe some food from that culture. She made an Ethiopian dinner which one little boy loved so much, he asked for seconds. Later when her son was in high school, he asked if a friend could come for dinner. Janna likes to cook ethnic foods with lots of spices so she warned him the friend might not like what she cooks. Her son’s response was, “Mom, your cooking is legendary!” How wonderful that he recognizes the effort and talent his mother puts into feeding him!

So as we approach another week of social distancing, I will search through patterns and recipes to see what new things I can learn. In the meantime, stay well, stay happy, stay home!

Weekly update

This week with the Chicks we caught up with each other’s family news and recipes.

 Barbara K. and her siblings gathered via “House Party” which I understand is another version of FaceTime or Zoom. She was challenged with the prospect of downsizing a cupcake recipe for 12 to enough for 1 since she didn’t want to be tempted to eat them all. 

Carole brought us up to date on her daughter’s growing belly full of twins.

Maureen is having fun providing day care for her 5 month old granddaughter.

Janna chauffeured her teenager daughter to a classmate’s house for a drive by sweet 16 birthday celebration parade. The friends arranged to meet in the high school parking lot and drove, parade style, through their friend’s neighborhood with horns blaring and balloons flying while the kids cheered through the sun roofs.

Dorah’s kitty, Dobby, made a guest appearance tonight by cuddling up to the ipad.

Debbie finished a hat and a pair of mittens for donation and Janna started a lovely star pattern Icelandic style hat for herself. She finished the body of a beautiful shawl for herself but put it aside for the time being as many, many stitches have to be picked up for a knitted border.

I am grateful for the technology that allows us to “visit” with each other each week during this time. It gives us something to look forward to every Tuesday evening. And I am grateful for Janna’s sister Annika and her tech experience for setting up our Zoom meetings each week.

Until next week, stay happy, stay healthy, stay home!

For your protection

I have a bag of sock yarn leftovers and thought I would try my hand at knitting some masks since I gave all my fabric to Barbara B. so she could sew masks to send to those who need them.

The original mask pattern is labeled as not being safe for filtering the COVID 19 virus.

I decided to redesign it by adding a second layer. I knitted a second mask and sewed it to the inside of the first one at the top and bottom edges. The sides were left open so I could slip coffee filters between the layers.

I also made a button band to connect the straps behind the head so they don’t irritate the ears.

I even did a sniff test by holding an open bottle of vinegar under our noses.

Even with my sharp sense of smell, I could barely detect the odor. These masks are to protect others in the rare case that we have to go out. So far, we’ve been lucky enough to have our groceries delivered. But we do get out for vigorous walks when the weather cooperates so we will wear the masks in case we encounter any neighbors. Please continue to stay home so we can defeat this invisible enemy. As knitters and crafters of all kinds, we should be overjoyed to know we have time on our hands to create to our hearts’ content! Stay well, stay busy, and keep those needles clicking!