It feels like spring!

Aw! I just noticed that we didn't get Jan in the group picture today! She had an appointment and arrived late but we did enjoy her company today. We caught up on news about the grandchildren, future trips, and who we saw at the No Kings Rally on Saturday. Those of us who were able to attend wore our red Melt the Ice Hats. It was a very well attended and uplifting gathering where we saw many of our friends.

 Barbara B's treat today was a seasonally appropriate Hot Cross Buns...

Sourdough of course! The apricot glaze and orange zest played nicely with the raisins.

Carole worked on her cowl with the vintage yarn from her stash. I asked for the pattern name but she is making it up as she goes.

Her second project is the Squarshy Hat with the vertical focal points running up the crown.

Barbara B worked on the 1898 Hat with a Valley Yarns heather green yarn.

Margaret worked on the same hat pattern but she isn't as far along as Barbara.

Jan started the Dotty Cashmere Cowl. The dots are made by knitting a purl stitch in the field of knit stockinette. It's a very subtle design element.

Nancy's project is the Copycat Cowl. 

It is a freebie on Ravelry and I believe there are hat patterns to match.

Barbara K's scrap happy hat has grown many inches since last week. This is another basic beanie made up on the fly.

I was in the home stretch of the French Twist scarf and...

finished it just in time to snap a picture. I used Universal Yarns Bamboo Pop, a bamboo and cotton blend yarn.

I made a Grid Gambit cowl for a dear Pennsylvanian friend and it will be delivered to her in a week. But she'll get to see it tonight when we FaceTime. She picked out the yarns when I visited Terri's studio and connected through FaceTime. It's a great way to shop. That's how my husband bought me an Irish knit Coat Sweater and Poncho when he visited Ireland on a golf trip a few years ago. I still remember how kind Geraldine, the sales lady, was and how helpful it all turned out because both items fit perfectly!

I was so inspired by how quickly it knit up, 7 days start to finish, that I immediately cast one on for myself and just yesterday knitted 60 rows already! And I'm not a fast knitter by any stretch of the imagination!

Lastly, I finished a cowl which started out as a lace shawl but 13 rows in I was already having issues with stitch count and splitty yarn. I made the mistake of falling in love with the lovely gradient hues and not the fiber itself so I made a simple cowl which showcases the colors. I still have a lot of this yarn left over but will give myself a break before I struggle with it again.

Life's too short to fret over yarn and as I always say, if it's not fun, don't do it! 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

A small gathering

It was a small gathering today but no less productive. We knitted to the accompaniment of Strauss waltzes playing in the background. 

 Even Fozzie decided to join in for a few minutes. He sniffed a couple of tote bags to check out the yarn and moved along when he discovered there were no treats for him.

Tina tried her hand at the new-to-us tubular cast on and made a couple of Melt the Ice Hats for Saturday's No Kings Rally. The little hat will be worn as a lapel pin.

She used the same cast on technique for a hat she's knitting for a friend. The Call of the Wild Hat might be listed under "Rated R" but it still requires good knitting skills. Her friend said he wanted a hat with deer on it, he just didn't specify what they would be doing.😉😂

Margaret started the 1898 Hat which begins with a sideways knitted cuff. The part that goes over the ears is double thickness so it's nice and warm.

Jan is working on the Simple Sideways Triangle Scarf which luckily we saved and printed because it is no longer available on Ravelry. You might be able to find it elsewhere online.

I'm working the French Twist which I first admired when Jan was knitting it. I had some Bamboo Pop cotton and bamboo blend yarn which is working perfectly. I decided to throw in a couple of extra repeats to make it just a tad longer.

Carole was further along on her Squarshy Hat last week but she had a nagging feeling it was too small so she frogged it and added more stitches to the cast on to start over.

My Pennsylvania friend, Connie, was admiring my Grid Gambit Cowl last weekend when we were visiting for my grandson's 19th birthday. So I had a private shopping day at Whole Knit n' Caboodle to choose some combination colors and she picked a lovely light gray and a variegated called Bourbon Street in a superwash merino DK weight.

And darn it all if four more skeins of yarn didn't just jump into my purse!!! These lovelies are going to be the Murano Squares Boomerang Shawl. If you like slipped stitch knitting patterns then this and the next will be entertaining for you to knit. The Grid Gambit is also slipped stitch/mosaic knitting.

I couldn't resist the warmth of these two colors together so they will become 

the Murano Squares Bandana cowl. 

I keep saying I'm not going to buy more yarn but I think I need an intervention! I certainly need more hours in a day! And maybe people shouldn't be tempting me with such beautiful colors! LOL!

Well, all this yarn isn't going to knit itself so I better get a move on and get those needles clicking! Won't you join me?

Is this spring?

Everyone arrived in shirtsleeves and lightweight sweaters today as the temperature reached 74 degrees. We were taking bets as to when the next temperature drop would happen and how much snow we'd get. It is "false spring" after all. 😉 But we will enjoy it for now.

Dorah finished her LOSY Hat and it is a beauty! If you have small bits of left overs from socks, you can combine two to make an endless array of variations of this hat.

 Carole used her neck lamp/magnifier to help make her knitting experience an easier, more pleasant one.

She's working on her Squarshy Slouch Hat that has a distinct line of stitches swirling through the sea of stockinette stitch.

Nancy is almost finished with her Grid Gambit Cowl.

The colors she chose are stunning together!

I modified the top of Claudia Krisniski's Easy Mittens to have a squared off top with a grafted seam closure. These will be added to the inventory along with Dorah's hat for the Falcon Boutique at Albany High School next fall.

I have enough yarn left over for a 2x2 ribbed hat to match. We joked that whoever gets this set could work at Albany International Airport directing incoming flights.😂

Barbara K started a scrappy hat into which she will incorporate odds and ends of stripes using a basic beanie style hat pattern.

Barbara B found a WIP that was hiding at the bottom of a pile and decided to finish it. Unfortunately, the pattern was discontinued on Ravelry and she can't find her printed copy so she will knit the rest of the sock plain with just a bit of ribbing on the instep. She was so close to being done that she didn't want to frog it. Besides, then she would have to unkink the used yarn and that's a hassle. 

Dorah is very near the end of her Sophie Scarf and she still has a good amount of this yarn left over so she might make another.

Barbara B's sourdough treat this week was a delicious cinnamon apple coffee cake. Everyone had a piece and brought home a doggie bag too!

I think I'll take a quick walk while it's still nice out since tomorrow looks like we might have some rain. Enjoy the false spring while you can and keep those needles clicking!

FO's and WIP's abound

Topics of conversation were all over the place today. Babies, dentistry, health insurance were just a few of the discussions bouncing around the room. Eventually, we talked about what to make with the yarns from our trip to WEBS last week. They were spread across the table for inspiration.

One of the patterns we took into consideration was the Phazelia's Mitered Baby Sweater which I made 

in 2017. It looks best if knitted with a self striping yarn to highlight the angles of the rows. But we won't be making baby clothes until September. 

For now we are still knitting for The Falcon Boutique at Albany High School. Carole finished a Bias Scarf to use up the last of the James C. Brett Marble Chunky yarn. The pattern is only two rows and very easy to memorize. Choose your yarn and appropriate sized needle, cast on enough stitches to achieve your desired width, then every right side row, K1, knit into the front and back of the next stitch, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, K1. Wrong side rows are knit only across the whole row. Nothing could be easier! Just remember you won't see the shape until you're a good 3 or 4 inches in. Make sure your needle is a little larger gauge than what the label recommends so the resulting fabric is drapey.

She also completed a Squarshy Slouchy Hat. When a friend commented on how large it was, she explained it is for people with lots of hair to tuck in. The younger crowd likes this style and someone has already requested one from Carole.

Dorah completed her Helix Hat from last week. She has chosen more yarn for another already from the new yarns recently purchased.

Carole had another FO, the Royal Icing Headband which was part of our recent KAL.

Maureen finished her Olive You Baby Sweater for a friend's baby and found the cutest buttons!

She used a Malabrigo yarn, one of her favorites for it's colors and the lovely fabric it creates.

Dorah liked Carole's bias scarf so she immediately cast on to make one using...

a beautiful gradient yarn from Noro.

Tina is still working off that huge ball of yarn which seems not to have diminished in size at all.

She's knitting the Owlie Sleep Sack for our other knitter's group. I think Tina is one of those knitters who works on one project until it's finished. Gee! I wonder what that feels like. 😁

Margaret is in love with the single row, jogless technique for a helix striped hat.

Jan has a Helix Hat started on her needles too. It's such a fun pattern to make and uses scraps of yarn not otherwise in large enough quantities for a whole project.

Maureen had just enough of the Malabrigo yarn left over from the baby sweater to knit the Bankhead Beanie. It starts out with a twisted rib stitch for the cuff which gives it a unique look.

She finished last week's hat and started a cowl to match using the basic design from the Swirl Hat pattern for the body of the cowl.

Nancy started a Helix too! That gradient yarn is going to be a stunner!

Carole was going to knit a cowl but decided to go with 

Stephanie Pearl McPhee's One Row Handspun Scarf.

The yarn, she felt, was too scratchy for a cowl which might be worn against the skin. A scarf can be worn over the coat so it wouldn't matter as much.

I had some Valley Yarns Valley Superwash Sport in a pale blue. Having watched a YouTube video tutorial originating in Turkey for the stitch pattern, I was inspired to write up the project to knit a cowl.

Well, I'm going to start dinner, a cottage cheese and egg concoction that bakes in a souffle dish. I tried it a couple of weeks ago and liked it so tonight I'm going to put different additions in it. Gotta use up a fresh tomato before it goes bad. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!