Another hot day

Ninety degrees in full sun is just too much when you're knitting with wool, so we opted for another day inside. Happy knitters make nice clothing!

Our treats from Barbara B's magic oven were sourdough chocolate chip cookie bars. She makes many of these recipes with the part of the sourdough starter that is removed when the batch has to be fed. They call it discard but it would be a shame to waste it when you can make so many yummy treats with it.

 I finished the headband I was knitting last time. It can be worn with the knot in front like a turban or...

with the knot in back. It's a simple seed stitch design with slipped stitch edges.

This week I'm knitting another headband using a stitch pattern I found on YouTube. When it's long enough, I'll stitch the short ends together.

Dorah ripped out the section of her mitten that was supposed to be knitted with blue yarn and started over...

only to speed on automatic pilot and almost do it again. She caught it just in time to add in the blue yarn.

Maureen's Reversible Stripes Scarf is coming along. She is doing a great job of keeping in pattern. I don't think I would trust myself to knit this in a social setting.

Jan is knitting the Swirl Hat and her yarn is complimenting the pattern perfectly. A soft tonal or solid helps to highlight the movement of the design. A heavily variegated yarn would camouflage those diagonal bands. 

Barbara K's basic triangular shawl has grown since last week. She wanted the yarn to take center stage so a simple triangle with 4 increases on every right side row fit the requirements.

Carole decided to frog back some sleeve stitches on her Oh Baby! Sweater to shape the sleeves differently. I think she said they were too narrow and she wanted to make them a little fuller.

Barbara B was having issues with her sleeves too. The Top Down Raglan didn't have any decreases and she wanted to have some shaping in the sleeves so we checked out a couple of other patterns and she decided to throw in a few decreases along the length of the sleeve to make it less boxy.

Last week Nancy wanted to know the difference between Fair Isle knitting and mosaic knitting. After hearing how much easier it is to knit mosaic and slipped stitch knitting, she searched for a pattern and she's hooked!

You can see where the slipped stitches ride above the stockinette round in her Brick by Brick Hat.

Margaret made a ton of progress on her Helix Hat since last week. Now you can see the stripes traveling up the hat.

That wraps up another session with the Chicks. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Twas the week before Christmas

All the Chicks were knitting! And...

eating! We had two treats today! Barbara B made sourdough molasses gingerbread cookies and Jan made chocolate bark. Yummy on both plates! Barbara was out sick last week and Jan was afraid we'd go hungry because she wasn't sure if Barbara would be here this week so she made the bark. My Chicks take such good care of each other.

Carole finished the Squarshy Hat for the inventory. It uses bulky weight yarn so it works up quickly.

Nancy made a Swirl Hat for her 6 month old granddaughter. 

The yarn colors are perfect for a little baby girl!

Maureen's Helix Hat has such great colors! And even though it's an easy pattern, there is just enough going on to keep you interested but still be easy social knitting.

Carole chose a Christmas-y green bulky weight yarn to make...

the Easy Cabled Hat. The pattern calls for a size 8 needle for the ribbed cuff and size 10 for the crown. This would be a good pattern to practice cabling without a needle.

Nancy's current project is another hat for her granddaughter who will be the best dressed baby in town.

The Luuk Hat pattern includes instructions for sizes from preemie to adult and it's free!

Jan started a new project with the prettiest bright red yarn.

The One Skein Lima Neckerchief is a pattern that was designed specifically for alpaca yarn. Jan did bring to my attention that there is a mistake in the pattern 

but you can find the correction on the project page.

 

Dorah had some Noro yarn in her stash so she's making a basic beanie, cast on a whole whack of stitches, knit some ribbing for an inch or so, then knit every round until it looks like you should start decreasing the crown, then decrease to the closure at the top of the hat. 

I may have simplified that a bit. ;) LOL!

Barbara B started a new project called...

Basic Men's Large Beanie. She's practicing the technique for jogless stripes for multiple rounds of color and single rounds of color. 

On my needles is a DK weight yarn. I started to make a 2X2 knitted cap and then decided to make tiny twists with the knit2 stitches so it looks like mini cables. 

Nancy wore a gorgeous shawl she knitted for herself called Floatini. It requires a smooth fingering weight yarn and a mohair to create the leaves. If you like knitting short rows as Nancy does, this is the pattern for you. She used the German Short Rows technique but YouTube has many videos to teach other methods for short rows as well.

 We won't be meeting through the weeks of the holidays so let me take this time to wish you all a blessed holiday season and a happy new year. And don't forget...keep those needles clicking!

In between donation cycles

Last Wednesday Nancy, Jan, and I delivered our warm woolies to Things of My Very Own. This is a non-profit organization which protects and supports families who find themselves in crisis situations. We were so warmly greeted by such grateful staff. It makes us feel like we are making a difference.

This week we start a new cycle. We spent some time brainstorming possibilities for our next recipient. Cinzia will be doing some searching for a strong candidate in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we are knitting whatever strikes our fancy. I cast on for a 2X2 ribbed hat using a DK weight yarn. I'm trying to be more mindful about making items that a man would like to wear. It's so easy for me to find feminine knits I enjoy making that I have to be conscientious about knitting more                                                                masculine items.                                                                

Nancy started a cute little baby hat using a cheerful variegated yarn.

It is the Swirl Hat, a paid pattern on Ravelry and a good project for social knitting.

Cinzia found a colorful bulky weight yarn in the stash and cast on for a 3X1 hat which she almost finished in the two hours spent at my house. Size 13 needles and fat yarn make a quick knit.

Margaret found a pattern for fingerless gloves from a designer who has wonderful tutorial videos on YouTube.

These fingerless mitts use bulky weight yarn so they will be a quick knit too. You can also purchase the pattern on Ravelry if you don't want to follow the video.

Maureen chose a great color combo for her Helix Hat!

Barbara is making a Mistake Stitch Hat. I like how the ridges grow on the bias across the hat.

Dorah bought a collection of mini skeins to make a Reverb Shawl for her collection.

The last two skeins will finish off the triangular shawl perfectly.

Barbara B stayed home today because she was feeling under the weather this week and didn't want to share germs with us. Luckily, I baked a banana bread yesterday so the Chicks didn't have to go through snack deprivation. Feel better soon Barbara and not just because we miss your treats! LOL!

It's a dreary, damp day so I'm headed off to make a warm, comforting soup for dinner. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

 

The smoke is back and so is the humidity

The Canadian wildfire smoke is lingering in the air. That combined with the heat and humidity made it easy to stay inside to knit. Our conversation centered on grandchildren. Did you know we have three sets of fraternal twins among the grandchildren of the Chicks? Maureen has a boy and a girl, Carole and Jan each have boys. It was interesting to hear how the different ages handle conflict and comaraderie.

We also talked about each of us learning to knit and crochet. Barbara B. learned knitting and crochet at the age of 9 or 10 from a neighbor. Jan was 10 or 11 when her grandmother and mother taught her to knit. Carole was 9 or 10 when she learned to crochet and 11 when she learned knitting, taught by her mother. Maureen's neighbor taught her to crochet when she was about 7 but didn't learn to knit until as an adult when her mother-in-law taught her. Cinzia learned as a student in grade school in Italy when she was 6 or 7. And my grandmother taught me to crochet when I was about 7, a neighbor ( a sweet Norwegian lady) taught me how to knit slippers when I was about 12, and then my mother taught me more knitting skills by the time I reached high school. It's such a nice tradition to hand down to the next generations. I feel grateful to have learned by the side of family and friends.

On to our FO's! I finally finished Carol's Clever Little Shawl. It took me a few days short of 3 weeks but it felt like forever.

I used an oatmeal colored Plymouth Encore and steam blocked it to open up the lace stitches. I like it so much I might have to make one for myself in a summer weight fiber to wear with my sundresses.

Carole finished her Raven Beanie. She fiddled with the pattern so she could use a heavier weight yarn than what the pattern recommended.

And Jan finished her Swirl Hat in worsted weight yarn.

Barbara B. completed the Pussyhat in the round in 4 gauges. She liked this pattern because it didn't require some of the sewing techniques that others of the same design needed.

Maureen brought us her finished Bewind Hat. I think all these hat patterns are free on Ravelry.

Carole modeled the Hot Springs Willow Hat that Barbara B. made.

This is a paid pattern on Ravelry. Look at the beautiful design the stitches make!

Cinzia knitted the last few rows on her Saurey lace baby blanket which is a Berroco pattern and will steam block it to open those lace stitches. She was pretty sure the yarn is acrylic so we did a little experiment and set fire to a scrap of it and sure enough! It melted so it's plastic! If it was wool it would put itself out and smell like burning hair.

Jan did a lot of knitting on her Easy Scarf and is not far from the end.

Maureen is making a baby gift for a friend's granddaughter on the way. It's a kimono style sweater called Olive You Baby with a neat detail and asymmetrical front closing.

Barbara B. started the Seven of Hearts Beanie using a pretty cornflower blue yarn.

I was feeling creative after watching a YouTube video presented by a Turkish knitter. So I'm in the experimental stage of making a cowl. I suspect I might have some tinking or frogging to do as I work out the kinks. If it turns out the way I see it in my mind's eye, I'll post the pattern.

I'm expecting my personal IT technician (my son) any minute to help with some email questions so I'll leave off here. Hope it's cool where you are and keep those needles clicking!