Busy hands

We had a stretch of holiday rest so it was back to some serious knitting today for my Chicks.

We start Show and Tell with Debbie's hoodie sweater. She is using one of those huge skeins of self striping yarn she bought when our local Lion Brand store went out of business. It's a washable yarn, perfect for baby clothes.

 Cinzia is also using a self patterning yarn which looks like it should knit up into a dotted pattern but oddly enough it is working up into a really nice tweedy stripe.

 Barbara's Cabin Fever Buttons cardigan has shoulders and should have sleeves soon. She is holding it by the collar and shoulders so you can see that it is a top down one piece sweater.

 Maureen's baby blanket is longer this week. I think she's getting bored with it. Next time a quick hat pattern Maureen!

 Margaret's top down 5 hour sweater is going on about three weeks now. It's hard to find time to squeeze in a few stitches when you have a full time job and a family.

 Beth is making a baby Flax sweater. You can see the garter stitch feature on the shoulder and sleeve.

 And Dorah's baby sweater has reached the portion where she will insert the chevron pattern with a variegated yarn. You can see the first few rows peeking out at the needle edge.

 Carole is disappointed that it took her two hours to get this far on her Sunnyside sweater but she has all those markers perfectly in place so she can now breeze on through the knitting. It's important to get the markers correctly placed so the sleeves and design elements line up.

 My Baby Sophisticate is at the very beginning so it doesn't look much like a cardigan yet.

 And now for the gallery of FO's. I found a quick bootie pattern last night for some scraps of worsted weight yarn that was too much to just throw away. They were done in about three hours. And I'm a slow knitter!

 My second Dexter vest is for a little girl. I ran out of pink yarn and had to use a sage green to sew up one of the side seams but luckily it doesn't show.

 I had a bit of left over blue yarn so a quick 2X2 ribbed hat used it up.

 Beth was busy while she was away before the holiday. Her cables are beautifully knitted on this cute little hat.

 The buttons Carole put on her little sweater are just the right touch of color for such a cute little pullover.

 Beth's baby socks are cheerfully bright!

 And her cute little tie booties are sure to stay on.

 Another baby hat....

 and two more from Margaret's needles.

 Carole added a sweet little cap with a twisty top knot.

 And these last few are personal items that first up, Beth knitted. A pretty pair of socks called Hermione's Everyday Sock. She said the pattern was very easy for her first pair of two at a time cuff down socks.

 Dorah showed us her Baby Cocktails Shiraz sweater she made for her daughter. We are very proud of her work! She just has to knit the neck band and it will be finished.

Lastly, Beth had put this beautiful shawl into hibernation for a while but finally took it out to finish. The color choices are gorgeous! If you'd like to purchase the pattern on Ravelry, it's called Drachenfels by Melanie Berg.

Well, I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and have recovered from your turkey hangover. It's time for me to get back to my knitting. Keep those needles clicking!

We have some FO's this week

Some finished objects to show off this week.

Debbie contributed a pair of fancy cabled wrist warmers. These will be a welcome addition to anyone's wardrobe, especially since the weather finally turned really raw and cold this week.

 Barbara finished her baby blanket and it looks great and feels even nicer! Did I tell you the funny story about this yarn? The label was in Italian and I could read that the fiber was wool so we thought all along that it would not be machine washable. Barbara decided to knit it with larger needles and then felt it so it would be preshrunk. But for some reason I decided to punch in the words from the label into my free translation app (Cinzia wasn't here at the time or I could just have asked her. She's from Padua, Italy) It turned out that the words on the label said, "Machine washable"! Well! That makes a world of difference! So now we have a beautiful blanket to donate which is also easy care.

 Cinzia and I made the same vest with the same size yarn, different colors, and same size needles. I guess I knit more loosely because mine (the darker green on the right) is a little bigger. This is why knitting to gauge is so important when making a garment that you want to fit properly.

 Maureen is at the stage in her blanket where she is questioning her choice of pattern. You see, we all get excited about a pretty blanket pattern, prepare the yarn, get the needles and whatever other accessories we need, then cast on and away we go! About half way through we begin to question our sanity in having chosen such a long and tedious project. But picturing a warm, chubby cheeked toddler all cuddled up makes it all ok again.

 Carole's baby hat with the rolled edge is almost complete. A few more rows and then the decreasing portion and she'll be adding it to the inventory.

 As soon as I finished sewing the seams on the little green vest I cast on for a baby watch cap. The pattern is based on the same hat I make for adults but with fewer stitches cast on.

It's a quick and easy pattern and using magic loop method makes it quicker yet.

Well, back to my knitting. I have some Christmas knitting to squeeze in between donation projects so I need to move along. Since we won't be meeting next Tuesday let me wish you all a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. 

Sweaters!

We'll start off this week's episode of Chicks with Sticks with a little Show and Tell. Cinzia brought her finished baby cardigan with its cute little lace pattern. That's going to look so sweet on a chubby toddler.

 Liz left off a baby cardigan which needed only a button. I went diving into my late grandmother's button box and came out with a blossom of a button which fit perfectly.

Last week I showed you this sweater as it was blocking and said all it needed was a button.

 With a little more digging into the box I came up with a perfect one.

 Elaine finished one set of I-cord ties for her baby kimono and will get to the other one next week.

 Cinzia's daughter, Elena, came to visit us on her day off from school and picked out a pretty, soft, red yarn for a crocheted scarf, the pattern for which she is making up as she goes along. Such talent!

 Carole cast on stitches tonight for a little rolled edge cap.

 She's using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, a blend of wool, cashmere, and acrylic blend. It is so soft AND machine washable!!!

 Maureen's blanket is coming along nicely. The pastel yellow will make it a good gender neutral accessory.

 Dorah knitted past the sleeve stitches on her little pullover and is well on her way to finishing the body of the sweater.

 I finished the front of my Dexter vest and the knitting goes down the back now. 

This is a cute and quick knit for a boy, something which I find hard to feel inspired but this pattern is satisfying my need to hurry up and finish.  It should be ready for blocking soon and then I'll show you the finished vest next week. Until then, keep those needles clicking!

Happy Halloween

The afternoon ladies got together today to continue work on our baby clothes and some little gifts for their moms too. Elaine continued to work on her baby hat and Barbara on her blanket.

 She doesn't have too much more to knit.

 Debbie finished a pair of baby mittens. It's good to see they don't have thumbs because those of us who have ever tried putting chubby little fingers into mittens or gloves know how hard it is to manage.

 Debbie worked on two at a time boot cuffs, using up some yarn scraps. Nothing goes to waste!

 I finished the little cardigan I worked on last week and added a cute little faux cabled hat to match. It's still a bit damp from it's blocking bath. All it needs now is a special button.

 

 My next project will be Dexter, a sweet little vest for a sweet little boy. 

 I was knitting without a row counter and I think I might have to frog a few rows. It looks like my ribbing is too deep.

But that's the great thing about knitting! Unlike sewing, when you've cut the fabric you're commited, knitting allows mistakes to be frogged out and redone.

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and spooky Halloween!

Baby clothes are fun to knit!

Elaine dove into her stash of UFO's and found this cute little kimono sweater which needs a method of closure. We tossed around a few ideas but she doesn't want to do any sewing so she's going to pick up stitches and make I-cords to tie it closed. Down in the lower right corner you can see the hat she's working on. Elaine was running short on the variegated yarn so she is adding stripes of solid pink here and there to extend the fabric so it will fit someone's head.

 Barbara's blanket is coming along nicely.

 Debbie started Freddie the Field Mouse using pink worsted weight yarn. Can't wait to see him finished.

 Dorah showed us her ChevRiot shawl she made using Periwinkle Sheep yarns. Those chevrons are offset so they travel the length of the shawl. 

 And she finished her Zoe hat tonight. I love it in pink!

 She found a baby pullover sweater which she started some months back and picked it back up again. Look at those cute little sheep stitch markers!

 Margaret's top down cardigan had one and a half sleeves when we finished tonight. It won't be long now and it will have a body too.

 

 The top down cardigan I'm making is ready to be split for the sleeves now. It shouldn't take too long to complete the body then I'll try to knit both sleeves at the same time on magic loop.

 Carole's top down sweater looked like this when we started tonight...

and like this when it was time to go home. Before you know it, it will have its sleeves and be ready for inventory. 

 I didn't have enough gray yarn to make a whole hat so I threw in some blue and was able to stretch it into an adult size hat.

 And after a thrilling game of yarn chicken, I finished an octopus toy. I held my breath when I neared the finish line, hoping all the while that there would be enough yarn to finish. That little ball is all that was left. 

Now I can breathe.