Summer feels like it has arrived

It was 84 degrees this afternoon so it's a good thing I had both fans going and the curtains up or we wouldn't have been able to sit outside. I guess it was too hot for the local bears to be out and about today too. That was a topic of conversation today since just a couple of days ago there was a black bear spotted a block away and the wrought iron bird feeder pole was bent down to the ground with the feeders scattered. It's been about 5 years now (since a new set of townhouses were built) that we have a "visitor" at least once each spring. One of the big boys was walking down my driveway last year like he paid the mortgage!!! They are magnificent animals but I'd rather see them on tv, not while I'm taking a walk! 😟

 Barbara B made a beautiful hat called "Through the Forest" with American Ewe yarn. That red is stunning! It has a good amount of stretch so it will fit a wide range of head sizes.

I ran out of yarn before I could finish 7 repeats of the cable motif on the Benjamin Matthews hat called Rock Ridge Beanie. Even cutting it short by 3 repeats it will fit an adult with a small to medium sized head.

The whole weekend was a washout as far as my knitting goes. I tried to use a very soft baby alpaca yarn that was gifted to me but after frogging 5 different patterns, I decided to put the yarn away and try something else. Last night my DH had to tell me to step away from the knitting and go play a video game because I was still having issues. But today I took a kid silk mohair and a merino and held them together to knit a simple triangle and so far it's working. I'm thinking I'll knit it wide enough to fit over my head and around my neck and turn it into a cowl.

Barbara B's Workday Scarf is nearing completion. It's such a pretty yarn!

Maureen made tons of progress on her Bankhead hat. Another stunning red yarn but this is a Malabrigo yarn. Both the Workday Scarf and Bankhead patterns are freebies too!

Check out the beautiful detail on Cinzia's Cassidy Rose Scarf!

It's a paid pattern on Ravelry. It's one of those patterns that you knit from tip to tip and it's reversible. It's a good idea to weigh your yarn so you know when to start decreasing for the opposite side so you don't run out of yarn before finishing.

Tina told me what she was making but I neglected to write it down. I'll have to ask her next week.

  

But her French Twist Scarf is finished with its sweet little scalloped edge.

Nancy's Workday Scarf, like Barbara B's is almost finished too! I'm going to have to hunt through my stash to find a yarn and make one of these. I really like the simplicity of it but the lace edge has enough going on to keep it entertaining.

I found the picture I took, from a good distance, of Yogi, who wandered down my driveway last year. He's (or she's) a big boy/girl! If you don't bother them, they won't bother you. We just make sure there's no food around the house. 

I would love to see Fozzie's reaction to it but he's always asleep somewhere and misses the visits. 

That's all I have for you this week. Check back next Tuesday to see what we've finished...and maybe see another bear!!! Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

I just realized I forgot to show you our sourdough treat from Barbara B for this week! Sorry Barb! We had delicious Fudge Brownie cookies! How could I forget?!?!

Cinzia is back!

There she is on the bottom right of the picture. She accompanied her husband on his almost year long sabbatical to Spain and Sweden and returned just two weeks ago. She entertained us with stories of her escapades through Seville, and surrounds, to Morocco, a month in Italy visiting family, and getting to experience the weird contrast of day and night in Sweden. She tried delicious local foods, walked many more than 20,000 steps some days, and experienced the local culture and people for a memorable time away from her Albany home. We're glad to have her back and I can breathe a sigh of relief that her orchids survived their stay with me and one even bloomed! Welcome back, Cinzia!

She brought some cannoli to serve with Barbara B's yummy sourdough donut holes. I was a bit of a glutton and tried all three!

 

Dorah finished her One Row Handspun Scarf and was so excited it's done!

Barbara B is using Lolabean yarn for her Workday Scarf which is the same pattern that...

Nancy is knitting with her variegated yarn. To look quickly you would think they're two different scarves. It just goes to show how much influence a yarn has on the finished project.

Cinzia is working on a child's short sleeved T-shirt with a pretty lace accent.

And Maureen is working on the Bankhead Beanie with the twisted ribbing cuff.

Margaret was busy during the week so she apologized for not having made much progress on her Bewind Hat. That's ok, we have time.

My needles are busily clicking away at a Benjamin Matthews design called Rock Ridge Beanie. I'm holding my breath though because the yarn didn't have a label and I was sure it was a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash which has 200 yards which is what the pattern requires...except, I'm running out of yarn quickly! I might be frogging this for a single cuff instead of a 5 inch folded cuff.

My "supervisor" is sending me thought waves that it's almost snack time.

Somehow it feels like it is always snack time with this fuzzball! But how can you resist that smile?!?! Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Can you believe I didn't knit from Friday afternoon to Monday?!?!

But I had a legitimate reason! My babies were visiting!!! Well, I guess since they're both towering over me I can't call them babies anymore. They finished their first year of college and high school and are looking forward to summer jobs. I wish they didn't live so far away. Three days isn't long enough to spend with them. We had a great time though. Leo (the younger one) made a delicious chicken and dumpling dinner from scratch on Saturday for all of us. He loves his culinary arts class this semester and I love having him show me what he's learned! Poppop took them for a golf lesson and then a quick 9 holes before it rained on Saturday. So it was a full weekend of fun, hugs, and kisses. 

Now, on to the knitting news this week.

It was almost a full deck today. Cinzia and Carole had conflicts but everyone else was here.

 Margaret just started the Bewind Hat. It is a freebie on Ravelry and has a nice raised diagonal stitch design on a stockinette background for an easy project.

Jan worked on her Simple Little Scarf and by the time she left...

it was finished and just the ends needed weaving in. This is also a freebie pattern on Ravelry.

Dorah is working hard at making her One Row Handspun Scarf longer (another freebie). She is using a baby alpaca yarn for the softest fabric!

And Nancy confessed she hasn't worked at all on her Workday Scarf. But she had a real good reason. She was touring the island of Kauai!!! She had a lovely time and is back to her knitting projects.

Barbara B is about at the middle of her Mill City Shawl (another free pattern) for which she is using a pretty variegated fingering weight yarn.

Maureen finished her 1898 Hat and has start a ribbed cuff for another pattern of which I didn't get the name.

Barbara K didn't have a label for this pretty yarn but...

she is using the same One Row Handspun Scarf pattern that Dorah is knitting. The long slow color changes will make a pretty effect to the overall look of the fabric.

The cuff is growing on my Rock Ridge Beanie, a Benjamin Matthews hat pattern. I think this is  a Cascade 220 superwash wool yarn. Somewhere along the way I lost the label.

Tina is on the decreasing side of her French Twist scarf. It looks just like the sample in the pattern!

And don't let me forget to describe Barbara B's sourdough apple donut cake! It was moist and tender and not so sweet that you could feel the decay forming in your teeth!!! LOL! Deeeelicious!!!

Well, I need to make up for the missed knitting hours this weekend so I better wrap this up. Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

It's Free!

In my last post this afternoon I mentioned that I was going to write up a pattern for the Corrugated Cowl I finished today.

 Well, guess what! It's up and running for free on Ravelry. Just follow the link to get your copy.

Ravelry: Corrugated Cowl pattern by Jody-Sallese Mason

Now get those needles clicking!

You could poach an egg out there!

It's 93 degrees, feels like 97! and humid! UGH! I don't know which is worse, the heat or the fact that I can't breathe underwater. But thank goodness for air conditioning! I always say if I don't have goosebumps on my arms, it's not cool enough. I guess that's what happens when you were a polar bear in another lifetime. 😉

Barbara B made sourdough pretzel bites which we dipped in Dijon Mustard while we...

chatted about grandkids, kids, vacations, and food. 

Barbara's pretzels are a big hit among the Chicks! And as Barbara said, the recipe says it makes 6 large knotted pretzels so if she makes them into little nuggets, we really aren't eating all that much. 

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!😉

Barbara K has made progress on the pink hat she is making to match the scarf from a few weeks back. The bulky weight yarn makes it a quick knit!

Margaret was funny! She "confessed" that she really didn't have time to knit at home so we made her recite 3 Hail Marys! LOL! Her Helix Hat is coming along.

Dorah's baby alpaca scarf is a little longer. Sometimes the Chicks don't want me to take a picture of their projects since they think it's taking too long to complete. But that's the whole point! We aren't little elves that wave our magic wands and have a 60 inch scarf knitted overnight! 

Wouldn't it be great if we could though?!?!

Barbara B's Mill City Shawl is a pretty combination of stitch patterns.

A close up shows the diagonal pattern.

Carole's Sophie Scarf is getting longer. 

 

And so is her One Row Handspun Scarf. She frogged the progress she had made because she didn't like the way the edges were looking. On the remake she decided to slip the first stitch purlwise with yarn in front and knit the last stitch. With this method, you have to add two extra stitches to your cast on for the edge stitches.

I had these two balls of yarn left over from my Grid Gambit Cowl and decided to design something with it. I'm calling it Corrugated Cowl and when I get the pattern written up and test knitted, I'll post it for free on Ravelry. 

And here's a quick lesson on how to pick colors for a colorwork project when you want a sharp contrast. Take a photograph of the yarns you want to use and edit it to look like a black and white photo. If the grays are too close in color to see a defined delineation between the patterns, then you know they won't work in this project. You need a sharp contrast as you see here. (forgive the underlining. My computer decided this is the way things will be from now on😡)

Fozzie is bugging me, nipping my elbows as I type and trying to bite the wires to my computer so I guess I'm finished for the day! Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!