Deck Knitting Commences

While the sun was out, it was comfortable for the first time on the deck. But when the clouds rolled by it was a little chilly. Who cares?!?! We were getting our fresh air! It was almost a full house too. In a few weeks we will be welcoming Cinzia back from sabbatical.

Barbara B's treat today was sourdough rhubarb coffee cake. The cinnamon topping added a depth of flavor to the sweet rhubarb scattered throughout the cake.

She wore her Zomboni Scarf today which you might remember her knitting these past few weeks.

Mill City Shawl is the next shawl she's knitting. This is a freebie on Ravelry.

Another one of Barbara B's projects is May I Borrow This, Please, and another freebie on Ravelry.

She's using this gorgeous DK weight rainbow yarn from Urth Yarns called Harmony which she bought at Cece's Wool and More in Guilderland.

Dorah finished her alpaca 2x2 ribbed hat and has enough yarn left over to knit a matching scarf.

Tina completed her hat for which she used a Navajo ply technique to increase the gauge of the fine weight yarn she had on hand.

And she started another hat with what yarn is left over!

I'm working on a baby alpaca headband that has a braided cable look at the front. I've searched YouTube to find the video I used to write up the pattern but alas, some of the things I find on sleepless nights get lost, never to be found again.

Barbara K's American Beauty Rose hat has grown since last week. She has more yarn at home to make a scarf to match.

Jan started the ZickZack Scarf, a popular pattern on Ravelry (free) which resembles the Missoni designs of high end fashion.

Nancy finished her Dupont Street Hat and has started...

The Workday Scarf. The colors of her yarn are lovely!

This is another free pattern on Ravelry.

Maureen has finished the ear cuff portion of her 1898 Hat and is using up some sock yarn to jazz up the crown of the hat.

Margaret's Roxana Reversible Beanie has reached the decreasing portion of the pattern. The directions say to purl two together through the back loop but it is an awkward technique so between the two of us we figured out how to slip the stitches, one at a time, and reorient the position on the needle and then purl them together.

Carole just started a Sophie Scarf but she also brought...

a tried and true pattern from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee called the One Row Handspun Scarf. Carole calls this her car project, one which she can knit while taking the long ride to visit family out of state.

My "Supervisor" is signaling that it's time to cuddle so I'll end here and wish you...

A great week ahead and don't forget to keep those needles clicking!

Back inside this week

I knew it was too good to be true that spring is here! Last week it was 80 degrees and we sat outside. This week it's cold enough to wear the cowl I just finished (pics to follow).

Barbara B made sourdough animal crackers for today's treat.

She has specialized cookie cutters to make perfect little animals! And they're great with a glass of ice cold milk! Ask me how I know. 😉

     

We talked about houseplants today. I have a golden pothos that my daughter received as a gift on her 6th birthday (about 39 years ago) which has spawned so many clippings that it's still going strong, well, cuttings from the original plant are still growing. Dorah has one of the offspring plants. This is a Chinese Evergreen, I think, that was about 6 years old when it started looking sad. So I hacked off a few of the stems of the healthiest looking shoots and just shoved them in some fresh potting soil and now it looks like a brand new plant! 

The colors of my new Grid Gambit are similar to the plant. I used Terri Bartosik's Whole Knit n' Caboodle Woo-Sport for the pretty pink variegated and Malabrigo Arroyo for the deep green contrasting yarn. This is my third one, two for me and one for my good friend in Pennsylvania. There might be more in my future. You never know!

I finished the Twisted Headband/Earwarmer that was started last week. It ate up yarn like crazy and I finished with only inches of yarn left. It was a tense game of yarn chicken!

And Barbara K finished her vibrantly striped scarf and because it's still cold here, she was able to wear it before next winter.

She started a hat with some bulky yarn and has enough yarn at home to make a matching scarf.

Jan called me over the weekend for a "private consultation" on a pattern that was confusing her. The Frid (Serenity) Scarf directions were a bit confusing in the way it worded the increasing stitches. But...

she is smart and left lifelines every so often so if she has to frog it, she will know what row she's knitting.

Dorah's 2x2 hat is growing longer. I recently read an article by a professional knitter who says she often gets requests from friends for her hand knitted items as though she can whip one off the needles overnight. Non-knitters don't have any idea the amount of time it takes to knit a garment.

Maureen spent the last week visiting her grands so she really didn't have the time or energy to add much to her 1898 Hat. But it's getting there.

Nancy's Dupont Street Hat is a little longer but she's been knitting something special at the same time.

This is her Tintype Cowl. The pattern says it can be worn as a cowl or shawl. Nancy is our Queen of Short Rows and there are plenty to satisfy her in this pattern!

Tina's hat is nearing the decrease portion. Even though she is using a Navajo Plying technique, it doesn't seem that the ball of yarn is getting any smaller!

Barbara B made great progress on her Zomboni Scarf/Shawl. It has a nice decorative purled edge that give it a little ruffled look.

I'm working on a Braided Headband which is from a YouTube video I came across. The yarn is a soft baby alpaca, perfect for keeping ears warm.

Margaret started the Roxana Reversible Beanie in a pretty persimmon color yarn.

And guess who jumped on the chair as soon as the Chicks left for the day! He times his appearance perfectly, just as they open the door to leave.

Now he's sitting beside me, staring holes into my brain, hoping I'll feed him. It's a good thing he can't speak English. Although, he might as well. I can read his body language as if he was speaking! LOL! Well, gotta start cooking dinner. See you next week and keep those needles clicking!

Our first outdoor knitting day!

We had a breezy 82 degree afternoon for a very pleasant knitting session. The sun kept moving until we no longer had a large enough patch of shade for those of us who didn't want full sun but a little sun on my GLOW-IN-THE-DARK pale legs can't hurt. 😉

 Barbara K finished two hats that have been in progress the last few weeks. This helix hat and...

this striped hat used up some of the leftovers from her stash. Both hats are a great example of what to do with small amounts of yarn.

Barbara B finished a helix hat too. The colors of this remind me of a fuzzy bumble bee.

This is her Beacon Hat: Worsted which was last week's WIP.

Dorah made good progress on her baby alpaca hat she started last week. 

The fiber is soooo soft and hypoallergenic too!

Barbara K worked a few more inches of her striped scarf with the lovely color changing yarn.

Jan was having issues with a red scarf she was trying to knit. But we think the yarn didn't want to be that scarf. So she pulled out her Simple Sideways Triangle Scarf to restore her tranquility. She and I were trying to make sense of the red scarf pattern which was a poorly written pattern but finally decided it wasn't worth the aggravation. I know not all pattern designers are professional but it would be nice to have a friend knit the item from the written instructions before releasing the pattern to be sure it makes sense!

Nancy continued on with her Dupont Street Hat with the slipped stitch motif.

Tina is determined to knit down her stash and found a sparkly fingering weight yarn which was too fine a gauge for the hat she wanted to knit.

So she searched on YouTube and found out how to do a Navajo Ply which turns a single strand into three and makes it a heavier gauge, in this case more of a DK weight yarn.

Barbara B found a pretty variegated purple yarn in her stash to create the Zomboni Scarf. That's zOmboni, not like the vehicle that cleans the ice hockey rink.😉

I had some natural colored superwash wool left after finishing the All Wound Up Beanie... 

so I used a knit into the stitch below technique to make a thermal ear warmer. Just a few more inches and I can sew up the short ends.

Her treat today was a box of homemade sourdough oatmeal raisin cookies. Yummy!!!

As soon as the ladies left, I came inside to see this! His stare was kind of creepy. 

Like the twins from that Nicholson movie.😟

Well, the stare worked! He got his afternoon snack and now he's napping somewhere, only to reappear when he hears a wrapper crinkling or at the next mealtime, whichever comes first. 

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!