Field trip and a surprise guest

Last week an ad popped up on my FB feed announcing an event at the Forever Free Alpaca Farm in Hoosick Falls, NY. It was a little over an hour drive from Albany but on a lovely autumn day it was the perfect way to unwind. We arrived to find the friendly goats on the lower pastures waiting for an audience to see their performance. 

However, not all the goats were impressed with our visit. 😂

The upper pasture was reserved for the alpacas. There are ten, three males and seven females. There was Esmeralda, Tinker Bell, Dusty Rose, Opal, Ruby, Ellie, Ezzy, and the boys, Chester, Jack, and Baby Cocoa. We petted the females since the males are kept separated and they too were not anxious to make our acquaintance.

Dusty Rose seemed to enjoy our attention. And we learned from Jared, one of the owners, that because their fleece is already so deep it reaches up to his second knuckle when he sunk his fingers, it is going to be a very cold winter.

Having to entertain us city folks was just too much for her!

Baby Cocoa is just four months old and he stuck close to mama. 

The girls were all very friendly and gently took snack pellets from our hands. 

Dusty Rose is very photogenic!

Cinzia and I made sure to stop at the gift shop where we each picked up a 264 yard skein of yarn from Opal's and Ruby's fleece. We decided on a pattern to knit matching cowls.

Then today we had a visit from one of our former Chicks, Beth Mashmann. She and her husband retired to North Carolina and occasionally come up north to visit friends and family. It's so sweet of her to include us in her visit. She's the one at the far end of the table.

She brought her current WIP, Springerle Pullover. 

The Fair Isle section is sequined for a little added sparkle.

Margaret borrowed a book from the library called Knitting the USA, which includes stranded knitting hat patterns with beautiful designs to represent each one of the states. She started the hat which represents Colorado.

Nancy's Windripple Shawl is almost completed. She didn't have a sweater to coordinate with it but The Loft helped her find one! I love when a plan works out!

Shoot! I forgot to get the name of her bandana cowl! 

I thought she said Kerchief but I can't find it on Ravelry. Nancy loves to knit short rows and this cowl is gorgeous with them! Edit: Nancy said this is the Butterfly Cowl, a paid pattern on Ravelry.

Barbara has come a long way on her Breakwaters Hat in just one week. The texture is supposed to mimic wooden breakwaters in the sea.

Tina's Glennis Bandana Cowl has reached a new color and pattern design. The shifting colors are stunning!

Maureen didn't knit much this past week so her Diagonal Baby Blanket isn't showing much progress.

Cinzia finished her Celtic Cable Neckwarmer and ran out of yarn. She amazes me! She said once she's established the cables, she doesn't need to follow the chart! I'm not that adventurous. I like to have the comfort of knowing I can read the pattern by my side.

Dorah's scarf that she's knitting for a friend is coming along. Those jewel toned colors make me smile. She's following the One Row Handspun Scarf pattern from Stephanie Pearl McPhee. It's a good social knitting pattern for when you need to participate in a conversation and still end the day with a scarf that doesn't need frogging.

I'm working on the Murano Squares. I had a hard time finding yarns that I liked together but still showed up the pattern design. My original choice looked nice when the skeins were held side by side but once I started knitting with them, the colors that overlapped swallowed the squares so you couldn't see them. Luckily, I happened to have this natural yarn in my stash which allows the beauty of Whole Knit n' Caboodle colors shine on center stage.

I'm also working on the Chow Fun Cowl which is strictly NOT social knitting for me. Maybe it's just me, but I have to sit in solitary confinement and count every section and repeat. I almost didn't make it because the first time I cast on the 139 stitches and knit through the first round only to find on the second round that I had dropped a stitch and messed up the sequence of stitches. So it was frogged only to find out on the second try that I inadvertently twisted the join.😡 And you might remember my rule, if the project doesn't work by the third try, the yarn just doesn't want to be that item. So I tried a third time and so far so good!🤞

Well, that's all folks! The goat said he's looking forward to meeting you. 

Check out the website for when you can visit.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

We Chicks had a deck knitting day!

It was a sunny 66 degrees on the deck this afternoon so it seemed like a good idea to sit outside and enjoy it before it's too late. It's supposed to get down to the high 30's tonight after all! 

We've had a beautiful autumn so far. Dorah was able to take advantage of the nice weather to visit a llama farm a bit north of here. She made a new friend. Meet Liz! Dorah said she was very sweet and docile.

And no one can walk with the llamas without bringing home a souvenir! This is a very soft 80% llama and 20% alpaca blend yarn which Dorah couldn't resist. She bought two skeins and now needs to meditate on it to see what it wants to be.

Our projects were in various stages of completion. Nancy had a request from her daughter to knit a blanket for her granddaughter so she has started...

an afghan from Book 657 Encore Adventures: Everyday Throws. Nancy said she's not really a blanket knitter but for her granddaughter, she will oblige!

Dorah found a gorgeously dyed fingering weight yarn in her stash to make a gift for a friend. She is knitting the basic 2X2 beanie with a size 3 needle and 152 stitches. That color!!!💖

Cinzia is back from visiting Japan to witness her son's marriage and seeing the sights. Now that she's back home, she is starting the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer.

She just started it so there isn't much to show off but the pretty color.

Tina's Glennis Bandana Cowl is bursting with color! 

The gradient flows so beautifully that I can't wait to see it finished!

Barbara B started the ribbed cuff of her Breakwaters Hat. 

It has a nicely textured fabric and it's a freebie!

She already finished her Dart and Dash Beanie, a Benjamin Matthews design.

Jan has chosen a pretty variegated yarn to knit her Workday Scarf. This is a free pattern on Ravelry.

Maureen laughed when she told me this diagonal blanket is going to take her forever to finish. Well, that's the nature of the beast! They are beautiful to use but take so long to knit!

I had a fingering weight minty green yarn that did not work out for the pattern for which I had intended. So on to Plan B! I found a simple lace pattern demonstrated on YouTube and decided to make a triangle until I can't stand to knit another inch.😉 I wish I could find the original tutorial but I forgot to bookmark it. If I lose that little slip of paper on which I wrote the directions, I'm cooked!😟

I finished my Cityscape Cowl and blocked it on Sunday. I used a merino and silk blend fingering weight yarn held together with a lace weight mohair for a soft, fuzzy cabled cowl. I am so pleased with how it turned out! It was knit flat and then a short seam is sewn up the back to make it a bandana cowl.

As I waved goodbye to the Chicks, I noticed a leaf on the fence. But upon closer examination, it turns out it wasn't a leaf at all but an insect! My sister will be in shock when she sees this since she knows bugs and photographs of them freak me out!!! But this one was so cool I couldn't resist!

Mother Nature is amazing! I really thought he was a leaf.

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

The autumn temps are keeping us indoors

I have another favorite tree in my neighborhood! As I was walking I stopped to take this picture and a neighbor who was walking her dog stopped to tell me this is her favorite tree too. You can see why. Wouldn't these colors look great as a gradient or variegated yarn?!?!

Eight of us gathered around my kitchen table (where we get the best light) and chatted all things current. Maureen spent some time with her out of state grandchildren so we got to hear all about their antics. Barbara K attended her granddaughter's cross country meet last Tuesday and proudly showed us her pics. And Margaret delivered...

the sheep sweater she knitted for her grandson. It fits just right and the sleeves will allow him to wear it a little bit longer as he grows. So cute! The sweater ain't bad either😉

Jan almost wouldn't let me photograph her Skinny Scarf because she feels like it's taking forever. Well, scarves DO take forever. People should know that so they can appreciate the time and effort that goes into a handmade gift they receive.

I couldn't find the pattern on Ravelry but maybe this will help you hunt it down if you want a copy. Ooops! I spoke too soon. I accidentally came across the Skinny Scarf while looking for a different pattern!

I started the Cityscape Cowl using a merino/silk blend held together with a lace weight baby mohair. It will need blocking to bring out the cables but I'm loving the project. The fuzzy mohair is slowing me down because it catches on everything but it will be worth it in the end.

Dorah is knitting the One Row Handspun Scarf for a friend. 

The jewel toned variegated colors are so pretty!

Maureen's Diagonal Baby Blanket is slowly growing. She was so busy taking care of the grands that she didn't have any time to knit.

Margaret is knitting the Blue Wave hat for her sister who loves the ocean. No messages will be included in this one.

Barbara B has started the Dart and Dash Beanie from Benjamin Matthews. I think she is at the portion of the hat where the dashes stop and the ribbing resumes.

She finished her Easy Vivi Wrap and is weaving in the ends to finish it off. She did a very light blocking to keep the shape but not *smush the dimensional effects of the basket weave stitch. (*smush is a technical term meaning to flatten😉😆)

Tina's Glennis Cowl looks stunning with those changing colors against the black background!

She finished a pair of socks too and told me the pattern name...I should have written it down right away!

Barbara K completed her Helix Hat and is saving it to donate this winter.

I would like to finish a couple of more projects before I attend this year's New England Fiber Festival in Massachusetts at the Big E on November 7. I promised myself I would use up some stash before being tempted to buy new stash. Yeah! We'll see how that goes😏 In the meantime, have a great week and keep those needles clicking!