There's a new Chick in town

I know Nancy from my other knitting group, The Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels and know what great knitting skills she possesses. Since some of my flock flies south for the winter, I thought she would be a wonderful addition to the hen house. Nancy is at the far right in the picture and she made the beautiful Pappillon Shawl I'm wearing and gifted it to me. I will forever be in her debt!

Nancy brought along a WIP she is knitting for a baby gift for her daughter's friend from preschool. This adorable blanket is being knitted with Berroco Vintage Baby in soft pastels. 

For our current project for KtR she went stash diving and found this colorful yarn, perfect for the hat project called...

The River Rush Slouch Hat. The pattern is free on Ravelry and has sizing instructions from toddler size to large adult size.

Barbara K. added a couple of FO's to the inventory. The first one is the Ex's and O's Hat. This pattern also includes multiple sizes.

She also added a thick, warm Mistake Stitch Scarf. 

Those deep channels trap in warmth and keep the wearer cozy.

She just cast on stitches for her next project, a Helix Hat. The odds and ends of yarn she has collected will make a great colorful combination.

Jan jumped into the deep end of the pool (she still thinks of herself as a beginner knitter) to make the All Wound Up Beanie. It's coming along beautifully but at one point we heard a loud, long sigh and all thought, "Uh-oh". She thought she had two extra stitches but I think she worked it out.

 And if there is a disaster looming, she has a lifeline through the stitches so she can frog it to that point and begin again.

Barbara B. is working on a Christmas gift, The Panini Beanie.

She is approaching the decreasing of the crown portion of the hat and the instructions were about as clear as mud. If it wasn't for the photograph of the hat, she might have had a problem but she figured it out. We all laughed in agreement when she exclaimed, "I didn't know there was so much math in knitting!"

This will be my last Sophie Scarf for a while (we'll see how long this lasts). Don't get me wrong! I love the pattern but I chose tiny needles for fine yarn and I know the end result will be gorgeous but it's taking freakin' forever! At least I'm on the decreasing end so every eight rows go a little faster.

 

Maureen finished her Bankhead hat and didn't realize until she was almost finished that there was supposed to be a round of plain knitting between the K4, P1 rounds 

so she knitted the whole thing 4 to 1. This is what I called a design element, not a mistake! The hat still looks great and will fit a human head. What more can you ask for?

Jan added four hats and two cowls to our inventory too. I neglected to get the names of the patterns but I know the deep purple hat is called Jesse's Christmas Hat.

We are taking off the next week for Christmas celebrations. I will have three days of overnight company with family coming in from Pennsylvania and Connecticut so by Tuesday afternoon, even if they're on their way, I will be too pooped to pop! But never too tired to knit so keep those needles clicking and have a very Merry Christmas!

 

Peace and Quiet

Maureen, Annika, Cinzia, and Barbara B. joined me for a quiet afternoon of knitting. We talked about plans for the holidays and who is in charge of decorating. My tree isn't up nor are the stockings hung by the fireplace with care or even without care! But I mailed the Christmas cards yesterday so there's that. I guess we'll get around to it or maybe I'll wait until out of town family arrives and let them do it.😉

The Chicks are still knitting for Knit the Rainbow in New York City. Barbara B. chose the Jelka hat.

The pattern is free on Ravelry, if you click the above link.

 Her vibrant color choices make a great looking hat!

Cinzia is working on child size mittens for our other group, Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels. 

We, who belong to both groups, tend to alternate knitting projects from week to week.

Today she worked on the thumb gusset of the second mitten. And yes, they are the same color. My camera does funny things to colors which I can't seem to correct. The mittens are this color, not the turquoise as in the above photo.

Annika started this scarf a while back and put it aside to work on something else, reassuring herself that she would remember the pattern when she was ready to finish it. Well, who among us hasn't said the same thing?!?! And then when you pick up the project you can't recall or find the pattern?!?! She knew there were purls and knit through the back loops but not the order in which they should be knitted. Finally she found the old email which contained the written instructions hidden in the archive folder in her phone. PHEW! That could have been a problem!

Maureen has reached the decreasing portion of her Bankhead Hat which requires her complete attention so she put it aside to work on...

a baby gift for a friend's grandchild. This is Sunnyside, an adorable baby cardigan with the option to make either a lace button placket or a cable placket. Maureen chose the cable version for hers using a sock weight, machine washable yarn.

I'm at the halfway mark of the Sophie Scarf where I begin the decrease portion to the end. This is the superwash merino wool that Jan gave me. There were ten balls of yarn so I've been using it up. I already made a child's vest for the Stitch Angels and I'm using up about two skeins for this scarf.

Last night I completed this Decision Tree Toque using up another two skeins of the same wool. I found this pattern posted on a Ravelry Facebook page when it was offered for free for the first twenty four hours but now it's a paid pattern. If you have access to the page and see another pattern offered by the designer, NichKnit Designs, I suggest you grab it or buy it when available. This is the second pattern from Shelby Nichols that I made and I enjoyed knitting every stitch of them. She has lovely patterns and writes the instructions very clearly and easy to follow. I can't wait to try other hat patterns from her in my library.
 

The sun is slowly hiding behind the neighbor's house and I can feel the cold creeping in so I'm going to throw on a cozy sweater and keep my needles clicking!

The Holiday Music has started

We're back in the dining room this week because my project took up so much table space. I had to piece the parts of the Elizabeth Zimmermann Rib Warmer together. Shhh...don't tell anyone. This was a project for my other knitting group The Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels who are currently knitting for the students of a local elementary school in Albany. My project for Knit the Rainbow will be featured further along in this post.

Dorah finished her LOSY hat using odds and ends of sock yarn. 

This is a great stashbusting project and each hat is one of a kind!

Currently on her needles, Dorah has the All Wound Up Beanie which is a paid pattern on Ravelry.

Maureen is working on the Bankhead Hat using a lofty, soft yarn with lots of squish factor for warmth.

She finished the Yarnimals Owl Hat, minus the owl face. Somehow I don't think adults would appreciate the comical face...but then again, maybe someone would. 

But we'll keep it neutral for our purposes.

Cinzia is slowly working through her stash after spending hours organizing it all.

She found some great yarns for another hat. Every now and then I will hunt through my stash for inspiration and I'm always surprised by what I find!

Barbara B. finished the Rutgers hat for one of her grandsons and....

made a Buffalo Bills hat for the other one.

Now she's working on Auckland Bound hat.

This hat begins with a provisional cast on so the brim can be knitted for a few inches and then folded to the inside, those live stitches picked up and knitted together with the stitches on the needle to create a folded, double thick cuff.

Annika is almost finished with her second Wood Note Cowl. She made her first one for a fund raiser at her church and a mutual friend of ours bought it.

Margaret started the hat named Tondo, a freebie on Ravelry from the Red Heart site, Yarnspirations.

It's coming along nicely and looks so cozy!

Margaret is a new grandma to Calvin who was born a few weeks ago. She is making all sorts of cute things for him already. We all loved the Rastafarian curls on the hat she made for him.

I made a little more progress on my Sophie Scarf. The pattern calls for approximately 140 yards of DK weight yarn but I have two skeins of this lovely Berroco Ultra Alpaca so I'm going to knit the increasing portion until one skein is almost finished and then start the decreasing portion with the second skein to the end. It should make the scarf a little longer so it can wrap more than once around.

That's a wrap for this week...pun intended.😉

I hope you're getting all your holiday knitting done. It will sure keep those needles clicking!

After Thanksgiving festivities

We survived the post Thanksgiving turkey stupor and were grateful to have a peaceful afternoon of knitting with friends. On Thanksgiving day some of us herded grandchildren and celebrated birthdays while others tried avoiding sensitive topics of conversation with relatives. All in all we enjoyed ourselves. Todays' topics discussed were the heavy responsibility of babysitting houseplants while the owners are away. The conversation really picked up when the subject of being careful what you google came up. I'm still chuckling about trying to find the website for the major sports equipment store and coming up with something TOTALLY different!😅

Maureen started the cutest hat in the adult size. It is reminiscent of a Peruvian Chullo hat.

     

The Yarnimals Owl Hat is a free pattern on Ravelry which includes sizes from baby to adult. Since she's making this for an adult, she will of course leave off the owl face. There is also a free version of a monkey hat.

Dorah combined two sock yarns on a size 6 needle to make the LOSY Hat. LOSY stands for left over sock yarns and makes a colorful 3X2 ribbed cap using any combination of sock yarns left in your stash.

Jan made the decision last week to turn her pleated scarf into a cowl since knitting a whole scarf would just take the wind from her sails. All she has to do is knit this long enough to fit comfortably around the neck and seam the short ends together and VOILA! She'll have a cowl!

Annika finished her Woodnote cowl...

And is already working on a second one! She did a great job and I found out it is the first time she ever knitted cables! This pattern gave her tons of practice too.

Janna brought two projects (because, let's be honest, no one has only one project going at a time. Ok, well maybe almost no one. I'm looking at you Beth😊). The top one is a Helix Hat which is a great stash busting project to use up those bits of yarn that are too small in quantity to make anything but too much to throw away. Besides, who would throw away yarn?!?! The project at the bottom is...

Easy Slip Stitch Mitts and is another freebie on Ravelry. You can make fingerless mitts or full mittens and it is another good stash busting project.

Barbara B. is making a hat for her grandson using Rutgers colors since he's a fan of the university his grandfather attended. Someone said she must really love this kid because she's knitting with black yarn.

Last week I worked on the Elizabeth Zimmermann Rib Warmer. Since I've made a bunch in the past, I relied on my memory to assemble the pieces...never a good idea! I had to rip out the shoulder seam on the second piece because whatever I did to it prevented it from lining up to the back seam.

For my second one I decided to knit both pieces at once so they would be exactly the same and I could lay them out before sewing them together.

                             

Well, right on schedule as predicted, the snow flurries are beginning to fall. I might have to cuddle up with Fozzie to keep warm. Stay well and keep those needles clicking!