It's raining, it's pouring...

When the Chicks arrived it was rainy and humid so we stayed inside today. By the time they left the sun was out again so now it's really steamy outside. Our lively topics of conversation today were hearing about Jan A's walking vacation along Hadrian's Wall in the UK, our various experiences with fear of heights, and the most animated of all, the total disregard for life and limb by drivers in our local roundabouts. I've personally witnessed a driver go the wrong way around the roundabout to take a left turn rather than drive around the circle! Unbelievable!!! 

Well, as they say, you can't fix stupid. And now the reason you are here...there are a few FO's to show off. Jan A. finished a textured hat and matching cowl which will go directly into inventory. She also finished her Close to You Shawl but it needed to be blocked so she'll bring it back next week.

This is the hat Margaret finished up on the way out last week. It's one of her made up patterns which she does very well.

And the last of the Kool Aid dyed yarn has finally been used up! This cute hat reminds me of an icy sherbet which would be a nice treat right about now with the heat and muggy air outside.

Margaret started a basket weave hat using a worsted weight yarn.

Dorah made lots of progress on her Easy Shawl this week and now..

Jan has started one as well. They are both made using a fingering weight yarn.

Maureen made progress on her Bewind Hat. There is enough yarn left over that she could make matching fingerless mitts or mittens to complete the ensemble.

And I'm working on Carol's Clever Little Shawl, inspired by a shawl from the 1800's.

Barbara B. is halfway through her Bird by Bird Hat, a paid pattern on Ravelry which was free for the first day, if you were lucky enough to snag it in time.

Cinzia is making a Saurey baby blanket for a new family member and this pattern is free on Ravelry.

As you can see, she is at the very beginning, before any of the lace shows up. The speed with which Cinzia knits, it will probably be done by next week. I wish I could knit that fast!

After the ladies left, I turned to this face staring at me as if to say, "Well, I've been waiting. Shouldn't you be feeding me about now?"

So that's what I'll be doing for the next few minutes. We wouldn't want the poor furball to waste away! Have a great week, stay cool, and keep those needles clicking!

 

A glorious start to summer, well technically it's tomorrow but...

The warm, sunny afternoon was a pleasant compliment to our conversations about children, grandchildren, what's for dinner, what everyone is reading, and knitting. Maureen now has five little ones for whom she can knit so she is looking for cute hat patterns. 

Barbara K. was hunting through her WIPs and found a Cabin Fever Buttons Cardigan which needed its finishing touches.

Since our current project is for homeless women veterans, Barbara generously donated her sweater to my other group, The Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels. Her choice of buttons are a lovely compliment to the sky blue sweater.

Dorah didn't have much time during the week to knit so she took advantage of our afternoon together to add inches to her Changing Staircases Shawl.

Maureen started another basic beanie hat and...

added another Helix Hat to our inventory. Those colors are fabulous!

Barbara B. knocked those beautiful cables out of the ballpark! 

The staghorn cables are the highlight of...

the Stacked Stag-horn Baby Sweater, a free pattern on Ravelry. There is also a free version for the worsted weight size.

There are very few rows left to finish on my Sophie Scarf. I'm enjoying this so much I just might have to cast on immediately for another. It's a perfect project for mindless social knitting, as long as you can count to 8 (which, just between you and me, can be a challenge for me sometimes 😉)

If today is any example of what the summer weather will be, it should be a great season for outdoor knitting. So have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

A delightfully cool 70 degree day

It was the perfect day for deck knitting today. A cool breeze complimented the gurgling of the waterfall as a backdrop to our activity.

Dorah completed her Helix Hat using sock weight yarns. She consulted one of our other knitting friends who recommended 112 stitch cast on which turned out to be a bit too small for our current inventory so she graciously offered it to my Friday group, Delaware Avenue Stitch Angels, whose current project is for babies and toddlers. Dorah's choice of colors made a beautiful hat!

She also showed us her Changing Staircases Shawl that she made for herself. We all fell in love with the colors. And when Carole arrived...

we made her model it since it looked so nice with her sweater.

Carole is working on the same shawl pattern with a slightly softer blend of colors in her sock weight yarn. Dorah and Carole both recommend this pattern for its simplicity and easy to memorize repeats.

Carole brought along her Raven Beanie which she saves for "waiting room" knitting. The pattern makes a thick fabric to protect against winter winds.

Barbara B. started a new project, with a pretty coral colored yarn, today called...

The Silver Cardigan. It's a free pattern on Ravelry sized for a baby.

Dorah's Easy Shawl is coming along nicely. We discussed possible variations of yarn color selection so Dorah might try using a variegated yarn for the first half of the scarf and then using a solid or tonal in a complimentary color scheme.

I'm still working on the Lexis Hat. There is one more complete eight row repeat to finish, then row 1-6, and then I can begin the decreasing section of the crown. So I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Margaret is using up the last of the Kool Aid hand dyed yarn from my daughter's stash to make a Helix Hat too. Someone said these hats are like Lay's Potato Chips, you can't make just one!

The smoke from the Canadian wildfires has finally subsided so I'll be able to resume my daily walks. It was a real hardship for me to stay inside and knit all day! Now, I have this bridge I'm looking to sell...

Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!

Inside knitting today (cough,cough)

There are wildfires 4+ hours north of us in Quebec so when you step outside you can smell smoke and the sky is very hazy and yellow. I hope our neighbors to the north will be alright. As a safety precaution, I thought it would be a good idea to stay indoors today. It wouldn't be nice to donate items that smelled like a bonfire. Not to mention what the smokey air would do to us!

Carole finished her Close to You Shawl in what seems like record time. Her yarn is more of a rich emerald green but the camera turned it into a teal blue. Either way it's gorgeous.

Barbara B. completed the Ex's and O's Hat. How I wish you could see the rich red color in person. 

It is stunningly red!

I worked on the Lexis Hat over the weekend because it's too fiddly for social knitting. After I tried this pattern multiple times with a deeper teal yarn and decided the yarn didn't want to be a hat, I decided to try it in the light teal yarn and NOW the yarn is happy! And so am I! To neaten up the stitchwork I knitted all my knit stitches through the back loop. I wasn't happy with the loopy-droopy look of the stitches when knitted the traditional way.

Barbara B. is making a lovely shrug for herself called the Wrap Me Up Sweater Scarf and here you can see all her stitch markers to help her shape the sleeve. The yarn is a soft Suri alpaca and merino blend that is as soft as a cloud.

Barbara K. wanted to know how much longer she should knit her striped Mistake Stitch Scarf. A good rule of them is to make it as long as outstretched arms from fingertip to fingertip, unless you want it to wrap multiple times around the neck. Then you can knit as long as you desire.

Margaret made up this hat pattern as she went along and actually finished it as she was leaving so I didn't get the end product picture. But it's ready for the inventory.

Janna worked the last border stitches of the Arona Cowl and won a close game of yarn chicken!

That's the game where you hope to finish the project before you run out of yarn (and naturally can't get any more of it because it's discontinued or the company closed or some such dilemma). As you can see on the upper right corner of the picture, there isn't much white yarn left, just enough to weave in the end. That was a real WHEW! moment!

Cinzia is finishing up the back of the lacy T-shirt shell called Panopeia in that buttery soft yellow yarn that we received as a gift from a generous soul who was sifting through her stash. This was the perfect pattern for it too!

And Maureen worked with an equally buttery yellow yarn for her Bewind Hat.

Janna brought her personal project she's making for herself to show us her progress.

 It's the Yara Shawl that requires four colors of yarn and follows the mosaic technique for the pattern.

It's going to be stunning!

Carole cast on stitches to start the Changing Staircases Shawl using a yarn she found in her stash that's been hiding for a few years.

   By the time she was ready to go home she had already knitting a few inches. 

I'm working on the Sophie Scarf using a pretty celadon green yarn just like the one Barbara B. is using, the Suri alpaca and merino blend. The pattern is pretty adaptable to any weight yarn as long as you use the corresponding needle size for the weight yarn you choose. It has a built in I-cord edging from start to finish.

                                           

Well, if you live in the Northeast, stay inside if you can. The air is pretty thick and there is a yellowish haze. Stay safe and keep those needles clicking.