Twenty-One Years!!!

Wow! Twenty-one years ago I had a dream to invite some friends to help me knit items to donate to local organizations and here we are eleven of us contributing to keeping our neighbors warm throughout the winter. I thought that this would go on for a year or two and then fizzle out due to a lack of interest. But God bless these ladies! They have stuck with me! Barbara K in the green, second from the right, is one of my original members.

As is Maureen on the far left in the white T. They've been there through thick and thin since 2005. I am so grateful for them and all my Chicks both past and present. Without them this dream would never have happened.

Members have come and gone over these years. Tina, on the left, is our newest Chick.

And the one thing they have all said to me at one time or another is that this is such a great group of women! I guess I know how to pick 'em! 😉

 They are also all fabulous cooks! I look forward to this dinner to see what tasty treat we will share this time. These pita chips were tasty by themselves but went so well with...

Barbarba B's dip of Boursin cheese with fig jam, crushed pistachios, and a drizzle of hot honey! 

Soooo good!

Nancy made a pastry baked Brie to die for! The crust was so light and flaky!

Of course we couldn't have an anniversary dinner without Dorah's delectable Moosewood Kitchen Gazpacho! It is just understood that's what she'll bring. I hope she doesn't get bored with it! She chooses all fresh ingredients which makes all the difference.

Tina made a tasty tomato quiche. It was so pretty, I hated to cut into it.

Margaret made a wonderful loaf of homemade bread. 

Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, just as it should be!

Maureen's fruit salad hit the spot on this summer day with it's pretty colors and flavors.

And Jan brought a tasty tomato cucumber salad with little chunks of cheese. We had a discussion about leaving out the lettuce this year. IYKYK😉

I made a Middle Eastern dish called Chicken Shawarma. The chicken is marinated in tasty warm spices and then skewered onto this fancy pan with onion slices between some layers and baked. I'm so pleased that everyone loved it!

Cinzia made zucchini fritters which went very quickly so you know they were yummy.

We finally sat down to eat and catch up on current events and what our next project will be. Since we've been working on donation projects since January, we are taking a break until this coming January to catch up on our personal projects and possibly give our hands a little well-deserved rest.

Carole made a little game of the gifts she made for everyone. She had them pick a number out of a hat and then gave them each the bag with the corresponding number.

She made cute little project bags for each of the Chicks.

The fabrics were adorable! Some had yarn balls and knitting needles...

and some had sheep.

Now they'll have to find a project to fill them.

After our dinner, we sorted and labeled all the items which will be donated to The Falcon Boutique at Albany High School. 

We are awaiting confirmation for a delivery date but it will be within the next month so incoming classes will be well equipped for the cold winter ahead.

Our collection included 65 hats, 16 cowls...

22 Scarves, 3 headband/ear warmers, and a hat and matching mittens set. 

We had a grand total of 109 items!!!

Fozzie was exhausted by the end of the afternoon. So he's taking a nap until his next feeding, which should be as soon as I stand up.

My Chicks deserve a round of applause and big hugs for all their hard work! I couldn't do this without you ladies. I am blessed to have you in my life! Love you all! Congratulations to another year and I look forward to the next with all of you. Keep those needles clicking!

Finally! A deck day!

Even though it was 80 degrees, I put up the drapes to keep out the bright sunlight and hopefully tamp down some of the heat so we could sit outside. It's been weeks since we enjoyed the deck what with rain and heat and humidity. I had two fans blowing on us so it was bearable. 

But there are signs showing up in the neighborhood that we are nearing the change of seasons! My favorite tree across the way in the neighbors' yard is the first one to show a red leaf. Can cold weather be far behind? I can't wait!!!😁

We have some FOs to add to the inventory.

Maureen finished her Celtic Feathers Hat from NichKnits designer Shelby Nichols. Really nice cables and stitch definiton Maureen!

And Carole finished the Loop Hat. It is a soft sage green but the outside lighting affects the color in a photo. If you want to see the true color, check last week's blog post.

Cinzia wasn't expected today as she had knee repair done on Friday. But she was so bored staying home and she was told she needs to walk so today was her first venture out into the world. She brought her Jariq which is knitted with a silvery sparkle yarn.

Jan finished her ZickZack Scarf. She used two strands of yarn held together and it is so soft and squishy! It's sure to keep someone warm and happy!

Dorah finished her Helix Hat and it turned out beautifully! She questioned whether the colors would compliment each other and I'd say they're perfect!

She's already started another Helix Hat with these three colors 

which in my humble opinion, will look fabulous!

Remember when I said I was going to knit a long infinity scarf? Umm...yeah, no! I'm already feeling like I poked a sharp stick in the eye😂 I don't know why I get bored so easily with a long term project! Anyway, this will be a closer to the neck style cowl and the short edges will be grafted with a kitchener stitch. I do love the yarn and stripe pattern though! Pattern is adapted from the ZickZack Scarf.

Barbara K started the Dart and Dash Beanie from Benjamin Matthews.

You can see the beginning of the dart and dash pattern showing up already.

Tina started the Wavy Ribbed Scarf from a YouTube video from Susen Mehralieva. I watched the video and wrote up a pattern and Tina is test knitting it for me. 

She already found a typo! Thanks for catching it Tina!

Carole is knitting a baby hat. It is for the first grandson of a friend of hers 

so she chose a cheery, colorful yarn for it.

Margaret is knitting the Leaded Light Cowl, just like Nancy's last week. Margaret has chosen a contrasting yarn that changes color so the lights in the window will change color as the knitting progresses.

I didn't catch the name of Jan's pattern but the yarn is gorgeous! It's going to be a narrow scarf.

Maureen made a sawtooth edged little scarf accessory but she can't remember the pattern. The yarn is very soft and has a halo so I'm thinking it might have some baby alpaca in it.

Currently on her needles is Maureen's next project, the start of a Helix Hat. 

Nancy started another one of Benjamin Matthews' patterns. Such a pretty color too!

This was recently released as a free pattern for a limited time and we were lucky enough to get in on the initial offering. The Laguna Drift Beanie is next on my list of projects too.

Fozzie watched the Chicks leave at 3 o'clock and that's his signal that he should start begging for food. Well, actually, just about anything is a signal to him for food!😉 I've learned to ignore most of them, much to his dismay. I mean, look at that cat! He doesn't look like he's starving! I know it's a bad camera angle but he's not suffering.

And on that note I will wish you a great week ahead and remind you to keep those needles clicking!

It's not raining today...

But the humidity and heat on the deck was just too much for a normal human being to tolerate so we stayed inside where it was cool. Fozzie made the rounds to check everyone's bag for contraband. Or maybe it was cookies. Yeah, most likely cookies.

And there were cookies just not the kind kitties can eat. Barbara B's treat today was sourdough strawberry cookies. I'm saving mine for an after dinner treat but I'm sure they were delicious by the sounds of satisfaction from Carole as she sampled one.

We have some FOs this week. Nancy completed her Leaded Lights Cowl which uses slipped stitches to achieve this lovely pattern.

Barbara B finished her Hot Springs Willow Hat with the wide faux cables. Like our favorite Benjamin Matthews hat patterns, Shelby Nichols designs interesting hats patterns that are well written and easy to follow.

She also took the yarn that Margaret gave her last week and finished another hat called Barley Hat from Tin Can Knits. 

Jan finished her cabled hat and had a skein and a half of this Irish yarn left which also went to Barbara B. So I suspect we'll see another of her hats next week. 

I completed the scarf from Susen Mehralieva's YouTube video. I used Plymouth Yarns Royal Bamboo yarn, one of the loveliest bamboo yarns. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued. The Chicks wanted to know how to knit this so I wrote a pattern for those who like to read what they're knitting as opposed to following the process on video. We talked about doing a KAL to test knit my write-up so keep an eye to the future for possibly more of these scarves.

I started another one this weekend for myself using Crystal Palace Mini Mochi yarn, my all time favorite for gradient colors. Sadly, it too has been discontinued.😢

Jan started the Loop Hat using a great denim blue colored yarn.

And as it turns out, Carole has the same pattern on her needles. She's a little further along and will probably be finished soon.

For my Falcon Boutique at Albany High School project, I started another ZickZack Scarf with an orphan skein of sock yarn. This is going to be a cowl with a provisional cast on (yellow yarn) so I can graft the live edges together into a big infinity scarf. I made one already with this yarn but it is smaller, more of a headband for keeping ears warm.

Margaret, who is always trying to convince us she's not an experienced or skilled knitter, has just designed another hat to use up small scraps of yarn! We laughed when she said, "It was easy, just do this and this" because that's what I always say and I get looks of doubt every single time. LOL!

Barbara B has just started an 1898 Hat. If you've never knitted one, it's fun because it has an out of the ordinary process. You knit the ear flaps and cuff first, fold it in half, pick up stitches from the edge, and knit the crown. Because 5" of the cuff is knitted by the time you start the crown, it makes it feel like the hat is flying off your needles and you're finished in no time!

Benjamin Matthews offered a brand new pattern for free for a limited time so we all grabbed a copy and Nancy is the first to start the Laguna Drift Beanie. The ribbing has a neat pronounced appearance because the knits stitches are knitted through the back loop giving it a twist.

That about wraps it up for this week. 

Hope you have a great week ahead and keep those needles clicking!