It must be spring!

Today was our first day of outdoor knitting! 

You can tell by the happy smiles on everyone's face that we all loved being out in the fresh air and catching up with each other's current events. Dorah is back from her quick trip to opening day Mets game in Miami, Cinzia has returned from Japan where she visited her son, and Maureen, Jan A. and Barbara K. all enjoyed some time in Florida to escape the mud season up here.

And it was very comfortable until the sun hid behind some clouds and the wind picked up. By that time we were ready to pack up and head home.

Cinzia has a beautiful yarn, from Bad Sheep Yarn Co., to use for the Reyna Shawl she is making.

Janna picked nicely contrasting colors for her Step Zeppelin Cowl. This pattern has charts and written instructions for making the slipped stitch motif.

Jan A.'s Close to You Shawl is coming along beautifully! 

The pretty tonal purple yarn highlights the lace perfectly.

Maureen is making progress on her TAAT (Two at a time) socks. She is using the magic loop toe up technique so the socks will be exactly the same size and she won't have to be concerned with trying to remember what she did for the first sock to replicate it on the second because she will be making them simultaneously.

Dorah's Helix Hat is almost finished. A few more rows of decreasing and it will be ready for inventory.

 Jan P. joined us after a long hiatus. She is using a lovely pink to gray variegated yarn that looks to be a mohair to make a mobius cowl.

Barbara K.'s mobius cowl has grown since we last saw it. This is such a versatile garment which can be worn around the neck, pulled over the shoulders like a shrug, or over the head as a hood.

Carole's Easy Scarf has reached the halfway mark and then some. You can see the divide right there in the middle where the color changes abruptly. Now she will be knitting in the opposite direction and picking up stitches from the live edge. It's a bit tricky but makes sense when you see it being knitted.

I finished the Czapka or Polish Cap, a pattern I wrote down after watching a foreign video on YouTube. I decided to make a matching cowl which will be completed soon.

Jan A. was busy making hats and brought three completed for our inventory. The first is a slouchy hat with a bold gray stripe.

The next two are both Helix Hats.

These are great stash busters to use up scraps of yarn left from other projects.

Jan P. completed some hats too. This one is the Ex's and O's hat from a KAL (Knit-a-long project) from the Lonely Hearts Club on Ravelry.These were made with Berroco Vintage yarn in DK weight.

 

She made a Helix hat too. I think we all have been obsessed with this pattern at one time or another.

And last but not least is the Turn a Square Hat with the decrease method that creates a square at the top of a round hat. Those clever little designers!

As we were knitting in the yard someone stopped by to say hello and it turns out she lives in Michigan and follows this blog. She is visiting her daughter and family who live around the corner in my neighborhood. After speaking with her a few minutes some of us realized we knew her years ago when she lived in town. She is a fellow knitter and goes by the name knitinthemitt on Instagram. 

Kathy remember, next time bring your knitting.

And as always, keep those needles clicking.

Brighten your cloudy day with knitting

Barbara B., Maureen, and Carole joined me this cloudy afternoon. Happily, the weather doesn't have any influence on our knitting activities!

Barbara is using a Debra Norville 100% acrylic yarn to make this bright hat. The fiber is surprisingly soft and easy on her hands. Some of us don't enjoy knitting with acrylic as it doesn't have the elasticity of a natural fiber and it takes its toll on our hands. But this one is a really nice quality and it's machine washable which is a big plus in my book!

The pattern for the Red Diamonds Hat is offered for free on Ravelry. Just follow the link.

Maureen is making the Step Zeppelin Cowl which uses slipped stitches to make a lovely mosaic pattern. If you were lucky and found the pattern during the first 24 hours that it was posted, you could have it for free but now they are charging for the electronic PDF.

Carole continues to add length to her Easy Scarf by Martina Behm. It seems to be a slow going pattern but then suddenly you find yourself at the last few rows and it's done. I think it feels like it's taking forever because the first part of the scarf is when all the increasing of stitches is knitted and then you turn a corner and the stitches decrease. Before you know it, you're sliding into home base and it's done!

She showed us her next project which is the Morton Cowl which she is making for herself. Those colors are beautiful! The variegated yarn is from Manos del Uraguay and the gray is Berroco Vintage.

I thought this plain beige yarn needed some perking up so I chose a favorite hat pattern of mine called Czapka. On one of my marathon "falling down the rabbit hole" internet searches for patterns on YouTube I came across this video which was narrated by a Polish woman, I think. I turned the sound off and watched her knit while simultaneously writing the pattern so I could duplicate it. Today I looked up the video to show the Chicks and noticed that in the meantime, someone had written the pattern in English in the video notes. Too bad they didn't do it sooner. I could have saved myself some time to knit. LOL!

Carole completed her lovely Brioche Cowl. This side is predominantly a pretty light teal color and..

Inside is the dove gray side with teal border. The great thing about Brioche stitch is it gives you two garments in one!

My kitty, Fozzie, is patting my foot as I sit here which can mean only one thing... he wants to eat...AGAIN! We've been good pet parents and have limited his feeding times to try to trim his waistline since he was quite overweight when we rescued him two years ago. I can see a change in his girth but we'll find out just how much he's trimmed down when we take him for is annual exam this week. I hope the vet doesn't give me a lecture! LOL! 

 I hope you all have a great week and keep those needles clicking!