Busy hands

We had a stretch of holiday rest so it was back to some serious knitting today for my Chicks.

We start Show and Tell with Debbie's hoodie sweater. She is using one of those huge skeins of self striping yarn she bought when our local Lion Brand store went out of business. It's a washable yarn, perfect for baby clothes.

 Cinzia is also using a self patterning yarn which looks like it should knit up into a dotted pattern but oddly enough it is working up into a really nice tweedy stripe.

 Barbara's Cabin Fever Buttons cardigan has shoulders and should have sleeves soon. She is holding it by the collar and shoulders so you can see that it is a top down one piece sweater.

 Maureen's baby blanket is longer this week. I think she's getting bored with it. Next time a quick hat pattern Maureen!

 Margaret's top down 5 hour sweater is going on about three weeks now. It's hard to find time to squeeze in a few stitches when you have a full time job and a family.

 Beth is making a baby Flax sweater. You can see the garter stitch feature on the shoulder and sleeve.

 And Dorah's baby sweater has reached the portion where she will insert the chevron pattern with a variegated yarn. You can see the first few rows peeking out at the needle edge.

 Carole is disappointed that it took her two hours to get this far on her Sunnyside sweater but she has all those markers perfectly in place so she can now breeze on through the knitting. It's important to get the markers correctly placed so the sleeves and design elements line up.

 My Baby Sophisticate is at the very beginning so it doesn't look much like a cardigan yet.

 And now for the gallery of FO's. I found a quick bootie pattern last night for some scraps of worsted weight yarn that was too much to just throw away. They were done in about three hours. And I'm a slow knitter!

 My second Dexter vest is for a little girl. I ran out of pink yarn and had to use a sage green to sew up one of the side seams but luckily it doesn't show.

 I had a bit of left over blue yarn so a quick 2X2 ribbed hat used it up.

 Beth was busy while she was away before the holiday. Her cables are beautifully knitted on this cute little hat.

 The buttons Carole put on her little sweater are just the right touch of color for such a cute little pullover.

 Beth's baby socks are cheerfully bright!

 And her cute little tie booties are sure to stay on.

 Another baby hat....

 and two more from Margaret's needles.

 Carole added a sweet little cap with a twisty top knot.

 And these last few are personal items that first up, Beth knitted. A pretty pair of socks called Hermione's Everyday Sock. She said the pattern was very easy for her first pair of two at a time cuff down socks.

 Dorah showed us her Baby Cocktails Shiraz sweater she made for her daughter. We are very proud of her work! She just has to knit the neck band and it will be finished.

Lastly, Beth had put this beautiful shawl into hibernation for a while but finally took it out to finish. The color choices are gorgeous! If you'd like to purchase the pattern on Ravelry, it's called Drachenfels by Melanie Berg.

Well, I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and have recovered from your turkey hangover. It's time for me to get back to my knitting. Keep those needles clicking!

Busy knitting needles

Two more items went into inventory this week. This mischievous little kitty started out like a toe-up sock and with strategically placed decreases and increases suddenly became a cat. His eyes and nose are embroidered with sock yarn so there are no plastic pieces to choke little ones.

 And I finished off my circular blankie with a ruffle and reverse single crochet to give it a picot edge.

 Barbara worked on her baby blanket and we checked online for the translation of the label (the information was in Italian) and found out it is machine washable wool! WooHoo!

 Debbie worked on a top down sweet little dress.

 And Elaine's hat grew only a little because she had to frog back and start over.

 I decided to make another animal and found a pattern for a charming octopus. I read about these toys being given to preemies and for some reason they love them. Two legs done, six more to go.

 Carole's top-down pullover is now to the underarms so she can knit the whole thing in the round without stopping to make the button placket. It will go much faster now.

 Maureen's blanket is a few inches larger this week.

 And Margaret's top-down sweater is showing progress.

 We'll have to wait to see if it really takes only 5 hours to knit.

Last week my husband and I went to the New York Botanical Gardens to see the Chihuly exhibit before it ends on October 29. His work is stunning! This was my favorite in the collection.

 The pieces look like they could float away. Their grace and beauty mystify me.

 And they compliment the greenery so well.

 They look so natural among the growing plants.

 And add to the tranquility of the place.

 At the end of the day I stopped in at the gift shop just to look around and noticed I could have brought home a souvenir of my day, if it hadn't been for the $8,100 price tag!!!

I'll just take the photo and admire that! Have a great week and keep those needles clicking!