Building Inventory

I finished a couple of items for http://uscri.refugees.org/site/PageNavigator/Albany/AlbanyHomeFeature3 this past week. This little hat fits a baby of 12 to 18 months and uses a small amount of sock weight yarn. I used the last of the Mirasol Chirapa 100% merino and had just enough to make the pompom.

Using two skeins of Noro Kureyon and two skeins of Noro Silk Garden I made this colorful striped scarf. The pattern comes from Jared Flood of http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/04/noro-scarf.html
You can use two variegated colored yarns as I did here, or one solid and one variegated. It's fun to watch the colors evolve while the scarf grows in length.
Kathleen finished three more items this week. She just might singlehandedly push us over the 1,000 mark this year.
Barbara started a hat and...

Sheila is plugging along on her scarf. The word "tink" is becoming a part of her vocabulary.

We had a surprise visitor this week during the evening group meeting. Baby Ellie, who is Joyce's granddaughter/Allison's daughter came to cheer up Maureen, who lost her father recently. Our love and prayers for comfort go out for you Maureen on the passing of your Dad, Edward McDonald.

Ellie tried on the baby hat so we could get an idea of what sizes it would fit. She makes a cute model.

While Ellie visited we tested the old wive's tale of handing a baby girl a knitting needle. She readily grabbed it so it looks like we have a future Chick in our midst.

Joyce is working on a shawl for USCRI using some Lion Brand Homespun yarn.

And Judy was going to work on a colorful child's hat until she discovered she didn't bring her pattern.

On to plan B, check out a knitting book that used to belong to Maureen's late mother-in-law. It dates back to the 1980's so we all had a good laugh at the sweaters and styles.

Maureen is catching up on her knitting and is showing progress with her reversible stripes scarf.

So that brings you up to date with our projects. What are you knitting?

BRRRRRRR!!!!!

In spite of the fact that it was 22 degrees outside today, I called my neighbor to go for a walk. I searched through the hatbox and found my old earflap hat that I used to use for cross country skiing. It is bright hot pink so I knew traffic would have no trouble seeing me! LOL! We braved the cold and some wind for 45 minutes and then had to call it quits because we couldn't feel our legs and noses anymore. But it felt so good to get out and feel the fresh air.

This week with the Chicks featured Kathleen with four new things she knitted since we last met. The baby hoodie, a pair of mittens, and two carriage blankets will be saved for our upcoming donations to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Since most of the clients come from warm countries, they are certainly going to need some warm fuzzies to cozy up to.

Elaine finished her hat on which she worked last week. That will go into the inventory for USCRI also. It's a pretty oatmeal color yarn.
Sheila has made great progress on her scarf and is feeling confident about finding mistakes and fixing them. Good job Sheila!

I finished a quick scarf from http://knittingpatterncentral.com called "La Neckerchief Scarf". It's a free pattern and it took all of six hours to make. I used some donated yarn, Koigu Kersti and this also will go to USCRI.

Using Mirasol Chirapa 100% merino wool, I also made the same scarf and a matching hat. The hat pattern comes from the book "101 Small Indulgences: Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders". It's called the Wysteria Waves Beanie.

I thought the chevron lace was a pretty touch to an otherwise plain hat. And maybe it will just make living in a cold climate a little more tolerable for someone who misses their home in warmer temperatures.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to sit by the fire tonight. Stay warm and well!

Happy New Year!

Last Tuesday Barb showed us all her new cowl that she whipped up for a gift. She enjoyed making it so much she made another for herself. It was made using a size 17 needle with bulky yarn so it didn't take long at all.

Elaine was finishing up a hat and....
Sheila is getting the hang of knitting with a variegated yarn. Her stitches are starting to show even tension, something which isn't too easy for beginners.

I had leftovers from my Clapotis so I used some to make this little cowl. It's a silk and baby alpaca blend making it very soft against the skin.

On the day after Christmas, Moose came to our house to see if Santa left any gifts for him and sure enough! He had a bunch to open! His favorite was a "Wiggles" backpack filled with Wiggles playthings.

Santa also brought him a real guitar. Moose immediately began "playing" Beatles music. He sang all the words to "Yellow Submarine" and entertained us all.

When we went to visit Great Grandpa, Gigi, and Great Aunt Jamie Moose found out Santa left him some gifts there too. Elmo and his storybook were a big hit.

Great Grandpa (Poppop Billy) gave Moose a new wrist watch. Every time we asked Moose what time is it he answered five o'clock.

Gigi or Great Grandma (my mother), modeled the infinity scarf I made for her using Karin's Periwinkle Sheep sock yarn.

And Aunt Jamie (my sister) loved her new cowl made with Mini Mochi.

A few days after Christmas it snowed enough for Moose to clean my driveway. He loved helping his Daddy shovel the snow.

Tonight we decided to make chocolate chip cookies. Moose is wearing my grandmother's apron which means it has been passed down through five generations!

These break and bake cookies sure make baking easy!

But getting them from the package to the cookie sheet can be a little tricky!

The wait for the cookies to bake can be tedious.

But they are finally done and we ate them so quickly we didn't get a chance to take a picture.

I had a wonderful visit with Moose and his parents but they have to go home tomorrow. I'm going to miss him but I have lots of great pictures to remind me of his visit.

Oh! And did I tell you about another Christmas gift? We won't get to see it until this summer but Moose is going to be a big brother. His Mommy, my daughter, is pregnant and Moose is telling everyone he's going to buy a sister. I sure hope he won't be disappointed if he gets a brother.

With the new year comes a new project for the Chicks. We'll be knitting clothing to donate to refugees through the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Stay tuned to see what we'll be making. For now we hope you all have a happy and healthy new year!

How many Chicks does it take?

We Chicks have recently received two large bags full of yarn donated by a couple of friends. The selections are beautiful and we can't wait to get our hands on them. Some of them require rolling into skeins from hanks before we can start knitting. Elaine felt inspired to use a pretty peach mohair and wool blend worsted weight and I suggested that she let me roll the skein with our winder instead of her having to do it all alone by hand. All I can say is it's a good thing we all chipped in and helped! It took all five of us to sort out the knots and twists of the hank!

It started out with just a little overlap but we figured out how to unwrap and overlap and eventually we were on a roll. Or so we thought.
Kathleen, Sheila, Elaine, and Barb were handling it well, so I decided I would be designated photographer and ball winder. It looked like it was under control. It took about 30 minutes to unwind the hank and rewind two and a half balls of yarn and then we all let out a cheer!
It's a good thing that doesn't happen often and that we can knit our way back to tranquility.

Kathleen finished a top down cardigan and matching hat....

AND a pair of mittens! She's a pro!

Maureen is in the homestretch of her reversible stripes scarf and I went "dumpster diving" into my stash and picked up some mohair boucle' to make a shawl.

And now we all would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a new year filled with good health, happiness, and prosperity! God bless you!

It's a wrap!

These are just three of the lovely staff at New York Oncology and Hematology Office in Albany, New York where we made today's donation. From left to right are:

Kathy Hale, Practice Manager, Ceil Mack, PR and Marketing,

and Kathe Morano R.N. Nurse Supervisor.

Barbara, Maureen and I were warmly welcomed by these wonderful ladies as we delivered a total of 72 items, including fleece wraps, scarves, shawls and hats. If you have been following our blog you will have seen some of those items being made.

I want to take this moment to thank my Chicks for doing a wonderful job all year long to keep those people in need mindful of the fact that someone out here cares for them. With every stitch we knit goes out a kind thought for it's recipient and a prayer for their well being.

And a great big hug to my Chicks as we finish out the year 2009 with a total of 270 items knitted or sewn and donated, giving us a grand total since we started in August of 2005 of
904 items!!! Way to go ladies!!! God bless you for your kind and generous hearts!
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Ready to Deliver

We Chicks have finished and collected all the scarves, shawls, hats,etc. and will be delivering them on Monday. Today's post will show the last few items that will be going into Monday's collection.

Below is a photo of the scarf I knitted from a heavenly soft blend of pure silk and merino wool. It's a lace weight yarn from New Zealand and the finished size measured 66" X 7".

I tried linking the pattern for you but it seems the site from where I printed it no longer has it available. I'm sure if you own a knitting pattern book you will be able to find a similar pattern to try for yourself. This scarf started by casting on 41 stitches and knitting a 3 row garter stitch band at the beginning and ending edges. It is very soft and drapes so nicely.
Sheila is working on learning her casting on and knitting stitches. We are all seeing an improvement in the tension of her stitches. And the edges are straight. No more sailboat sails! LOL!(inside joke)

Elaine started a pair of slippers for a Christmas gift and Barbara started a baby cap with the softest peach yarn. Really pretty.

Maureen found the perfect buttons to finish off her Country Rows shawl for Monday's delivery and connected them to the shawl with a twisted cord. This way the wearer has the option of buttons or no buttons.

I tried one more time to get the lace scarf pattern and success! Here goes: http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/pdf/SALLaceScarf.pdf

Have fun knitting!

Down to the Wire and Counting

We're getting down to the wire with our current project of scarves and shawls for cancer survivors. The Chicks spent the afternoon attaching our labels to everything.

Kathleen worked on a pair of mittens for the inventory.
Sheila and Barbara strung the labels and attached them to items while we swapped stories about our Thanksgiving dinners with our families.

Elaine and Karen made sure the laundering instructions were clearly written out for the recipients of our handiworks.

The evening gathering was in charge of sorting and counting the collection. Judy and Joyce tallied 22 fleece wraps, 19 shawls, 24 scarves, a pair of fingerless mitts, 2 hats, and 1 lap robe.

We still have some items in the process of finishing up, so our final total will increase by a few more before they go to NY Oncology and Hematology.

On the Thanksgiving front....while I was preparing our turkey breast for dinner my family noticed something very odd. You know that commercial for a credit card company that shows everyday items with faces, both happy and sad? Well, you just tell me if this doesn't look like one pitiful turkey face after a barroom brawl!

After dinner we worked off the stuffing with a few songs from the new Beatles Rock Band game. Moose loves playing instruments and kept perfect time on the drums.

He loves playing guitar too but he dances around so much it's hard to get a photo of him that's not blurry! He asked for a guitar for Christmas so we'll have to wait to see if Santa brings him one. You never know....