Busy hands are happy hands

It was a full house at the Albany Public Library this afternoon. Part way through the day my bluetooth speaker ran out of power so without background music it was so quiet in the room you could literally hear a pin drop. That's when you know people are concentrating on their work.

One of the knitters joining us today was Peggy. She heard about the group from her daughter-in-law who is the office administrator at our local physical therapist's office. I was driving my husband to his appointments after his knee replacement and I cannot just sit and do nothing while I wait so I had a different knitting project every time I visited. Heather, Peggy's DIL, mentioned that her MIL was a knitter and might be interested in the group. So, not one to be shy, I gave her my business card and the rest is history. Peggy is picking up a project which has been in time out for years so she is reacquainting herself with the pattern to make a baby sack.

All the progress I made on this little cardigan last week was frogged because I wasn't happy with the appearance of the raglan increase stitches. I ripped it out as far back as the neckline stitches and put it back on the needle to restart with a different increase stitch. It should be smooth sailing from here to the end.

Pam finished the pullover sweater which you saw in progress last week. She has started another in a larger size. She brought the knitting book which she is using for directions and we both got a good laugh out of the 1979 issue for $3.50! It was well worth the money since the pattern sizes range from infant to extra large adult! And the design is timeless!

Alison and Missy worked together on Alison's crochet project which required a bit of help.

Darwin added a few rows to his crochet blanket.

Debra F. has a huge skein of self patterning yarn to make this adorable Trio of Cables blanket. All she has to do is follow the pattern and the yarn does all the work of making a design.

Tina's little socks are ready to be bound off. She likes knitting them from the toe up on magic loop so both socks can be knitted simultaneously. This insures that they are both the exact same size. It also insures you don't get SSS, second sock syndrome, a malady that affects knitters who lose interest in knitting the second sock once the first one in finished.

I fall into that category!

She also completed the Aramis Infant Hat for a teeny tiny baby. It's so sweet! This is a free pattern which uses Aran weight yarn.

Barbara finished her little version of the 1898 Hat, another free pattern on Ravelry. She used the exact same stitch count as the adult size hat but on size 3 needles and fingering weight yarn instead of worsted weight on size 7 needles. Her current project is Beloved, a sweet bonnet, using Plymouth Encore machine washable worsted weight yarn on a size 6 needle. The paid pattern includes directions for sizes from infant to adult.

Ceil started another shawl with an interesting construction method.

The Bright Side is a boomerang style shawl.

The yarn required for this shawl has short bursts of color on a solid background. Every time you reach a chunk of color, the stitches change texture to highlight the pop of color.

She also started a corner to corner blanket using a gradient yarn in pretty pastels.

Bob added a new bright variegated yarn to his blanket. Maria is knitting a gauge swatch so she can knit a sweater for her husband. Edgar finally reached the length he needs for the hat he's crocheting and has begun seaming it together.

Janna is making a child size 1898 hat and using up small amounts of yarn to jazz it up!

Pat's butter yellow blanket is coming along nicely. She's almost to the finish line.

Jim hit a snag with his crochet blanket but he's back on track now.

Rena has just a few more rows until her corner to corner blanket is finished. She already has her next project picked out. This blanket has little hearts in a lace pattern for which she will use a white, machine washable acrylic yarn.

That's all there is this week. Next week will be a whole new set of projects. Stop by and see what everyone is creating. Until then, keep those needles clicking!