It's the last official weekend of summer

With these days of summer vacations and Labor Day get togethers, attendance was a little lower than ususal. But it doesn't mean we were any less enthusiastic about our projects.

Missy, on the far left, is designing a crochet handbag for her 8 year old granddaughter. She crocheted two large squares and has plans to put a border and a lining to keep items from falling through the holes.

Teri, the Queen of the Knitting Loom, is working on a shawl.

Rena finished a hat (using bulky weight yarn) called Weekend Hat. The pattern was from a book called "Men's Knits: A New Direction.

Gail started another Morton Cowl with a twist. The original pattern is written up to start with a provisional cast on, knit forever or until you either run out of yarn or get bored, and then graft the short ends together to form a large ring which can be doubled around the neck. However, I rewrote the pattern to be knitted in the round so there is no grafting. It's a closed ring from the get go and can be as large a ring as you desire.

Athena is honing her crochet skills on a blanket. She will drop some white yarn here and there for stripes.

Ceil's "Bluey" blanket is nearing completion. It looks like a perfect size for a car seat blanket.

On Wednesday, Barbara invited me to her home for moral support as she tried her first attempt at dying yarn. It looks beautiful! She used Wilton's Icing dye and we both learned a few things along the way. I might have to give it a try myself. The shawl she is making is

La Bise and is free on Ravelry. Since the two skeins of yarn dyed slightly differently, she is alternating the balls of yarn every two rows so they blend seamlessly with each other.

Last week I showed you the sweet little socks Barbara knitted and this week she added a cute little cap called Lyric another freebie on Ravelry.

In addition, Barbara completed the Syxx Hat also free on Ravelry. She opted to make the center of the honeycomb pattern using a variegated yarn which stands out nicely against the solid body of the hat.

Jim concentrates on his knitting. Like Athena, he is making it up as he goes along. That's how you get started as a designer!

Karen just picked this yarn last week and is already putting it to good use for a C2C blanket, which stands for corner to corner. It starts with only a few stitches and grows diagonally to the center and then decreases after the center to the end. It's a good stash busting project if you have leftovers of yarn and don't know what to do with them.

Currently on my needles is Waldkind scarf. It's a paid pattern on Ravelry which usually doesn't appeal to me...what if I don't like the knitting techniques or suppose I don't enjoy making it, but something about this scarf grabbed my attention and I'm truly enjoying every stitch. I even found a head band pattern with the exact same leaf motif so I can make a matching accessory.

There is a ravenous kitty nibbling at my elbow so I guess it's feeding time for Fozzie.

Have a safe holiday weekend and keep those needles clicking!