Welcome back Janna!

We were pleasantly surprised when after four weeks of recovering from knee replacement surgery, Janna arrived with her chauffeur/nurse/chef/loving husband, Mark. She isn't ready to drive on her own yet so he's been helping her out. It was so good to see how well she is doing and walking with just the aid of a cane. And while she was on leave...

she completed her WIPs. The first is the Yara Shawl she made for herself which she started in February. It turned out absolutely gorgeous! I think she said there were over 500 stitches on the needle by the last row! The car seat blanket she made using a basket weave pattern. And the Orchid Mantis Hat uses two different colors of DK weight yarn. She did a great job on all three!

Everyone had great projects on needles. Some of us knitted and some crocheted.

Missy worked diligently on her Granny Squares while Jim knitted his two-technique blanket.

Athena made a handy bottle holder using crochet technique.

This is a completed one she made for Jim's water bottle. She is always designing and now plans to make a cell phone holder too.

Terry completed her loom knitted scarf. Its cozy thickness will certainly be appreciated when the temperatures drop.

Debra put the finishing touches to her little IzzyTeddy Bear. Once she added ears his whole personality jumped out. These are very easy to knit in the round. It is just a tube that you stuff and then sew a few lines to define the arms and legs. Embroidered faces make them safe for little ones.

Ceil is very near the end of her pretty pastel Endless Summer Shawl. We still have a few weeks left of summer for her to wear it too.

Gail still has a bit to go to finish up her baby blanket but...

she finished the mittens she started weeks ago. In her defense, she had a pretty serious finger injury which prevented her from holding the yarn to knit in her usual fashion.

Barbara is using the two-at-a-time, magic loop method to knit a pair of baby socks by Kate Atherley. Knitting them simultaneously insures they are the same size and if you use a uniformly striped yarn and start the socks at the same stripe sequence, you can get a pair of identical twin socks when you knit them this way. That's not to say you can't get identical socks if you use one at a time on DPs, it's just easier to get the same size when knitted together.

Pam worked the ribbing of the cuff of her baby socks. She prefers using DPs. Unlike me, she gets two socks of the same size. Did I tell you about the time I made three socks trying to get a single matching pair? None of them was the same size! That's why I finally decided to try TAAT on magic loop.

Cinzia is using a variegated sock weight yarn to make a pretty lacy cowl. The lace pattern is based on a multiple of three stitches which she knew how to knit from having made the Panopeia lace shirt.

Rena set aside blanket knitting to make a ribbed cap in the round. She's holding two strands of yarn together to make a warm hat.

I'm working on a cowl which I designed after watching a YouTube video of a Turkish woman knitting a flat lace pattern. She knitted it flat in the Eastern European style which twists the stitches on the purl row. So I made it to be knitted seamlessly in the round with no purl stitches in the English method. I like to keep my brain busy to stay healthy and this sure put it through an exercise routine.

If brains could lift weights I'm sure mine could win the Olympics! LOL!

The Stitch Angels and I wish you a great week and keep those needles clicking!