We all drove through the cold and ice to gather at Michele’s house.  It wasn’t as Dickensian as it sounds, however, because Michele met us with hot tea and gingerbread cake.  Yum.  We had to wait for Leslie to model her newfound pattern until she could make a grand entrance.  Well, it was worth it to see her “pidge” neckwarmer/scarf.  Really elegant and I want to knit one!

PIDGE ME! I love the next neck wrap.

Leslie also brought her finished Christmas stockings for her daughter Sienna and Sienna’s fiance, Ty.  They are so unconventional – just like our Leslie.  The stockings will be heirlooms in Sienna’s family, we know.

Future family heirlooms

A couple of other scarf-ers were there.  Marsha wore a seed scarf that she made a few months ago – it’s just now cold enough to wear it!

Finally...winter weather for all those knitted scarves!

Carol showed us the scarf that she made for her daughter-in-law for Christmas.  I received an email from Carol in California just after Christmas (you can see how negligent I’ve been about posting this blog) and she said that the scarf was a big hit!

Beautiful sparkling scarf on Carol's knee (not sure what the serious discussion is about between Carol and Leslie)

Something else that was a big hit with Carol’s mom was the fabulous felted bag that she knitted.  While we were at Michele’s, Carol and Michele felted it.

Before felting - gee, it's very big, isn't it?

After - isn't wool in hot water amazing?

I am constantly amazed to see the effects of hot water and a little agitation on wool.  Carol’s tote turned out soooo great.  Good job, Carol!  And thanks for sharing with us.  Carol was so proud that she carried her bag around on a towel to show us all.  The only negative comment (and one that launched Leslie into hysteria) was from Carol herself.  “I love it!  It’s so cool!  Ooh, it kind of smells.”  Wet wool, Carol, wet wool.  Earthy.

Marylane started a baby hat with two kinds of darling pink wool.  She and Michele (who is the gauge Nazi of the group – but someone has to do it, I guess.  Otherwise, we’d all be either squeezing into sweaters, or trying to gain weight to fill them up) were busily checking the gauge of little hat.  Michele was quite upset with me when she found out that I hadn’t done a gauge swatch for my new vest.  I live on the edge.

Darling pink baby hat in utero

Good knitters! Check that gauge!

Mary was almost finished with the hat that she knitted for her son’s Christmas gift.  She is such a shy little thing – no drama here, eh, Mary?

So much more than merely a hat, eh Mary?

Julie was busy knitting…uh…something green.  Sorry, Jules, but I didn’t write everything down this time.  Please bring it next time, OK?

After mailing all those knitted gifts, it's kind of a letdown. Perk up Julie, it's Christmas!

We are having a little impromptu knitting group on Tuesday at Marsha’s house – just because we can’t WAIT to knit together!  The regular meeting will be at Julie’s house on the 7th of January, 2010.  Wow, 2010.  Happy New Year everyone and keep knitting!

The Castoffs were in a giddy Christmas mood on Thursday.  We raised the roof with laughter and spirits-induced merriment!  Ahem.  I am constantly amazed with the talent and sheer quantities of knitted items produced by our little group.  We insisted that Julie adorn herself with all of the wonderful, beautifully abundant gifts (to undisclosed recipients who may or may not look at this post before Christmas).  She really had no choice and we dressed her like a paper doll.

Let's all play "Dress the Julie Doll!"

She was wearing  pretty self-striped mittens and hat for [undisclosed recipient] who will love them.  She was also wearing a great ‘thick and thin’ scarf for her [undisclosed recipient] who is gonna LOVE it.  At the same time Julie was knitting a fabulous black hat with eyelash trim for her [undisclosed recipient] and we all really loved the trim and are certain that her [undisclosed recipient] will get a lot of stylish wear from it!  Whew!  It’s tough to be discreet.  That’s why I hardly ever do it.

Speaking of discretion, or the lack of it, Leslie was getting instruction from Michele on making pom-poms to adorn stockings for Leslie’s daughter Sienna and Sienna’s fiance.  Leslie got rather involved in the pom-pom making process and may have taken it farther than necessary.  Or not, because we were all into the spirit of pom-poms by then.  The pom-poms DID turn out very well-shaped and sturdy, which is good if you want to actually attach them permanently to something.  These pom-poms seemed to take on a life of their own, so we tagged along with them.

Pom-poms before trimming

Brand new perkily trimmed pom-poms

Of course, pom-poms sometimes have a shelf life.

Past their 'sell-by' date pom-poms

Pom-poms that, like Mama Bear's porridge, are just right

Moving on…here is Sienna’s stocking upon which there will be the infamous pom-poms – when they consent to be mere adornment rather than the stars of their own show.

Sienna's stocking!

Meanwhile, Michele and Francy were discussing the small mobius neckwarmer that Francy is knitting for her daughter Betsy.  I wish you could feel this yarn which is lovely angora and silk.  Yummy.

Mobius neckwarmer in the making

A lot of discussion is necessary for the Castoffs

Michele is knitting a sleeveless hoodie vest for her daughter with the BIGGEST needles that we had seen in a while.  And who says that size doesn’t matter?

WHOA! Is that your knitting needle or are ya just glad to see me?

We were glad that Deb joined us.  She’s knitting another fluffy scarf and says that the first one was a big hit with her [disclosed] recipient, Terry!

Coming right along!

Marylane is working on a ‘thick and thin’ scarf for her own [undisclosed recipient].  We all love the look of this scarf.  I found that if the thin yarn is too thin, it is difficult to keep from dropping stitches, but I really loved the final result in spite of the ‘pain in the butt’ factor.  I may have been the only one who felt this way.  Maybe I just need to get bigger thins, eh?

THICK and THIN (and I'm not referring to you, Marylane)

Mary was still working on a hat for her son and she also brought along the mittens that will be felted when finished.  I have to admit that the sheer size of the pre-felted mitten gave me a start.  I was eerily reminded of Michele’s needles…

Viagra mitten?

Hey, Mary, better get crackin' on that little hat!

We were joined this week by a little ‘castoff’ kitten that wandered into my yard just before a very cold spell that would have made a catsicle out of him.  We have been sheltering him in our garage and I tried my darnedest to convince one of the group that he would be a great Christmas gift.  But, no go.  I’m hoping that I can find him a good home before Lucky’s patience (and allergies) run out.

Little kastoff kitty - isn't he cute? Don't you want him?

Next week we will be at Michele’s house and look forward to Carol being with us again.  We’ve missed you, Carol!!  Until then, knit long and prosper!

We met at Leslie’s house and ate some yummy pineapple cake with cream cheese icing for Julie’s 50th birthday.  The cake was so good that everyone wanted the recipe, so here it is:

Cake:

2 eggs
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 t. baking soda
1 c. chopped walnuts

In mixing bowl beat the eggs until fluffy.  Add the pineapple, flour,
sugars and baking soda.  Mix well by hand. Stir in walnuts and spread
the batter in an ungreased 9×13 pan.  Bake at 350 until done.  30-40
min.

Frosting:
1  – 3 oz pkg cream cheese
1/4 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 t. ground ginger.

(I use the whole pkg of cream cheese  🙂  )

Just the thing for a birthday snack!

We were so happy to sing to Julie and she was happy to be sung to!  Here’s the birthday girl knitting some mittens.

Let's see, I need to cast on 50 years, er...stitches.

It was a stocking kind of day.  Francy brought a Christmas stocking of a more tradtional sort…

Great striped stocking!

And Leslie showed us the Christmas stockings that she is making for her daughter Sienna and Sienna’s fiance, Ty.  Sienna’s is the…uh, sienna one…and Ty’s is the other.

Can't wait to see them with the final embellishments.

Leslie is trying to decide how to decorate the stockings to personalize them.  We love Leslie’s imagination, so we are looking forward to the finished product.

Speaking of Christmas presents, Michele brought the hats and mittens for her great niece and nephew.  Sooo adorable!  She only has one more set to go and then she can mail them off!

Two down! One to go!

Here are the yarns that Michele is using for the third set of mittens and hat for the baby.  Love the colors.

Last little set on the way!

I finally finished my fingerless gloves and am knitting a matching headband.  I like how they turned out, even though they won’t keep my fingers very warm.  But I can unlock the door!

These cables were fun and easy to make.

Mary is knitting a hat for her son whose nose was just a leetle bit out of joint from all the knitted presents that Mary has knitted for his wife and sister.  Well, girls are easier to knit for than boys, right Mary?  Anyway, he should be happier now that Mom has something special for him.

Making something special for her baby boy, the lawyer.

Deb was here showing off the scarf that she finished for a friend.  Pretty slinky, Deb!  What are you going to knit next?

Ooh, la la.

We had a great time, eating, drinking, and comparing our projects.  I can’t believe that Christmas is so close!  We really missed Marylane and Carol, but hope to see them next week when we’ll meet at Marsha’s house.  In closing, here are some other snaps from a fun afternoon.

Julie and Michele glance through Marsha's 'Hip Knit Hats' book.

Mary in front of Leslie's heirloom Christmas tree skirt.

Sorry Francy, but this looked like a good fish tale!

Now, how BIG was it?

We had a great time at knitting this week at Marylane’s house.  All of our regular gang was there; Marylane, Leslie, Mary, Michele, Julie, Carol and Marsha plus a guest, Robin!  Glad to see you Robin!  I have to inject a personal note here and thank all my wonderful knitting buddies for the condolence card and gift that they gave me on the death of my mom.  You women are so precious to me.  Thank you.  It was so great to be back to semi-normal after a wild and weird and sad week in Nashville.  To be among my friends, knitting and talking and drinking wine was a real balm to my spirit.

Michele just finished her ‘magic loop’ socks and celebrated by buying some new sandals to show them off.  A little birdie told me that the sandals were muy expensive, but the socks look excellent in them.

Hey, if Michele buys a new pair of shoes for every pair of socks that she knits...hmmm. She'll need another job!

In addition to the socks, Michele knitted a couple of Christmas hats for her nephew and niece.  Very cute!  I remember knitting hats last year, but not this year – I’m loafin’ and just makin’ stuff for myself!

Still life with pom-pom.

Leslie knitted a beautiful table runner for her daughter and new almost son-in-law.  She promised to take a photo of it on the Thanksgiving table.  In the meantime, she did a little samba with it as a poncho.  Hey, whatever makes ya dance is OK.

Ai, chihuahua! Caliente senora!

Here is a rather more sedate picture of Leslie showing Robin the table runner.  Personally, I prefer the hoochie-koochie pic, but that’s just me.

Pretty no matter how you present it.

Well, well, well, our little Julie is turning the BIG 5-0!  Finally, she’s in the proper decade!  Well, not proper as in acting proper, but closer to the rest of us!!  None of us are very proper, now that I think of it.  This is how Julie and Marylane reacted to the news.

Julie: OMG, 50! Marylane: ONLY 50? Arrgh!

Remarkably, we all get along regardless of age.  After all, age is only a state of mind; a number; a butterfly in the sky or the ominous ticking of the clock.  Choose your poison, women.  I prefer not to worry about it.

Julie is actually knitting a sweater FOR HERSELF!!!  And I like it.

Happy birthday to yourself, Jules. And many more.

She looks pretty smug about it, doesn’t she?  As well she should, the Queen of top-down sweaters!

Mary finished her seed-stitch scarf for her daughter-in-law and it is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  Mary gets the medal for best improvement in knitting since she started last year!  Wow, Mary, you’re goooood.

Pretty scarf! Nice fringe.

Our sweet Carol sat demurely knitting for a LONG time and then calmly dropped the LOVE bomb into our circle.  I think we all dropped a stitch or two.  She is going to California to meet up with her online honey and we can hardly wait to hear how it went…Carol, you are quite a catch.

I see something that you don't see...and it starts with S...

Well, that’s about as much excitement as I can stand for one week.  I’m so late getting this blog posted that it’s almost time for the next meeting!  Sorry.  At least I didn’t skip it altogether!  See you next time at Leslie’s house and we will all catch up on Turkeyday!  Gobble gobble.