We all converged on Carol’s house in a lull in the recent storms.  Each time we have a warming trend, we heave a sigh of relief until the next freeze.  Don’t worry, Castoffs, spring will be here someday…maybe.

Carol tempted us with a huge plate of chunky chocolate chip cookies, which none of us resisted.  Even Michele’s little squirrel (pre-felting) got into the mood for chocolate.

Hey, wonder how many of these I can bury?

Right now he’s a little floppy, but he’ll firm up with stuffing and felting.

Michele brought the wrist warmers that she was beginning last week.  They turned out great and Michele says that she’s wearing them all the time at home at night when the heat is down and she still wants to knit without freezing her hands.  Reading in bed at night would be another place for wearing nice hand warmers.  I’ve had to put my book down to warm my hands, haven’t you?

Fluffy and warm... Wrist warmers!

Michele and Leslie are both preparing to knit a great shrug.  It is knit as a big rectangle and then sewn up along the sleeves.  The pattern has a lot of cabling and you know what that means…Charts.  Yes, the dreaded convoluted charting of cables and stitches.  It always looks much worse and more complicated than it turns out to be, so don’t get scared off if you are considering a pattern that involves charts.  That being said, here is one of the charts for the shrug pattern.

Piece of cake...or piece of pie chart?

Leslie, the lovely finger model is pointing out the beautifully colored squares that will drive her crazy in the near future.  I caught her on her knees praying to the God of Confused Knitters – GCK to his intimates – while she was trying to translate the stitch chart.

Om, om, O great GCK, hear my desperate cries...

I’m quite sure that the great GCK will hear her pleas and allow her photogenic fingers to forge ahead through the confusion of the Chart.  Or not…

When I got to Carol’s house, Roxanne and Francy were mulling over a poncho pattern that Roxanne was starting.  Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Roxanne knitted and ripped out the first five or six rows several times.  Hmm.  It is a great looking pattern and I hope she gets through the opening bit soon.

Roxanne and Francy figuring it out

The 'Linda' poncho and beautiful yarn

Roxanne is using beautiful chunky yarn and I like the way the pattern looks.  Can’t wait to see it next week.

Deb has been a knitting tornado this week.  Her lacy vest is coming right along and it looks fantastic.  Our jaws dropped when we saw how far she’s come from scarves and hats.  This is a truly ambitious project and Deb!  Great job!  Leslie was moved to declare, “Deb!  You’re a knitter!”  Well, duh…

You knitter, you!

Julie joined us with a top-down Henley that she’s knitting for her husband Brian.  She paused, tea in hand, and I caught her resting and meditating on being a knitter.  She looks like she could have been pondering this quote from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in AT KNIT’S END: “If your mate doesn’t understand your knitting habit, then maybe he hasn’t been properly bribed yet.”  Like many a good knitter, Julie is laying down the bribes.  Right, Jules?

Hmmm. Just how far does a bribing knitter have to go?

And then we come to the felted slipper question.  Three of us were wrestling with that question at our meeting.  Marylane separated herself from the crowd in order to count undistracted – unlike Mary, last week, who just powered through the noise in her usual uncomplicated way.  Yes, by SHOUTING.  Right, Mary?  This week she bared her sole, so to speak, by bringing the slipper.  It looked more like a halo than a slipper, but we know that halos rarely hang around our Mary.  Or any of the rest of us, to be frank.

Halo? No, a 'sole' o.

While Mary was basking in the glory of her completed sole, Marylane separated herself from the rest of us, as I pointed out, to count her cast on stitches without distraction.  We shouted at her, of course, in vain.  She just calmly ignored us and counted away.

Ah, solitude. Ah, quiet. Ah, crap, I lost count!

I started my slipper, too, but risked staying in the room with everyone else.  Just not as smart as Marylane, I guess.  Leslie assisted me in reading out, in clear, ringing tones (in my ear) the instructions for the first difficult rows when I had to make 1.  Actually make a lot of 1’s.  I was grateful for her assistance even though I tried to stab her once.  Sorry, Les.  I came home and finished one of my slipper soles.  Now I’m ready to change to the other color and knit on.  Knit on!  I became slightly hysterical at the thought of felting something.

What am I doing? Make 1 what?

Linda has come a long way with her prayer shawl.  I love the color.  When she attaches the fringe, it will be stunning.

Beautiful color. And it feels wonderful!

I heard from Linda about the baby sweater that she was working on last week.  I couldn’t get to her photo from my email, but she told me that she chose yellow as her accent color and found some cute froggy face buttons to embellish the sweater.  Maybe I can get the photo as an attachment and show it to you next time.

I want to wish Marylane a wonderful birthday!  I’m posting this on Sunday which happens to be her birthday!  Hope you’re having a great day, ML!

Next week we’ll meet at Deb’s house.  Sure hope it’s warmer by then.  Brrr!  It’s cold out there now.  Until we meet again, keep those needles blazing and have a  wonderful end of January and a warm beginning of February!

We drove through the icy, slushy, slick-streeted night to Marylane’s house.  When I got there, Roxanne was getting a lesson from Michele and was busily starting what would become a felted slipper.  Turns out that several of us are knitting, or are planning to knit in the near future, felted slipper projects.  Roxanne, Mary, Marsha, Marylane for sure are working on it.  I guess it’s due to Leslie’s influence.  She is pretty influential.  Not to mention a great hand model.

Roxanne's second project - Slippers!

Francy was working on a cabled hoodie.  She made one last year for her daughter-in-law and is making this one for her daughter, Betsy.  Francy, if I have gotten the order mixed up, please forgive me.  I love this pattern and I believe she’s using Paton’s classic wool yarn.

Back of cabled hoodie

Francy and Roxanne had to leave early to go to a soup supper – it sounded like the perfect meal for such a cold, wintery day.

Mary was working on her felted slipper and it made me pause because she had to COUNT so much, and so carefully.  Of course, the Castoffs are the most considerate and helpful of partners in any knitting endeavor.  She started counting and we quietly chatted in the background.

Michele:  I think that’s on page 13, Marylane.

Mary: THREE!!

Marsha: Did you hear that the temperature got up to 40 degrees the other day?

Mary: FIFTEEN!!

Julie:  I’m going to knit four more rows on this little mitten and then I’ll stop.

Mary: TWELVE…TWENTY…SHUT UP!

Oh, sorry Mary.  Were you trying to count?

At least she didn't stab us with those #13 needles. That would've left a mark.

Finally, Leslie took pity on her and went over to help.  The instructions for the slippers are three pages long.  Gulp.  Do I really want to put in the time and take the chance that I’ll shrink them down to dolly size?  Oh, yeah!  I’ve already goofed on the yarn – reversed the numbers and have to go get another skein.  Michele sorta kinda thinks I’ll have enough on the extra skein to make a pair of felted mittens. Maybe…

Leslie, good Samaritan and hand model extraordinaire.

Speaking of Leslie, she didn’t have anything going again – knitting-wise, I mean.  I think she is planning to begin a gorgeous shrug – cabled lengthwise and long-sleeved.  It will be wonderful.  Can’t wait to see what yarn she chooses.  Michele wants to make one too, but tonight she was working on a boxy sweater that will look fabulous on her.

Great pattern, great yarn.

Michele was trying to adjust the pattern – small was too small, medium was too large.  I think she got it figured out with changing the tension.  It’s always fun to play with gauges, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, Deb came in with her AMAZING new project.  It’s a lacy vest that we were all impressed and a little frightened with.  A lot of concentration will be required.  Here is Deb being possessed by knitting.  We all remember the first little scarf project, don’t we?  She was so cute and now she’s been inhabited by the knitting demon.

Do Episcopalean pastors do exorcisms?

The rest of us get so excited when the knitting bug really sets in with a vengeance.  Those of us who’ve got it love to see others get it.  It’s the disease we never want a cure for.  Here is Deb’s pattern:

Pretty complicated -- but FUN!

It’s gonna be fun to see the progression every week.  And here is where Deb is in the pattern so far:

Bottom of the back.

The rest of us were doing typical Castoffs stuff.  I was still working on my gray vest – decreasing the shoulder edge AND the neck edge – and I probably shouldn’t have tried to do all these decreases at our meeting, what with all the counting and drinking and laughing.  Julie forgot her knitting, so she and I enjoyed Marylane’s banana bread while Michele knitted on a mindless, uncomplicated portion of her sweater.  Smart girl.  Leslie caught us in mid-bite and mid-stitch.

Who called us the three monkies? Was it you, Mary?

I keep going on and on about our famous hand model, Leslie, but she continues to impress.  Michele brought a wrist warmer that looks so toasty, so naturally Leslie was the logical one to model it.  I think it’s just the thing for cold winter nights in the frozen tundra of Northwest Montana.

Do I hear the sound of one hand clapping?

Our hostess, Marylane was quietly working on her felted slipper.  She pulled together all her woolen yarn stash and Leslie helped her put some colors together for slippers for her kids, Kendra and Walker.  She is going to mix the colors – a yellow toe here, a green heel there – they’ll be so bright and eyecatching.

Mixed bag for slippers.

Uh, oh. Looks like somebody else was trying to count. Sorry, ML!

We had a great time and next week we’ll meet at Carol’s house.  We’ve missed Carol lately because she is involved in her new dance studios.  Can’t wait to see you Carol!  In the meantime, keep those needles blazing and have a snowball fight!

The Castoffs slipped and slid up Michele’s driveway.  Marylane even got stuck and had to be pushed out!  That’s winter in Montana, though, so we persevere and wear our boots and snow tires.  Other than the weather, all was warm and bright in Michele’s house.  She baked us a delicious applesauce cake, and offered crackers, cheese and tea.  The perfect winter afternoon treats.  Thanks, Michele!

It was all about finished projects from some, and what to knit next for others.  Michele showed us her beautiful ribbed scarf knit from Mountain Colors yarn that felt so thick and luxurious we thought it was worked with a double strand.  Nope, just wonderful yarn made right down the road in Corvallis, Montana.  I liked their blog so much that I added a link to it to our blog.

A REALLY long scarf - two skeins worth

We talked her into wearing it doubled for the photo

Roxanne was there with Francy and finished her LONG red scarf.  It must be the season for wrapping around the neck.  Well, it IS cold out there!  This was Roxanne’s first knitting project and we are very proud of her.  What’s next, Roxanne?

Roxanne's FIRST knitting project -- done!

Marylane brought her snowboarding hat (not that she’s going snowboarding, I think).  She was adding fringe and is planning to line it with fleece for extra warmth.  I hope to see it on her head for snowshoe Monday.

Ahh, great hat, Marylane

Roxanne, Francy and I were busily knitting away.  Roxanne was finishing her scarf, Francy was knitting another top-down sweater and I was working on my sleeveless vest.  Don’t we look industrious?  It was fun to just knit, knit, knit.

Busy bees

In the foreground of the photo above, you can see two skeins of yarn that Francy’s daughter, Betsy, gave her at Christmas.  Francy’s not sure what to do with them – they are balls on a string, essentially – but I’m sure she’ll come up with something.  Right, Francy?

Francy sent me a photo of her kids at Christmas modeling the sweaters and mittens that Francy made for them.  A great photo that I want to share:

Francy's pride and joy - minus Grace!

Linda had a lot of yarn from her stash.  Hmmm, what to do, what to do?  She also had a pattern for a baby jacket, but I don’t know if any of the yarn was a good candidate for the pattern.  So much yarn, so many patterns.  The possibilities seem endless, don’t they?

This one? No, this one? No, THIS one!

I must give credit to our resident hand model, Leslie, for holding the green skein of yarn.  Another fine job, Leslie.

Of course, that was the only thing that Leslie seemed to be doing.  She is working on…something, I think…but didn’t bring it.  Maybe she just wanted to relax and talk about knitting. She seemed happy to be with us, though, watching everyone else work.  No pressure.

Happiness is...just being around the Castoffs!

She and Deb were deep in conversation about a new pattern for Deb.  She knit five hats over Christmas for gifts and is ready to move on to another project.  She is thinking about a vest, but it’s a big decision.

Michele and Leslie helping Deb find a new pattern

Mary was contemplating a new project, too.  She was very taken with the yarn for a hat for a little friend.  JoJo picked out the yarn and I’m not sure who’s more excited about the prospect of a new hat!  Mary just has to figure out how to start…hmmm.  She was getting conflicting information about how to ‘make one’.

LUUUV that Cascade chunky!

Mary’s daughter Larissa (who lives in Italy) got the bear scarf that Mary made her and wore it proudly to Cortina.  The other women in town were saddled with mere fur, but Larissa relished the amazing pelt of BEAR.  She sent photos to document her foray into high society.

Fur? Who needs fur when she has the PELT?

Les bitches riches stand in awe of the PELT.

Thanks, Mary and Larissa.  It’s good to see our knitwear around the world.

That’s it for this week.  Next week we’ll be at Linda’s house and can catch up on old and new projects, what’s going on in our lives and anything else that comes up.  Until then, keep those needles blazing

The Castoffs met at Leslie’s house on a cold, snowy day.  Leslie told me that she didn’t know who would be at the meeting today.  Since it’s holiday times, we are a little lax in communicating.  Turns out that there were quite a few Castoffs – Julie, Mary, Marylane, Deb, Linda and Lisa brought her daughter, Rene, who just moved back to Montana from Washington state.

I have to admit that we didn’t get a lot of knitting done.  We hadn’t seen each other in TWO WEEKS.  That’s a long time to hold in all that chatter.  First of all, we all had to admire Leslie’s Christmas tree.  Words, and unfortunately pictures, don’t begin to describe this tree.  Or, should I say, this 3-in-1 tree.  It’s skinny little trunk was trifurcated.  All the sections were decorated in three distinct, and totally different, ways.  You’ll just have to take my word for it because the photo doesn’t show it well.  I guess my camera was confused.

It's 3, 3, 3 trees in 1!

It’s always fun to see what mischief Leslie gets up to with her Christmas trees.

Julie came in and talked about the knitted gifts that she sent her mom.  She sent me photos, so here is her mom with Robert the Bear.  They are both darling – mom and bear.

Aww. Don't know who is cuter!

Julie's cabled pillow.

Julie was one of the few actually knitting today.  What was it?  “Just a dishcloth.”

Just a dishcloth, but it's pretty.

Most of the rest of us were talking, drinking and eating.  We got into a huge discussion about racism and about the book, “The Help” which many of us had read and had an opinion on.

Mary making an emphatic point.

Speaking of Mary, she made a baby hat for her ‘not’ pregnant son and daughter-in-law and presented it to them at Christmas.  She is hoping to give them a hint about presenting her with a grandchild.  Hmmm.  Guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the hint hit home, eh, Mary?

Mary's big HINT

By the way, I love the tags on their new clothes, Mary.  Returnable?

Lisa brought Rene, as I said, and also brought some yummy gorgonzola crackers that we snapped up like starving monkies.  We also snapped up the mixed nuts and corn chips with parmeson and spinach dip.  Ravenous Castoffs.

Food and wine, wine and food. Yum.

Welcome back to Montana, Rene!

And now for the silly photo of the week.  Here I am wearing a hat that Marylane knitted for her niece.  “I think it’s too big,” she said.  “Oh, let me try it on,” I said.  “Oh, I don’t think it’s THAT big,” I said.  Hmmm.

Maybe it is a little big...

I did end up looking like a little gnome…with a giant nose.  And very red all over.

Next week we meet at Michele’s house.  Maybe we can even get some knitting done, eh?  Maybe not.  We’ll have two or three other people to catch up with, but I know it will be a lot of fun, whether we knit or not.

Have a wonderful 2011 and sorry that some of you have to go back to work. Hee, hee, hee.  Marylane and I will think of you when we go snowshoeing.