We met at Leslie’s house in a light snow that became a blizzard and then was sunny.  Montana weather!  Mary brought treats and wine – yum.  A feta cheese log with crackers and oriental mixed crackers.  We ate and drank well.

Marylane and Julie were knitting items for the baskets to be auctioned away for LOUD IN THE LIBRARY! fundraiser in March.  Marylane is knitting a hat for one of the baskets and Julie is knitting socks.  They’re so industrious.

Marylane and her hat for the basket

Julie says that these socks are easy to knit. I have my doubts.

Some of us are sockaphobic.  Right Mary?  I have knitted a sock.  Unfortunately, I have two feet and no desire to knit another sock, so I admire Julie for liking to knit socks.  I did knit my one sock by the ‘magic loop’ method, so perhaps I should try the double-pointed needle method.  Maybe…

Some of us are coming right along with our felted slippers.  As a matter of fact, the room was swimming with them.  Mary was ready to put the double sole on her slippers.

One of Mary's slippers awaiting a sole.

Linda brought her completed slippers – all that’s left is the felting.  Hers look bigger than mine do even though we used the same pattern size.  And mine had a most beautiful and distinctive pattern down the front of the slippers.  “Mine didn’t have that ridge down the front,” said Leslie.  “Neither did mine,” said Michele.  “Neither do mine,” said Mary and Linda.  Okay, I get it.  I did mine the RIGHT way and everyone else didn’t.  Hahaha!

Linda's, Marsha's and Mary's slippers - pre-felting.

Of course, until I sew up the bottoms of my slippers, they really don’t look like slippers.  They look like…a hat!  Kind of science fiction-ish, isn’t it?

Very stylish, no? No.

Apart from slippers, we were awash with sleeves.  Leslie and Michele are on the first sleeve of their fabulous cabled shrugs.  Carol is on the sleeve of her sweater.  They all look great.

Famous hand model Leslie shows off her shrug.

Michele's shrug - a great pattern. But, the finger! Oh, Michele!

Michele and Leslie told us that the pattern for their shrugs is so involved and difficult that they only do about four rows at a time.  Just too intense!  The charted pattern certainly does look hard, but Michele assured us that the color-coded chart is pretty easy to follow once you get the hang of it.

Sure LOOKS hard to follow.

Carol’s sweater is sooo cool.  The yarn is striping itself in beautiful colors.  I can’t wait to see it each week.

Great stripes! But Carol has a boo-boo on her hand!

Speaking of stripes, Roxanne is knitting with the same yarn as Carol – different colors – and her poncho is coming right along.  Her yarn is striping also, but in broader stripes.

Striped poncho, or, the bottom of the bikini?

Deb’s vest is so pretty.  She is happy with the pattern, now that she learned how to fix her boo-boos without losing her place in the rather complicated pattern.

Wow, it's really getting BIG!

This is a great pattern and it looks like Deb is getting close to finishing the back of the vest.  We can’t wait to see how the front goes.

Well, that’s about it for this week.  We missed Francy but will see her next week at Marsha’s house.  Francy is bringing the treats.  Yay!  In the meantime, keep those needles blazing and stay warm.

We all gathered at Julie’s house and had a lot of fun.  She had a big bowl of cut-up vegetables with dip, pretzels and crackers and we all acted as if we hadn’t eaten all day (especially me, I’m afraid to say – I’d better not sit in front of the snack table anymore).  We had wine and tea and Julie brought out a chocolate merlot that was delicious – but very fattening, which is probably why it tasted so good.  Michele brought her furry little friend who also liked the snacks.  I think he was partial to the veggies.  Poor little guy doesn’t have any eyes or a nose yet, but he is an adorable felted squirrel.

What to bury first?

One of Julie’s cats was quite confused by the squirrel and had to investigate, but soon lost interest and decided to nap instead.  Ah, cats.

Hey, I tawt I taw a pussytat! Nope, no eyes.

Carol has done a lot of work on her amazing sweater.  The yarn is self-striping beautifully and she is very happy with it so far.

Wow, this is going to be beautiful!

Roxanne is using the same yarn, different color, for her poncho but was having some difficulty on the ‘make 1’s’ so Carol stepped up to give her a tutorial on how to make 1, or 2, or whatever.  We were so proud of our Carol.  It wasn’t so long ago that she was the student.  Go girl!

Who da teacher now, Carol? You da teacher!

Roxanne ended up at the end of the hour with a teeny weeny poncho.  Hey, it’s a start!

Well, at least six square inches will be warm...

I caught Julie hard at work.  “Whatcha doin’, Jules?”  I asked in all innocence.  “Opening a Hershey’s kiss.”  Oh.  Well, she’s also knitting a top-down sweater for Brian, her husband who sometimes comes to the end of knitting after work (strictly for the liquor, I’m afraid) but who is out of town right now.

Hard at work. Damn foil.

The rest of us were all about slippers.  Linda is just about to knit the second soles for both slippers.  The slippers look so funny before they’re felted – gigantic!

Linda's pink multi slippers.

I finished the cuff of my first slipper with Michele’s help.  Thanks, Michele!  I also brought my almost-finished sweater vest.  I just have to seam up the sides and it’ll be ready to wear.  I’ll try to wear it next week.

Geez, my slipper is almost bigger than my vest.

I’m afraid to say that Mary did more talking than knitting, but I convinced her to at least pick up her slipper for a photo.  This is the beginning of  her second slipper, not a halo.  Definitely not a halo…

Haaalllloooo!

We missed Leslie (meeting), Deb (feeling under the weather – get better Deb!), Francy (vacationing with her family in Bozeman) and Marylane (working and then visiting a sick friend in the hospital).  Our little group was fun but incomplete without our other knitters.  Next week we’ll meet at Leslie’s instead of at Marsha’s as previously listed.  So go to LESLIE’S house, ya’ll.  Mary will provide wine and snacks.  Because three of our members live so far out in the outskirts of town that we don’t meet at their homes often, they have generously offered to provide our refreshments occasionally.  Thanks, Mary and Roxanne and Francy!  We appreciate it!

If you have any knitting accessories or knitted items that you would like to donate to raffle baskets for the Friends of the Library fundraiser, LOUD IN THE LIBRARY!, please bring them for Marylane.  She is putting together baskets to raffle off and would appreciate any donations.

See you next week.  Until then, keep those needles blazing and stay warm and dry!

We met on a cold, cloudy afternoon.  This winter is dragging on, but we are all glad to see February!  Deb’s Yorkie, Izzy, met us all at the door, sniffing and wiggling.  She is a little dynamo zipping all over us and the furniture.

Izzy the greeter

Carol was so excited to show us her new pattern!  And we were excited to think about the ambitious projects that some of our members are beginning.  I took  a photo of Carol’s project and of the yarn that she’s planning to use.  Looks fabulous!

A great jacket pattern

Oh, Grandma, what big balls of yarn you have

This happens to be the same yarn that Roxanne is using to knit her poncho that she started last week.  It’s a wonderful chunky wool that will work up nicely, I think.  Can’t wait to see how it goes for both Carol and Roxanne.

Fledgling poncho

Here is a perfect picture of a happy knitter.  Yarn and needles – check – pattern – check – tea – check – fireplace – check – pillow to rest your weary back – check!

Ah, the happy knitter!

Deb graciously fed us chocolate chip cookies, wine, tea and crackers and dip.  Have you noticed that the deeper into winter we go, the more we seem to need chocolate?  Hmmm.  Thanks, Deb!  Oh, and Happy Birthday!  I didn’t realize that we had two birthdays so close together – Marylane and Deb!

Speaking of Marylane, she brought her scarf that she’s knitting.  And another happy coincidence – her yarn is the same  as the yarn that Francy is knitting her slippers.  Great minds think alike, eh?

Great ribbed scarf, Marylane

Francy's slipper from the same yarn as Marylane's scarf

The Castoffs are covered with slippers, by the way.  Francy, Mary and I all had one giant slipper (pre-felting) at the meeting.  Linda was starting her slipper today and Marylane started hers but didn’t work on it at the meeting – too hard to concentrate.  We are really in slipper mode.  Here is my slipper and Mary’s slipper.  They look so funny and so HUGE before they are felted.

Marsha's slipper in Cascade 220 heather and solid

Mary's slipper in Cascade 220

We are all using the same pattern – Fiber Trends – and it’s a good thing because it is not an easy pattern, so we need some support and someone to kvetch with over the mistakes we are making.  Between ‘make 1’s’ and ‘wrap & turns’ we have plenty of room for error.  Thankfully, felting gives us a lot of wiggle room for error.  The goofs can’t easily be seen after felting.  Yay!

Francy wasn’t working on her slippers, she was knitting a baby jacket (the same pattern that Linda used a few weeks ago) for her granddaughter, Grace.  So cute.  She is putting on the edging now and has already crocheted a little flower and attached it to the shoulder.  She’ll see Grace next weekend, so maybe we’ll get to see a photo of the finished product on the little angel.

Little jacket for Grace

A closeup of the crocheted flower

Deb was working diligently on her lace vest – well, she was ripping out a row, so she wasn’t quite as happy as when she goes the other direction.

She still looks happy even though she ripping out a row!

Michele was knitting her shrug.  Leslie is knitting the same pattern, but she couldn’t be with us today.  We missed you, Leslie!  And we missed Julie, too, who is sick.  Wahhh!  Get better, Jules!  The shrug has a very complicated pattern of cables and other stitches designed to drive a knitter mad, but Michele has a very relaxed attitude about this project.  “See, I left two mistakes in the shrug.  I’m trying to not be so perfect!”  Oh, Michele, you are pretty darn perfect in our eyes.  But thanks for leaving the boo-boos in.

Do you see the boo-boo? Nope, didn't think so.

I’ll leave you with a couple of candids of the Castoffs in their natural habitat.  We were busy little bees.  Next week we’ll be at Julie’s house.  Until then, keep those needles blazing and stay warm!

Carol, Linda, Roxanne and Francy

Marylane, Deb and Michele