You will live in our memories whenever we experience an awesome hike, deep powder, a mountain sunset.  Go in peace, Walker.  And may we all live in peace.

We all met at my house on a rather blustery day.  It’s been unseasonably cool and rainy this April.  I think we’re all pretty tired of it, but we managed to have a fun time this afternoon in spite of the weather.   Nine of us gathered, only missing Marylane (in Arizona or Texas – she’s a travelin’ knitter this month) and Deb (teaching tennis in windy weather).  Eli made poppy-seed muffins for us;  Mary brought brownies and popchips, and we had plenty of wine and tea.  Seems like we always eat and drink well.  It’s almost as important as the knitting, isn’t it?

Yum!

Francy is working on the front band of her hooded sweater and it is beautiful.  Michele liked it so much that she was interested in knitting one for herself, so very carefully she tried it on, being sure not to take the stitches off of the cable needle dangling from the bottom.

Michele loved Francy's hoodie.

Roxanne returned from her travels and got some help on her poncho.  She missed her weekly tutorials, I guess.  And we missed her!  Welcome home, Roxanne.

Who's that hiding behind the poncho? Roxanne!

Three almost-finished shrugs were on display.  Leslie’s and Michele’s are much more interestingly patterned than my giant rectangle, but we all agreed that we are SICK of knitting such a big piece of cloth.  Until next time we have a brilliant idea.  It’s like childbirth.  After a while, you forget  just exactly what made you scream.

They are pretty big, aren't they?

Although Leslie and Michele are using the same pattern for their shrugs, they are using different yarn which makes each shrug have a totally different appearance.  Michele’s yarn gives a soft and fuzzy halo look while Leslie’s yarn makes the cable pattern pop out of the background.  Both are so pretty in their own way.  I can’t wait to see the finished product.  Leslie gave us a hint of what her shrug will look like on.

The sleeves will come down this far...Michele looks on.

Michele brought her ‘other’ project – the blue cropped cardigan sweater that is easier to knit while talking.

We all have an 'other' project to knit at knitting.

Linda has been working on her entrelac scarf that she is making from Noro yarn.  She assures me that the pattern is a snap now that she’s used to it.  Hmmm.  Maybe someday I’ll try one, Linda.

I love the variations in color in a Noro skein.

Carol is knitting some fingerless mitts for her mother.  So sweet.  She found a little boo-boo and Julie was helping her back up and correct it.

Sometimes you just need a friend.

After a while, we all had eaten our snacks, drank our drinks and talked, talked, talked…and knitted a little too.  We always have such satisfying times together, sharing our projects and our thoughts.  Ahh.

A great way to spend a Thursday afternoon.

Mary has almost decided what her next project will be…maybe.  She got a copy of Julie’s top-down cardigan pattern and is thinking about doing a garment for herself – perhaps to celebrate retirement?  Eh, Mary?  You’ll have lots of time to knit, or so you think now.  I fell for that trap too.  Since I retired, I seem to have too many ways to fill up my time.  And I like it!

I got a photo of something that I never thought I’d see:

Shocking!

It was our non-drinking friend Michele with a wine bottle in her hand.  What’s that, Michele?  Getting ideas for wine to serve at book group?  Mary and I had a lot of suggestions.  Of course.

Well, another Thursday came to a close and we all got our weekly fix of friendship and knitting.  Friday was a no-school day, so the teacher types got an extra treat for the week.  I hope they all enjoy their day off!   Next week we meet at Leslie’s house.  By the way, Leslie suggested a link to a very interesting website called OM/PICKLES, so check it out.  I put the site in my links section to the right of this text.

The Castoffs met at Julie’s house on a beautiful sunny spring day.  Ahhhh!  At last!  It was great to see Michele again – it had been awhile.  Now if we could just see Leslie…where are you, Leslie?  Michele said that Leslie went home sick, so we all wish her a speedy recovery.

Julie served us some crackers and great dip and little chocolate haystacks – or at least that’s what they looked like.  And of course, lots of delicious wine and tea.

Yummy haystacks

The little chocolate haystacks were concocted from baking chocolate, stick pretzels, craisins and a mystery ingredient that I don’t recall.  Help, Julie!  They were very tasty.

Carol finished her shrug!  Carol finished her shrug!  We were all excited, but not nearly as much as Carol who was thrilled to have finished her first garment (for herself!).  It looks great.

Carol's first knitted garment that she can actually wear! A milestone!

Michele is almost finished with her shrug and so is Leslie.  Do I sense a fashion show in our future?  When I brought it up, a small voice from the corner of the couch piped up, “I’m too sexy for my shrug, too sexy.”  It was Linda and we all took up the chorus:

“I’m too sexy for my sweater, too sexy…”

“I’m too sexy for my felted slippers, too sexy…”

“I’m too sexy for my mittens, too sexy…”

When we got to being too sexy for our felted totes, we felt that the moment had passed.  So we moved on to other topics.

But, seriously Castoffs, a fashion show of all our shrugs and slippers would be awesome!  Right?  Right?  Ah, c’mon!

Francy is on the second sleeve of Betsy’s hoodie and I sympathize with the nearness of a completed project.

Almost finished!

Francy tells me that Betsy has kept up with the progress on her sweater on this blog, so looks like a surprise is out of the question, eh Betsy?  We all look forward to seeing Betsy this summer when she and Grace come to visit Francy.  Our meeting at that time will be on a special Saturday, July 18 out at Francy’s house.  Betsy will be showing us her traveling jewelry show and Francy will be feeding us lunch.  A great time will be had.  We can carpool out since Francy lives out in the boonies.  But very beautiful boonies.

Michele brought her blue sweater which is moving right along.  Perhaps by next week she’ll have her shrug near completion.

This is definitely a 'Michele' sweater.

One sleeve is finished on the blue sweater and now she is moving on to the shoulder.

I was moaning about not seeing a good cardigan pattern when Julie reminded me of the top-down cardie that she knitted last year.  “Bring it out!” we all hollered.  So she did.

Love the cardie and it's pretty silver buttons!

Well, it was beautiful lying there on the couch, but:

“Put it on, Jules!  Model it!” we all hollered.  So she did.  And it looked even more beautiful.

Work it, girl!

Today Julie was knitting a kitty hat for someone (uh, I forget who it’s for – the wine was kicking in about then).  She showed us a photo of one that she knitted for her daughter, Terra, and it was adorable – and so was Terra.  Well, being us, we hollered for her to model it.  So she did.

Uh, looks like she's not knitting it for herself...

The hat will have ears and a little kitty face like this:

AAWWWW!

Very cute, Jules.

I was still working on my green shrug – giant rectangle that it is.  I’m getting closer and closer to finishing.  I asked opinions about putting an edge on the rolled long sides, but we decided to wait and see how it looks when it is closer to being finished.

I really like this Wool-Ease yarn.

We missed Mary (her anniversary – imagine not wanting to spend your anniversary with the Castoffs!), Marylane (traveling in Arizona), Deb (tennis season has begun and she’s a coach), Roxanne (traveling with her husband) and Leslie (sick!) Pretty soon Joan will be back with us for the summer.  Yay!

Next week we’ll be at Marsha’s house.  I can’t believe it’ll be the middle of April and the day before Tax Day.  Guess I’d better prod the old boy (Lucky) to start our taxes.  I guess he will but probably not until the 14th.  As usual.

Until then, keep those needles blazing and have a wonderful week!

The Castoffs gathered at Linda’s house where we had yummy pita chips and dip, bruschetta and toasted bread and wine.  Thanks to Linda for making us feel welcome and warm.  Because it was spring break, our gathering was fairly small, but we managed to have fun anyway.  Duh, we always have fun.

Yummy, we ate well.

Carol is almost finished with her shrug!  Yippee!  I wanted to take a photo, but she said, “Wait! I only have a couple of inches on the bottom ribbing.  I think I can finish.”  So I took a photo of her finishing:

Knit one, purl one, knit one, purl one...

But, when it looked like she wasn’t going to finish before we went home, we all encouraged her to unfold the arms and give us a little hint of what was to come when it was finished.

TA - DA! Can't wait to see it on her.

Deb was still working on the third and final piece of her vest.  Another project that is almost complete.  Sounds like we’ll have a fashion show soon.

Ah, knitters at the home stretch.

Francy was there knitting on her hooded sweater, but she had to leave early.  I managed to get a shot of her before she got out the door on her way to a pancake supper.  I think she was planning to cook.

Francy, knit yourself a sweater of this color - it's beautiful on you!

Mary still hasn’t decided on her next project, but she finished her dishcloth/practice cable cloth.  It’s made out of leftover cotton yarn and it turned out very LARGE.  Surprised Mary.  Kind of surprised us, too.  I think it’ll dry, er wash,  a lot of dishes

Dish TOWEL, more likely.

Linda had started a pattern that I’ve always found intriguing – entrelac.  It looks really hard, but Linda says that once you get the pattern down, it’s not that hard.  Just lots of picking up stitches as you change squares.  I got the online instructions but I’ll have to think about whether or not I want to knit another scarf.

Kind of reminds me of a court jester's outfit.

Linda’s using Noro yarn, which I love because the variations in color show up as you knit along.  Here’s another shot of it, only my camera did something weird with the colors.  A larger version of this scarf is on the Lion Brand Yarn website.

Brighter colors! You can see the squares better.

Rather than risk making a mistake on her entrelac scarf, Linda worked on her prayer shawl instead.  We’ve found that we often make mistakes amid the yakking and eating and drinking of a Castoffs meeting, so we bring mindless projects to work on.  It saves a lot of ripping and cursing when we get home.

A much easier pattern, eh Linda?

Julie was knitting her top-down henley for her husband, Brian.  I’m using the same yarn on my shrug – Wool-ease yarn by Lion Brand.  It’s very easy to knit.  I like it.

Julie's sweater on the left, my shrug on the right.

Next week our wanderers will be back – well, at least some of them – and we can all catch up on what’s been happening.  We’ll be at Julie’s house, so in the meantime, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the week!