On a beautiful summer day, finally, the Castoffs came to Marsha’s house and sat in the shade of a huge cottonwood tree. It was so peaceful (except for the screams of the neighborhood children) and we sat and feasted and had a good time.

Talking, eating and drinking. Yay! Summer’s here!

Carol was getting married the next day…MARRIED THE NEXT DAY! She told us that she had had a meltdown the day before, but she looked pretty cool and collected to us. Best Wishes to Carol and Mark!

The bride-to-be sitting next to the grandmother-to-be. No relation.

Leslie is knitting a portable, beaded scarf that she plans to work on while her daughter, Sienna, is in labor. It’s a beautiful lace pattern that, unfortunately, will show spit-up, so Sienna will have to wear it away from Mira.

A special scarf to remind her of a special time.

Francy is kniting a slouchy hat for little Grace. She found a great pamphlet full of slouchy patterns. They look fun to make. And Grace will be very cute in this hat.

Pink slouch hat and pattern.

Francy joined me inside my very large cowl. It wraps around me twice and thrice – and around two people once. I love how soft it is, but I kinda wish I’d made it smaller and wider.

Once!

Twice!

Thrice!

It’s time to start working on our yarnbombed chair for the “Loud at the Library” auction and fundraiser next spring. Francy brought the chair and some of us brought various yarns from our yarn stashes. I spread out a quilt so we’d have lots of room to CREATE!

Yarn? Check!  Chair? Check!  Horse head? Check!  Wait, horse head?

Uh, Michele and Francy and Leslie were secondhand store-hopping last week and Francy found an antique hobby horse that caught her eye. Michele convinced Francy to borrow the horse that Michele had made for her daughter Erica. Long story short – Michele dropped off the horse head for me to give to Francy. He made a nice addition to our group.

And the horse ya rode in on…

Leslie, our resident Color Nazi, or CN as we affectionately call her, got right down there on her knees on the blanket and started sorting the yarn by color and tone.  It was amazing to see. She quickly discarded about one third of the yarns and kept similar types and weights. Before we all left, we had decided to knit a chevron pattern for the seat out of neutrals with pops of color. Our assignment for next week is to investigate different chevron patterns and to bring any neutral yarns that we still have in our stashes. Black, brown, tan, white, gray – whatever neutrals you may have – wool is preferable.

A knitter in yarn heaven.

Next week we are invited to Francy’s house for lunch. Ah, lunch at the lake. Always a treat. We’ll meet at Albertson’s to carpool out to Francy’s so we’ll be there at noon. If summer is here, can a Castoffs road trip be far behind? We’ll discuss it at Francy’s. Until then, keep those needles blazing, Castoffs, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

We trekked out to Mary’s house on the lake in three separate cars. Julie and I walked into Mary’s beautiful house with its stunning view of the lake. Too bad the day was so windy or we could have sat out on the deck and watched the birds and boats.  It was a lot of fun from the inside, though.

Beautiful day but windy!

The BIG NEWS of the day came from Carol who just got back from Ireland with her sweetie Mark. Mark proposed in a very romantic spot on the Irish coast and CAROL SAID YES! They’re getting married next week.  Well, why wait when you’re in love? We all screamed so much when she showed us her gorgeous ring that I was hoarse for the rest of the day. We wish you fun, happiness and eternal love, Carol.

An Irish proposal! How romantic!

We’ve had lots of grandbabies in the Castoffs circle, but this is our first bride (that isn’t a daughter!). Carol told us all about the trip and the Irish lace wedding dress that she is borrowing from her Irish friend. We are so happy for her.

Well. There’s no topping that news. Mary is waiting for her granddaughter to be born in July. In the meantime she is headed for Denver to see her little grandson Moses. When the call comes from Larissa, she’s out of there like a shot on the way to Phoenix. She ran out of pale yellow yarn for the hooded blanket, but had some brighter yellow, so she used that for the head. We love it and think it looks better than all pale. It’ll probably look cuter on the baby, but Mary modelled it for us.

Quack, quack.

Mary served us yummy rollups, brownies and crackers and dip. And Cupcake merlot (or was it Cabernet?). Good whatever it was. Thanks, Mary!

We Castoffs eat and drink well.

Leslie was stringing very cute ribbon into the tops of Grace’s fruit cozies. These would be great for little treasure bags for a girl, too!

She decided not to make a banana cozy…

Linda has a wedding coming up. Her son Ian is getting married this summer in Colorado. Linda told us about her mother-of-the-groom dress that she bought in Spokane. It sounds beautiful – silver, lacy and shimmery. We need to see a photo, Linda! Or you can show it to us when we meet next at your house.

Linda’s looking pretty happy to be gettng a daughter-in-law!

Julie brought the socks that she’s knitting – looks like she’s almost done. It seems like everyone has smaller projects for summer.

Socks!

Michele showed me a cowl pattern and pretty yarn but in the confusion of Carol’s great news and our scheduling hubbub, I forgot to find out if Michele or Leslie are knitting the cowl. Guess I’ll find out next time. Pretty yarn though.

Yarn for a cowl.

Speaking of, I’m nearly finished with my cowl. I was toying with the idea of using another skein of yarn and making it twice as wide, but my knitter buddies gave me the pros and cons and I decided to stop with 100 grams.

I can wrap it around my neck three times. It’s so soft!

We had a big to-do about redoing our schedules for the summer. It took us a lot of time and discussion and we all whipped out our personal calendars to make the changes. Michele is taking an online class that happens to be available at the exact time of our meeting. What nerve! We had to get everything down in case she won’t be here to tell us where to go. Well, SOMEBODY has to tell us where to go…at least once in a while just to keep us in order.  Leslie got a kick out of those of us who were busily noting the dates. Glad she was amused. I was just trying to key everything into my phone.

Michele is the keeper of the calendar. It’s a full time job.

I just wanted to get it all into my phone.

Mary was just a blur – she whipped out her calendar so fast.

I got a peek over Francy’s and Linda’s shoulders as they knitted their respective projects – Linda is still working on her green lace scarf and Francy is working on her sweater. The yarns are such a similar color, aren’t they? This photo shows the food, the knitting, the sunshine outside – it’s a perfect picture of what we do every week.

Knitting, food and talk. That’s the Castoffs!

Next week we’ll be here at Marsha’s house. I’m hoping that the weather will be nice enough to sit outside in the yard. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, keep those needles blazing and mind the thunderstorms.

We caught a break in the incessant rain and were able to sit on Michele’s lovely, flower-filled deck in the rare sunshine. Michele is out of school for the summer and she put together a delicious selection of snacks.  YUM. She had a beautiful veggie platter with dip, yogurt covered pretzels, a refreshing summer drink and curried toast (topped with cheeses and red pepper slices) that was wonderful. I think Michele is celebrating summer by feeding her friends. Well, her friends appreciate it. Thanks, Michele!

Almost too pretty to eat!

We didn’t let ‘too pretty’ stop us here. This is the second platter!

I don’t think Julie brought anything to knit. She had just come from Kalispell Medical with a new – uh – pleasuring stick. That’s not as dirty as it sounds. This is a rod with knobs on it that you use to massage your pressure points. Hey, maybe it IS as dirty as it sounds. Anyway, Julie demonstrated how it works and it looked quite wonderful.

Maybe we all should get one…

Lisa listened intently to the explanation.

Lisa was there and she brought her incredibly beautiful granddaughter for a visit. Now that summer is here, Lisa will be babysitting little Greta Grace every Thursday and we hope that they will be regulars.  There are a lot of grandmas in the group who are gaga over babies.  It’s just that time of life for a lot of us.

Beautiful Greta!

Marylane was able to join us. We hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks and we’ve missed her! She ripped out her beautiful striped vest – there’s a lot of that going around – and decided to use one strand of yarn instead of two. It was too thick. Joan jumped right on a SOCKOLOGY pattern from the book she saw last time, bought some socks and had the pattern pieces pinned on for cutting. She’s going to make a stuffed bear out of brown patterned socks. Looks adorable and NO KNITTING! Or purling.

Joan and Marylane sittin’ in the sun.

Joan cutting out her sock bear pieces.

Francy had ripped out her sweater and showed us how far she’d gotten on the newest project. It’s going to be a coat sweater for herself. Glad to see that she’s knitting something for Francy.

Francy – more intent on conversation than knitting. Aren’t we all?

I finally finished the scarf for my friend Michelle and it’s a beauty. I have to wait for a couple of weeks to give it to her so I’ll show her this photo for now.  You’re gonna love it, Michelle!

Marsha modeling Michelle’s scarf.

Mary and Deb were busily knitting, knitting, knitting. Mary is close to being finished with her sock. I didn’t get an update on the hooded towel, but I’m thinking  it was very nearly done as well.

One of these days, they’ll be on her feet. Maybe.

Wow – busy knitters.

I did a double take when I looked over at Deb.  Like a lot of us, eyesight is problematic. Add bright sunlight and it’s even worse. Deb took care of that but it looked kinda funny…

I have the same problem at 3D movies.

Whatever glasses arrangement she has, her vest is turning out beautifully. Deb at first made the attached I-cord edges around the sleeves, but didn’t like them so she ripped them out and went back to a stockinette rolled edge. We all liked it better that way too. She is going to add the I-cord edging to the bottom of the vest though.

I bet she’ll wear it next time we see her.

I’m knitting a cowl with merino superwash sock yarn and inadvertantly twisted the first row.  It’s going to be a mobious cowl, but the more I think about it, the more I’m okay with that.  No ripping out for this gal.  At least not on this project.

Mobius cowl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Next week we’re taking a mini-road trip to Mary’s house on the lake. Fingers crossed that it’s not raining and that we can sit out on her lovely deck overlooking Flathead Lake.  I would love to see a clear sky and mountains. We’ll see.

I’ll leave you all with the quintessential photo of a Castoffs meeting. Food, drink, flowers on the deck and knitting piled on the floor. We have so much fun. Keep those needles blazing until next time, Castoffs. You’ll need the heat to keep you warm in this cold June weather.

We enjoyed pretending that summer was here – for an hour or two.

The Castoffs met on a rainy day, the final day in May.  Hard to believe that the end of school is only three week days away!  Can’t come soon enough for the teachers in our group who are beaming with relief and joy.  Thanks for hosting, Deb!  We know it’s frazzle time at school.

Francy told us that she had ripped out BOTH of the sweater projects that she was knitting.  Just not happy with the look of them, I guess.  She has started a coat-jacket for herself though, although in true Francy style, she is changing the pattern some.  Instead of stockinette stitch, she is going to do all garter stitch.  Why?  She is taking a page from Joan’s book, I guess, and dispensing with purling.  You go, Francy!  Joan is making converts left and right.  Well, left anyway.

Look at her! She is so happy to be only knitting!

Speaking of Joan…she came alone – Marylane was at a library meeting – and showed us her very long scarf.  “What are you going to do with it?  It’s getting pretty long.”  We all wondered if this scarf would ever have an end.  Joan just says she’ll keep going until she runs out of yarn.  Knit, knit, knit.  She was busy looking at a book that Michele brought.  It was called SOCKOLOGY and didn’t involve any knitting whatsoever – that pleased and interested Joan.  It was a book that required you to BUY socks and then make them into cute little animals for babies and kiddies.  Someone suggested that Joan could knit the socks first and THEN use them to make little toys, but that didn’t fly with our Joanie.

Hey, sock toys that you don’t have to knit. OKAY!

Mary is flying along with her hooded towel for Larissa’s baby.  She only has until the first of July, so she wants it to be finished when she hurries down to see that new grandchild.  Knit, knit, knit, Mary!

Madly working on the towel!

Michele is knitting a sweater for Leslie’s granddaughter-to-be-born-in-the-summer Mira.  She’s using a top down sweater pattern and hand-dyed multicolored yarn.  So cute.  I took a photo at the beginning of the meeting and by the end, she had a recognizable sweater.  Super fast pattern AND super fast knitter.

The start of Mira’s sweater.

And in the blink of an eye – a sweater! Or… half a sweater.

Leslie continues to knit fruit cozies for her granddaughter Grace.  Joan was a little puzzled about the whole concept of putting fruit in a knitted garment.  Me, too Joan.  But Grace can use them for her little treasures long after the fruit has been eaten.

One for an apple and one for an orange.

Deb is nearing the end of her vest and had a question for us.  The pattern calls for picking up and knitting an I-cord for the bottom edge and sleeve edges and Deb wanted to know what we thought of knitting a stockinette stitch edging.  We went back and forth and finally Deb decided to stick with the pattern.  I had never heard of attaching an I-cord as an edging and I’m curious to see how it turns out.

Do ya like purple, Deb?

We missed those Castoffs who were absent – and we send good wishes to Carol in Ireland.  Wow.  Wish we could all go on that road trip!    Next week we meet at Michele’s house and since school is out she told us to come on over at 3:00 instead of 4:00.  I think Julie is the only one working in the summer this year.  We’re so sorry, Jules.  C’mon over when you can.  We’ll still be there knitting and talking and enjoying the (hopefully) sunshine.

In the meantime, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the first days of June!