A very small group of Castoffs met in Marsha’s backyard on a beautiful Indian Summer day. It’s starting to look like fall especially when I noticed the leaves that had fallen off my big cottonwood tree. But the day was pleasant and the company was even better when Linda, Mary and Michele arrived.

Fall is in the air! And on the ground.

I had picked up the Chair – you know – the Chair to be yarnbombed for the Friends of the Library fundraiser in the spring, but there weren’t enough of us present to make a decision so we just ate and drank and postponed decision-making until next week.  Ah, procrastination, thy name is knitter.

Mary had received some bad news.  Her witch’s hat for her granddaughter Aurora hadn’t arrived when it should have and Mary was faced with knitting another one. During the meeting, however, Larissa called to say that all was well and the hat package was just placed in the wrong postbox. Whew. Not that it would have been a hardship for Mary. She loves to knit for her babies. Here is Moses’ pumpkin hat and onesie. Very cute.

This will be so cute on Moses.

Closeup of the leaves and stem.

Michele had brought a strip of knitting for the Chair, but decided to knit her sweater instead. She calls it her ‘hot flash’ sweater because the merino wool is light and soft and won’t induce additional sweating when those pesky hot flashes – or power surges – hit. I love the pattern and the yarn.

Ya know, most of us in this group could use a ‘hot flash’ sweater.

Linda is knitting a prayer shawl using Homespun yarn – soft and fluffy and washable. She is part of a group of women from her church who knit these shawls for women who are in need of both prayers and shawls. A good cause. Linda says that some of the women in the shawl-knitting group really whip them out fast. I’m not so sure that’s for our group – we’re the long thinkers – and wine drinkers (some of us). Doesn’t do to go so fast on a project, especially at our knitting group because we end up ripping out a lot of mistakes. Glad to see that Linda is bridging the gap.

Prayer shawl – pretty color.

I’d like to give a big thank you to Leslie who took great photos of the two meetings that I missed while I was on vacation. She emailed me the photos and it looks like I missed so much fun! I really miss my knitting friends when I’m gone and I miss doing the blog. The trip was a lot of fun and I got my beach fix in Oregon. Yay!

Next week we meet at Joan’s house. Joan and Jeff will be leaving soon to return to Arizona for the winter. We’ll miss you, Joan, so we’re especially happy to be seeing you one more time at your place. Until then, Castoffs, enjoy this gorgeous end-of-summer weather and keep those needles blazing!

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What a beautiful summer day! The sun was shining, the temperature was a balmy 78 and the Castoffs were all back from their summer fun and ready to knit. Well, some of us were anyway. Many of us were happy to sit on Deb’s deck, eat Kahlua Creme pie, drink a glass of wine and catch up.

Great to be back among knitting friends, isn’t it?

Aah, kahlua creme pie and a nice cabernet.

When I pulled up to Deb’s, I saw Marylane, Joan and Leslie hauling the chair and boxes of yarn up the driveway.  Oh! the yarnbombing project! Summer drove everything from our minds, but now it’s time to hunker down for the winter and knit, knit, knit. Leslie and I tried to remember where our discussion left off and we came up with a bunch of neutral hanks of wool to use for the seat.  Then we’ll add pops of color. I think we got reinvigorated just looking at all the yarn.

Different neutrals and textures.

Izzy was interested in the boxes and bags of yarn. If she was a cat, she’d be in that box!

Marylane must have decided that lugging all that yarn wasn’t going to be for nothing, so she and Joan picked out some yarn that popped and started casting on. They’re going to knit a section and see how it looks on the chair when we have more sections knitted. Good thing Joan doesn’t have to do anything except knit on her section – no purling! We all insisted that Joan’s work be represented. We’ll take lots of pictures for you, Joan, since you’ll be heading back to Arizona soon. Boohoo, we’ll miss you!

That’s Joan – hands and heart. Didn’t get her head in the frame, though.

Marylane jumped right in and started our yarnbombing project.

Michele is working on her two-toned sweater. She has another project that she would like to finish, but it’s too complicated to bring to knitting. We just don’t do well with complicated knitting when we’re talking and laughing.

Michele is soaking up as much sunshine as she can before it disappears for the winter.

Leslie had brought her crocheted slipper and was sewing an inserted innersole into each foot. After she does that and sews  a button band on the toe, she’ll felt them and viola! Slippers!  Oh, and she’ll add a decorative button to each slipper. Whew, almost forgot.  Leslie, please take a photo!

Making the sole thicker.

Deb was wearing her stunning vest that she finished this summer. It fits her beautifully and looks great! I love the color.

Absolutely STUNNING, Deb!

Next time we’ll meet at Marylane’s house. I’ll be on vacation in Oregon, so I’ll really, really, really miss the Castoffs. But I’ll be at the beach, so that will help ease my pain of separation anxiety. I’m taking my knitting so my needles will be blazing, Castoffs. Hope yours will be, too! Until we meet again – enjoy the rest of the summer.

Girls just want to have fun, right Izzy?