The Castoffs met on a cloudy day that cleared up nicely in the afternoon. I got a little help from my son, Eli, who chopped up some homemade salsa – hot, hot, hot, but good, good, good. I served veggies and spinach dip and chips. Pinot Gris and Cabernet Sauvignon. As always, we’re well-fed.

Yum.

It was great fun to see Leslie. She finished Mira’s monkey and brought it to show and tell. The little button eyes are wonderful, aren’t they? It’s slightly understuffed, just the right amount of squishy-ness.

I’m thinking Leslie will keep Monkey out of the box until it’s time to give him to Mira.

“Everybody’s got something to hide, ‘cept for me and my monkey.” –Lennon and McCartney

Julie was having a crisis. She was feeling knitting-pattern-challenged recently, what with the difficult Almond Scarf pattern and the Lace Kitchen Curtain pattern. Both have mulitple repeats and poor Julie’s head was spinning. I tried to explain part of it to her, but she just wanted something SIMPLE to knit right now.

Hard patterns suck.

Later, in an email, she told me that she started a Knit Simple top-town cardigan using some beautiful yarn that she bought at Joseph’s Coat in Missoula. Ahhhh. Better.

Linda jumped into  a new pattern – a drop-stitch pattern using multi-colored yarn. Very pretty. This won’t take long, I bet, but it looks hard to me.

Ooh, it matches her sweater…

Closeup of the dropped stitch scarf.

Joan and Marylane joined us. Yay! It was so good to see them again. They just came back from listening to Marylane’s daughter, Kendra’s, oral dissertation for her PhD. Calling Dr. Kuhl! Calling Dr. Kuhl! It’s great to have them back. Marylane is knitting her mitten. I just got a copy of the pattern, so there will be mittens in my future, too. Joan brought her scarf, but I don’t think she took it out of the bag.  Hmmm.

Sisters knitting and drinking wine, but not necessarily in that order.

Deb dropped by. She and her husband just got back from Hawaii. Sounds like they had a wonderful time. Deb was telling us about going to a Fire Dance on a nudist beach. Ouch. She should know better than to tell the Castoffs something like that. We always take it in directions WAY off subject. Needless to say, we had fun with the subject of nudity and fire in close proximity — could be explained by the two bottles of wine we were drinking. Anyway, Deb is going to borrow my copy of WILD by Cheryl Strayed. Hope she likes it as much as I did.

Not exactly the sex on the trail book that she heard about. But very good.

Mary was so excited about her daughter and granddaughter coming in tonight from Las Vegas. She is working on the little top for Aurora. I love this color.

Cute little top!

I later heard that Larissa’s plane was delayed and they didn’t get to Kalispell until nearly midnight. Poor Aurora was exhausted, but she’ll be better now that she’s at Gramma’s house.

In hopes that the weather cooperates with us next week, we’ll be meeting in Woodland Park at 3:30. Now, pay close attention because this portion of the directions required a graphic demonstration from our lovely hand model, Leslie. We are going to meet near the Rose Garden, so travel left at the entrance, around the OLD pool beside the lake and park close to the Garden. Bring a chair! Here is the graphic demonstration part:

The blob of salsa is the Old Pool. The interior decorative circle is the Road. Follow the decorative circle around the salsa to the green bit on the lower right hand side. Park here.

If you can’t find the Old Pool, it could be that Leslie ate it.

After everyone left, I realized that I will be in Canada next week, and will miss knitting with you. If you get lost circling the salsa, call Leslie. It was her idea.

I’m sorry to miss the meeting outdoors in our lovely park next week. I’ll be in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Please don’t ask me why. Just keep those needles blazing and enjoy the summer weather.

BTW: I would totally marry Jim Morrison if he wasn’t dead.

The Castoffs had a busy week. A couple of days before our regular meeting, some of us went to Michele’s house. It was great to see her! Since she’s started her Thursday afternoon yoga class, we haven’t seen her much, so it was good to catch up. Linda, Mary and I joined her on her deck to show off our projects and see what was new in her house remodel. Michele was crocheting a diaper cover for a friend who is heavily into cowboy motifs. Even I (one of the non-grandmothers in the group) thought it was pretty cute.

Here’s the pattern for the Cowboy diaper cover.

She also showed us some felted slippers that she’s finished recently:

Slippers!

And her ‘hot flash’ sweater that she finished. This was the softest, light-as-a-feather sweater that we had ever felt. Beautiful!

“Hot Flash” sweater!

Two days later, we had our regular meeting at Julie’s house. To our delight and surprise, Leslie was there! Yay! This is our week to see our old knitting buddettes.  Leslie brought three of her projects to share–all for her granddaughter, Mira. One was a crown for Mira’s first birthday (Leslie sent me a photo of the crown on her granddog’s head earlier this month) that is adorable and will look much better on the head of a one-year-old. She called on her hand modeling skills to show it to us:

Mira’s first birthday crown.

A star toy for Mira’s first birthday:

Awww! Adorable!

And she’s knitting on a sock monkey. She wants to put big buttons on it for eyes, so she’s planning to put it away until Mira’s old enough to handle buttons without trying to eat them.

Knit in one piece, stuffed and sewn up in the crotch area.

Julie served us veggies with dip and some delicious rhubarb cake–plus delicious wine. Thanks, Jules!

Yum.

I started knitting a bulky purse to felt for my great-niece for Christmas. I knew that if I didn’t start now, I might never get it done by Christmas. Also, after I finish this one, I’m making another one just like it (well, different shades of pink and purple) for another great-niece. So, Christmas has officially begun.

Why do all little girls like pink and purple?

Mary was there working on a sweater for her granddaughter, Aurora, who will be here in a week! She and her mother, Larissa are coming from Las Vegas, so Aurora might need a sweater up here in chilly Montana. Mary, you’d better get crackin’.

KNIT, MARY, KNIT!

Julie is still knitting a white pillow and pondering the lace scarf that we saw in a Whitefish knit shop. I was enthusiastic about the scarf, but then, I haven’t taken a good look at the pattern which is kinda difficult. When I start the scarf, Julie and I will meet to talk about it. Until then – it’s purses and pillows.

She’s so cute.

Linda is knitting her coral sweater for her great-niece. It’s a beautiful color – top down and knit with Madeline Tosh yarn.

Look! Her sweater matches her shirt!

Linda is also knitting a shawlette using a very cool thick and thin yarn. I took a photo, but it was fuzzy, so I’ll wait until next time and get a better one. We’ll be meeting at my house next time. I had hoped that we could meet in my back yard, but the forecast is for rain and thunder. Maybe another time. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and stay dry.

P.S.

Carol, Linda, Mary, Julie and I took a road trip to Missoula on Monday. We wanted to go to Loopy’s yarn shop to take advantage of their going-out-of-business sale, but when we got there, it was closed! Bummer! We went to another yarn shop, Joseph’s Coat, then ate lunch at the Flathead Brewing Company. It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun. Thanks, Castoffs! Let’s do it again!

We met at my house this week and talked about a short road trip to Missoula on the 17th. Drive down, eat lunch, go to Loopi’s yarn shop and whatever else moves us. Carol suggested that we take out bikes and ride around Missoula. What do you say, Castoffs? Sounds like a fun time to me.

I talked Eli into making some fresh roasted-red-pepper hummus for us to munch on. It was very good! I served it with veggies and blue corn chips, iced jasmine tea and some white wine. Yum.

Thanks, Eli, for the yummus hummus.

Julie came for her Castoffs fix, but I’m not sure she knitted – just wanted the complete experience of her knitting buddettes. She looked like she was enjoying herself, though.

She’ll probably murder me, but this was so funny. Totally worth it.

Not to be outdone in the muggers war, Carol showed us the second fingerless mitten. The photo looks like she’s piercing her cheek with one of those tiny double-pointed needles. Maybe that explains the facial expression. Hmmm?

Julie looks on with a straight face while Carol shows us the proper way to self-pierce.

Francy is working on a tote for her daughter, Betsy, who is expecting her second baby pretty soon!  She’ll need this roomy bag to haul around all the stuff that a baby and a toddler needs. I love this pattern – it offers three different sizes of totes to felt. Not sure, but I think this is the middle size. Is that right, Francy?

Giant tote. Love it.

I finally finished the sweater and hat for my cousin’s baby, Leylin. Now, if I would just wrap it and get it in the mail, there would be less chance of her outgrowing it before it arrives. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

The little buttons are purple elephants.

Linda made a hat for her great-niece. It’s a huckleberry hat, complete with stem. Adorable.

I like this. Another baby whose colors are purple and green.

Linda is continuing to knit a sweater for the same baby. We all love the coral color and the diagonal opening. Coming right along, Linda!

Not so big yet, but then, it’s not gonna be very big!

That was it. I wish you had all been there to taste the treats, drink the wine and engage in the laughter. We have so much fun. Next time, we’ll meet at Linda’s house and talk more about our road trip to Missoula. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing!