Eight of the Castoffs carpooled out to Francy’s house on Ashley Lake Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day, a little cooler than it has been. When my car got there, we noticed that the hood was open on Marylane’s van. Oh, no! What’s wrong? Well, it turned out to be nothing. Francy has a packrat problem, so she suggested that we all open our hoods to discourage the little varmints. Looked kind of funny…

Open wide.

We were shown to our rooms. Four of us slept in the apartment above Francy’s garage, two of us slept in the main house and two of us just came for the afternoon. We were so glad that Michele and Leslie joined us, even if it wasn’t for the night. When we got settled in, we met on the lower deck and ate a few appetizers, drank a little wine and knitted. Most of all we laughed. It was a lot of fun.

Wine and knitting outside – what could be better?

Michele had brought a dropped-stitch scarf to show us. Linda is using the same pattern on her own scarf, so it was fun for her to see the finished project. Michele knit it in a bamboo/wool yarn. Pretty!

Michele’s scarf.

Outside, Julie was knitting a sock for a friend and Michele started a new scarf.

Aah, happy knitters.

Surprisingly, most of us were knitting. Mary was knitting on Aurora’s scarf and Leslie was knitting a pair of legwarmers for Mira.

She’s very intent.

Little legwarmer.

Mary had brought a BIG bottle of Chocolate Wine. Yes, chocolate wine. We were apprehensive at first, but after just one taste, we were hooked. Mary had also brought a bowl of fresh Flathead cherries from her trees and Leslie had the brilliant idea of combining the cherries with the wine. GENIUS!!!! It was fabulous.

Chocolate wine…plus…

…cherries…equal…

…a taste sensation!

Party!

Here is the visual logo for our sleepover:

Mary thought this should replace the goat logo on the blog…

After a while, food seemed like a good idea, so Francy served us a light, delicious supper, and her husband, Harry, grilled flatbread to accompany the salad. Yum. I was too busy eating to get more than one photo.

I think she likes it…

After supper, it was time to SWIM! A few thought it wasn’t hot enough to get into the lake, but after the initial shock, it was great! We tried for some synchronized swimming:

Olympic material?

Maybe that was synchronized singing…

The intricate movements may have confused Marylane.

Michele and Marylane had fun.

Mary and Michele attempted a jump into the air from underwater.

I didn’t understand the plan.

Okay, here they go…

Well, not the highest leap…but she’s out of the water…on Mary’s head.

Francy enjoyed taking the photos, I think. Here are Joan and Leslie, who restrained themselves from jumping in.

Enjoying the show.

Bet she wishes she’d joined us…

After the swimming was over, we jumped into Francy’s hot tub. Ahhhh!

The mermaids.

AND THEN! We went for a boat ride on the beautiful lake at sunset. Thank you, Harry!

Harry is a brave man.

Julie in the boat.

The sunset was beautiful.

We went to bed fairly early – too much fun! We talked Harry into taking a group photo before we left the next morning.

Hey, hey, we’re the Castoffs!

OUR HERO!

We can’t thank Francy and Harry enough for the wonderful time we all had. Thank you, again for a GREAT TIME!

We met in Woodland Park again, but this week we were under a big tree closer to the lake. It was really beautiful until our little visitors descended upon us. Althought they were fun to watch, they left little presents that weren’t too welcome.

Canadian geese love Woodland Park.

They surrounded us.

Eventually, they settled down in the shade for a rest, leaving us to our knitting.

Carol was there briefly, but she had to leave. Shannon is back in town! Yay! We hope to see her soon.

It was good to see Carol.

There wasn’t a whole lot of knitting going on, but there was a lot of casting on.

Marylane was casting on for a mitten.

Francy was casting on for part of a baby sweater.

Joan is thinking about casting off on her looong scarf. That’s a good idea, Joanie.

Yep, could be time to cast off for this Castoff.

Leslie finished Mira’s little skirt and it is adorable. I wish you could see the sparkles in the yarn. So cute!

Darling little skirt.

I found a pattern that intrigued me, so I started a new scarf project. Groan. Another new project? Yup. I love the layered triangles made with sock yarn. It’s knit in short rows and is all garter stitch. Easy.

Wingspan.

Mostly, we talked about our sleepover this weekend at Francy’s house. We decided who would carpool out to her lake and got excited about being together swimming, knitting, eating and drinking and most of all, having fun together. Can’t wait!

I’ll post photos of the sleepover. Until we gather at the water, keep those needles blazing, Castoffs.

Another beautiful day in Woodland Park! It was so pleasant to watch the geese and ducks on the lake, listen to the birds sing – as well as the occasional shriek of children playing – while we sat and talked and knitted. Ahh, summer in Montana. There’s nothing quite like it. Francy is back from the birth of her grandson (yay!). She brought us a treat – Oreos . Joan must have been thinking of eating, too, because she showed up and plunked down a container of taffy. Wow. Simple but sugary. Thanks, you two.

Our feast. Just right.

We’re always interested to see how Joan’s scarf is coming along. She unfurled it and it was… long. It looks like what Waldo wears, but if Waldo wore this scarf, he’d never be hard to find. Just follow the scarf like a trail of bread crumbs.

There’s Waldo!

Francy is working a baby sweater, either for her new grandson, Owen, or for Heidi and John’s baby – gender unknown. It’s the new neutral, green. She has finished one side and is working on the other.

Cute little hoodie.

This is a picture of the baby hoodie that Francy is knitting.

Michele is still working on the skirt from hell. She has ripped it out and started it over four times. In the middle of our talking, we heard her say quietly, “I’m a stitch off.” Eeks. I think she’s going to go ahead and wing it.

Francy, Michele and Linda happily knitting in public.

Mary has finished the front of the summer top for Aurora. She also brought along the almost-finished sweater for Aurora – all the pieces knitted, but not sewn together – but nobody will volunteer to sew them together! Gee, go figure. None of us like to do that finishing stuff, either, Mary! She always asks, though. It’s too hot to wear a hooded sweater anyway. Hope Aurora doesn’t outgrow it before it gets put together.

Cute top. No takers on sewing together the sweater.

Marylane took the mitten that she’s knitting out of the bag and held it on her lap, but I’m not sure she knitted very much. I’m not sure that ANY of us knitted very much. Sitting in the park in summer was not conducive to handling wool. Deb joined us, but she didn’t even make a show of bringing her knitting. Good for you, Deb. Just say no to knitting in hot weather. She’s too busy hiking to knit.

Knitting? Knitting? I don’t need no stinkin’ knitting!

Linda brought her baby sweater that she has nearly finished, but OH NO! She’s afraid that she won’t have enough yarn to finish the final sleeve. She’s done one sleeve and thinks it’s a little too long, so I guess an alternative would be to rip it out and shorten it to have enough yarn to finish the other sleeve. Confused? So’s Linda. She brought a scarf to work on.

One sleeve down, one to go – if there’s enough yarn.

The alternate project – we’ve all got one or two (or three).

Well, Castoffs. Same place, same time next week. We’ll just keep on knitting in the park until the weather turns bad. Or maybe we’ll go to Arizona and move in with Joan and knit in a park down there all winter. Hey, that sounds good to me. In the meantime, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

We have decided to knit in the park–except for those days when it’s rainy–and enjoy the summer. We bring chairs and sit underneath a big tree and knit. Our summers here in the Flathead are fleeting but outstanding, so why not take advantage of them?

I asked Lucky to grab a chair from the backyard shed and the one he handed me was…cumbersome. Comfy, perhaps a little too comfy. I had a hard time getting out once I got in.

In for the duration.

Whenever anyone brought out a knitting project, I had to struggle out of my chair to take a photo. Next time, I won’t bring a recliner. I did take a picture of my sweater that I brought out of retirement. It seemed like everything else that I was working on was very hot and heavy, so here is my lighter weight sweater that I started… oh, last summer, I think.

Not quite this blue in real life.

I bought this yarn from the estate of a dear friend who passed away suddenly. Whenever I wear this sweater, I’ll think of Leslie Myers.

My other Leslie, our knitting Leslie, brought her monkey. Thank goodness, he has clothes now! She’s going to save him for her granddaughter’s second birthday.

He’s got his overalls on.

Leslie is also knitting a sparkly little skirt for Mira. It’s adorable, but Mira has to wait to wear it until she is a little older. This is one of the best-dressed toddlers I know, and all such cute knits made with grandma’s love.

Mira’s skirt.

Mary dropped by with her daughter, Larissa and her granddaughter, Aurora. They couldn’t stay, but maybe they’ll join us again next week. Aurora is getting so big! We hadn’t seen her for a few months and it’s amazing how quickly babies change. It was good to see them both.

Mary’s delight! Excuse my feet!

It was naptime for Aurora. I know just how she felt.

Linda, Julie and Michele were there when I got to the park, and Deb joined us briefly. Deb’s son, Kevin, had just gotten married, so we had to hear the details of the wedding. Sounds like everyone had a wonderful, memorable time.

There’s Deb–talking, not knitting.

Linda is nearly finished with the baby sweater she’s knitting. It has turned out so beautifully. She says it’s easy to knit. Now she has to choose buttons for the asymmetrical closing and pick up stitches for the sleeves.

Darling sweater!

It was fun to see Michele. She was sad because her daughter, Erica, moved out to continue her education in Utah. I had just seen Erica at a local hiking park, so I’m glad I got to see her one more time before she left. Michele is knitting a skirt for a friend. She was a little perturbed because this was about the fourth time she had ripped out and restarted the skirt. Grrr. We all know how you feel, Michele.

Starting over for the umpteenth time is frustrating.

Julie is knitting a top-down, short-sleeved cardigan with the beautiful yarn that she bought in Missoula at Joseph’s Coat, when we went on our road trip last month. I love this yarn. And the pattern is one of the Knit Simple ones that I really like. Looks great so far, Jules. We’ll miss Julie for a couple of weeks while she’s traveling to Wyoming to see her daughter and son – both working in the woods near Teton Park. Jealous! I love Wyoming.

Love this color, Jules!

We send out a BIG congratulations to Francy who just became a grandmother for the second time. Daughter Betsy had a sweet baby boy, Owen. Now Francy can add variety to her knitting with boy things.

Next time, we’ll be in the same location at Woodland Park. The weather forecast is for HEAT, but it will be very pleasant in the shade by the rose arbor. Ahhh. I love summertime. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing, just like the sunny afternoons.