The Castoffs have claimed the park for their own! Well, with the rest of the town of Kalispell who love the city park. This week, Francy’s daughter Betsy and her children joined us. Francy brought lemonade and cupcakes and Betsy brought her brand-new baby boy, Owen, and little Grace who is almost three years old! Owen is adorable and so is Grace.

Here is Grace modeling the skirt that Leslie knitted for her granddaughter. Seems like there could be one in Grace’s future, too!

He just wasn’t happy in that carrier.

Ahh, much better!

None of us knitters were very excited about actually knitting. It’s just too pleasant to sit in the park and talk to our buddies. A few of us were working on some things. Carol on her fingerless mittens; Julie on her top-down sweater; Mary had finished Aurora’s summer top and was talking about embroidering a design on the front.

Here’s Carol drinking lemonade and not knitting. Linda behind her is doing the same kind of not knitting.

Here is the fingerless mitten that Carol is really knitting.

Hey! Julie’s actually knitting.

Here’s the little top for Aurora and yarn to make another.

Here is the yarn for the embroidery.

… and here is the final result!

Michele and Leslie brought a couple of items that they had finished. Michelle finally finished the black skirt with the lace trim – turned out well and I’m sure her friend will be pleased.

The skirt – hard to see the trim in this photo, but it’s lovely.

Leslie knit some fingerless gloves that are beautiful. She got the pattern on Ravalry and added a button to each one as an embellishment. Love these! She used a multi-colored yarn but saved the yellow bits of yarn for the thumbs. Very striking.

Great Gloves!

Well, Deb and Linda and I were really there too, although the photos don’t really reflect our presence. Nevertheless, we had a fun time and plan to do it again next time in the park. Keep those needles blazing, Castoffs, and don’t forget where you put your neglected projects!

We are enjoying our park so much this summer! We’ve been fortunate to have such lovely weather – except for one afternoon when the rain drove us over to Michele’s house. We got to see her newly remodeled basement that she’s been working on. It’s going to look great and give them a lot more usable room (Joel gets his loading room! Yay!)

Meeting in the park gives us a little more freedom in scheduling. It’s easy to drop in for a while, talk, knit and go on to other activities. This week, Francy, Marsha, Marylane, Julie and Deb gathered to catch up. I’m not sure anyone is knitting very much – I know I’m not. Still working on the Wingspan scarf. It’s easy to pick up and put down because it’s garter stitch in short rows. As long as I keep my markers in the correct places, it’s a piece of cake.

Marylane held up my Wingspan scarf. I love the pattern that the sock yarn makes.

Francy is knitting a big flower for her sister’s bag (already felted and handle attached). It’s going to make a real statement! “I’m Yellow!”

Here’s the bag with the ruffled top.

Here’s the flower in progress.

Can’t wait to see the finished product – or a photo, please, Francy!

Marylane and Deb seem to be taking a hiatus from knitting this summer. Marylane has been working on a mitten – same mitten, same cuff – for a few weeks now. And Deb has been hiking so much that she doesn’t have time to knit. I’m just glad that they have enough time to drop by the park to say hello and talk about the fun they’ve been having.

Here’s Marylane, not knitting.

Julie, Julie, Julie is still knitting her top down sweater. So glad that none of us are very ambitious about rushing through our projects.

Still like this yarn from Joseph’s Coat in Missoula.

And the summer goes on. Next week, same time, same place. I’ll miss knitting in the park because I’m going to the BIG park – Glacier – and then up the North Fork to Polebridge. Woohoo! See you another time, and keep those needles blazing, Castoffs.