One good thing about meeting at the church downtown is that I can walk from my house. The trees were turning and the sun was shining, so I took my knitting and my camera, and crunched through the fallen leaves to meet the Castoffs. Everyone was present except for Michele and Leslie. In January, they will be able to join us on Mondays — and hopefully, we’ll see Ann as well. She is one of our Founding Mothers, after all.

Mary is back from her travels to visit the sunny south (Arizona and Colorado) and spend some time with her grandchildren — oh, and her children, of course. She is knitting a cute little owl hat. Darling pattern, Mary!

Who?

I mentioned a hat pattern that I downloaded for free. It’s called the Downton hat and it’s really pretty. Here’s the link as promised, Castoffs! And here’s a photo of the hat.

Julie is knitting a felted hat for her mom, who loves hats.

For Julie’s mom, the Hat Lady.

Deb fixed the problem on her sweater, so it’s full steam ahead. She had put the cabling on the wrong side, but it’s all better now.

Whew! Fixed!

The back of Deb’s sweater.

Francy is working on a chunky scarf and Marylane is knitting mittens. These two women and their husbands, plus Joan and her husband, are leaving for a trip to the Amazon (river, not website) and Machu Picchu in a week. No, we’re not jealous. Not at all.

They’ve had their shots and are armed with high-altitude and malaria pills. All set to enjoy the monkeys and birds of the tropics. Have a wonderful time! We can’t wait to hear the stories and see the pictures.

She won’t need this in Peru.

No mittens required while floating on the Amazon — unless the mosquitoes are BIG.

I started another purse to felt for another great-niece. It’s the same pattern as the first one I knitted, but I didn’t like the braided strap. I’m going to improvise. It’ll be fun. Maybe.

It’s just a start.

I’ll end with a candid shot: Linda is frantically trying to find the pattern for her scarf (which, unbeknownst to her, is on the floor at her feet), Deb is slurping down her usual latte, fortifying herself for knitting, and Carol is explaining how great her mother’s visit was (while knitting a fingerless mitten). These are wonderful women.

The Castoffs in their natural habitat.

See you next time, Castoffs. Keep those needles blazing and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Looks like it’s going to be with us a while longer.

Fall is in the air and knitting is on the mind. Some of the Castoffs were working on new projects and some were finishing up (or continuing) older ones.

Marylane’s brother John is getting married (Congratulations, John!) so she is needlepointing a picture for him and his new bride. No, it’s not knitting, but, hey! it’s creative work that has a place in our group. And, it’s a beautiful abstract that John and his wife will love to display in their new home.

Marylane and her needlepoint.

I rooted around in my jewelry drawers and found a pin to wear with my newly finished triangles scarf. I loved the way it looked and I can think of a few other sweaters to wear it with. Because it’s made with sock yarn, it sits lightly on my shoulders. I think I’ll make another one, longer and in lighter tones, for the spring.

Very versatile and lightweight.

While I sat and talked, I finished one of the purses that I’m knitting for my great-nieces. I braided the straps and decided to use a magnetic snap instead of a button and buttonhole. Now, I just need to felt it and attach the snap and decorative button. It feels good to be so close to finishing my first Christmas gift.

All it needs is a decorative button after it’s felted.

Julie was pondering a meeting that she would have at the library the next day. She had to answer a question about group dynamics, so she used us as guinea pigs.

Here is Julie, pondering.

“Why did you choose a venue like this for your meetings?” she asked.

“The chairs!”

“The fireplace!”

“It’s free!”

“Nobody has to prepare snacks!”

“Okey, dokey. That didn’t take long.” Julie seemed happy to have her homework done. She took a photo of us for show and tell.

We’re a happy band of sisters.

In January, we may move our day and venue for meeting, so we will take a few learned lessons with us. For one, we don’t need snacks and wine (although there’s nothing wrong with a little wine – it’s medicinal). We just need someplace to be together, doing what we love best – knitting and talking.

Julie had also knitted quite a lot on her sweater that she had ripped out a week ago. It’s almost back to the point of rippage. Hope this one isn’t too small!

RIP – rest in pieces! Funny, Jules.

Nice grimace.

Michele joined us. No school today! It was great to see her. We’re all hoping that she can join us if we switch days for our meeting in January.

Michele holding her phone cosy that she knit.

Linda told us that she was thinking about buying a house. We all thought back to the thirty years’ worth of stuff that we helped her move into the last house she bought. Hmmm. Well, she has been paring down. Stay tuned to see what she does! Perhaps a professional mover would be in order?

She’s working on the drop-stitch scarf. I got a better photo of the yarn which is very pretty. It’s worsted weight.

Pretty variegated colors.

Julie told us an interesting tidbit. She says that bulky yarn is also known as a heavyweight worsted. Huh. Next time I see either term, I’ll remember – maybe.

Francy was back! She told us all about her new grandson, Samuel, and he sounds adorable. She was busy knitting a chunky scarf.

Cute scarf – and FAST!

Francy was also knitting mittens for her granddaughter, Grace. I can’t believe how big Grace’s little hands have grown. It seems like only yesterday that she was born. The long yellow string is waste yarn to hold the thumb gusset.

Mittens for our little kitten.

That’s all for this week, Castoffs. I went for a walk in the fallen leaves yesterday, and loved how the colors are all around us, giving us inspiration for winter knitting. Have a great week and keep those needles blazing!

I love Thursdays. I love meeting with my knitting friends. And, I love our new meeting place at the church. Linda, Deb and I were alone, but we got a lot of talking and some knitting done. Several of the Castoffs are out of town – Joan relocated to Arizona for the winter, Mary to Arizona for a visit, Francy to see her brand-new grandson, and Marylane to the Festival of the Book in Missoula. Leslie and Michele on to their meditation and yoga classes. Julie was at the lake looking at her new boat. We had thought that Carol would join us, but remembered that her parents are visiting from California. I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s adventures next week.

Francy sent a photo of the newest member of her family, Samuel Roland, with his parents, John and Heidi. Such a beautiful little family. Congratulations to them all. I foresee a lot of knitted items in little Sam’s future from his gran.

Sam with Dad and Mom.

Deb is going great guns on the sweater front – can’t remember if it’s the left or the right – but, after she had knitted for a while, she said, “This is all wrong.”

Gulp. The dreaded words that nobody wants to say. Unfortunately, it’s heard a lot in our Castoffs meetings. We come, we knit, we talk, we lose track of what we’re knitting. We despair. We rip out.

Deb showed me that when she picked up the sweater–after a long summer of not knitting–she thought she was reading the pattern correctly. Alas. The beautiful cable that crawls up the outside edge was facing inward to the wrong side of the sweater.

Everything was going so well – warm fire, hot latte, smooth knitting…

Right side of sweater, wrong side of cables.

The next thing I knew, Deb was ripping out the stitches. Rip, rip, rip. She decided to start again another day.

Knitting is hell sometimes.

Linda was still knitting BOTH of her dropped stitch scarves. It’s difficult to switch gears from lazy summer to industrious winter. She wondered out loud if the dropped stitch pattern is showing up the way she wants it to. The answer might be to RIP it out and use larger needles (or finer yarn). This seemed to be a ripping-out kind of day. Hmmm.

There really wouldn’t be much to rip out.

I’m happy to report that I didn’t need to rip out anything! Yay! I am nearly finished with the pink and purple purse for one of my great-nieces. While I was on a trip to Canada last week, I started another purse (for another great-niece) because we were driving through endless, flat wheat fields. It was a good reason to knit, so I got a lot done.

Both of these will be felted when finished.

That was it, Castoffs. We had a cozy, intimate time and look forward to our cold winter days next to the gas fireplace. Hope to see you next week, but in the meantime, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the beautiful fall colors.

Today was our first meeting at church.

To explain, one of our members, Deb, is married to Glen, a pastor at the Presbyterian church downtown. When we were discussing where to meet during the winter, Glen offered a wonderful room in the church for our Castoffs meetings. It’s warm, cozy and has comfy leather armchairs. There’s a gas fireplace that will be perfect for those chilly afternoons that are coming … sooner than we’d like. Thank you so much, Glen and Deb, for allowing us to meet here!

Carol stretching out in front of the fire.

The leather chairs are great, but you’d better get to the meeting early – there are only six. Other chairs are available and they’re comfy too – just not leather.

Marylane and Francy are enjoying the comfy leather chairs.

We were all working on the same projects as last meeting, but now that winter is coming (and Christmas), I know I’ll see a lot of new knitting. I just started another purse to felt for a great-niece. I know that Francy will have three grandchildren to knit for this year.

Julie had to rip out a LOT of her top down cardigan that she’s been working on. Bummer. Sometimes it happens that a mistake is made, or a pattern is misread, or even that you don’t like the look of the stitches and you just want to do it over.

This is what it looked like last time we met.

She doesn’t look happy, does she? I know she’ll have it back the way it was in no time.

Deb’s sweater looks beautiful. Here is the back:

It’s going to be a great sweater.

We’re all about helping each other out. Carol was explaining a pattern interpretation to Deb while she was knitting her own fingerless mitten.

I love the post-it notes on Carol’s pattern.

Soon after this meeting, I went to Canada for a little vacation so I missed the following meeting. I can hardly wait for Thursday to see what the Castoffs got up to in my absence. I always look forward to seeing my friends and their projects. I’m knee deep in felted purses, myself. Now, I just need to keep my needles blazing and get some encouragement from my sister needle-ers.

In the meantime, Castoffs, keep on knitting and enjoy the fall colors. See ya in church!