The Castoffs met on a beautiful, sunny day. Spring is coming – I know it is! This was the week before spring break, so we enjoyed the crowd. Our numbers next week will be smaller, but on this day we were glad to be together in the sunshine.

Anne joined us again and was working on mittens that she’ll felt when finished. The colors of the mittens matched her skirt and scarf precisely. You’ll have to look closely to see her knitting.

In her left hand!

Anne also showed us a hat that she’s starting in a lighter weight yarn. Behind her is Julie knitting a brimmed newsboy hat. This is a pattern that Marylane used a couple of years ago. Julie says it’s for her, but if she doesn’t like how it looks, she’ll give it to her daughter, Terra. Everything looks good on Terra.

I caught Julie in mid-speak.

This is what the newsboy hat will look like.

Sweaters and scarves. We’ve got ’em. Linda’s nearly finished with the summer top for her great-niece. It’s adorable!

Top down toddler sweater.

Because it’s top-down, when Linda gets to the end, it’s all finished – except for weaving in the loose ends.

Carol’s sweater is really coming along. I love this color and pattern.

Beautiful sweater. And I love your scarf, Carol!

As for scarves, Michele is knitting an old standard – the seed stitch scarf. I think we’ve all done one of these at some time. I love mine and wear it a lot. Seed stitch is a pattern that gives a lot of texture for the simplicity of the stitch itself.

Seed stitch scarf. And I really like Michele’s sweater vest.

As of this posting, I’ve finished my great-niece’s fingerless mitts. I’ll bring them to knitting next time for a photo. I’m looking around for a new project – poring over my magazines and pattern book, checking out my yarn stash. Hopefully I’ll find something. I still have a feather-and-fan scarf that I’m knitting, but the pattern is easily screwed-up during all the hubbub of our meetings.

Deb was knitting the second sleeve of her sweater. Once its done, I think all the pieces will be finished and she’ll be ready to sew them together. Wow! I didn’t get a good photo, but by next month, I think she’ll have a finished product. In the meantime, she and Linda were having a deep conversation.

“Oh, yeah?” “Ya don’t say!”

Leslie is still at work on her scarf using Marmot yarn. I can’t say that enough. Marmot yarn.

“Oh, Marsha, get over it.”

We missed our travelers this week – Marylane and Francy. We send our condolences to Mary, who lost her brother, Bill, recently. We’re all thinking of you, Mary!

Next week, we who aren’t gallivanting around the country (and Mexico) will meet at Linda’s house. I know we’ll be a small group, but we are mighty. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the sunshine.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The Castoffs met wearing the green–well, some of us, anyway. I think the most Irish of us is Carol Sullivan. I loved her shirt with the shamrock and I loved the top-down sweater that she’s knitting. The color is great.

Top o’ the mornin’, Carol. Or, uh, afternoon.

She had a rocky start. She was advised to have a 24 inch circular needle but it was soon apparent that she needed a much longer one. Her stitches were too bunched up on the shorter needles. Now it’s all better and I can’t wait to see her progress by next week.

I’m not making a lot of progress. Life and it’s many pleasures has been interfering with my knitting, so I’m still on the second fingerless mitt. Maybe I’ll get some more done this weekend. If there’s a golf game on, I’m can make a lot of progress. Golf is so easy to ignore.

Second mitten is close — kinda.

Leslie has finished the gold tutu for her granddaughter – so adorable! The next photo of it will be Mira as model. Now Leslie is back to knitting her scarf using Marmot yarn (the brand name, not the critter). I forgot and called it her ‘weasel’ scarf which cracked her up. Weasel/Marmot – I got confused.

Hmmm, Francy has a granddaughter who might like a tutu.

Well, maybe not weasel yarn…

Michele is using yarn from her stash to make a circular table centerpiece. She’ll knit around and around using the same ten-stitch pattern that we used for the seat of our ‘Growing to the Sun’ chair. After she knits a table-sized circle, she’ll felt it down to fit the center of the table. Cool idea! and it uses her bits and pieces of wool from her stash.

Beginning of the circle.

I have a pattern by the same designer for a ten-stitch zigzag pattern. It would be a good table runner pattern.

Speaking of our ‘Growing to the Sun’ chair, Marylane re-donated it to the Loud@Library fundraiser this year and it sold for $250! Wow. It was fun to see it again. Congratulations again, Castoffs, for making such a beautiful piece of art.

At this meeting, we started playing around with an idea for a future fundraiser. We thought about knitting a scarf/wrap/stole/shawl with different textures or stitch patterns. That way, we could pass it around to everyone in the group for their turn at knitting, and have a unified design to give away at the end of the project. Leslie and Carol immediately began imagining how to present our shawl/stole/wrap at the future fundraiser – what the model would wear, how the model would interact with the prospective buyers, how great the model would look in basic black and high black leather boots…

“Wait a minute, maybe we should actually decide on a shawl pattern first?”

I’m afraid old practical me brought them down to earth. But at least we’ll know how to market it…when we get it knitted, that is.

Francy is working on the hood of the baby sweater for Samuel. It is very cute – and suitable for a girl baby, too. She’ll be traveling to Michigan/Minnesota to see her growing family of babies next week. We’ll miss you, Francy!

Samuel will look very dashing in this sweater.

Speaking of traveling Castoffs, Marylane is in Patagonia, AZ for a few weeks,  and Mary is visiting her kids and grandkids in Denver. We miss you! Deb and Julie were MIA but hopefully we’ll see you next week.

Linda is all about babies right now. She knit a hat for her niece’s baby and is knitting a sweater for the sibling of that baby. Very industrious, Linda.

I love the ruffle around the bottom.

Top-down toddler sweater.

Hope you all enjoyed St. Paddy’s day. We are experiencing a disappointing return to winter temperatures, but someday stubborn winter will fade away and we’ll be able to bike and boat and garden…Ahh!

Keep those needles blazing and I’ll see you at Leslie’s house next time!

The snow is slowly melting, or so we thought. I drove to Carol’s house through a little blizzard – not warm enough to stick, but annoying nonetheless. It’s typical weather for March, but we’re getting tired of it. Come on, Spring!

I found out that what I’ve been calling (for months) Deb’s sweater back is actually a sleeve! My bad! Sorry. Here it is in its correct anatomical location:

Hey! It really is a sleeve!

I guess I’ll have to pay closer attention from now on. (Right, like that’s gonna happen) Deb is working on the other sleeve now – trying to remember exactly how she knit the increases. Good luck, Deb!

Leslie finished Mira’s tutu and modeled it for us.

Tutu head.

She saw this photo and thought it made her look like she had blonde hair, so she decided to ACT like a blonde.

Maybe she should knit herself a nightcap! Or just drink one.

Once she adds elastic to the tutu’s top, it will fit a Mira. Hope Leslie sends me a photo. <hint>

I noticed that Carol was using a different pattern for the sweater that she had planned to knit. “What’s up?” I said.

“The old pattern was garter stitch – just knit, knit, knit. I decided I was better than that!” Carol said.

Yeah! You are better than that. You go, girl! Here is the pattern that she’s hoping she’s as good as – or something like that. You get my drift, right?

More difficult and I love the yarn.

I started on my second fingerless mitten. I should get it finished because I have a sweater vest pattern that’s burning a hole in my knitting bag.

Fingerless mitts.

Last week, a friend of mine from Florida sent me a link for a knitted penguin sweater (to aid the oil-slicked penguins that are recovering from being – well – slicked. It keeps them from licking the oil off their bodies). Anyway, I emailed it to the Castoffs and Mary decided to knit one. It’s very cute – if not for an actual penguin, then for a child’s toy.

One side of a penguin sweater.

Coincidentally, her environmentally conscious son sent her the same link! He’ll be so proud of you, Mary! She and her husband are leaving for Denver and will be visiting grandchildren (and their parents) for a few weeks. Bon Voyage, Mary. See ya in April!

She finished the knit top for her granddaughter, Aurora, by the way, and is taking it to her.

Adorable top for an adorable little girl.

Julie finished a hat for the Loud @Library fundraiser (coming up on March 20!) but she’s pretty attached to it. She made another one and some mittens for the fundraiser, so it’s okay if she keeps one for herself, right?

Looks great on ya, Jules!

Mitten! I might have to bid on this basket.

That’s all for this week, Castoffs. We meet at my house next time. I’m thinking about rolling out my bike and getting ready for spring. How about you? Until we see an end to the snow and cold, keep those needles blazing and have a great week!

In the midst of our blizzard, the Castoffs met at Julie’s house. The streets were awful, traffic was sliding around and I wondered how many would make the trip. When I got to Julie’s house, Mary was there reconsidering her decision. Since she lives down on Flathead Lake, she was looking at a LOOONG drive in slippery weather.

As more and more of us showed up, however, she reassessed her weenie reluctance and stayed. Turns out that we all showed up! (Except Michele who had an appointment) Complaining about the condition of the streets, but Hey! This is Montana! Suck it up!

We had a wonderful time catching up on new and old projects. Leslie wore her fabulous sweater. It’s so professional-looking that we were stunned and amazed. Of course, we all wanted one.

This is the most beautiful sweater! And the color is a great neutral.

Here’s a closeup of some of the detail stitching.

Leslie was knitting a gold net tutu for her granddaughter Mira. It inspired grandmother envy in many of the Castoffs.

TUTU!

It was knit from straps of fabric that unfold after it’s knit. I had seen scarves knit from this but never anything else.

Francy is nearly finished with the hooded sweater for her grandson, Samuel. I love the variegated sleeves.

Samuel’s cool sweater!

Julie finished one hat and is starting on another for the Loud at the Library Fundraiser later this month. She was blocking the first one and I loved her blocking board. I’ll admit that I’m deficient in having a desire (or of knowing how) to block finished garments.

One blocked hat.

She was concentrating very hard on the second hat – I believe it’s cabled. I’d concentrate, too.

Hmmm, knit one, slip two on a cable in front…

Deb is knitting and ripping out the same front of her sweater – sounds like a familiar story to a lot of us. The back is stunning and I know the rest of it will be too.

This is a very intricate pattern that would drive me mad.

Speaking of ripping out…I knit most of a fingerless mitt and then realized that my needles were a size too big. That meant that I had a chance of running out of yarn at – oh, say the top of the second mitt. I went home after the meeting and ripped out the mitt to adjust it. Curses!

Soon to be ripped out mitt.

Mary is knitting another sun top for her granddaughter Aurora. This one will have longer shoulder straps. Mary is leaving for Denver in a couple of weeks so we won’t see her for a while. Send photos of all the things you knit, Mary! Oh, wait. She’ll be with grandchildren so probably not a lot of knitting will be going on.

Cute little cotton blend top.

Carol is learning to knit in the continental style. Several of the other Castoffs do it this way – they say it’s easier on their wrists since there’s no ‘throwing’ of the yarn over the needle. I guess I’ll stick to my regular method for a while. Old dogs, you know.

Ooh, the Continental!

Marylane is working on a sweater vest – sorry I only got a partial photo, ML. I did get a good shot of our happy knitters, glad to be inside on such an inclement day.

Happy knitters: Leslie, Deb, Linda and Francy.

We’re expecting a big thaw soon. Stay warm and dry, Castoffs and keep those needles blazing! We’ll be at Carol’s house next time.