This could be the saga of a pair of mittens. Forest green yarn, sinuous cables running up their backs, lovingly knitted by an interesting woman. Hmm. Sounds like a happy ending, doesn’t it? WRONG!

Marylane was coming to the end of the second mitten.

“Wait until I’m finished to take a picture, Marsha. I’m almost there.”

Okay. I can be patient.

Deb has finished her sweater! Yay! She had her doubts, especially on the never ending sleeves, but it’s beautiful. And it fits perfectly! That’s always my concern – that I’ll spend months knitting an intricate, large project and then it won’t fit. Or it fits the way the pattern said it should, but  I hate it anyway. Believe me, I have a drawer full of failures to prove it. We can’t say that about Deb’s sweater, however. Bravo, Deb.

BEAUTY!

Francy’s scarf is growing and growing. The pattern intrigues me – I do have a copy – but it frightens me to think of maintaining a certain amount of tension while holding the colors in back. I picked it up and it’s quite heavy – all that sock yarn. Wonder how many socks you could make out of the yarn that will go into this scarf? All in all, I’d rather make a big scarf than lots of socks.

Quite a scarf.

Mary took a time out and joined Linda in looking through some pattern books. Baby patterns, of course. Linda will have her first grandchild this summer, so she is in baby mode, looking for patterns. Mary, the experienced grandma, is advising.

Whatdya think of this one, Mary?

Carol’s sweater is getting larger. It looks to me like she’s about ready to pick up and knit the sleeves. I’m so impressed with these knitters. Makes me want to knit something BIG. Actually, if I ever finish the Swirl Hat that’s taking me much longer than it should, I have a poncho pattern waiting in the wings.

Work it, girl.

Joan came to knit a row or two on her scarf. We know she’s just being sociable but we’re very glad to see her every week in the summer. So far, she’s knit a scarf per summer. Not bad for somebody who lives in Arizona and doesn’t even need a scarf.

Look at her, she’s wearing a fleece. Thinks Montana’s cold.

Michele accompanied her Centerpiece That is Taking over the World. Good god, it’s gigantic, it’s colossal. I think I’ll name it Godzilla. I asked her what it was going to be (when it grows up), and she shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see.”

Well, if she doesn’t know, I don’t know.

This Godzilla could be taken down by a Mothra.

We’ve come full circle to Marylane, who had just finished her mittens – tied the last knot and weaved in the final thread. She slipped them onto her hands for the big photo and said, “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

Oops. She made two right hands.

Now she just needs two lefties.

After we all picked ourselves up off the floor and made a valiant attempt NOT to laugh anymore (in vain), we went home. There was no way to top Marylane.

Next week, Memorial Day, we will NOT meet. We’ll come together again on June 2 at Linda’s house. In the meantime, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and remember our country’s brave men and women who fought to give the Republicans the right to take away their benefits.

We were all aglow with post-Mother’s Day love when we met at Leslie’s house in the SUNSHINE!!! Summer hasn’t died in the cold north,after all.

JOAN is back! Yay! And she’s working on a new project <drum roll> it’s a SCARF. It looks suspiciously like the other one she knit. If I hadn’t seen the first scarf auctioned off at the library fundraiser, I’d say it had risen from the dead. She swears, however, that this is a different one. Okay, Joanie, if you say so. Like the other, it’s a ‘knit-only’ scarf.

Welcome back, Joan! You were missed.

Marylane is nearly finished with her cabled mittens. I really should make some of these for my Christmas present bag. They’d go beautifully with a neck warmer.

Matches Marylane’s Hawaiian shirt – in color only.

Mary’s hooded baby blanket is nearly large enough for her. It’s an illusion, though, she was sitting down. She’s ready to add the hood and welcome her new grandbaby.

Mary’s waiting to wrap up a new baby!

My Swirl Hat is taking shape, literally. I can see the direction of the swirls and it’s such an easy pattern once you get the hang of it. It looks too small, but Michele told me that hers appeared that way while she was knitting it.Turns out large enough, though tight-fitting.

Can’t really see it very well, but the swirls are happenin’.

Speaking of Michele, her felted table runner is turning into a mega-cloth. We all think it might end up being a wall hanging! Whatever it turns out to be, it’s very pretty. Can’t wait to see what she does with it.

The circle widens.

Leslie is working on a doll for Mira. She’s up to her armpits, so to speak. She never imagined she’d be knitting dolls, horse heads or monkeys, but being a grandmother seems to change a woman’s perspective on small critters. Or, so I’ve observed.

Talk about somebody being all legs!

Linda showed us the (nearly) finished tutu in pink. It’s so cute. She has one in blue, too. Are you going for the green, Linda?

I’d love to see a little girl model this.

Carol started a…mitten?…sock? I can’t remember what she said. Sorry, Carol. I think she was afraid of making a mistake on her sweater. I know it’s very hard, during one of our meetings, to concentrate on a crucial part of a difficult pattern so we have simpler items to work on in a crowd of talking women. This must be one of Carol’s alternatives.

We all have those little mindless knits.

Francy is knitting a baby hat for a friend. It’s so tiny that we knew it was for a newborn.

Green hat in the sunshine.

That’s it, Castoffs. Spring has sprung and summer is right around the corner. Let’s see…is there another cliche I can use? Keep those needles blazing and I’ll see you next time at Marylane’s house.

The Castoffs met on a rainy/sunny day at Carol’s house. I had been waiting for a break in the bad weather to ride my bike, but I never seemed to make it. We were a smallish group but we had fun.

Leslie is knitting a very unique doll for her granddaughter. So far, she’s only done the leg,so she brought it and the pattern for us to see. She lost one of her DB needles, so she couldn’t knit while we were gathered. Hopefully it was at home.

She’s doing the red-headed doll on the right. The leg is right beside the photo.

Francy is going great-guns on the scarf for Betsy. It’s going to be about 72 inches long, so she figures she needs to do a foot a week on it before Betsy and the grandchildren get here in the summer. After the babies arrive, Francy will have better things to do than knit!

She knit a few more inches this week.

Carol has a friend with an old handknit sweater that’s starting to ravel at the cuffs and tail. Carol said she’d try to repair it, so we all gave her our opinion, but Francy actually helped. The rest of us gave moral support, right Carol? She ended up using a modified mattress stitch that seemed to be working.

Mending.

Carol’s sweater is growing more and more complete every time we see it. Beautiful!

This is gonna be great!

Marylane brought a sweater vest that she started a few months ago. I really like this chunky yarn and the pattern too.

Are you back there, Marylane?

Oh, there she is! And Francy, too.

I finally finished my neck-warmer and it turned out pretty well. I’ll pop it into my Christmas present bag and think about it in December.

The day was cool, but not cool enough for wool neck-warmers.

I started on a ‘swirl hat’ like Michele made. It’s an easy pattern for sock yarn.

This will probably go into my Christmas bag too.

Little kitty went from lap to lap, always mewing. He liked Marylane’s lap the best. I’m allergic and had to deny attention. Poor Little Kitty.

Waiting for a lap.

That’s all, folks. We will meet at Leslie’s house next time. We’re already looking forward to knitting in the park when the weather gets more cooperative. Aah! Knitting in the park. Can’t wait! See you next time, Castoffs, so keep those needles blazing and fingers crossed for summer.

Finally, spring is coming! We met on an encouragingly sunny day at Julie’s. Marylane is back from her travels in Arizona! Yippee! It was great to see her again. We missed you, Marylane. She said that she took a knitting project with her to Patagonia (Arizona, that is) but never even looked at it. I hear ya, sista. I’ve had some extremely well-traveled knitting that never saw the light of day. I have good intentions, but the journey gets in the way.

Marylane is thinking ahead (I guess) because she is knitting mittens with bold cables on the backs. She had a finished one in the bag and this nearly complete one.

Somebody’s getting some nice mittens.

Francy is a knittin’ machine lately. Remember that tiny inch of stash/sock yarn scarf that she started last week? Well, look at it now…

Francy’s smokin’!

This is going to be a beautiful scarf for her daughter and it seems to be going quicker than we all thought. Wow. It looks so intricate. Francy has also picked up a shawl that she started a long time ago. This is a pattern that Leslie brought to the group and its asymmetrical design is appealing. Francy says it’s boring to knit – well, after the other scarf, it would seem that way, wouldn’t it?

It may be boring to knit, but it’s beautiful to look at.

Linda’s finished tutu is so adorable that she’s knitting another one in pink. Maybe she’s looking forward to her own grandchild spinning in one.

Cute tutu. You can see the pink one taking shape in Linda’s lap.

The rest of us were plugging away on our works-in-progress. Michele’s table centerpiece is almost as big as the table now. We kidded her that it might end up as a rug. I can’t wait to see how it ends.

’round and round it goes. Where it’ll stop, only Michele knows.

I am finally nearly almost done with my neckwarmer. My schedule has opened up, so I should have time now to concentrate on a new project.

Almost ready to go into my Christmas present stash.

Julie is working on her brother’s throw. She leaves for Wisconsin soon – don’t know if the throw will be ready to give to her brother then, or not. Have a fun trip, Jules!

Soft throw.

Deb is still knitting the ‘endless sleeve’ of her sweater. Hang in there, Deb. It’ll be finished by summer – I just know it.

Can’t wait to see her model it.

Carol is fussing over another small error in her sweater. It’s under the arm, so she’s wondering if she can just ignore it and move on. We’ll know next week when we meet at her house.

A sweater to be proud of.

As I mentioned, we’ll meet at Carol’s house next time. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and don’t drown in the forecast rain and thunderstorms.