For the first time, the Castoffs met for an early morning (well, 10:00) meeting at Julie’s house where we fed on muffins, fruit and lots of coffee.

Castoffs busily working on projects at Julie's kitchen

We decided that because it was a morning meeting and we couldn’t share a wine of the week, we would introduce a new segment to the blog called:

WHINE OF THE WEEK!!

Our very first WHINE OF THE WEEK comes from Marylane and it concerns her first use of joining on a circular needle.  “Why isn’t it joining?”  Marylane whined.

Well, we couldn’t figure it out at first, it looked like she should be joining.  Marylane was working on a felted purse that is going to be fabulous (if it ever gets joined in a circle, that is).  I kept saying, “Well, you just knit, knit, knit all the way around.”  Of course, we all were talking and knitting and eating and not paying attention.  Marylane kept whining (I promise I’m not picking on you, Marylane.  We’ll undoubtedly all get our turn in WHINE OF THE WEEK).  Anyway, we finally figured out that she was turning her work as if she was using straight needles.  Duh, if you’ve never knitted in the round, it makes perfect sense to go the other way at the end of a row.  I can’t wait to see how far she gets by next week.

Marylane's eternal first round on her felted purse

We all brought great things to work on: Marsha brought her blue short/sleeved sweater that is gradually getting done.  It’s nearly finished, all that lacks now is the button placket!  Pictures next week!  Carol wasn’t knitting this week – she was making emergency repairs on her daughter Shannon’s Ecuadoran hammock that lost its fringe.

Shannon's hammock getting a Mom intervention

Julie was working on a baby sweater last week, which could have been the WHINE OF THE WEEK.  Julie was whining about skeins of yarn labeled with “No Dye Lot” that turn out to be different colors.  Of course, Julie didn’t see any difference until the front of the sweater worked up with a definite line of color difference.  Aaaaie!  What to do?  We all suggested different things.  “Embroider a line of design along the front,” said Francy.  “Yeah, little cross-stitch Xes,”  suggested Marylane.  “Have another glass of wine,”  Marsha offered.  This week we discovered Julie’s response.  “I ripped it out.”  Okey, dokey, then.  So Julie was re-knitting her little red sweater.

Red sweater, Act II

I have to show you the cutest little mittens knitted by Marylane.  We got this pattern from a woman who came to the World Wide Knit in Public Day in Kalispell.  I am thinking about knitting them for my brother’s grandchildren (6 little tykes!) that I knitted hats and sweaters for last year.  Not doing that again, I was thoroughly sick of itsy-bitsy hats, scarves and sweaters.  It made me glad that my son’s not married.  These would make great Christmas tree ornaments – or rearview mirror ornaments, as one of our members suggested.

Three little kittens' mittens.

Francy brought photos of her wonderful coat that she knitted for her daughter, Betsy.  “Email a picture to me for the blog!”  I begged.  Still begging, Francy!  We want to show off the coat, please.  Francy is knitting a Moebius scarf whose instructions were defying interpretation.  We finally figured out that when Francy printed off the instructions, a pesky pop-up ad was blocking instruction #3 – a vital detail about knitting the first round.  So more about the Moebius in our next blog.  Here is Francy with mittens instead of Moebius or beautiful knit coat.

Darling mittens, darling Francy

By the end of the morning, we all felt like we could go out and face the day.  We had planned to hike on the trails of our local State Park, but the day was turning out to be a scorcher.  I went home, watched the British Open and knitted.  What better way to spend a hot day?

Bye 'til next week! Happy knitting!

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