We all converged on Carol’s house in a lull in the recent storms. Each time we have a warming trend, we heave a sigh of relief until the next freeze. Don’t worry, Castoffs, spring will be here someday…maybe.
Carol tempted us with a huge plate of chunky chocolate chip cookies, which none of us resisted. Even Michele’s little squirrel (pre-felting) got into the mood for chocolate.
Hey, wonder how many of these I can bury?
Right now he’s a little floppy, but he’ll firm up with stuffing and felting.
Michele brought the wrist warmers that she was beginning last week. They turned out great and Michele says that she’s wearing them all the time at home at night when the heat is down and she still wants to knit without freezing her hands. Reading in bed at night would be another place for wearing nice hand warmers. I’ve had to put my book down to warm my hands, haven’t you?
Fluffy and warm... Wrist warmers!
Michele and Leslie are both preparing to knit a great shrug. It is knit as a big rectangle and then sewn up along the sleeves. The pattern has a lot of cabling and you know what that means…Charts. Yes, the dreaded convoluted charting of cables and stitches. It always looks much worse and more complicated than it turns out to be, so don’t get scared off if you are considering a pattern that involves charts. That being said, here is one of the charts for the shrug pattern.
Piece of cake...or piece of pie chart?
Leslie, the lovely finger model is pointing out the beautifully colored squares that will drive her crazy in the near future. I caught her on her knees praying to the God of Confused Knitters – GCK to his intimates – while she was trying to translate the stitch chart.
Om, om, O great GCK, hear my desperate cries...
I’m quite sure that the great GCK will hear her pleas and allow her photogenic fingers to forge ahead through the confusion of the Chart. Or not…
When I got to Carol’s house, Roxanne and Francy were mulling over a poncho pattern that Roxanne was starting. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Roxanne knitted and ripped out the first five or six rows several times. Hmm. It is a great looking pattern and I hope she gets through the opening bit soon.
Roxanne and Francy figuring it out
The 'Linda' poncho and beautiful yarn
Roxanne is using beautiful chunky yarn and I like the way the pattern looks. Can’t wait to see it next week.
Deb has been a knitting tornado this week. Her lacy vest is coming right along and it looks fantastic. Our jaws dropped when we saw how far she’s come from scarves and hats. This is a truly ambitious project and Deb! Great job! Leslie was moved to declare, “Deb! You’re a knitter!” Well, duh…
You knitter, you!
Julie joined us with a top-down Henley that she’s knitting for her husband Brian. She paused, tea in hand, and I caught her resting and meditating on being a knitter. She looks like she could have been pondering this quote from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in AT KNIT’S END: “If your mate doesn’t understand your knitting habit, then maybe he hasn’t been properly bribed yet.” Like many a good knitter, Julie is laying down the bribes. Right, Jules?
Hmmm. Just how far does a bribing knitter have to go?
And then we come to the felted slipper question. Three of us were wrestling with that question at our meeting. Marylane separated herself from the crowd in order to count undistracted – unlike Mary, last week, who just powered through the noise in her usual uncomplicated way. Yes, by SHOUTING. Right, Mary? This week she bared her sole, so to speak, by bringing the slipper. It looked more like a halo than a slipper, but we know that halos rarely hang around our Mary. Or any of the rest of us, to be frank.
Halo? No, a 'sole' o.
While Mary was basking in the glory of her completed sole, Marylane separated herself from the rest of us, as I pointed out, to count her cast on stitches without distraction. We shouted at her, of course, in vain. She just calmly ignored us and counted away.
Ah, solitude. Ah, quiet. Ah, crap, I lost count!
I started my slipper, too, but risked staying in the room with everyone else. Just not as smart as Marylane, I guess. Leslie assisted me in reading out, in clear, ringing tones (in my ear) the instructions for the first difficult rows when I had to make 1. Actually make a lot of 1’s. I was grateful for her assistance even though I tried to stab her once. Sorry, Les. I came home and finished one of my slipper soles. Now I’m ready to change to the other color and knit on. Knit on! I became slightly hysterical at the thought of felting something.
What am I doing? Make 1 what?
Linda has come a long way with her prayer shawl. I love the color. When she attaches the fringe, it will be stunning.
Beautiful color. And it feels wonderful!
I heard from Linda about the baby sweater that she was working on last week. I couldn’t get to her photo from my email, but she told me that she chose yellow as her accent color and found some cute froggy face buttons to embellish the sweater. Maybe I can get the photo as an attachment and show it to you next time.
I want to wish Marylane a wonderful birthday! I’m posting this on Sunday which happens to be her birthday! Hope you’re having a great day, ML!
Next week we’ll meet at Deb’s house. Sure hope it’s warmer by then. Brrr! It’s cold out there now. Until we meet again, keep those needles blazing and have a wonderful end of January and a warm beginning of February!
