A small group of Castoffs met at Leslie’s house. Marylane and Francy are out of town for Christmas, but everyone else dropped by for at least a while. Mary brought her grandson Moses, who seemed a little uncertain of all the loud women. He settled down though and played happily at Mary’s feet.

Every year, we wait in eager anticipation to see the Charlie Brown extravaganza that is Leslie’s Christmas Tree. Leslie’s trees are kinda… out there, and this one was no exception. Now, don’t get me wrong – we all really like her trees – they’re just a sprocket past normal. This year Leslie’s tree was wonderful, albeit not quite the tree seen in Miracle on 34th Street.

It does look slightly Middle-eastern.

Leslie displayed the three stockings that she knit for her daughter’s family, and she also had a charming Western Christmas scene that belonged to her mom. Definitely looking like Christmas at Leslie’s house. It will be perfect when little Mira gets there on Sunday.

Moses really liked the lights on the tree, too. He stared and stared – maybe he’d never seen such a wondrous tree before. Well, at seven months old, he’s probably never seen more than two Christmas trees anyway.  This tree may set the season in his little impressionable mind. Leslie, you’re molding small brains to a bigger vision of Christmas! Yay!

Moses is such a cutie – and he loves his grandma so much!

Linda brought a basket of pretty yarns that she’s using to experiment for circles that will adorn the Chair. Since I forgot to bring the Chair with me – my bad – we just talked about different patterns and colors. We’ll get down to business about decisions for our project after Christmas.

Pretty jewel tones in Linda’s basket.

I knew that we probably wouldn’t be knitting too much, so I didn’t drag my afghan to Leslie’s house. Instead, I brought the blue vest that I STILL haven’t sewn together. My New Year’s resolution is to finally finish a few projects that have been hanging around my house. I love to knit SO MUCH. So much, that I avoid doing the little niggling finish work, like sewing the knit pieces together, sewing on buttons, felting, etc. You know – all the things that actually make a finished product. Well – this is my year to catch up with all that unfinished knitting.

My vest ONLY needs to be sewn together. And a crocheted edging added. And blocked. All the boring stuff.

Michele stopped by very briefly, but long enough for us to admire her finished mittens. The pattern she used makes a much more fitted mitten than the basic pattern I’ve used. Hers has definite left and right hands. My next pair of mittens will be like Michele’s. I tried them on and they felt great.

I love these mittens. They’d make a great stash project.

It was good to see Deb and Julie who came by in the midst of the excitement of the season. Deb’s son was just accepted into med school AND got engaged! Congratulations! Deb will have a wedding to go to this summer. Her other son is planning to do his student teaching here in Kalispell. Busy, busy. Julie’s kids are home for Christmas – Terra and her husband from Texas and Nate from Bozeman. Nate’s girlfriend just got a plum job offer as a nurse in a hospital’s oncology department. Good news abounds for Deb’s and Julie’s families.

I wish all the Castoffs and their families a very Merry Christmas and a wonder-filled 2013! We will not meet next week (Christmas week) but we’ll be together on Jan. 3 at Michele’s house. As I’m writing this, we have fresh snow on the ground and brilliant sunshine turning the snow to diamonds. Enjoy the warmth of the season, Castoffs, and I’ll see you all next year.

Merry Christmas to all!

We’re in the gray days of December in between rain and snow, but the Castoffs met at my house and were very sunny. We all have the Christmas spirit, working on gifts and thinking about the design for our Chair project (although it will probably take a back seat until after Christmas).

I served cheese and crackers, chips with a cranberry/chipotle chli dip, and those little frosted animal cookies with sprinkles. I had a bottle of Bogle Red and Linda came in with three partial bottles of various white wine. We always eat and drink well at our knitting meetings.

It’s always fun to knit and eat. Or is that eat and knit?

We have all been busy knitting gifts for Christmas presents. I am 1 for 2. I finished felted slippers for my sister-in-law but I’m not even close to finishing the afghan for my brother-in-law. I texted my Sis and asked if he knew that I was planning an afghan for him. No, she said. Whew! I said. The pressure’s off for another month or two. It is an easy pattern to knit in the evening.

Little ballerina slippers. Aren’t they cute?

Afghan to-be.

Leslie is finishing Mira’s Christmas stocking – adding pom-poms – so I got a better photo than the one from last week when I was Brandy Alexander impaired. She’s also making some felted slippers with a knitted flower on the toe. She hasn’t felted the flower yet. I love the colors that Leslie chooses. She has a much more evolved sense of color than I do.

Interesting color combinations. Nothing boring from Leslie.

Michele is knitting some fingerless mittens for her daughter, Erica. I’ve knit this pattern and it’s quick and very pretty with cables and picots. For a last minute gift, it looks like you put much more time and effort into it.

Mitten, mitten, who’s got the mitten? Oh yeah, Michele!

Michele’s also knitting some felted mittens for herself. I think I heard her say that she gave her other ones away. That happens a lot. We knit something that we’d love for ourselves, then we give it away. Oh, well. There’s always another pattern to knit and the pleasure is in the knitting, isn’t it?

Cool – I mean warm – mittens.

Carol is knitting another toy doggie but has only two legs so far. Our lovely hand model, Leslie, offered to show them off and stepped in, literally. I’m sorry that this is fuzzy, but the legs are teeny-tiny and I zoomed in too much. Darling, though! They really look like little doggie feet!

Ruff, ruff!

Mary was back from visiting her kids in Las Vegas. She had a lot of fun spoiling Aurora and she’ll get a chance next week to spoil both grandkids because they will be here during Christmas! Lucky grandma! She crocheted a little reindeer. It was supposed to be brown, but she thought it would be more appropriate in Christmas colors. We agree, Mary.

Not Rudolph, but adorable.

Mary also knit Aurora some little legwarmers with self-striping yarn. It’s amazing to me that yarn can do this. It seems more like magic than something that the yarn just does on its own. The only problem is that the stripes didn’t make the same pattern on both legs. Mary’s going to knit a third legwarmer and, depending on which one it looks like, she’ll have a pair. Weird, eh? The self-striping went a little awry.

Not quite a pair.

We finally got around to talking about the Chair. Linda has been experimenting with a line of circles that will go on the back of the chair. We discussed which size we preferred, chose a different color from our enormous stash and asked Linda to keep up the good work. Linda showed us which size circle will be best and she also showed us her new manicure – with a Christmas theme. Very pretty, Linda.

Nice knitting – nice nails!

Some of us will be in town next week, so we decided to go ahead and meet at Leslie’s house. Thanks, Leslie, for volunteering to host us. Until then, keep the Christmas spirit and keep those needles blazing, Castoffs!

HO!HO!HO! The Castoffs met at Linda’s newly refurbished condo to celebrate Christmas 2012. We all brought gifties to exchange, Linda made Brandy Alexanders, I brought my world-famous Gorgonzola cheeseball and a good time was had by all.

I must say – those Brandy Alexanders made some of us forget to take things away with us when we left. Someone forgot her purse… someone forgot her card with chocolate in it… and… well, I forget what else happened.

“Another Brandy Alexander?”

I must’ve taken this after a Brandy Alexander.

I must apologize to Leslie for the following fuzzy photo. She brought the three stockings – two that she made last year for Sienna and Ty and the one she just finished for Mira – and we loved them! The photo is blurry, but you can see the wonderful colors – so Leslie!

Mira’s stocking is on the far right.

Francy played with the video part of my camera and made a little video that showed all of us eating. That’s it. We were all chewing like cows and listening to Michele tell a story in the background until, halfway through, the sound stopped recording. Now that I can show video on the blog — I’m not sure I want to (!)  unless it’s how to knit a certain stitch, or unless there’s a baby visiting.

The most fun part of the night was our present exchange. We opened presents, took them away from each other, laughed and had a wonderful time. I was having too much fun to take a lot of photos, but I did get some of the gifts.

Here are the presents waiting by the hearth for our greedy little hands.

Looks like Santa’s coming

Some of us opened presents that were snatched away. Some of us begged for our presents to be snatched away.

Headless Santa!

‘Keep calm and carry yarn’ mug.

Knitted bar of soap – good exfoliater!

Cute little gnome.

Here is a photo of all our presents after the exchange. It was so much fun!

The LOOT!

We had to get a group photo, so Francy and I played around until she figured out how to put my camera on a timer. Gee, I really should read that manual, huh? We captured part of the TV that it was resting on, but we all look pretty darn good.

The Castoffs!

We missed Mary who was in Las Vegas playing with granddaughter Aurora and Joan who deserts us for the winter to go back home to Arizona. We all wish you both a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013!

We meet at my house next time. I’m badgering Lucky to put up the tree, but no promises. Until then, enjoy the snow and keep those needles blazing, Castoffs!

The Castoffs met at Julie’s house and it was her BIRTHDAY! And she didn’t tell anyone! But she baked her own cake, so WIN-WIN. We loved the cake – chocolate and heart-shaped. Here’s the recipe:

Happy Birthday to YOU, Jules!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

Instructions

• · Combine dry ingredients in large mixer bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into greased and floured 13″ x 9″ x 2″ pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes clean. Cool. (or bake in 2-8″ or 2-9″ pans and bake 30-35 minutes in 350 oven)

Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

Instructions

• · 1. Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. 2. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes 2 cups frosting.

 We got our new chair! It’s beautiful but we are rethinking how to yarnbomb it. The other chair was in bad shape (finishing was scratched and pitted, etc.) but this one is beautifully finished with unique details. It will take some different types of knitting to showcase the chair itself and not the knitting.

Our beautiful new library chair.

A couple of us are knitting hats. Deb’s is in a blue multi – here is the pattern of what it will look like:

With a little help from her friend.

Mary finished her hat that I mislabeled at the last meeting. It wasn’t for Larissa or a grandchild – it’s for MARY. She wanted a woollen hat so voila! Here it is. Very pretty pattern, Mary.

Great pattern.

Leslie is knitting a Christmas stocking for her granddaughter to match the ones that she made for Mira’s parents a year or two ago. She’s matched the colors really well, considering that some of the yarns she used on the other two has been discontinued.

Very modern Christmas stocking, Leslie.

Marylane is knitting a pair of felted slippers for Luke, her daughter’s boyfriend. Marylane knit some for Kendra last year but she and Luke fight over who wears them. Marylane is taking care of that issue.

They look pretty big now, but they’ll shrink.

Linda is back to her prayer shawl. She has been busy getting her condo repainted and remodeled. I can’t wait until this week when we go there for our Christmas party. Wow – can’t believe that it’s almost Christmas. Guess I should think about gifts and a tree.

Happy that the remodel is nearly over.

Michele wore a big fluffy scarf that she knitted. It’s very fun. She wanted to try to use the leftover yarn for our chair, but it needed to be untangled first.

Hey, Michele! Nice scarf. Looks warm.

As you can see, Castoffs, I’m still trying to get used to the new blog format. I’ll be working out the bugs for a while, but I’ll get better. Until I see you at Linda’s, have a happy week and keep those needles blazing. Ho, ho, ho!

We all gathered at Carol’s house this week because Linda was in the throes of painting! I can’t wait to see her new decor. We’ll do just that for our Christmas extravaganza on Dec. 6. But at Carol’s we enjoyed treats that Mary brought. Thanks, Mary!

I apologize in advance for the fuzziness of the photos. I’ve been trying to finish a novel this month for National Novel Writing Month and my brain is fuzzy from so much concentrating. Poor old thing just isn’t used to all that thinking, I guess. Anyway, when you look at the blog photos, squint a little. Honest to God, they’re really fuzzy.

Francy brought her top-down sweater with sparkly gold threads running through it. It’s a Christmas sweater for granddaughter Grace and it’s very fancy, Francy. Love it.

Sparkle, sparkle. Can’t you just see little Grace in this?

It’s hat season! Mary is knitting a couple of hats – I think, for her grandchildren Aurora and Moses. I knew I should have done the blog right after our meeting, but what with the writing and Thanksgiving and all – I didn’t. You’d think I could retain more after a week, but NOPE. The hats look cute anyway, Mary. And the TREATS!

Yummy treats and the beginning of a hat – courtesy of Mary.

Julie is knitting her hat for Cayla – son Nate’s girlfriend – and I’m afraid that Mary had an editorial comment about the Montana State Bobcats. Being a Griz fan has prejudiced her just a tad. With the virtue of hindsight (because I waited a week to post this blog) I can tell you that the Bobcats whupped the Griz in the big rivalry game. Sorry, Mary.

I think we’re equally split among fanship for the Griz and Bobcats.

The chair made an appearance and we were dutifully dressing it. Carol made it some lingerie…

Ooh, la, la. Lacy!

I made it a sunny headscarf…

For the back of the chair.

And it looks like Linda is making it some pasties…

Not really pasties…

Actually, what Linda is knitting for the chair are circles that will be joined together in a row. It’s going to look very cool and unusual. Here are the green tones that she’s pondering.

Pretty greens.

Here are some other ideas for dressing the chair. Linda knit the green leaf – not sure where it’s going, but we all loved the idea of leaves and circles. Mary knit the lacy piece on the right side.

Chair, chair – lots of ideas for the chair.

After Thanksgiving, some of us (Marylane, Leslie, Marsha and Julie) had the opportunity to look at some other chairs that the library released for the Fundraiser in March. We took a peek to see if we could find a chair with a better finish and voila! We found a fabulous chair with curved arms, more rungs under the seat and cool metal accents. We all agreed that it was a prettier chair and, although some of our pieces that have already been knitted may have to be changed a little, it will be well worth it. I can’t wait to see how everyone likes this new chair. We loved it. We’ll see it on Thursday at Julie’s house. None of us got a photo of it! It’ll be a wonderful surprise.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying our intermittent sunshine. We’ll be at Julie’s house this week, so until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and get ready – Christmas is coming!

Snow finally is supposed to be coming – not that I’m rushing it. We only had a light dusting as we headed to Marylane’s house. The worst thing about this time of year is that it gets dark so early. By the time we left at 5:30 night had come. We all talked about getting into our jammies right after supper and hunkering down for the night.

But I’m ahead of myself. Marylane had already hosted her book club this afternoon, so she had baked muffins and cake. Yum. She also baked us a savory dish of apples, onions and cheese on pie crust. It made a nice contrast to the sweets. Thanks, Marylane! I was so busy talking about the election results – YAY for our winning DEMOCRATS – that I didn’t get a photo of the food. I did have a glass of wine, however.

We are starting to plan more for the chair. Leslie brought the seat that Michele had finished and it is really beautiful. We’re thinking that the whole effect will be one of a flowering plant – earth and water at the bottom, vines and greenery going up to the poppy seat, then more colors reaching up to a yellow sun and blue sky. Of course, everything is negotiable, so we bandy around different ideas and dig through the stash to find just the right color and texture. Here are some of the ‘in progress’ shots – laying it out on the floor was easier than pinning and unpinning all the pieces on the chair.

The beautiful poppy seat under the sunny sky. A beginning.

“Would it look better here? Or over here?”

The stash is just above the knit pieces. A lot to choose from!

Carol was learning a lace pattern for a piece to put on the chair that would show the wood through the lace. I think it’s going to be pretty! Not sure where her piece will go, but we have time to decide.

“Look! I can stick my finger through the lace!”

Mary had crocheted some slippers to felt for her daughter-in-law, but something went strangely, horribly wrong. One slipper was about two inches longer than the other slipper. Mary isn’t sure what happened – wrong size needles? No. Different instructions? No. Oh, I know! She was so nervous about the outcome of the election, she knit one slipper much tighter than the other. TOO MUCH TENSION! I know, Mary, we were all biting our nails for a while. I think she’s going to felt them together and take out one before the other so they end up the same length. Not sure how it’s going to work, but she’ll let us know next week.

Are ya sure these aren’t for two different people?

Marylane finished a linen-stitch scarf that she started quite a while ago. I just love this stitch. I’ve used the linen stitch and the half-linen stitch and like the firmness of the completed project. Nice scarf, Marylane!

Marylane and her linen stitch scarf.

Julie’s son’s girlfriend, Cayla, just graduated from nursing school at Montana State (hope I got that right, Jules) so Julie is knitting her an MSU hat from the kits that Camas Creek Yarn Shop sells. Of course she took a lot of razzing from the Montana Grizzly fans in the room (yeah, I’m talking to you, Mary), but Marylane rushed to Julie’s defense. I’m sure Joan would have too, if she’d been here. Anyway, Julie is carrying colors on the wrong side and has to be careful not to pull the carried yarn too tight. It looks difficult. Great job, Julie.

Very cool MSU hat. Camas Creek has UM hat kits too.

Next time we meet at Linda’s house IF her painter is finished. If we don’t meet at Linda’s house, Plan B is to meet at Carol’s house with Francy bringing treats. Linda will let me know and I will let you all know. Sooo, the only thing I know for sure is that we WILL meet…somewhere.  Stay warm – it’s going to be a cold week until we meet again, then back to the balmy forties. Whoo-hoo! Keep those needles blazing, Castoffs and go buy your turkey.

It’s that time of autumn when the skies are mostly gloomy but the snow hasn’t fallen yet. I hope it doesn’t before Lucky and Eli get the leaves raked. The Castoffs met at Deb’s house, greeted at the door by Izzy, Deb’s Yorkie. She is so cute.

Izzy keeping her eye on all of us.

Deb served us a Kahlua Creme Pie – yummy – that we had at her house this summer. We have our favorites for knitting – this pie, the chocolate-peanut butter cake at Michele’s, the cranberry-cream cheese dip at Christmas. Are we creatures of habit? You betcha. As long as it’s tasty.

PIE!

Mary had been a busy bee. She knitted a pumpkin hat for Aurora – “Well, she can’t just have a witch’s hat from Gramma, can she? She can wear the pumpkin hat all fall!”  Yeah, yeah, any old excuse will do, eh Mary? She also found an interesting lace pattern that she did a test swatch on. We all liked it so much that we asked her to make a swatch in blue for the chair.  So, Castoffs! Bring any stash yarn that you have in a pretty, bright blue so Mary can knit  her swatch.

Mary’s work for the week.

Other than that, Mary wanted us to see her pedicure, so I obliged her and joined her with my old one. Looks like it’s time for me to get a new color! How about green?

Mary’s red and Marsha’s blue.

Linda made a couple of cowls in super chunky yarn. She said that they work up quickly and are an easy pattern. I bet they’re warm too.

Linda’s getting ready for winter. I like this pattern.

Francy started knitting a top-down sweater for granddaughter Grace using a cream colored yarn with gold thread running through it. Grace will sparkle like a little angel this Christmas. By the way, Francy says that the little bird in its nest was a big hit!

Sparkly!

Francy is also continuing knitting the skirt for Betsy. This photo makes it look much more purple than it really is, but the pattern shows up pretty well.

Betsy’s skirt.

Julie is knitting a shopping bag. She knit one a while ago that was too stretchy. When she started filling it, it got longer and longer. So, on this one, she is using smaller needles in hopes that it won’t stretch so much. Good luck, Jules.

Bag lady.

We worked quite a lot on making decisions for the Chair. Leslie pinned on the swatches – finished and un – and asked us our opinions which were varied and ranged from the logical to the whimsical. Some of us got our assignments for next week. I am beginning to see the possibilities in the vision. We’ll keep trying new ideas until we’re happy.

A look at the chair coming together.

Marylane, Leslie and Carol discuss options for the chair.

Sorry about the fuzziness – starting to come together though.

Marylane and Leslie examining the stash.

Next week we meet at Marylane’s house. Don’t forget to bring some blue wool for the chair from your stash. Enjoy our fall weather, Castoffs, and keep those needles blazing!

We Castoffs met at Carol’s house on a damp, cloudy day to begin work, in earnest, on the chair that we’re yarnbombing for the Library fundraiser that will take place in the spring. We brought our swatches, finished and un, to pin onto the chair so we could get an idea of what we wanted to do. Should it resemble a flower? With a poppy seat and greenery climbing up the sides? Should a lake be at the bottom, nurturing our little flower? Should we have a bright and beautiful sun orbiting across the back of the chair?

Who knows?  But we did make a start and bandy around a lot of good ideas and opinions. Here are some of the photos of the process, not necessarily in order.

Leslie recapping the discussion from a few weeks ago.

Closeup of the beautiful spiral seat that Michele is working on.

Slowly beginning to dress the limbs.

Different placement for existing swatches.

This project is going to be a lot of FUN. We all bring such different ideas to the meetings as well as a lot of enthusiasm. Some of us got homework assignments that we’ll try out for next time. Can’t wait to see how it ends up!

Other knitting was happening…

Carol finished her little knitted dog and of course, as irreverent as we are, we had to stage a photo op for the little fella.

Hold on there, little guy, this is a no-pee zone!

Hey, it’s all just grist for our ever-turning mills.  Carol was working on his little collar. She wants to attach a little name tag to it and give it to her son and his family who just lost their doggie. Aaww. How sweet. She’s knitting another one for her other son.

A collar for Fido.

Thanks to Carol for hosting and to Mary for bringing the treats. Cheese and crackers, veggies and dip and sinfully delicious blueberries dipped in dark chocolate.  Yum. It was tasty.

Treats! Thanks, Mary and Carol.

Linda had finished the colorful hats for her friend’s little boys and was back to knitting her prayer shawl. Such a pretty color, Linda. I like it.

Linda and her prayer shawl.

Marylane was working on her swatch for the chair using an interesting stitch pattern. I’ll be eager to see what it looks like next week.

Marylane in deep concentration.

Julie is knitting a swatch for the chair from one of my favorite dishcloth patterns. And not just dishcloths! Leslie used this pattern to knit a rug for her guest bathroom. Very striking. It’ll look great on the chair.

Great pattern, great colors.

Leslie was knitting a pair of fingerless mitts, propelled by the cold temperature in the writing lab at the middle school. We asked if she was really going to keep them for herself.

“Well, if I bond with them, I’ll keep them. If not, they’ll be a Christmas gift.”

We get it, Leslie. We’ve all made such ‘personalized’ Christmas gifts ourselves.

Very cool random box pattern.

Next week we’ll meet at Deb’s house. We haven’t seen Deb in a couple of weeks, so it’ll be great to see her. Don’t forget to bring your chair swatches or homework assignment. Mine is going more slowly than I thought it would, but maybe that’s a good thing. If nobody loves it, I can rip out less yarn. Yeah, let’s look on the bright side.

Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and stay dry. It’s rainy out there. Keep a good thought in your hearts for our countrymen and women being pounded by Hurricane Sandy.

We Castoffs had a Babypalooza at our meeting at Michele’s house. When I got there, Lisa and her sister Lynn (visiting from Alaska) were there with Lisa’s granddaughter Greta. I hardly recognized Gretta – she has grown so much! She’s nine months old now and crawling and squealing. She’s adorable.

Greta Grace! My, how you’ve grown!

It was great to see Lynn again. She came down to see Mom who’s been under the weather. I love when sisters get together – maybe because I don’t have one. Envious!

Sisters – Lynn and Lisa.

It was good to see Erica, Michele’s daughter, looking so well. She’s living here while she goes to school locally. She was off to cadaver class! Yup. That’s what I said. Erica paused to say bye to Marylane on her way out. Erica and Michele had hiked in the snow to Mt. Aeneas earlier. Soon it’ll be too snowy to find the trail. Winter is coming.

Marylane had hike-envy.

Leslie and her daughter Sienna came in with the incredible giggling granddaughter, Mira. This was Mira’s first appearance at a Castoff’s meeting and she is adorable. She was wearing the sweater that Leslie had knit for her recently and it was very cute. We all gathered around her and she started laughing and giggling and delighted us all – especially her grandma whose BIRTHDAY WAS TODAY!  Happy Birthday, Leslie! I didn’t even get a photo of you and your delicious cake that Michele baked…too many babies to pay attention, even to the birthday girl.

Such a delightful little girl! Mira!

Of course the baby girls were fascinated with each other. Why is it that babies are so interested in other babies? Size? Curiosity? Just can’t believe that there’s another little person in a world of giants? Whatever the reason, it’s always fun to see the look on their little faces when they recognize one of their own generation.

Well, they don’t pay attention to each other ALL the time. Short attention spans, I guess.

Oddly enough, some of us did bring knitting to the meeting. Huh, imagine that. We didn’t know that it was baby day. Francy was knitting a cardigan for her granddaughter, Grace, who she is going to visit later in the week. There are a lot of granddaughters in this group, aren’t there? Grace is a toddler now – a big girl.  We all can’t wait to see how much she’s changed when she comes back for a visit.

Francy holding Grace’s cardie.

Julie was knitting a sweater for a friend’s baby. She dug around in her knitting bag and came up with yet ANOTHER baby sweater that she gave to Greta.

“Who did you knit that for?” -Lisa

“Uh, I forgot, but it looks like it would fit Greta.” – Julie

And it did – perfectly!

Greta got a new sweater! She’s happy!

Julie’s other gift sweater for a baby. Is she getting prepared for a grandchild?

Linda is making good headway (no pun intended) on the hat for her friend’s son. She already made a similar one for the brother. I really like this pattern. Linda just saw an episode of Knitting Daily on PBS that showed how to carry yarn in a multi-color pattern. She’s trying to use it for this hat. Sometimes the carried yarn is too tight on the wrong side – I know because I’ve made that mistake – so any advice is useful if you’re knitting a Fair Isle-like pattern.

Colorful hat, Linda!

I started a sweater that’s knit from cuff to midpoint – on both sides – then joined with a three needle bind-off. I SHOULD be finishing my sister-in-law’s slippers, or that blue vest that I started last spring, or my brother’s alligator…hmm. Almost forgot about the alligator.  Anyway, I’d rather knit than finish stuff. Maybe this week I’ll change my ways.  Hah.

My sweater – well, the cuff of one sleeve.

Next week we’ll meet at Carol’s house. The leaves are falling and the weatherman is predicting that snow will be falling this week, too! Gulp. Not sure I’m ready for snow, but it’s coming anyway. Castoffs, have a great week and keep those needles blazing. Stay warm!

We met on a beautiful Indian summer day at Julie’s house. The leaves were falling and the little birdies were eating their fill for a long winter. I know this because I parked under a tree in Julie’s driveway and needed a car wash after I left.  Julie served us yummy homemade artichoke/spinach dip with crackers and a delicious raspberry-shortbread dessert. Thanks, Jules!

Glad Julie had the day off to make us these delicious snacks.

Julie had finished the afghan that she started…oh, a while ago…for her in-laws. She knit it out of a bulky Malabrigo yarn that was very soft, and she knit it in a modified box pattern. Very pretty.

Beautiful pattern, Julie.

Closeup of the pattern.

It must be nearly winter – almost everyone brought a project to knit. Well, Mary and Deb didn’t, but they left early along with Marylane to march in a demonstration for education and union against that snake, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. He was in town to stump for local Republicans. I’m so proud of our local teachers for taking a stand. Thank you, Educators!

Marylane was working on a familiar project. She had started a sweater vest last spring and ripped it out – in frustration? Not sure. Anyway, she is re-knitting it using leftover yarn from her stash. I still think it’s very pretty.

Very pretty, Marylane! And isn’t Carol intent?

Speaking of Carol, she is knitting animals now.  No, really, she’s knitting little dogs that are adorable. I snapped a photo of the doggie pieces and the pattern picture, just in case you don’t believe me. These are tiny doggies, but cute.

Wow! Small legs.

I’ve knitted all the pieces for my sister-in-law’s slippers, now I just have to sew them together. I can just see Leslie and Michele shaking their heads. They didn’t knit these slippers because they didn’t want to sew them together. Well – here goes. I texted my Sis and asked her to trace her feet so I can have a guide when I felt the slippers. Knitting the pieces was the easy part, but I didn’t want to learn to crochet, Leslie and Michele!

Looks funny now, but just you wait!

Julie is working on a top-down sweater for the baby of a co-worker at the library. This is a great pattern that a lot of us have used in several sizes – women’s, men’s, children and babies.  It’s attractive and pretty much a no-brainer.

Great color for the modern baby. Mary is stoking up for the march.

Linda finished her winter hat while we were all together. She braided the ties and it looks very colorful. They won’t lose that little boy in the snow! Before she left, she cast on the next hat for the brother. Busy, busy. Looks great, Linda.

Viola! a hat!

That did it for another fun Castoffs meeting. Next time we’ll meet at Michele’s house. Rain is predicted, so bundle up, Castoffs and don’t catch a cold. Wait until the snow flies so you can sniffle while you look outside at the gorgeous weather.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I still have lots of leaves to rake first. Oh, boy…Keep those needles blazing and have a great week.