On a VERY hot day, the Castoffs met on Julie’s patio, sat in the shade of big umbrellas and, uh, cast off all notion of knitting. Not a stitch was stitched. Not a knit was knit. Not a purl was purled.  Instead we sat inert, rousing ourselves only to sip wine and eat Julie’s deicious homemade ice cream. Oh. My. God.  It was excellent!

Best ice cream I’ve ever had, Julie.

Francy came riding in on her new hobby horse. Not really, but she could’ve. She showed off the hobby horse that she made for her granddaughter, Grace, who will be staying at her house (with Francy’s daughter Betsy, of course) for FOUR WEEKS.  Francy is over the moon to have them for such a nice long visit. The horse turned out so cute and, although Francy didn’t say, I’m sure that Grandpa Harry made the stick.

Grace will love this stick horse!

Francy was soliciting advice about how to make the reins. Finally Deb showed up and told her. I guess none of the Castoffs ride much.

Linda is excited about her son’s visit this week and, out of respect, we are cancelling Mojito Monday next week. That’s quite a sacrifice, ya know. We’re all moms, so we get it.

Deb and Linda in the shade of the giant umbrella.

Carol came by for a little while to update us on her son, Duncan’s, new job in Flagstaff. Carol is so happy to know that he will be closer than Alaska. Not to mention a lot warmer!  Carol will be able to see her granddaughter Mabel and the new baby who is due in a couple of months. Carol had just slammed her finger in a door (OUCH) so she was carrying around an icebag. She looks happy though, doesn’t she? Well, she IS a newlywed.

Julie is admiring Carol’s modelling skill in spite of her finger injury.

I took out my entre-lac scarf that I am slowly knitting. I love the way Noro yarn blends their colors. It’s going to look great when it’s finished. I might have to buy a new coat to match it! My husband didn’t seem too surprised when I told him my plan.

Beautiful colors and I love the pattern!

After a little more lackidaisical chatter about summer plans, hikes and family stuff, we decided it was just too damn hot to continue on. Mary and I were sitting on a rocking chaise and as the sun crept closer to me on one side, I kept inching closer to Mary on the other. We decided it was too hot for me to crawl up onto her lap, so we called it an afternoon.

Next week we meet at Leslie’s house where we look forward to seeing photos of her new granddaughter, Mira. Maybe it’ll be cooler then…right.  Until then, Castoffs, stay out of the blazing heat and at least think about using those needles.

The Castoffs met on a VERY hot day at Linda’s cool condo. Mary and I came in together as Linda was adjusting the shades on her living room window to keep out the heat, and to block the blinding whiteness of her sunbathing neighbor. He was beached on his patio and wiped the sweat continuously. Ugh. Yeah, let’s adjust that shade.

Linda served us beautiful cheeses with baguette slices, chips and salsa and candy-coated sunflower seeds.  Everything was yummy.

Ah, summer treats.

Linda also served one of my favorite red wines – Simply Naked Unoaked Reds. She also had lemonade and iced tea, but I made a beeline for the wine.

Pretty!

Francy brought her daughter-in-law Heidi who was the only one who knitted. Go figure. She thought we were there to knit! Ha. Well, we do knit too. I pulled my knitting out of the bag, at least. Heidi is knitting a tunic-type sweater from a pattern that she got online from a company named quince & co. She loves the patterns from this company and found this particular one on Ravalry.

Not real easy to see, but it was beautiful.

The stitch is a row of rib knitting followed by straight knit stitches. It gives the appearance of an interrupted, twisted rib stitch. Very interesting.

Deb is still having an issue with her lavender sweater. She wants to have something around the neck, but isn’t sure if she wants the i-cord that the pattern calls for. We got a view of it and gave our 2 cents’ worth, of course.

Halloo! I’m a model!

Wonderful detail on this pattern!

To prove that I brought knitting, I pulled it out for a photo. This is an entre-lac pattern scarf using Noro yarn.  I love the pattern but the yarn is drying out my hands. At least it will be warm in the winter. I really do like this interesting pattern using short rows.

Entre-lac pattern with Noro.

Linda showed us her gorgeous mother-of-the-groom dress that she’ll wear at her son’s wedding in August. It is stunning – silvery taupe with a lace overblouse. We loved it, Linda!

We loved the mom-of-the-groom dress.

I looked around at one point and nobody was attempting to knit.  It’s just too damn hot to knit, I guess. I have to say that I knit a lot more in winter when I’m held captive inside by the cold weather. Summers in Kalispell are too short and wonderful to stay in and knit. Of course, taking the knitting outside is an option and one that we’ll explore when we discuss a Castoffs Road Trip.  Next time that will be on our agenda.

Not much knitting going on here, Castoffs!

We want to send a big Congratulations to Carol who married her sweetie, Mark. We got a card together for them with some surprises inside. Best wishes to you both, Carol and Mark!

Thanks, Francy, for being our artistic guru. It’s very pretty.

Next time we’ll meet at Julie’s house, hopefully on her new patio. We heard all about laying down the pavers, so now we need to see it. In the meantime, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the summer!

Summer is finally here and, boy, are we happy to see the sunshine. We gathered at Marylane’s house and admired her beautiful garden and yard. Marylane and her husband Dick are gardeners extraordinaire!

Marylane’s big garden.

The rest of Marylane’s back yard and part of the deck.

Marylane picked some pretty lettuce from her garden and arranged it around a bowl of tabouleh for some lettuce wraps. Topped it off with hummus and pita triangles. Yummy!

A summery treat.

Michele and Leslie are knitting the same cowl in different colors, but both are stunning. They are using a lace pattern with a beaded lace inset. So beautiful. Michele knitted hers as a gift for her sister. I know she’ll love it.

The lovely soft cowl.

A better look at the beaded portion of the cowl.

Leslie is knitting her cowl as a gift for her daughter, who is about to deliver her first child at any moment! Wow. Leslie thought at first that she would knit the scarf while Sienna is in labor, but after thinking about the stress involved with waiting for her new granddaughter, Leslie isn’t so sure she wants to be knitting an intricate beaded pattern just then. Can’t say that I blame her.

This shows the beaded part of Leslie’s cowl.

Another view of Leslie’s cowl.

Leslie is using her grandmother’s teeny tiny crochet hook to put the beads on the yarn. It is really VERY small. But it’s better than stringing all of them on the yarn before you start, which is the only way I knew about. I might have to try that method.

Michele was knitting a bi-colored sweater. She ordered the yarn online from Knitpicks (I think) and wasn’t as pleased with the trim color as she had been when she viewed it on the website. We all liked it.

Michele’s sweater.

I think she thought the edging yarn would be more burgundy and less brown, but I think these colors will do nicely.

Michele’s friend Betsy was visiting from Oregon, so she brought her along. Betsy had joined us a couple of years ago while visiting Michele and brought along the same project that she was working on then. She isn’t a knitter ordinarily, but she was knitting away on her poncho. Good to see you again, Betsy!

Betsy showing Marylane her poncho-in-progress.

Francy’s husband Harry joined us for a while, but when Lisa appeared, Harry went to her house to talk to Lisa’s husband. Guess Harry just wasn’t as enthralled with our knitting projects as we are! That’s okay because we were all interested in seeing little Greta Grace. Especially Marylane. When Lisa’s daughter-in-law asked what day Lisa wanted to babysit, Lisa thought of the Castoffs and said Thursday. Thanks, Lisa. We need a baby boost.

It’s GRETA!

We talked about the chair, of course. Julie brought an interesting pattern for the seat that is a pattern of circular I-cords joined in a spiral. Julie took some yarn and is going to knit a practice gauge for us to see next time. We were all excited about that kind of seat because it looked more substantial and less stretchy than the chevron seat that we liked last week. It’ll all come together eventually and the fun will be in the planning.

I decided to use some Noro yarn that I had in my stash to learn a new technique. The pattern is an entre-lac design that uses short rows to make a series of diagonal squares. It’s an interesting design and once I mastered the pattern, I like knitting the interlocking rows. Noro makes the scarf more interesting because it is a self-striping wool. Sometimes it’s good to try something new.

My Noro Entre-lac scarf.

Next week we meet at Linda’s house. Sounds like it’s going to be a hot, hot week in the 90’s so stay cool, Castoffs. Hope those blazing needles don’t set your yarn on fire!

A small group of us met out at Francy’s house on the lake. Linda and I drove out together and Marylane and Joan brought Lisa and little Greta Grace, who made a happy addition. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and we couldn’t have been in a more idyllic setting.

Ashley Lake and Francy’s dock from the upper deck. Gorgeous!

Francy made enchiladas and served them with chips, dip, veggie plate and some of the best mustard/horseradish dip that I’ve had in a while. We ate and drank well. Thank you, Francy! We sat in the sun to eat until we got too warm, then moved around the house to the shade. It was a rather lazy sort of day, following the sun which has been such a rarity for us this spring and summer.

Joan contemplating the meaning of pretzels.

Wonderful food!

We look stunned by the bright sunshine!

As soon as Marylane finished eating, she snatched up Greta to get her Grandma fix. What a beautiful baby Greta is! I have to admit that we were all pretty taken with her smiles.

Marylane and Greta communing in the great outdoors.

Lisa and her darling granddaughter.

You might have noticed that I haven’t mentioned knitting once. Well…there’s a good reason for that – nobody knit a stitch! We did, however, pull out some of the yarn that Marylane brought to compare colors for the yarnbomb chair that we’re planning for the ‘Loud at the Library’ fundraiser in the spring of 2013. We’ll get a lot more done on the chair-planning when more of us are together.

A whole lot of yarn. Marylane sorted it by color and type.

We threw ideas around about the chair. Should we make the seat a double thickness? Should we ask Francy’s daughter to make beads to embellish the bottom rung? Should we only use wool? Of course, we had few answers to our questions, but it was fun to sit on Francy’s deck with the summer stretching before us when the possibilities seem endless. It was a wonderful afternoon and we missed our sisters.

Next week we meet at Marylane’s house where, hopefully, we can sit on HER deck and look at her beautiful garden and make more plans for the summer. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing (if you can in this wonderful weather – I have a problem staying inside and knitting when the sun shines) and have a great 4th of July!

Aaah! Finally summer.

On a beautiful summer day, finally, the Castoffs came to Marsha’s house and sat in the shade of a huge cottonwood tree. It was so peaceful (except for the screams of the neighborhood children) and we sat and feasted and had a good time.

Talking, eating and drinking. Yay! Summer’s here!

Carol was getting married the next day…MARRIED THE NEXT DAY! She told us that she had had a meltdown the day before, but she looked pretty cool and collected to us. Best Wishes to Carol and Mark!

The bride-to-be sitting next to the grandmother-to-be. No relation.

Leslie is knitting a portable, beaded scarf that she plans to work on while her daughter, Sienna, is in labor. It’s a beautiful lace pattern that, unfortunately, will show spit-up, so Sienna will have to wear it away from Mira.

A special scarf to remind her of a special time.

Francy is kniting a slouchy hat for little Grace. She found a great pamphlet full of slouchy patterns. They look fun to make. And Grace will be very cute in this hat.

Pink slouch hat and pattern.

Francy joined me inside my very large cowl. It wraps around me twice and thrice – and around two people once. I love how soft it is, but I kinda wish I’d made it smaller and wider.

Once!

Twice!

Thrice!

It’s time to start working on our yarnbombed chair for the “Loud at the Library” auction and fundraiser next spring. Francy brought the chair and some of us brought various yarns from our yarn stashes. I spread out a quilt so we’d have lots of room to CREATE!

Yarn? Check!  Chair? Check!  Horse head? Check!  Wait, horse head?

Uh, Michele and Francy and Leslie were secondhand store-hopping last week and Francy found an antique hobby horse that caught her eye. Michele convinced Francy to borrow the horse that Michele had made for her daughter Erica. Long story short – Michele dropped off the horse head for me to give to Francy. He made a nice addition to our group.

And the horse ya rode in on…

Leslie, our resident Color Nazi, or CN as we affectionately call her, got right down there on her knees on the blanket and started sorting the yarn by color and tone.  It was amazing to see. She quickly discarded about one third of the yarns and kept similar types and weights. Before we all left, we had decided to knit a chevron pattern for the seat out of neutrals with pops of color. Our assignment for next week is to investigate different chevron patterns and to bring any neutral yarns that we still have in our stashes. Black, brown, tan, white, gray – whatever neutrals you may have – wool is preferable.

A knitter in yarn heaven.

Next week we are invited to Francy’s house for lunch. Ah, lunch at the lake. Always a treat. We’ll meet at Albertson’s to carpool out to Francy’s so we’ll be there at noon. If summer is here, can a Castoffs road trip be far behind? We’ll discuss it at Francy’s. Until then, keep those needles blazing, Castoffs, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

We trekked out to Mary’s house on the lake in three separate cars. Julie and I walked into Mary’s beautiful house with its stunning view of the lake. Too bad the day was so windy or we could have sat out on the deck and watched the birds and boats.  It was a lot of fun from the inside, though.

Beautiful day but windy!

The BIG NEWS of the day came from Carol who just got back from Ireland with her sweetie Mark. Mark proposed in a very romantic spot on the Irish coast and CAROL SAID YES! They’re getting married next week.  Well, why wait when you’re in love? We all screamed so much when she showed us her gorgeous ring that I was hoarse for the rest of the day. We wish you fun, happiness and eternal love, Carol.

An Irish proposal! How romantic!

We’ve had lots of grandbabies in the Castoffs circle, but this is our first bride (that isn’t a daughter!). Carol told us all about the trip and the Irish lace wedding dress that she is borrowing from her Irish friend. We are so happy for her.

Well. There’s no topping that news. Mary is waiting for her granddaughter to be born in July. In the meantime she is headed for Denver to see her little grandson Moses. When the call comes from Larissa, she’s out of there like a shot on the way to Phoenix. She ran out of pale yellow yarn for the hooded blanket, but had some brighter yellow, so she used that for the head. We love it and think it looks better than all pale. It’ll probably look cuter on the baby, but Mary modelled it for us.

Quack, quack.

Mary served us yummy rollups, brownies and crackers and dip. And Cupcake merlot (or was it Cabernet?). Good whatever it was. Thanks, Mary!

We Castoffs eat and drink well.

Leslie was stringing very cute ribbon into the tops of Grace’s fruit cozies. These would be great for little treasure bags for a girl, too!

She decided not to make a banana cozy…

Linda has a wedding coming up. Her son Ian is getting married this summer in Colorado. Linda told us about her mother-of-the-groom dress that she bought in Spokane. It sounds beautiful – silver, lacy and shimmery. We need to see a photo, Linda! Or you can show it to us when we meet next at your house.

Linda’s looking pretty happy to be gettng a daughter-in-law!

Julie brought the socks that she’s knitting – looks like she’s almost done. It seems like everyone has smaller projects for summer.

Socks!

Michele showed me a cowl pattern and pretty yarn but in the confusion of Carol’s great news and our scheduling hubbub, I forgot to find out if Michele or Leslie are knitting the cowl. Guess I’ll find out next time. Pretty yarn though.

Yarn for a cowl.

Speaking of, I’m nearly finished with my cowl. I was toying with the idea of using another skein of yarn and making it twice as wide, but my knitter buddies gave me the pros and cons and I decided to stop with 100 grams.

I can wrap it around my neck three times. It’s so soft!

We had a big to-do about redoing our schedules for the summer. It took us a lot of time and discussion and we all whipped out our personal calendars to make the changes. Michele is taking an online class that happens to be available at the exact time of our meeting. What nerve! We had to get everything down in case she won’t be here to tell us where to go. Well, SOMEBODY has to tell us where to go…at least once in a while just to keep us in order.  Leslie got a kick out of those of us who were busily noting the dates. Glad she was amused. I was just trying to key everything into my phone.

Michele is the keeper of the calendar. It’s a full time job.

I just wanted to get it all into my phone.

Mary was just a blur – she whipped out her calendar so fast.

I got a peek over Francy’s and Linda’s shoulders as they knitted their respective projects – Linda is still working on her green lace scarf and Francy is working on her sweater. The yarns are such a similar color, aren’t they? This photo shows the food, the knitting, the sunshine outside – it’s a perfect picture of what we do every week.

Knitting, food and talk. That’s the Castoffs!

Next week we’ll be here at Marsha’s house. I’m hoping that the weather will be nice enough to sit outside in the yard. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, keep those needles blazing and mind the thunderstorms.

We caught a break in the incessant rain and were able to sit on Michele’s lovely, flower-filled deck in the rare sunshine. Michele is out of school for the summer and she put together a delicious selection of snacks.  YUM. She had a beautiful veggie platter with dip, yogurt covered pretzels, a refreshing summer drink and curried toast (topped with cheeses and red pepper slices) that was wonderful. I think Michele is celebrating summer by feeding her friends. Well, her friends appreciate it. Thanks, Michele!

Almost too pretty to eat!

We didn’t let ‘too pretty’ stop us here. This is the second platter!

I don’t think Julie brought anything to knit. She had just come from Kalispell Medical with a new – uh – pleasuring stick. That’s not as dirty as it sounds. This is a rod with knobs on it that you use to massage your pressure points. Hey, maybe it IS as dirty as it sounds. Anyway, Julie demonstrated how it works and it looked quite wonderful.

Maybe we all should get one…

Lisa listened intently to the explanation.

Lisa was there and she brought her incredibly beautiful granddaughter for a visit. Now that summer is here, Lisa will be babysitting little Greta Grace every Thursday and we hope that they will be regulars.  There are a lot of grandmas in the group who are gaga over babies.  It’s just that time of life for a lot of us.

Beautiful Greta!

Marylane was able to join us. We hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks and we’ve missed her! She ripped out her beautiful striped vest – there’s a lot of that going around – and decided to use one strand of yarn instead of two. It was too thick. Joan jumped right on a SOCKOLOGY pattern from the book she saw last time, bought some socks and had the pattern pieces pinned on for cutting. She’s going to make a stuffed bear out of brown patterned socks. Looks adorable and NO KNITTING! Or purling.

Joan and Marylane sittin’ in the sun.

Joan cutting out her sock bear pieces.

Francy had ripped out her sweater and showed us how far she’d gotten on the newest project. It’s going to be a coat sweater for herself. Glad to see that she’s knitting something for Francy.

Francy – more intent on conversation than knitting. Aren’t we all?

I finally finished the scarf for my friend Michelle and it’s a beauty. I have to wait for a couple of weeks to give it to her so I’ll show her this photo for now.  You’re gonna love it, Michelle!

Marsha modeling Michelle’s scarf.

Mary and Deb were busily knitting, knitting, knitting. Mary is close to being finished with her sock. I didn’t get an update on the hooded towel, but I’m thinking  it was very nearly done as well.

One of these days, they’ll be on her feet. Maybe.

Wow – busy knitters.

I did a double take when I looked over at Deb.  Like a lot of us, eyesight is problematic. Add bright sunlight and it’s even worse. Deb took care of that but it looked kinda funny…

I have the same problem at 3D movies.

Whatever glasses arrangement she has, her vest is turning out beautifully. Deb at first made the attached I-cord edges around the sleeves, but didn’t like them so she ripped them out and went back to a stockinette rolled edge. We all liked it better that way too. She is going to add the I-cord edging to the bottom of the vest though.

I bet she’ll wear it next time we see her.

I’m knitting a cowl with merino superwash sock yarn and inadvertantly twisted the first row.  It’s going to be a mobious cowl, but the more I think about it, the more I’m okay with that.  No ripping out for this gal.  At least not on this project.

Mobius cowl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Next week we’re taking a mini-road trip to Mary’s house on the lake. Fingers crossed that it’s not raining and that we can sit out on her lovely deck overlooking Flathead Lake.  I would love to see a clear sky and mountains. We’ll see.

I’ll leave you all with the quintessential photo of a Castoffs meeting. Food, drink, flowers on the deck and knitting piled on the floor. We have so much fun. Keep those needles blazing until next time, Castoffs. You’ll need the heat to keep you warm in this cold June weather.

We enjoyed pretending that summer was here – for an hour or two.

The Castoffs met on a rainy day, the final day in May.  Hard to believe that the end of school is only three week days away!  Can’t come soon enough for the teachers in our group who are beaming with relief and joy.  Thanks for hosting, Deb!  We know it’s frazzle time at school.

Francy told us that she had ripped out BOTH of the sweater projects that she was knitting.  Just not happy with the look of them, I guess.  She has started a coat-jacket for herself though, although in true Francy style, she is changing the pattern some.  Instead of stockinette stitch, she is going to do all garter stitch.  Why?  She is taking a page from Joan’s book, I guess, and dispensing with purling.  You go, Francy!  Joan is making converts left and right.  Well, left anyway.

Look at her! She is so happy to be only knitting!

Speaking of Joan…she came alone – Marylane was at a library meeting – and showed us her very long scarf.  “What are you going to do with it?  It’s getting pretty long.”  We all wondered if this scarf would ever have an end.  Joan just says she’ll keep going until she runs out of yarn.  Knit, knit, knit.  She was busy looking at a book that Michele brought.  It was called SOCKOLOGY and didn’t involve any knitting whatsoever – that pleased and interested Joan.  It was a book that required you to BUY socks and then make them into cute little animals for babies and kiddies.  Someone suggested that Joan could knit the socks first and THEN use them to make little toys, but that didn’t fly with our Joanie.

Hey, sock toys that you don’t have to knit. OKAY!

Mary is flying along with her hooded towel for Larissa’s baby.  She only has until the first of July, so she wants it to be finished when she hurries down to see that new grandchild.  Knit, knit, knit, Mary!

Madly working on the towel!

Michele is knitting a sweater for Leslie’s granddaughter-to-be-born-in-the-summer Mira.  She’s using a top down sweater pattern and hand-dyed multicolored yarn.  So cute.  I took a photo at the beginning of the meeting and by the end, she had a recognizable sweater.  Super fast pattern AND super fast knitter.

The start of Mira’s sweater.

And in the blink of an eye – a sweater! Or… half a sweater.

Leslie continues to knit fruit cozies for her granddaughter Grace.  Joan was a little puzzled about the whole concept of putting fruit in a knitted garment.  Me, too Joan.  But Grace can use them for her little treasures long after the fruit has been eaten.

One for an apple and one for an orange.

Deb is nearing the end of her vest and had a question for us.  The pattern calls for picking up and knitting an I-cord for the bottom edge and sleeve edges and Deb wanted to know what we thought of knitting a stockinette stitch edging.  We went back and forth and finally Deb decided to stick with the pattern.  I had never heard of attaching an I-cord as an edging and I’m curious to see how it turns out.

Do ya like purple, Deb?

We missed those Castoffs who were absent – and we send good wishes to Carol in Ireland.  Wow.  Wish we could all go on that road trip!    Next week we meet at Michele’s house and since school is out she told us to come on over at 3:00 instead of 4:00.  I think Julie is the only one working in the summer this year.  We’re so sorry, Jules.  C’mon over when you can.  We’ll still be there knitting and talking and enjoying the (hopefully) sunshine.

In the meantime, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the first days of June!

We met at Carol’s house on a rainy day.  Of course, rain is forecast for the entire Memorial Day weekend.  As usual.  Nevertheless, the Castoffs took it in stride and shared our knitting projects and plans.  Carol’s kitty was desperate for cuddles and tried to climb on everyone’s lap regardless of the yarn.  Needless to say, no one was very receptive until Francy finally took pity on LK – Little Kitty.

Aww, Little Kitty found a home on Francy’s skirt that she’s knitting for Betsy.

The skirt is pretty cool – it’s a pattern that Michele has used a couple of times and it’ll look great on Betsy.  Love the color.  Love the striped socks and toes, too.

Little skirt – it’ll get bigger.

Francy was concerned that she had goofed on the lacy bottom part, but our resident expert, Michele, wasn’t here.  She had a meeting.  Funny how work can interfere with the important things in life – like knitting.

A closer look at the bottom that wants to curl up. Blocking should take care of that, right?

Carol was still working on her baby towel and protested against any more photos. “I’ve only knit about an INCH since last week.  Don’t take another picture!”  Of course, I did.  Can’t resist taking a photo of Carol who is leaving for Ireland in a week!  Woohoo!  She’s planning to finish the towel on the trip.

Faith and begorrah. She’s leaving for the old country.

Mary’s picking up steam on HER towel for Larissa’s baby.  This one is going to have a chicken head instead of a duck head.  Yep.  We’re surrounding the next generation with farm animals.

Here’s another one almost like the other one. Cluck, cluck.

Now here is Leslie’s farm animal, the soft and cuddly lamb.  He is very adorable and is wearing the sweater she knit him.

Happy grammy.

Francy diverged a little with the bear that she bought in Germany.  She knit a sweater for it using a baby pattern that Leslie had used for her granddaughter, Mira.  So cute!  Grace, Francy’s granddaughter, will love to put all her treasures in it.

This sweater is adorable, Francy!

Leslie has a granddaughter named Grace also, and is knitting – wait for it – fruit cozies.  Yeah, I’d never heard of them either, but she has patterns and everything.  Grace will be taking her lunch to school soon and she can stash her apples and such in cute little cozies.  To keep the fruit warm?  Cool?  Private?  I don’t know.

Pattern and beginning of the Apple Cozy.

By the end of our meeting, Leslie had a partial cozy made.  Carol found an artificial apple to model and ‘voila!’ we had a fruit cozy.  Go figure.  I looked up the spelling of cozy online and found out that in Britain it’s spelled ‘cosy’ but in America it’s spelled ‘cozy.’  We are definitely in America, so cozy it is!  It’s amazing what you find out at the Castoffs meetings.

By golly, it’s an apple cozy!

Linda has started her search for a mother-of-the-groom dress for her son’s wedding this summer.  So far, the search has turned up nada – zilch – zero.  But she brought us a brochure from one of the stores that she shopped in and we all got a good laugh out of the photos.  Holy catfish, preacher!  What will you do when you see this coming down the aisle?

Good god, it’s a Mother-of-the-hooker Dress. Yeah, Linda. Go Baby, GO!

Linda will continue her search, I hope.

Julie and Deb were sitting by the fireplace with their toes sticking out.  The calendar says it’s nearly June, but the weather outside feels more like March.  But hey, we’re gonna wear our sandals anyway!  Or go barefoot.

Frostbite, anyone?

Julie was starting a cotton rug for the bathroom in a pretty blue.  That sounds like a great idea.  I should do that.  Oh yeah.  This was supposed to be the month of finishing projects, wasn’t it?

Hey, I need a new rug, Jules!

Instead of finishing a project or two, I started a linen-stitch cowl using merino sock yarn.  It called to me and I couldn’t say no.  And anyway, the month isn’t over yet. I’ve got three days, haven’t I?

My cowl. Mindless knitting and when I’m finished, I don’t have to assemble anything!

I don’t know where Joan and Marylane were, but we sure missed them.  I hope to see them next week at Deb’s house.  Bon Voyage, Carol!  Have fun in Ireland and drink a Guiness for each of us…but not all at the same time.  Until next time, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and take this opportunity in the rainy season to learn the backstroke.

The Castoffs met at Joan’s house.  Yay!  Joan’s back for the summer!  Mary was doubly glad because she wasn’t around the last two times we met at Joan’s.  Joan made cute little cupcakes with lemon icing and gave us pretzels with a wonderful cream cheese dip.  Yummy!

Great snacks, Joan! Thanks.

It was good to see the sisters back together again.  They look more and more alike…or maybe it’s just because whenever they find a good deal in shirts, they buy a second one for the other sis.  Anyway, they are pretty darn cute.

Sisters…or twins?

I have to apologize for the late posting of the blog.  I’ve been busier than a one-armed paperhanger.  Banquets and movie dates and visits from relatives and book group.  Whew.  We have so much fun at Castoffs meetings that I have good intentions to rush back home and blog, blog, blog.  Sadly, life gets in the way but here I am now!

Leslie finished and stuffed her monkey.  Stuff, stuff, stuff. Stuff, stuff, stuff.  Stuff your monkey!  Stuff your MONkey!  Doesn’t that sound like a seventies disco song?  Does to me.  I digress.  The monkey turned out so cute.  He has a little red tongue protruding from his cute little monkey-face.  Leslie had him lovingly cupped in her hands.  Awwww.

Soft monkey for Mira.

Leslie was beginning a new project – a very mysterious one that I can’t remember – so I got a fuzzy photo of the yarn and needle.  Maybe next time I’ll be able to tell what it is.  Leslie and I decided that this wasn’t the ideal venue for casting on.  It’s hard to count while everyone is talking over and around you.  “Thirteen, fourteen, fifty-one, fifty-two…Damn!”

It’s a popsicle stick and a sticky bun! No, it’s Leslie’s new project. Don’t know what it is, but it’s golden.

I was busily starting a new project even though I vowed to make May my ‘Finish all my ongoing projects month’.  Liar, liar, pants on fire.  I had this yarn, see, calling my name from the stash, see, and I just had to answer.  No one took a photo of it because it looked a lot like Leslie’s – formless and unnameable.  Next week, I promise.  What it is – it’s a linen stitch cowl in superwash merino sock yarn.  Pretty.

Julie and Mary were both working on socks.  I got a twofer picture – Mary’s sock and Julie’s face.

Whose sock?

Mary told us all about Baby Moses’ birth and cuteness and I remembered that I promised to publish his favorite toy.

A darling baby and his darling whale.

Julie and Linda were busily knitting and eating and drinking and generally being Castoffs.  Linda is still knitting her fern-pattern scarf that is so pretty.  Julie’s knitting a sock.  What else can I say?  Cute sock?

Knit, purl, yo, k2, etc. Castoffs at work!

Deb was nearly finished with her lilac vest.  You can really see that it’s a vest now with a v-neck, cables and a top and bottom.  I think this is the most exciting part of a project – when the garment becomes recognizable.

A real live vest!

Carol is knitting the baby hoodie towel for her granddaughter.  Carol is a little behind, but she’s planning to take it with her on her upcoming trip to Ireland!  She’ll have plenty of time to knit on the way over and back.  Let’s hope she does better than I did on my trip to Scotland last year.  I carried a small project over there and drove it around Scotland and didn’t knit a stitch.  The yarn appreciated the trip, however, and wants to go back.  I wouldn’t mind either.

Dreaming of Ireland and of being a grandma again.

We meet at Carol’s house – THE house – this week.  For a while I worried that I wouldn’t get the blog posted before it was time for our next meeting, but I guess I pulled it off once again.  Until we meet in a couple of days, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and enjoy the rain.  Just think how good it is for your skin!  Yeah, right.