Marsha’s deck – September 3, 2009

We met on Marsha’s deck on Thursday afternoon under cloudy skies with some wind but the weather cooperated and we had a lovely meeting.  I (Marsha) finally finished my short-sleeved Henley sweater and everyone insisted that I put it on.

Marsha's blue Henley sweater.

Marsha's blue Henley sweater.

Leslie came in and shrieked “That is the most un-homemade sweater I’ve ever seen!!”  I took that as a huge compliment.  Thank you, Leslie.  Speaking of, Leslie told us all about her daughter’s proposal.  We all are thrilled with her good news.

I had made a pound cake and Eli made salsa, so we had the food groups covered, what with the wine and lemonade and chips.  So all we had to do was to keep the yellow jackets away from everything.  Unfortunately, the little buggers were all over our food.  Julie was particularly blessed with insect life.  First, one dive-bombed into her wine:

Come on in, the Merlot is fine!

Come on in, the Merlot is fine!

Then another and another committed self-immersion, but Julie persisted in pulling them out until she had quite a collection on her plate.

I think they enjoyed the pound cake almost as much as Julie.

I think they enjoyed the pound cake almost as much as Julie.

Thankfully the wind came up and kept them away.  Although, after everyone had gone home, Eli poured a glass of Riesling and a yellow jacket slid into his glass.  Hmmm.  Glad he got the last glass.

It must be fall.  Carol and Francy are knitting fingerless gloves and mittens, respectively.

These gloves are great, and we all loved the yarn.

These gloves are great, and we all loved the yarn.

Winter must be around the corner.  A whole lot of mitting going on.

Winter must be around the corner. A whole lot of mitting going on.

Francy’s matching mittens and hat look beautiful.  I think they are Christmas gifts.  We all think that Carol should keep these gloves for herself.  They look great on her!

I want some of these!

I want some of these!

Linda and Michele are both working on socks.  Linda’s are striped and very colorful.

Great striped socks.

Great striped socks.

Michele introduced the WHINE OF THE WEEK with her socks.  She is trying a new pattern that is worked toe-up, but she keeps getting holes as she decreases stitches.  She is following the instructions, but still has HOLES.  Grrrrrr.  The rest of the socks are worked using a “magic loop” method.  I had an explanation of the method in a magazine (with photos). It uses long circular needles, but the work is pushed up onto the needle tips in between rounds.  I want to use this method myself, so I hope Michele is having some success in figuring it out!  I’ll have a photo next time, I hope.  It really is frustrating when you follow the instructions faithfully, but still have a problem, like with HOLES.  This is more than a WHINE, right Michele?  I had a whine of my own.  When I ripped out some of my top-down purple sweater, I put the yarn back on the needles twisted.  Sooo, I had a funny twisted row that I knew I’d have to rip out again.  Michele explained to me how to make sure my stitches were on correctly – it was something about the cowboy’s legs are thrown over the needle (the horse) with the right leg forward.  I got it, even though everyone else laughed at Michele’s illustration.  I’ll have to remember the right leg forward rule when I rip out any other rows (which I’m sure I will).

Leslie worked on her little scarf, Marylane worked on her yellow sweater and Julie was agonizing over a cable stitch headband that refused to go the way she wanted.   We all knitted, talked, ate and drank and brushed away pesky insects.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Happy knitters, good friends!

Happy knitters, good friends!

Joan’s house, August 20, 2009

We all went out to Joan’s temporary house (for the summer) and there were TEN of us there, which may be a record for Castoffs.  We started outside on the deck:

What a beautiful group!

What a beautiful group!

and talked and ate and looked at our gorgeous ‘thick and thin’ scarves that we all think are wonderful and that were joined by Carol’s scarf which she knit in a faggotting pattern.

Thick and Thin scarves with Carol's blue fagotting scarf on top.

Thick and Thin scarves with Carol's blue fagotting scarf on top.

I was blown away by Francy’s Moebius scarf that she finished.  She assured me that once the pattern was mastered, the scarf didn’t take long.  I really like the way it turned out!

Francy's Moebius scarf.

Francy's Moebius scarf.

Since we seemed to be in a scarf-making mode, here is Carol’s seed stitch scarf that she is making.  You may not be able to see it in the photo, but the yarn has little sparkles.  Very pretty!

Ooh, sparkly!

Ooh, sparkly!

Francy and I were talking about the pattern for the Moebius scarf and how a vital instruction was missing, when, all of a sudden, with a whirl, everyone else picked up the food and wine and scarves and whisked away inside!  What happened?  What’s going on?  I was clueless until Joan said, “Bees!”  Oh, we were being swarmed and I didn’t even notice.  Duh.  Francy and I picked up our bags and headed in behind all the other, more insect-sensitive knitters.  One or two of the little fellers sneaked in with us and before he was smashed to smithereens on the window screen, I was able to immortalize him/her/probably him.

Take that, you varmint!!!

Take that, you varmint!!!

After the excitement was over and our glasses were refilled, I noticed that Carol was exceptionaly quiet today.  She was bent over four double-pointed needles, staring intently at her instructions for fingerless mittens.  Suddenly, she spoke.

“I have a question.  Where do I start?”  For some reason we all found this to be hilarious and Linda started illuminating her about beginning at the beginning.

Where do I start????

Where do I start????

We all went back to our own projects: Marylane to her felted purse, Joan to some actual knit AND purl mittens, Leslie to her teeny, tiny scarf that she can only do three rows of each week because the pattern is IMPOSSIBLE, Marsha to her top-down sweater.  Again we heard from Carol:

“Oh for the love of God, it didn’t work!  I’ve got an EXTRA ONE!”

A loop on the needle, that is.  Well, Amen Sista, at one time or another, we’ve all had an extra one, haven’t we?  Just drop it, knit two together or ignore it.  Welcome to mitten-world!  This qualified as WHINE OF THE WEEK!!  Thank you, Carol.

Leslie particularly enjoyed the WHINE OF THE DAY!  Give that knitter another glass of wine.

Leslie particularly enjoyed the WHINE OF THE WEEK! Give that knitter another glass of wine.

Michele is continuing to work on the cotton/tenzel poncho for her little cousin and this has to be the softest yarn I’ve felt in a long time.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.   Hopefully, I’ll get a photo of it next week or the next, whenever she finishes it.

We had so much fun at Joan’s that we hated to go home.  Here are a couple of candids to wrap up the meeting.

Ave, Julie!

Ave, Julie!

Sisters.  They really look more alike than at the beginning of the summer!  Must be the knitting bond.

Sisters. They really look more alike than at the beginning of the summer! Must be the knitting bond.

Next week, alas, school begins and we had to reschedule to a Saturday to get a visit to Mary’s house on the lake.  So we’ll meet down in Wood’s Bay for an end-of-summer get-together.  I can’t wait to start more projects; Moebius scarf, fingerless mittens, tiny mitten decorations.  So much knitting, so little time!  Until next week, don’t stick the pointy ends in your ear!

Breakfast at Julie’s – July 17, 2009

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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!

Bye 'til next week! Happy knitting!