The Castoffs met on a rainy day (!) at Julie’s house which was decorated to the hilt for Christmas. Looked extremely festive. Julie had made us all really darling little Christmas tree ornaments with a knitting theme. So cute. I can’t wait to get a tree so I can hang it. If only my grinch of a husband would get off his…well, never mind.
A basketful of knitting ornaments
The ornaments were made from walnut shells containing tiny skeins of yarn with pins as needles. Adorable, Jules! Thanks!
Here is Julie’s tree, very festive, and Michele is holding up the hat that she knitted for herself. All she needs for it now are earflaps.
Ho, ho, ho and hat, hat, hat!
Closeup of Michele's hat
Speaking of Christmas trees, Leslie was a little peeved with her husband for bringing home a ‘cute, perfect’ tree. Leslie is on a mission every year to choose the ugliest, most pathetic, most ill-begotten tree for her chosen Christmas tree so she can…well, I’m not entirely sure of the reason, but even though this year’s tree has two tops, weird in anyone’s light, she was planning to go right home and ugly it up some more. Go, Leslie! Hit that tree with an ugly stick! I just hope she takes a photo of it for the blog next week.
Ahem…Leslie has almost finished her felted slippers – not ugly. I took a photo of them pre-felted. They look like clown feet right now, but after felting they will be normal-sized.
BIGFOOT SIGHTING!
Mary told us about a tree that they got one year. It was a big tree, but as it thawed out in the heat of their living room, the branches came down and the tree grew wider and wider and wider. Mary had to move the couch back to accommodate the expanding tree until they could reach out and touch it from any seat in the living room. That’s a big tree. I’ve seen her living room and it’s a BIG room.
Mary is knitting another hat for a Christmas gift – cool hat.
Hat, Hat, Hat!
It really seemed to be a hat kind of day. Marylane showed us the earflap and tasseled hat that she finished. It was a little small, so Michele suggested that she wet it and stretch it over a balloon to make it a little bigger. Great idea, Michele!
Pinhead hat?
I finished another hat like the one I brought last week. This one is for my sister-in-law in Oregon. I really like this pattern. It looks like a difficult cable pattern but is really very easy and doesn’t use cable needles.
Well, more head than hat in this photo.
Linda brought a hat that she finished for her son, Ian, made from a pattern in a book that I have. I made a couple of hats like it earlier in the winter. Great pattern and I love the yarn she used.
Great hat, Linda!
You know, hats are so quick and satisfying to make as gifts. I can make most of one when I’m sitting watching football on Sunday. I knitted five hats in the last month for Christmas gifts. Wow. Marylane was knitting a hat and so was Carol. Carol is knitting another Huckleberry hat for her granddaughter, Mabel. She had a little trouble switching from a circular needle to double points, but MICHELE TO THE RESCUE! Michele is so helpful about giving us all pointers. Every knitting group should have a Michele that we can go to with knitting questions. Thanks, Michele, we love you!
Little hat for a little huckleberry!
Carol was wearing a scarf that Linda knit her for her college graduation last spring. We all watched with bated breath while Linda unraveled the fringe on the scarf, certain that the whole thing would unravel! But it turned out perfectly and we still love this scarf.
Beautiful scarf, beautiful Carol.
Marylane is almost finished with her sweater, but she ran out of a certain color of yarn AGAIN! She is really getting sick of reordering yarn for this project, but the end is very near. It will be a FABULOUS sweater once it’s finally complete. We can’t wait. I took an artsy-fartsy photo of Marylane’s hat and felted purse. We are beginning to accumulate a lot of knitted things – purses, hats, scarves, sweaters. Since this group formed, I am constantly astonished at the output of knitted garments and accessories that we keep on making. You go, Castoffs!
Marylane's corner of the world
I also took a staged photo of Julie’s pillow that she finished. We all loved the fat cables and the button closure that she used to finish the pillow.
Ah, doesn't this look inviting?
Next week we’ll be at my house to have a White Elephant exchange – knitting related items only, please, Castoffs. Now the pressure is on me to convince Lucky the Grinch that we need to decorate for Christmas! I feel the Christmas spirit sneaking up on me. We missed Francy and Deb this week and look forward to seeing all the Castoffs together. Until then, keep those needles blazing and have a great week.
