The Castoffs met on a sunny, unseasonably warm fall day at Julie’s house. Jules met us with good wine and yummy rollups, some of them with Mexican flavorings – taco seasoning, black olives, salsa and cream cheese – and the others with a flavor so good, I have to include the recipe.
Rollups and cookies and wine...oh, my!
– Smoked salmon cream cheese
– Kalamata olives, chopped
– Pine nuts, chopped
– Feta cheese
Combine to your taste and rollup in tortillas, chill, slice into 1-inch segments. Enjoy!
Marylane brought the completed back of her sweater – we ALL love this pattern and this yarn and can’t wait to see the complete package.
Stripey sweater! Stripey sweater!
It was a sweater kind of day, I guess. I brought a blue boucle sweater that I had put down last spring and picked up a week ago to finish. Just part of the second sleeve and I’ll be finished.
Blue boucle sweater - gonna be warm and cosy this winter
Francy is at about the same point in her top-down sweater that she’s knitting for her son. It looks great!
Francy, the disembodied hand behind the sweater
Michele is working on her fluffy, pretty sweater. Another blue garment. I think I see a theme here.
I just want to touch it!
Mary brought some new, strange yarn for show ‘n’ tell. It’s made of banana plant fibers and feels…well…scratchy. You’d definitely want to wear a t-neck underneath a sweater made of banana fibers. Mary has to look online to find out more about it, like how to wash it. Maybe you can just hose it down, Mary.
Although the photo doesn't show it, this yarn is BRIGHT purple!
Mary is still working on her cute little green baby hat. Bright green! Wow. Behind her in the photo, Leslie is working on her bright orange rug. They were the bright colorful members of the group. Mary was quick to agree that she and Les were the brightest ones there.
The best and the brightest?
Speaking of Leslie, her husband Jim is having a showing next week of his wilderness-inspired art. We are looking forward to going over to the local art museum after knitting to see his work. One of the pieces that will be offered as a limited linoleum print is indicative of his time in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. I can’t wait to see the rest of his paintings and prints.
Great Bear!
Julie has been knitting more lately. She showed us a mitten that she is knitting, made from Mocha Plus yarn which is very soft and muted. Deb is using the same yarn for her baby hat.
This is one soft mitten
Julie is also knitting an afghan for her brother and sister in law. It’s a great pattern with fat cables in a sheen-inspired blue yarn. There was a lot of blue around today – blue sweaters, blue afghan, blue hats.
Pretty afghan, great cables
Someone asked what our next projects were planning to be and a chorus rang out, “Hat! Vest! Mittens! Sweater!” We are a knitting bunch, all driven by our love of creating. It’s fun to share ideas and watch the inventive materialization of those ideas that appear by our group members.
Francy brought a book of soft toy patterns that she bought at the Friends of the Library used book sale. I was inspired to borrow it and copy an alligator pattern that I want for my brother’s Christmas present. No, he isn’t a kid (well, sometimes) but he lives in Florida now and really likes alligators, especially if he can see them out his back window. Go figure.
Ooh, froggies and gators and fish!
We had so much fun this week. Thanks, you all for being so great! Here are a couple of candids to leave you with. Next week, we meet at Marylane’s house. Don’t forget to join us afterwards at the Hockaday for Jim’s show.
Julie and Michele
Deb and Marylane
