I bicycled over to Joan’s house to join a relatively small group of Castoffs. It was a beautiful day – kind of hot – but hey! It’s August! Joan had a table of pretzels and cherries and later brought out the big guns – apricot pie with maple ice cream. Glad I had to bike back home to work off some of the delicious pie. We all enjoyed frosty glasses of margaritas, too. Yum.
Grace had her eye on the pretzels.
Almost forgot to snap the pie and ice cream. Well, I snapped it UP…
Betsy and Grace came with Francy and it’s a good thing because Betsy was the only one of us who had made anything. Granted, she crocheted her items but the rest of us were pretty lazy about knitting. The exception was Michele, who also crocheted some slippers and brought them to felt. I took some ‘before and after’ photos of several crocheted items.
Michele’s pre-felted slippers.
Michele’s slippers! They fit! I love the embroidery.
Betsy had crocheted a pair of slippers for her mom and herself and they re-felted them at Joan’s house. Unfortunately, Francy’s slippers felted down too much and they were too small for her. She decided to send them to a friend in Japan. I guess Betsy will just have to crochet another pair. Betsy’s slippers fit just right, though.
Betsy’s and Francy’s slippers.
To give some traction on the slippers’ soles, Betsy squeezed on some Puffy Paint. It’s a great idea for any slippers that need a little grip.
Puffy Paint.
Betsy had also crocheted a little bag to felt. After felting, she’s going to sew a zipper in it. Betsy ALSO crocheted a kitty for Grace. Very cute. I’m not sure where she found the time in one week to do all of this, but she did. Betsy thinks crochet is faster than knitting. She may be right, but I’m not in the market for learning another craft. I can look and enjoy though.
Crocheted bag before felting.
And after felting.
And the darling kitty!
Okay, Castoffs, once Betsy goes back home, we’ll need to step up and actually bring our knitting to knitting. Otherwise, we’ll have to call ourselves the Slackoffs instead of the Castoffs. This is what we’ve done at our meetings this summer:
Eat and talk…
Lounge and drink…
I have really loved the summer, however, so I can’t be too tough on the Slackoffs, er, Castoffs. It’s been fun. I must say that we’ve loved having Betsy and Grace for a few weeks. Thanks and have a great winter, Betsy. We can’t wait to see how much Grace will have changed for your visit next summer!
Francy and Grace.
Next time we’ll meet at Michele’s house where, hopefully, we’ll at least BRING out knitting…Mary. Not that there’s anything wrong with not knitting, but we seem to have made a habit of it. Enjoy the week, Castoffs, and keep cool even if your needles are blazing hot!
