The Castoffs met at Julie’s house on a sunny spring day. Of course, this year you can’t trust any weather forecast. One day might be bright and sunny but the next day could be cold and snowy. Springtime in Montana is unique. Julie’s cat rushed in and took its place on the sofa – where it refused to move until Julie physically picked it up, growling – the cat, not Julie.
Soft kitty, stubborn kitty.
Julie served us crunchies with wine, but when everyone got there, she brought out the big guns – fresh brownies with ice cream! Oh, Jules, you’re spoiling us! But we love it. Thank you, Julie. Carol burst in with news! She has to have a root canal! Well, I didn’t say it was good news, did I? Anyway, she goes to a local dentist, Dr. Hammer. Yes, I did say Dr. Hammer. After we all picked our laughing selves off the floor we watched Carol point to her dead tooth and eat her ice cream in peace.
Dr. Hammer will take care of THAT tooth, Carol.
Leslie had returned from her daughter’s house where Leslie and Jim had decorated Mira’s room. Mira is the granddaughter that will be born this summer. (I hope I spelled it correctly, Leslie) One of the walls in the baby’s room is a book shelf that displays the colorful books. It is so clever that I have to show you.
So colorful!
Closeup of book wall.
Thanks for sharing these photos with us, Leslie. Also in the works is a darling knitted dress for Mira that Leslie plans to embroider with flowers. Here is a photo of the pattern and flowers. Leslie was practicing with the flower. Very cute.
We'll get a better view of the dress in days to come. Lucky little girl!
Mary was knitting for her granddaughter too. She’s making a monkey. Although it resembles the fuselage of a B-52 right now, we’ve been assured that it truly is a monkey. She has knitted the body with legs, the ears and one arm. She only has an arm and a tail to go! Woohoo! It’s Monkey time.
Funny-looking monkey, Mary.
I’m afraid we all made rude comments about the monkey – especially Mary. Frankly, I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s finished. Hopefully, less like a B-52 or a mutant penis.
Yeah, right. Monkey.
I neglected to publish a photo of the finished whale that Mary knitted for her son’s baby, so here it is. It turned out really well – her son and daughter-in-law loved it.
Whale sighting!
Michele has come a long way on her orange sleeveless sweater that she’s knitting from the leftover yarn from Erica’s sweater. The pattern is lacy and pretty. She decided to do the yarnovers her way. Go for it, Michele!
Bottom of the lacy sweater. All hands on deck.
Julie had a great trip to Seattle to visit her daughter Terra. She took along socks – always a great portable project for riding in the car. I read a knitting blog the other day where the author talked about having so much sock yarn in her stash that she was going to knit socks until it was used up. I’m not sure I could knit that many socks. My stash would produce a whole lotta socks!
Socks! Er, sock.
Linda brought out her – you know what – pink shawl. I asked her when she would ever be finished with it and she said “When this yarn is gone, it’s finished.” We’ll take you at your word, Linda.
Marylane has her eye on you - and her finger, too.
Deb was working on her lilac sweater, but the photos I took of her were SO BAD that I knew I’d lose a friend if I published them. For those of you who know that I’m fairly lax about editing photos, they were really, really terrible. I deleted them, Deb. You’re welcome.
Here are a couple of shots of what the Castoffs do best – eat, knit and talk – not necessarily in that order.
Mary, Leslie and Michele.
Carol, Marylane and Linda(barely).
Julie, Deb and I were the invisible three for this meeting. I did take a photo of my almost-finished cabled vest – and the kitty. I just need to pick up stitches around the neck and sew up the side seams and I’ll be finished.
Kitty tolerating my vest on her sofa.
Next time we meet at Marylane’s house. I think Marylane’s daughter Kendra will join us. Yippee! We always like to have daughters present. Until then, Castoffs, keep those needles blazing and don’t put away your winter clothes yet!
