The Castoffs met on a cold, cloudy afternoon. We were all concerned about Michele’s daughter, Erica, who was having surgery that day to remove a tumor that grew fairly rapidly. Leslie was at the hospital with Michele during the surgery and she phoned us with much appreciated updates. By the end of the meeting we heard from Leslie that Erica had come through the surgery with flying colors. Whew! We were all so glad to hear the good news.
We're all thinking good thoughts for you, Erica! Be well soon.
It seemed almost trivial to go on with our fun, but we had Erica, Michele and Joel in our hearts and our conversations and we knew that they felt our love and support.
Francy got to my house early and we had a delightful conversation. It was fun to have some one-on-one time, Francy! She is working on her top-down pullover for herself. I didn’t get a photo of it, but I did get a photo of her holding a really cute soap holder that Linda knitted and brought for us to see.
Francy holding Linda's soap holder.
I liked this so much I took another picture of it and asked Linda for the pattern. It has great-niece gift written all over it!
Soap holder!
It’s made with linen stitch rows between increased stockinette rows. All tied up with an i-cord. Love it!
Linda is still knitting the baby hat with the self-patterning yarn that we all love. It’s coming right along – each week, it looks a little different than the week before.
Can't wait to see what it looks like next week.
Marylane has finished another newsboy cap and is deciding which buttons to put on the strap. It is so cute. Love the way it looks on her.
Getcher news here!
She showed us the buttons and we couldn’t decide which ones we liked better.
Button, button, wonder which button?
Carol was with us wearing some stunning earrings. As usual, she looked wonderful! If I tried to wear these, they’d drag to my nipples.
Pretty woman, fabulous earrings.
Carol is knitting some beaded fingerless mitts with a teeny, tiny circular needle that I thought was pretty awesome. Next time I knit socks or mittens, I’m gonna try these little round needles! She loves them. Says they take some getting used to, but once you do, they’re great.
Use this instead of 4 or 5 double pointed needles.
Her mitts are pretty – this is only the fourth or fifth time she had to rip them out and start over…
She's concentrating hard this time around.
Julie gave her nephew some fingerless mittens for Christmas and he calls them his ‘smokin’ mittens – he wears them when he goes outside to have a smoke. Now, this isn’t the reason she gave him fingerless mittens, but as long as he appreciates her efforts…She’s knitting a pair for her brother (or is it brother-in-law?) so that he can join his son outside for some, ahem, fresh air.
They're sssmmmmokin'!
Deb’s husband, Glenn, is recovering nicely from his heart surgery in December. He’s been released to do anything he wants to do. Great news, Glenn! Deb is almost finished with his sweater – just right for those evening walks that they go on to build up his strength.
Deb's at the double-pointed needle stage of the cuff.
I’m coming along slowly with my blue vest. The pattern is hard and now I’ll have to begin decreases to make the neckline. Arghh. Will I ever be finished with it? Stay tuned.
Gettin' there...I hope.
We had fun. Enjoyed fresh raw veggies and dip, crunchy snacks and wine. A good day with good news about Erica.
Ah, Castoffs in their natural habitat.
We found out from Leslie that Erica had flown up here from Utah with only the clothes on her back and a pair of sweatpants in her backpack. She was in no condition to pack a big bag. So, we decided that a shopping expedition was called for to buy her some clothes for after her hospital stay. OH MY GOD!! I had forgotten what fun it was to go shopping with a group of girls…uh, women! Leslie, Deb, Linda, Julie and I met on Saturday morning and had a blast – and I mean we were in the ZONE, y’all – shopping at the mall for Erica.
There we were – four women with daughters the same age as Erica and one woman who had no daughter and was absolutely clueless (me) about what young girls would like. Thank god that phones with cameras were clutched in our hands. There was a flurry of texts, photos, calls and questions back and forth with Michele and Erica at the hospital. I just wish I had taken my camera to record this historical event. Let’s just say that we were VERY successful in our quest. We hit the sales just right and walked away with DEALS. We also had more fun than I can put into words. Knowing that we were doing it for our friend’s daughter made the quest even sweeter. Here is what we ended up with:
Lots of goodies for Erica!
The wrapped package is a journal to record her adventure in internal medicine and some notecards to inform her friends of her journey. After a well-deserved lunch at Bonelli’s Deli, we all returned to Leslie’s house where we wrapped the goodies in a bag that Leslie had on hand.
Peace and health be to you always, Erica.
We took a commemorative photo – as if we needed to be reminded of our extraordinary day. This is more for our sista Castoffs – we wish you all could have been with us and you were – in our hearts. Love was pouring throughout the mall that day and straight to Michele and Erica. We hope the thought and the gift can express our love for you all.
Happy shoppers. Good friends.
All I can say is that it was a great day to be a Castoff. Next week we meet at Julie’s house. Until then, Castoffs, keep the light of love in your heart and keep those needles blazing!
