It’s crunch time for the Chair! We have to turn it into the library next Thursday! Yikes! I know I’m using too many exclamation points, but I can’t help it. All of us except Carol were at Michele’s house, eating her delicious banana bread, eating her delicious brie and crackers, drinking her leftover wine from her book group meeting the day before. It was a fun time and we got a lot of work done on the Chair.
A few of us actually brought something other than Chair parts that we had been working on. Deb has started a new sweater – I believe she’s started it about three times – but now that she understands the chart, she’s zipping along.
Mary knit a bunny for Moses for Easter. She’s going to knit another one for Aurora. Now Bunny just needs a nose and some eyes.
I started on some felted slippers for my son, Eli. He chose the yarn so long ago that neither of us were certain that this really was the color he wants. The amount was right for the pattern, so I’m running with it.
Now! To the Chair! We sat around knitting leaves to go on a new vine. It’s not easy knitting a little pattern while everyone in the room is chatting away. There were some awesome looks of concentration. Occasionally, the air turned blue.
This is the beautiful yarn that Linda used to knit the i-cord for the vine, and that we all used to knit the leaves to go on the vine.
Francy was busy sewing on leaves, tucking in dangling threads, and generally, doing a great job getting the Chair dressed.
The Chair was slowly getting its shit together. Or is that US who’s slowly getting it together? Anyway, this is the chair at the end of the session.
We realized at 5:30 that we needed an extra work session to finish the Chair, so we reconvened a couple days later on Saturday. We brought our leaves, yarn, ideas and snacks for a potluck lunch at Michele’s. Wow. Did we get a lot done! And we had a lot of fun doing it. Of course, lots of food was involved.
We were still working on leaves – the never-ending vine of the “Growing to the Sun” Chair. Deb suggested “Going to the Sun” and Leslie added the ‘r’. We have had a learning dynamic during this process.
Leslie was putting wire in the vine to make it stay on the leg. Michele is working on a new idea for the other front leg.
Then the leaves started going on. This was the exciting part. Leslie arranged them from bottom to top of vine – dark to light. Stunning!
Meanwhile, Michele was knitting a lacy red cover for the other front leg. We love the progression of red from bottom to top.
We started the finish work on the leaves farther up the chairback, and continued on the bottom.
Before I left, Linda suggested that we edge the red poppy seat in black. We thought it was a great idea.
This is what the Chair looked like when I left. Several Castoffs stayed a couple of hours longer.
I got an email from Leslie the next day showing the final result. I must say that it’s the most stunning knitted design project involving an antique library chair that I’ve ever seen. Fingers crossed that it fetches a HIGH bid in the Loud in the Library fundraiser.
Here is Leslie’s email:
I’m speechless with admiration for ALL of us. We learned a lot about ourselves and about knitting, also about cooperation and giving. Thank you, Castoffs, for making this a project to remember forever.
Next week, we’ll meet at the library at 4:00 to officially relinquish the Chair. Don’t forget to sign your name on the bottom. If you can’t join us at the library, the Chair will be at Marylane’s house until then. We’re going out for a celebratory supper afterwards – location TBA.