We caught a break in the incessant rain and were able to sit on Michele’s lovely, flower-filled deck in the rare sunshine. Michele is out of school for the summer and she put together a delicious selection of snacks.  YUM. She had a beautiful veggie platter with dip, yogurt covered pretzels, a refreshing summer drink and curried toast (topped with cheeses and red pepper slices) that was wonderful. I think Michele is celebrating summer by feeding her friends. Well, her friends appreciate it. Thanks, Michele!

Almost too pretty to eat!

We didn’t let ‘too pretty’ stop us here. This is the second platter!

I don’t think Julie brought anything to knit. She had just come from Kalispell Medical with a new – uh – pleasuring stick. That’s not as dirty as it sounds. This is a rod with knobs on it that you use to massage your pressure points. Hey, maybe it IS as dirty as it sounds. Anyway, Julie demonstrated how it works and it looked quite wonderful.

Maybe we all should get one…

Lisa listened intently to the explanation.

Lisa was there and she brought her incredibly beautiful granddaughter for a visit. Now that summer is here, Lisa will be babysitting little Greta Grace every Thursday and we hope that they will be regulars.  There are a lot of grandmas in the group who are gaga over babies.  It’s just that time of life for a lot of us.

Beautiful Greta!

Marylane was able to join us. We hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks and we’ve missed her! She ripped out her beautiful striped vest – there’s a lot of that going around – and decided to use one strand of yarn instead of two. It was too thick. Joan jumped right on a SOCKOLOGY pattern from the book she saw last time, bought some socks and had the pattern pieces pinned on for cutting. She’s going to make a stuffed bear out of brown patterned socks. Looks adorable and NO KNITTING! Or purling.

Joan and Marylane sittin’ in the sun.

Joan cutting out her sock bear pieces.

Francy had ripped out her sweater and showed us how far she’d gotten on the newest project. It’s going to be a coat sweater for herself. Glad to see that she’s knitting something for Francy.

Francy – more intent on conversation than knitting. Aren’t we all?

I finally finished the scarf for my friend Michelle and it’s a beauty. I have to wait for a couple of weeks to give it to her so I’ll show her this photo for now.  You’re gonna love it, Michelle!

Marsha modeling Michelle’s scarf.

Mary and Deb were busily knitting, knitting, knitting. Mary is close to being finished with her sock. I didn’t get an update on the hooded towel, but I’m thinking  it was very nearly done as well.

One of these days, they’ll be on her feet. Maybe.

Wow – busy knitters.

I did a double take when I looked over at Deb.  Like a lot of us, eyesight is problematic. Add bright sunlight and it’s even worse. Deb took care of that but it looked kinda funny…

I have the same problem at 3D movies.

Whatever glasses arrangement she has, her vest is turning out beautifully. Deb at first made the attached I-cord edges around the sleeves, but didn’t like them so she ripped them out and went back to a stockinette rolled edge. We all liked it better that way too. She is going to add the I-cord edging to the bottom of the vest though.

I bet she’ll wear it next time we see her.

I’m knitting a cowl with merino superwash sock yarn and inadvertantly twisted the first row.  It’s going to be a mobious cowl, but the more I think about it, the more I’m okay with that.  No ripping out for this gal.  At least not on this project.

Mobius cowl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Next week we’re taking a mini-road trip to Mary’s house on the lake. Fingers crossed that it’s not raining and that we can sit out on her lovely deck overlooking Flathead Lake.  I would love to see a clear sky and mountains. We’ll see.

I’ll leave you all with the quintessential photo of a Castoffs meeting. Food, drink, flowers on the deck and knitting piled on the floor. We have so much fun. Keep those needles blazing until next time, Castoffs. You’ll need the heat to keep you warm in this cold June weather.

We enjoyed pretending that summer was here – for an hour or two.

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