The Castoffs made the long trek down to Wood’s Bay to Mary’s house on a rainy Saturday. Although we couldn’t sit on the deck (too cold!), we enjoyed the beautiful view from Mary’s living room. Mary served us some great tasting food – cold cuts with tortillas and pesto, fruit salad and a garden fresh salad with oil from Italy (thanks to Mary’s daughter Larissa who lives there). We all topped it off with brownies and ice cream. Thanks, Mary! We felt well-feasted.
Looked great and tasted better!
Sometimes I think I describe the food more than the knitting at our meetings. Speaking of excellent things, Mary served a few of us a great wine (with lime wedges) that we’ve had before. Wine of the week? New Age!
Refreshing wine
We are such a diverse group. I feel very lucky to be a part of these women. So much fun! Several of us have taken the big leap to SOCKS. Now, socks are not the easiest project if you’ve never tackled double-pointed needles. Yes, I know that there are other methods for knitting socks – teeny circular needles (which look very cool and which I’d like to try) and longer circular needles (the ‘magic loop’ method). Double-pointed needles, however, are the traditional way to sockdom. Carol has graduated to sockdom and we were thrilled to see her first finished sock. Carol was pretty thrilled, too.
SOCK! SOCK! SOCK!
Another Castoff who is really branching out is Deb – finally finished with her scarf. Yay! She started on a beautiful hat and we all love the yarn.
Can't wait to see the completed project!
Deb came for lunch, dashed out to go to a wedding, dashed back to join us for a little knitting and talk. Thank goodness the wedding was close to Mary’s house.
Marylane brought her finished needlepoint picture and we were all very impressed. Next summer when her sister Joan returns from Arizona, Joan’s husband Jeff is going to make a frame for the needlepoint.
Which way is up? Whichever way you want!
Marylane also brought her gorgeous sweater that she started, but she didn’t work on it here – too much distraction. We get that, don’t we, Castoffs? Instead she worked on a hat for a library fundraiser basket raffle.
Ambitious, beautiful sweater project
Speaking of ambitious sweater projects, Francy is knitting a top-down sweater for her son embellished with a three-color design that she made up as she went. Wow. You are the diva, Francy.
You are the MAN...uh, WOMAN, Francy!
Mary, once a self-described ‘knitwit’ (her words, not mine – well, most of the time) has really come on strong. She showed us the ubiquitous polar bear scarf that is, really, nearly finished. The poor bear finally has a nose and claws. Can eyes be far away? We suggested a tiny trail of red yarn streaming from his little mouth, but Mary wasn’t impressed.
If he could only see, you'd be in trouble, Mary
Mary also showed us the sweet little fleece baby hat that she finished. So adorable!
Awwwww!
I glanced over and saw Michele RIPPING yarn off a hat in a most devil-may-care manner. Don’t worry, she was just taking some off in order to make it longer. Huh? Yep. It is so liberating to rip out, isn’t it Michele?
OUT, damned yarn, OUT
I brought my chevron scarf. As of this posting, it is all knitted and I only have to graft the two ends together to complete it. Then I might start a hat or finish a sweater that I goofed on in the spring and put away in disgust. Now that it’s cooler, I will give that sweater another chance.
Ahh, it's good to finish a project and move on
Julie, Julie, Julie is working on her shawl, although she ruefully told us that now the heat is coming on more in her workspace. Yesterday it was 75 degrees – hardly shawl weather. Ah, but knowing the workplace (I used to work there), the temperature is notoriously unreliable. Keep knitting, Jules.
The shawl that may never do its job
We had so much fun – missed Leslie and Joan, of course. Next week we meet at Deb’s house to felt mittens that Michele has knitted. Should be a lot of fun and I hope to see you all there! Until then, keep those needles blazing. I’ll leave you with the silent version of our meeting – photos of the busy bees.
Mary, Julie and Carol
Linda, Francy and Michele
