Noolie Knits

A Day at the Aquarium

As I told you the other day, I went with Samm, Jay, and Clover to the New England Aquarium last Friday.

Even though the crowds were horrendous (it was a holiday for most businesses, after all) it was a good time and Clover really seemed to enjoy it.

~~There were some really cool Jelly Fish:

~~and turtles:

(There were even other little people with backpacks like Clover's.)  

~~We could get real close to lots of fish swimming in the big round tank in the middle of the building.  It's 3 stories high with lots of windows to watch the fish swim by.

 

Clover really enjoyed the penguins:

I think they may have been her favorite part of the trip.  

 

We were able to watch as the fish were fed:

This is at the top of the center tank.  See the guy in the red & white flowered shorts - he's feeding the fish.  There are sharks in that tank - I think he's very brave!

It was great fun to watch Clover's reaction to all the different sea life.   I'm so glad that Samm and Jay asked me to be a part of her first trip to the aquarium!

Clover and her new pink penguin conked out about 5 minutes after getting back in the car!

Ten on Tuesday

 

10 Things That Turn You Off About People

 

1.  Racism & bigotry - I can 't tolerate the ignorance!

2.  Cruelty to children.

3.  Cruelty to animals.

4.  Lying - If you're someone I should be able to trust, don't lie to me.  Not even about little things.

5.  Nosiness - I have one neighbor who sits at the edge of his garage just watching everything that goes on!  Same neighbor as in this post.  (He obviously fits in more than one category.)

6.  Experts on everything - If you know something and want to help someone, that's one thing; but if you're one of those people who knows everything about everything (or at least think you do) and feels the need to always one-up everyone, you'd do better to just keep your mouth shut. 

7.  Backstabbing - If I hear you speak badly about someone who is supposed to be your friend, than I'm going to wonder what you say about me when I'm not around. 

8.  Negativity - The ones who find the bad in every situation.

9.  Rudeness - like the woman who walked through the line between myself and the person behind me and stepped right on my flipflop as I was taking a step.  She never so much as said excuse me!  Sheesh.

10.  Bad hygiene - it takes a total of about 15 minutes to take a shower, brush your teeth, and put on clean clothes.  I think even the busiest of us can spare 15 minutes!

 

Wow, after writing that list I feel like I'm being really negative.  Maybe another list should be 10 things that make me like a person.

Busy Weekend

I had a very busy, but very good long weekend.   Since the fourth of July fell on a Saturday, we had Friday as a holiday from work.  I had plans for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so decided to take today as a vacation day with nothing planned (other than floating).

Friday was a visit to the NE Aquarium with Clover, Samm, and Jay.    Saturday was a 60th birthday party for my step-mother, and Sunday was a trip to Portsmouth with a friend for fried shrimp and a few Jimmy Juices on the outside deck of the Old Ferry Landing, followed by some shopping and some walking around town.

I'll fill you in more on the events of the weekend later, but for now I want to show you how I ended the trip to Portsmouth.

Have a great day!

Friday with Clover

Gina and Jackie came to visit last Saturday.   We met in Portsmouth at the Yarn Basket and then came back to my house for lunch and a visit with Clover before heading to the Yarn Sellar to meet Heather for a bit of shopping and knitting. 

There was reading.       There was playing.


  There was coloring.       Gina, Me, Jackie Clover And apparently,  there was a uniform of the day.  

 

It was a great day with friends!

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the Yarn Sellar so I have no pictures of Heather.

 

 

This & That on Thursday

How about a bit of the random today?

 ~It's now July and it's STILL raining!  Will it ever stop?

~It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't also COLD.  Yesterday was July 1st and we broke records in these parts for the coldest high temperature since 1976!  Enough already; I wan't to start breaking temps for the hottest low.

~Hubby got my pool set up early this year. 

~I was in it for a couple hours one day about 3 weeks ago (it really wasn't warm enough but at that time I was already sick of the rain and took advantage of a sunny day).

~This is our busiest time of year at work.  We are preparing our final tax assessments and need to get things ready for bills to be printed.

~Our computer server is having fits with our assessing software and keeps kicking us out of our program or not letting us get into it at all.

~It's been a long couple of days at work and today looks like it's going to be more of the same.

~Looking on the bright side - I can now spare a couple of minutes to write this post.

In knitting news:

~I finished my Crazy socks last night.

SOS'09 Pair #3 Yarn: Austermann Step 6, color #111 Herbst
Needles: size 2 1/2 dpn's
Pattern: top down, afterthought heel, stockinette stitch on 48 stitches

~Surprisingly, I was even able to match up the colors! 

~I'm not crazy about the Crazy Socks, but they'll be warm and my feet can use some warm (see above).

~Finishing this pair leaves me with just one WIP.

~The Cabled Yoke sweater is nearing completion - just one sleeve to go. 

~That neck looks a little wonky in the picture, but it's really not. 

~The "just one WIP" thing won't last long - I'm hoping to cast on for my next pair of socks tonight.

In Spinning News....

~I've got nothing.  I've done no spinning since the Spinning Bee.

~That'll change tonight because tonight is Chicks with Wheels night.

~That's all the random I have for you. 

~Have a great day.

Ten on Tuesday

10 Guilty Pleasures on TV

1.   House 
2.   Law and Order SVU 
3.   Law and Order 
4.   Two and a Half Men  - especially the older reruns.
5.   Grey's Anatomy
6.   Mystery Diagnosis  
7.   Trauma - Life in the ER 
8.   Dr. G. - Medical Examiner  
9.   48 Hours 
10. Jon & Kate plus8  -  I hate to admit it, but it's true; I watch. 

I could watch marathons of House, and both Law & Order shows, over and over and over again (and I do).  It doesn't matter that I can just about recite them word for word. 

I could also watch Mystery Diagnosis, Trauma - Life in the ER, Dr. G - Medical Examiner, and 48 Hours over and over and over again. 

Out of all the above shows, my "guiltiest"  is #10.  I know I shouldn't want to watch it anymore, but I just can't help myself.  I don't really enjoy it anymore, but I can't stop.

So, what are your guilty t.v. watching pleasures?

Socks, Socks, and More Socks

Now that I'm participating in two sock knit-alongs, there's been quite a bit of sock knitting going on around here.

This first pair qualifies as my June socks for  SAM7.   They also qualify as my first pair finished for SOS'09  (even though they were a WIP at the start of SOS'09).

Yarn: TOFUtsies
Needles: Size 2 dpn's
Top-down, plain ole stockinette stitch on 60 stitches

This teeny tiny pair of socks is my second pair finished for SOS'09.  I knit most of one sock on Friday night, finishing it up on Saturday, and the second sock last night.

 

Yarn:  my handspun Spunky Club April 09 Fiber - corriedale/nylon

Needles:  size 2 dpn's

I knit this pair of socks from the toe-up using short roe toe and heel and a Russian bind off.   I followed Wendy Johnson's easy instructions in her new book "Socks from the Toe Up" 

They may be a bit funky - not really matching at all, and they may actually be a bit too teeny tiny, but I still consider them a win.  Why?  Well, first because Clover loves them and second because I accomplished a few of my goals in this one little pair of socks.  All that and I still have enough of my handspun left to knit a pair for myself.   I'll knit those toe-up as well.

I knit most of this next sock on Saturday.  I was with friends when I finished the knitting on the first teeny tiny sock and knew I needed to be alone to read the directions for the bind off, so I started a mindless top-down sock.  I finished it yesterday afternoon before starting the second teeny tiny sock.

Yarn: Austermann Step 6, color #111 Herbst
Needles: size 2 1/2 dpn's
Pattern: top down, afterthought heel, stockinette stitch on 48 stitches

I'm not really sure how I feel about the colors on this sock.  They looked better in the ball,  I think.  Can you see how long that color repeat is?  From the top all the way down almost to the toe.  It's going to be pretty difficult to knit a matching sock without wasting a lot of yarn!  I do like matchy matchy socks, and I'm sure there's plenty of yarn, so I'll probably give it a try.

Well, that's it for today.  Have a good one (and if you're in this neck of the woods, try to stay dry!)

Friday with Clover

   








    Happy Friday!

Spinning Bee

The weather here has been really NASTY lately. It's been raining nearly every day this month, but it seems to have stopped for the time being. I sure hope the rain stays away for a while; I'm sooooo sick of it. Everyone is getting a wee bit crabby (yes, even me).

 

Last Saturday was one of the few days we've had without rain. Good thing too, because that was the day of the SMGSW Annual Spininng Bee.

   

Myself, Patti, Carol, Eileen and Sharon went for the first time this year  and had a really good time (we missed you, Brenda). 

 

 

The Spinning Bee was held at Tare Shirt Farm in Berwick, home of Peter and Nancy Cook.  

(as always, click on any of the pics to enlarge)
   

It was the perfect setting for a day spent outdoors with fellow fiber enthusiasts.

 

 

 

There were competitions (none of our group competed - we're chickens) for the fastest spinners on spindles and wheels and for the fastest niddy noddy winder.

 

 

 

Peter gave us a very interesting tour and history of the farm. 

 

There is a beautiful barn on the property filled with antique spinning wheels, skein winders, niddy noddy's, weaving loom, and so much more. So incredible to see all that in one place.

 

     

The Guild members who worked so hard to put this Spinning Bee together wore the cutest "worker bee" name tags:

 

Some had titles - Peter, The King Drone(on the left); Nancy, The Queen Bee(in the purple vest) and Jackie, Nancy's mother, The Queen Mum (in purple next to Nancy)  

 

It was such a wonderful day; I look forward to attending again next year. I'll leave you with some more pictures.    

 

Friday with Clover (on Monday)

Since I didn't get around to doing a Friday with Clover post, how about a Monday with Clover post?

Sometimes Clover will have a hard time lying down to take a nap no matter how tired she is.

Other times, not so much.

She was playing in her room one minute, and this was her the next.

 

This time she started out in her bed but decided the floor would be more comfy.

Notice she took the time to bring a pillow and blankie with her.

      Here she is after a ride in the car.
   
 

I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for a sleeping baby face!    Have a wonderful day :-)