Noolie Knits

Friday with Clover

and Mommy.

  It was a wild hair day!

Celebrating

As some of you know, my birthday was this past Tuesday.   I want to share with you some of the things I did and received. 

Since Hubby works the crazy midnight shift and has a hard time being up in the evening during the week, we celebrated my birthday at home on Monday evening (the end of his weekend).  We ordered takeout from Ruby Tuesdays, which is always good, and then we topped it off with angel food cake covered in strawberries and whipped cream - YUMMY.  Samm, Jay, and Clover then gave me this beautiful gift:

"Child's Touch" by Willow Tree
Isn't that just too sweet?! I love it!
 

Hubby gave me a gift a week earlier when it arrived in the mail.  (Usually it's Samm who can't wait to give a gift.)

 
Isn't this a great T-shirt. He picked it out himself and had it customized! He did good; no wonder he couldn't wait to give it to me :-)

I received one other gift on Monday; this one came in the mail and was from the wonderful Colleen:

The Knit Kit!
Look at what she padded the package with - sample sizes of a couple different fibers. They are going onto some spindles soon!  

Want to see what's in the Knit Kit?

On the top of the front is a row counter, to the right of that is a little pull out thread cutter, and on the left is a crochet hook that snaps into the side.  On the bottom is a pull out tape measure and that button on the bottom sucks it back in.  Turn it over and open the compartment on the back and you get what you see in the picture on the right - fold up scissors, stitch markers, needle protectors.  This is so great!  Everything you need in somethinng so compact.  I added a darning needle to the compartment in the back and I really have everything I need.  So much easier than the baggie I drag along and move from bag to bag.  Thank you so much Colleen!

All that and it wasn't even my birthday yet.    Since my birthday fell on a Tuesday, I naturally wanted to spend it with my other family, The Chicks with Sticks at the Yarn Sellar.   I really did not expect it to be another party, but a party it was.  First, my dear dear friends, Patti & Roger, gave me a great gift:

Sereknity Perfect Sock in the color "Caramel Macchiato"
and an adorable new project bag - notice the clovers and ladybugs - Perfect!
Patti and Roger are too good to me - thanks guys!

It didn't end there though, my good friend Mary came in a few minutes later carrying a wonderful fruit tart (with custard covered in strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi - OMG - YUMMY!), party favors for everyone (silly plastic gemstone rings), a crown for me to wear, and a bottle of wine.  I didn't get a picture of any of this, but I do have this one shot of the crown that I took when I got home:

Yes, Princess Clover now owns the crown.
 

 

I didn't complete my birthday celebrating until yesterday when i spent some birthday money that I had received.   Every  year on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, my friend, Tracy, and I start our summer of eating outside in Portsmouth and shopping downtown.  We like to eat out on the deck of The Old Ferry Landing and have a couple drinks and then walk around Portsmouth and shop.  This year was no different - well, I guess it was a little different as we made a stop at a "shop" that we have never visited before.  Tracy had mentioned when she picked me up that she really wanted to get a tatoo of a couple cat paw prints on her ankle.  That was all it took (well, that and a couple drinks and an Ativan) to give me the courage to do what I've been wanting to do for quite a while.

 

 

 

It'll look better after it heals and there's no longer any blood on it. Aside from the blood, isn't it great?!
 

I'm so happy that I finally did it! It was so much easier than I thought it would be; it hardly hurt at all.

Just one thing - please don't tell my Daddy that I spent the birthday money he gave me on a tatoo :-)

Friday with Clover and Her Best Friends

Rico and Clover



Clover and BeBe (aka Phoebe)   Click either picture to see more.   Have a great day!

I'm on a Roll

Here's another completed pair of socks. 

Plain vanilla socks using size 1 1/2 (2.5mm) dpn's
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Sockina Cotton
Started: October 2007
Finished: May 19, 2009
 

No, that's not a typo; I started these socks in October of 2007!  The first sock sat for over a year in timeout because I thought it was too small for Hubby (and it was too big for me).  As I told you when I let that first sock out of timeout a couple weeks ago, either the sock grew or hubby's foot shrunk because the darn thing fit this time! Whatever the case, this is another pair of finished socks in 2009.  That makes 4 pairs of socks finished in 2009 or 4 times as many as I finished in 2008!

I'm feeling so good about the return of the sock mojo, that I joined Summer of Socks 2009 (Ravelry link here).    I was a bit hesitant to join because I was kind of afraid that committing to knitting socks might be just what it takes to cause the sock mojo to take a summer vacation, but this year's theme is LOW STRESS so I think I should be okay.   I haven't decided exactly what my goals will be for SOS (I still have a month to decide), but I do know that one of them will be to use some of the  mountain of sock yarn I have in the stash! 

Why don't you join me and the millions of others (okay, maybe that's a wee bit of an exaggeration) knitting socks this summer?  Come on, you know you want to. 

It's a Wrap

Ooops, it's been almost 2 weeks since I posted the picture of my Crocus Bud wrap soaking and waiting to be blocked.   I guess it's about time to show you the finished pictures.  I'm sure many of you have seen these already on Ravelry, but for those of you who haven't, here they are:

 

Yarn - my handspun from Louet Northen Lights  in the colorway "Burning Bush" Pattern:  Crocus Bud Wrap Crochet Hook size J Size before blocking:  13" x 60" Size after blocking:  19" x 66"  

This is my first big project with my own handspun and I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out.  The size is exactly what I wanted; long enough to wrap around my shoulders and rest on my arms, but not so long as to get in the way.  It's also just the right width to keep my shoulders and arms warm in a cool room.  My plan is to wear this with a brown dress to my niece's wedding in September.   

I have one more FO to show you today.   This one is a much smaller project.  I'll be attending the Granite State Knit-in at Loon Mountain in a couple of weeks.   We have been asked to bring a teddy bear dressed in a handknit sweater.  These will be given to kids in emergency situations to help comfort them.  Here's mine:

Pattern: Wee Wonderfuls Stockinette Cardigan
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft color Rubine Red (yes it is that bright and yes, it is pink, not red!)
Needles: Size 9
Mods: I did seed stitch edging instead of garter and used 2 buttons instead of 4.

Both the bear and the sweater are very soft.  I thought the bright (to put it mildly) pink on the black bear would make some scared little girl very happy; I hope it works.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to ewe,

Happy Birthday to ewe,

Happy Birthday, dear Sheepie;

Happy Birthday to ewe!

Here's wishing you lots of yummy birthday cake. (not served  on the fine china though, cuz that would be gross!)

ETA: I didn't make this cake; the picture came from www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com

 

 

 

Friday with Clover

Clover usually doesn't care too much for a messy face when she eats, she'll stop and take the time to wipe her face every couple of minutes while eating something messy. 

Usually, but not always.

  Samm gave her some hummus the other day; she liked it so much that she didn't even care (or notice) that it was on her nose.  Silly girl.  
 

NHS&W

I went to NHS&W last Saturday with Patti, Eileen, and Sharon.  We had a fantastic day! Aside from a few sprinkles in the morning, the weather was perfect - not too cold (or wet) and not too hot.

I saw several friends while there, but realized after reading blogs this week that I missed quite a few too.  I really don't understand how I missed so many as it wasn't terribly crowded. 

I didn't take a whole lot of photos and most of them didn't come out very well (note to self: don't forget to change lighting settings on camera next time!).   Here's one that I really like:

Jackie & Lora
Hmmm, I wonder what they're up to?

If you want to see the rest of the pictures, click here.

I managed to stick to my plan for shopping:  1) only buy fibers that I haven't yet spun but have wanted to, or in colors that I absolutely couldn't resist, 2) buy only a couple skeins of yarn that really spoke to me, and 3) find something for my mother and something for Clover and Samm.

Fibers:
Falling under the "absolutely could not resist the color" category:

"Fall Harvest"
8oz wool/mohair/glitz
purchased from Persimmon Tree Farm (there's quite a bit of "glitz" in here that I really can't capture with the camera - bummer)

Falling under the "never spun but want to" category:

 

Jacob roving
15 5/8 ounces
purchased from Country Spun Treasures

That's it for fiber - one in each category.   I know, I can hardly believe it myself!

Yarns:

"Bunny Blend" 40% Maine angora 60% sw merino
190 yards; sport weight
purchased from Acker's Acres Angoras

Peruvian tweed superfine alpaca
600 yards of what appears to be sport/dk weight
I can't remember which vendor's booth I bought this from.

 

For my mother and Samm:

The supplies to do locker hooking
Purchased from End of the World Farm
(I may have bought an additional set of supplies for myself because I NEED another craft to fill all my spare time.)

 

We watched a demo in the vendor's booth and were able to try it out. It was fun and easy and the finished pieces on display were lovely. My mother likes to do crafts so I figured this would be the perfect Mother's Day gift; give her the supplies and teach her how to do it. Unfortunately, I never even thought to get a picture of her doing it, but here's one of my first attempts:

 Impressive, no? heehee.  I actually did a bigger practice piece before this one, but I gave it to my mother so she could use it for practice before moving on to something bigger and better.

I didn't forget about Clover; I bought her an adorable stuffed alpaca (since there was no way a real one would fit in the car).  She loves it and calls it her "paca".  I seem to be very forgetful when it comes to taking pictures lately, because I haven't taken any of Clover with her "paca".  I didn't even get one of the "paca" when I was photographing the loot.   I know, I'm a bad, bad blogger. Take my word for it though, it's adorable!

NHS&W was a wonderful event and I'm so glad that we went.  It's definitely going to be on my calendar every year!

Friday with (the other) Clover

Our sweet little Clover has learned a new trick.

 

She throws a pretty good temper tantrum.
       

""Tantrum?  Me?  Never!"

Spinning

Seems I fell off the 10 minutes a Day spinning wagon quite some time ago.   I have, however, been trying to get in at least a couple hours of spinning each week in addition to my Thursday night Chicks with Wheels spinning time.  I've managed to do a pretty good job of it, too. 

The weather has even been nice enough a few times to spin outside on the deck.  Believe it or not, it was actually so hot one day that I had to move into the shade!  (No silly, it wasn't too hot for me but it was too hot for the fiber.  sweaty hands = felted fiber)  

The only thing better than being able to spin outside is being able to spin outside with a friend.  Patti has been over a couple of times to spin on the deck with me and I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend afternoon (well okay, maybe adding a little pool time to the afternoon  would be better, but we're talking Spring time in Maine people; we're lucky if we get outside at all).  Hopefully, deck spinning (and pool time) will be something we can do a lot of this spring and summer. 

Okay, enough talk; let's get to the spinning projects.

The first yarn I'm going to show you was spun several weeks ago but I forgot to post  about it.

The fiber was a a gift from Colleen.  This picture just does not do it justice - it sparkles so beautifully when the light hits it.  I wish I could capture that with the camera, but alas, I cannot. 

I know that I wrote down the yardage and wpi of this yarn somewhere, but can I find it?  Of course not.  Guess I'll have to measure again. 

I'm not sure what this yarn wants to be when it grows up, possibly some mitts or a cowl,  but for now I'm happy to just enjoy looking at its sparkling beauty and fondling it every now and then (seems I do that a lot with my handspun.)

Next up is some gorgeous fiber that I bought from Heather at the Fiber Revival last August.

4 ounces Sereknity "Beach Glass" 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Silk 100% YUMMY!  
 
about 16 wpi
249 yards Navajo plyed

It’s a little too loosely pyed at a few of the “links”; I'm hoping it won't show up in the knitting.

 I plan to knit the Morning Surf Scarf with this; I think the colors are perfect for it..

 

That's all the completed spinning I have to show you today.  Of course there is fiber currently on the wheel.  I started spinning the Spunky Club April fiber.  No pictures of the spinning yet, but here's a picture of the fiber.  I'm planning socks for this.   

 

"Soul Windows"  SW Corriedale & Nylon 4ounces pictured - I have a total of 8 ounces thanks to Patti giving me her 4 ounces :-)       I'm going to leave you with a preview of a post coming soon to a blog near you.  

Have a great day!

Socks

I think my sock mojo has returned for real.  You may recall that I only completed one pair of socks last year.  Here it is May 4th and I'm working on my fourth pair of 2009 (granted they weren't all started in '09, but that's not the point). 

I had hoped to finish the socks designed by the talented Gina over the weekend and I did it.  As a matter of fact, I finished the second sock on Saturday morning.

Pattern:  Spring Sasavana Socks
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Good Luck Jade.
Needles: Size 6 dpn's

I love these socks; they feel so incredible on my feet!  This pair of socks will live in my spinning basket to be worn when my tootsies get cold while spinning (which is all the time). 

This was a quick and easy pattern that I will definitely knit again.  The only thing I'll do differently on the next pair is  knit the cuff longer.  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn to knit a longer cuff on these so I went with what the pattern suggested -  turns out I had enough left that I could have made them close to my usual length. 

Once these were off the needles, I went up to the stash to find some yarn to start on another pair for Hubby.  While I was looking, I came across the one finished "Boy Sock" that I knit back in October using Schoeller+Stahl Sockina Cotton.   You may remember the story of how this first sock was knit for the hubby and was too short requiring that I rip out the toe and knit a bit more length in the foot.  Hubby tried it on again after that and said it was too tight.  "Boy Sock" was banished at that point and I truly never thought it'd see the light of day again.   When I found it  this weekend, I decided that I would rip back to the leg and reknit the heel and foot allowing some extra room.  Luckily, before ripping I asked hubby to try it on again to let me know exactly where it didn't feel right. 

I'm sure you can guess where this is going - it fits him perfectly.  Yippee, that means I'm halfway to another completed pair of socks!  I started the second sock last night and have knit the ribbing and a few rounds of the cuff.

This weekend was filled with progress on a few different fiber projects - I'll fill you in on the rest later.

Have a great night!

Just for Fun

Friday with Clover

Clover came to Chicks with Sticks for a while on Tuesday evening.

She had such a good time, she just had to dance!

A bit blurry, but still cute :-)

 

Have a great weekend!