Noolie Knits

Ten on Tuesday

Samm (age 7) on top of Mount Kineo*  
10 Things To Bring On A Camping Trip.

I have to tell you that "camping" to me is staying at a camp; I do NOT do tent camping.  My mother and step-father used to own two camps, one at Moosehead Lake in Greenville, ME and one at Schoodic Lake in Brownville Jct., ME ( so tiny I can't find a good link).  (They still own the one at Schoodic.)  We used to go for a week during the summer or a long weekend in the fall; we haven't been in many years!   So, on with the list....

1.   Bug Spray - no matter where you go camping, the bugs are going to be there too!

2.   Benedryl - I remember one trip to Schoodic Lake with my friend, "Missa Louise"; I got stung by a bee.  I have never been stung before and my foot started swelling.  We were at least an hour away from the nearest hospital.  We searched the camp first aid kits and medicine cabinets for some Benedryl and couldn't find any - we found every kind of fiber imaginable (sorry Mom), but no Benedryl.  Luckily, I was not allergic and all was well, but my mother did receive a package of Benedryl for her birthday the next month :-)

3.  Beer - this is a no-brainer; beer and camp just go together.

4.  Coffee (or caffeine beverage of choice) - because even though you don't need to wait until noon for #3, you'll still need your caffeine in the morning!

5.  Food - specifically, burgers and dogs.

6.  Marshmallows - have to toast marshmallows over the fire - I like to catch mine on fire and eat them burnt (yes, I do know I'm weird.)

7.  Swimsuit - because you can NOT go camping without it being near a lake (or other body of water!)

8.  Float - preferably with a drink holder (see #3).

9.  Books - must have something to read while floating in the lake.

10.  Knitting - for evenings and (heaven forbid)  rainy days.

*(She'll tell you we forced her to climb it with pneumonia.  The truth is she did indeed have pneumonia, but we didn't even know she was sick until that night.  We just thought she was whining the whole way up the mountain - bad Mom & Dad!)

Imagine That!

I'm actually going to post some knitting content.  I know; I can hardly believe it myself!

I finished Acer last Wednesday.

Pattern: Acer by Kristen Kapur
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Eco + in colorway 7072
Needles: Size 8 (for first 5 rows) & Size 9

Mods: After reading some comments from others who have made this sweater, I decided to use a smaller needle for the neck than the pattern called for. This still left the neck plenty wide enough. The only other mod I made was to add some length to the body.

The pattern is well written and easy to follow. It's a top-down sweater, which means no seaming; when the knitting is done, all that's left is to sew on the buttons and weave in the ends.  I took a break between sleeves and sewed the buttons on so when I was done knitting, all I had to do was weave in a couple ends and I was done.

Does the fact that I've already worn it twice tell you how I feel about it?  I LOVE this sweater!

I really like the Cascade Yarns Ecological Wools; I've used both the natural color (for my Swing Coat) and now this Eco + and have been very happy with the results.  So much so that I am planning my next sweater using some red Eco +.   I haven't made a final decision on what that sweater will be, but I am leaning heavily towards Wisteria.  We'll see; I have one project that HAS to be finished before I can even think about it.

What is that other project and why the urgency?  It's another pair of Bella Mittens and they are going to be worn to the midnight showing of New Moon tomorrow night (technically, Friday morning).  I showed you the first pair a couple weeks ago and then decided I'd like to make a pair for Samm's friend as well.  Gretchen has been Samm's friend for years; she's one of the girls Samm went to Costa Rica with for a month (and stayed in a tree house) about 5 years ago.  I love Gretchen, and since they are going to the movie together, I thought it'd be nice for her to have a pair as well.

I do have one more FO to show you.

A baby hat knit for a hat drive that one of the workers at the shop is doing.
I used less than 1/2 ball of Cascade 220 Superwash to make this little hat. It's just a plain ole rolled brim hat over 66 stitches on size 7 needles. I added a little basketweave on the bottom and an i-cord loop on the top for some interest. This was a really quick knit and I think a cute little hat.

That's it.  That's all I have for you tonight.  Now I'm off to eat some dinner and get to work on the Bella Mittens.  Have a great night!

WNBP

Thank goodness for the Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  If it weren't for this opportunity to post a bunch of random things, I would probably post even less than I do now.  It's kind of freeing to not have to worry about transitioning from one subject to the next.

So, let the random begin!

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~~I voted today. 

~~No, it's not election day; I voted by absentee ballot.

~~I won't be absent on election day, but that doesn't matter.  The State of Maine wants to make it easy for everyone to vote so we're allowed to vote by absentee for any old reason.

~~Even if that reason is that I'm just too lazy to go to the polling place.

~~I can get my ballot right at work, so can you blame me for not wanting to drive the 2 miles to the polling place?

~~Of course I voted NO on  1

~~Speaking of voting and NO on 1, don't forget about this and this. 

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~~When you see your cat in a position like this, what is the first thing any sane knit-blogger (is there any such thing) would think to do?

~~Take photos of course, and add a WIP for good measure.

Pattern: Plain Ole Stockinette Stitch, Top Down, Heel Flap sock
Needles: Size 2 dpn
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill (colorway unknown - label lost a long time ago)
Cat: Rico (I guess I did disturb him; he moved his legs up)

~~I've knit a bit more on this sock since that photo session yesterday morning; I'm a couple inches down the foot now.

~~Did I mention that this is a mansock?

~~Men have big feet.

~~Mansocks take a loooong time to knit.

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~~I started a new sweater for myself - Acer by Kirsten Kapur

~~I've only done a few inches and haven't taken a picture yet.

~~I can show you the yarn I'm using though:

Cascade Yarns Eco + in a beautiful purple

~~Yes, I know that's way more than I need.

~~I'll probably use the rest for something for Clover.

~~Maybe another little dress.

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~~I still haven't been doing much spinning.

~~I have a couple of bobbins with 2ply yarn that needs to be wound off.

~~They've been on the bobbins a couple of weeks.

~~I really should do something about that.

~~I also have two bobbins of singles that I need to ply.

~~I think I'll do that tomorrow night at Chicks with Wheels.

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~~Have I mentioned recently how far behind I am in responding to comments?

~~I thought I was getting all caught up Monday morning before work.

~~I went through a bunch of comments, hit the reply button, composed nice personal notes, and hit send.

~~I felt good about my progress and figured I'd respond to the rest during the day at work.

~~It hit me sometime mid-morning.

~~I was replying to the blog, not the individual commenter.

~~I quickly opened Typepad and looked for my comments.

~~They didn't seem to be there.

~~Luckily, they were all marked as spam and not visible on the blog (not that I write anything bad, but some of them had more than just a response to the comment itself).

~~I deleted them all and have no clue who I owe responses to anymore.

~~I hate the changes Typepad made to how we reply to comments. 

~~Yes, they "fixed" the major problem, but I just can't remember to change the email address everytime I hit reply so that it doesn't go to the blog.

~~I guess I'm getting old.

~~I'm going to do my best to respond in a timely manner from now on (and will hopefully remember to change the "to" address in the reply!).

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~~That's all I've got.

~~Have a wonderful evening!