Noolie Knits

A Picture Post

Another picture of Clover and Samm. Samm thought I deliberately cut out her tattoo in the last post so I thought I'd show it to you today.   
 

I finished a pair of socks...

Yarn: Marks & Kattens Clown
Pattern: Stockinette Stitch, top down socks on 60 stitches. Eye of Partridge heel.

 

...and started another:

Yarn: TOFUtsies     Pattern: Rainbow Ripple  

 

Over the past week, I've received more goodies from some very good friends - I'm so spoiled (and I love it)!

 

From the wonderful Dana and Dianne - a souvenier from the festival they work so hard to put together, The Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival: 

A Nana Sadie Rose bag!
With crazy black cats on the outside and pawprints inside (along with many pockets for needles and things) - Perfect!

I'm saving my pennies so that I can buy my own souvenier next year.
2010 Sedalia or Bust!  Right Marianne?

More birthday goodies from Patti and Roger:

Goes perfectly with the rest of the birthday gifties they bestowed upon me.

 

Wait, I'm not done yet.  Even more birthday goodies arrived in the mail on Friday. This package came from the sweet, sweet Gina.

Chalice Cable Handwarmers pattern by Alison Green Will,
the yarn to knit the handwarmers - Rowan Felted Tweed,
and some scrumptious Jojoland Cashmere laceweight yarn!
Don't you love the wrapping paper? And that card is too cute! (click here to see it larger so you can read it)

Thank you all so much - you're all too good to me!

I received one more goodie package in the mail on Saturday - this one wasn't a gift; it was my May Spunky Club fiber:

"Pansy" 4 ounces of Romney
Gorgeous isn't it?  

Clover thinks so!

I have just a couple more photos to share with you before I end for today:

 

This is how hubby spent yesterday morning.
You KNOW that made me happy!!!

I Love Surprises

 Well, maybe not all surprises.

I don't much care for the surprises the kitties sometimes leave for me; and I really don't like it when I step on those surpises - Ewwww. 

I do love the kind of surprise that was waiting for me on my porch when I got home at lunch today.  It was a completely unexpected package from the wonderful Gina.

Once I saw the box, I couldn't get it in the house fast enough.  Forget about eating; I wanted to see what was in the box. 

Would you like to see?

  It wasn't all for me; there were goodies for Clover and Samm in the box as well as goodies for me.

For Clover: 

A cute My Little Pony with hairbrush and a gift wrapped in some really pretty pink fabric.

Check out what was wrapped in that fabric:

Isn't this the cutest little doll ever?  Gina made it herself.  I love it and so does Clover!

 

For Samm:

Beads, Lip Smackers, Swarovski crystals, and (you'll want to click on this picture to see the detail on these) adorable little birdie bobbie pins!  Too cute!  Gina, how did you know Samm goes through chapstick like crazy?  She called to tell me she is wearing the birdies in her hair right now! She loves it all.  

 

and For Me, Me, Me:

Her beautiful new sock pattern!  I'm so glad that I just finished the "year-long" socks; I plan to cast on for these in the next day or two!  You can bet these will not be on the needles for a year!
 

As if that wasn't enough, she also sent me some merino/silk that she dyed in the happiest of colors!

The color is greener than the picture shows and it just makes me smile when I look at it.  It's going to be such a joy to spin this!    

Does Gina know how to put together a package or what?  Thanks so much, Gina!

Show and Tell

As I told you yesterday, I received a couple of packages in the mail this past weekend and they're just so good that I have to share them with you.

I won one of the daily prizes from Barbara Bretton over at Romancing the Yarn.  Check out how generous she was:

Included in the package were her book, Just Desserts, (which will be my next pool read), a skein of Noro Silver Thaw. and 2 magnets of her bookcover for Casting Spells.  Thank You, Barbara!

April's kitty, Andy, needed some vet care and to help cover the costs of that care, April is selling some of her wonderful stash.  It looks like she still has more, so go check it out here (Ravelry link).  I purchased a skein of Lorna's Lace's Shephard Worsted (It's much more red than this picture shows). 

 When I opened the pacakage, there was a little surprise in there; a pattern from Blue Sky Alpaca called One Fish, Two Fish.  I can't imagine why she'd think I'd like that ;-)

Thanks April, you're the best!  I hope Andy is back to his old self now :-)

I also promised to show you what else followed me home from Amy's yesterday.  It really wasn't all that much.  I couldn't leave without a little bit of fiber, now could I?      This is 4 ounces of Merino/silk in the Neapolitan colorway.

And since Alice is going to be spending some time with Patti, I really had to get her some fiber too.

This is 4 ounces of BFL in the Castaway colorway.

One last thing followed me home; a beautiful new spindle.  Just look at this:

Tell the truth; could you have left it behind?

Catching up (a little)

Before I begin this post, I have to ask all of you to send good, healing thoughts to Patti's father, who was in a car accident the other day.  Patti has been in Kansas City since Saturday to be with him and they could both use some good thoughts.  Thanks!

 

Seems there hasn't been much in the way of fiber content on this little blog in quite a while, has there? Unless, of course, you count me telling you about my summer goals and what patterns I plan to knit. I don't believe I've shown you any actual knitting in almost 2 weeks when I showed you the Avalanche hat. We won't even discuss how long it's been since I showed you any spinning. I'll remedy that in this post, but first I have a long overdue "Thank You" to give. 

Over a week ago, I received yet another birthday package in the mail; this one from the wonderfully generous Colleen.

 

Look at all this great stuff! That little box of crochet patterns is packed full of tons of patterns, any of which I would love to make.  If Samm has her way, I'll be making them ALL.  I'll probably make most of the clothing items; there are a few blankets, but I'm thinking I'll skip those.  Check out that little Monkey Suits dress pattern; that is definitely on the top of the list (click here for a better view). There are even a couple great patterns for me in this wonderful package!  I've been looking at  those ballerina slippers for a while now (how'd you know, Colleen?), and that circular crocheted shawl - that looks stunning.  You really must click this link to better see the detail! Thank you so very much, Colleen!  I'm telling you; this is the birthday that just keeps on giving!  I could easily get used to birthdays that last the entire year ;-)

As if that's not enough goodies, a friend and coworker dropped this on my desk on Friday: It's handspun by a woman here in town and my coworker won it in a raffle or something.  She figured she wasn't going to use it and thought I might like it.  She thought right; it's a great shade of red (I can't quite capture the color, it's not as dark as it looks in this photo; it's a bit more muted.)  It's about 108 yards of 100% Romney wool.  I'm thinking it might make a nice hat for the 300 Hat project.  Thank you, Robyn!

Speaking of the 300 Hat project; the only knitting I've done (and not frogged) this past week is another hat (#5) for the project. This one is knit using some Lopi from my stash on size 9 needles.  

I knit about 6 rounds of k3,P1 rib (which you can't even see) and then it's plain ole stockinette from there. I started it Tuesday night (of course - Chicks With Sticks knitting) and finished it Wednesday afternoon.   This hat does not count as one of the 8 additional that I have set as a goal for Summer knitting since it was begun and finished before the official start of Summer.

My first hat towards that goal will be started tomorrow for CWS knitting (well, actually crocheting).  I'm planning to do the Skater Beanie (Ravelry link).

We shall not speak of Twinings for a while; she has been frogged back to the beginning of the fourth repeat and is in time out again!  I'm beginning to wonder if I should have put her on my Summer goals list.  Oh well, summer does last three months, right?  Perhaps she'll have learned her lesson and be better behaved in time to be completed by the end of the summer.

I think I'm going to end here and save the spinning update for the next post.  I will say that this 10 Minutes a Day thing was the best thing I've done in a while!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

WNBP

It’s Wednesday, and even though I don’t always take advantage of the WNBP format (like when I’m too lazy to post anything at all), it’s nice to have it to fall back on.   Here goes:

• I'm glowing.  No, I'm not pregnant; bite your tongue!  I had to take a radioactive iodine pill today for another thyroid test.
• It was a little bit disconcerting when the technician administering the pill got a bit jumpy when it looked like her hand might actually touch the pill (which was encased in a thick plastic tube and dumped out into the palm of my hand).
• She tells me that I don't have to keep my distance from anyone, but that if I hold a baby on my lap, make sure my bladder is empty.
• Hmmm, I don't think I'll be holding Clover tonight.
• That’s not going to be easy; she is, after all, such a huggable baby!

 

• I'm amazed at the response to my contest!  Lots of people accomplishing lots of good things.
• If you have a few spare minutes, read the stories.  Very inspiring.
• Lots of people I haven’t heard from before; welcome! 
  
• I love "meeting" new people and reading new blogs.
  
• If I haven't yet responded to you, don't worry; I plan to respond to everyone and you'll all be entered into the contest.
• I'm thinking I may go for another stash dive and add another prize or two.
  
• If you haven't commented yet, what are you waiting for? (Although, you do have until Monday to comment.)

•   Last night at Chicks with Sticks I nearly completed my first hat for the 300 Hat Project.  I kept stopping to measure it so I could begin the decreases.  

• You know how that goes, especially when you're knitting stockinette in the round; you just want something different to break up the monotony.
• Well, I don’t know how I did it, but I ended up knitting an inch too much.  
• I could decrease every round now, but wouldn’t that make the hat pointy?  I don't think the orphans have pointy heads, so I'll rip back.
• Or maybe I'll just fold the ribbing up.  Hmmm, decisions, decisions.
• I'm hoping to knit a hat a week for the project, but I think I'll mix it up a bit and do some different patterns.  Something to keep it a little more interesting.

• Something interesting came in the mail today.
• Interesting and purty. 
• It was my Harmony interchangeable needle set!  Yippee!
• I’m really excited to try these out.
• As a matter of fact, I think I’ll close here so I can try them out on my Twinings stole.

 

Have a great night, everyone!

Post-Birthday Post

Such a clever title, no?

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!   I had a wonderful birthday (except the part where I had to work all day).  There was BB King Sunday night, strawberries and whipped cream over pound cake at work yesterday, dinner from Panera Bread courtesy of  Samm and Jay, and a visit with my Mom to end the day. 

And gifts; we can't forget the gifts.  Sunday night with BB was my gift from Chris; Samm and Jay gave me a great spice rack that can go on the counter (without taking up the whole counter) or in a drawer; money from my mom and from my dad (which is being used to purchase some Harmony needles). 

There was a handmade gift from Carol (aka MissaLouise : )

It says "Grandmother loves Clover" in Italian. 
Isn't that cool? 
Thank you MissaLouise; you know how much this means to me!

And from Patti and Roger:

3 Skeins of Alpaca with a Twist Fino in the gorgeous green that I've been drooling over (well, not literally because that would just ruin it!) and a pattern for the Flight of the Honey Bee Shawl!

I kept the bag next to my knitting chair last night (not that I knit even one stitch) and kept pulling that yarn out and petting it.  It's so gorgeous! 

Thank you so much, Patti and Roger!

The mailman has been very busy bringing me things lately; I've won a few contests, but you'll have to wait until my next post to see all that I've won.  I still have a couple more items to show you today.

On Saturday, I received my Pay It Forward gift from Amy (my birthday twin):

I had admired another she made a while ago
and so she made one for me. 
It's Quant from Knitty and it is perfect! 
I love the yarn she used; the colors are great
and it's incredibly soft.  Almost makes me want to skip right over summer so I can use it (ALMOST).  Thank you, Amy!

Last, but certainly not least, it's  the hairy ball pin cushion sent to me by Dana.  I've had it for a few weeks now and just kept forgetting to take a picture.  I've got one now, so check it out:

Isn't that the cutest?  She felted some alpaca fleece she had into balls to make pin cushions.  You can read about it  here.  Check out the little tuft of hair on top, reminds me of Samm's hair when she was a baby  :-)

That's it for today.

Have a great evening!

Surprise! It's a Baby Jacket

I went to my mailbox the other day and found a package addressed to "Clover Grace".  I recognized the return address and knew it had to be something special because it was from a very special person, Marianne.  I wasn't wrong:

Baby Surprise Jacket & Booties

The back side:

so sweet!

It's hard to tell from the pictures just how tiny and sweet this sweater is - the card in the top picture is 4"x5".  This sweater will be the perfect size for Clover for this winter.  I only wish my photography skills were better; the colors in this sweater are gorgeous!  I think you can see the colors better in this close up:    Look how cute the buttons are, and check out the matching buttons on the itsy bitsy booties 

Marianne tells me this is her first ever BSJ!  Well Marianne, I've got to tell you, it's PERFECT!  Thank you so much!

Secret Pal Revealed

Another wonderful package from my Secret Pal arrived on my doorstep this week.  I was so excited to get this package because I knew that this was the package which would reveal the identity of the Best Secret Pal Ever, Romelda! 

Isn't this wonderful?!  Look at all the goodies!  The box in the front is some wonderful Mandarin scented soaps; oh my goodness - they smell delicious!  There's Vogue Knitting's Crocheted Scarves book; I've already picked out a few that I MUST make.  Next to the book is a beautiful journal,  "Goddess of Chocolate".   There are little chocolate sayings on each of the pages - my favorite, "Who cares if it melts in your hand?".  Way in the back is an empty box of Ghiradelli caramel filled chocolates (of course it wasn't empty when it got here).  The very best part of the package was this:

A beautiful hat, "Alpine Roses", designed and knit by Romelda, and matching booties.  There are beautiful little crocheted roses on the hat and the white angora "snow" is made with yarn that was in a hat she made for her daughter when she was a baby!  How cool and incredibly special is that?! 

Romelda, thank you so much - not only for the wonderful packages you have sent, making me feel very special indeed, but also for the friendship you have shown me throughout this whole swap.  I'm so happy to now have a chance to really get to know you, too. 

There's more to this story; Romelda did all this for me while she was preparing to undergo knee replacement surgery!  Imagine that; with all the stress and worries she must have been feeling, she still took the time to make sure I was spoiled.  I received an e-mail from her daughter yesterday telling me that the surgery went well and that Romelda has been up and doing a little bit of walking.  Please stop by her blog and wish a wonderful woman a speedy recovery.

I have been truly blessed to have met so many wonderful people through this little blog of mine.  When I started writing this a little over a year ago, it was pretty much just a way to document my knitting and get some ideas and feedback from other knitters.  It has turned into so much more than that.

Tune in tomorrow for another example of  thoughtfulness.

The Power of Good Thoughts

Thanks for all the very sweet comments and e-mails you sent me yesterday.  I feel so blessed to have such good friends as all of you!  I'm kind of afraid to say anything, but it seems that the enemy is gone.  Amazing what a day of the right drugs and rest will do.  And I truly believe that all your good thoughts helped , too!  Now if it'll just stay away.

Obviously, there was no knitting going on yesterday although by last night I felt like I could do a little bit of spinning (and I do mean a LITTLE bit).  I spent about 1/2 hour spinning and that was enough. 

It seems that whenever I'm feeling my worst, the mailman puts a package in my mailbox.  Yesterday's package was from the wonderful Gina.  She's such a sweetheart.  I knew part of this package was coming, but she snuck a little something extra in there.  Want to see?

First, this beautiful sweater for Clover:

(I hope Gina doesn't mind that I stole this picture from her).  Along with the sweater she sent some lovely socks she knit for Clover:

Aren't these adorable?  Gina is so sweet and generous; but she didn't stop there. 

She also sent fiber for me; isn't it lovely?  It is 50% merino and 50% silk which she hand dyed in the colorway "Tanzanite"- Yummy!  I can't wait to start spinning this.  Thank you so much Gina!

And now, I must go and get ready for work.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!

As Promised - A Post

I know I haven't been around here much this past week; hope you didn't miss me too much ;-)  I've been fighting a migraine since last Saturday; not yesterday, last Saturday!  I pretty much lost the battle by Thursday and spent the day taking the heavy duty meds and feeling lousy all day. I had either excruciating head pain or extreme nausea from the pain meds.  Fun.  Friday, I woke up and didn't feel like I was doing a whole lot better, but had to go to work or my coworker would have been alone in the office all day.  I did go home after he got back from lunch. It's now Sunday night and I can still feel the pain in my head.  It's not nearly as bad as it was Thursday and Friday, but it's still there.  With all this, it's been a bit difficult to keep up with the blog reading and the e-mails and with keeping this little blog up to date.

But, you're not here to listen to me whine, are you?  Moving on.....

Through it all, there has still been some knitting, crocheting, and spinning going on around here.  The only day I wasn't able to do anything was Thursday; every other day I managed to get something done.   The mailman has also been busy delivering more packages for me. 

Crocheting:  The secret project is done (except for blocking) with almost a week to spare.  YAY!  I enjoyed this project, but I really was ready to be done with it.  Pictures next week.

Spinning:  I finished spinning up a bobbin full of the green merino. 

Knitting:

The Ice Cream Sweater is complete (except for buttons)
Pattern:  Baby Sleeve to Sleeve Cardigan
Yarn: Trekking XXL, color 126
Needles:  Size 2 addis
Cindy inspects and approves.




Itty Bitty Doggie Sweater. 
I made this sweater for Samm & Jay's friend's itty bitty puppy, Chezza.  Samm says she's a "Juggy", part Jack Russell and part Pug.  I really wasn't sure this was going to fit (it's really itty bitty), but Jay got a picture of Chezza wearing it and it fits her perfectly.  The picture he took was on his cell phone; he's going to try and get a better one for me to post here. Until then, you get the monkey modeling it.
Pattern: Penny
Yarn:  Lamb's Pride worsted, Green Apple
Needles:  Sizes 5 and 6

Velvet Grapes:

1 1/2 sleeves and neck band left to do.  Sooo Soft!



Bunny Blankie
I'm winging this; I'll stuff the head lightly with fiberfill and the rest will be a blankie similar to this.  I'm using Berroco Plush - sooo very soft.

I cast on for a pair of socks tonight; I'm feeling the need for a sock fix.  I'm using the Sockina Cotton yarn that Patti gave me.  I've only got a few rows done, so no pics yet.

Mail:

I received my copy of Crazy Aunt Purl's book this past week; haven't had a chance to read any of it yet (headaches and reading don't really go too well together).  I'm anxious to dive in, though.

I've saved the best for last:

The BEST Secret Pal ever strikes again!
Look at these goodies, will ya?
Grapefruit & Orange Bath stuff (soap, lotion, shower gel) smells incredible!
A black kitty box filled with yummy caramel candies.
The greatest book with a most appropriate title; Samm and I had great fun looking through this book.  My queue has suddenly just about doubled in size!  Here's one example of something from the book that will be knit very soon: it's a Christmas tree hat; isn't it great? What a funny picture; makes me laugh every time I look at it!
Some closeups of the items in the front row:

Rubber Duckie soap and Lemon hat and booties for Clover.
OMG, this hat and booties are so damn cute and so soft!
Clover certainly will not be wanting for any knit items; lucky little girl!
And check out this yarn:

When I first saw this yarn, I thought it was just beautiful; the colors are great.  Then I looked closer; check out the colorway name:

Isn't that great?

Now I ask you, do I have the best Secret Pal or what?!

Okay, that's enough for me tonight.  Gotta go rest my eyes.  Goodnight.

Goodies from Friends

Holy Crap!  Have you seen this?  And I thought Carole and Cheryl had a lot of wheels!

Friday afternoon I stopped at home during my lunch hour as usual, checking on the mail while I was there.  I opened the mailbox and found a package addressed to "Baby Clover".  I knew who this was from, as she told me to be looking for a package wrapped in plain brown paper.  I brought it in the house so that Samm  could open it immediately (I'm an impatient sort).  Check out what was inside:

Are these just too cute or what?!  Oh yeah, and check out the back of the pink outfit and the cute sunhat that came with it.

Samm was so pleased and she just couldn't get over the adorable swimsuit; she kept saying how it's the cutest thing she's ever seen :-)  Dana included a note that the swimsuit was so that Clover can float around the pool with me; now where would she ever get the idea that I'd want to do that?  Thank you so much, Dana!  That was such a sweet thing for you to do.

There has been some knitting and spinning going on, even some crocheting, but I'll have to get to that tomorrow (and by "tomorrow", you know that I mean next time I post). 

Have a great day!

Catch Up Post

Betty's blanket was delivered yesterday afternoon.  Unfortunately, I had to deliver it to her in the hospital; she was admitted again yesterday for pain.  I was happy to be able to bring a little sunshine into her day with the blanket, though.  She was so touched that so many would take the time to help make this blanket for her.  I only stayed for about 15 minutes or so, and the whole time I was there she was rubbing the blanket and admiring it.  I didn't ask to take a picture because I didn't think it was appropriate since she was in a hospital bed.  Thank you for helping me to give a very special person a little bit of joy on a day when she really needed it!

Now, let's catch up on what I've been up to. As you know, there hasn't been a whole lot of knitting of late, but there has been some.

I started, and almost finished, this pair of socks for Dulann a week ago Sunday and only just got around to finishing them this morning.

Pattern: Norma's Magic 28 Yarn: Paton's Classic Merino, Leaf Green Needles: Brittney size 5 dpn This is only my second pair of Magic 28 socks; 26 to go. Good thing there isn't any time limit on this!

I'm teaching a Booga Bag class at The Yarn Sellar. The first class was last night. There were 5 students in the class and they all did really well. It's fun to see how the different colorways of Noro Kureyon work up. Here's my bag so far:

 

I'm using color #90 (don't you just love the creative color names Noro uses?).  I plan to have this felted for next week's class; the studens should be finished knitting the bag portion and be working on the 5 to 6 FEET OF I-CORD at that point. It's a two week class, though, so I want to be able to explain the felting process and the finishing process. That means I'll be knitting exclusively on this until it is done.  This also means the two kids' sweaters are still on hold. No problem; I'll get back to them soon.  Notice the gorgeous stitch marker on that bag?  That was a gift from the wonderful Heather a while back.  She makes beautiful stitch markers and dyes gorgeous yarn; you should really go check out her store.

Recently, I won a contest over at Susan's blog and the prize package came in the mail last week. Check this out:

 

Claudia Handpainted yarn in the most incredibly gorgeous colorway and some adorable stitch markers. I love them. Thanks, Susan!

Have you seen that Rabbitch has opened up her online store? Is it wrong that I made sure I ordered what I wanted before telling you about it?  She just opened it up today and will be updating it daily for a while; go check it out.  I bought the set of fridge magnets designed by her very talented husband.

 

The Sheep is going to be walking in circles to help fight cancer and is doing a bit of fundraising (she's giving away prizes, too).  She's real close to reaching her goal; how about you go on over to her fundraising page and help her if you can (and maybe win a prize).  Go, Sheepie, Go!

Okay, that's the end of the catch up game; have a wonderful day :)

Teal + Black + Green = Crap

Holy Cow - look at the number of comments on the contest post! I know this doesn't seem like a lot to some of you, but for me it's huge! You people are really quite amusing. I was showing the captions to Samm today and we were both laughing our asses off (oh,if only that were possible). One more day to enter your caption and Moogie weight guess. I'll be announcing the winner at my new home on Friday. I'll post the link here Friday morning.

I've had some nasty stomach bug for the last couple days and have been home from work. Two days in the house - you'd think there'd be lots of knitting to show for that, wouldn't you? Nope! Hardly any. This is proof positive that I've not been feeling well.

I did do some knitting on my sweater, then I did some frogging and some more knitting. I knit about 1 1/2 inches with the green and it looked like crapola. So I ripped out all the green and then continued ripping all the black. I decided to do the entire bottom of the sweater in black ribbing (the first black was stockinette). I'm hoping that I have enough black to also do the bottom half of the sleeves in black. If not, I'll just do them in teal. Here's the sweater now:

I'm liking it so far. This black yarn is weird though; it's turning my hands black. I hope it doesn't bleed onto the teal when I soak it! You wouldn't think it would since it was sold together as a kit. Speaking of the kit, I keep wondering why the colors looked good in the picture of the sweater in the kit, but didn't look good here. Strange, very strange.

I also managed to turn the heel and complete the gusset decreases on the sock. I'm not going to bore you with a picture; I'll wait until I have the sock completed.

The mailman was good to me this week. I received my order from Chappywoman; I ordered the pattern for the Faina Scarf Knitalong and also these:

Kitty purse handles! I'm going to make a knitting bag using them. Aren't they just too cute?! There was a little surprise in the package too. An adorable kitty stitch marker.

Farm-Witch sent me this yarn just because I Knit for the Kidlets. She sent everyone a prize; wasn't that nice? I think I'll make something for Colin with it.

Well, that's it for tonight. I'm gonna go rest some more; I'm hoping to be able to go to work tomorrow. No, I don't miss work but I have some stuff I really need to get done this week. Besides, I'm going a little stir crazy.

Have a great night!