Noolie Knits

My New Knitting Spot

For months and months I've been wanting a glider chair and rocking foot stool to go with it; but not enough to buy a one new.  My boss/neighbor, Rick, deals in antiques and used furniture (and anything else he can make a buck on) so I asked him to keep an eye out for one.  A few months ago he came in and told me he found one that I could have for $300.  No thanks, I could buy a new one for that.  So I waited and waited and figured I'd be knitting in my worn out corner of the couch for the rest of my life.  Until Saturday evening when I heard a knock on my front door.  It was Rick; he had just picked up a glider with the foot stool and I could have it for $20!  That's more like it.  I quickly gave him the 20 bucks before he could change his mind and sent hubby across the street for the chair.  It came out of an old woman's house and kind of smelled like it, but after giving the cushions a bath in the tub (twice), there's no smell at all.  I did a bit of rearranging in the living room and here is my new knitting spot:

Everything I need is nice and handy. I did switch the printer and the laptop after taking this picture; the laptop is on top of the book case and the printer is on the shelf below it.  It's just easier to move the laptop back and forth from the top (yes, I'm incredibly lazy).  I also have all my reference knitting books next to the laptop and my knitting magazines on the bottom shelf (the rest of the stuff on the bottom shelf are Samm's beading supplies).  Next to the bookcase in the plastic set of drawers is where I keep all my active WIP's and knitting supplies.  What you don't see in this picture is my other bookcase which is filled with the rest of my knitting books; that's on the wall in front of the chair, not too far away.  So, I've taken over about 1/3rd of the living room for my knitting (not to mention a big closet downstairs and a spare room upstairs, but like I said, we won't mention those). My daughter told me I look like an old lady rocking and knitting in my new chair; I told her, "At least I'm a happy old lady." :-)  Who'd have thought that something so little could bring so much pleasure?

Okay, enough of that.  I've got some knitting to show you (not much, but some).  I finished the Magic 28 socks I was working on last week.  This is pair #4 and my favorite so far.

Pattern: Magic 28
Yarn: Reynolds Odyssey, color 409 (left over from this sweater)
Needles: Brittney Birch size 5 dpn

I k2p2 for 2 rows then k a row for the length of the leg. I don't usually enjoy doing ribbing, but with the knit row to break it up, I enjoyed doing this. And it gave me an idea for my Sockapalooza pal's socks.  I'm not going to knit them quite the same; I'm going to purl the 3rd row for my pal's socks. She said she doesn't want anything lacy and she prefers a thicker sock, so I think this will work out perfectly. I haven't decided definitely on the yarn yet. It's between the February STR club yarn and the May Spunky Club yarn; both are colors that she likes. Of course, I love both so I'm having trouble deciding.  I'm leaning toward the STR because it's a heavier weight yarn (medium weight), but I still have time to decide.  I figure I'll have to get started on them by the beginning of July to make sure they are ready to be shipped on August 2nd. This will give me plenty of time in case I run into any issues, I don't expect to, but if I wait until the last minute, something is sure to happen to hold me up.

I started the June socks for the Sockamania KAL last week but wasn't able to work on them much until yesterday. This is a great pattern. I'm using Tofutsies in color #793 and Crystal Palace size 2 dpn's. This is my first time using the Tofutsies, and even though it is a teeny tiny bit splitty, I really like it. The colors are beautiful and it feels sooooo nice.

I've finished another 16 row repeat since taking this picture.  The colors in this picture are pretty accurate (at least on my monitor). I am really enjoying this pattern; it is easily memorized but not so easy that I don't have to pay attention.  The only thing I will do differently on my next pair is to use a smaller needle for the leg. It's just a bit loose in the leg, but not so loose that I won't enjoy wearing them.

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great one!

Randomness again

I received an e-mail at work from hubby this afternoon that read "Water is going in the pool starting now."  WooHoo!!!!  Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be much of a pool kind of weekend.  Maybe I can squeeze in a little time on the floating lounge chair on Sunday afternoon if the temps reach the higher end of what's being predicted.  Keep your fingers crossed for me; you know how much I love my pool and the sun!

Check this out:
I'm winning the battle! I know it doesn't really look like much, but I really am getting more comfortable with the spindle spinning and am actually starting to produce something that resembles yarn. It's getting a little more consistent, too; no more huge chunky sections followed by lace weight. It's starting to look more like a heavy worsted weight. This is a real accomplishment for me. Thanks for the "park and draft" tip, Amy; it's making all the difference. I'll keep working on this a bit each most nights and before long, I may even spin some useable yarn.

My crochet bag is coming right along. I have about 2/3rds of the body done and then it's on to the straps. I toyed with different ideas for the center section to give it some texture, finally deciding on a section of half double crochets and bobbles. I think it works; what do you think?


I packaged up the Dulaan knits and sent them on their way yesterday.
Thought I'd take a little break from the charity knitting once that was in the mail but remembered that I am teaching a sock class tonight. I need a sock that's at the start of the heel flap so I can demonstrate how to do the heel. You tell me; what's quicker than a little Magic 28 to accomplish that? Here's the cuff of sock #1 of pair #4 ready to to start the heel.

For this pair, I'm using some leftover yarn from a sweater I made last year. I love the subtle changes in color and the yarn is very soft. I decided to shake things up a bit and knit a ribbed cuff. I get too bored doing plain ole rib, so I did a 3 row repeat of K2, P2 for 2 rows, then knit a row. I know there's a name for the pattern, but don't ask me what it is.

I don't even want to think about how many WIP's this makes; seems I've been starting an awful lot of projects lately and have precious few FO's to show for it. Oh well, such is the life of a knitting addict :-)

Lazy Blogger

Wow, I've certainly been neglecting the blog this past week.  It's not that I've not been doing anything.  I have a lot to share with you; too much for one post, so I'll spread it out over the week.

Today I'll show you the knitting (and crocheting) I've been up to.

I finished the sweater for my Holiday Headstart May project.  This will be for my very handsome great-nephew, Colin.

This is not the best picture, but it does show the color accurately. You may have noticed that the color of this sweater seemed to change each time I posted progress pictures. Who knew that dark green could be so difficult to capture with the camera.
Pattern: Yankee Knitter's Fisherlad Guernsey (child's size 6)
Needles: Addi Turbo sizes 6 and 8
Yarn: Plymouth Encore, Color #1234

I thought I had finished the knitting at Chicks with Sticks last Tuesday night and did the seaming when I returned home. Wednesday morning I looked a little closer and realized that the last cuff I knitted was much bigger than the other (it fit loosely on my wrist; way too big for a 3 1/2 year old!). I not only forgot to switch to the smaller needle size, but I also forgot to decrease 8 stitches before beginning the ribbing! I ended up taking the seam out up to a couple rows above the cuff and reknitting it. Oh well, at least I finished it in time to count it for my May project :)

I finished the first sock of my first pair of toe-up socks. I decided to go with the heel called for in the directions for the Sherman Sock given to me by Mel. I have to admit, I didn't think I'd like that heel, but I really do. Now, to start the second sock.


Next up:


Pattern: Magic 28 by Norma
Yarn: Cascade 220, lost the band ages ago, but suffice it to say the green is MUCH BRIGHTER than the picture depicts (believe it or not). I could have used some sunglasses while knitting these.
Needles: Brittney Birch size 5 dpn's
This is pair #3; 25 to go.
This pair of socks ends my Dulaan knitting for this year's shipment; I'll be packing up the knits and shipping them off sometime this week.


There has been a bit of progress on the "Monkey Blankie" but it's nothing to look at yet. I really don't know why I haven't finished it; it's a teeny tiny mini-blankie, but I just can't seem to stay interested in it. I better get going on it though; my co-worker's baby is due very soon!


I started a crochet summer bag yesterday. I'm designing the pattern as I go. I'm using Plymouth's Fantasy Naturalle mercerized cotton yarn in a light green color (I'm too lazy to get up and look at the label right now). I haven't been able to get good pictures yet, but I'll give ya what I've got:

This is a really lousy picture of the outside; it doesn't really reflect how the finished bag will look, so I really don't know why I'm bothering to post it. It does, however, show you how much I did yesterday. (It also explains why my hands hurt today; crocheting is much harder on my hands than knitting.) Here's another picture for you:

This is the inside, bottom of the bag. I think hope this bag will turn out nice and if it does, I'll post the pattern in case anyone would like to make one.

That's what I've been working on over the past week while I've been lazy about blogging.

I've also been doing a couple things for my health. Actually, doing one thing and not doing another. Today marks the beginning of DAY 9 of no cigarettes!!!! I'm telling you, Chantix is a miracle drug! I took it for one week while continuing to smoke and then quit on day 9 (you're supposed to quit on day 8 but I had plans that I knew would make it too hard to quit that day). I'll continue to take it for a total of 12 weeks and then decide if I need it for another 12. I haven't had any physical cravings at all; although I have had times when I've thought "I'd normally have a cigarette now" and that felt strange at first. I'm getting used to not smoking, and I know that I am through with it.

I've also gotten back into a regular workout schedule. Thanks to Patti who has agreed to be my "gym buddy". It's harder to blow off the gym when someone is expecting to meet you there. I went three times last week and will go 3 or 4 times this week. Now I just have to get my eating under control; I'm thinking it's time to get back to Weight Watchers.

Well, I've got to go get ready for work.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our trip to Amy's (some yarn may have followed me home).

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 :)

Pick a Title (cuz I've got nothing)

The weather seems to have taken a turn away from winter around here.  We saw temps in the high 70's on Saturday!  It's been beautiful weather ever since.  We do expect to see a change back to more "normal" temps by the end of the week, but that's okay.  I think (hope) we have seen the last of the winter weather for a little while.

So, what have I been up to?  Well, before we get to that, let me tell you a bit about what Samm's been up to.  She has been making some jewelry to sell and plans to give 10% of all her sales to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of Betty.  Isn't that sweet?  She makes me so proud.  We plan on setting up an Etsy store for her soon (where I may add some things too), but in the meantime I've posted a link to her finished jewelry in the left sidebar.  I think she does very nice work; check it out.

On to what I've been doing.  I finished the Garter Cardi for my great-neice on Friday night (except for buttons).  I went looking through my Lamb's Pride stash to see what I had to use for sleeves that would look nice with the pink body of the sweater.  I found some deep purple that I love and I think it looks great.

All it needs now are 3 purple buttons and it can go in the FO column and I can post it on the Holiday Headstart blog as my April project. Do you know how hard it is to find just the right color purple buttons? Not easy! I spent a good portion of Saturday searching for buttons with no luck. I decided why not crochet some buttons out of the leftover purple yarn; didn't work. I made a very nice button, but Lamb's Pride is just to heavy to make a small enough button for this sweater. I had to teach a class last night at the Yarn Sellar, so I looked at their buttons; nothing in the right color. I checked out all the purple yarn looking for some lighter weight purple in the same shade; I never realized how many different shades of purple there are!  I left empty handed and discouraged.  Then, this morning, just as I was getting ready to leave for work, I remembered that I had lots of leftover yarn from the Christmas stockings I made.  Success!  There was some purple Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the EXACT shade of purple I need.  It is worsted weight, but it's a much lighter worsted than Lamb's Pride so I plan to give it a shot tonight.  Wish me luck.

I also finished the Mason-Dixon felted boxes.  I ended up cutting pieces of cardboard to put in them while they dried so they wouldn't droop and lose their shape.  I think they came out pretty good.  Hopefully, the intended recipient will think so too.

Here they are stacked. I've been pretty lucky lately with the felting; these stack just the way I was hoping they would.  

I have just one more FO to show you.

 

Some Magic 28 socks.  This is a great little toddler "sock recipe" by Norma.  She's started a blog ring to "Stamp out cold feet".  Check it out; it's a low pressure knit-a-long for charity.

I was able to start and complete this pair during my 6-hour shift at the gym (in between cleaning and helping customers).  Fast, easy, and for a good cause; these are going in the Dulaan pile.  I used left over scraps of Patons Classic Merino from the felted boxes  for these.  1 down, 27 to go :)

I have started another sweater for another of my great-neices; it's the Mock Cable sweater by Yankee Knitter.   I'm just about done with the back, no picture yet. I think I'm going to do the cardigan version, but I haven't made a final decision yet. I'm using some DK wool yarn that I bought from an estate sale a few years ago.  I think it's probably from the 70's.  It is a really pretty shade of light blue.  It's not the softest wool, but I'm hoping that a soaking in some wool wash will soften it up.

Well, that's about all I've got for you today. Have a wonderful day!