Noolie Knits

Lots of Random Stuff

·        Samm’s Etsy store is finally up; I've put a link in the sidebar.  She’ll be updating it later this week with some more earrings, a few necklaces, bracelets, and at least one watch.  I’ll keep you posted when she updates in case you’re interested J

·        We had a beautiful long weekend; the weather was perfect all three days.  I went to dinner with a friend in Portsmouth on Saturday night and we ate outside by the water, had a couple Margueritas, and did some shopping.  It was the perfect weather for it.

·        I’ve almost completed the Fisherlad Guernsey that I started way back at the end of April.

 

Since taking this picture, I’ve knit to the cuff on that last sleeve; just a few rows of k1 p1 ribbing to go and then seaming up the sides.  I’ll finish this up tonight at Chicks with Sticks.  It’s always good to bring something mindless J

·        I’ve given up on my May Day socks for Sockamania.  While I love the pattern and I love the yarn and the way it’s working up in this pattern, I keep making stupid ass mistakes.  Also, for some stupid ass reason, I cast on for the small size (knowing full well that my size 8 ½ feet are not small).  I kept telling myself that they were going to fit.  Ha! Joke's on me.  When I got this far, I decided to try them on.  That was the final straw; the sock is in time out.  I’ll frog it and reknit it after I do the socks for June.  Not a very good start to this knitalong!

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·        I started another pair of socks yesterday while sitting in the sun.

 

You are not imagining things; I am knitting a sock toe-up!  Mel gave me directions to the Sherman short row method and showed me how to do it a while ago when he came to Chicks with Sticks (I promised him I wouldn’t call him a dick, so the name must remain the same).  This method is so easy and very, very neat – no holes!  I’m going to try the heel flap for toe-up socks that Chris suggested for this pair of socks.  Getting pretty adventurous, aren’t I?  (I'm using Cascade Fixation on size 3 dpn's)

·        I received this beauty in the mail last week 

 

It’s the May Spunky Club yarn;  Spunky Eclectic Tough Sock,  Superwash Wool/Nylon blend, “Nightshade”.  Pretty, yes?

·        Being the big ole copy cat that I am, I ran right out to Kinko’s yesterday, after reading Auntie Ann’s post, and got my copy of this book spiral bound:

Now that it’ll stay open, maybe I’ll use it more.

 

The End J

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!