Noolie Knits

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.

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.

It's Official; I'm Spoiled Rotten!

Oh.My.Gawd!  I am seriously so spoiled.  Just take a look at what was waiting for me when I arrived home yesterday:

This incredible book and adorable handmade card from my Secret Pal!

I just can't believe how generous she is (remember the chocolates from last week?).  This book is wonderful; I've been wanting to learn Fair Isle knitting and this book is just the thing I need to get me going on that.  It not only has a great section on techniques, with what look like very helpful pictures, but it starts out with a history of Fair Isle knitting.  Very interesting!  You can definitely expect to see some attempts at Fair Isle knitting on this blog in the very near future (as soon as I finish up some WIP's).  Thank you so much, "Jane"; you are way too good to me!

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There still hasn't been a whole lot of knitting going on around here; for some reason, I've been exhausted every night this week.  I've gone to bed earlier and earlier each night.  If I keep up this way, I'm going to have to leave work early to go to bed :-)  Last night's bedtime was 7:30!  Can you believe that?!  Pretty much the only knitting that's been done this week is what I can do in the hour or so in the morning before getting ready for work.  I did go to Chicks with Sticks on Tuesday and managed to get a little of the secret crochet project done.  I'm going to have to really start busting my butt to finish that in the next couple of weeks.  Guess I'm going to have to start trying to sneak in a few rows here and there at home.  The bigger it gets, though, the harder it is to quickly stash it in the bag if I hear someone coming into the room.

Even with the limited knitting time I've put in, I have managed to accomplish a little bit.  Here's the Ice Cream Sweater as of this morning:

This isn't the best picture, but you can see that I am just about ready to bind off the front and back stitches and work on the second sleeve.  Once I start the sleeve, I think it'll fly right along.   I'm ready to be done with this.  Not that I haven't enjoyed knitting it, but I do seem to have had it on the needles for a while.

If you're on Ravelry, you may have noticed that another project was started last week.  I'm teaching a top down sweater class and decided to make one along with the class.  I'm sure you'll never guess who I'm making it for.

Tina in "Velvet Grapes"
(no, it's not for Tina; she's just the model)
Pattern:  Knitting Pure & Simple Baby Tunic (minus the hood)
Yarn: Malabrigo, color "Velvet Grapes"
Needles:  Addi's size 7 & 9  I'm using larger needle sizes on this sweater than I did on the last one because I want it to be just a bit bigger than the last one, but not a whole size bigger.

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I'll leave you with a little something I spotted on the car in front of me at the stop sign the other day:

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

Check out what was waiting for me after work yesterday:

There's nothing like a box of quality chocolates to brighten a girl's day. 

I have got to have the best Secret Pal ever!  How did she know that I needed a "pick me up"?

Tell me now, have you EVER seen a better box of chocolates?  Mmmmmmm, Yummy!

There was also a very pretty card (see it in the top picture) and another donation for Light the Night (she already supported my efforts once!).

Thank you so much, Jane Knitter; you are the greatest!