Noolie Knits

Something Old

Edited to correct spelling in title; I really do know how to spell!

My boss/neighbor (yes, he lives across the street; no, he's not this neighbor) deals in antiques and junk (AKA "good stuff cheap"). He recently came across an antique skein winder and put it in his shop.  After it spent about a month or so in the shop, he asked what I'd give him for it.  He suggested a price and I jumped at it.

Check this out:

 
(this picture shows the true color of the wood)

The handle may be a bit chewed up, but the part you wrap the yarn on is as smooth as can be, and it winds a skein of yarn off a bobbin in a fraction of the time it takes to wrap it onto a Niddy Noddy.

Clover helped me wind this yarn on (I wish I had thought to take a picture of her doing it.) It took all of about 10 minutes total for both bobbins full.

Isn't this the coolest?  I love my "new" toy! 

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?

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.

Show and Tell

There have been a lot of goodies arriving at my house lately.  Check out what Colleen sent for Clover:

 
Aren't those the cutest booties you have ever seen?! You can't tell from this photo, but those ruby red slippers are sparkly; too cute :-)

She also sent this:

Clover's first ornament!
Samm and Jay were so thrilled with everything. 

But wait, that's not all Colleen sent.  There was even something in the box for me:

Looks like a ton of yarn, doesn't it?  Well, that's exactly what it is! 
EIGHT skeins of Classic Elite's Fame.  Yes, you read that right; EIGHT skeins, 920 yards!   I was floored.  This stuff is gorgeous; it's rayon and silk in the most beautiful colorway.  This is definitely a color I would have bought for myself; I love the purples and greens.  Now I just need to find the perfect project for it.  Colleen, you are so incredibly sweet; THANK YOU so much.

I also received some yarn in the mail that I've been wanting for at least a year.  Zonda posted recently that Freshisle Fibers had their watermelon yarn in stock.  Of course, by the time I read her post and clicked on over there, they were sold out.  When I whined to Zonda that I was too late, she offered up her extra skein of it.  YeeHaw!  I was so happy and sent her a check immediately.  She then told me that she also had the coordinating pinks to go with it and did I want those.  Can you guess my answer?  Of course you can.  Who could resist this watermelon goodness?

Yummy. I just love me some watermelon.
Thanks, Zonda

That's a lot of new fibery goodness, isn't it?  But that's not the end of it.   Patti gifted me with this sock yarn the other day:

Sockina Cotton in colors she knew I'd love.  This is some very soft cotton; I can't wait to cast on my next pair of socks with this.  I actually brought this with me to the LTN walk the other night, but never took it out of my bag; too much going on.  I WILL be casting on soon though.  Perhaps Saturday; I have a bit of a car ride ahead as we go to my great-niece's first birthday party.  Perfect time for sock knitting :-)
Thank you, Patti!

This concludes today's episode of Show and Tell; I'm hoping to have some knitting to show you with my next post.  There hasn't been a whole lot of that going on recently around here.  Not a stitch was knit all weekend and only a very little bit of crochet was done on the secret project.  I had planned to work on the crochet project at work at the gym Sunday morning, but brought the wrong colors of yarn with me.  I was able to do a bit though, because my good pal, Patti, came to work out with me and afterward she went to my house and picked up the right yarn.  I was so grateful; it would have been a loooooong morning without something to work on.  Thanks again, Patti; you're my hero :-)