Noolie Knits

More Goodies

It's going to take me a while to catch up on reading blogs and on writing posts (especially when I don't post when I told you I would).  I promised you pictures of the rest of the loot that was waiting for me when I got home on Thursday.  Since I always keep my promises, here are the pics of the awesome Sockapalooza4 package I received from Jill.

Socks for me and Clover, beautiful stitch markers, Sockotta sock yarn (in the perfect colors), an adorable mug, wonderfully scented and really pretty soap, and check out that sock bag!  Here are some close ups:

My socks fit me perfectly and feel like heaven! I've made a pair of Lorna's Laces socks for my sister, but have never had any for me; these are incredibly soft. And check out how cute Clover's itty bitty sockies are :-)

If you didn't think I was spoiled after reading the last post, I'm sure you do now! Thank you so much, Jill; I LOVE everything.

I met Sara and Cheryl in Portsmouth on Saturday and we had a great afternoon; more on that in the next post.

Have a great day!

One Finished, Another One Started

Heaven forbid I should finish up everything on the needles before beginning something new!  I finished my Sockapalooza Pal's socks on Friday night as I'd hoped, and instead of getting busy finishing my Simple Knitted Bodice, I cast on for another project.  In my defense, I hadn't yet made anything in July for the Holiday Headstart project.

First, the socks:

 

(The cuffs really are the same length even though they don't look it in this pic)
Pattern: Waffle Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

Yarn:  Socks that Rock medium weight, "Monsoon" colorway (Feb. 07 Club yarn)

Needles:  Crystal Palace size 1.5 (size 1 for the heel)

I'm pretty happy with them.  At first, I was a bit disappointed with the pooling in the gusset; but have decided that I actually kind of like it.  I don't think there's anything I could have done about it anyway, except maybe use an afterthought heel.  I didn't even think about that until the socks were just about done and there was no way I was ripping both back to the cuff and reknitting all that!  Besides, I've only used the afterthought heel twice and that was on felted Christmas stockings.  I'm not confident enough in my ability yet to use it for gift socks. 

Next up, the new project:

Finished front and beginning of back of Yankee Knitter's Fisherlad Guernsey. This is for my great-neice, Ella. This is a really quick knit; I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.

I finished spinning the fiber for Clover's mittens, now I need to ply it. There's a lot more there than it appears; hopefully, it's enough for the itty bitty mitties :-)

I still haven't even started the July Sockamania socks; I'm hoping I can finish Ella's sweater and get going on the socks before the end of the month. I'm thinking if I could knit a pair in less than 2 days (as I had to do for Sock Madness), I should be able to get this pair done. Only time will tell, I guess.

That's it for today. Have a great one!

THURSDAY EDITION

Where does the time go, and how is it that the work days seem to drag on FOREVER, but the evenings just fly by?  I fully intended to use the Sheep's WNBP (Wednesday Night Bullet Post) format for a post last night, but by the time I was ready to sit down, it was already 8:45!  WTF? How did that happen?  I hadn't knit a stitch or read a single blog yet, how could it be that late? 

But it was, and I had to choose between writing a WNBP, reading blogs, knitting on the Sockapalooza sock, knitting on the Simple Knitted Bodice, or doing some spinning I've been wanting to get to.  The spinning won out (the fact that I want to use the resulting yarn for Clover probably influenced my decision a teensy bit).  I had some of the same fiber I spun for her hat left over and am hoping I can spin enough to make a teeney tiny pair of baby mittens.  I'm spinning a whole lot finer now and will have to ply this. (I really don't have a clue how to do that, but I'll figure it out.)

Check out how thin this is compared to the first batch. It's also a LOT more consistent.  After spinning for about 1 1/2 hours, I took the remaining fiber and pre-drafted it so it'll be all ready for the next spinning session.  Here's what I have left.

Fuzzy Balls :-)

I did finally finish the cuff of my Sockapalooza pal's 2nd sock this morning.

The plan is to knit the heel and at least through the gusset decreases tonight and try to finish it tomorrow night.  I really don't know what is taking me so long to knit this pair of socks.  Well, that's not really true; I do know.  I seem to have a bit of ADD lately and can't stay focused on only one thing.  There are just so many things I want to knit, then there's Ravelry, and blog reading, and planning baby knits.  I need to focus! 

Speaking of blog reading, Bloglines has done something really screwy to me.  One minute it said I had something like 70 blogs to read, and the next minute it said 20!  I do not read that fast folks; it just willey nilley marked a bunch of my feeds as read.  I am not a happy camper!

Shamelessly Stealing Ideas

It's Wednesday (for about another hour) and I've decided to steal the idea follow the lead of the Sheep and do a WNBP (Wednesday Night Bullet Post).  Here goes:

• Today was a holiday here in the U.S. - Independence Day, better known as "the Fourth of July".  Most people celebrate with BBQ's and fireworks; not me.  What'd I do today?  I went to the gym with Patti first thing this morning, came home and floated in the pool for a couple hours, took a nap on the couch for a couple hours, had takeout from "York's Best Roast Beef & Seafood Rest." (that's really the name) for dinner - YUMMY, knit for a while, and now posting on the blog.



• I know you are all wondering how I can stand all the excitement, but to me, this was a perfect day.



• I finally posted the Haymarket Bag pattern.  There's a link in the sidebar. (If you make it and find a mistake, please let me know)

• I started my Sockapalooza pal's socks on Sunday and finished the first one tonight. 

Yarn:  Socks that Rock, medium weight, Monsoon colorway (Feb 07 club yarn)

Pattern:  Waffle Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

• We had a great "Chicks with Sticks" night last night at the Yarn Sellar. Mel and Annie were there, as well as Doug (whose in town for a few weeks). It was really a good time. Annie, Patti, and I ended up staying for quite a while afterward just chatting.  It was a really good night and I only had to rip out a few rows of the sock.  I guess I can't do anything more complicated than straight stockinette when I'm gabbing.



• I reserved my room for SPA 6 today.  It's going to be in Freeport in February.  Hurry and make your reservations if you're going (and you definitely should be going if at all possible)!



• Amanda is having a contest; all you have to do is answer some questions (all the answers are in her previous posts). 



• My first spindle spun yarn:

(sorry the pic is so blurry)

I finished this on Saturday and soaked it and hung it to dry overnight.  I'm not sure how much there is, certainly enough for a baby hat or something small.  I still have more of the same fiber to spin.  I love the colors and I'm pretty happy with the yarn (although you can definitely tell which part is the beginning!).

• Bloglines tells me I have 147 posts to read.  I had planned on catching up today, but was busy floating and sleeping and eating.  Guess I'll have to catch up tomorrow.



• I am taking vacation time tomorrow and Friday; my plan was to float in the pool, but given the forecast, I don't think there'll be much of that.  Oh well at least I won't be working :-)



• It is now almost Thursday so I guess I'll stop here and go to bed.

Goodnight.