Noolie Knits

SPA Knit & Spin 2010 - Part 3, Wrapping it up

THE SPINNING

Thursday night:

I plied some singles that I had spun a while ago. The big skein is 3 ply, the small is 2 ply. The fiber is from Marianne's Etsy shop. The way this braid of fiber was made up was a bit different than any I've spun in the past - the three pieces of the braid were each a different color and a different fiber - Pink Superfine Merino&Cashmere, Mauve BFL, and Green BFL&Kid Mohair.  The larger skein is my first true 3-ply and the smaller is a two ply with the extra pink & Mauve.  

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday:

The brown & white bobbins are the Jacob fiber that I bought at NHS&W and had started spinning last week. I had one bobbin 3/4 full and spun the rest on Friday. This will remain singles; I just need to wind it off the bobbins and set the twist - maybe you'll see a finished picture this weekend. The rest of the bobbins are 3/4 of the pound of a wool/mohair blend that I bought from Friend's Folly farm. The colorway is called "Necco Wafer" - you can only see a couple colors in this picture, but while in the bag, the fiber looked like a package of Necco Wafers - very pretty! I finished the 4th and last bobbin last night at Chicks with Sticks(and wheels) and plan to 2-ply the singles. I think I'll end up with a heavy worsted weight yarn.

I'll wrap up my SPA posting with some pictures that I think will give you an idea of what the weekend is all about.

SPA Knit & Spin 2010 - Part 2

Too tired to do a full post so I'll just share a couple pictures.

Patti's Wheel & My Wheel resting for the night.

Today's purchases
(both mine & Patti's)

More to come....

SPA Knit & Spin 2010 - Part 1

We arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport yesterday afternoon around 2:00.  We spent the afternoon and evening in the lounge knitting and visiting with friends until going back to our room and hitting the sack relatively early. 

I was awakened shortly after falling asleep by the sound of my cell phone beeping on its charger - the high winds had finally knocked out the power.  The power stayed off for a good twelve hours, not coming back on until shortly after noon - right after Patti said "Oh God, please let the power come back on soon." 

Those words were no sooner out of her mouth when the lights came on!

Hopefully, she only uses her power for good!

Eileen, Sharon, Patti and I spent the afternoon spinning and knitting in our room until the vendors opened at 5.

This is just mine and Patti's (and it's just the first trip to the vendors!)

Tomorrow, we plan to spin downstairs in the lobby and meet up with more friends (and do a little more shopping of course).

Have a great night!

SPA 2009

SPA was great as usual.  I had planned to share pictures throughout the weekend, but I only got on the computer long enough each day to check e-mails.  There was just too much fun happening!

Rather than give you a blow by blow account of the weekend, I decided to share a slide show that will give you a good idea of what the weekend was all about.  The one thing I never even thought about taking pictures of was the vendor area.  It's not like I didn't make a million trips there; you'd think at least once I'd have thought to bring the camera.  I blame the fiber fumes.

Okay, enough of the blabbering; enjoy the show:

I did quite a bit of spinning (big surpise, eh?); I'll show you that next time.  I also have some awesome (at least I think it's awesome) yarn I finished spinning right before leaving for SPA that I'll show you next time.

Have a great day!

WNBP

I haven't done a Wednesday Night Bullet Post in a long time so I thought I would do one tonight.

~~I've been feeling like I can't keep up lately; it's as if there are no longer as many hours in the day as there used to be.

~~It's been a long, cold, and dreary winter around these parts and there's still a lot of winter left.

~~I haven't been finding the time to knit and spin as much as I'd like; in fact for most of the winter, the only spinning I've done has been at Chicks with Wheels on Thursday nights.

~~I've been falling behind in my blog reading and blog posting.

~~Stick with me here; I promise, that's the end of the complaining.

~~Because....

~~ I'll be getting a much needed break from reality this weekend!

~~By this time tomorrow, I'll be in Freeport at the 2009 SPA Knit and Spin.   I can't wait. 

~~The official event runs from Friday afternoon through Sunday around noon, but my friends, Patti and Sharon, and I are heading up tomorrow.  I know of a few others who will be heading up early to get a head start on the fun.

~~I'm ready for a few days of no responsibility and lots of friends, fiber, and fun!

~~I may even consume a drink or two (perhaps a martooni or tee with Carole ). 

~~Not too many though, because although I can always tink the knitting, I can't unspin the spinning.

~~I may also spend a few dollars as at least two of my favorite vendors will be there.

~~Of course I'll be bringing my camera along.

~~I may even bring my laptop so that I can share with you during the weekend.

I'm going to go now and get everything ready to go.  Have a great night!

Look What Followed Me Home

Finally, I have pictures of the loot that followed me home from SPA:

1) 4oz. BFL from Spunky, Riverwalk color  2) 4oz.70/30 alpaca/merino bump form White Barn Meadows, Redwood color  3) 4oz merino from Spunky, Mandy color  4) 4oz BFL from Spunky, Cheeky Monkey color  5)70/30 alpaca/merino bump from White Barn Fiber Mill  6) Bunny blend from Oasis Farm Fiber Mill  7) Bunny/merino/silk blend from Oasis Farm Fiber Mill 8) Louet Northern Lights wool top, Cotton Candy color  9) Door Prize 10) 3 mugs from Spunky  11) Yarn from Spunky to make her "V" sweater, Joshua Tree color  12) I Spun at SPA bag

A few of those items are for gifts.  I can't say who for; I want them to be surprised.

What you don't see there is the 8oz bag of Louet Northern Lights Teddy Bear (aka Ice Cream) fiber.  That would be because I didn't even think about taking a picture before I spun it all up. 

   
On the left is the 60 yards of single ply yarn I spun Friday night.  I wasn't enjoying spinning it that way so I switched to spinning a thinner single on Saturday and Sunday.  I was able to spin 3 bobbins of fairly thin singles and then I Navajo plied it and came up with what you see on the right.  Boy, Navajo plying really eats up the yardarge; there are only about 200 yards there.  That's okay because it's 200 yards of some seriously pretty yarn (IMHO).  I think this is the best yarn I've spun to date.

I think I controlled myself fairly well in the vendor room; I went with a certain amount of money to spend and a plan to buy fiber to enhance that stash and  yarn for Amy's "V" sweater.  I also planned to buy a couple of gifts.  I strayed from that plan only in that I bought a mug for myself (you would have too; they're adorable) and a tote bag.

Today is Saturday and Saturday is weigh in day for Samm and me.  I didn't think we were going to be able to make it with the snow we got last night, but the roads looked pretty good after a while, so we went to the final meeting of the morning just to weigh in.  Results:  down another 1.8 for a total of 5.4.  Samm did really well too, she's also lost a total of over 5 pounds.  Having someone else in the house on the program is a big help!

Have a great evening :-)

SPA, Knit and Spin 2008

What a wonderful weekend!  The drive up was a little hairy in the snow but we arrived safely and in one piece so all was good (luckily Patti was driving) .  The fun started when I got into the car in my driveway; sitting on the seat waiting for me was a little gift bag with a cool new night shirt for our "slumber party weekend":

Check out the yarn pocket - isn't it great?   She got one of these for herself as well.  Also in the gift bag was some yarn that I had been lusting after:      Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the color Ruby River - Yummy!  Thank you, Patti; you're too good to me :)

After checking in at the hotel and dropping off a chunk of money with a few of the vendors, we went to dinner with some of the Manchvegas group at Pedro O'Hara's. Yep, you read that right; it's a Mexican/Irish restaraunt.  The food was good, the Orange Blossom drinks were good, and the company was good.  When we returned to the hotel, we hit the bar for the blogger meetup. 

Saturday was spent spinning and knitting and having a wonderful time with like-minded friends that we don't get to see often enough.  Of course, there was also some more of the dropping off of money in the vendor room. Just doing my part to support the fiber arts :-)

The SPA services were being held at the other hotel but we never ventured over there.  Alice got a treatment though; Dave was making some adjustments to wheels on Saturday night (when most people were at the  fashion show) and I asked him to take a look at Alice.  He looked at her and said she needed a little adjustment like you'd get at a Chiropractor.  Yikes, I couldn't watch; he adjusted her alright.  He aligned her properly and tightened some screws and a few other adjustments and she's like a new wheel.  I thought it was incredibly nice of him!

I did a little bit of knitting on Samm's sock with Sweet Clover yarn, but mostly I spun all weekend.  I spun most of an 8 oz. bag of some Louet wool fiber in "Teddy Bear" colorway; it looked like some chocolate and vanilla ice cream to me, so that's how I was referring to it all weekend.  I finished up the spinning when I got home and Navajo plied it.  I still need to skien it and set it, but here it is all plied on the bobbins.

Pretty, isn't it?

This is not the entire 8 ounces though; when I first started spinning it, I was spinning a thicker, worsted weight single.  I wasn't enjoying it so much, so after the first bobbin, I switched to spinning a finer single to be plied.  I have about 60 yards of the thicker yarn; it was wet when I was taking pics, so I'll have to show you later.

I know you want to know what followed me home, but I haven't yet taken pictures of the loot.  I'll show that in another post.  I don't think I went overboard; the only yarn I bought was enough for one of Amy's sweaters.  I bought plenty of fiber, though.  I was able to enhance my fiber stash considerably and buy a couple of gifts and still came home with money left over.  Here are some random pictures from the weekend:

Have a great night!

Two Days

Until SPA.  Not that I'm counting down the days or anything.  Not that I've done ANYthing to prepare either.  What's the rush?  I have Friday off and we won't be leaving until the afternoon so I have all morning to get ready.  I am the Queen of Procrastination!  I haven't yet decided what to bring with me for knitting; I'm thinking maybe I'll start a sock with my Sweet Clover sock yarn for Samm (I'd like to make a pair for her and for Clover with this very special yarn).  Any knitting that I do bring will have to be mindless knitting.  I plan to bring my spindles and Alice.  I'll bring fiber for the spindles (2 already have some on them), but I think I'll wait until I get there and buy something to spin on Alice. 

Knitting Update:

Samm's Hoodie

Guess I didn't quite reach my goal of having it finished by the end of the long weekend, did I?  As a matter of fact, I barely knit on it all weekend long.  I did finish one thing though:

Clover's Sea Turtle (before and after felting). 

It's about time, wouldn't you say?  This silly little knit took me FOREVER to finish.  (I started it January 28th!) It's not like it was difficult or anything; it just couldn't seem to hold my interest for very long.  Weird.  It's just the first sea creature for a mobile I want to make for Clover.  At this rate, I may finish it in time to gift it to her for her high school graduation.

Last night's Chicks with Sticks was a particularly fun one.  Since it is  school vacation week here in Maine (a time in which teachers and sheep are able to stay up past their normal bedtimes), a certain Sheep (complete with her pretty blue hands) decided to come to York and knit with us.  It's always entertaining when you're in the company of The Sheep, especially when topics such as childbirth and menopause are discussed ;-) 

Have a great day!

Randomness

~ SPA, Knit and Spin is in just SIX days!  YAY and YEEHAW and WOOHOO too!  Do you think I'm anxious to get away for a couple days?  This will be my second trip to SPA and I just can't wait.  Last year, I met several of my blogging friends  for the first time in person; that was so awesome.  I've gotten together with some of them a few times over the past year, but I am so looking forward to seeing them again and meeting some more of you.  SPA is being held this year in Freeport, Maine at two different hotels; the Hilton Garden Inn  (where Patti and I will be staying) and the Harraseeket Inn (where the spa services will be located).  Patti and I are heading up there on Friday afternoon and staying until Sunday.  So, who else is going and where are you staying?  I hear there is going to be a blogger's get together at the Hilton bar on Friday night after the vendors close.  That should be fun!   

~ Samm's sweater, Clover's turtle, and the spinning have all been put on hold while I've been working on this:

for Clover's new best friend:

Olivia was born Wednesday, Februay 13th around 9pm; she was 5 weeks early, but is doing great.  She weighed in at 5 lbs, 12 oz.  Olivia's mother, Jeannie, is the daughter of my good friend and coworker, Mary.  Jeannie and Samm were best buddies for years when they were little.  It's so cool that they have had babies so close together!

~ I want to share with you what we did at work for Valentine's Day this year.  For a couple of weeks before VD, there was a decorated box for us to put Valentine cards in for our coworkers.  Then on VD, the Valentines were placed in individual bags and distributed (just like we all did in elementary school).  It was really kind of fun; check out the goodies:

(Lambert and Lucy were not part of the loot; they just live on my desk). 

But wait, there's more.  Each year for all the years I've worked at Town Hall (and before that, I'm assuming), one of our coworker's, Tim, gives all the women a long stemmed red rose for Valentine's day.   Isn't it lovely? 

~ As most of you know, I quit smoking back in May (YAY); what you may not know is that since then, I have gained a "bit" of weight.  I joined the "Less W8 in 08" group on Ravelry in mid January and set some goals for January (which I promptly ignored).  I've avoided the group since because I've felt like a failure.  However, Samm and I are joining Weight Watchers today and I WILL get back on track and get my weight back to where I want it.  I know WW can work because several years ago (Aug. '01) I joined WW and lost over 90 pounds (by Feb. '03)

Here are my before and after pictures:   

  (click pics for bigger; I can't bear to put them any bigger than this)  Believe it or not, the before picture was actually after losing almost 30 pounds!

Here I am now:     Granted, I'm nowhere near where I began in '01, but also nowhere near where I was from '03 thru mid '07.  My plan is to report in to all of you each week to let you know how I made out at my weigh in for the week. I'm hoping that putting it out there for all to read will help me stay motivated.  My goal is to lose 25 pounds, which doesn't seem unreasonable.  If I could lose over 90 pounds, I can certainly lose 25, right?  Wish me luck!

Have a great day and a great weekend!

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.

I MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG...

...because I still had money in my wallet when I returned home from SPA! How'd that happen? There were many great vendors there and TONS of great yarn and fiber and so much more. The wonderful Amy was there with so much beautiful stuff; I just wanted some of everything! Every time I entered the vendor room, I was drawn to her booth by all the wonderful colors; She creates magic with colors! So, what did I buy from Amy? Have a look:

The most adorable sheep mug

 

Maine Socks in the colorway "Nice Melons!"

Skinny Socks, colorway "Breathtaking", and it is!

Super Socks in the colorway "Hotrock"

Big Balls Sweater Yarn in the "Vineyard" colorway to make the Everyday Chunky Cardi designed by Amy. So, Amy, now you are not the only one with big balls :-) As a matter of fact, I saw quite a few people with big balls over the weekend.

And this picture is of the free, yes I said free yarn, I got from Amy. Gotta love free stuff!

 

A 200 yard sampler of Skinny Socks.

This next picture is of the SOFTEST purchase I made all weekend. I happened upon this yarn at the Unique One's booth on Friday evening and couldn't stop fondling it each time I went by (what I really wanted to do was to roll around naked in it, but I didn't want to scare everyone away!). The fondling went on all weekend as I was trying to resist the urge to buy it because I didn't know what I'd make with it. Then I heard someone say they were going to make a neckwarmer out of some of it and I thought how yummy it would be to wear that around my neck! First thing Sunday, I bought 2 skeins.

Misty Alpaca - the green wants to be a neck warmer for hubby and the gray wants to lay around my neck. Must knit those soon!

I also bought a couple new sets of Crystal Palace 6" double point needles and some of the nicest hand cream called Ellie's Unscented Knitter's Cream. This is the best hand cream ever! I'm going to have to get some more.

My final purchase was this tote bag and t-shirt.

 

I had so much fun; I'm ready to go again NOW!

SPA

Damn!  I just spent the last hour composing a post about SPA and hit a wrong button and lost it!  I'm gonna try to start over and hopefully, I won't forget anything.  Pooh!

SPA, Knit and Spin at the Doubletree hotel in Portland this past weekend was absolutely wonderful!  Carol (aka MissaLouise) and I arrived around 2:00 on Friday afternoon and the goodness began as soon as we checked in and were given a yummy big chocolate chip cookie.  We went to our room, ate our cookies, dropped our stuff off and went to knit with the group.  There were knitters and spinners in every nook and crannie of the hotel. I was able to meet in person many blogger friends; that was the best part of the weekend.  I met Carole, who I've been wanting to meet for a long time and who is as nice as you'd expect! Along with Carole, I met Chris , blogless Sharon and a couple others whose names I've forgotten. (I'm really sorry; I just can't ever seem to remember names). I also didn't remember to take my camera and get pictures until later. 
Friday evening, Carol and I had dinner with Suzanne and her husband Tony.  They used to live down this way and Suzanne worked and taught classes at my LYS.  She is the one who taught me to knit socks and she also taught a Fisherman's Sweater class that I took.  She's a fantastic knitter and teacher.  Tony had his circular sock machine with him and was happy to show everyone how it worked. That thing is amazing!

After dinner, there was more knitting and gabbing and fun.  Later in the evening, Carol and I finally ran into Gina, Ericka, and Chris (Ericka's fiance). Gina was my first blog friend; I "met" her through a contest she was having and she is the one who encouraged me to take the plunge and start my own blog. Finally meeting her was wonderful and it was like we had known each other forever. We knit and talked and laughed with them until close to midnight.  Then Carol and I went to our room thinking we'd fall right asleep, but instead stayed up talking and giggling like school girls for quite a while.  Finally we went to sleep; well, Carol slept while I listened to her snore all night.  That's okay, I still love ya, MissaLouise :) Saturday morning was filled with more shopping and knitting and having a great time with Gina, Ericka, Chris, and Heather, another blogger I was looking forward to meeting.  We all ate lunch together at the hotel restaurant then it was time for more shopping and knitting etc.  While in the vendor room in the afternoon, I spotted the Sheep and visited with her for a few minutes.  Unfortunately, she did not stay and knit with us.  A while later, we were joined by Brenda.  She came for the afternoon and it was very nice to meet her and get to spend some time with her.  Gina was nice enough to show me and Brenda how to use the drop spindle and Brenda decided she needed one (of course, we all encouraged her to get one) so she visited Amy's booth and picked up a Turkish drop spindle.  She really went to town on that thing, spinning all afternoon.  She did much better than I did; I need quite a bit more practice. I read on her blog today that she is ready to knit with her new handspun yarn - Yay for Brenda! Here are some pictures from Saturday afternoon: Carol & Heather Ericka Gina

I was so busy gabbing that I didn't get pictures of everyone.  Next time I think I'll wear the camera around my neck so I remember to use it more!

We were entertained by Wren Ross  singing her silly knitting songs on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening there was a surprise speaker; Linda Roghaar of the Knit Lit book series.

Next up were the NETA Singers.They were wonderful :)
Champagne was passed out to everyone to celebrate SPA's 5th anniversary. There was cake too, Yummy! 

Sunday morning I had a manicure, did some more shopping and knitting and we left around noon. It was an absolutely fantastic weekend and I definitely plan to go next year and the next year and the next year.....
Tomorrow I'll show all the goodies I got while there.

Quick Post

Just a quick post to say I'm back from SPA.  It was great; actually it was fantastic!  Pictures and full report tomorrow.  Right now I am taking some meds and trying to get rid of a headache.

Eye Candy Friday

KITTY LOVE Ruby, Ralph, Peaches

Are you sick of the kitty pictures yet?

I'm off to SPA today through Sunday. I am bringing the laptop, so I may post (then again, I may not).