Noolie Knits

Spinning

Spunky Club - August 2009
"Zombies" colorway
4 ounces Falkland
Navajo plied
120 yards - heavy worsted weight

After finishing Zombies, I started spinning this:

15 5/8 ounces (yes Patti, almost a pound) of Jacob wool that I bought at NHS&W last May.  I fell in love with the color and had to have it. I'm shooting for DK weight singles.   I've spun one bobbin and feel pretty good about it, hopefully the rest will go as well.

I'm heading up to Freeport for the weekend for SPA Knit & Spin in a few hours; hope to see a lot of you there! 

Have a great day!

Proof of Spinning

You'd never know it from reading this blog recently, but I do still knit and spin.  Really, I do. 

Today I'll show you proof of the spinning:

After taking FOREVER to ply all this yarn, I finally managed to wind it off the bobbins last week at spinning night.  I brought this yarn winder (the best 30 bucks I've ever spent, by the way) with me to the shop and just wound one yarn after another until I was finished.  Of course, being the lazy person I am, the yarn sat there for several days before I finally set the twist.  But it is all done now and I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite from this batch - I love it all.

DETAILS:

8 Ounces Merino/Alpaca/Silk purchased in June at the Spinning Bee
2 ply, 350 yards, 11 wpi
This yarn is super soft; it needs to become something that will be worn directly next to the skin.      
"Beach Day" July '09 Spunky Club
3 Ounces 60/40 Merino/Bamboo
180 yards 17wpi
Another super soft, next to the skin, yarn. I think this is destined to become a cowl; it'll just feel so nice on the neck.      

"Selfish" June '09 Spunky Club
4 ounces Shetland
Fractal spun 2 ply
200 yards 13 wpi

How's that for cleaning up some bobbins?

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In honor of Halloween, I'll leave you with some pictures of the cutest Kitty Kat ever!

Here's the Kitty trick or treating at Town Hall yesterday afternoon:

And here she is on Tuesday with her friends at a playgroup Halloween Party.

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Have a Happy Halloween night and don't forget to "Fall Back".

Slumber Party

Remember going to slumber parties as kids? 

Staying up all night, eating tons of junk food, laughing and giggling with the girls, playing games. 

Those were some good times, weren't they?

Why should all that fun be left to kids?  It shouldn't, and it wasn't this past weekend.

Patti, Sharon, Eileen, Carol, and I decided to have a slumber party at Sharon's house.  It was a typical girls' slumber party.  We laughed, we giggled, we played games (knit & spin), we ate (and ate and ate and ate).  The only thing we didn't do was stay up all night.  Wait, we also didn't play Truth or Dare; hmmmm, maybe next time.

We never left Sharon's house from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. 

Not only was it a fun weekend, it was a productive weekend.

   

 

I crocheted two bath puffs and a washcloth, knit one sock for Clover (the second sock was finished last night), finished spinning Selfish, and started spinning the Spunky Club July fiber, Beach Day.   Thanks for letting us invade your house, Sharon; I had so much fun!  

To top off the weekend, I got  home and received this from Clover:

A handpainted pencil holder for my desk.    

I'll end with a picture of Clover's finished socks.  I  used Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock yarn for this tiny pair of socks.

  They fit her perfectly and she loves them - I call that a success!

 

Sitting on my Butt

I had a crazy busy weekend, but a good deal of it was spent sitting on my butt.  Kind of sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?  It's not.  I went to a BB King concert on Saturday (it was awesome!) which involved sitting in the car for the 2 hour drive to the hotel, on my butt at dinner, on my butt in the hotel relaxing before it was time to go, on my butt at the concert, and more time on my butt in the car on Sunday morning to get home.  Then it was right back into the car (and on my butt) for a 2 1/2 hour drive(which should have been 1 1/2 hours) to go to my niece's bridal shower, more butt sitting at the shower, and again on the way home.  Man was I tired by the time I got home!  Who would've thought you could get so damn tired sitting on your butt?!

I'll tell you all about the weekend in another post, but for now I'll update you on the other things I've been doing.

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Spinning:

  "Spring Leaves", 4 ounces, 335 yds, fingering to sport weight, 2 ply.

This beautiful Merino Silk fiber was hand dyed  and gifted to me by the wonderful Gina.  I truly enjoyed spinning this and am really going to enjoy knitting it - it is VERY soft and the colors are gorgeous!  Thank you so much, Gina!

8 Ounces Alpaca/Merino/Silk roving purchased at the Spinning Bee back in June.  I spun the singles a bit thicker than usual hoping for a dk or light worsted weight 2 ply.  The singles are still on the bobbins so we'll have to wait to see if I was successful. 

My current spinning project is the June installment of Spunky Club Fiber:

I'm almost 1/2 way through this 4 ounces.  The colors are spinning up beautifully.   

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Knitting:

I finished the TOFUtsies ankle socks.  

 

This is pair #6 for Summer of Socks '09 (apparently I can not count because I thought I've been working on pairs 7 and 8 but after going back and checking, I see it's only  6 & 7).   This pair also counts as my August socks for SAM8.

Pair number 7 is nearing completion.  I have no picture of the progress, but as you might expect, the second sock looks just like the first.  Once this pair is complete, I'm going to get back to work on my long neglected sweater. 

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It seems Hubby has been getting a little nostalgic lately; look what he dug out the other day:

 

1986        and       1993

 

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Seen in the backyard on Friday morning:

Sorry for the blurry picture; here's a better shot of one of the babies:

Cute, isn't it?  

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Have a great day!

Socks, Socks, and More Socks

Now that I'm participating in two sock knit-alongs, there's been quite a bit of sock knitting going on around here.

This first pair qualifies as my June socks for  SAM7.   They also qualify as my first pair finished for SOS'09  (even though they were a WIP at the start of SOS'09).

Yarn: TOFUtsies
Needles: Size 2 dpn's
Top-down, plain ole stockinette stitch on 60 stitches

This teeny tiny pair of socks is my second pair finished for SOS'09.  I knit most of one sock on Friday night, finishing it up on Saturday, and the second sock last night.

 

Yarn:  my handspun Spunky Club April 09 Fiber - corriedale/nylon

Needles:  size 2 dpn's

I knit this pair of socks from the toe-up using short roe toe and heel and a Russian bind off.   I followed Wendy Johnson's easy instructions in her new book "Socks from the Toe Up" 

They may be a bit funky - not really matching at all, and they may actually be a bit too teeny tiny, but I still consider them a win.  Why?  Well, first because Clover loves them and second because I accomplished a few of my goals in this one little pair of socks.  All that and I still have enough of my handspun left to knit a pair for myself.   I'll knit those toe-up as well.

I knit most of this next sock on Saturday.  I was with friends when I finished the knitting on the first teeny tiny sock and knew I needed to be alone to read the directions for the bind off, so I started a mindless top-down sock.  I finished it yesterday afternoon before starting the second teeny tiny sock.

Yarn: Austermann Step 6, color #111 Herbst
Needles: size 2 1/2 dpn's
Pattern: top down, afterthought heel, stockinette stitch on 48 stitches

I'm not really sure how I feel about the colors on this sock.  They looked better in the ball,  I think.  Can you see how long that color repeat is?  From the top all the way down almost to the toe.  It's going to be pretty difficult to knit a matching sock without wasting a lot of yarn!  I do like matchy matchy socks, and I'm sure there's plenty of yarn, so I'll probably give it a try.

Well, that's it for today.  Have a good one (and if you're in this neck of the woods, try to stay dry!)

Soul Windows

I have most of my April installment of  Spunky Club fiber spun, plied, and set.  Most, not all.  When I first received my fiber I thought I'd like to spin it for socks but didn't think 4 ounces would be enough.  I started spinning a thicker single than I would for socks thinking I'd try for a 2-ply light worsted weight for a pair of mitts.  I had spun about 1/2 an ounce when Patti decided that she wasn't all that thrilled with the colors for April and gave her installment to me. I knew 8 ounces would surely be more than enough for socks so I put aside the bobbin I had been working on and proceeded to spin a thinner single.

I spun and spun and spun some more, finishing up all but the last 1/2 ounce of fiber.  I spent a few hours on Saturday plying the 2 bobbins of singles into a 2-ply yarn and was surprised to see how much was left on one of the bobbins.  I had wound off the thicker singles I had spun first and weighed them to figure out how much fiber to spin so that I'd have 2 equal bobbins.  I guess my singles weren't as consistent as they could have been.  Having 1/2 an ounce left to spin didn't stop me from winding the yarn off the bobbin and setting the twist though.  I'll finish the last half ounce tomorrow night at Chicks with Wheels.

    Spunky Club April 2009
“Soul Windows” 
SW Corriedale w/10% nylon
about 6.25 ounces
493 yards
16-18 wpi

A Picture Post

Another picture of Clover and Samm. Samm thought I deliberately cut out her tattoo in the last post so I thought I'd show it to you today.   
 

I finished a pair of socks...

Yarn: Marks & Kattens Clown
Pattern: Stockinette Stitch, top down socks on 60 stitches. Eye of Partridge heel.

 

...and started another:

Yarn: TOFUtsies     Pattern: Rainbow Ripple  

 

Over the past week, I've received more goodies from some very good friends - I'm so spoiled (and I love it)!

 

From the wonderful Dana and Dianne - a souvenier from the festival they work so hard to put together, The Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival: 

A Nana Sadie Rose bag!
With crazy black cats on the outside and pawprints inside (along with many pockets for needles and things) - Perfect!

I'm saving my pennies so that I can buy my own souvenier next year.
2010 Sedalia or Bust!  Right Marianne?

More birthday goodies from Patti and Roger:

Goes perfectly with the rest of the birthday gifties they bestowed upon me.

 

Wait, I'm not done yet.  Even more birthday goodies arrived in the mail on Friday. This package came from the sweet, sweet Gina.

Chalice Cable Handwarmers pattern by Alison Green Will,
the yarn to knit the handwarmers - Rowan Felted Tweed,
and some scrumptious Jojoland Cashmere laceweight yarn!
Don't you love the wrapping paper? And that card is too cute! (click here to see it larger so you can read it)

Thank you all so much - you're all too good to me!

I received one more goodie package in the mail on Saturday - this one wasn't a gift; it was my May Spunky Club fiber:

"Pansy" 4 ounces of Romney
Gorgeous isn't it?  

Clover thinks so!

I have just a couple more photos to share with you before I end for today:

 

This is how hubby spent yesterday morning.
You KNOW that made me happy!!!

Spunky Fiber Club

I joined the Spunky Fiber Club this year; I signed up for the 4 ounce option, figuring it would be possible to keep up with spinning that amount each month (along with other spinning projects).  So far, so good.

I showed you the January and February singles that I spun during and after SPA in  this post.  I plied both yarns over this past weekend; here are the finished products.

January:

"Twilight"
100% Organic Merino
4 ounces
2 ply - 226 yards - 11/12 wpi
 

February:

"New Day"
Corriedale (first time spinning Corriedale)
4 ounces
Navajo ply - 288 yards - 16 wpi

I have no definite plans for "Twilight" yet (other than to pet it on a regular basis and enjoy its extreme softness).  It may become an Amanda hat or a pair of mitts or maybe a nice soft cowl - only time will tell.

As for "New Day", I'm thinking a lacy cowl or some mitts - again, only time will tell.  I am kind of anxious to see how it knits up though, so I may have to make a decision on this one fairly soon. 

Ideas for both are certainly welcome!

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!

/

·        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

I Love My Mailman!

*Warning* If you are in the Rockin' Sock Club and haven't received your April package, don't read this post (unless you can't wait to see the yarn).*

The mailman has been very good to me this week.  He's brought me a package every single day so far this week.  I've received several more squares for Betty's blanket; you people are awesome! 

He also delivered two packages of sock club yarn - YAY.

I plan to take pictures of the squares on Saturday, so stay tuned for those.  Tonight, I'm going to show you the yarny goodness that was delivered.

First up, the April installment of Spunky Club yarn arrived the other day:

Strawberry Fields - 360 yards of sport weight superwash with 10% nylon. YUMMY!  I can't wait to knit this up; it's beautiful and oh so soft!

As if that wasn't good enough, the April installment of the Rockin' Sock Club yarn was delivered today.

I just love that little mini-skein key ring. This month's yarn is a brand new Socks that Rock yarn called Silkie.  It's a superwash merino/silk blend and it is gorgeous.  This colorway is "Walking on the Wild Tide".  Very, very pretty.  It came with a lovely pattern designed by Chrissy Gardiner called "Knee High to a Grasshopper".  The pattern can be knit in two versions, regular length and knee-highs. 
The regular length version: 

and the knee-high version: 

I really like this pattern. I think I'll use this shipment of yarn to knit the regular length sock, but I'll definitely be knitting the knee-highs at some point.

I wonder what the mailman will bring me tomorrow :-)