Noolie Knits

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!

WOW!

It's really been a long time since I last posted anything that I've been working on!  I was scrolling back through my posts to find the last thing I shared with you, and was shocked to realize that it was all the way back on July 2nd!

Since this is supposed to be a blog about my fibery pursuits, how about I show you what I've been working on?  Don't get too excited though; I haven't done all that much in 5 1/2 weeks.   

I can't remember the last time I knitted anything that wasn't a sock; I do know that it was before Summer of Socks '09 began.   My poor Cabled Yoke Pullover still sits with just one sleeve left to be knit before I can move it over to the FO category.  I don't see that happening anytime too soon.  Probably not until SOS'09 is over on September 1st.

Now that I've shown you what I haven't been doing, let me show you a couple of FO's:

Pair #5 for SOS'09:

Spring Savasana Socks
Dream in Color Classy in Pansy Golightly
Started July 11th - Finished July 20th

These were a gift for my sister; I gave them to her when I visited her in the hospital after her surgery. She loved them.

This is the second pair of Spring Sasavana Socks that I've knit and won't be the last. (As a matter of fact, I already picked up some yarn for the next pair!)

 

 

Pair #6 for SOS'09:

Slip Stitch Heel Basic Socks I used my handspun (Spunky Club Fiber Soul Windows) Fiber content: SW Corriedale w/10% nylon Started July 3rd - Finished July 22nd  

I'm very happy with these; not only do they look good (IMHO) but they feel wonderful.

This is my first adult sized pair of socks using my handspun; my first handspun socks were for Clover using the same handspun.

 

That's it for FO's.  Do you want to see my current WIP's?   You might as well say yes because I'm gonna show you anyway.

Pairs 7 and 8 for SOS'09 (Hey, I told you it was all socks all the time around here these days.)

Toe-up, Short-row heel, plain ole stockinette stitch, sewn bind off.
Mountain Colors yarn in the colorway "Ruby River". Started July 22nd One sock down - one to go.
This yarn is incredibly soft - kind of makes me wish I were knitting this pair for myself instead of Hubby.  He does deserve them, though.  He has 2 pair that are wearing out. Anyone who loves their handknit socks to the point of wearing them out deserves more; don't you agree?

Gusset Heel Basic Socks
(This is the progress as of yesterday morning; I've done a couple more inches since then.)

I'm using the remainder of a skein of TOFUtsies sock yarn that I used for another pair of socks back in June of '07.  One skein of TOFUtsies goes a LONG way. I split the remainder in half and am just going to knit each sock until I run out of yarn. I expect they'll be fairly short socks, but we'll see.

That's enough projects for today, don't you think?  I have been doing a little bit of spinning and I'll try to get some pictures and share that with you soon (soon being a relative term).  

I was away at Property Tax School last week and did bring my wheel and had really hoped to get more spinning done than I did.  I pretty much vegged out in the evenings - didn't keep up with the blogs; didn't get much knitting done, got very little spinning done.   What a waste of alone time!

 

This & That on Thursday

How about a bit of the random today?

 ~It's now July and it's STILL raining!  Will it ever stop?

~It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't also COLD.  Yesterday was July 1st and we broke records in these parts for the coldest high temperature since 1976!  Enough already; I wan't to start breaking temps for the hottest low.

~Hubby got my pool set up early this year. 

~I was in it for a couple hours one day about 3 weeks ago (it really wasn't warm enough but at that time I was already sick of the rain and took advantage of a sunny day).

~This is our busiest time of year at work.  We are preparing our final tax assessments and need to get things ready for bills to be printed.

~Our computer server is having fits with our assessing software and keeps kicking us out of our program or not letting us get into it at all.

~It's been a long couple of days at work and today looks like it's going to be more of the same.

~Looking on the bright side - I can now spare a couple of minutes to write this post.

In knitting news:

~I finished my Crazy socks last night.

SOS'09 Pair #3 Yarn: Austermann Step 6, color #111 Herbst
Needles: size 2 1/2 dpn's
Pattern: top down, afterthought heel, stockinette stitch on 48 stitches

~Surprisingly, I was even able to match up the colors! 

~I'm not crazy about the Crazy Socks, but they'll be warm and my feet can use some warm (see above).

~Finishing this pair leaves me with just one WIP.

~The Cabled Yoke sweater is nearing completion - just one sleeve to go. 

~That neck looks a little wonky in the picture, but it's really not. 

~The "just one WIP" thing won't last long - I'm hoping to cast on for my next pair of socks tonight.

In Spinning News....

~I've got nothing.  I've done no spinning since the Spinning Bee.

~That'll change tonight because tonight is Chicks with Wheels night.

~That's all the random I have for you. 

~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!)

It's Almost Summer...

It's almost Summer (really it is; never mind the weather) and with Summer comes Ali's Summer Knitting Goals Contest.  She's got some really great prizes to give away and all you have to do for a chance to win is list your goals and let her know that you did.  You don't even have to achieve your goals; just list them.  What could be easier?

 I joined Summer of Socks  for the first time this year and as I told you last month, I also joined the Sock a Month KAL.   I guess it will come as no big surprise then, that I'll be focusing on socks this Summer.  That doesn't mean I won't be doing anything else; there are a few non-sock things I'd like want to accomplish.

So, here's my list of Summer Goals:

    ~Knit a pair of socks with my handspun (I have some ready for that)
    ~Knit toe-up and feel comfotable doing it.
    ~Try new heel construction (I guess that’s a given with toe-up)
    ~Use up some stash yarn
    ~Finish the sweater I'm currently working on (only 1 1/2 sleeves left to knit)
    ~Start theHighlander sweater by Anne Hanson
    ~Find a pattern and yarn for a Christmas dress for Clover 
      (suggestions welcome - Samm wants a wide striped red & green dress for her)
    ~Practice my Fair Isle knitting

I know that this looks like a big list of goals for such a short period of time, but if you look closely you'll see that the first four goals are all sock related and can be accomplished with just a couple pairs of socks.

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Anyone who's read my blog for any length of time (actually, even if you've only read this week) knows that I love Summer.  There is one thing that Summer brings that I don't love - bees.  I freak anytime a bee flies around me.   I know you're supposed to just be still and they'll go away, but I just can't help but scream and flap my arms around and run in circles trying to get away from them.  It is not a pretty sight.

Samm and her friend had a baby shower for a friend of theirs the other day.  Samm's gift to the Mom-to-be was a basket of Burt's Bees products and she asked if I could make a Bumble Bee to add to the basket.  Of course I said yes, and of course I decided Clover needed one as well.  Then I decided that Clover's boyfriend, Bronson, (the to-be-born baby's big brother) also needed one.

That's how I happened to make this swarm of four bees:

Pattern: Bumble the Bee
Modifications: I wanted a little bit bigger bee so I used a bigger hook, doubled the yarn, and did an additional increase round.

Clover absolutely LOVES her “bumbees" and Bronson apparently liked his enough to give it a kiss before running off to play with something else :-)

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Have a great night!

I'm on a Roll

Here's another completed pair of socks. 

Plain vanilla socks using size 1 1/2 (2.5mm) dpn's
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Sockina Cotton
Started: October 2007
Finished: May 19, 2009
 

No, that's not a typo; I started these socks in October of 2007!  The first sock sat for over a year in timeout because I thought it was too small for Hubby (and it was too big for me).  As I told you when I let that first sock out of timeout a couple weeks ago, either the sock grew or hubby's foot shrunk because the darn thing fit this time! Whatever the case, this is another pair of finished socks in 2009.  That makes 4 pairs of socks finished in 2009 or 4 times as many as I finished in 2008!

I'm feeling so good about the return of the sock mojo, that I joined Summer of Socks 2009 (Ravelry link here).    I was a bit hesitant to join because I was kind of afraid that committing to knitting socks might be just what it takes to cause the sock mojo to take a summer vacation, but this year's theme is LOW STRESS so I think I should be okay.   I haven't decided exactly what my goals will be for SOS (I still have a month to decide), but I do know that one of them will be to use some of the  mountain of sock yarn I have in the stash! 

Why don't you join me and the millions of others (okay, maybe that's a wee bit of an exaggeration) knitting socks this summer?  Come on, you know you want to.