Noolie Knits

Actual Knitting Content

It's been a while since I've talked about actual knitting here, hasn't it?  Well, today you're going to get an FO, a WIP,  and  even a look at what I've been spinning.

The FO:

The Fogbuster Beanie Pattern by the wonderfully talented April
Yarn handspun by The Sheep

 

This was an easy and well written pattern that produces a great hat!  I'll definitely be making more.  Annie's yarn was a real pleasure to work with and produced a very soft hat.  How nice to knit a hat that was designed by one friend using yarn spun by another friend.  It's great to have such talented friends :-)

The WIP:

Metro Pullover
Just a sleeve and collar to go.

I'm hoping to finish this by the end of the week, but don't hold your breath waiting.  Seems I don't get in as much knitting time as I used to.  I blame Clover; she's just too much fun.

The Spinning:

I've spun about half of the 4 ounce bump that I bought from White Barn Meadows at SPA back in February.

I haven't been doing so well getting in my 10 minutes a day; as a matter of fact, last week I only spun on Thursday with my spinning group. Gotta do better.

My plan with this fiber is to Navajo ply it once I'm done spinning the singles. I know I won't get a whole lot of yardage that way, but I'm hoping it's enough to make a neck warmer. Only time will tell.

Have a great day!

A Spinning Update (Finally)

First, thank you for all the comments of support yesterday.  Chris and I both really appreciate them!

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Now, it seems to me that I owe you a spinning update since I haven't given you one in two weeks.  Not to mention the fact that I promised you one last week and then went on to just ignore that promise.  Ooops, sorry.

I guess it's true that practice makes perfect.  While my spinning is still VERY far from perfect (VERY, VERY FAR), I can see improvement.  I've been doing really well with 10 Minutes a Day; there have only been a few days since starting this that I haven't managed at least ten minutes.  Most days I do much more than that.  So, would you like to see what I've been spinning?

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First let me show you what I usually do on Tuesdays (since Tuesday night is Chicks with Sticks, and there's not really much spinning time).    
(click for bigger)  This should look familiar since I've been working on it off and on (mostly off) for several months.  This is what I refer to as "Spinning for Fish".  The plan is to knit or crochet fish and felt them to make a mobile for Clover (I might have this completed in time for her high school graduation).  Hey, there's nothing that says a mobile has to be over a crib now is there?

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Next up is the Cotton Candy yarn.  Yep, I said yarn.  It has been finished for over a week now (it's what I had  planned for last week's update that never happened).  Here's a little mosaic of it from start to finish.

   
This is 8 ounces of Louet Northern Lights Wool Top
226 yards of heavy worsted, 8 wpi

It’s a pretty curly yarn, with some overspun areas and some underspun. It does seem to be fairly well balanced, though; it hangs straight down without twisting back on itself at all. I’m planning to make hats with it for Clover and her two cousins.  I love the colors, and I actually like the look of the thicker spun singles plied with the thinner ones.

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I'm referring to this next fiber as my Mystery Batt because I picked it up at Amy's during her Grand Opening event and almost immediately lost the label. 

(again, click for bigger)

The colors are fairly accurate; look how pretty the batt is compared to the singles.  Thankfully, once plied together, the resulting yarn is a much prettier color than I expected. 

I spun fairly thin singles and did a 2 ply, which I think is about a DK weight.  Since it's still hanging in my bathroom to dry, I haven't yet checked the wpi.  I have about 82 yards.  Hopefully (no promises), I'll be able to get a decent picture of it for you for tomorrow's post (if there is a post tomorrow).

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How About an Update?

 

Edited to add:  It's Kristie's  birthday today; go on over and wish her a Happy one!

Since its been about a week since I've updated you on anything of the fibery nature, how about I do that today?  Here's what I've managed to accomplish in the knitting and spinning department lately.

300 HATS PROJECT:

~~Apparently, I can't count.  Last week I told you I had finished Hat #8 and was going to begin an Amanda Hat for Hat #9.   Make that Hats #7 and #8. 

~~Speaking of Hat #8 (the real #8), I did not finish it Tuesday night at Chicks with Sticks as has been my MO of late.  I'm about 60% finished.  I think it has a bit to do with the fact that the yarn is not so fun to knit with; I'm really hoping that a good soaking will soften it up a bit. 

~~Here's where it stands right now:

~~Hopefully, I'll finish it tonight.

'LISHA' LACE SCARF

~~Not a heck of a lot of progress here either.  I have completed just shy of 2 repeats.

I'm loving knitting this.  The yarnis scrumptious and the pattern is wonderful.  I should be much further along than I am, but I just can't seem to get in much knitting time these days.

~~I guess it could have something to do with the fact that I'm lazy and no longer get up and knit for 1 1/2 hours before work in the morning.  Even when I am up early, I'm not knitting; I'm drinking coffee and vegging in front of the computer or t.v.

10 MINUTES A DAY

~~I've done pretty well with this; there was only one day last week when I didn't actually spin, but I did read about spinning, trying to learn a little, so I'm counting that.

~~Most of my spinning this past week has been  with the cotton candy fiber.  I finished the last two of four bobbins of singles and decided this would not become a sweater for Clover.  The third bobbin was really not very good and the fourth bobbin was a bit thick.  So, I decided to wing it and see what would happen if I plied the two good bobbins with the two not so good ones. 

~~Not too bad.  I still have a bit to do, but I think this yarn will make some pretty little girl hats for Clover and her two cousins. 

~~I think I need a bit more practice before I spin sweater yarn for  Clover; it has to be perfect for my perfect granddaughter ;-)

~~Notice the jumbo flyer?  I just got that the other day.  I never even thought about the fact that it'd come unfinished.  I don't care about the bobbins and the flyer, but I'd kind of like the maiden to match since it replaces the other one.  Guess I'll be looking for something to finish it with soon.

GOOD NEWS:  

~~Chris was offered, and accepted, a job!  He'll probably be starting a week from Monday; just have to wait for a credit and security check.  Can we get a Woo and also a Hoo!!
 

 

WNBP (Wednesday Night Bullet Post)

• Another week, another hat. This time it's the Banana Republic Hat Knockoff.
  

• Mine is done in Lamb's Pide Bulky in the Pistachio colorway.
  Needles: Size 8 for the seed stitch band; Size 10 1/2 for the rest of the hat.

• It's an easy and enjoyable hat to make. I'm one of those people who likes doing seed stitch, so the band was my favorite part.

• This is my 8th hat for the 300 Hat Project and my 2nd hat towards my "8 more hats this summer" goal.

• This morning, I cast on for hat #9 The Amanda Hat  in the handspun yarn given to me last week by a friend and coworker.

• It will now be set aside until next Tuesday night because when I finish this post, I'm going to begin this , Lisha Lace Scarf.  I'll be using the gorgeous cashmere yarn which was a birthday gift from Gina. I'm pretty excited to get going on this.

• You may have noticed that both these patterns were designed by Gina; she's one very talented woman!

• At some point tonight, I'll also get in at least 10 minutes of spinning. This may end up being the only night that 10 minutes really is only 10 minutes. After all, there are just so many minutes in a day, you know.

• I finished a third bobbin of the cotton candy the other night, but it was kind of a nightmare. I was spinning away, happy as could be, when suddenly I realized I was WAAAAAYYYY over spinning it. It was terrible! I remembered Amy telling me that when you do that you can run it through in the opposite direction being careful not to take out too much of the twist.

• Can you guess what happened? Yep, took out too much of the twist. Sent it back through again and think I finally got the twist pretty much okay.

• It was like I hadn't ever spun this fiber (or any other fiber for that matter) before in my life - never mind the fact that I'd been spinning this fiber for the last week and 1/2. Oh well; whatcha gonna do, huh? I have one bobbin left to spin and then a decision to make about plying.

• ~Kristie brings up a good point about using the singles; she mentions I might want to avoid that if they aren't nice and balanced. HA! I guess we know how this is going to turn out, don't we?

• Since tonight is Wednesday (as noted by the WNBP), that must mean last night was Tuesday and Chicks with Sticks. It was a smallish group, but a lively one.

• The Sheep came down for her weekly S.O.C.K.S. Program (2nd paragraph). I like to give her grief for having summers off, but really I'm glad she does. Otherwise there would be no S.O.C.K.S. Program and no Tuesday night Sheepie visits. That would just be sad.

• What was sad, was that Patti couldn't be there again last night. She was in San Antonio at a conference. She's expected home tonight though and that's a good thing. I miss my friend     :-(

• Speaking of Patti, last word I heard was that her Dad had taken a bit of a turn for the better. This is good news, but he still needs lots of your good thoughts and prayers sent his way, if you can spare them. He has a long road ahead of him.
  
  

WNBP Short Version

I don't have much for this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post, so I've added a little something silly for you at the end of this post.

• Last night was Chicks with Sticksand I'm sure you know what that means (at least what that means this summer). Yep, another hat for the 300 Hat Project. This one is crocheted:

Pattern: Skater Beanie(Ravelry link) Yarn: Cascade 220 (maroon) & Lamb's Pride (yellow) Hook: Size H

• This is the reason I didn't find ten minutes to spin on Monday. I had planned to just get it started so that I could bring it on Tuesday to CWS, but I got a bit carried away and worked on it instead of spinning. It's not that I spent a lot of time on it; but by the time I sat down to do anything, it was already pretty late.

• I made up for the spinning I missed on Monday before going to CWS last night, though. I sat down with the intention of doing about 15 minutes and next thing I knew, I had been spinning for half an hour and all of my pre-drafted fiber was gone and I had finished the first bobbin of Cotton Candy. No picture of the full bobbin; you'll just have to take my word for it :-)

• I did start another hat when this one was complete. I managed an entire 2 rows of the rim. This is going to be the Banana Republic Knock-off hat, using Lamb's Pride bulky in Pistachio. I'll probably finish the rim and then set it aside until next Tuesday night.

• Clover went for her 6 month check up today (even though she'll be 7 months next Thursday). We were guessing that she weighed 18 pounds and we were pretty darn close. 17 pounds, 14 ounces and 27 inches long! I've been thinking she looked like she was growing a lot in length recently; guess I was right. She's a big girl. 75th percentile in weight and a little higher in length. She had her vaccinations and all is well with her. She's a happy, healthy girl.

• And now for the chuckle I promised you:

   

Spinning

As I mentioned yesterday, the best thing I've done in a long while as far as spinning goes (actually, the only thing I've done in a long while as far as spinning goes) was to join the 10 Minutes a Day spinning group. The idea is to commit to 10 minutes a day of spinning; it doesn't matter when you do it, just do it.  (Of course, as I write this I have to tell you that I did not find 10 minutes to spin last night - oops.)  I'll usually spend some time each evening after dinner with Alice and those 10 minutes almost always turn into much more! It's been just a week since joining and check out what I've accomplished.

First, I finished spinning the singles that have been on my wheel since March (the remainder of the Sereknity Faulkland wool that I started spinning for a class with Amy back in February).  I plied the singles on Saturday afternoon while sitting on my deck with my good friend, Mary. I may have been a bit tipsy while plying this (it's Mary's fault if I was; she was force feeding me wonderful lemoncello martinis) and it may therefore, not be perfect.  Not that it would have been anywhere near perfect anyway, but hey, if I can find an excuse, I'm gonna use it!

The singles I brought to the class in February were plied and then plied again from a center pull ball to make a cabled 4ply. All I've done with this so far is ply the 2 singles together; I'll finish the cable plying soon.  Gotta wait for the mood to strike. But, Carole did give me a tip; she said that once she winds her 2ply into a center pull ball, she then winds that into a big ball and just plys from there. This seems like it'd be a lot easier to untangle any problem areas while rolling it into a ball than it is to untangle while plying.  It's worth a shot.

While I'm waiting for the mood to finish that plying, I have started spinning some cotton candy. Check this out:

Does that look like a basket full of cotton candy or what? This is Louet Northern Lights that I bought at SPA in the Cotton Candy colorway. I'm deliberately trying to spin a thicker single than I usually do and then I may or may not ply it. My ultimate plan for this yarn (yes, Brenda, I actually have a plan) is to make a sweater for Clover if there's enough. I'm hoping half a pound of fiber is enough for a baby sweater (even a BIG baby sweater). This is what I've accomplished in just two short sessions:

I'm telling ya - if you've been meaning to spin and just haven't been getting around to it (like me for the last several months), join in on the 10 Minutes a Day thing.  There's even a cool button (check out the sidebar) and a Ravelry group to join. You'll be amazed how much you can get done.  Plus, if you consider yourself a beginner spinner like myself, getting in at least a little practice every day can't hurt your skills any!

In other news: the Less W8 in 08 group has started another challenge. It began Sunday and I'm hoping it'll help me like the last challenge helped.  My health is playing a role in this whole weight loss battle right now, but I have to be careful not to get lazy about it.  I have to continue to be diligent in my eating and exercising.  Eventually, the thyroid will get back to normal and the weight loss will begin again (I hope).  Wish me luck!

A Meme Plus 10 Minutes

I was tagged by Jackie for this meme.  Believe it or not, I actually spent a lot of time on Sunday morning composing a post answering the questions in this meme.  I gave really great, in depth answers.  Then I went to save it and “poof”, it was gone.  I just didn’t have it in me to redo it at the time.  Today, you’ll get the not quite so in depth version.  Here goes:

 

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?  Ten years ago, Samm would have been 12; so, I was surviving the middle school years with a preteen girl.  I was living in the same house, with the same husband and same turtle (Lewis) and 5 cats (not the same ones I live with now), and there were fish off and on.  I was working in the same office, but wasn’t yet in the position of Asst. Tax Assessor.  I was a certified Assessor, but I was working as the secretary for the office at the time; my current boss was the Asst. Assessor at that time.  I did knit and crochet occasionally, but not very much during that time.
2. Five things on my “to-do” list for today. 

Take a walk, wearing my weighted vest, through the woods after work (it’s about an hour long walk).

Actually cook dinner (that doesn’t happen very often and truth be told, may not happen tonight; but, it’s on my list).

Complete the fourth repeat on Twinings.

Spin (at least) 10 minutes – more on this at the end of this post.

And, most importantly, spend some fun time with my favorite baby!

3. Snacks I enjoy.  Chips, fruit, crackers & cheese (actually, I enjoy most all food!)
4. Things I’d do if I were a billionaire.  Pay off all my bills.  Sell or give my house away and buy a couple new houses/condos in different locations around the world.  Make sure my family and friends were taken care of.  Give generously to my favorite charities.  Then just do whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it.
5. Places I’ve lived. 
   

Norfolk, VA  

San Diego , CA

Oceanside, CA

Hyde Park, MA

Kittery, ME

Portsmouth, NH

York, ME

6. Jobs I’ve had.

File Clerk

Cashier in grocery store

Waitress

Bank teller

Typist in Word Processing pool at PNSY

Secretary at PNSY

Electrician Apprentice (on subs) at PNSY

Back to Secretary at PNSY after 2 work related knee surgeries.

Clerk in Tax Collector/Town Clerk’s office

Assessing Secretary

Asst. Tax Assessor

7. Bloggers I’ll tag.   Marianne, Dana, Annie, Colleen, Mel Seriously though, I know some people don’t do Meme’s and if you don’t want to, I won’t take it personally.

 

Now, about that 10 minutes of spinning:  I was reading Carole’s post this morning, and she mentioned the pledge she had taken a while ago to spin at least 10 minutes a day.  She’s done really well with it until this recent heat wave, but she’s getting back on track and has asked who’d like to join in.  Considering I have not spun since shortly after SPA, I think this will be the perfect way to get back into it.  I’m in; who else?  She’s even made a cool blog button: