Noolie Knits

Catching Up Part 2 - A Spinning FO and Health

I was beginning to think it'd never happen, but it did.  Last week, I finally finished spinning and plying the Campfire fiber I bought at Fiber Revival.  I not only bought that fiber at FR, but I spent that day spinning it and thought I was doing pretty well.  I spun nearly every day since, but it still took me over a month to spin just 4 ounces.  Sheesh! 

That's really okay though. It was a joy to spin; the colors were very soothing to me and the fiber (merino/silk) was so soft.  I think I've accomplished pretty darned close to what I was going for with this.

 
 
Fiber: Sereknity  70% Merino/30% Silk Colorway:  Campfire 2 ply; 22 wpi; 560 yards  

I'm not sure what to use this for. I initially was thinking about Abby, but that only requires about half the yardage I have here.  This is so nice that I want to use it all.  I'm thinking a lacy scarf, but it'll have to wait.  As you may have noticed, my last two lace projects haven't gotten very far; one was even frogged.

 

I haven't had the concentration level need for lace for quite some time.  I hope to regain that concentration very soon though.  Which brings me to the second part of this post.

 

To make a very long story short(er); I've been having some health issues for a while.  When I say for a while, I guess I really mean most of this year.  You may remember back in February when I was diagnosed with thyroiditis.  With this condition, the thyroid goes from being normal, to overactive,  to underactive, and back to normal.  This can last several months.  Back in May I was told everything looked good and to come back for bloodwork in September just to be sure the levels stayed normal. 

 

Well, for several months I've been having pain off and on in my hip area and muscles all over.  It got so bad that the pain was daily and  I wasn't able to sleep.  After I started noticing a lot of my hair in my hands after washing it,  I decided that instead of just having bloodwork done, I'd make an appointment to see the doctor.  Turns out that my thyroid levels did not come back to normal; I now have an underactive thyroid. 

 

This is no big deal; just take a pill every day.  I'm fine with that.  Turns out that the thyroid can cause all the other problems I've been having as well and after just over a week on the meds, I am already feeling a difference.  I actually had a couple of totally pain free days over the weekend.  Today's not as good, but at least I know it's just a matter of time before I feel good again.  I'm not really sure I remember what "good" feels like but I'm anxious to find out!

 

You're probably wondering how my not being able to do lace has anything at all to do with all that.  Well, turns out that lack of concentration is also a symptom of underactive thyroid, so I'm blaming my inability to do lace entirely on that. 

 

That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Great Balls of Fiber!

What a spectacular weekend! 

 Patti and I met up with three of our fellow Chicks with Sticks/Chicks with Wheels at Canterbury Shakers Village to enjoy their annual "Wool Day" event on Saturday.   What an incredible day.    We shopped, we ate, we did some knitting and spindle spinning, we watched demos and shopped some more.   Good friends, good weather, lots of fiber - who could ask for anything more? 

Entrance to the village.
Don't let this picture fool you; there were a lot  of people there. The vendors and demonstrators were all set up in a field just at the end of this picture. Check out that beautiful blue sky!  

Carol, Eileen, and Sharon
It's really a shame that they weren't happy to be there.


This woman was making dyes from plants.

Thankfully, no one had any combs for sale, because after watching this woman, I really wanted some! Just what I need - another time sucking activity. Some day, though.  
A couple of handsome dudes.

This little girl had the cutest, teeny tiny face but she was too shy to look at the camera.

Check out the curly bangs!

There's always one wise guy who has to turn his head when the picture is taken!
  Can you stand the cuteness?!  

As I mentioned, there was some shopping and that's where the title comes into play. I picked up some great balls of fiber!

  "Shannon & Annie"   -  Romney/Border Leicester from Brimstone Hollow Farm in Hancock, NH   "Abigail" - Romney/Border Leicester & Merino also from Brimstone Hollow Farm in Hancock, NH


Border Leicester/Mohair (I can't remember the name of the vendor I purchased this from.)
I picked this up from the woman with the combs. This beautiful fiber came from a Coopsworth named Brian.  

Do we look like we had a good time?



Have a great day!

Yes, I'm Still Here

Apparently when I write, "I'll give you a real post this weekend," it really means "I'll give you a real post eventually."  But you knew that, didn't you? Let's catch up a little, shall we? 

Last Monday was Patriots' Day, which is a holiday here in Maine and also in Massachusettes {and no Patti, it is not to celebrate the football team ;-)}.  I decided to take the Friday before it and the Tuesday after as vacation time so that I would have a nice loooong weekend; kind of a mini-vacation.  I figured I'd sleep in every day and I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish.  So, what did I do?  I woke up every morning by 6 or 6:30 (even 4:30 one day!), but at least I wasn't waking up to the obnoxious sound of the alarm clock.  I didn't do a single thing that was on my list either. 

In other words, I did what I felt like, when I felt like it.  It was WONDERFUL!

I started my mini-vacation by taking a trip with Patti to Yarn and Fiber for their Friday Night Knitting Club led by the wonderful Gina.

What a great way to kick off a vacation; it was a really good time.  Of course, knitting with a group of friends is always a good time; knitting with this group of friends always makes my face hurt from all the laughing.  Here are a few pics:

 
The Gang
(Sorry Ericka & Chris; I seem to have only captured the backs of your heads)

 
Lora (with her gorgeous new do) & Heather with Stitches
    


Melissa brought Rusty and he actually let me take his picture!  Any other time I've tried to take his picture, he's run away from me.  I guess that means he likes me now :-)


Of course, he had no choice about this  picture; after an evening of romping around the store with Stitches, he was pooped right out!

Naturally, there was yarn purchased.  I went with the intention of picking up some yarn to crochet another shawl like this one.  For that, I picked up some Silky Wool.

  The yarn feels wonderful and it's just the color (or lack thereof) that I was looking for.  I started the shawl that night and have only worked on it at Chicks with Sticks on Tuesday night.  There's not much done yet, but here's a shot of what there is.

I also picked up 2 balls of Kauni Effektgarn

(Yes, the one on the right really is that bright!) I'm thinking smallish wraps or shawls out of both of these.  Time will tell.

That's how I began my mini-vacation; can you guess how I ended it?  Why, by knitting with friends on Tuesday night of course.  Tuesday was an extra special Chicks with Sticks night.  It was school vacation week here in Maine and when it's school vacation, a certain Sheep must knit with others (really, it's the law).  Not only was the Sheep there, but Melissa joined us again and Mel was also there (while Mel is a regular, he has been very busy lately and we haven't seen much of him, so it was a treat to see him).  Melissa, of course, brought Rusty who amazed us all with his drinking water from a bottle capabilities.

(Too bad my camera wouldn't cooperate and take a clear picture; sorry about the blur.)

So, I started and ended my mini-vacation with good friends and spent the time in between spending more time than usual with the world's sweetest baby, 

 

 

and enjoying just doing whatever I wanted to do (or doing nothing). 

What could be better?

The Power of Good Thoughts

Thanks for all the very sweet comments and e-mails you sent me yesterday.  I feel so blessed to have such good friends as all of you!  I'm kind of afraid to say anything, but it seems that the enemy is gone.  Amazing what a day of the right drugs and rest will do.  And I truly believe that all your good thoughts helped , too!  Now if it'll just stay away.

Obviously, there was no knitting going on yesterday although by last night I felt like I could do a little bit of spinning (and I do mean a LITTLE bit).  I spent about 1/2 hour spinning and that was enough. 

It seems that whenever I'm feeling my worst, the mailman puts a package in my mailbox.  Yesterday's package was from the wonderful Gina.  She's such a sweetheart.  I knew part of this package was coming, but she snuck a little something extra in there.  Want to see?

First, this beautiful sweater for Clover:

(I hope Gina doesn't mind that I stole this picture from her).  Along with the sweater she sent some lovely socks she knit for Clover:

Aren't these adorable?  Gina is so sweet and generous; but she didn't stop there. 

She also sent fiber for me; isn't it lovely?  It is 50% merino and 50% silk which she hand dyed in the colorway "Tanzanite"- Yummy!  I can't wait to start spinning this.  Thank you so much Gina!

And now, I must go and get ready for work.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!

A Moment of Silence Please...

...as we mourn the passing of another swimming pool season.

 

I always feel sad at the end of Summer.  I LOVE Summer weather; I think I'm living in the wrong part of the country. 

Maybe that's the reason for the funk I've been in this past week.  I can't seem to get out of my own way and I've barely accomplished anything since finishing the sweater last weekend.  I went to Chicks with Sticks on Tuesday and while the company was wonderful (as always), I just couldn't get into the knitting.  I know, I know; it shocked me too.  I brought some baby socks I was working on; I wasn't happy with the foot and planned to rework it.  That lasted all of about 10 minutes before I was bored with it.  I got out the sweater I had started ages ago for Clover using some of Gina's hand-dyed yarn, but I couldn't get into that either.  I actually ended up leaving a little bit early; that is absolutely unheard of!

I did mange to finish one sock on Wednesday morning, but didn't knit a stitch  Wednesday night and went to bed at 8:15!  Geeze Louise, what's wrong with me?  Oh, here's the sock:  

Last night I did stay up to do some spinning.  First, I finally finished plying the spindle spun singles that I did using the fiber that was left over after spinning and knitting this hat.  It kind of resembles a pile of worms:

Okay, so maybe it's a bit more colorful than a pile of worms.  There's just about 50 yards here.  Is that enough for some itty bitty mittens; you know, the little baby things that have no thumbs?

Once I got the worms soaking in the sink, I went upstairs and got Alice out for a little quality time together.  I think it was just what I needed.  I watched some mindless T.V. and spun for hours.  I finished the BFL I was working on and decided to go ahead and ply it last night too.  I finished around 11:30.  First thing this morning (after making coffee) I wrapped the yarn onto my new niddy noddy.  It's really kind of purty, don't you think?

and a close up: I soaked it, and hung it to dry.  I can't wait to see how it looks dry.  I'm pretty happy with this even though it is not the most evenly spun yarn around.  There's about 284 yards there and I'm guessing it's about worsted weight.  I'll check the wpi after it's dry.  I have a lot to learn still, but damn, I'm loving the spinning!

I think I'll finish the other baby sock tonight.  After that, I need to decide if I want to continue with the other little sweater or start something new.  I'm thinking I'll probably start something new :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

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I'm Home and I'm Spoiled!

I got home last night and couldn't be happier to be here.  I don't know why I wrote in my last post that I would be going home on Friday when I knew all along that my last class was Thursday; I think the heat affected my brain!  Other than the "Room from Hell" the first 2 nights, the school was actually pretty good.  First there was the Welcome Reception which was really just about 10 people sitting on a screened in porch at a guest house (where the State people got to spend the week) drinking beer and catching up.  Monday night's Lobster Bake was excellent this year and the beer was free!  Can you say "Corona with lime" (six or seven times?). Damn, they sure tasted good. 

What?  Doesn't sound like school to you?  Well, I really did have to spend the days in classes (where the room temp was the complete opposite of what it was in the dorms - about 32 degrees; brrrrr).  There were actually a couple of the classes that I found interesting.  Yeah I know; I'm wierd.  No normal person finds property taxes interesting, right?  After checking into the motel on Tuesday night, I seriously considered blowing off Wednesday's class and sleeping; I'm really glad I didn't do that.  The class was all about Florida's Homestead exemption and Save our Homes program.  I didn't see how that class could matter one bit, but it really was the best class all week.  The Duval County Property Appraiser was the speaker and he was excellent.

When I arrived home yesterday, there were 2 packages waiting for me and then today 3 more came!  OMG - such great stuff!  Two of the packages were of yarn I ordered and the other 3 were swap packagaes.  It's getting late, so I'm going to show you the awesome loot I received from Christine, my Summer Stash Swap pal tonight and tomorrow I'll show you the other awesome swap package I received from my Sockapalooza pal.

Christine sent so much that she had to send it in 2 packages!  I was amazed with her generosity when I received the first package yesterday and then there was even more today - incredible.  Check this out (the hand dyed is by Christine!):

 

Close ups (click to enlarge):

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK

Malabrigo, color "Velvet Grapes"

Tussah Silk to spin (Yummy!)

Hand dyed merino/silk fingering weight, "Mango & Melon"

"Frog Lilly Pie" hand dyed Peruvian wool sock yarn

Hand dyed silk

Oragami Butterflies and Christine's knitting accessory of choice - paper clip stitch markers :)

Can you believe the generosity?  Thank you again, Christine, for the truly wonderful package!

(BTW, in case you were wondering - 435 new posts on bloglines; don't be surprised if I don't do much commenting, but I'll definitely read or at least skim all of them).

Have a great night!

One FO

I haven't got much to show you today; just one itty bitty FO, but it's a good one :-) 

Remember this?

  My first spindle spun yarn that I finished a couple of weeks ago?  Well, after finding out Wednesday that Samm is having a girl, I went home and turned it into this:

Clover's First Hat.
I figured my first knit for my first grandbaby should be made using my first handspun. I'm really very pleased (and more than just a little surprised) with how it came out.

I've begun the second sock for my Sockapalooza Pal, but I've only got about 20 rows of the 60 row cuff done. I really need to get moving on that; I'd like to finish those and still have time to make the July Sockamania socks (I've barely even looked at the pattern yet). Not to mention the SKB and a Holiday Headstart project for this month. I was hoping to make another of the Fisherlad Guernsey sweaters for my great-neice, Ella (Colin's sister), this month but I'm thinking that might not happen. Maybe next month for that. I picked up some really pretty mint green Encore to make hers with; Colin's is in the dark green. I thought it'd be cute for them to have the same sweaters in different shades of green.

I think I need to clone myself so that the clone can go to work for me and I'll have time to get everything done that I want to! Not only do I have all of the above on the "list", but there are at least 17 gazillion baby items I want to knit before December :-)

That's it for today, folks. Have a great day!

A Trip to Spunky's

On Saturday, we went to see Amy's shop in Lisbon.  Patti (blogless, we'll have to change that) and I met Gina, Lora, Melissa, and Donna (also blogless) at the Yarn Sellar (Chris and Ericka met us in the parking lot as we were leaving) and we headed up to Amy's, picking up Brenda along the way. 


When we arrived at Amy's, the first thing we saw was an incredibly breathtaking view (of course, being the lazy blogger I am, I didn't take any pics, but Gina took plenty.  Make sure you check out her post about the trip).  Amy's daughter, Moira, came running to greet us and Gina got the biggest hug from her.  What a sweet kid; she even picked lilacs for all of us.


After saying our hello's and chatting for a couple minutes, we all headed into the store.  We were immediately immersed in the most beautiful colors!  Amy really does create magic with colors.  The shop is small right now, but she's planning to move it into a bigger space soon.  That'll be an excuse for us to take another trip up there (like we need one).  The shop reminded me very much of going to SPA and returning time and again to Amy's booth; I just can't get enough of all that gorgeousness.


I didn't do too much damage though. I did manage to stay within the amount I had allotted for purchases. Of course it helped that Amy had a big basket of yarn on sale!  Thanks, Amy :-)


Enough with the talking, eh?  You want to see the loot, don't you? Okay, the very first thing I picked up was something for the baby:

It's a Lambie Bank; isn't it adorable? It was the first thing I saw when I walked in and I fell in love with it. I remembered that before Samm was born, Chris and I found a really cute, very round, Piggy Bank for her and she still has it (although it now has a few chips in it). Samm asked me what the baby was going to do with a bank; silly girl, she's going to collect the money that Nonnie puts in it :-)

There's also this yarn that followed me home:

On the left, from top to bottom we have: Chubby Sock, color Bird Face; Super Nova, color Soylent; Chubby Sock, color Gunsmoke
And on the right, from top to bottom: Beefy Sock, color Navajo Gems; Chubby Sock, color Sangria; Speckles, color Mandy

I brought this home, took this picture, and stuffed it all in this great bag that my hubby gave me a couple of weeks ago:

All before he even saw it :-) Not that he'd mind; he's really very good about my yarn purchases. At least he never says anything about them. Maybe he's just given up; who knows. When I first started acquiring a stash, he'd ask me why I needed more yarn (silly boy), but he doesn't even blink an eye now. This bag is fantastic; not only is it the coolest looking kitty bag, but it is huge!  Even with all that yarn I just put in there, I have plenty of room for much more (hmmmm....).  Plus, check out the zipper pull and wooden kitty tag:

Aren't they great?!

One last thing about the visit with Amy. She gave me some tips on spinning on the spindle and I practiced a bit later that night. And guess what; I think I just might win the battle of Spindle vs. Noolie! I plan to practice a little bit each night until I see something that resembles useable yarn. Thanks so much for your help, Amy!


If you're ever in the area near Lisbon, Maine, you really must go see Amy's shop. In the meantime, you can always have a virtual Spunky visit :)


Now, I'll leave you with this; I've seen it on many blogs and decided to give it a shot.

Noolie -- [noun]: A person of questionable sanity who starts their own cult 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

A cult of fiber worshippers, perhaps?

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

A Handy Tip

When you are driving down a road and see that a cop has pulled someone over, and you know that you'll be returning on that same road in  just a few minutes, be sure that on your return trip you are going the speed limit!  Sheesh, I really am getting old.  I went for my lunch time trip to get an iced coffee, saw a car pulled over and said to myself, "Self, make sure you are not speeding on the way back."  I continued on, got my iced coffee, and promptly forgot all about the cop.  Another tip:  it really is helpful to admit why you were stopped when said cop asks, "Do you know why I stopped you today?" and act like you are sorry (even though the only thing you're sorry about is that you are old and forgetful).  Thankfully, I only got a warning.

On a happier note, let me show you the decadent purchase I made last night while at Chicks with Sticks:

Tilli Thomas
This is, without a doubt, the softest yarn I have ever had the pleasure of fondling and now it's mine, mine, MINE! 

Oh, you want to know what I'm going to make with it, do you?  I've been thinking about this pattern for a while and bought it yesterday:

It's the Simple Knitted Bodice by Stefanie Japel. Isn't it lovely? Of course I won't make the V-neck quite so low (sorry, Roger) :-)  I can't wait to cast on for this, but I have forbidden myself from casting this on until after I finish the May Holiday Headstart project and my MayDay socks for the Sockamania and SAM3 KAL's and the blankie portion of the monkey doll/blanket.

I've done a little on the blankie; and I do mean A LITTLE! 

Notice the arm reaching in there; Peaches is trying to claim this as hers.


"It's mine, I tell ya; all mine!"

She also tried to nab the silk.

"What, you can fondle it, but I can't?"

I'm telling you, ever since she started knitting, I really have to fight for my own yarn!

Finally, I decided if she really wanted to help, I'd put her to good use modeling the Spare Square I made for Colleen's blanket project.

"Can I model the silk top when you finish it?"

Dream on!

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 :-)

The Cat and the Hats

I finished Betty's hat Monday morning; just in time to give it to her when I drove her to her treatment that afternoon.

That's Phoebe posing with the hat; isn't she a cute model? I put some crocheted curly-Q's on top of the hat so it wouldn't be boring. As soon as I gave it to Betty, she put it on and wore it in for her treatment. She looked so cute in it. Please keep the good thoughts and prayers coming for Betty; she really needs them right now. I've shared some of your comments with her and it really touches her heart that you all care so much.

As today's title would imply, I have more hats to show you. I made two more for the Dulaan project. April gave me this yarn (scroll down; it's the crayon yarn) and I promised to use it for Dulaan.  The yarn is dk weight, so I combined it with some old gold colored dk weight wool that I had in the stash and made the hat to the left of our supermodel. I used size 9 needles over 70 stitches and did a k1p1 rib for a few rows then just simple stockinette. 

For the hat on the right, I used some red Cascade dk weight with the crayon yarn for the rib and crown and used the red, gold, and crayon yarn for the body of the hat. For this hat, I used size 10 1/2 needles over 63 stitches.

I think I have enough (1 1/4 oz) to make one more hat with this yarn. I'll have to use it just for the body of the hat and use something else for the rib and possibly the crown.

This brings my Dulaan total up to four.  I hope to get several more knits done for Dulaan by July.

In my post the other day about the Chicks and Manchvegas knitters, I neglected to mention the goodies I was gifted! Gina was so sweet and brought me some of her handspun yarn and hand-dyed roving in my favorite color - green.

73 yards of handspun wool blend with sparkles and 100 glass beads; color-Honey Dew

Phoebe approves:
This is 3 oz. of hand-dyed 100% merino; color-Woodland Forest.This beautiful roving is going to have to wait until I either win my battle with the drop spindle or have taken some spinning lessons.  It's just too pretty to take a chance of ruining it. 

As if that weren't enough, Heather also brought me a present. Man, am I spoiled! She made these beautiful stitch markers and I just love them! I've already put one to use with the Dulaan hats.

I have just one more picture for you; this came in the mail the other day. This is the Spunky Club yarn for March. It's so bright and cheerful; just what I need right now while waiting for Spring to really arrive here in Maine. It's the Skinny Sock yarn in "Dandy Lion" colorway. I can't wait to get this on the needles. Perhaps for Sock Madness round 3?

Have a great day!

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN, again

I'm ready! I have my supplies:

 
Spunky Eclectic's "Maine" yarn in the Vineyard colorway and Crystal Palace size 2 dpn's.  You may recognize that colorway from the Big Balls Sweater.  I will have no excuse to be wearing socks that clash with it anymore!

The pattern for round 2 of Sock Madness is due out today between 4pm and 10pm. I'm hoping it comes out on the early side of that so I can get going on them this evening. I'm not sure how well I will fare during this round. Tomorrow I'll be in Augusta all day at a meeting. This is not a meeting during which I can knit; we'll be discussing some property tax law changes that need a lot of clearing up. It's kind of important that I pay attention and take notes, as it directly affects how I do my job. Poo, I hate meetings where I have to pay attention! I should be able to get some knitting done in the car though; I'm driving up with a co-worker and I told him I'll pick him up, but he has to drive the car because I HAVE KNITTING TO DO! It takes about 1 3/4 hours to get there, so I should be able to accomplish a bit.

Then on Saturday, Gina's knitting group, The Manchvegas Knitters, are coming to town to have lunch and knit with The Chicks with Sticks. YAY! It's going to be so much fun. I just hope that the sock pattern isn't too terribly complicated so that I can work on it while chatting and laughing and carrying on.

During the first round, we were knitting against all the other knitters in our bracket; this time it's one on one!

Wish me luck!

I've got FO's for you!

Some of mine and one of a friend's.  First, Lisa's new sweater. 

This is especially awesome because she just made her first sweater back in November! She's made three (I think) since then. What a knitting machine she is! This sweater is one of the Knitting Pure and Simple top down sweaters that she modified. Yes, she is already modifying patterns to suit her needs. She didn't want the plain roll bottom, neck, and sleeves, so she looked through this book and chose a pattern she liked and worked the bottom and the sleeve ends in it.  Here's a close up:

Isn't it pretty? Then she finished off the neck by just picking up stitches and turning around and binding off. Great job, Lisa! You've come so far in such a short time.

My FO's pale in comparison, but I'll show you anyway. This first is the baby sweater I started Saturday night. This sweater was so fast, it's amazing (of course, it is the 0-3month size). I worked on it Saturday night, Sunday Morning, and then for another hour on Monday morning before work!

Samm didn't want me to put buttons on it because she worried about buttons with a baby, so I crocheted a couple little circles and sewed them on and sewed some snaps to the inside. There is a bit of a jog where the blue stripe begins on the bottom, but it really isn't as obvious in person (in sweater?) as it looks in this picture. Details:

Pattern: Amy's Little Sister Sweater

Yarn:  Plymouth Encore

Needles:  Addi turbo size 8

I have another baby-to-be who needs a sweater and I think I'll use this same pattern.  Such an easy, quick knit!

It's kind of cheating to call the next two items FO's, but they are :)

Colleen is collecting Spare Squares to make blankets for her local Children's Hospital, so I figured I could spare a few squares.  She'll be collecting them all year; can you spare a square?  She's even having monthly drawings for prizes.  Check it out; it's a great way to use up some scraps.  I'm hoping to send at least two a month. Here are my first two squares:

Yes, those are crocheted squares; and yes, they are square.  They don't look perfectly square yet because I haven't blocked them.  That's happening tonight and they are going in the mail Saturday.  The one on the left is crocheted diagonal shell stitches and the one on the right is a plain old boring granny square. I used a size G hook and left over yarn from the baby sweater on both squares.

 

Feast your eyes on this beautiful new yarn I picked up last night at "Chicks with Sticks".The color is pretty accurate. I forgot to take a picutre of it before I wound it into this ball. It's Malabrigo (don't have the tag right here so can't give you the colorway). Those of you who have used Malabrigo know how incredibly soft it is. I wanted to purchase this yarn to make Betty a new hat because she had to begin more chemo this week. She loves wild colors and I thought she'd really like this colorway. As you know if you've been reading here for a while, Betty is a teacher's aide at the middle school in Town. She not only had my daughter in her class years ago, but she had Patti's (LYS owner) son a couple years ago, as well. Patti donated the yarn for the hat; wasn't that sweet? She said that Betty helped her son and she wanted to do something for her too. So, this hat will be from the two of us - I think that will really please Betty. Speaking of Betty, please keep the good thoughts coming. She's having a tough time right now and needs all the good thoughts and prayers she can get.

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!

Teal + Black + Green = Crap

Holy Cow - look at the number of comments on the contest post! I know this doesn't seem like a lot to some of you, but for me it's huge! You people are really quite amusing. I was showing the captions to Samm today and we were both laughing our asses off (oh,if only that were possible). One more day to enter your caption and Moogie weight guess. I'll be announcing the winner at my new home on Friday. I'll post the link here Friday morning.

I've had some nasty stomach bug for the last couple days and have been home from work. Two days in the house - you'd think there'd be lots of knitting to show for that, wouldn't you? Nope! Hardly any. This is proof positive that I've not been feeling well.

I did do some knitting on my sweater, then I did some frogging and some more knitting. I knit about 1 1/2 inches with the green and it looked like crapola. So I ripped out all the green and then continued ripping all the black. I decided to do the entire bottom of the sweater in black ribbing (the first black was stockinette). I'm hoping that I have enough black to also do the bottom half of the sleeves in black. If not, I'll just do them in teal. Here's the sweater now:

I'm liking it so far. This black yarn is weird though; it's turning my hands black. I hope it doesn't bleed onto the teal when I soak it! You wouldn't think it would since it was sold together as a kit. Speaking of the kit, I keep wondering why the colors looked good in the picture of the sweater in the kit, but didn't look good here. Strange, very strange.

I also managed to turn the heel and complete the gusset decreases on the sock. I'm not going to bore you with a picture; I'll wait until I have the sock completed.

The mailman was good to me this week. I received my order from Chappywoman; I ordered the pattern for the Faina Scarf Knitalong and also these:

Kitty purse handles! I'm going to make a knitting bag using them. Aren't they just too cute?! There was a little surprise in the package too. An adorable kitty stitch marker.

Farm-Witch sent me this yarn just because I Knit for the Kidlets. She sent everyone a prize; wasn't that nice? I think I'll make something for Colin with it.

Well, that's it for tonight. I'm gonna go rest some more; I'm hoping to be able to go to work tomorrow. No, I don't miss work but I have some stuff I really need to get done this week. Besides, I'm going a little stir crazy.

Have a great night!