Oogyknitter

With yarn, anyway!!!  I made all of these for a luau-themed New Year's Eve gathering.  These new ruffle yarns are crazy, and I'm not sure I'd wear them much normally, but it's been fun to see what each one looks like, and I look forward to seeing who selects what. Here they are piled on top of Kylie.  He is indeed a good sport. Any Xmas knitting I did left the house barely dry from blocking, but I have several projects in the works as well as many on the way so there will be plenty of photos yet to come!

A planned day off, only coincidentally in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  Hoping this finds everyone safe and dry!  I had some time this morning to complete work on the following: EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Shawl , Camping half-circle version, made with Color Changing Cotton (another gift from Neuro!!).  Blocking on a king size bed, so you can guess the dimensions somewhat: AlliGator Bag  (a kit by Morehouse Farms) - looking a little less swampy here:

Scylla, in Zombie BBQ - complete in all their toe-up-ness: Unleaving, in a custom dyed sock weight, modeled by a very tolerant canine: All for me, so no mad deadline rushes - although the cold weather is upon us, so they will get good use very quickly!

Overheard by a passer-by near my house the other day: "Hey, honey - the mail is here!" "Great!  Are my eyeballs in there??" Wait until you see the rest of this almost-FO!  And it's not even Halloween-themed!

We've had some cool weather here lately, which gives me a great opportunity to show off (and try on, ha!!) some of the things I've managed to finish in the past few days. The two hats were made for a friend, by special request, for friends undergoing chemo treatments.  Both are stash acrylic/wool blends I've had for several years; the blue hat is Ribbons of Hope , and pink hat is Dembow .  Both were fun and fast! Olympian Socks  - also fun and fast! No links for the next two patterns - Ivy Trellis Socks - and - Tea Time Socks (with modification on the foot, lice instead of crazy zig-zags).  Not fast, somewhat fun. More output to come, as the WIPs are piling up amidst the latest item of knitting obsession - the toe-up sock, which has had other hidden adventures within!

So I've been knitting socks for years, and my strongly preferred approach has been cuff-down.  Mostly because that's how I learned to knit socks, and frankly most of the sock patterns I acquired early on were cuff-down as well.  I had attempted toe-up socks before, with disastrous results, and have since avoided them like the plague - even re-jiggering the pattern to be cuff-down, rather than mess with that fidgety toe.  Give me Kitchener Stitch any day! But this weekend I decided that enough was enough - no more cowering in the corner from toe-up patterns, especially since there were two that I have been wanting to make and that could not be made without starting at the toe.  I inhaled deeply, and braced myself to attempt  Judy's Magic Cast-On .  Being of a certain age, I keep forgetting that others have often gone before me.  Thank goodness for  Judy, Cat Bordhi, and YouTube .  10 minutes later, I was off and running (well - kni...

You'll recognize both this pattern and this yarn.  This version of the jaunty booties will be going to yet another expectant neighbor, very shortly! You'd recognize this yarn as well if the photo wasn't so terrible - it is the teal alpaca/cotton that also went into a baby sweater earlier this year.  Now the rest of it has become a Saroyan , for my mom's upcoming birthday.  What a terrific and fun pattern!

Finished - a pair of fun, easy socks. Unfinished - several lace-trimmed towels, Unleaving, and the EZ Camping Shawl.  The knitting is all done, but obviously the finishing remains.  I've decided that the amount of knitting that I do is directly proportional to the level of stress I feel, and also that the amount of finishing that I do is indirectly proportional to that level of stress.  Which means we're in for a whole lot of knitting, and not a lot of finishing!  (I'm sure you haven't failed to notice that there are TWO shawls here!)  (P.S.  I've also got like 4 pairs of socks going!)

With the right tools, what could otherwise take a few frustrating hours is accomplished in much less time - and is rather fun as well! The merino handspun was pretty sticky, so my fringe strategy was just twisting and knotting the ends - nothing additional needed upstream.  Off to the blocking!!

Today's minor distraction comes in the form of another fun beading project.  This one involved a lot of bending of wires and jump rings, which I liked when it went well, and wanted to throw out the window when it did not.  At any rate, the knitting continues, but it's nice to have something finished to show in the meantime!

Here is Blue, with her braided fringe, awaiting a firm steaming (or similar to take out her wrinkles).  She is the only mostly-Finished Object that I have to show lately! Here is Woven Scarf #3, made with merino top handspun, awaiting a fringe strategy and a good blocking as well. And, lastly, these FOs mock me endlessly from the yarn project pile at my desk.  I hope you'll meet them in their completed forms in the coming days/weeks; in the meantime, they are, from left to right: socks, lace insets for hand towels, a shawl (made with yarn from Neuro, looking surprisingly like Wabenschal, but not for long!), and Unleaving.

Last week I was giddy with giving away knitted items.  The first gift, seen here below, was an alpaca lace shawl.  I'd made this back in 2008 but didn't actually get around to blocking it until a couple of days before I gave it away (you may recognize it as the large coral-colored blob in the pile of lace UFOs at the beginning of last year).  It looks just terrific on the recipient!! Next to be presented were the jaunty orange-and-yellow baby booties (shown a few weeks ago) to our neighbor with a new daughter. Last is this yarn-and-bead necklace, given to my voice teacher for an end-of-year gift.  I may need to make her another one, as she predicted that her hip daughter will likely make off with this one!

Bumper Car Booties made with leftover purple/blue sock yarn.  This pattern never ceases to amuse me! My first "solo" weaving project - although Mr. Oogy helped me wind on the warp!  Fringe strategy still TBD.   Yarn is a handspun merino/tencel blend.  Plaid-like appearance is completely accidental.

I completely failed to make mention about the most important aspect of the Zombie BBQ yarn I blogged about the other day - it is a gift from Neuro!!!  So not only it is theeee coolest yarn ever, but it carries with it many happy memories of a terrific Weekend of Weaving! OK, so inbetween all the weaving I did manage to get some knitting done.  These are Water Lilies socks, made with Cascade Handpaints.  Great yarn and pattern! In addition to all of her other marvelous creations, Neuro has made three fantastic hats for Mr. Oogy in the past couple of years.  This one, the latest version, is made with the fabulous high-tech stuff, and was also knit inbetween episodes of frenzied weaving. This next one is both handsome and warm - perfect for indoor use in the coldest of winter months!  (I know - hard to believe when it's been so hot here lately!) These jaunty stripes keep cold heads warm! Here is a formal portrait of the Hat Triumvirate.  Made ...

These fun, easy socks served me well as stress knitting recently. These special request wristwarmers for Mr. Oogy are way ahead of schedule, but they were also a quick, fun knit.  I also over-dyed the yarn in Twilight - much nicer than its former pale blue! My UFOs are mocking me.  Notice the not-quite-so-finished-but-done-with-the-weaving scarf in the middle there. This yarn screamed " Unleaving !!!!" when it was a skein, now it is yelling, "Socks, you dumbass!!!"  Pattern TBD. Unleaving candidate #2.  No hollering yet. This awesome yarn is from Lorna's Laces, and contains thermal phase regulation fibers that help moderate body temperature.  And the best part - the colorway is called Zombie BBQ!!!  It looks like it wants to pool its colors, so I will need to find a good slip-stitch pattern to combat that tendency.

We made this!!! Here is my progress after Neuro's departure from a fun and relaxing weekend spent learning how to weave!  I've got a ways to do yet, and I'm dreading warping the loom all by myself for the next project, but we were able to accomplish many things in just a couple of days! Neuro made a gorgeous scarf for herself, and our first product is nice enough to give as a gift.  We're thrilled to have a whole new use for handspun.  It might not get much fancier than this, but my hippocampus is definitely satisfied!

It is the Year of Colorwork, but mostly what I've done so far is produce a few color ful items!  I've been making this baby bootie pattern for years, mostly from leftover sock yarns.  This particular yarn is what remained from last fall's Flamewalker Socks .  That these booties stand up all by their jaunty selves makes them particularly appealing. These are  Crazy For You socks.  They haven't told me yet exactly whom they are crazy for , but I'll let them ponder that for a while.  It appears I may have caught a bit of Knitting New England's Tangerine Tango  with all of these orangey colors!

Here are the Seven Chakras socks, with a small change that hasn't stopped amusing me since I contrived it earlier this week.  I'm glad these are finally finished - they had their own project bag for a couple of years, and mocked me endlessly from there.  

Just finished off the Wingspans and thought you might like to see them in action, with a little help from Kylie. Here they are lounging about.

Yes, this is indeed one sock with two sets of DPNs beset upon it. You can see at the top where I've started the second section of yellow next to the orange. Its mate is long finished, and you can probably guess why it's taken me so long to start the second one. The pattern is Seven Chakras , and it is lots of fun but completely insane.

The recent bright, sunny weather has inspired me to finish a couple of projects (and think about many, many others yet to begin!!!). These socks are Mica , and if you look closely you can see the silver sparkles. They appear to be strangely shaped just sitting here like this, but they look pretty normal when worn. Here are the finished house slippers for my mom, made with some old stash wool, no label. Slightly more progress on this latest pair of socks as well!