Oogyknitter

In a frenzy of start-itis, I cast on the following this morning: The next pair of baby mitts, using the leftover Poseidon Hawthorne: Basic Ribbed Sock , in yarn given to me by a de-stashing friend, intended for an enthusiastic sock-wearer and former colleague of Oogyhubby (note the Karbonz needles!): Last evening during dinner, there was a knock at the door (very unusual out in these parts!).  It was a farmer/neighbor who used to have an arrangement with the previous owner - he would cultivate the hay in the field and also pay a modest fee.  The land in question is the tan-ish portion just above the center of this (not so great but hopefully you get the idea) picture: This is also where foxie does his varmint-diving, where the deer march on their way to the development to the north (to the right in this pic), and also where the west winds get a great running start before hitting us with their full force.  I also hope that some wildflowers grow in ther...

It just occurred to me that there are a lot of things that are "inbetween" for me right now - my career, the weather, and obsessive knitting projects, to name a few.  While I can't do much about the weather, aside from ponder how I seem to have traded the commotion of too-close neighbors to the elements incessantly pounding on our walls, I have some modicum of control over my career and knitting projects. I'll save the career contemplation for another forum.  For now, behold the triple helix: I have no idea why I spent so much time rooting through all my acrylic yarn oddballs when there was a pile of black acrylic that used to hang out next to the pile of Hoover greens, also mocking me.  I think these colors make for a terrific study of the three-color helix knitting technique.  I'm about midway through and am far less interested in continuing than I am in finding another fun project. I also love the Karbonz double points so much that I have finished both...

I thought I'd take a few minutes today during the Big Wind that has descended upon us in the Northeast - steady winds at about 30-40 MPH, with gusts into the 60s, for the last 24 hours - for something a little different.  The wind is very noisy, stirs up the snow (both fallen and falling) like a blizzard, and it is now very cold.  It goes without saying that there is absolutely no sign of wildlife - even the goats have taken shelter. I spent some time during the past year trying to inform myself on what has been going on within our country by reading some of the "tell-all" books that various people have been writing: Michael Lewis – The Fifth Risk Cliff Sims - Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House Michael Wolff – Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Bob Woodward – Fear: Trump in the White House What I will say here is that, with the exception of the Michael Lewis book, I don't feel very well informed at all.  I think S...

So the one robin I saw yesterday turned into dozens more today, pecking around in the yard and field and eating what I hope are copious amounts of otherwise annoying bugs.  I read that some robins hang out in flocks all winter long, and when they disperse in the spring it gives the appearance that individuals have returned for the season, when in fact they've been around all along.  Regardless, it was quite the avian haven today! Also busy were all our woodpeckers - at least two red-bellies, and of course our pileated squawker - and the squirrels.  We're due to get a big and long-lasting windstorm tomorrow, so perhaps everyone was gathering up supplies for the duration.  After I posted yesterday, I happened to glance out the window to see the large group of deer within just a few feet of the house.  Not wanting them to get too comfortable about approaching, I opened the door and hollered at them.  They appeared quite miffed before literally turning tail...

TGIF to all of my friends who have made it this far through the work-week!  I will still look forward to wine-o-clock today, in spite of my current non-working status! In the meantime, to answer Neuro's question about a pompom for the February Hat: Hat knitting is done, but it still needs to be blocked before I sew on the pompom.  I don't really enjoy making pompoms - mostly because I'm not very good at it, I either use too much yarn or not enough.  Fortunately, as you can probably tell, I've got a bag of these fuzzy things and have lots of fun figuring out which color to use for each of these hats! Speaking of Neuro - some time ago, she gave me a set of size 0 Karbonz needles, and I hate to say that I haven't tried them out yet.*  That will change today, when I will cast on for a pair of yoga socks (why wait until the holidays when I know I'll want to bring a pair to a friend who actually wears them to yoga and raves about them the rest of the year!): ...

Today's wildlife sighting was going to start with our pileated woodpecker jumping all through the woods this morning, pecking away, when this happened: It's a terrible picture, but if you look roughly just left and slightly above the center, you might see a blob on that tree.  That's our pileated woodpecker, and she appears to be taking a nap.  She hung out there for at least half an hour, not pecking; then she pecked her way to the top of that tree, flew and called her way to the top of a nearby tree, and has been vigorously pecking at that one for the past few minutes (I think I even see a wood chip go flying every once in a while!).  I'm guessing she's a she because I don't see any red stripe on her face.  I think I would have been very surprised to look out the window and see her bright red head sitting there, had I not seen her alight upon that tree in the first place.  Very exciting! On the knitting front, I've completed another pair of baby mit...

I do have a couple of stories about recent wildlife sightings, but they're not really mine.  Before I spied some of the deer in the east woods this afternoon, I thought that's all I would have.  It snowed all day, and it still pretty cold here in the Northeast, so everyone (myself included) has been lying low. A few nights ago, Oogyhubby was returning from a social engagement.  I hadn't seen the deer in a few days, and we were both wondering if he'd scared them off for a while after taking a walk into the back woods and flushing them out.  What he tells me is this - as he is driving up the driveway, they leaped in front of his car, one by one.  There were at least three of them.  They are not small, but everyone emerged unscathed. A few weeks ago, again when Oogyhubby was returning from a social engagement after dark, he came upon a creature standing in our driveway, staring at his car as it approached.  It was bigger than a cat, had a snoot sor...

Completed Hawthorne Socks!  Pattern is Zigzagular .  I don't consider myself a loose knitter, but these came out larger than I would have thought on size 0 needles.  Maybe they'll contract a little once they've been machine washed?  Note that they have chirality, which I think is pretty cool. This hat went quickly!  You can see where I started the spiral, right in front there.  The problem is, I still have some of these yarns left over - perhaps enough for another spiral hat if I add a third color.  The fun part will be finding a color that works with the two of these! The weather is much calmer today, but the wildlife have yet to return.  There are a couple of goats wandering around in their pasture, but all else is quiet too.

I'm doing it now, and I still haven't wrapped my head around exactly how it works: (Generic hat pattern - 88 stitches; yarn is left over from a two-color brioche scarf I made last winter.) I have a lot more projects in process than I realized.  Remember a few years ago, when Neuro and I had a theme year for finishing?  I think I need to do some more of that!! Speaking of which - that reddish object behind the swirley hat - it's a pair of socks that I knit probably 5 years ago now.  It's a fancy pattern, and involves some embroidery embellishments (that's what the yellow is for, also peeking out from behind the hat).  I try to do these finicky things in small doses, otherwise I tend to abandon the project.  Maybe these can count towards my March sock quota?  (The second Hawthorne sock is blocking right now so I'll have made my February quota a little early). Still no wildlife sightings to report - either they're all still hunkering down back in the...

I think I'm done with cables for now. I'm also in the process of blocking the Hawthorne socks.  I used to be able to kitchener a toe in seconds flat, but evidently it's been a while - both times I got it backwards and had to tink it back!  (Note: backwards kitchener on a stockinette toe creates garter stitch!) Although the weather is calm today, I don't have any wildlife sightings to report.  Maybe they're all tucked away, celebrating Valentine's Day?

A little wrinkled, but not too worse for the wear, tucked into a box that also held (among other things) two sets of interchangeable circulars and my paper knitting journal (which I haven't been keeping up lately, but that's a whole other issue!). Not much wildlife around today, or yesterday for that matter - but we're getting snow now, so at least there will be evidence of the deer cocktail parties that happen at night underneath the evergreens!

It seems I've ditched most other projects for now and have become obsessed with the frequent yet enjoyable cables of Water : I was also just thinking about how I first learned how to make cables.  Imagine, if you will, a world before the internet, and even before most of the good knitting how-to books were written - when all you had was the hopes of a knowledgeable relative or friend, a non-bitchy yarn store lady (few and far between!), or sheer luck.  I had the sheer luck of - believe this as well if you will - taking a COLLEGE COURSE. Well, not for credit exactly...  Back in the day (and I think things have changed since then), one of the requirements for graduation was that we had to spend two January terms doing something other than sleeping late and doing laundry at our parents' house; one term had to be on-campus, and another off-campus.  The list of on-campus classes was crazy, and really weird, but I only remember the ones I signed up for during m...

It didn't seem like there were a lot of blog-worthy things going on so far this week, but somehow that is different today! To start with - wildlife sightings!  The deer have been wandering around in the forest to the east of the house on and off all day.  And evidently we have a pileated woodpecker !  I can't tell if the one I saw was male or female, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out.  For a brief time it was hopping around the base of a tree on the north side of the house. They don't technically qualify as wildlife, but I'm always glad to see our neighbor's goats out in their back pasture; I think there are about 10-12 of them, no idea what kind they are.  When it was so cold recently, it seemed like they were inside for the better part of a week, and I kind of missed seeing them out there. On the yarn front - An interesting link to a series of how-do videos on the Mason-Dixon Knitting blog.  While I tend to rely on YouTube for h...

Our foxie, hunting vermin in the very soggy field in the rain and freezing rain that we got today. And this, on the dining room table: One of oogyhubby's birthday presents:  honey badger don't give a shit .

I got a better look at our hawk earlier today; based on who is where this time of year, and the glimpse of the backside that I saw, my theory is that we have a Red-Shouldered Hawk .  I'm looking forward to more (and better!) hawk sightings so that I can support or modify this theory as needed.

Well, today it's more like Manhattan-O-Clock, but you get the idea. Jack and Polar started packing up this morning; the sun has been out all day again, and the temperature may have soared to nearly 20 F!   As a result, the wildlife have been stirring.  This morning, several deer were wandering around in the woods.  A few of them are back again for a late afternoon snack, and when last I saw they were headed down the driveway (literally in search of greener pastures!). Around Noon-ish, a foxie was roaming the fields, and I think I saw him slipping around in a couple of places (kind of what I do on the driveway on my way to/from the mailbox!).  There were chirpy birds in the trees, but I didn't see them so I have no idea what kind they were.  AND I JUST SAW A HAWK - although not long enough to be able to identify him in a line-up - big wingspan, slightly hooked beak.  I'm going to have to get much better at being an avian eyewitness! M...