Oogyknitter

Well, it's only figuratively raining today, thankfully - we've had plenty of precipitation here so far this season!  But - it is raining yarn projects!  Here's why: I might be slightly obsessed with the Colour Your Own (although it needs a jazzier title than that!).  It would be cool to get the first 5 inches of the main body done, so I can attach the pockets; that would be a great milestone.  With this big yarn and needles, it goes fairly quickly - but there are a billion stitches too, so one row is a long way around! I tried on BadAss Pawprint this morning, and I'm less than happy with the top edging.  I wanted to make it wide enough so that the stockinette body wouldn't make it roll, but the bottom section of the top edging seems to blop outwards, making it look - well, bloppy.  I need to figure out if there are any changes I can make to get around this - I'd be more than happy to re-knit the border to remove the blop!  (Maybe it just needs to b...

With the completion of the last three projects - the two cowls and the Unicorn Explosion - I had some project bags available for other things.  The CWA had outgrown its former bag, so it got moved into the large bag that formerly housed Unicorn (whose ends all got worked in this morning, so it's officially complete!).  The queue pile was looking a bit bereft of UFOs, so I retrieved one that I could use about this time of year:  the  Colour Your Own  sweater  I'd gotten it as a kit many years ago, and always seemed to get in my own way of completing it. Much to my surprise, I'd finished the sleeves!!  (They're not blocked or anything, but you get the idea): I'd also started the body, too, but I did a lot of tinkering around with the pattern and of course kept terrible notes.  These sweaters are very blousey - way too much positive ease in all the wrong places (for me, anyway).  I know I took a lot of the poofiness out of the sleeves, an...

At one point today, I ended up with a few minutes of idle time, during which I managed to work in the ends and then block two cowls that were done knitting.  They both still need to be matched up with their BadAss cuffs, but here they are as they're blocking. BadAss Pawprint: BadAss Scrappy: I have no idea how they both ended up with their beginning of rows face-up, but whatever.  Tomorrow they'll get flipped over to finish drying, and it won't matter. Given that the beginning of Up Helly Aa was this afternoon, I've done surprisingly little work on the Viking Hat; however, I've changed to larger needles and am about to work the first of the lighthouse motifs.  Super fun! I happened to spot a couple of deer out in the woods just outside my window this afternoon.  They are very well hidden, even in the snow!

I couldn't help it.  Even though I had set it aside after all the counting (and re-counting), I couldn't stop myself from working on the Unicorn Explosion afghan.  I kept thinking - just one more border row, and I'll stop. Well, I finally did stop - after the last border row: And here is a close-up of the border that kept me so fascinated: It was really fun!  And, in the end, I had only a few yards left of this green: not bad for starting with one of those huge ONE POUNDER skeins!  My only intent with this afghan was to use up bits and pieces of pastel yarns that had gone into baby afghans of yore.  I have to say, it was a lot of fun - from the lattice I used to connect the squares, to this lovely border.  It will take me a while, but I think I'll write up the pattern.  But first I need to work in all of the ends!! I'm also in the final stages of completing BadAss Pawprint.  I really like it a lot, and will plan to write it up as wel...

Most of what went swimming yesterday was recently-spun yarn, including the penultimate Only One skein.  And there was this, finally: It's All About That Brioche - although it looks more like All About That Garter Stitch from this perspective.  It waited more than three months to get a final wash, but soon it will be ready to wear in all its color and squish!! For some reason, I continue to obsess over the Unicorn Explosion.  I'm on the final border round, and it's a race to see who finishes first - me, or the yarn!!  I saw a couple of deer hanging out at the edge of the forest this morning.  Judging by the tracks in the snow, they remain fairly active here, although hardly ever when I'm watching!

Look at the beautiful color choices that Neuro made for the brim of her Fire Festival Hat: I'm making the version using Knit Picks Palette.  I'm carrying the Pimento (red) in my right hand, which is probably a no-no for the color effect but it's so much easier to execute for me this way.  I'm looking forward to seeing the other colors as the pattern emerges! Before this, I had completed the third set of the motif for BadAss Pawprint, and another pair of baby mitts.  I may have also spun the last bobbin of Only One sometime inbetween.  Today there will be a fair amount of yarn swimming going on and, given all this other activity, I may just keep going on the Unicorn Explosion for a bit.  With the double crochet, it is very quick (once I count correctly!).  I've got some other stuff to do today, so my yarn output will slow temporarily. (Oh dear - I've just had another BadAss Cowl idea.  Adding it to my list!!!!)

No, it doesn't - because it's not!  It's how I left Neuro's Fire Festival Hat just about a year ago, after casting on 8 billion stitches and twisting the cast-on the first time around.  It has sat there, patiently, ever since.  Without realizing it, I made it very easy on myself to get started again on this great pattern!!  Here we go!!!! As I'd anticipated, I spent yesterday's yarn time wrangling with the counting for the Unicorn Explosion border, finally getting the first pattern row all set and ready for the rest of them.  Then I decided it was time to put it down and head back to some knitting.  I made another baby mitt, and also did a wee bit of spinning.  Today I mean to get some work done on Pawprint before reintroducing myself to Viking.  This all in advance of the (eventual) arrival of Sky and the last of the work on the CWA. Meanwhile, I had yet another idea for a cowl pattern.  Good thing I decided to keep a list - these pr...

We're anything if not flexible and resilient here at Oogyknitter!!  When faced with knitting roadblocks, we (eventually, anyway) power through them! Roadblock #1:  I heard back from the Knit Picks folks, and was informed that both Sky and Black have been discontinued for Brava Sport (I need one skein of each to complete the CWA).  (I don't know how you discontinue Black of anything, unless it's that unpopular and also difficult to procure. This can't bode well for the Brava Sport line, though - so get yours while you can, as needed!) The Path Forward:  I'm going to have to fudge this a bit, but I think I can make this work.  I ordered a skein of Brava Worsted in Sky - they've got to be at least similar, right?  And then I figured - Black can't be THAT hard to match(ish), surely I have something in the stash that might be a rough approximation.  You've seen this afghan, it should be fairly easy to sneak these in.  I'll let you know soon - produ...

Among other things, I did a bunch of plying yesterday!  Here is the second to the last bobbin of Only One, with a few friends: I'm going to wait another day or two before starting the last bobbin, but a couple more palate cleansers may sneak in between now and then. I also found a border option for Unicorn Explosion, but it involves counting; specifically, the pattern repeats over several stitches, and I need to figure out what, if any, changes are needed to the current border accommodate the pattern, given that I've just randomly assembled and variegated-bordered a bunch of squares.  Wish me luck!  Trigonometry I can handle - it's this counting that makes me crazy! I'm stalking the Kelbourne Woolens page on Ravelry today, hoping for their first installment of Year of Gifts.  I'm ready!! In wildlife news: I spied a deer at the edge of the forest early this morning.  We've got snow on the ground now, and Oogyhubby reports that the woods are fil...

I had the pastel granny squares laid out on our dining room table the other evening, so I could arrange them as I was connecting them all together.  At one point it looked like a unicorn had exploded; since there is not an intended recipient for this item, I may as well go ahead and continue to refer to it as "Unicorn Explosion".  Here it is in its present state: As I recall (although it's been some time now, at least two years), my original intent with these squares was to use up a variety of leftovers from prior baby afghan projects.  Right now my plan is to continue the border in the variegated pastel until it runs out, then make another border layer in the same minty green until I've used up most of that, with some other kind of stitch pattern (still TBD!). I also completed December Hat: I don't completely hate it, but it would have been sooooo much better with a longer brim and a better-executed cast-on.  Also, the cables seem to call out for a mo...

I have a small pile of fiber palate cleansers waiting in the wings (not to mention about 80,000 other spinning projects!), so I told myself yesterday that, if I could fill a bobbin with Only One, I could also work on a couple of those. That all happened.  I'm currently at the midpoint of the first one, a blend of merino and tencel: (This is my Ashford Joy.  I also have an Ashford Traditional, which is presently glaring at me through a small bobbin of Northern Ronaldsay). You can see they're not very big.  But they're super satisfying, and also would make fun little color splashes in a project. Now for the amazing part:  I only have this much left to spin of Only One: This is about a bobbin's worth - about as much as I just finished spinning.  (Oogyhubby got the coffee mug as part of a work holiday party gift, at just about the time I was working through a lot of work issues myself.  I appreciate its supportive message almost as mu...

Yesterday and today I have been experiencing two kinds of flurries! The snow kind.  And, as it sometimes happens with a big wind, friends and family hundreds of miles away were also experiencing some of our Lake Effect snow.  If you can't come to the Big Lake, the Big Lake will come to you! The activity kind.  I powered through a few of the roadblocks.  The BadAss Pawprint now has most of a second repeat: I still don't know how long (tall?) this will be, so I'll reassess after each repeat - definitely at least one more.  I also completed its cuff the other day, but will wait until it's all final to show you :) I worked in all the ends for the 9 granny squares.  I might start thinking about sewing a small section together. I finished the "rogue" pair of baby mitts - they are now swimming.  I might have worked some more on the latest pair as well. I completed December Hat; it will go swimming after the mitts.  It looks a bit small, so...

So remember the other day, when there was an accidental triplet of mitts?  And I made a 4th one, and started another pair?  Well, I was tidying up a small pile on my desk yesterday, and look what was underneath: That's right - it's yet another pair of baby mitts!  Just needing to be finished and sent for a swim.  I full expect some more to turn up in another unexpected place, just like the ladybugs!  (except the mitts don't tend to trek across the carpet, which is fine with me!) I spent some time with December Hat last evening, and managed to get myself all tangled up in its cables.  Now I'm at the part where there is decreasing, the need to change to DPNs, and still some cables going on.  I'm going to need more coffee and a bright light for this next part! I may also have started spinning the next section of Only One, which has been languishing for several weeks now.  I think there are only 1-2 bobbins-worth remaining, so it would be n...

Wow!  I find myself in an interesting place, where all of my currently active projects are stuck or in need some focused attention.  I'm trying to be good about not starting something new, so I got out a random pair of socks that I'd started a few weeks ago and worked on those earlier today.  Here's where I'm at: CWA:  We all know I need more Sky and Black.  I even sent a note to KnitPicks this morning to ask if/when they might be in.  Slippers for me:  Still needing to be seamed and felted.  Granny Square baby blanket:  Last evening I completed the rest of the 9 squares needed - now they need to have their ends worked in, get sewn together, and bordered. BadAss Pawprint:  I need to fix two of the motifs before moving forward - I think I have the wrong color in there, and it's really bugging me. BadAss handspun luxury fibers cowl:  It needs a design! December Hat:  Needs lots of concentration every other row.  ...

So yesterday I was a bit enthusiastic in my quest to complete a pair of baby mitts.  Imagine my surprise when, upon completing the second mitt, I found a THIRD at the bottom of the (small so you think I would have at least seen that rogue mitt earlier) project bag: Oh well - at least a 4th mitt will net me two pairs!  I'll be making miles of that wee i-cord next!

I've completed the first set of pawprint motifs for this next cowl in the series, BadAss Pawprint: My observations thus far: - It is my intention that this fabric would be denser, and warm - and it is.  I shouldn't be surprised, therefore, that it's chewing up the yarn pretty quickly -I'm already on my second skein of the black!  I'm not worried about that color, though - I have a seemingly infinite supply of it; but I have only three skeins of the copper.  That might put a limit on how long I can make this thing.  It's not an issue yet, just a possibility. - For me, stranded knitting with a tighter gauge is a bit harder on the hands.  I'll be doing some work on baby mitts today so I can take a small break. - I made the ribbing section somewhat longer, to allow for its weight to pull down on the body of the cowl, and not try to fold up onto it.  This tendency may block out at first, but it always creeps back in - so annoying. - These ...

What happens when you combine Bare Capretta , large plastic pipettes, and dye solutions that Neuro left behind earlier this year? This!! It's not exactly the squiggle effect that I had in mind - perhaps that would work better on a sock blank - but I did have fun with directing the different colors and making dots with the red that was starting to precipitate out of solution!  I didn't have anything in mind for this yarn, but the yardage is just right for - you guessed it - a cowl!!!! While I had the mask and gloves on, I also wanted to try speckle dyeing on roving.  I don't think I've ever dyed roving before either!  I have a big ball of some super soft stuff but I used only a small section of it: I have no idea what it will look like once it's spun, so I'll hold off on making any pronouncements until that happens!  But the effect looks interesting so far! I'm nearly done with the knitting on the Scrappy BadAss cowl, but I ...

I think it's new this season that the National Weather Service is issuing Snow Squall Alerts.  Sudden lake effect snow is no stranger here; on a day like today, for example, it's clear and sunny one minute, then the next there is snow in the air.  Often times there's wind and, occasionally, low and ominous clouds will approach and a wall of snow appears.  When a warning is issued, my phone makes a scary noise (or, as Oogyhubby has informed me, an office full of phones all make a scary noise at the same time!).  It's helpful to know this - at one point, today's earlier squall (evidently there could be another later in the day) lowered visibility to less than 1/8 mile (I know this because I could only see about halfway down my driveway!).  They don't last all that long, and they don't leave all that much snow behind, but they are quite the event! Thankfully, there is yarn to keep me warm and busy throughout all of this winter weather!  I continue to obsessi...

I know, I know - I've barely started December Hat and already I'm looking around to see if there's anything in the works for 2020.  And - there is!!!  Home to Year of Hats (and the Year of Mitts, which I'm sort of glad I missed), Kelbourne Woolens has just announced that 2020 will be the Year of Gifts !   Again, I have no idea what this means, but I'm all for a series of fun, smaller projects, each of which uses 100g or less of yarn.  As with the hats, this is a great way to use those random, single skeins of yarn that otherwise just tumble around in the stash.   Speaking of the stash - I'm never going to make that Dale of Norway sweater that the U.S. team wore for the 2002 Olympics, which kit I had acquired in 2002 (the receipt was still in the box so I have this embarrassing confirmation).  It is still gorgeous, but - for so many reasons - all that lovely Heilo will be reassigned.  It's possible that I could use parts of the charts a...

So I maybe went a little crazy with compiling small piles of yarn with which to make cowls in the coming year....  I'll spare you from most of that madness, and for now will just start with what actually exists: This one may actually result in a BadAss disqualification, since the bag of small colorful bundles is the result of a very recent splurge ( Row One Yarn 's Carnival of Color for January 2020) and it just arrived in the mail yesterday.  But - what a fun way to support indie dyers!  I'll probably stick with it for a couple more months, by which time I'll have plenty of new ideas and lots of new leftovers for baby mitts!!  (By way of reminder, this pattern is Casapinka's Cut the Scrap!  I thought I'd need the extra time to come up with a design (and a name) for the exotic handspun cowl.) Although I have an experiment in mind for a BadAss cuff to go with this cowl, I needed some supplies and probably some practice as well.  I'm also still toy...

The Warmup Cowl is finished and blocking! I guessed at how long I could make it before adding the ribbing and not running out of yarn!  I had a bit left over, but enough to use as an accent color in another project (or similar). In order for it to classify as BadAss, I made this cuff for it: Well - I did the braiding, the rest was already done (the cutting and the snap at the back).  I'm toying with the idea of hanging a large bead off of one of the sides - will let you know about that! I'm planning the next cowl, which will probably be another version of Cut The Scrap ! using a neutral sock yarn and some colorful handspun.  I'm trying to weigh each bit out, to make sure I have enough - but so far it's still too dim for my solar-powered scale to function! There are at least four woodpeckers of two types flitting through the woods outside my window this morning - downies, and I think red bellies.  The athletic squirrel is leaping from tree to tree, and...

I'm feeling like 2020 is off to a great start already, with the Year of the Badass Cowl officially underway, a last-minute phone gathering with the Ws last night, and the next phase of the CWA completed and ready for more Sky and Black: Yes - the KnitPicks order arrived yesterday!  Now I've got a bunch of squishy colors ready to leap in and help get this thing done.  I completed the two squares at the top last night, but due to the construction I can't go any further until I have more Sky.  The CWA Hiatus #2 is underway! (I'm off to knit on some more stuff now, so I have more to report to you next time!) No wildlife updates yet today - there is too much wind and not enough snow to show tracks, and everyone seems to be lying low for now!