Oogyknitter

Hello on a post-snowy Saturday!  I hope you're safe and well; we're good here. It's been snowing here most of the week, and it's gotten to be very cold.  We weren't supposed to get much snow yesterday, but I think we actually got more snow yesterday than we'd gotten all week!  Oh well, such is life in this part of the country! So I've been experimenting with making dryer balls lately.  My first round was using Icelandic roving, which is extremely loosely plied wool drawn into a narrow band for knitting.  It knits up surprisingly well and strong for something that seems so delicate, but the fiber length is such that is manages to hold together unless yanked from the hank.  I haven't tried to pull on the swatch I'd made for Girasole (but I did decide that I need a different yarn for that future project!).   Anyway, I wound some into balls, stuffed them into the leg of a nylon stocking, tied each one off so that it looked like a strange caterpiller, ...

Hello on this sunny Sunday!  I hope you're safe and well; we're good here. We had a bunch of lake effect snow yesterday - really the biggest snowfall we've so far this season!  And the wind!  Today it's still cold but it's very clear and quiet.  And there are deer tracks everywhere.  I attempted another tube on the sock machine today but ran into another issue - tension!! What you see here is the reverse side of the work, and if you look closely you'll see what appear to be slipped stitches.  Well, they're slipped all right, but that wasn't the intent!! I dug this yarn out of the bottom of a bag of oddballs and thought it would make a couple of short socks, always good practice.  Was I ever right about that!  This yarn is slightly larger, stickier, and more highly twisted than the others I've been using.  What this means is that I needed to do a couple of things differently.  Both of which I did, but obviously not enough or well. Firstly...

So Happy It's Thursday!  I hope you're safe and well; we're good here. Yesterday I managed to complete my first tube on the sock machine!! The yarn is self-striping, and I think maybe Neuro did the dyeing (Neuro - does this yarn look familiar at all??).  I've had this yarn for a while now and of course I have no notes with it or anything! So you can see the yellow waste yarn at both ends.  It's actually not as ugly as I originally thought - I might even use it to add the heels and toes to these! I still need to practice changing yarns/colors - I dropped a stitch both times I did that. For my next trick, I'm going to figure out how to add the cuffs in the same yarn and then the heels and toes.  I've started with a top-down cuff at the top of the tube, and have started to mark the place that is the exact midpoint with a circular needle - this is where the Siamese Twin socks will be divided: I think I might also cut the bonnet off of this sock and start another...

Hello on Inauguration Wednesday!  I hope this finds you safe and well; we're good here! Actually, we're better here than we were even just a few hours ago.  I feel like we're in much better hands going forward, and I still have hope that the better angels of our nature will prevail. I've also made some progress working with the sock machine!  Here's my first attempt with the ugly yellow practice yarn: I've since switched to some regular sock yarn and hope to complete my first tube.  I dropped a stitch when I changed colors and I need to pick it back up before it runs down the entire length!  It's a good learning though. Speaking of which - thankfully I've had enough experience with a flat knitting machine to understand some of the perils of working with these things.  One closed needle and the whole thing comes zipping off!  Dropped stitches can be messy if they're not spotted right away, but once you figure out the visual gymnastics they're pret...

Hello on Saturday!  I hope this finds you safe and well; we're good here. I changed my mind about a couple of things this past week.  One of them was that I was planning to use an existing work surface for my new sock knitting machine.  I changed my mind and got a custom table from its company of origin instead: Now all I need to do is get the machine settled on it!  (Also notice the Benson photobomb in the lower corner - always in motion, always blurry!) The table also came with a surprise - a pound of ugly yellow acrylic sock yarn - perfect for practice and making starter bonnets!! I also changed my mind about what I'll be doing with the KamaKamaKamaKama yarn from Neuro.  You will all like this!  I'll put a pic up as soon as I have something recognizable to show you. In wildlife news - I took Benson out yesterday for his usual mid-evening stroll.  I bring a small flashlight because it's so dark away from the house.  Oogyhubby joined us and of co...

Sure Happy It's Thursday!  I hope you're safe and well; we're good here. So earlier this week this arrived:   In case you can't tell, because it's still in pieces awaiting the arrival of its table tomorrow, this is a modern-day replica of an antique sock knitting machine. A few years ago, the owner of a small gear manufacturing company in Missouri saw one of the originals (a Gearhart) and decided he wanted to replicate it.  He must have had knitters in his life, I don't know how that otherwise becomes a motivator!  Anyway, years and many improvements later this company, Erlbacher Gear, sells these custom-manufactured machines to knitters (in addition to making gear things for other purposes).  They ship about 6-10 per week.   This is a late-breaking b-day present to myself.  I also stocked up on some blank sock yarn so I could do a bunch of dyeing and knitting of tubes, once I figure out how this thing works.   Fortunately, I have a flat...

Hello on this cloudy Monday!  I hope this finds you safe and well; we're good here. I haven't been up to much yarn excitement lately, except to say that I'm now surrounded by many yarny lovelies from Neuro!  Not only did she give and make me some awesome things for the holiday, but I continue to enjoy what she gave me for my b-day some time ago: This is the emPower People cowl in Neuro's custom colorway Biden Our Time.  I've been working on this since the business the other day.  I've also been wearing the one she made for me; that one is a deep purple and made with a soft, squishy wool/camel blend.  There's a third version waiting in the wings - I'll show you that one and some pics of these other things in the coming days (the Goldilocks Project, Oogyhubby's hat, the gauge swatch, and whatever else hops on the needles! Stash yarn only - 2021 is the year of Yarn Austerity!). There are also a couple of longer-term projects in the works; stay tuned fo...

 Hello on this dark and rainy Saturday!  I hope this finds you well; we're good here. We're supposed to get some sunshine here this afternoon, which will be weird - I don't think we've seen the sun for several days now!  Last night we had some really messy weather - sleet, rain, very heavy rain, wind, snow, and at least at one point - thunder and lightning! So my commitment knitting continues on.  The gauge swatch has been lightly blocked and dried and is awaiting Oogyhubby's opinion of the fabric; I'm still liking the smaller needle.  I haven't done any calcs yet, but once we choose a needle size I'll need to dive into that. I had an idea for the Samoyed hat; since there's a limited amount of this amazingly lovely yet super expensive yarn, I'm making the hat top down: That way I can just pick up the blue alpaca/wool blend (that has shipped but not yet arrived) and keep going for the rest of the brim and lining.  I tried it on Oogyhubby last nigh...