Oogyknitter

Hello on this Spaghetti alla Puttanesca Monday! Long story short - I volunteered for a test knit but was not selected.  I had already bought a lovely comparable yarn.  So I'll be joining the KAL instead!!   The pattern is Holly Blue .  Here is the yarn I found: The color is a warmer pink in person than in this photo.  It's got a lovely hand and I'll probably do a gauge swatch just to see what it wants to do.  I'm thinking about 3/4 length sleeves and some charming buttons.  The KAL starts in May so stay tuned! In other news - the recent summer weather is transitioning back to spring.  I can't say I'm disappointed - it was way too hot way too early for me! Stay safe and well :)

Hello on this Jerk Pork Burger Friday! Our super warm, lovely weather continues!  Although we're due for much cooler weather early next week (with rain, and possibly some flurries in the air??) it's nice to start to put the winter gear away and relocate the Crocs to their ready position near the front door! After much puzzling yesterday I managed to figure out what my mystery project is.  I even vetoed it as a possibility several times.  In the end, I compared the pattern page and confirmed that it is Converging Lines Cowl by Purl Soho (although Neuro probably remembered - because she remembers everything - and I should have just asked her, LOL).  I'm using some drapey merino/nylon/sparkle yarn so it won't look as structured but I think it will still be very nice.  Here is a pic: It's actually not quite so brightly grapey in person. In other news - I forgot to mention that the turkeys did their annual walk-through on Sunday morning!  I happened to look out...

Hello on this Freezer Bingo Wednesday!! Our weather continues to be unpredictable, varied, and unseasonable - but as a result we've had a series of warm, sunny days that allow us to open the windows during the day, see the daffodils springing up everywhere, and today there are buds on the tree just outside of my window! Coincidentally, I just finished this little blankie I'd started a million years ago with this unusually nice acrylic (think baby blanket maybe?): It's a little hard to see from here but the middle is double knit and the edges are garter stitch.  It's lovely and squishy! Off the needles and with their recipient are some socks that I knit with this yarn ; no pics because it went from secret to gift in just a few hours and of course I forgot to take a pic...  Pattern is from one of LW's knitting books! Also off the needles and awaiting finishing is the vest I'm making for Oogyhubby.  I had him try it on last night and I have to say the fit is perfec...

Hello on this barley and spinach stew Sunday! You might recall when Neuro and I were contemplating what to do with a set of UFOs each of us had lurking about.  We had a show-and-tell over Zoom one day and helped each other determine whether to rip, finish, or repurpose these projects.  I've been making my way through my pile (it wasn't small!) and have the first of four (perhaps five?) to show you! This was the first square I made for a pattern called The Great American Kids Afghan .  It was part of a series that Knitters Magazine was doing way back in the late 1990s and 2000s; having completed most of the original pattern, The Great American Afghan (and having since sent it off to Portland with a former co-worker) I thought this would be a smaller, fun project. This may be the first and only time I've embroidered onto knitting.  I think it's a great effect, and I think it could be kind of fiddly - but I honestly don't remember!! Anyway - I'd finished about 3.5...

Hello on this Freezer Bingo Wednesday!! I happened upon an amazing sunrise the other morning when I took Daisy out: This was a couple of weeks ago already, and before the time change.  It was also probably just before one of the two recent snowstorms we've had during this otherwise strangely warm and rainy winter season! Contrasted with this morning, which began with a robin singing its absolute head off.  Today is supposed to be very warm (mid-50s!) and sunny.  There will be rain tomorrow, however, so the robin's delight will be brief. Believe it or not, there is actual knitting still happening here - but lately I've worked on a couple of test knits, no pics allowed :)  I'm using cashmere for the latest project, and it's like knitting a cloud! I managed to get in a small amount of spinning over the weekend as well - although nothing like Neuro's recent production!!! Stay safe and well!

Hello on this tomato and bean soup Friday!! I wanted to share another FFO (Finally Finished Object) with you - one that languished in the "to-be-finished" pile forever!!!  And it only needed to be blocked - everything else was done!!   Here's why.  Neuro and I dyed some amazing yarn a couple of years ago - and one of them is a beautiful, vibrant, bright blue.  I probably added too much dye, since it ran when I washed it and turned my fingers and wooden needles blue when I knit with it. And, silly me, I combined it with undyed yarn!  Both a lovely and soft merino/cashmere blend (evidently I created a project page on Ravelry, otherwise I'd never remember the yarn or the name of the pattern -  Pure Joy , by Joji Locatelli).. It turned out beautifully.  And I was afraid to block it due to the bleeding. Yesterday I decided to give it a try.  The blue ran like crazy!!  And I thought I had most of it under control.  But then it bled as it ...

Hello on this Personalized Pizza Thursday!! It's been quite some time, hasn't it?  And of course I continue to work on all kinds of projects, but I don't seem to have finished many as of late.  Yesterday I decided to do something about that: This is Mountain Musings , a MKAL that I worked on last summer!  It's been waiting to block for some time now.  I went a bit easy on the blocking, since it's already a good size and mostly garter-type stitches. This was super fun to make and I had no idea that it would end up as a large rectangle!  My Ashford Traditional seems glad for the company. Neuro and I have been revisiting some languishing project this year, so I've been doing a fair amount of un-doing as well as rejuvenating some others that were thought to be hopeless.  I also have a small pile of pillows that started out as an afghan project, and once those are done (soon!) I can show them off.  I keep wanting to do more spinning but somehow the fully-fo...

Hello on this lemon garlic salmon and green beans Thursday!! By way of food updates - Oogyhubby got me an InstaPot for Xmas, so I've been taking it for a test spin this past week.  So far I've boiled water (to practice releasing the pressure - which scared the crap out of Daisy!), made carrot/ginger soup (was OK), and made a shawarma (delicious but I added too much curry powder; can't wait to make again!).  I've ordered a cookbook full of InstaPot recipes, and will look forward to exploring that too! I completely forgot that I took a picture of Sharon Air while it was drying (I've since worn it 2-3 times already!): There's tons more things in the works but nothing quite yet to show for it all; as usual, more to come on that!  In other news - I came home the other day from running an errand and heard this strange noise in the background.  Upon further investigation, it was coming from a kajillion birds all perched in the tops of the trees nearby (those little dot...

Hello on this Baked Salmon (with lemon!) Saturday!! A few more things are starting to move out of the finishing pile and onto the next part of their journey!  Here is a pair of slippers made from that terrific pattern, Felted Clogs , that I keep re-making for various people because they wear them so often that they put holes through two layers of double-stranded wool on the bottom!  (Oogydad has taken to duct-taping the bottom of his, preferring any slipperiness over hold prevention!): And here is Sharon Air, taking up all four blocking squares and most of the Yarn Room (and too wide to photograph without somehow swinging from the ceiling!!): I've still got some stuff on the finishing pile and of course tons in process, so stay tuned for more! Stay safe and well too :)

Hello on this Freezer Bingo Friday!! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted something here.  While I still have a ton of projects in various stages of completion, I haven't finished any until fairly recently.  Now I have a few to share! First up - a hat for our physician who is retiring at the end of this year: Closeup of vintage button I used instead of a pom-pom (or nothing): This gentleman has been our PCP for about 30 years, and I thought we'd all retire at about the same time.  We'll both miss him for sure!! This hat gave me a ton of trouble at the end.  It's knit in brioche stitch, which can be a challenge for a brioche semi-newbie, but that part was OK and even the crazy twisted cable cast-on worked out great.  I hated the double-sided brioche decreases, which created a kind of open-work wedge at the top, so I tried to experiment with other patterned decreased (fisherman's rib and such). In the end I gave up and just used a vanilla incr...

Hello on this crazily summer-like November day!  We'll be having shrimp cavatappi for dinner tonight. OK, so last Saturday was Vaccination Day.  Daisy got her rabies and distemper boosters, and I got my flu shot and Omicron booster.  We both took a nice long nap that afternoon and don't seem to be much worse for the wear otherwise!  (And now are full of antibodies - yay!!!) Work has been getting in the way of knitting again; the last couple of weeks have been especially busy.  This is definitely a First World problem, but it leaves me with very little progress to show you. However, I think I've done enough on Twists&Turns to demonstrate some progress: Lately I've just had this at my desk so I can knit a couple of rows here and there during a meeting where I'm not presenting or taking tons of notes.  Which hasn't been often, LOL.  I'm in no rush, and I can't wait to see how this thing evolves.  I've got a LOT more repeats of this section before...

Hello on this beautiful Autumn and spicy chicken burger Monday! We've had the loveliest weather here for the past few days - clear, sunny, warm (but not too much).  With the exception of one day it looks to be nice right until the weekend! I finally started the new Stephen West MKAL, Twists&Turns, and evidently the below gets repeated several times in Clue 1 so this one is definitely going to be a marathon, not a sprint: Of course I'm still working to finish last year's MKAL, so I suppose as long as I have this mostly finished within the year I'm right on track for myself!! I also finished the knitting on Mountain Musings, so will have pics to share when I get around to blocking it.  I cast on for a pair of felted slippers as a holiday gift, and need to get my stuff together to cast on for a hat. Stay safe and well - and be sure to get your flu shot and any COVID boosters you're due for :)  Mine are both scheduled for this coming Saturday!

Hello on this Freezer Bingo Sunday!!  (This is where I find a soup, chili, or stew that I've made in the past and then frozen the leftovers.  Grab one at random, heat it up, add rice, and poof - instant dinner!!) I FINALLY got to dyeing the yarn for the SW KAL (that started this past week!): Neuro - this is a little different than what I was describing to you earlier, but it's along the same lines.  I ended up using Bright Purple (the dark one) but didn't worry too much about stirring it around and distributing the color uniformly, so it's got some nice gradations in there.  For the lighter color I used Wild Iris, but only very sparingly in the dyebath with random yet concentrated areas of speckles and no stirring.  It came out a lot less uniform, and there are areas where you can tell the underlying yarn was a very warm beige (leaning towards peach but not quite).  On top is my AC, Salty Tales by Hedgehog Fibres.  The yarn is still a bit damp today so...

Hello on this prosciutto ratatouille Monday! I realize that I've been seeing H-week candy in our Wegmans since just about Labor Day, but it somehow feels like time is accelerating us into Autumn and Winter!  It's been cooler and lovely lately, but the leaves are starting to change already!  And the last couple of nights there's been a light frost on the lawn and field.  The deer are all over the place all the time as well! We had the pleasure of a brief visit from JW yesterday, and he brought along their dog, Sophie.  J had met Daisy before, but this was the first time the two dogs had met nose-to-nose.  I think they were both a bit bored by it all!  Anyway - it's nice to know that they get along.  Daisy got to sniff the W car all around and I think wanted to go with them in it as well!!  In knitting news, I'm finally starting Clue 4 for Mountain Musings: I accidentally added a couple of rows of the purple before all those flowers, but it didn't s...

Hello on this beautiful Fall Saturday!! The Mountain Musings MKAL has literally taken a new direction: Up until now we've been making a square, in the round.  Now half of the stitches are on a holder, and the other half are being knit back and forth!  You can see a new edge forming in the upper right of this pic (there's a corresponding edge on the other side out of view here). I had a lovely visit today with dear friend LL, who also brought some mini banana bread bundt cakes!  I made some experimental phyllo cups in which to spoon some fruit compote.  Success!  Everything was delicious! Stay safe and well!

Hello on this cool, windy, rainy day!  Oven roasted chicken and veggies for dinner tonight - the perfect meal to usher in Fall!! Having completed the knitting on Sharon Air, I've shifted my obsession to Mountain Musings: So far this one is a square, and these are 7 of the 8 colors involved.  Just a few more rounds to go on Clue 2 and then I think all hell breaks loose.  But I'm not peeking!! Stay safe and well :)

Hello on this fall-like Grilled Italian Sausage Tuesday! Oogyhubby and I are back from a week in Cape Cod, my favorite place on earth!  There is nothing like sitting on a breezy beach under a Sun Ninja with knitting and an iced tea (and OH as well!!!!). Speaking of knitting - I'm only a couple of rows away from finishing Sharon Air: I did some work on Mountain Musings as well, but the other 4 projects I also brought along with us?  Not even a glance!!  I was pretty obsessed with Sharon Air. There was a box from Neuro waiting for me when I got home - with extra needles and the most amazing yarn EVER - Blue Tick Hound!!  Here is a pic of the yarn next to its (very tired after a week at dog camp) muse: I'll be on the lookout for something extra special to make with this!! Stay safe and well :)

Hello on this stormy Tuesday! I'm working away on Sharon Air and have just started Clue 5.  I think it's a fairly large clue, because it came with a disclaimer that we shouldn't feel compelled to get it all done in one week.  I'm enjoying the different colors of yarn and for the most part it's very straightforward knitting! Mountain Musings has been a little more challenging (as expected): First there was the pinhold caston (you can see I haven't exactly worked in the end there, but it otherwise turned out as planned).  Then there was the first bit on DPNs.  Now I've finally switched to circulars but still seem to have a bit of a counting challenge.  I'm enjoying the colors with this one as well although still adjusting to working in the round (it's been a while, I think!). I think I've managed to use every single pair of #5 circular needles I own with all of these projects!  I may need to invest in a few additional sets just to have them availab...

Hello on this garlic shrimp Monday!  (BTW - last night I ended up ditching the asparagus and went with breaded chicken pieces and the squash - threw the whole thing in the oven and dunked them all in marinara!)  No sooner had I posted yesterday when I happened across Stephen West's annual MKAL announcement.  So I signed up for that as well!  Never mind that I'm still working on last year's project - but I'm on the border, so technically in the home stretch (although the border is large??).  It calls for 500g of fingering weight yarn in 3 colors - 200g each of two contrasting colors, and 100g of something amazing.  So here's what I'm going to do.  I have the something amazing that I couldn't bear to knit into socks, and I recently stocked up on a bunch of Highland Sock yarn on sale at Webs in neutral colors for dyeing, so....  Off to the dyeing studio I go!!  I have until early October, which may seem like a lot of time, but when you factor e...

Hello on this something-chicken with some kind of squash and asparagus!!  (I had a menu planned but I've changed my mind!) I recently converted from an Android to an iPhone; nothing political, it was all about the cost.  I wanted the least expensive, moderately functional phone to replace the one that continues to refuse to accept a charge. So I continue to learn new things about my new phone (well, new to me anyway - it's refurbished!).  Just today I learned how to change the camera flash from Auto to On (because it wasn't flashing and I wanted the below pic to be brighter): This is my Sharon Air, 4 rows from the end of Clue 2 and about to add Color D for the very first time (see the wee bit at the top).  I have a feeling I know where this is going next - the Just Beachy MKAL from last year took a similar path.  But I haven't looked ahead (except for reading the stories, which are hilarious). Another really funny thing about my new phone is that I didn't realiz...