Saturday, August 22, 2009

All This in Just a Week

WARNING! WARNING! PHOTO HEAVY POSTING!



Last Sunday was the annual Knit-Out for one of our local Stich-n-Bitch chapters. I've never attended before, but thought I'd make an exception this year.

It was held at Assiniboine Park (just a hop and a skip from my front door), on a thoroughly dismal, cold and rainy day...



the mood was light and fun despite the rain...



I'm not going to embarrass myself by trying to reel off everyone's names, so I'll just say that all were there that were there...



and there was loads of both stitchin'...



and bitchin'...



and a yarn swap too...



there were also door prizes! I won three skiens of Bernat Felting Wool. I'm thinking, perhaps, some cosy slippers for the coming months.



And in reno-land...

Here's our new chimney. Isn't it lovely?

Yes, it is.



The complete and total destruction of what was isn't total or complete yet, but great strides are being made. These are former cabinets...



a former sink...



and wallpaper, uncovered from long ago.



I've been amusing the tradesmen by taken photos of things that are very mundane to them. How come when I go ladder shopping they're all just regular aluminum and not spiffy green ones?



I love the bright colours - makes all the equipment look like toys.



Keeping down the dust.



A look through the main floor.



Here's what was the former computer room...



a view from window, looking into the room it will become...



and now, no more wall...



Here's a lovely view out my window (sorry, I mean, hole in the wall) looking out over the neighbour's back garden...



and then a peek into our own back garden...



I'm not going to bother trying to keep up with the neighbour's this summer.

I promised last post that I'd show a snap of the finished Tangled Yoke Cardigan.



Well, there it is, done. The lighting has been terrible lately, too many black and rainy days.

Also finished is the Stardust Clapotis. How I love this pattern and this yarn...



I think I've made four of these shawls now, I wonder how many it will take before I'm sick of it...

New on the needles,

a striped scarf made from two skiens of Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn.



This is the same as the regular Noro Striped Scarf, but with 63 stitches instead of the 30-some with the worsted weight yarn. I'm using two skiens of colour S95, starting one skien from the outside, and one from the inside. So far, the same colours have only intersected once for a short time (briefly losing the stripe effect). I anticipate a few more intersections, but they should all be brief.

Also begun is the Waves of Grain Scarf by Rosemary Hill. I've been hearing nightmarish accounts of knitting from Rosemary Hill's patterns and have been putting off making this one for a while.



However, so far it seems to be very easy and straight-forward, which is good, because I'm most sincerely not up for any heavy thinking during this home renovation.

The yarn is Cascade Lace by Cherry Tree Hill in colour way "Indian Summer". These are not colours I would normally wear, very amber/orange/salmon, but I think, perhaps, with all the changes going on in the house, it's a good time to try something different.

Just so long as there's no complex thinking...

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Still Here



Sorry for the long time between posts, life simply hasn't been running as smoothly as I would like. I could take a chunk of your time and start complaining about our overly sensitive computer (*%$#@%& Vista), but I'm not going to do that, I'll just breath deeply and move on...

The roof is nearly done, the only thing left are shingles, which should arrive next week. There's a beautiful new chimney - which I haven't seen yet, it's living under a tarp until this (*%$#@%&) rain stops. All the tradesmen that saw it tell me it's a beaut. As soon as I can, I`ll post some photos.

I finished the Tangled Yoke Cardi mentioned in this post. It`s blocking and lovely - though not as lovely as the first one I made and ruined. The first I knit with two strands of lace weight yarn held together and it was light as a feather, this one is with a DK weight alpaca and it weighs a TONNE. I thought the needles were going to snap when I was finishing the collar - they didn`t. I shall post pictures of that in my next post. I`ve also nearly finished the Stardust Clapotis mentioned here, photos will follow of that as well.

Knitting is one of the few things keeping me sane right now. Ah, reno-ing...

I can`t believe how long it`s been since I posted...

Nigel and Ian had gone to Chicago this past week to attend Lollapalooza, and lo!, they were captured on film. Here they are at the Dan Deacon concert, they decided to escape the crushing throng at the front of the stage and opted to hang back by the sound booth. Ian`s in a navy shirt and khaki cap and Nigel`s in the grey shirt. I like how Ian leans in to make sure the old man is using the camera properly, and then skips the last part of the tune to check the images Nigel has captured. Hee, hee.

My adorable boys: