A Restless Mind

C'est finis.

2010-07-29T22:43:34Z

We are done—for now—on our small bout of home maintenance. We have a non rotten window with unbroken glass. We have vinyl that is not marred by puppy boredom. We have trim on the shed (if only we get to painting the whole thing). We have a screened-in porch. And that last part has the cats over the moon with kitty joy. In the sum total of three days, all of them had mastered the cat door. Turns out they are highly motivated to get outside, which I had suspected was the case. There was a time a few years ago when I performed my first, and hopefully only, full body flying tackle* of Twinkie during one of his door dash escapades. I think the fact that I caught him surprised us both. He didn’t think I could move like that, and quite frankly, neither did I.

*See also how to make yourself sore for days, and how to nearly break your kneecaps.

So far behind, I'm almost ahead

2010-07-25T17:29:18Z

I'm behind. I've been behind for a while. I was only a little behind until jury duty week. Now, I'm way behind and can't seem to catch up. This weekend I picked and bagged blueberries until my fingers were blue. That meant that the green beans didn't get picked. I also found this in the garden.

Surprise success! It has been 6 years since my last good crop of corn. And I found this.

11 pounds. I think it may be the only one I get but still, it's still pretty cool to get it at all. Alas, I picked it way before ripeness (I thought hollow sounding = ripe). Taking care of the corn meant there was no time to process the tomatoes or turn the plums into jelly.

Luckily though, at some point one of my troublesome projects disappeared (oh, darn). But on the plus side, I freed up some time to finish one side of my sweater.

I give up

2010-07-24T01:08:02Z

This diaper bag is history. It has had it in for me since the first freakin' stitch. If I even managed to complete it, it would be so full of bad mojo it might curse the poor kid. I may try again--after I exorcise the crochet hook. I just don't see how one project could be so very bad. I might have thrown it across the room in a fit of frustration but you can't make me confirm that.

Crafting still happens here

2010-07-22T23:11:58Z

This has been a terrible summer for crafting. There has been a lot going on that has conspired to take time away from crafting. As a result, it has been slow. Very, very slow. Everything is getting worked on but time has been limited. There is the diaper bag.

It should probably be about double the height to allow for shrinkage when felted. The kid is a month old. So now I've missed his original due date. New goal--before kindergarten. Aim low, I always say.

And there is the sweater. Maybe by Christmas. The short sleeves should come in handy then.

Better

2010-07-20T23:19:53Z

Ok, this is an improvement. No holes in the floor. No torn up vinyl from puppy days. No nicks, dimples, and no white! Whoever thought a white kitchen floor was a good idea, I'll never know. But this-it's better.

Work on the catio (cat patio) continues. The screens are up on the porch. Once we get a door, the cats will have an outdoor room.

Oh, goody.

2010-07-15T00:18:23Z

Our contractor found this yesterday when pulling up the flooring in the laundry room. Surprise! You could lose a cat through that hole. The best part of owning an old house is you never get to fix just one thing.

Actually it wasn’t a huge surprise since that window had a serious leaking problem for a while. The whole laundry room used to be a porch and the floor support beams are too far apart giving the entire room a slightly spongy feel. Our contractor (who is the Tennessee version of Holmes on Homes) takes it to heart when you tell him to fix it so it’s right. So now instead of just putting down new vinyl, he is adding 3 additional beams to the floor (one length wise down the room and two additional in the corner where the rot is) and replacing the portion of rotted floor board.

Our little house of horrors

2010-07-12T23:44:43Z

This is our dining room. Several things to note--the washer, dryer, stove and refrigerator--do not normally reside in the dining room.

This is part of our living room. The freezer, dolly, and laundry baskets don't normally reside here either.

It's not that I don't like change; it's just that I don't like change. We're in the midst of handling some flooring issues, (and some window issues and some porch issues) and even though we planned this change, it still kind of sucks. Even though I know the end result will be a (huge) improvement, it still really sucks.

The cats agree with me--mostly because every morning from now until completion, they have to be corralled in various rooms to ensure they don't take advantage of the less than lightening fast reflexes of the uninitiated workmen who are unused to slamming doors in the faces of wily felines.

Holiday Weekend Update

2010-07-06T23:48:28Z

So I was ready to join my front and back panels of my sweater and my Knitting for Dummies book suggested that blocking would make picking up stitches easier on my stockinette stitch panels. Bahahahah! That so didn't work. But good thought, thanks for playing.
Washed, starched and ironed all the curtains in the house.
Progress continues on the diaper bag. The drawback of three projects is how slowly they all move.
Enjoyed Collegedale's annual fireworks show from the field across the street from our house.

Somebody is lying

2010-06-28T23:38:11Z

Look, I'm not one to fling around accusations, and generally I like to believe the best about people. But I call it as I see it and here it is:

What is the point of a standard, people, if no one follows it? What you see on the left is a ball of 100g/223 yard worsted weight yarn. What you see on the right is 100g (both balls together)/ and 222 yards worsted weight yarn. Um, no. I have to call BS on this one. One thing is not like the other.

My picture does not fully conveyed the difference in the thickness of these yarns. Is this the equivalent of vanity sizing for yarn? Are we basically saying, "You're not bulky, Patons. You're just worsted."?

Weekend Update

2010-06-28T00:29:47Z

1. Craft on diaper bag. I don't know how a beginner project can give someone such fits. I mean I'm a reasonably intelligent individual, and I'm using internet and book resources to make sure I'm interpreting these directions correctly. It isn't a matter of errata. It's a matter of semantics. When you use the phrase turning chain, I assume that means the work should be turned even if you don't spell that out. Yet my stitch markers keep moving rather than staying in the corners which would imply I'm crocheting on a slant. If the baby hadn't come early, I might feel more kindly about the amount of experimentation that is having to take place here.

2. Catch up on house chores after working through last weekend. I was behind, but now have the laundry done, house cleaned, and pantry stocked.

3. Make more bread. Honey Wheat, my new favorite.

4. Garden. Pick and process green beans for 5 pints. Pick zucchini weighing 3 lbs. (It was hiding). Discovered that my zucchini plants have beetle borers and will likely be dead within the week. This happens to me every year and only to zucchini and squash plants. Try eco-spray anyway. Dig up garlic. Got 14 inchelium reds and 25 chilian silvers. I will not use the chilian silvers again. The growing circumstances were ideal and those "bulbs" are barely the size of nickels. The flavor is good but they just aren't big enough.

5. Finish second panel on the sweater. Until my needles come in from WEBS, I'm in a holding pattern on this one.Thankfully, I seem to be able to manage a beginner sweater pattern. Apparently, stockinette I can do.