Kansas, Part I

Even if one starts the week with knitting and quiet reflection, 

(Test knit. I'll link on my Rav page when I can.) 

 
One can't always foresee a change of direction. 

(Flying from CLE to Granddaughter Central.)

JK, we knew there was travel, but nearly missed our connection! 

("Kansas, she said, is the name of her star...")

Still, travel knitting adds to my handknit sock collection! 

And now we can say that we have visited these lovelies in their new home...

...and their parents...and their new puppy!

It's been a whirlwind (IYKYK) and we are having fun, but there's not a lot of time for blogging. Luckily, there are quiet morning moments for knitting, and since Andi asked for a knitting refresher, I have set her up with some practice...

By the way, the kids are doing ".5 photos" now, and I'm conflicted. These photos are great to show a whole room...

But not super-flattering to the nose and forehead! Oh, Alleigh-girl!

Hahahahaha 🤣 🤣 🤣! 

I hope you're having fun in these last throes of summer. These girls go back to school next Friday (!), and I hope they don't grow too much before we see them in person again! Be watching for a photo dump next week...I just can't help myself. 

(Sun catchers to paint! All the crafts!)

Until then, thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

This is the Year...

About six years ago, we took out a home equity line of credit. We had lived in our home for 12 years, and there were some rooms that were looking pretty rough! We wallpapered the kitchen and put in a second bathroom through the years, but we were still walking on the 5-year carpet left behind by the previous owners in 1995. The walls in the living room and one bedroom were also exactly the same as what we'd purchased, although we had turned Dollface's room into a purple, butterfly paradise somewhere around 2003. Still, there was a lot to do to this house...

Shortly after opening the line of credit, Mork and Mindy decided to get married, and we used that line to help finance a lovely day of memories for them. Then Dollface graduated and started college, 'nuff said. Shortly after that, Peanut was born, and the new grandparents had cross-country trips to finance, to snuggle and tickle that baby. Oh, and we finally resurfaced the original bathroom the same year that Dollface was engaged to Snake, and the parents of the bride were happy to plan and finance much of their day of bliss! Along the way, there were also cars to fix, appliances that needed replacing and various other items that needed that money more than we thought the "main house" did...until this year.

"This is the year to redo the house," we said, and Sweetie and I deemed it so in January (or maybe February, who can remember?). We talked a LOT about carpeting, painting, and furniture, and then allofasudden we realized it was September, and what had we done? Nothing! (Well, I broke three fingers, but that's another story.) Anyway, finally, in the ninth month of 2013 we decided to get to it! We bought paint: a high-gloss white for the trim, and an eggshell/satin in Linen and Clamshell for the walls; and we put it in the butterfly room, where it sat for nearly a month, until...

One day, Sweetie moved some furniture out of the spare room and into the butterfly room, and then I moved some things out of the living room into the butterfly room, and then we moved all that living/dining room furniture into the middle of that big room, and we painted our hearts out for 3 days!

Then we went out to order carpeting, and we moved the rest of the things that we could move into the butterfly room, and we just ripped out that nasty, old carpeting:

Even on the stairs!

And then the butterfly room looked like this:

The sofa would not fit into the butterfly room, and when it was finally on the curb, the cats freaked out. THERE WERE NO SOFT PLACES TO CURL UP ON OR HIGH PLACES TO SEE FROM! Well, there was still Pretty's lap, as I sat on a lawn chair with an old ottoman under my ankles!

Luckily for the cats, the carpeting was installed pretty quick...

...and furniture was delivered and put together!

I forgot to take photos of all the boxes (there were 14, many of them taller than me!), but I assembled 2 (of 3) sofas in just one day! (I did need a power screwdriver and a strong hand to get the wheels onto the bed of the sofa bed...but other than that, this was all me!)

The third sofa is a sectional that will go in the basement, once we get the old one out... I also managed to get that butterfly room put back together and use-able!

And I bought a purple chair, that I love. :)

It's been a busy week, and I am ready to sit down (preferably on one of my new sofas)!!! There are still a lot of details to work out (curtains, finding everything we've moved out of the way in the last couple weeks, decorating with our new color scheme), but all I want to do right now is knit. I'm making a pillow cover, so I can use my old pillows on the new sofa! It only makes sense then that you'll most likely find me building another sofa in the basement this afternoon, right? Ah well, maybe I'll knit tomorrow.

This is the year for our house, indeed...even though we got a really late start. :) I hope you've reached some of your goals so far this year as well...have you made any big changes?

Thanks for stopping by, and whatever you're crafting or remodeling, I hope that you're meeting your goals for 2013!

We go together. . .

Heard at my house, one evening this week:

"I guess knitting is just like riding a bike. . .a stupid, yarny bike!!!"

Since Dollface got married, I have missed our time together.  I know that's the natural order of things, but when she showed me this picture that she took with her phone the other day:

It really got me thinking that I'd like to spend more time with her when I can.  So, when she asked if I wanted to go to lunch this week, I was super glad to say yes!  Because we had so much fun at lunch that day, and since both Snake and Sweetie had previous engagements that evening, we decided to extend the fun with an old-fashioned craft night at my house - Yay!

We started with paints.  Remember the painted bowls from a couple years back?  Well, I still had some of the paints, and a few leftover serving platters from those sets of dishes, so we set out to decorate!  Here's what we came up with:

Not too shabby for a couple of semi-sometimes-crafty chicks, eh!?!  We were quite proud of ourselves, but neither of us was ready for the fun to end. I remembered when Dollface and I learned together how to knit, at a baseball tournament out of town, in the sun with all the other sisters and moms, while dads and brothers were busy on the field. . .and I asked if she'd like to try that again.  She said yes, so we got some yarn and needles.  She started slow at first, shy around the purl stitches, and a bit awkward:

. . .but eventually, she was knitting like the wind!

Even though she resisted a pattern in her knitting at first, she eventually insisted on casting on some of the stitches and knitting the simple pattern of the 1-row scarf, and then berated herself a little at fearing the purl stitch  Eventually, she declared (through clenched teeth), "I guess knitting is just like riding a bike. . .a stupid, yarny bike!!!," as her fingers started to automatically remember what they were supposed to do.

We both laughed, as we had been prone to doing throughout our crafty evening, and she claimed her knitting victory.  When it was time to go home, she took her yarn and needles, and let me know that this scarf would likely be my Christmas present this year.  I can't wait for December!

Now that I have yarn in her hands, my next challenge is getting her on Ravelry. . .I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!  What's your next project?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

It's in the Bowl!

Yes. I said, "It's in the Bowl." I did not say, "It's in the Bag," because I am not talking about bags. I mentioned last time that I need another hobby. . .so, well, I picked up another one last night (and Monday, too).

You see, I have these plain, white pieces of dinnerware in my basement. Serving Bowls and Platters, Salt and Pepper Shakers, Desert Plates and Cereal Bowls, and a couple of Mugs. They are from a project a couple years back, and I still have them. Every year I think to myself, "Those would make nice Christmas gifts, all painted and perhaps personalized. . ." And the thing is that I have the paint, and the brushes, and the paint pens, and all the supplies I need for the project. . .yet, still I had not actually done anything with them. . .just too many other things vying for my time, I guess.
Then, on Monday, I started to take inventory of my supplies, and I started the project. I finished painting 10 large-ish serving bowls last night, and I baked Monday's batch (to make the paint permanent and food-safe) this morning. I will bake the Tuesday batch tomorrow. . .what do you think of the finished results?My original idea for the serving bowls was to write on the bowl what might be inside, or to divide the bowl into quadrants with a season represented on each quarter. Kind of like a "bowl for all seasons" that you just turn so the appropriate food or picture is showing. Some of my paints were really thick, though, and the flow was tricky. . .so I opted to rely on the paint pens as much as I could. Over all, I am pretty happy with how they turned out. ;-P

In Knitting Knews, I am still plugging away at the Stockings. . .feels like they are taking forever, but I know in my head that it has only been a little over a week. The stranded knitting makes me crazy, but I think I am getting more used to it. I just cannot like the puckering, and I don't seem to be able to carry those strands loosely enough. sigh! Perhaps a little blocking will help? Not sure, tho. . .this is super-acrylic yarn!

Eventually, I will feel like I have mastered two-color knitting! Until then, I will keep on practicing, I guess!

By the way, Christmas is coming! I hope that you have started your Christmas Knitting and other projects (if you have any planned), and that you will Knit in Good Health!