The week that was

Early in the week we had freezing rain. UGH!! The next morning the sun shone brightly and all the trees looked like spun glass. Amazing!

I received a prize from a Ravelry group of a project bag. My DH calls these cows! The bag was made by Blue Tulips, who has an etsy shop.

Inside the bag is a shawlette from CPY Panda Silk DK yarn (another prize from a different group). I followed one of their patterns and ran out of yarn. The shawl is now finished and being blocked, so more photos of that later.

I finished the Tulip socks for DD the remodeler. It was a gray day. She is plugging along on her bathroom, taking showers elsewhere, like the "Y". Destruction has finished and she is beginning to build back. Luckily she has family and friends to help and advise.

Another baby hat was finished. This one of sock yarn. It will fit a larger baby.

I'm designing a shawl from this sock yarn. It should be a one skein project.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time. Luckily I'm not the one with the elephant, dear remodeling daughter is! Her bathroom tile fell off the wall in her shower earlier this week. After further review, she will be re-tiling the whole bathroom, repairing old water damage using cement board instead of plywood among other things. This is the original problem.

She now has most of the materials and destruction has commenced. It now looks more like this. Luckily, she has some experience that she gained working on our house. Hopefully some of the men in her life can help her. It's not easy being a single mom homeowner, who is presently unemployed. I went on a Home Depot run with her today to get green board, cement board, and some other stuff. At least we can put things on top of my car.

At my house, the center hall is being worked on. Nothing exciting to show, just patch, sand and paint. Closets are being refilled, clothing is being culled before going back into the closets. Two of the rooms are waiting for warmer weather because the ceiling have damage from ice dams. Wall work will commence when that problem is fixed.

I'm working on a pair of socks for above daughter. Her Christmas socks shrunk in the dryer. I had used Jojoland Melody Superwash and didn't expect a problem. She gets the red socks that I was knitting because it's "fire" month in the Ravelry Solid Socks group. I had the yarn and a pattern that was in my queue for a while. I thought I would put them in the gift drawer, since I already have three pairs of solid red socks.

These are called Tulips by Stephanie van der Linden. I obviously need a better photo. The pattern is one of her earlier ones, and is basically just a chart with minimal instructions. I had seen the tulip pattern in one of my other books and had long term plans for making socks. The cast on picture may be clearer.

I'm working on a shawl from this yarn. I will offer the design to Plymouth Yarn when I am a little further along. They had requested a shawl and it has taken me a long time to get it together. I don't have much experience designing shawls and had trouble fitting the design into the triangular shape. This is a 100 gm ball of sock weight yarn.

Happy, happy

The leftover biscotti socks are finished and on their way to the birthday recipient. Two more sock leftovers are completely used up.

This baby hat pattern showed up on my 2011 Knitting Calendar. I felt the itch to make one. The pattern doesn't show up on the variegated one, so I did it again. The pattern is leaves and the hat starts at the crown of the head and works down. These will go in my gift drawer for future use.

The purple scarf is finished and will also go in the gift drawer. It is knit in double brioche stitch and each side is a slightly different color.

Next up, a neck cozy. I had one skein of yarn that was calling to me, and went with my coat. I started at the top and worked down until I ran out of yarn. It's based on Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern in Knitting Around. It looks a little different now. I reknit it, so that there is less ribbing and more of a flap in front. It's bulky yarn and when worn folded over, was too thick. I don't need my hat down to my eyebrows. Another one evening project.

The blue Niagara socks were a huge hit with my hairdresser. She's not allergic to wool, (a concern) and they were just her color. I didn't think of the allergy problem until the middle of the second sock.

My new bathroom is another step closer to perfection. I finished the new rug. It is crocheted from almost 2 pounds of dishcloth cotton. One end is narrower because I ran out of the thicker yarn. It really isn't noticeable, except when it doesn't line up with the floor tiles. No more store bought rugs where the binding comes loose all too soon.

We're off to have breakfast with the kids, well one family of them. Later today will be a birthday bash for two grand kids.

We Have Heat

It's been a struggle. First the gas valve needed replacing, then a couple of sensors. The boiler would run until it brought the house up to temperature, but wouldn't restart as it cooled down. The chimney man was able to clear the chimney from the inside. Now all we need is a new damper motor. What we have works, but not correctly. At least the boiler doesn't need tending anymore.

It was almost a much trouble as the old coal boiler we used to have. The house was built with both a coal boiler and a gas boiler. Gas pressure wasn't reliable in cold weather in the early 1920's. The system worked for about 80 years. The new one is more efficient and has more moving parts to fail.

I'm home from work today because of the ice left from the freezing rain. some melting has occurred, but that means there is water on the ice, making it more slippery. Schools are closed and I'm enjoying staying home.

Monday, yarn arrived for my blue scarf. I now have both tails the same length. I love Ravelry! A knitter in Michigan sent me yarn left over from a project of hers.

Another problem knitting project is my latest pair of socks. I'm knitting them with left over yarn and as I neared the top of the first sock, I realized that I didn't have enough white yarn. I've added lilac to the mix, but had to frog the first sock almost to the toe. The scoks are now being knit in tandem. No more ripping. The pattern is only on the op of the foot, with the soul in stockinette. I should have enough yarn now, and if not, I'll be looking for another color.

There is another jacket in my closet. I've not worn it yet, since I finished it yesterday and am not working today. The border fabric is closer in color to the body fabric than the photo shows. I've made the jacket twice before, so this may be the last time for this pattern. I have it in wool, "linen", and knit of dishcloth cotton. Next sewing project is a summer blouse.

I'll also make a couple of pairs of winter slacks after I refine my pattern. I had a pattern almost perfect and now it is hiding. I'm using another pattern and my most perfect pair of slacks and this time it will be put on file folders taped together for a more durable pattern. This will be hung up, so no more hiding!