Remodel week 2

We are still living with many rooms looking like this. Everything has been moved to the center of the room and all baseboards have been removed. Things are looking up, because there are new outlets on this floor and almost all outlets are grounded. The one that is not is in the center hall and the wires run between sets of stairs.

The old outlets come through the baseboards and the new ones are above them, but the wires run through the wall studs.

I made a Home Depot run this morning to return all the little things that were piling up unused, broken, not needed. $119.00 worth. I was able to get the last of the light bulbs needed for the kitchen and a couple of other things. When I got home, I had to go back and get some pieces needed to hang the can lights in the kitchen. We're now down to $71.00 on the card.

The kitchen looked like this at lunch time. Every flat surface is covered, to say nothing of debris on the floor, the ladder in front of the stove etc. Lunch came from Wendy's and was eaten on the back porch table.

I can't even wash clothes, because the washer is next to the breaker boxes and is being used as a table ( the top is flat when closed and has circuit breakers and tool on it). I still need to vacuum ceiling debris out of the tub, so I don't ruin the pump. It took a few days to find and recover DH's small shop vac for the job. That is now sitting next to the washer. There are some advantages to having a lot of clothes, but the underwear supply is running low. I'll vacuum when the electrician leaves.

Did I show you what I made last week? It's a harem outfit for a 1 yr old baby. Grandma paid for it. It must be a first grandchild to make all that fuss. They had a big party in their back yard. I could see the tent and some of the decorations on my morning dog walk.

Knitting is progressing, of course. One project is a birthday gift for someone who reads this blog, so no pictures of that one. I don't have a good picture yet anyway, so my Ravelry project page is blank. That doesn't happen very often. I'll be taking project and camera outside shortly.

My other project is a sweater for me. I haven't done a pullover in quite a while. The pattern is by Lucy Neatby, called Cables After Whiskey. It comes with 3 pages of random numbers. All cables are 4 x 4. For certain numbers, you cable to the front. For others, you cable to the back. Some numbers are ignored, and some mean to knit 4 stitches. I've found that it is important to keep the columns of 4 stitches lined up. Other than that, mistakes don't matter. I've started calling it my Tree Bark sweater.

August means count fairs. I judged knitting etc. at one fair Sunday. The other judging is at the end of the month, since the fair runs over Labor Day weekend.

It's County Fair Time

It's that time of year again! Summer is county fair time, and state fairs too. I'm the knitting and crochet judge for two counties. The first one was this morning. Crochet categories were quite good. Nothing was outstanding, but nothing too bad either. Knitting was disappointing. I wish more of my guild members entered the fair. Nothing was terrible this year, but most of it was just mediocre. I've seen soiled items and beginner workmanship, luckily not this year.

There were the usual items entered in the wrong category. A knit sweater entered in the "over 60" crochet category. The "afghan stitch" afghan category is a usual problem. Many crocheters don't know what afghan stitch is. The afghan stitch afghans I saw were entered in the embroidered class, which is ok.

The new one to me was 2 entries in the crocheted pieced afghan class. One entry was one piece and the other was four pieces. What was wanted was whole afghans with pieces seamed together. I forget the exact wording in the book. Both pieces were entered by the same person. (This fair, you can enter up to 3 pieces in each class.

In the hooked rug section, a piece latch hooked with felt strips was entered in the traditional class. It wasn't even good felt. Some of the entries were outstanding. Finishing this year was generally good.

To enter a fair, you need to get the book ahead of time, fill out the entry form, and send in a small amount of money by the deadline. Entries are to be delivered a day or so before judging. For this fair, the deadline was July 20. Entries were delivered Friday after 6:00 pm and on Saturday. Judging is on Sunday. The fair opens on Monday. Food deliveries may be later. The judges get to really inspect the entries. Here's what our building looked like on judging day. When judging is finished, screens are put up to protect the entries, making them harder to see.

You can see how I planned ahead to get a picture of the welcoming inflatable. It's hard when you're making a left turn from a busy road. Here's the exit picture. I have 2 passes to the fair. If I go when it's open I'll try to get a better picture. No promises though, I live at the other side of the county.

Knitting continues. I'll soon finish another pair of socks. I'm working on a jacket of dishcloth cotton. I'll show that when I finish the back.