Wednesday, August 31, 2011

WiP Wednesday

Hi! So I really didn’t do any knitting on vacation. And since we’ve been home, I’ve been busy clearing out the future-weaving-room and doing other stuff around the house. No knitting.

But since the last time I WiP’d you, here’s what I’ve gotten done.

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Sock is un-jacked-up and the heel is turned. I’m now decreasing away on the flap.

The Swirl sweater is partially bound off. I’ve started working on the sleeves and bodice, but I’ve hardly started on that portion of the program.

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And, since you know I’ve been doing some serious cleaning, that’s going to include a pretty good-sized destash. This is what I pulled yesterday. I have a list with prices. Lemme know if you want it.

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All of it is on Ravelry, but none of it has been tagged for sale/trade yet. Figured I'd give folks I "know" first crack at it. I just have toooooo much yarn.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Sunset: 24 August 2011

I took a walk earlier today and the lake was so high that there was very little glass. Here's my haul for the last couple days:

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Sunset was pretty mild tonight, but again. The lake was very high and there was hardly any beach today. Sunset!

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And then I nearly stepped on this guy on my way back up to the house.

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And that's it for vacation 2011, possibly for the year. I may try to scoot up here once more come September, but this could be it. Hope you've enjoyed this year's sunset pictures!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011

Sunset: 22 August 2011

An almost-chilly day here at VBP, but a pretty good sunset to top it off ...

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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sunset: 21 August 2011

A long day of epic storms ended with a pretty decent sunset. Happy start to vacation!

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

WiP Wednesday

Once again, the bulk of my knitting time has gone to the Swirl sweater. I’m on my last full welt, so I have just a few short rounds left before I start binding off and starting on the sleeves and bodice.

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My streak of reading comprehension FAILs continued. I was excited and in a hurry to cast this on, so I just looked at the chart and didn’t READ the instructions. As a result, I’ve been knitting this thing “backwards” from the get-go. If I’d been thinking, I could easily have fixed the problem seven rows in when I did my first set of decreases, but the good news is that I’m pretty sure I know how I can rectify my mistake seamlessly. Hooray!

Moral of the story? Pay attention when you read directions.

In other news, I made a point of getting both of my smaller projects back on track. I ripped out about an inch of my socks-in-progress a week ago, put in my increases markers at the proper point and have been off to the races ever since.

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So basically, the V between the markers is everything I’ve knit since last week. Yay, small project that can take a few stitches here and there!

And, last night, I got a few rounds in on my Bagstopper. Inching ever-closer to the top border. Hooray!

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We start vacation on Saturday night, so it remains to be seen whether I’ll be doing more knitting or reading next week. For whatever reason, reading usually wins when I’m on vacation.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Oakland Shawl

I’ve had another finished project lurking around this house. I’m finally getting around to blogging it!

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I first saw this shawl in a booth at TNNA in 2010. I fell in love instantly, and had a friend who was vacationing in Massachusetts pick up the required two skeins of Kauni at WEBS. It was another year before I cast on.

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The reason I finally made time to pick up this project is that my LYS, Bloomin' Yarns, will be carrying Kauni in the very near future. I have another sample I need to knit, but until then, this shawl is living at the store.

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This is a very simple pattern. All garter stitch. I made some incredibly minor adjustments to fit my personal taste. I am anti-yarn over, so I used KFB increases. And I wanted the center spine to match the outer border, so I increased it from one stitch to three stitches. Beyond that, it was all garter stitch all the time. Perfect for the chunk of total exhaustion that followed my ridiculous June.

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The Kauni did all of the work, I just alternated between the rainbow skein and the black and white skein. I did wind up picking up a second skein of the EC (black and white) in order to use the entire skein of the EQ (rainbow). I can guarantee I will have more Kauni projects in my knitting future. I truly enjoyed knitting this shawl!

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Oakland Shawl

Pattern: Oakland Shawl by Sally Brandl (available on Ravelry)
Yarn: Kauni EQ and EC
Quantity: One skein of EQ, about 1.2 skeins of EC, although all three skeins were marked as 150g
Needles: US 5/3.75mm KnitPicks Options
Started: 14 June 2011
Finished: 16 July 2011
Mods: Replaced yarn overs with a KFB increase.
Changed center spine from a single stitch to three stitches.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WiP Wednesday

It’s still project monogamy around here. And it’s just about all swirl knitting. It still looks like a big amorphous blob, but my rows are certainly getting shorter and I’m over halfway through the outer ovals, headed towards binding off and working the sleeves and bodice.

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I still love both yarns I’m using, which is a good thing. There’s a lot of knitting still to come on this sweater.

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I’m hoping to fix my socks tonight, then I can get moving on that once again. Meanwhile, I am off to continue picking up my basement and possibly organizing a bit of the upstairs yarn. Off to the races again!

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

So Close, And Yet So Far Away …

Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been neck-deep in the mess in the basement and running around trying to keep up with this and that. But I figured it was at least time for a renovation update.

We’re down to a long list of small things that still need to be finished. But let me show you what’s been done since I blogged about it last!

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Once our limestone actually made it here from Indiana, our fantastic stone mason got rolling. Bits of stone all over the place, but as the pillars went up, they look wonderful and really make the deck look like it’s integrated to the house … and always has been.

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And, in case you were curious, stonework makes a massive mess. Our driveway started out black. Fortunately, it finished looking black again, after meticulous powerwashing.

So here are some peeks at the finished stone work:

A stone frame was put in around the sliding glass door. It makes it look like it’s always been there.

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(The dark line going down the stone to the right of the door? That’s from the caulking they used to seal the enclosed back porch. The caulk is gone, but it stained the stone. Fortunately, it’s less noticeable IRL.)

Each of the three finished pillars will have a light fixture on the underside of the deck.

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And the pillar at the bottom of the stairs will have one light fixture on the interior, and one on the exterior.

All in all, the stone work looks great.

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Really, the only remaining exterior work is a little bit of electrical work (covering one of the outlets, installing the exterior lights, turning the last circuit on), one piece of molding under the roof and the downspout for the roof. Hooray!

The next huge milestone was seeing the dumpster go bye-bye.

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When a Dumpster is parked in one spot for months (!!!) it collects a lot of water. And when it’s time for the dumpster to move, it pees lots of disgusting black water out the back door. But it’s gone! And that’s HUGE!

There is more stuff to do inside the house. The carpet came out on Friday.

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And when it did, it revealed a swath of the linoleum of my childhood, which is obviously still under the floating “wood” floor of the kitchen.

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Original hardwood floors in former dining room above, kitchen floor below.

And, finally, the built-in custom entertainment center.

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This bad boy takes up the whole wall. The thing in the center just below the plugs on the white wall is the second drawer for the left-hand side of the unit. The thing on the floor will span the distance between the shelving units, above the TV.

This has been one of the bigger hold-ups, since Jim ran out of stain and had to order more from Pella. Which took for.ev.er. Doors, shelves, and panel behind the TV are expected tomorrow, along with the electrician. We’re starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.