Too humid to paint, so I'll show you some progress pics instead,

I need to paint another coat on the wainscot. (This is a fancy misnomer. It's really beadboard-shaped paneling installed by previous owners. It was a very dark wood color before I got paint-happy with it.) Unfortunately, we're having an excessively wet spring and once again it's too humid to paint. That means that the refrigerator sits in the middle of the kitchen for at least one more day. *sigh*

But that does free me up to do some house cleaning. The work in the kitchen has caused a cessation of regular tidying in other parts of the house, although I wasn't exactly a fastidious housekeeper before. I need to reclaim my front room. It's become the wooden train set/Barbie spa room for a week now and it's bothering me. It is the only room that I really love, so it pays to keep it that clean. Also, I've been slacking in the laundry and dishes departments. Ugh. There's always a lot of those.

Anyway, back to pictures:
In February, Mr Deplume had had enough of the ugly kitchen, and started to strip the lower cabinets so we could repaint them.


There they sat, mostly stripped, for almost two months. Finally, last week, I started priming and painting, and also ripped out the soffits above the upper cabinets-- that amount of wasted space makes me twitchy. I did find that I really love the original wallpaper from when the kitchen was installed (early 60's maybe?)


Under the soffit I found a lovely copper sink vent, and some rather dodgy wiring for the over-sink light.


Here's the north side of the kitchen, before I started to paint the "wainscot." Please don't judge me by the mess inside that cupboard. It's where I cram all the stuff that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else.


The other end of the sink vent. And the 3" of window trim that was removed for the soffit. Ugh.


Bye Bye, ugly wallpapers!


So that's where we were the other day. I started to put the doors back on the lowers, but the hinges I bought were too thick (or maybe just poorly made), and I had to buy new ones. Of course the new hinges' mounting holes don't match up on the door side, so I need to break out the drill and make some adjustments. Nothing is ever easy peasy in this house.

And now I'm going to get the boy dressed and head to Menards to return the 10 pairs of hinges that I cannot use. We're all very excited about that. whoopdedoo!

Can't talk now

Too busy ripping apart the kitchen. And as always, every little job ends up ballooning to thrice its original size. But finally I'm seeing progress. We've repainted the lower cabinets and wainscoting, and after several days of humidity finally were able to put the new pulls on the drawers and re-install them.

Unfortunately, we've hinge replacement issues, so the doors remain on the front porch floor. Actually, there is one door that couldn't go back on its cabinet yet anyway, thanks to the boy who "accidentally" got his dirty foot on the wet paint.


what do you think?

and just like that, it's been a week

Actually, over a week since I last posted here. I love my blog, but somehow, my busy schedule of reading others' blogs just doesn't leave enough time for actually writing here. Go figure.

Anyway, I haven't been a total sloth. I'm working on a little knitted gift that I shan't reveal here until it's been presented (I'd hate to give away a secret like that), as well as continued work on the house and garden. Unfortunately, every step forward necessitates two steps back.

I planted some bare root roses, but then it snowed and I couldn't finish the rest of them.
Mr Deplume started the arduous task of removing the lava rock from along the side of the house, but there's so much dirt and other stuff in there, it's going to be a very long, slow process.

I started to fix the doors on the front porch, but they were in such disrepair that after a couple of hours working on them, I just removed them altogether. WE've decided that this was a sign that we ought to just remove the porch's windows and revert it back to a proper front porch. (I'm struggling now not to just start demolition willy nilly.)

Since it's a little cold and muddy out, I have to settle for laundry duty today. It's not nearly as fun as crow bars and hammers.

Charity work

Earlier this month I knit these for Citizen Sam (they recently took over Operation Helmetliner), and finally got around to weaving in the ends and taking pictures this week. I have a bad habit of finishing projects quickly, then letting them languish about for weeks (or months, in some cases) with just a stray yarn end or half a bind-off to do. Too bad procrastination isn't a marketable skill-- I could be rich. Rich, I tell you!
The beanie is Ellen's Hat from The Ships Project (Ravelry link), and the neck gator (although I think it ought to be spelled "gaiter") is from the Citizen Sam website. (No Rav pattern link for this one that I could find. I'm also too lazy to bother adding it to their database.)


BTW, on the gaiter/gator I used a sewn cast off that I read about in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac, and I really like the effect. It's nice and stretchy, and at the same time is a little less bulky than my standard bind off. That EZ sure was one smart cookie.

This isn't funny, Mother Nature.

It's March 29. Last night, after a horrible gloomy day of rain, we got snow. Five inches of wet snow. Just like that, all my hope for spring is dashed. I awoke this morning to find that we are back in the dead of winter. I didn't cover any of my outdoor plants yesterday-- I hope nothing is too damaged.

Cutting the cord.

We've been paying $58 a month for Directv for many years (well, it used to be cheaper, but they kept adding crap we don't use, and upping the price). After a very frustrating afternoon yesterday, I mentioned to Mr Deplume that we ought to just get rid of the cable/satellite altogether and just use an antenna and the Internet for our television enjoyment. He bristled at first-- he'd have to give up ESPN! How could he get through a morning without Sportscenter?

But just moments later he saw our 4-year-old beg for another toy that had been pimped on a commercial, and he came around. So after a little talking and futzing with the computer to allow us to watch Burn Notice and Psych episodes on the TV set without cable, the decision was made. This morning I will be calling DirecTV, telling them to just come and pick up their crappy HD receiver that doesn't work on our television and canceling our service.

Last night I went through the massive Tivo Season pass list and deleted all the pay-tv shows. Bye Bye, Food Detectives, see ya around, Mythbusters. Au revoir, Gardening By the Yard. It will be tough without you.

The children will probably have the biggest adjustment. They are used to having 10 different cartoon channels standing by, ready to placate them at a moment's notice. I've saved a few recorded programs for them on the Tivo (I love love love my Tivo), and will be buying some more kid-friendly DVDs. Once summer is here, this will all be easier, as they really love playing outdoors anyway. I know that families are happier with less TV, but the next couple of weeks will try all of our patience, I suspect.

We'll be better for it, right?

I hate Directv right now. A lot.

Directv emailed me a couple of months ago, telling me that I needed a new dish and receiver, because they were switching satellites. I made an appointment for today between 12 and 4. I was pleasantly surprised when the guy showed up at 11:58 AM. He promptly got to work, and now I only have one dish in my yard, which is an improvement,

However, this new box they forced me to get is an HD receiver, one which does not work with my Tivo, my tv, or my Directv account. Because I don't have and HDTV. I have a regular tv. A normal big fat standard definition television. It won't allow my beloved Tivo to change channels to record. I'm getting a little jittery just thinking about it. How on earth can I be expected to watch shows when they are actually on? That's not how I roll.

So I called the handy phone number they had given me and went through the "are you sure you plugged into the wall" questions, and eventually got them to believe me and transfer me to the technical support department. I explained to him that it won't chance channels properly , and then I sat on the line with him for nearly 15 minutes while he breathed into his headset and typed on his keyboard. After the 15 minutes, he said "there's nothing we can do for you."

And I said "no, you need to fix this."

He said, "well, Directv upgraded your receiver, but didn't charge you for the service call, nor did they force you to pay for HD service, so there's nothing more I can do. Since the the problem is with the Tivo, maybe you should call them to see if they've found a solution" As if it's Tivo's fault.

I relized I was not going to get anywhere with the Directv guy, so I actually tried calling Tivo. The girl at the other end of that call was more sympathetic, but had no decent answers for me and put me on hold to find out about new products that they might have for me. I waited a couple of minutes, but eventually hung up.

And then I did what any other sane person would, I shopped for DishNetwork and Mediacom deals on the internet. Unfortunately, once the honeymoon with those folks is over, their customer service would be just as bad.

I just called DirecTV again, got a standard customer service guy and he said "they shouldn't have given you an HD receiver, they can come out on Monday to reinstall a regular one."

What?

I just spent 3 godforsaken hours on phone calls to people who don't give a shit, repeating the modern-day custserv mantra: "I'm sorry that must be frustrating for you", and it turns out I got the wrong receiver in the first place?? What the hell? I think I might be more angry than I was when I though the programmers of the new-fangled boxes had made a mistake and they were just stupid. I might still cancel the DirecTV just to make a point. I wish I weren't so addicted to a few cable TV shows, or I'd just cancel it altogether and switch to using just Netflix and Hulu and iTunes for my boob tube-type enjoyment.

And people wonder why a little part of me wants to go live with the Amish?

Something to report!

Sorry folks, for being absent so long. I just had nothing all that interesting to write, so I didn't bother. But this weekend saw something done to the house, so I took pictures. On Saturday I got all twitchy about the 40+ feet of yew bushes along the south side of my house and started sawing them down. With my neighbor's trusty hand saw, I deleted three of the overgrown buggers with my bare hands. I unfortunately have no photographic evidence of said bushes-- I neglected to take 'before' pictures.

On Sunday, Mr. Deplume borrowed a friend's chainsaw (we really do have tools of our own, just not the correct ones for this particular job) and went to work on the rest of them. Within an hour or so we went from this (the bush-free part of the house to the left of the screen is where the bushes I removed had stood):

From House

to this:

From House

I count it as an improvement, although removing the one very large eyesore revealed many little ones. There is a water meter, electric meter, air conditioning unit, furnace vents, a few miscellaneous wires and boxes for phone and electricity, a defunt cable hookup and chunk of broken veneer on the foundation we hadn't noticed before. Of course there are still 40-year-old yew stumps that need to be dealt with, as well. I foresee a bunch of my summer being involved in installing trellises and fences and camouflage plants. 'Tis the fun of home ownership, I suppose.

Eww.

Note to self: Do not look up ways to prevent apple pests whilst eating breakfast. Not only are the pictures of the caterpillars yucky, but reading the words of one cheeky organic grower put me right off my feed. What were the words, you ask? Why of course they were "where's the other half of the worm?" blarf. Anyway, after wasting about an hour on the internet trying to become an expert on organic orchard maintenance, I think I'll just call my local Extension office and let them tell me what to do.

On a happier note, reading about apples and orchards always makes me sing this song.

Happy Thursday to you

I don't have much to post here, but I have a few minutes to waste, so here I am. Not much knitting progress lately. I've been working exclusively on the entrelac afghan project. It's slow going, though. I'm most of the way through the next row of it, but then the kids both got sick (and have been trying to take me down with them), and every time I sit down it's more to snuggle than to knit. I'm not complaining, though. They are only little kids for a very short time and I am increasingly aware of how fast time flies.

I'm hosting a craft night at our church tonight. I hope it goes well. If there are a lot of people there, we'll need to meet in the Parish Hall, where the light isn't bright. If we are a smaller group, we can meet in a different room with better light. I hope it catches on. A few knitters (and a crocheter) have been meeting on Wednesday mornings for over a year now and we have a great time. But those people who work during the day cannot come. Also, scrapbookers and jewelry makers and woodworkers cannot really work at a coffee shop. *fingers crossed*

I'll post a progress pic of the afghan tomorrow, and maybe I'll frog another failed WIP, too, just for good measure. I'm really wanting to get all the unfinished business cleared up so I can start on some new stuff. I've got a hankering to knit another pair of socks.

And it's already Friday again

I'm not sure how that happened. It was just the 23rd, but now it is nearly February, and I'm due to finish something, as it's


But, nothing is finished yet. I have decided, however, to work on the afghan I started a long time ago. I had just learned entrelac and thought the idea of an entrelac afghan was fabulous. I still think it is fabulous. However, in execution, knitting an entrelac blanket large enough to cuddle in is just plain silly.

"I only have to count to 8" I said, "that makes it mindless knitting."
"It's good practice picking up stitches," I thought.
"It's just little blocks of stockinette, easy peasy" I quipped.

Dude. Entrelac, while lovely, is tedious once the magic of it is gone. When the "how in hell did I just manage to make yarn do that?!?" is gone, it's just plain knitting with a bunch of decreases and picked-up stitches thrown in for giggles.

Mind-numbingly tedious or not, I still like the idea of it, so it shall continue to grow. I do reserve the right to change my mind, stop knitting at some yet-to-be-determined point and call it a mere "throw" or a shawl even.



I also finished a pair of fingerless mitts this week. They are loosely based on a WWII Red Cross mitts pattern that was in Piecework Magazine last month, but there's really very little resemblance when it's all said and done. Please don't click to enlarge the picture, as then you could see both my lack of blocking the mitts and moisturizing the hands. I really ought to go get a manicure.

It's done

I feel a little like a hit man. I finally pulled the trigger and frogged a stole that I started last March, It had the potential to be gorgeous, but alas, it was accursed. I'm sad to see it go, but honestly, I'd never love it with the mistakes in it. Life is too short to finish reading bad books, and likewise too short to wear half-assed shawls.

RIP, Eye of Partridge Shawl.


But I now have two balls of Trekking XXL that I can use for other things.

It's Finishing Friday.

I've actually finished something, too! I started these socks for the Ravelympics, but I got sidetracked and they got stuffed in a bag and hung on a doorknob. I got them back out in November, intent on putting them in my daughter's Christmas stocking. Umm, fail.

But thanks to the genius of Majorknitter, who dubbed 2009 the Year of Decisions: a year during which all the WIPs become finished objects, or are undone and returned to the yarn stash. I decided that it would be good to start with something easy, so I pulled out the socks and finished them up. Nora loves them and wore them to school today, in spite of the fact that I screwed up and made one about three-quarters of an inch shorter than the other.



If I can manage to finish some housework in time, I just might frog something today, too. Stay tuned!

I am a bad yarn mom

Yesterday I decided to clean my office. I can manage to keep most of the house moderately respectable, but it is usually the office that gets all the overflow when people are coming over, and it's the place where most of the bills and mail come, so that's a constant struggle. But the worst part of my office shame comes from the yarn that lives here. You, my faithful reader, might recall my yarn stash finding a new home a little over a year ago. I was so proud, it looked so nice.

But over that last year there have been projects started and finished, also a fair number of projects started and abandoned. There were swatches knit, new yarn acquired, and searches conducted. Some random skeins were pulled from their home and plopped unceremoniously on this desk, to end up tangled in computer cords. Other yarns were hastily rewound and shoved back in or atop the armoire, to become tangled with other yarns and needles that had been treated equally as poorly. I knew it was a mess, but until I pulled out every poor, mistreated bit of string in my house and put them all on the table, I didn't know the magnitude of my transgressions.

Meanwhile, I had already decided to join in the fun with a bunch of others dedicated to Finishing or Frogging all those WIPs in the closet. As part of that endeavor, I decided to also get really honest with myself about how many projects sit in the cabinet and in bags on doorknobs, languishing on their needles, that need to be finished or completely undone.

This is the result:
Yarns that need to be re-wound and re-homed. They also need a good solid apology for my mistreatment. It was like woolen Gitmo in there. Poor things.


And projects that need to be resolved one way or the other (By the way, Penny thinks I am a very good kitty mom, for providing her such a soft and lovely sunny spot for her afternoon siesta):


As you can see, I need to get busy.

Pattern: "Nora", a child's winter headband

This is a simple headband with a 3-st seed stitch border on each side, then a cable up the middle. It's super easy once you get the rhythm of it. It's really only wide enough to cover a child's ears as I've written it, but if you used a wider border or bulkier yarn, it would be great for a grown-up, too. :)

Ravelry Link to the pattern. :)

From Drop Box

I've never written a pattern before, so if there are any parts that aren't clear, please let me know and I can fix them.

Worsted weight yarn
US7 (4.5 mm) needles

Here it is:
CO 14 stitches (use provisional if you choose, or you can just pick up stitches on the CO edge later)
knit one row across

Set-up rows:
Rows 1&3 (rs): k1, p1, k1, p2, k4, p2, k1, p1, k1
Rows 2&4 (ws): k1, p1, k1, k2, p4, k2, k1, p1, k1

Begin cable pattern:
Row 1: k1, p1, k1, p2, slip 2 st onto a cable needle to the front, k2, knit the st from the cable needle, p2, k1, p1, k1
Rows 2, 4, 6: k1, p1, k1, k2, p4, k2, k1, p1, k1
Rows 3 & 5: k1, p1, k1, p2, k4, p2, k1, p1, k1
Repeat cable pattern until desired length*, ending on row 5 of cable pattern

Begin decreases for the tie:
Knit one row across (ws)
Row 1: k5, s1,k1,PSSO, k2tog, k5
WS rows: knit across
Row 2: k4, s1,k1,PSSO, k2tog, k4
continue on, decreasing the center stitches until you have 4 stitches left.
Knit i-cord with those 4 stitches until you have about 3"
Tie off i-cord, break yarn.
At CO edge, pick up 14 stitches, and work exactly as you did the decreases for the the other end.
weave in ends.
take a picture and show it to me.

*"desired length for us was enough to cover from one ear lobe across the top of her head, to the other ear lobe. All kids head will be different. :)

A new FO

I have no fancy name for this, but I made a headband for my daughter. It's way too cold for it today, though. It is currently -16 degrees outside-- that's not windchill, that's the actual temp! But on the winter days when it isn't too cold, I still want her to keep her ears warm. She's getting to that age when she doesn't want to go messing up her hairdo willy nilly. (I am very not ready for this grown-up kids thing.)

So anyway, here it is. It's knit out of a pinky-purpley vintage yarn that's a little fuzzy like mohair, but otherwise a decent yarn.

From Drop Box

Yarn: Pingouin Mousse
Needles: 4.5 mm (US7)
Eventually I'll write out the pattern and name it. I think I'll make a few more of these for gifts.

Busy busy busy!

I've been actually getting some stuff done lately. I'm as amazed as anyone, really. Since there's a lot of stuff to share, I'll get right to it.

First, on December 30, I decided to turn an old t-shirt into yarn. It's really easy (Thanks, Alwen!) and I love not having to throw out all that perfectly good cotton. I'm such a packrat. Anyway, the resultant yarn is a little thicker than I'd like, but never having done it before, I didn't know what I was doing exactly, I didn't cut the strips thin enough. I'll do that next time, said Jack. I knit up a swatch, and will definitely try it again. This is about 3/4 of the yardage from the one shirt (men's sz medium) and is a 6" square. I used my trusty 9mm bamboo needles for this.

From ravelry

Next up is a Panta headband. I used about 70 yards of leftover Patons Classic Merino for this. I was so anxious to get started on this, I didn't even bother to wind the yarn into a ball first. I just looped the hank over my neck. That's true slacker knitting for you, right there.

From ravelry

It took no time at all, and I really am happy with it. It keeps my ears warm, and doesn't do funky things to my hair. That's all anyone really can ask of a wool head band, no?

From ravelry

I also have been baking lately, but I'll save that for another post. I have dough in the kitchen that won't turn into a loaf without me. ;)

Thanks to yesterday's comments

I'm now faced with a real hankering for blueberries. I even woke in the middle of the night and thought about where I could put a couple of blueberry bushes. It didn't help that it was 46 and sunny yesterday, so I was outside feeling like spring is around the corner. Last night the temperature dropped 30 degrees and it is winter again. Blargh.

Speaking of yesterday, I spent the afternoon doing cleanup work. It was lovely. It's funny how something that is so objectionable in July is an absolute joy in December. I picked up all the limbs that had fallen during the ice storm of a couple of weeks ago, raked the pile of leftover leaves to where the garden will be in the spring (I plan to choke out the grass with them, newspaper, and a healthy layer of compost. Don't laugh! I read right here on the internet that it totally works!), swept the garage, and I climbed out on the roof and cleaned the gutters. The gutter cleaning was cut short, though, because the metal roof on the garage was a little slippery. Not to mention that I wasn't wearing waterproof gloves and my fingers were getting cold.

Anyway, the dose of vitamin D I got out there was much needed. I hope it's enough to get me through the next few weeks, until the next sunny and "warm" day.

And one of that, and three of those, and a couple of these..

You know how you go to a church potluck, and everything looks so good that you have to have a bite of each, and by the time you head back to your table the plate is heaped with a 5" mountain of food, with no reasonable ability to consume all of it?

That's how I felt yesterday while looking through the first 2009 seed catalog that came in yesterday's mail. I was picking out carrots and peas and new tomatoes and beans and even trying to figure out how to find enough sunny spots in the yard for a few blueberry bushes. I won't even get started on my desire to grow those sunflowers that grow to 12 feet tall. And then I looked at the groundcover section and dreamed of getting rid of those overgrown yews along the side of the house. I was practically drooling by the end.

But like the potluck, there's no way I could do all of that here. I have too much shade, not enough time, and a paltry budget. I should note that I have plenty of motivation right now, but know that although we've had plenty of cold and snow already there's lots of time to go before I get to start playing with seeds. My motivation levels experience precipitous drop each year as soon as the humidity and temperatures hit 85 degrees. By mid-July, I usually regret all the work I made for myself and want to hide in the air conditioning until fall.

Today, though, I dream of lush gardens and warm soil.

Woot!

I made bread yesterday that does not suck. That would not normally warrant a "woot!" like this post's title, but you might have read in the last weeks of my slump. I've had breads fail at an astonishing rate (nearing 100%) in the last 3 months, so any success is momentous, indeed.

Last week, King Arthur Flour company had free shipping on orders placed that day. I jumped at the chance to buy some proper sourdough starter and some really cute snowflake-shaped cookies sprinkles. After 3 days of feeding and growing my starter, I set out to make a real loaf of real sourdough (I've been through the sourdough deal before, and it didn't go well). Of course, being me, I decided to do it the hard way; the rustic, super-sour, no-added-yeast recipe.

This loaf took time. You feed the starter, wait 4 hours, then put it in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Take it out, add make the bread dough, then let it do its thing for 5-6 hours, then shape the loaves and let them rise for another 2-3 hours before baking. I got nervous after the overnight rest because of the lack of bubbles, so when I added the rest of the flour, I kneaded in about 3/4 teaspoon of instant yeast. I don't know how much that did, but it made me feel better.

Yadda yadda yadda, At 6pm last night, I had fresh-baked sourdough. It's not nearly as sour as the recipe acted like it would be, but I have to take into account that the last sourdough I tasted was brought back from San Francisco. Nothing tastes quite like San Fran sourdough. Anyway, it's good, and I cannot wait to make toast out of it this morning.


In other slump news, I've made two scarves and half a hat with the 9.0mm needles, and I think I'm now ready to stop working with tree branches and go back to normal knitting. I have the toe of a sock to finish, a shawl to work on, and some alpaca that still is calling to me. Time to get back to work.