I'm still working on sorting through the Scotland photos, although a few are posted here. There are LOTS more puffin photos where that one came from - check back and I'll add some more.
But I'm here to share the project that we accomplished this weekend, with a lot of help from my little sister (who now has her very own blog!) and her husband Reid. Jenna and Reid will be leaving Virginia at the end of July to start their new life in rural Colorado, where my sister will be a professor of theatre! Before they move away, they offered to help us out with some projects around our house (Reid has mad skilz with the power tools). Dan and I thought about it, and we realized that one of the things that we most wanted to do "fix" about our house was the front entry.
Before
At some point in time, there had obviously been a porch or portico of some kind above our front door. It had been well and truly caulked... so that when the porch came down the outline remained on the brick. Ever since we moved in, we've had the ghostly "H" outline of the caulk, and we always wanted to do something on the front of the house. We debated what to do, and after looking through a few books and wandering around the Home Despot for several hours, we came up with a plan. Some sketches, some plans, and a few more trips to Home Despot (I think it took 5 trips total, with two different stores), and a Saturday of cutting, sanding, and painting, and this is what we came up with.
Sunday, 3 PM
Sunday, 5 PM
Sunday, 6:30 PM
Sunday, 9 PM
Much better, don't you think? There's still some more painting to do (the columns, the brackets, and general touchups), and we've got some more caulk to get off the brick (the best method we've come up with - after trying a bunch - is using the Dremel tool and the grinding wheel to take it off a bit at a time), but we've come a long way!
Knitting progress later...
Happy Valentine's Day!
Alison is right - I am in love with my recycled Manos!
The most popular question regarding it seems to be "what am I going to do with it?" And the answer is... I'm not sure yet. I don't think I have enough of any of the colors to really do something with except stripes, and I'd rather not do tan and blue stripes.
I'm thinking the tan may become a vest along the lines of Gesta...
and with the blue I'd love to make a cardigan along the lines of the Must-Have Cardigan from Hip to Knit (seen here) or with a plain color of blue with Manos stripes a la Gloria from the Jane Ellison Noro book...
I'm not opposed to going in and buying a few more skeins of Manos to make any of these projects, particularly the vest. I mean, I got what I have now for about a third of a skein, so I think I can afford one or two more. First, though, I think I'll visit the post office to do a little weighing and try to determine exactly how much I have. Ah, the possibilities!
Here's a story
Of a Fair Isle sweater
That was hanging on a lonely thrift store rack
Surrounded by acrylic and scratchy cotton
It was all alone.
Here's a story
Of a lonely shopper
Looking for a sweater to use again
She was getting quite discouraged
She couldn't find one
Yes, she was all alone.
Until the instant when the sweater brushed her hand
And her heart almost stopped when she read the tag
And she realized that several skeins of Manos
Could be hers for a mere four dollars!
And that's how tbis sweater became this bowl of yarn!
Yes, that's how this sweater be-came this bowl of yarn!
(my sincerest apologies to Sherwood Schwartz and Frank De Vol, composers of the Brady Bunch theme song. Note to self: if you want to post something on your blog in a timely manner, don't try to make up a cute song parody. It takes way too long.)
(And a way to let everybody else get to know me a little better, too - Bonus!)
If you've been looking at knit blogs lately, you've seen this list of questions... so who am I to abstain? In knitting progress, I'm working on the i-cord bindoff on the body of bpt. Looks great, takes a while, but worth it. Anyway, on to my answers:
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? Weeeellll, it depends. I avoid the truly cheap stuff - the pound-of-whatevers by Red Heart. But I'm quite partial to much of Lion Brand - Microspun (as you've seen), Fun Fur, Cotton Ease, and I have quite a bit of Wool-Ease and Homespun in the stash. But I am quite partial to the natural fibers.
2. Do you spin? Crochet? I bought a spindle at MDS&W, but I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet (or tried, honestly). I am also planning on borrowing a spinning wheel of my mother's that's not been used since she discovered quilting (it's been a few years). I don't crochet - yet.
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) Smoke, yes, fairly severely. Strong perfume the same. None to pets or fibers (that I know of).
4. How long have you been knitting? I started in January of 2003.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I do - it's linked to the right.
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) For candles, I love the food scents - gingerbread, vanilla, sugar cookies, cherry (um, I'm hungry now...). For perfumes and bath products, I also love vanilla, and you can add freesia, citrus, and cucumber melon. Nothing too sweet.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? One word - chocolate. And ice cream. (I'm hungry again)
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I letterbox, which involves making books (so book binding, cool/unique papers, etc.) and carving stamps. I also do a bit of rubber stamping, but I probably have enough of those to last my lifetime (except for the ones that I'm planning on getting Wednesday in a trade). I dabbled in a bunch of stuff - soap making, beading, polymer clay, etc. - before I found knitting, but since then I've pretty much committed all of my free time to yarn and sticks.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if you want to make her a CD) I like lots of music, with the major exceptions of heavy metal, rap, and country. Otherwise, go nuts! I can do mp3's (yay technology!).
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Green. Blue. Green. Green. Ocean colors, I guess - tans, blues and greens.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married (six years yesterday!). 2 cats - adorable, of course.
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) Stay happy.
There is a second round of questions, but I'll be saving them for another entry... with pictures of bpt. Tomorrow perhaps? ;)
OK, I have been tossing around a few future projects in my head and I thought I'd write them all down... here's what I'm thinking about doing next:
- The Bed & Breakfast Pullover from the most recent Interweave Knits
- The Cottonwood vest from Folk Vests
- A Bucket O'Chic (assuming I can ever get #*(&%$ Paypal to work so that I can download the pattern!)
- Top Secret (remember way back when?)
- A scarf for Dan - need a bit more guidance on this one, as to colors/patterns/yarn/everything so that he'll actually wear it
- A DNA scarf for me (because everyone at the office will think it's cool - we're a bunch of biology geeks)
- bpt
- Grecian Plait (remember this one too?)
Top Secret is the leader, for a few reasons: I have the yarn already; it's cold here and I need another big comfy sweater; and if I don't start it now, I won't be wearing it until next winter. Of course, I'm also halfway considering joining the Banff along and using the yarn to make that big bulky sweater...
The Bucket O'Chic and Dan's scarf are also contendas, because it's cold here, we need some chicer (that would be more chic) outerwear, and I haven't made anything for Dan in a long, long while (then I could join the Men Along, too!). And they'd be fairly quick, which is good for instant gratification me.
Allrighty then. We'll see. For now, I'm still working on Tanja. Not cheating ... yet.
Yep, my obsession with letterboxing is spilling over into my crafty life (which, come to think of it, is kinda the point). First came the hand carved stamps; now I'm making the books to accompany my stamps. And I've dragged a few friends down with me... once they got over the sheer volume of paper that I have managed to amass (3+ file boxes, a giant gift wrap tote, etc.), we made some pretty cool books. Those two up there are mine. We used the coptic stitch binding, which is a little bit difficult to figure out at first, but once you get the hang of it, it flies. Here's a close-up of the binding:
Hey Everybody, I'm back! I just managed to get internet access at home. I'm still a little nervous about blogging from work, so I think I'll just wait until I get home...
So, I'm moved! Settled in in Silver Spring, MD (just north of DC). And I'm now on my second week of work, which is going well. Dan (my husband) is currently still in California, but he was out this past weekend and had a job interview yesterday. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this one works out - all good job vibes would be appreciated!
Knitting-wise, I haven't done as much as I'd planned/thought about. I have finished one side (the back) of Flutterby, and I'm nearly done with the body of Bob... working on that tonight!
And I'm signed up for the Sitcom Chic knit-along... You can sign up too here - we start June 15th! It's more of a mailing list, with lots of chatting and moral support during the process of making something that's maybe a challenge for some people.