Monthly Archives: June 2009

Happy Birthday!

knitting, life,
Today is my birthday. Rather ordinary day, until J called me & said he didn’t have to work until 7pm! So we decided to go out to dinner & I decided to get my hair cut- it was getting a bit scraggly. Since we thought J was going to be working during my birthday, he actually gave me my present last week:
Soap from the Napa Soap Company. These smell fantastic! Nice & light & calming! & the names are great too: Cabernet Soapignon, Tea-no Grigio!

He also got me a wonderful bottle of wine, Rosenblum Vineyard Desiree Chocolate Wine. If you want a decadent dessert wine, try this out. It has a wonderful warm chocolate aroma that change your mind about ports.
Also, this weekend since J was working I spent 3 1/2 hours seaming my minimalist cardigan! You remember, the one I wanted to finished before coming to Omaha the FIRST time. Well it’s all done now & despite the 90 degree temps yesterday, I modeled the 100% pure alpaca sweater for photos:
Thing I learned in this project:
– wrapping stitches
– short row shaping
– 3 needle bind off
– when people told me alpaca grows, they weren’t kidding. I think I got an extra 2 inches in the initial blocking. (note that this did NOT happen when I swatched! The swatch LIED!)
So, overall a beautiful sweater in which I was able to learn & polish several techniques (first time I ever kitchenered a non sock!). This cardigan makes me smile.

Quilting Studio Progress

life, quilting

My sewing table came in the mail today!! Spent most of the late afternoon assembling & now I have what will be a great little table for me.

I will have some shelves on the right side to store some of my bigger notions & then the cubbies on the left will be great for thread, bobbins, pins, etc. I also like the wide space on the left side of the machine. This will give me plently of room for my quilts to go over.
Here’s a picture of my fabric shelves:

I wanted something that would be large enough to handle all my fabric organized by color as well as be strong enough to hold all that material! Ended up getting a utility shelf at Lowe’s that can have up to 250 lbs per shelf.
So the workroom is finally coming together! I can’t wait to start finishing some of my old WIPs. I realized today that I haven’t quilted in about 2 years! Seesh!

Projects

knitting,

Well, it was a very busy weekend here. I set out to organize the quilting studio. So that the business can start! Hopefully my sewing table will be here Friday & then I just have to order a work table. At that point, the doors can officially open! I’ve been really busy planning & developing ideas. This is so exciting!!

Anyways, I’ve also been busy putting the final touches on various knitting projects. The townhouse in Virginia was NOT condusive to blocking large projects, but this house certainly is!

This is a scarf/shawl/stole from Cheryl Oberle’s Folk Shawls. I believe I used Jamison wool that I purchased at Far North Yarn Company up in Anchorage.

And here is a quick project I finished today:

A wrist cushion for the mouse! A great help as I’m spending more & more time at the computer!

Productive Thursday!

knitting, life,

It was a very productive Thursday! I finished my Maeve socks:


They came out great! I used Rock Creek Yarn’s Cable-icious BFL Sock Yarn. She’s a local dyer in the DC Metro area & I’m in love with her yarn! I was worried that there would not be enough yarn, b/c cables usually eat up yarn like there’s no tomorrow, but I was fine- even have some left over for that Sock Blankie I’m going to make some day.
So now I think I will cast on for Aerang. It’s part of Obscuriosity‘s KAL. And I just discovered the designer is owner/part owner of a shop in Baltimore I visited one time. Small world!
The other significant accomplishment for yesterday was the garden plot. Per some neighbors, it was put in by the orginal owners. But the people who had the house before us (evil people I don’t really like) left it go & when I got to it, it was chock full of grass. So, several very hard days of hoeing, & ripping out roots & hoeing & ripping out weeds & blisters, etc, etc, etc, it was finally ready to put topsoil on! So since J & I have pretty much switched cars (the Civic is far more practical for his commute & the Jeep is better for me since I go to Lowe’s on a regular basis), I lined the back of the Jeep (per J’s request!) & bought soil. Hauled it to the garden plot & went back to Lowe’s to by more. Finally after 6 bags, I was good.
So the crop this year will consist of:
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Green Bell Peppers
Sweet Potatoes
Watermelon
Butternut Squash

Random List

knitting, life, random,

1. I’ve gotten into a nice routine of cleaning everyday- which should help me manage the place.
2. Potted some african violets over the weekend, so now the bedroom seems a little more finished.
3. Finished 1 Maeve sock & now at the gusset increases on the second one. Would really like to finish this tomorrow, most likely won’t be until Thursday.
4. Currently reading “Cards on the Table” by Agatha Christie. One from my Booksfree queue. I really enjoy reading her novels. Very entertaining even 80 + years later. Maybe tonight I will find out who the killer is…..

Also, it was someone mentioned they wanted to see more pics. Here’s one I took at the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria:

Knitting Mojo

knitting, life

The knitting mojo left the room about the same day we closed on the house. Since then I’ve just been trying to keep up with the greatly increased maintenance & responsibility home ownership requires. This leaves little time or energy to knit. It also doesn’t help that I’m currently working on a fairly intricate set of socks. Maeve socks. (Rav link, I would show a pic of mine, but I’m far too lazy to take a picture of them.) So at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is find out which row of the 24 row repeat I’m on & figure out R/L twists & all the other stuff this pattern throws at you.

But yesterday, things made a change for the better. J had to go into work, so I woke up at crack o’ dawn with him. There were plenty of things to be done, but they were mostly yard things & I wouldn’t be creating good neighborly relations if I decided to mow the lawn at 7am on a Saturday. So I decided to pick up the socks! My mind was fresh after a good nights sleep & there weren’t any major distractions in the house. I ended up making good progress & hope to finish one sock today.

Best part is, I want to knit again. That’s a great feeling.

Gardening & not much Knitting

life,

The house we purchased already had a raised garden plot in the back. This was very exciting for me, as I have always wanted a vegetable garden. So as soon as we got the house partway manageable, I started in on the garden. It’s been an incredible amount of work, but I almost have all the grass out (it went unused for several years) & then can add more topsoil. Hopefully I will get some plants in there by the weekend.

So as a result, I haven’t been doing much knitting. I did start a simple granny square afghan last week with some yarn my father-in-law gave me. It’s been the easy no-brainer project that’s kept me sane in the evenings. It’s fairly boring, but I’ll post a pic soon. I really need to finished up some socks though. The Obscuriosity KAL I participate in on Ravelry is having Round 4 shortly & it looks like some great sock patterns will make the final cut. Definately want to participate in that!

Washer & Dryer!

homekeeping, life

We also had to purchase a washer & dryer. We sold the one we had in Alaska with the house. Then we used the horrible apartment W/D in Virginia. But now we got to buy a really great set! We did tons of research (*cough* J did a lot of research *cough*) definately wanted the high efficiency models. At first we decided on the LG mid level set. Didn’t have the steam feature, but it seemed to be a good machine for the price. But we were hestitant about the front loader fitting in the laundry room. Then while in Roanoke, we stopped in at the Home Depot & chatted with the appliance sales person. She introduced us to the Maytag Bravos series! This thing is amazing! Top loading (no fitting in the room worries here!) & quieter & was even certified to eliminate allergens! & the best part- it’s HUGE! 4.7 Cubic feet! I did the first load of wash & what would have filled the “full size” apartment washer only came to about halfway! & thanks to moving in the week after Memorial Day, we got a FANTASTIC deal, so we didn’t pay anywhere’s near that scary price on the Maytag site! Yikes!
So yes, we’ve become complete suburbanites, getting all excited about our appliances. Next up I need to show you the Dining room set!

Our Kitchen!

homekeeping, life
Well we are finally in our beautiful new house. It seems everyone has their “House buying drama” story. We have now joined that group. The previous owners didn’t think twice about leaving what they didn’t want in the house after they vacated. But thanks to CBS Home (a very nice realty office), everything got hauled away right as the carpet cleaners where ready to begin. Our household goods arrived safely & so far nothing appears to be damaged.
The best part was putting together the kitchen though!!! The previous owners had replaced the cabinets to a nice cherry & updated the dishwasher & microwave to stainless steel. However, they left the fridge & range the old white models. Needless to say, it looked a little disjointed. So J & I went out to replace those units. We ended up with a HUGE LG fridge:
Just look at the inside of this machine!
And here’s a pic of the overall kitchen:
That alumumin pan in the middle of the island is a “Welcome to Omaha” tray of brownies! I love this town!