Happy New Year, everyone. Be safe.

Merry Christmas!

Thoughts of Christmas

When I was little my mother always baked at Christmas time. She baked fruit bars, brownies, chex mix and cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. There were chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, sometimes anise and my personal favorite, spritz. I'm not sure why I love spritz cookies so much. They are basically just flour, butter and sugar, but I have always loved them. As a child I was always amazed that little metal discs in the cookie press could turn cookie dough into beautiful shapes like this.

Or this.

Last night Sarah and I made spritz cookies. They are still a big favorite of mine. There is something about the sweet, buttery way they melt in your mouth that I love. Now we'll see how long they last. I predict not very long.

Artistic photography by Sarah.

Sheetrock

Today I have photos of sheetrock. Here is the living room facing the fireplace. Here is a photo of the kitchen taken from the living room. From left to right you see the door into the pantry, the bar area with kitchen area behind and then the breakfast room.

Things are moving along. Outside is still a sea of mud with the rain we've had recently. My Target rain boots have gotten a lot of use recently.

Christmas Spirit and Socks

It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it is 82 degrees outside. That's what it was this past weekend here in southeast Texas. Now, having lived here on the Texas Gulf Coast for such a long time, you'd think I would be used to this type of weather. December is always unpredictable here, however, it just seems a little weird to be putting up Christmas lights in T-shirts and shorts. And how unpredictable is it? It is 55 degrees today.

On the knitting front, here is what I have been working on. Black and light blue tweedy socks made from Tofutsies yarn. One sock done, and one to go. I did start the second sock yesterday so I would not suffer from SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).

I was downtown twice this past week, and while there I stopped by Yarns 2 Ewe. I don't go there often, but when I do, I usually drool over their Koigu yarn. I did drool some, but I really didn't see any Koigu that just jumped out and said "Buy me." What I did see was this.

This is Steinback Wolle Aktiv Effekt. It's a lovely Austrian yarn, 75% wool and 25% polyamid, 460 yards. It is so soft, and I love the colors in the self-stripe. The photos don't do it justice. It has little bits of lime green and magenta in it, too. I came home and immediately cast on, and it has been so fun to knit with. I'm already to the heel on the first sock.

More House Stuff

Here are some more pictures of the house we took yesterday. All the insulation has been blown in. We are using Biobase which is a soy product. You can read more about it here or here. It is an excellent insulator and should keep our utility bills lower than what we are paying now.

This is a shot of the bonus room over the garage. The doors on the right of the photo go out to a balcony.
Here is a photo of the bonus room looking from the opposite direction. You can see the bathroom through the studs. When it is finished, there will be a small kitchette along that wall with a sink, microwave and small refrigerator.

This is the bay window in the master bedroom. The brick is coming along, and it looks good.

Another brick photo showing the back porch.

Pay It Forward Gifts

A while back Piglottie had a blog about Pay It Forward, and I was one of the first three people to respond. So last Thursday I got a package in the mail from England. This is what Piglottie sent me. Look at that lovely project bag Piglottie made me. Isn't it great? I love the colors, and it is just the right size for one of the shawls I am working on. Piglottie also made the greeting cards. They are three dimensional and very clever. It was a wonderful surprise, and I love all of it.

Bricks

We now have a completed roof, and all the hardy plank is done. Here are the dormers in the front now that they are completed. The fireplace is installed.

And.....we have brick work. There is not a lot of brick work yet, but it's started. We are having them do a 3/4 inch, flush mortar, so it will take a little longer than if we had gone with standard mortar. Since the mortar is thicker than standard, they have do sections and then wait for it to set up before they can go higher.

I'm happy with the way the bricks look. I like the variation in the bricks.

Cable Hat

This is the cable hat The Yarn Harlot put on her blog a little while ago. It was a fun knit. I made this for Sarah. She liked the green yarn. It's actually yarn I won as a door prize when The Yarn Harlot came to speak here back in September. Yarns: Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes and Blue Sky Suri Merino held together as one yarn.
Needles: US 11 (4mm)

House Update

Here is the latest on the house. We have shingles on the roof. They ran out of shingles, so the front section still has a little more to do. We have windows in the master bath.

We have hardy board on all of the back porch columns.

We have lots of bricks in the front yard.

This is a closer look at the bricks so you can see the color better. I really like the variation in the red color.

They are working on all the A/C vents inside, but that's not so exciting to look at. All the water and gas lines are in, but not connected. I did a walk through for telephone/cable/data and security today. They are supposed to start that on Friday after the electrician comes. I chose interior doors, mill work and wall finish today, too. It's moving along.

Roofing

We now have decking for the roof. It's not the right decking, but there is decking. I'll let you know what happens with that. We also have windows in most of the house. The windows that are hurricane proof are not here yet, but all the others are in.

We have plumbing. That's what all the red and blue hoses are. Red for hot water, and blue for cold. None of it's connected yet, but it's in place.

And last, but not least, we have bath tubs. Woot!

So that's the latest on the house.

Glacier Lake Socks

These are the Glacier Lake socks I have been working on for a while. I finally finished them last night. I love the colors in this yarn, and it worked up nicely, too. Down Home sock yarn from Knitivity. Glacier Lake colorway. Needle size US 2 (2.75mm) Basic Sock pattern from Ann Norling.

House Blah, Blah, Blah

Here is the house right now. The sheathing and tyvec are going up. There has been more done on the inside, too. This is the balcony off the back of the garage.

This is the bonus room over the garage.

We now have a bar between the kitchen and the living room. This view is from the breakfast area looking to the kitchen on the right and the living room on the left.

Here is the fireplace.

And, for those who asked, here is what the house next door looks like now.

More Rafters

Here are the latest photos of the house. These were taken yesterday. This is the front of the house, obviously. I was really happy with the way it looks. It's one thing to have an idea and put it on paper, but sometimes what you actually get is not the same. This is pretty much how I envisioned the house to look. Of course, this is just the skeleton, but the over all lines are pretty much what I had imagined. This is the back bay window in the master bedroom.

This is a photo of the back of the garage and the bonus room over the garage. We were able to walk up into the bonus room yesterday evening. It is going to be great. The light was almost gone by that time, so I will have to show pictures of the bonus room later. The balcony will be for Wally's telescope if there are not too many trees in the way.

Rafters

So this is what I saw when I drove up this afternoon. Not a whole lot of change since Friday, but we do have some rafters on the garage and the back wing of the house. The guys were working on the main part of the house this afternoon. I was glad I was not the one up there holding that beam. It looked heavy, and I really don't like heights.

We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

Knitting!!!!!

Here is a wool soaker I knitted for one of Sarah's friends. The yarn is Cascade 220 Quatro, the pattern is from CurlyPurly.com. Needle sizes were US 3, 5 and 7.

More House Stuff

This a photo through the front door. The entryway goes straight through to the living room and then out to the screened porch. Here is the kitchen. Really looks like a kitchen doesn't it? Oh well, it will when it's done.

This is a shot looking down the back porch. Today was the first time Wally had seen it. He says he may have over done it on the porches, but I think we will enjoy them.

This is me standing in the master shower.

This is the big beam that supports the second story on the garage. It's huge.

Here is a shot of the garage and the stairs going up to the second story.

We did find a couple of things that are not right in the framing today, but they are small things that can be corrected easily. Mostly it just incorrect sizing on a couple of windows. I will talk to the guys on Monday to get it corrected. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather stays nice for a while longer.

House Progress

These first two photos are what the house looked like yesterday, 31 Oct. The foundation forms were gone, and the framers had started framing.

This is what I saw when I went out this afternoon. This shot is from the street.

Here is the garage. The framers are still working on the support for the second story of the garage. The garage will be attached to the house when all is finished.

Here is the front porch. It's hard to tell it's a porch since it does not have the roof on yet.

House Update

These first two photos are of the foundation prep. This a post tension slab, so all the blue cables will be pulled taut 7 to 10 days after the foundation is poured.

Today they poured the foundation. Here is a shot of part of the front porch.

This the machine that pumps the cement from the trucks to the forms. This photo shows the garage.

Here are the showers in the front two bedrooms. Exciting stuff, huh?

Here are the back two bedrooms. It's hard to tell anything right now, but it will all take shape eventually.