Kitchen

OK, here are some photos of the kitchen, or at least the cabinets in the kitchen. The cabinets will be painted white when all is finished. Not all the doors have been put on yet, but you can still get an idea of how things will look. This first photo was taken from the breakfast area. This next photo is still from the breakfast area, but farther to the left showing the half wall that divides the kitchen from the living room.

This photo was taken from standing in the living room.

There's not too much noticeable work going on right now. The guys who will be painting have been caulking all the cracks and crevasses. The cabinet guys still need to come back and finish up, too.

Still More House Photos

Here are a few more photos of what's been going on at the house this past week. I took these yesterday when there were no workman and not so much sawdust. Here is the fireplace. It will have black granite tiles around the face and extending 24 inches in front. The wood will be stained and varnised. This is the bench in the mudroom. They have not got the doors on it yet, but there will be four doors on the bottom and four doors on the top.

Here is the redesigned cabinets for the bonus room kitchenette. There will be a small microwave above the counter on the right, and a small refrigerator underneath. Again, the doors have not been installed on the cabinets.

Things are coming along. The painters are caulking the woodwork, and they may get started this week. I have met with the man who is doing the tile work, and we have that sorted out. So that's how things stand for now.

Knitting or House or Both

I finished the rusted root sweater for Sarah. It still needs to be blocked. I will post pictures when that is done. I have resurrected the faroese shawl that I started last year. I want to get it done, and with the weather we have been having lately, it will be nice and warm to wear. I have also been knitting cotton face cloths for Sarah. They are easy and fun to do.

Things have been a little crazy at the house this week. The cabinet guys have been working all week. After some confusion as to what I wanted, things are going better now. They have had to tear out some of the work they had done, because it was not right, and I called them on it.

The other interesting aspect we found out this week is that the half wall between the kitchen and living room is about a foot too far into the living room. We found this out because the cabinets in the kitchen were not lining up correctly when going by the plan. It's too late to change the wall now, so we will have to live with it. It's not a horrible error, but I'm perturbed that it was not caught by the contractor. I did not think we needed to measure everything as we went along. Obviously, I was wrong. The positive outcome of the wall being misplaced is that now I will have a wider island in the kitchen. I will have more storage, and it will be a lovely work space.

No pictures of the house right now, because there is just too many people and too much sawdust.

Aarrrggg!!!!

So....I resurrected a shawl that I started a long time ago that had been sitting in the bottom of my knitting bag. I knit two very, very long rows and realized I had made a mistake at the beginning of the first row. It's a mistake that cannot be fixed by going back under the stitch or anything like that. Consequently, I am tinking back all of the two very, very, very long rows to fix it. Aarrrggg!!!!!!!

Column update

After all the uproar about the columns (see restored post on January 8), this is what we have. Nice round columns that look really good. Here is a closer shot. The columns will get painted along with everything else later on, but I am really happy with the way they look.

New Knitting

So...what do you do with seven skeins of Tahki Classic Cotton in teal? You make this. This is the Rusted Root sweater by Sarah Johnson and Rachel Bishop. My Sarah and I were at Twisted Yarns for their after Christmas/before inventory sale. Sarah saw this pattern and fell in love with it. Then we had to find a yarn for it.

Here's a close up of the leaf detail. I still have about 3 or 4 inches more to knit on it, but it has gone quickly. And of course, it will need to be blocked. I'm still not really sold on cotton yarn, but for our climate it should get more wear, and Sarah really liked it.

House Progress

Here is the original post that was supposed to be posted on January 8. I thought I had lost it, but it was saved in Blogger, I just didn't know how to get to it. Sometimes my computer skills are not so great.

Here is a house update. Things were pretty quiet over the holidays, but work has picked up again now. The construction guys have started working on the inside this week. Here is a view of my pantry. I love the shelving. This will all get painted later. This is a view of the molding being put in the dining room.

Here is a view of the molding and baseboards in the master bedroom.

And last, but not least we have bases for our columns. They are suposed to be installed later today, so hopefully I will have another photo of the front porch later.

We had a miscommunication between the contractor, his construction supervisor and ourselves. Or maybe I should say it was a lack of communication. The plans initially showed round columns on top of the bases, but Wally and I had talked to the contractor about doing square craftsman style columns. The contractor had drawn pictures and said sure, it could be done. Well, the change did not get communicated to the supervisor by the contractor or by us (we could have done it at our red line meeting), so he ordered round columns as per plan. When we were out looking at the house on Sunday we saw round columns being stored in the dining room, so Monday morning I emailed everyone to find out what was going on. That's when we learned of the mix up. To make a long story short, we are going to have round columns after all. It's just too much trouble to send the columns back, plus we would have to get the change approved by the architectural control committee which could take weeks. When all is done, I think it will look fine. I just need to keep telling myself I need to be flexible.

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.