Back in the USA

I am back in Houston. It was a good trip, if a bit cold. In between the rain, sleet, hail and snow (yes, snow), I saw this tree in St. James Park. It just looked so perfect. We had a fun afternoon feeding the ducks, swans and pidgeons in the park. The other lovely thing we saw were these. Daffodils! They were blooming in all the parks. These daffodils were out on Hampstead Heath. I did not get any yarn, although Sarah and I did go to Liberty one afternoon. They had lots of Rowan yarn and pattern books, but I resisted. The fabrics at Liberty are so pretty, but with the dollar doing so poorly overseas, they were way too expensive. The fabrics were all about 20 pounds per meter which comes to about $40 per yard when you convert to US prices. We had a good time looking though.

I did try to go to Knitting Hill on Monday night, but there was no one at the pub knitting that night. It may have been due to the fact that it was St. Patrick's Day, and the pub was rather crowded. Maybe I will have better luck the next time I am in London.

Where Am I?

I am on spring break with family.  We are in London.  Yea, cold and wet!  Seriously, it's not bad.  We are having a good time.  I don't have any photos to show you, because Wally has the camera, and I don't know how to download to Sarah's Mac.  So, more later.  

Something Different

Taking a page from Janet's blog, I am posting an old photo of my sister and brother and myself. I think I was about 4 or 5 in this photo. I remember the day it was taken, because I had just had my bangs cut that morning (can't you tell). Getting my bangs cut was a fun thing, because the barber shop had a play horse that you sat on while the barber cut your hair. And...when he was done, if you had been good, you got a lollipop. I remember the outfit I was wearing, too. White sweater, not hand knit, and a red and green plaid wool pleated skirt. Why do I remember crazy things like this?

Seeing Red

So...here is a picture of the dining room with one coat of paint. It's really, really red. I am reserving judgement until the painting is finished. I think the red will be a little deeper than this when it is done. I do like the contrast between the red and white. I think I just need to get used to it. Also, when the floor is done and the furniture is in, I think the red will be toned down. What do you think?

Tile work

The tile guys are hard at work on the house. They have all the floor area that is going to be tiled done, and they are working on the shower surrounds. Here a few photos of what's going on. This is the fireplace, obviously. The tile guys just installed the granite around the fireplace. There is still a piece missing on the bottom, and it has not been grouted yet.
This next photo is the tile work in the entryway. The black inlay is the same granite as on the fireplace. There are still a couple of pieces missing, and again, there is no grout. There is brown paper covering most of the tile, because the weather here has been very wet, they were trying to keep as much mud off the tile as possible.

This last photo does not have any tile work in it, but I just like it. This is the master bedroom after they finished painting it. It looks more yellow than it really is. The wall color is more of a beige. I like how the light comes in the windows in this room.

What Gets Done When You Have the Flu

Actually, these socks were finished before I got the flu, but I did not photographed them until now These are made from Tofutsies yarn on US 2 (2.75mm) bamboo needles. Now I need to get them to their intended recipient.

These socks I did manage to finishe while I had the flu. I love the stripes in these socks. This is an Austrian wool/nylon yarn again on US 2 (2.75mm) bamboo needles.

My other mindless knitting while I was sick were these cotton wash cloths. They are all made from Sugar and Cream yarn on US 7 (4.5mm) needles. I don't remember the color names, but the blue and white one is a self-striping yarn. They are fun and fast, and they give me a chance to try out different combinations of stitches.

Paint!

Painting is in progress. Here is a shot of the kitchen. The dark yellowish color is primer. The wall color is just barely visible under the bar and on top of the base board. It's getting there. In other news, the cough is getting better. It's not completely gone yet, but I am making progess.

What's going on here

Cough, cough, cough and cough some more. That is what I have been doing all week. I have not been to the house. I have barely even knit. Not fun stuff.

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.