In search of things that don't exist

This is a non-knitting post.

Just thought I'd get that out there.

As I've mentioned before, I am in the process of attempting to update/redo our master bedroom. I have started laying flooring and trim in the closet as a practice piece.

Background on why I needed a 'practice piece': In 2006, when Jamie and I moved from NB to my childhood home, after my father passed away, we did a mad dash re-do of my old room because I refused to move into my childhood room let alone let a grown man live in a girl's childhood room that was decorated in sort of a horsey theme. It was the first major redo I've done as an adult (this redo thing comes from my mother and she did as much as she could to every room in the house) and needless to say things were less than perfect. We payed someone to lay the flooring but did the wallpaper, painting, panelling repair, and trim work ourselves. Hanging trim is sort of an art and I was a very novice artist. We are still living in this room until we get the master finished and it is less than perfect. I'm sure no one notices immediately the flaws in my trim job, but I sure as heck do. I also hung a small amount of trim in our kitchen when I repainted 1-2 years ago. It was an improvement from my childhood room, but definately not ideal.

So, all this being said, I want this project to look like someone who knew what they were doing hung the trim. And I started in the closet. We picked up two boxes of flooring, you'll remember. I needed one more to finish.
Weekend before last, Jamie and I went into town to pick up another box of flooring to finish the closet. Typically our local HD carries an entire pallet of the Pergo flooring that most closely resembles the flooring we put in our current bedroom (Pergo has since discontinued the exact flooring we used). We got to our local HD only to find there was no pallet and there was not a single box of flooring. We asked, someone called in to purchase the entire pallet.
So we went to the next town over to buy the single box we needed there. They had nine boxes, but all of them had crunched corners. I am not putting crunched corners into my 'perfect' remodelling job. The flooring gentleman was kind enough to explain that Pergo was discontinuing this flooring and it was on sale and being scooped up by the second. He offers to call around to find us an undamaged box.We waited about 30 mins while he called around.

All the while, Jamie and I are discussing what to do with the flooring in the rest of the room that is supposed to match the closet. I have already laid two boxes with the assumption that I am going to lay continuously into the bedroom with the same flooring. Do we buy the flooring we need for the entire project? Do we wait and see and hope that whatever Pergo comes out with also closely matches the other bedroom flooring because eventually the hall between the two bedrooms is supposed to also get the same flooring?

The closest store has six boxes in good condition and it's another 30 minute drive away. They'll hold them. We go. They aren't holding them, but we found a single box for me to finish the closet. We have to figure out what to do later. We can lay tile...cork...something else that is close...Jamie can call a local contractor to have them match what we have as closely as possible...none of these options are what I want to hear.
They are not what I was picturing in my head when envisioning this room. The flooring is SUPPOSED to match.
Match as in be the same.
My heart was crushing.
I was pouting like a little kid.
Jamie, bless his heart, was doing his best to assure me it was going to be okay.
We went home with one box of flooring.

And I finished the flooring in the closet.

I am a lover of closets. The place we rented in NB was the best rent house ever because it had an insane amount of closet space. Freaking loved it.
Jamie and I have been sharing a very small walk-in closet and it is seriously starting to wear on me. Things are hanging on shelves throughout the entire room this closet is in. Did I mention the said shared closet is not in my childhood room that we currently sleep in? No? Yeah, it's not.
I need a closet that sings to me when I walk in. The order and beauty of it brings calmness to my heart. I love closets.
I want my closet, this closet, to sing to me.

This past weekend, I finished the closet project. The baseboards, a small crown molding, and cove in the corners are hung. It is as close to perfect as humanly possible with super crooked walls.
I hung the Elfa system and Jamie was moving his stuff into it before I even had the system together on the other side. I think he was feeling a bit cramped in the shared small closet too.
Here's the finished product. It's a beautiful thing.

Read, Read, and Re-read...

The item at the very top of the list of "Things I Learned from Knitting" is: Read the instructions. After reading the instructions, read them again, and for good measure, re-read them.
Do I read my 'things I've learned list' let alone read the instructions for my knitting THREE times?! No. So, I will continue to do stupid things like this:

The above picture is the neck portion and the back of the head part. Do you see what's wrong with this? I didn't until I sewed the top of the head to the side of the head parts together. You see the stitch holders (blue and yellow thingys as the bottom) and the increase stitches about five inches above that? Yep, you'd have to have a cone head to fit into this puppy.
When looking at it, it's rather funny I kept faith that the pattern had to be correct and I just needed to push through. The problem was I read 5 inches from the ribbing, when the instructions clearly said 5 inches from the beginning of the entire thing (including the ribbing). I kept faith all the way through, shoved it onto Jamie's head (he's the test subject because this is being made for my brother-in-law), and realized very quickly that my faith in the pattern was misplaced faith in me being able to read the instructions clearly.
Frogging, frog, frog, frog.
So I got to start back above the ribbing.

And then I finished it. It's actually a pretty cool pattern. I used plain ol' acrylic Red Heart Saver and the elasticity of the bottom ribbing isn't anywhere near as good as it would've been with a wool product. I needed it to be durable, machine washable, and he's only going to wear it like once or twice a year. It seemed silly to go out and buy wool when I had yarn in the stash that would work.
Here's a goofy photo of the final product so ya'll can see sorta how it fits:

 My head is slightly smaller than a man-sized head, but you get the idea.

This project was fun, quick (would've been quicker if I would just read carefully), and satisfying. I have a Christmas present complete. Way super early, too. I have already cast on another project and working my way through it.
There is more to come tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

My, how time flies...

When you're busy as hell. It's September already and I haven't posted in a while. Let's start at the beginning with the sweater project. Here we are.

 Yep, not too bad from the front.

Pardon the bathroom photo - I was home by myself and needed to get a picture of this to post. The bathroom being the obvious choice due to it containing a mirror. Note the cowering dog in the bottom left corner. She's the one who thinks camera flashes are lightening, is scared to death of storms, and therefore believes she should also be afraid of cameras.

Things are always different depending on your viewpoint. This my friends, is of the inside of the sweater - is it really finished? Not so much. I have to tackle those threads badly, but they're on the back burner for now. Sewing all those in = nott fun. So....I will get to it when I get to it. It's still not cold enough for me to wear this thing so I'll have them sewn in by the time the weather cools off. Promise.

I have lots more to share, but I've got to go finish my closet project. I will keep posting daily until I'm all caught up.

Happy Sunday!

Finishing

In the sense of not finished, but completing the final steps of being finished. Confusing? Nah.

I have completed the sweater. I just need to finish it. The buttons are sewed, I've sewn in the ends around the neck, all that is left is to sew the hem on the sleeves and bottom edge and hide all the yarn ends. Then it will be finished.

I put it on last night after I finished sewing on the buttons and Jamie couldn't stop smiling at me. He said "I'm just remembering all the cussing and starting back over and 'gimme the computer so I can look up how this is supposed to work' and crap that it took, but look at what you made." People just don't make thier own clothing anymore. But those that do are out there, online. Sharing that enjoyment.

It has been a trial. I have been frustrated beyond belief. I have set it down thinking I would never pick it up again. But I did and now it is almost finished.

I see some things that I'd like to fix, but I've got to do more research cause I don't personally know anyone who knits. That's for the next project.

The baby shower gifts were received well! The expecting mother was more excited than I thought she would be, in a very good way. Gifting handmade stuff makes me super nervous - I know most people in this area are appreciative of them, but it just weirds me out if I'm the only one who brings a handmade gift. I wasn't - she received quite a few sewn blankets. I get the weirdest looks that I am in my late twenties and that I knit/crochet coolish stuff - not ruffled TP holders, teapot cosies, or doll clothes. Everyone was very nice at identifying who made the stuff and the crafty conversation was flowing. Lots of crafty people in that bunch! Even made some contacts for future sewing help (once the machine is fixed).

I will be posting a picture of me wearing the sweater - all finished - hopefully by the end of the week.

Until then, have a great week everyone!

Just keep knitting...

I finished the blanket. It looks like this:

I was imagining more of a triangular trim, but couldn't find a good stitch pattern and the little loops looks okay. The pattern calls for only one stitch for the corners and I think if I ever make this same blanket again, I'll do two or three because the corners really show up with it's unfolded. It is what it is. I did it in a week!
Since I finished early, I'm going to try to get a little beanie done and maybe some little booties. I should be able to finish those before Satuarday.

I've worked a bit on the sweater too. I only have four more steps to do - crochet the buttonhole side, sew buttons on, attached the lace to the sweater, and a final block of the front.

The CC yarn I used is a bit heavier than I'd have liked, but it is my first sweater - it'll have to do. I really need to get this thing finished!

I have not cast on the helmet liner for my brother-in-law and I have not started another nerd coaster. Those are on the list of things to do.

Speaking of lists - I love lists - so much that I downloaded a list maker app for my phone. It is the best thing ever. I paid 1.99 for it cause I wanted something that could do more than the notes app already on my phone and I wanted to be able to create grocery lists, checklists, to do lists, and this app even as a 'custom list' option that I haven't used yet (just downloaded it last night). I'm pretty excited though. I think I'll create a knitting list to keep track of too. Love it! It's ListPro if you're interested and love lists like me!

Random topic of the day - I discovered I lost about six pounds from my morning weigh and an evening weigh on my wii fit board. I'm thinking that my bathroom scale needs a battery, but what a great feeling discovering that I am not quite as much of a fat ass as I originally thought! Since I've already lost 3 lbs by eating better for a week and a half, one could say that I have lost 10 lbs. That is a big difference! It's really easy when you cheat and get incorrect readings from the scale though!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Fantastic Friday!

This week has been a bit of a blur for so many reasons - Jamie started his new job, I decided to start eating better, started a new crochet project, and all the routine/normal stuff. Jamie started his new job which is about a 40-45 min commute and he's working completely out in the 100+ degree heat so by the time he gets home he's completely wiped out. I've been doing my best to have as much done in the hour between me getting home and his arrival home so he can concentrate on sleeping. This heat has to let up sometime. It's super draining and hopefully he'll adjust - or he'll just go to bed at 8 every night. Oh well.

Decided last Friday that I didn't want to gain every pound I lost about two years ago (by eating better and working out, neither of which I do now) and bought lots of healthy stuff at the grocery store. I made myself an infamous 'green smoothie'. The original recipe I pulled from a friend of mine Claire and then I did a bit of research and discovered I could pretty much put whatever in the hell I wanted to in this thing.I know this is not the best picture in the world, but this was after round one in the blender. Here's what I put in it: 4 leaves romaine, 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 banana, 1.5 green apples, handful of frozen raspberries, 1/2 cucumber, one squeezed lemon, and some ginger. The smoothie won. I'm working with a 1970s model blender and there was a lot of chewing going on to get round one down. Round two got another banana, more ginger, water, and ice. I had this three mornings. I need to make another batch, but we're out of banana. I'd like to add some of the veggies that I don't really like - like beets/raddishes/etc to see if I can get some of those goodies without knowing I'm eating them.

In addition to the green smoothie, I'm eating 100-150 calories multiple times throughout the day. I've only been seriously trying this for a week and I've already lost 2 lbs. I only cheated once last weekend (we went out to dinner with friends). I'll also have to cheat today because we're doing a 'goodbye' lunch for someone at work who's retiring. 

Earlier this week, I sewed the sleeves onto my sweater. They look like this:

Not too shabby. I was having a bit of an issue with casting on the contrasting color neckband and was feeling pretty frustrated when I started another project that has to be completed in two weeks. I started it Monday. I'm this far:

It's a baby blanket for a friend of mine who's expecting. Her baby shower is on the 27th and I have a long way to go. It's crochet. Pound of Love yarn. And it's not even close to being complete. It's a free pattern from Lion's Brand Yarns - Jonah's Blanket...or something like that. I'm hoping they'll like it. It's giving me a break from the sweater frustration with a very specific goal to get this done in two weeks. Then it'll be back to the sweater. I am so close to finishing the sweater, I can taste it.

Tuesday, the deal of the century came in. We didn't get to put it up until Thursday. Here it is on our ceiling:

Fanciest light fixture in the house.

That's the excitement of this week! I plan on crocheting a lot this weekend in a mad dash to meet the deadline. I would love to get some work done around the house, but if the humidity and heat don't let up that will not be happening. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Another weekend...

I did not knit a single stitch this weekend. (!)

Let me paint this picture for you: Wednesday night our AC crapped out on us. I think I only got about 3 hours of sleep and that's being generous.I still don't think I've recovered from last Wednesday night. I have been exhausted since. (The AC is fixed, just some loose wires.)
I took a 30min power nap before we hung out with friends Friday night. Woke up super early Sat. to go pick up Jamie's toolbox from work (he starts a new job next week), unloaded it at the house for temporary storage, and attempted to not melt from the crazy heat outside. I took an hour and a half power nap Sat. evening. We grilled up some burgers and made homemade french fries. Sunday I was awoken by our sweet hounds who didn't really care that I hadn't slept much in the past three days and I did not take a nap because I wanted to actually sleep through the whole night before going to work.
Knowing how lack of sleep affects my counting abilities I didn't attempt knitting. I did however start blocking the sweater. I am blocking portions of it at a time since I do not have a big enough space for the entire thing. It's a slow process, but worth it.

I also found something amazing:


This little beauty is going into my master bedroom closet. It was only $38 at the HD. It's normally $70. Do I feel like I just got the deal of the century? Yup. I have been pouring over home lighting/improvement websites and stores looking for some light fixture that is fabulous but cheap. The cheapest I could find was at least $50. Eesh - for a freaking light fixture?! I absolutely LOVE the drum pendant styling, but that pops it up to more like $70-$80 for a freaking light fixture. I just happened to go to HD's website to look at lights...again...for the 1 millionth time. And I couldn't believe the price on this puppy. I bought it on the spot. Too good to pass up. I'll be posting a picture of it installed later.

I am hoping to finish up the sweater project this week and I will show you all the finished product! Look for it!
Have a great week.