One Crazy Fiber Lady

Sorry for the long delay.  Many days with the monkeys leaves little computer time and/or energy.  Apologies to Christine that we were not able to get together while I was out visiting my sister, but hopefully we can arrange something for the next visit.  We had a good visit with lots of food and family.  I managed to do a little knitting so it was all good in the end.  I got to put some miles onto the new car and really get to drive her.  Loooooovvvveeee the car!  Even in the rainstorms that I drove in and out of Wednesday heading to sister’s house, she handled like a dream.  Good purchase that is far friendlier on the gas budget than the Durango was. 

Anyway… it is good to be back in the regular routine.. though regular probably isn’t the right word.  Today the construction moves inside so mom arranged for the kids to go to school during their off days, at least for this week as they demolish a closet (or two) to make room for a staircase. 

As this is ostensibly a knitting blog, I have knitting progress to show!  I’m just past the 4th buttonhole on Ariann and coming into the home stretch with 3 more rows before starting the neck shaping.  I really like how it is progressing.

Sadly, Ariann is now too big for commuting knitting, though I did schlep her in yesterday.  Especially with the newly revised route.  The return trip last Tuesday went without a hitch so, yes, the new route is approved, at least for the winter.  I picked up my December monthly yesterday for Penn Station, rather than Hoboken. 

Standing on the platform in Secaucus waiting for the northbound train yesterday morning I needed something to work on while waiting for the train that was 5 minutes late.  Ariann, as I mentioned, is far too large, especially for stand-up knitting.  That was when I remembered I had sock yarn in my purse.  It’s been there, untouched for weeks now, as well as my US0 Addis.  It is Handspun on the Web that I picked up at Modern Yarn a while ago.  I’ve long since lost the ball band so I can’t tell you what colorway it is.  I took this picture this morning on the train:

The sock will be the commuting knitting for a while with Ariann and the Moderne Baby Blanket contending for the home-knitting attention.  Better finish them soon as there are others rapidly pushing themselves into the queue.  I joined Julia’s very unofficial KAL for Celtic Dreams.  I picked up the Blackwater Abbey worsted in the Bracken colorway, which is now sitting in my bedroom waiting for me to get started.

Another project (or two) that will also be quickly contending for attention is the newest sweater from Wendy, Drive-Thru.  It will be perfect for the monkeys.  I ordered some Plymouth Galway (incidentally I’m knitting Ariann with Galway) in shades of blue to make one for Alex.  I’m betting I can turn up enough pinks in stash to make on for Kat.  Definitely a cute sweater, and at that gauge, I might just be able to finish the pair of them before getting depressingly bored by them.  Okay, no one mention the much lauded and discarded Dale sweaters I never finished.  Besides, they can use a nice sweater to do things like this…

We put them to work on Sunday, raking.  We have a rather large pin-oak in the center of the back yard that dumps all of its leaves in about a 24 hour period.  Wouldn’t you know that that 24 hour period happened AFTER the landscaper was here (before construction started) leaving us with a nice carpet of leaves on the lawn.  I can’t remember the last time I raked, and my shoulders are concurring.  Incidentally, that large shrubbery at the corner of the house is a Rhododendron.  For some reason the bushes in this area grow seriously large.  There is a Holly bush that stands as tall as the chimney.  I never knew the darn things can grow that large.  This one is just a beast.

And now for the daily construction update.  Well, since the last "daily" update, there has been much progress as you can tell from the picture (taken this morning as per SOP).

As you can see, there’s a full roof and even windows in the addition.  The hip roof on the old part has been modified to integrate nicely with the addition.  And yes, you’re not seeing things, the front of the house has changed colors.  The brown was aluminum siding that they pulled off yesterday.  They’ll be changing the windows in the old part and residing.  This lovely green (which drew some not so nice names) has been hidden since 1979.  I’d forgotten how ugly it was.  Took me a few moments to realize why the front porch felt so much larger last night after I got home.  The overhang was gone  

They’ll be drilling up the brick steps today, putting in footings for the new porch and moving inside.  Plumbers are due today to work on the new bathroom, and they’ll be cutting out the closet to put in the temporary staircase to the addition.  This picture is the current view from my bedroom door.  The door on the left is the closet that will be the staircase, straight ahead is obvious and the door on the right is the linen closet.  The linen closet is also going to provide a large access way to the upstairs.  We’ll be putting in a free-standing closet to replace the lost space.

On that note, time to get more coffee and write some code.

Craft on!