Cozy Knitting's New Home Base!

This is my new little house. Isn't it cute? The stairs on the right are going to my new studio. It is an add-on room that is attached to the kitchen. Nice that it has it's own outside door.
This is some of the ugly wallpaper that has to come down. This is the kitchen. You can barely see the doorway on the other side of the frig that goes to the new studio.
These are the tiles in the new kitchen. I can live with them for a while.

This is the back deck. There had been a pool where the bare spot was. It was awful, stinky, gunky, and looked like an eyesore. The seller removed it.

A view from my kitchen door.
And finally this awful wallpaper in the kitchen. It has to go really fast.

I couldn't get rid of this duplicate picture. It is too complicated-so here's the kitchen again.

So there you are. A little tour. I could show you the empty rooms, but they all look alike. Empty. Except for the wallpaper in that one bedroom and the kitchen. I spent a fortune at PetSmart today buying kitty things to make the transition a little easier for them.

Tomorrow starts the real moving stuff. A handyman is coming to change the locks for me and to put in a cat door. I will clean the windows and start stripping wallpaper. I will probably take small loads of stuff over every day until I can't stand the heat. The movers will come on the 11th.

I will keep you updated. Until later.

Closing On The House Tomorrow!!

I will have to be honest that I am not excited. I think that the new-ness and excitement happened about 6 weeks ago! The house hunting was going fast and furious, and WHAM! there was my house. But there have been some serious repair work that had to be done, and I will caution anyone who reads this to get a good home inspector to check everything over. I never noticed the little things-like the utility door did not close because the strike plate was off. There was no GFI wiring in the bathrooms and kitchen. But now it's finally over. And it is the hottest part of our summer season. I couldn't do the moving while it was still cool in June. Whew! My energy level is really low.

But I close tomorrow. Then I will get some pictures for everyone. I went on the final walk-through with the realtors and the seller. He was really nice. He showed my where the water main is located, where the utility boxes are, and went over the breaker box in the utility room. He had just a little bit of repair to finish, and it will be mine. I stood out in the front and back yards a while by myself, and the energy feels good. I think once I put something back into the house and yard, it will blossom.

TR made the cutest little bags with Kaffe Fassett materials. She brought them to the knit group, and all six of them were gone in minutes. We just grabbed them and stuffed our socks into them. I called them Sock Sacks. I will get a picture of mine later when I settle down some.

I never dreamed that buying a house could become such a complicated thing. Not only the house, but the utilities have been a mess too. But I know it will all smooth out soon. I keep telling myself-in one more month it will be over. I will just have to keep on sorting and organizing things for a few months.

So maybe soon I will get some photos. But first I have to go through the steps tomorrow and get my key. Whew!

Moving Soon!

I am in the process of buying a house. It has been a tedious affair, but the end is near. I should have the closing by next week. It has been consuming a LOT of my time and energy. I am no longer excited; I am just tired. And the move hasn't started yet!

I always seem to move in inclement weather-snow, ice, rain, freezing weather, HOT weather. This time it will be HOT, HOT weather. The hottest we've had so far this season. Oh, well!

Last weekend TR and I went to see some sheep and animals at the farrier's farm. I ended up helping her shear the two sheep. That was fun. I held them by the horns and a rope while she cut the fleece off. We spent 2-3 hours there, and then had a nice lunch.

This week I have worked at the LYS for three days while Joy and Colleen are away. Joy is visiting her son that is in the hospital. Colleen is on Cape Cod. Isn't that sad? A real vacation. HUH?

Yesterday I noticed a HUGE walking stick (the insect) on my windshield. I tried to get a picture through the windshield of it. It was as long as a dessert plate is wide. I know-real numbers! I told that to my neighbor last night, and he said, "How wide is that?" And looked at me funny. I looked at him funny-like "Don't you know how wide a dessert plate is?"

He said that the walking sticks have a cycle-like cicadas-and that there seems to be more of them during the cycle. I haven't been paying attention to how many walking sticks are around. I was just amazed at the size of this thing on my windshield.

My posting will be very erratic as I go through the move. I am not too sure about when I will disconnect this service and move the computer. I am out of town for three days today, and I have a long list of things to take care of Monday. I have already changed my address for Interweave Knits and Spin-Off on the computer. Those were very IMPORTANT address changes. I haven't even put the change of address card out for the post office. That is today as I leave.

So-hopefully-I will have some new pictures to show you soon. Just send me good energy to get through this mess. I hate the disorganization of it all. I remember when I used to move with whatever I could get in and on top of my VW bug. Now I have to think of plants and stuff. Until next time......

I Am Tired!

I am tired! That's all I am going to say about it. I am in the process of "moving preparation". Since I do not have a set date yet for moving, I am preparing to move. I know this is weird, but believe me, it makes sense. I have been cleaning out closets. Two huge bags to the Goodwill store. I have begun to remove things from hidden spots and assessing them. Two more bags to the Goodwill. I took a HUGE amount of fabric stash to a local quilt group that makes baby quilts for charity. I painted two old metal yard chairs that have needed painting for ten years. They are now white and pale blue. Not rust, rust, and splotches of pink, yellow, or blue. And rust. The green one is still splotchy with two or three old coats of paint, but the rust is not so bad.

I am painting an old 1930's style jelly cabinet. I bought it at a yard sale perhaps 12 years ago. I only wanted it because it was really an old cabinet, and it was the right size. It was painted this hideous green enamel paint. No problem, I thought, I'll just strip it, clean it, and hopefully it'll be gorgeous.

Well, 12 years later, I tried stripping it. It was awful. I remembered why my husband always did the stripping and repairs on furniture. I remembered I tried stripping doors in our house. I ended up taking them to a friend who had a huge vat for stripping big pieces of furniture. It was so much easier than hand doing it slowly.

Well-I couldn't get all the paint off the stupid cabinet. It tried to be patient, but no way was this going to come off. So now it is being painted a flat white latex. I gave up the dream of a natural colored cabinet. Anyway, even the painting is a pain. I only have one coat on there now. I am not going to paint any more today. Tomorrow is another day.

So today it has been the day to be ruthless. I am dragging stuff outside, looking it over, and deciding if it is going or staying. I did find some old photos and stuff. I have decided to get rid of a ton of stuff. I am not going to drag this stuff any further.

I did get sock 1 finished. I picked up the shawlette to finish the edging. It has been languishing in a pile by itself. Last night we celebrated Joy's birthday at HandHeld Knitting. It was a really loud group again. I will be working at the shop some next week, so I am going to get all this done this week. Sigh!

Elinora's New Shoes!!

Here she is with her new shoes, new drive band, and new tension spring. A makeover anybody would be proud of! I had forgotten that there was a tension spring. I've been using heavy-duty rubber bands forever. But I thought I'll try it again. We'll see how long it lasts!
Aren't they just beautiful! I sat down to set the tension and get it going. I automatically sat in my old position- one foot on and one foot back. Then I had to remember to put both feet on. And it did change my body posture. I hope this will help with my sore hip problem.

There is one hitch-so far. With the outside con rod, there is only this silly little 3-ring that holds it in place. And it is not very tight. With each rotation of the circle, the con rod makes a plop noise as it reaches the top. It is a little bit annoying. I've got to work on that some. The old mechanism used a long bolt that had a tension nut in between the crankshaft and the con rod. It was very efficient.

I also have to get used to the treadle mechanism. I now have a tendency to treadle too fast. I get more overtwist. All this will take some time to work out the kinks.

I am most pleased with my job. I will say the hardest part was removing the old crank and replacing the new one. It is very strange that it twists in and out instead of just pushing it in or out. And I had to find the hole for the hub pin. That was the hardest.

But isn't she gorgeous now! I am so pleased with my "new" old wheel.

Another Friday!

At our Monday night knitting group, we celebrated CP's birthday. Here is the birthday girl herself.
A little bubbly was toasted and cake was eaten. After the wedding cake and this cake, that is all I need for a while. This cake had cream cheese frosting. YUMMMMM!

Needless to say, everyone was really, really loud at the knit group. Some knitting got done, but how I never can say. CP had to put her lace knitting up after the wine started. I never even got my stuff out. I just socialized.

This week has been much quieter than the weeks before. I am on hold right now, and in a waiting period. I did try to get my tags and taxes taken care of for the new car. My bad-I never even noticed that my sister-in-law had not signed the bill of sale. So that is going back to her and hopefully she will return it expediently.

I think I mentioned that I had bought a new treadle kit for my old Ashford. Well, last night I sat down and put a sealer on the wood, and it now has two coats of Tung Oil added. But I have to wait until it is completely dry. I am going to have a patchwork spinning wheel when finished. I cannot remember what my father stained the original with. I remember distinctly that he mentioned finishing with Tung Oil. So the treadles and con rods will be lighter than the old wheel. I believe they are different woods. I guess in 32 years things have changed with the manufacturer. And my Woolee Winder is light wood also. So three different shades of wood. And I am replacing my old leather band with a new band. The old treadle was connected to the con rod with a leather bit. But the new con rods have a plastic connector that appears to be rather tough. I hope. I am planning to use this wheel for another 32 years-if I live that long.

We have had more rain this week. This is the first wet summer I can remember in ages. I had about 2.5 inches in the last two days. Parts of the county got 3-4 inches. The yard is outrageous this year. I cannot stand the bugs and I haven't been tending to things as I should. When I returned from Kansas, just the walk to the house from the car gave me a whole new batch of chiggers. I hate chiggers. I did mow on Sunday, but now the yard is up again with the rain! URGGH!

I am almost finished with sock 1; I am decreasing the toe now. It is slow going since every time I think I am going to focus and sit down, Noodles wants to sit in my lap. He is not a lap kinda guy. He weighs 17 pounds and is a big boy, so he doesn't fit. He tries to fit, and then he kinda oozes over the edge and takes up most of the chair. And he butts my hand while I am knitting. Then he begins to drool. You get the picture. Not conducive to knitting.

Well, I am going to go read the instructions again for assembling the treadles. I am getting excited, although I am still nervous about messing up the wheel. I know it is a simple machine, but it has some emotional ties to it. I don't want to mess up. I know my father would want me to update it and make it better. But it is still nerve-wracking.

Happy weekend. I hope you are spinning, knitting, or doing something exciting.

Whoa! Bunches of Photos!!!

These are my two friends in Kansas I stayed with. We spent the night in town at her house, went to a wedding, and then went out to the country to his house. I had forgotten what it is like to be in a very large city. YUCK! Busy, busy, busy, busy-rude, rude, rude, rude-rush, rush, rush, rush. You get the picture. It takes a bit of multi-tasking to get it all done. Thank God I don't live that way any more.

This is the Dyck Arboretum where the wedding was held. It is a prairie arboretum with gobs and gobs of pretty flowers.
The wedding was held outside by the pond in front of a gigantic willow tree.
I couldn't get this picture in the right spot. We ate a really good dinner inside the Arboretum building after the wedding. This is a little cabin Bill built out on his property. It is really cute. It has a wood stove so it is comfortable for anyone camping out in the winter time.

This is a gigantic field of St. John's Wort. This is only one of many fields. I have never seen it so prolific before. It is actually the Arkansas River streambed in 1981. The river has meandered to another course, and this is really sandy, silty soil.

I have not been knitting at all. I have kept the pretty sock with me in case I have to wait. I have knit it to the toe decreases. It is a sad situation when I can't seem to focus and sit and knit for even a short time.

I got an update package for my little Ashford spinning wheel. I got two treadles, a new band, and a new tension spring. I haven't worked on that yet. I debated buying a new wheel, but I am very sentimental and emotional about this little wheel. And it costs a lot to buy a new wheel. Then I found out I could upgrade with two treadles, and it was a lot cheaper to do that than to buy a new wheel. I will give you a full report when I get that done. It may not be worth it, but I think it seems like it is a better alternative. We will see. My father put my wheel together for me, and I am hesitant to mess with it. I have to finish the wood first, and then go from there.

Otherwise, I have quieted down a little bit. I am not so busy. So maybe life will return to a more calm, less nerve-wracking state. I am going to my knitting group tonight, even though I will probably not have any knitting to do.