Projects in Blue

I have been having a terrible time with crafty project work lately.  I find that at the end of the day, I just want to vegetate.  I put this down to the stress of the kitchen reno, an upcoming move to a noisy open concept office, all curling all of the time (although we won an event and qualified for a regional so there is some excitement there too).

So, I looked at my calendar on Thursday, realized that I had two meetings that could easily be moved on Friday, and decided to book it as a vacation day.  A nice, long four day weekend.  With painting the house (we decided that since we're in reno mode we might as well take the painting beyond the kitchen), it hasn't exactly been a restful weekend but it has been a break and seeing the changes to the house is rewarding.  In the same vein, I have also been getting some knitting finished (and started).

The socks are for the husband and were supposed to be a Christmas gift.  Given that I decided a week before Christmas to make them, I think I have a good reason for only having one done by Christmas.  An excuse for not having the second done until yesterday escapes me.  The pattern is from a book called Knitted Gifts by Ann Budd which contains some really nice patterns.

The cowl was actually done about a week ago but I hadn't photographed it until today despite meaning to every night.  It wasn't the most exciting pattern to knit but I like the texture.  Since it is -11C this morning, I think I finished it just in time.  This pattern is the Honey Cowl by Madelinetosh made with Tosh Vintage, a really lovely yarn.

In the started category, I have two new patterns on the needles, one for a pair of fingerless gloves from The Sock Report that I'm knitting in a nice variegated yarn and this lovely shawl with a very vivid blue.  

I am trying to remind myself that I make these things because it relaxes me and I shouldn't neglect it.  Now onto finish a quilt top.

Yet another place to spend time

Pinterest - love it.  I guess the good news is I tend to consume it in small doses so it isn't as bad as the rabbit hole that Ravelry or Houzz can be - yet.

I do anticipate that Houzz time will reduce once our kitchen reno is done.  I'm really getting excited about the reno.  Much of the painting is done (and who knew how tiring painting a ceiling and trim could be), the floor is in, appliances arrive today and cupboards start going in on Monday.  Can't wait.

I keep imagining all of the new things I will make in the new kitchen.  I'm not entirely sure how I think that just because I will have a bigger kitchen that I will suddenly have extra time to do extra cooking but maybe two ovens will speed things up!

I guess it's too late to change my mind?

We have finally decided on that question of whether we should renovate or move to get the kitchen we want.  It took us quite a while to get to this point.  A lot of back and forth on whether we really needed the cost and the upheaval that goes along with a reno.

Over and over I told myself that I could survive with the limited counter space.  Then I would cook something more involved than toast and would swear at the lack of room.  I should say that my style of cooking generally involves making 5 things at once under the theory ... I'm here anyway dirtying dishes and the oven is hot, so let's go.  It is impossible to make 5 things in a kitchen with limited counter space and not swear.  Home cooks in Paris would think my original counter space a luxury, I am sure.  Another reason why we didn't need to renovate.  And so it goes.

Then there were the conversations about whether we should just move.  But our house is the perfect size for the two of us otherwise.  We love our garden.  We have good neighbours.  And if we move, it's not like we'll save money ... the new house would be more expensive and something would have to be renovated, likely the kitchen.  So we finally took the plunge.

I would say that after the rip out started, I questioned our sanity.  Everything had to come down for various reasons.  The insulation came out, primarily because it would have fallen out when the ceiling came down but there was the added benefit of cleaning up the stuff left behind by some racoons that decided that our attic would make a nice refuge a few years ago.  We now have all sorts of racoon prevention devices under the new roof we did after that.  Who knew racoons could chew through shingles and wood?

Back to the reno.  What a difference a week makes.  We now have no interior walls on the main floor.  Drywall is up and it is starting to look like a house again.  I can see it finished in my mind again.  The stress is not over but at least now it is tinged with excitement and not fear.

New yarn store discovery!!!

Yesterday had many frustrating moments.  It started with a trip to the counter people in Mississauga.  I get lost in a paper bag so had the route there all mapped out via the 407, the local toll highway.  The directions to the place and my husband's non verbals were telling me to take the 403, the non toll highway and slightly quicker route.  As I was driving out, after my antenna flew off my car, I decided the traffic was very light so, why not, I'll take the 403.  Little did I know, Dixie, the exit off the 407 I needed, isn't the exit off the 403.  So, after driving about 1/2 hour more than I needed to, I ended up back on the 407 and found the counter place.  Which, despite the hours posted on their website, was closed.   Ugh.  Why can't companies update their websites?  Why didn't I call first like the little voice in my head was telling me?  Why didn't I follow my first plan and put the trip off to next weekend when my husband was available to go and I could knit in the car?  Why didn't I take the 407 in the first place?  At least I would have been there quicker so it would have been marginally less annoying (I think).

Anyway, I had also mapped out a visit to The Stash Fibre Boutique  in Campbellville.  This I found with no problem because I followed my detailed directions and I have been to Campbellville before.  Didn't know how to find Campbellville without looking it up on Google maps, but that is why we have Google maps in the first place.  Because my time at the counter place was much less than budgeted, even with the unfortunate detour, I was in Campbellville an hour before opening.  Ugh again.

Fortunately, Grumblin' Grannies around the corner was open and the Trail Eatery, where we've enjoyed a few after-hike lunches, is in the same plaza.  So with a combo of shopping (I bought two shirts) and a nice tea and yummy blueberry muffin, the hour flew by and I was able to visit The Stash.  A great store.  She specializes in small local dyers and there were many lovely yarns that could have made their way home with me.  I ended up buying some locally made sock yarn for the January sock club, some Madelintosh (obviously not local) to make a scarf and cowl and several accessories that I didn't really need but must have.  This purchasing totally negated the frugal feelings I was having after not going to Lettuce Knit on Thursday at lunch and instead buying a sock book for 30% off at Indigo in the Eaton's Centre.  Here I was buying something that would help me reduce my stash instead of adding to it and not dipping into the kitchen reno budget.  Looking at it another way, if I'd gone to Lettuce Knit and the Stash, things would have been much worse.  So there, justified.  And thanks, The Stash for turning my day around.  I'll be back.  But I really should get some projects done first ...

I may have to rethink that year-long trip across North America

We're doing a bit of a reno at our house which has required us to pack up a floor of stuff and move it out of the way.  As we are doing this, we had to determine what we will need access to for the next couple of months and what we can live without.  The number of things I need access to is quite startling.  Too much to fit into even a bus-sized motor home for the trip fantasy mentioned in the title.

I guess some of it comes from being a crafty person.  I need a good supply of knitting projects and several quilting ideas readily at hand.  I need certain dishes to cook with and can't possibly pack away too many clothes.  I always have the belief that if I can complete even half of the projects that I have stash matched against, I will become a minimalist.  Ha!

Just in time!

This quilt has been in progress since the summer.  So it really shouldn't be a just in time for Christmas thing.  Why the long time to completion?  It just wasn't a project that kept me motivated for some reason.  I absolutely love the colours and the finished product but had to force myself to keep going.  I think it has something to do with the amount of piecing involved to get to final construction.  The pattern, from Kaffe Fasset's Country Garden Quilts, I mostly followed.  And the stripy fabric on the right is his too.

This quilt is for my dad who asked me to make a bed-sized quilt for him.  I found fabric selection to be difficult for this.  There were surprisingly few fabrics on the conservative side that were geared to men.  My local quilt shop had a few but only two or three that appealed to me.  I found a few at Bee Modern Fabrics at Niagara-on-the-Lake, a few in my stash and a few from the previously mentioned LQS Quilter's Garden Patch.

I had some trouble getting the corners perfect but when I took it in to Quilter's Garden Patch to find the border fabric, the girl working there told me to not to spend anymore time trying to fix them.  It was good advice.  Firstly because I never would have finished if I had stopped to take out all of the corners. Secondly, all put together and quilted, these issues are a lot less noticeable.

In the end, I really like this and hope my dad does too.

Well that's cool

Another example of my not noticing the obvious ... I was bouncing around Ravelry and noticed their tutorials.  I clicked on the one related to library and discovered something I should have realized on my own.  I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize it on my own but am so excited by this find, I just needed to talk about it somewhere.  My husband was mildly interested but obviously didn't understand the benefits of this time saving feature of the site.

Here goes ... I discovered that if I load all of my books and pamphlets into the library, I can search from the patterns I own online instead of flipping through the real books on the shelves.  I don't know why I didn't realize this before.  I knew you could look up books and see the patterns, just didn't think of the connection to the library.  How liberating.  In fact, I found a sock pattern for men in 5 seconds instead of giving up after an hour.  The only downside of this feature - I quickly realized that I have a boatload of books and in reducing stash need to use some of these fantastic patterns to justify the purchases.

I wonder what else I don't know about ...