The Full Monty (or we interupt my regularly scheduled life)

Our little darling has been cast as Nathan in Playhouse on the Square's musical "The Full Monty". This is his FIRST PROFESSIONAL part and he is deeply honored and excited. He is the only child in the play. It is a professional production (he gets paid) and the rehearsal schedule is gruelling. Six days on and one day off. Eight hour rehearsals. Since he's too young to drive, this means I will be schlepping him back and forth, sitting and taking notes and generally entertaining him until he gets his own routine going. Good thing we both knit and have a lap top! We just hope we can help him keep a sense of balance and avoid major meltdowns until the show closes. Get your tickets for performances throughout the month of August and ending September 10th. 

Fireworks are Illegal in the city limits...

But of course that didn't stop SOME people in this family. Here are a few pictures. Nothing spectacular, but I had fun with the night effects on the camera. The police showed up and shut us down, but at least we didn't get a citation. We're hoping to go to a friend's in the country this weekend and finish it off because that "gianormous" firework you see in this blog remains and Laura will not rest until it's exploded. I did get to show Nina lots of my knitting though (such a yarn whore!)


 

One of the reasons I knit

This is my darling Venus de Mittens (she's a polydactyl [7,7,5,5]) snoozing in the Kitty Cozy. the good part of this picture is that I was stunned to find I had forgotten to paint under the new kitchen desk when I painted the kitchen! I'll try to get that done this week, then the moulding goes down and the trim goes up and the kitchen is done except for window treatments. 

Scrap Knit Top and Mom's socks

this top was inspired by needful designs summer top. I saw the picture online and was too frugal to pay for it. I had CottonEase scraps that I used and KnitPicks Shine Sport as well. This top has no actual pattern at all. I just cast on for the bottom, knit it sideways, threw some short rows on one end of the knitting to make it flare a bit for my hips then seamed it up and picked up stitches at the bodice for the ribbing (K2p2) which doesn't show well in the photos. I ran out of dark blue and had to add lighter blue. I put in increases and short rows. Looks like I should have made more short rows! The bra is hanging out a bit, but this is a knock around top, not something I'd ever deny knitting but nothing I'd submit for a contest either. Oh and I added a little picot to the bottom before I picked up for the bodice.
Here we have my mother's first pair of handknit socks. She is a tall and slender woman with equally long and slender feet. I am thrilled she let me knit these for her and if I were a better daughter they would have gone in the mail 2 months ago when they were done! Hopefully I'll get them to the post office tomorrow. they're coming your way mom and if you want, there can be more where those came from. I hit the Yarn2Go sale Saturday and got sock yarn 85% off! I got enough yarn for at least 5 more pairs. 2 of which have stretch and 2 of which are a cotton/wool blend. New things to try. I'm currently favoring Toe Up socks with a turkish cast on and short row heel. Not a big fan of patterns (yet?) or fancy designs. 

Another knit summer top

knit on size 5 needles out of KnitPicks Shine in worsted weight, I cast on 180 and used the Chevron & eyelet pattern (Vogue Knitting book, 1989, p 149) I did 2 repeats then decreased for sides. When the top measured 11-12 inches from the bottom I did short rows (hence the wierd blocking.) The square neck front and back are not symmetrical. I made the back much lower, but the front covers my bra well. I put a picot edging on the neckline. I did the Chevron & eyelet pattern on the edges of the sleeves. I need to post a picture of me wearing this, but for now this is what you get. It is a cotton blend so it does stretch after a bit of wear. 

Painting the Tuscan Kitchen

Thanks for the hint, it is indeed Tuscan yellow. This is the first coat. There are no pictures of me doing the 2nd and 3rd coats. I need to put up a final photo. I put glaze on top of this base. One wall still needs touch up and I will paint the lightswitch cover's tomorrow. I'm spray painting them Terra Cotta to match the counters.

 

William knits!

William has picked up knitting again. Last time he didn't do so well. This time his stitches are indistinguishable from mine. It's a garter stitch scarf out of some odd-ball BS bulky on size 10 needles. He found some baby alpaca (Misti Alpaca) in bulky at Yarn2Go that he wants and I told him I would get it for him when they have their sale.
This picture was taken weeks ago. The sale ended today and I got him that yarn. OMG this stuff is incredible. And he wants to knit it using my Addi's. I might regret introducing him to knitting. The kid has good taste, but I just spent more for 2 skeins of yarn for a scarf that I've spent for several tops! 

lights, camera, action!

A typical home-improvement Sunday finds Ginger installing the just purchased ceiling fan. We've done a few of these, but they are rarely easy. The light fixture about the sink is great and we got it on close out. It is the floor model. No instructions, no box, but there it is. I think we took Ginger to a cool movie theatre after this, but I don't quite remember. It might have been a baseball game?

 

Cozy Kitties

Here are 2 of our 3 cats napping on a bath towel under the new kitchen desk. They love this area and I'm happy they do, in winter they will no doubt keep my feet warm! I finished a quick summer top knit (photos to come, it's still not quite presentable) and cast on instantly for a kitty bed. I looked at Kitty Pi bed and used that as a starting point. I knit this with some donated Brown Sheep worsted weight in a warm yellow on size 11/ 8 mm needles. It was super fast to knit. I did double the yarn on the sides thinking I wanted them thicker and sturdier. Then I put a few rows of some other donated odd ball yarn along the top. Here are before felting pictures:

 

Kitty Cozy

the first shot is pre-felting. I washed it in our fabulous washer (a knitter's dream it has handwashing setting AND "heavy duty" setting so it felts like a mad man) on only one 14 minute hot cycle with a few towels and voila, a Kitty Cozy. Hopefully there will soon be a picture with the CATS in it, but so far nothing. I might need to rinse it again, not sure if all the soap is out, but they don't like damp thing. It needs no blocking whatsoever.

WWKIP (World Wide Knit in Public)

WWKIP came and went. I met up with a few others from the Memphis Stitch and Bitch group. We shared a pint, some fun and various hat patterns. Here are a few pictures. I am the one in the blue tank. This is a wonderful group of women and we all have knitting in common. We meet every other Tuesday and Thursday to knit (yes, in public).

The sink that ate a vacation day

After carefully measuring and cutting out the hole for the sink, we tried to install it one evening last week. The grout had cured and I had issued an ultimatum that the sink WOULD be up and running by that evening. I also had a premonition that at 9:30 we would be working on said sink and go to bed without completing the project. I was right. The first picture is a photo of something called a "spud nut". Ours, of course, is not a normal spud nut, but an ancient one that had rusted together with the drain. We tried muscling it off, we tried beating it loose and eventually Ginger took a vacation day the next day. She took the entire sink to Gate City Hardware where they broken a hacksaw trying to remove the drain. We were desperate. We checked the cost of a new kitchen sink. We decided to get out the RotoZip and cut the drain off. Aside from over heating the motor on the rotozip, we were succesful. A new strainer and a more modern spud nut (that the spud nut tools actually FIT) was installed and after a few more zillion hours of water leaks, we finally had a sink. I did my first load of handwashing back in a kitchen sink. It was wonderful. Next, the dishwasher will be installed!
 

The almost finished counter

Still needs the butcher block ordered and installed next to the stove (not in the pictures) and we're waiting for the correct color of Latex Caulk for the gap between the counter and backsplash. It's made, but Lowes and Home Depot do not stock it. Monday we will call the other distributors in town. 

With only a few hours of daylight left, we began installing the tile. There are no pictures of that evening because Ginger manned the rented wet tile saw while Diane mixed thinset and placed tiles. William ran back and forth between the two with cut tiles. We worked until it was too dark to use the saw, then started it all up again at 7 am the next day (the neighbors were gracious). We finished cutting the last tile shortly before the tile saw was due back at Home Depot. A quick rinse and it was back with 5 minutes to spare. The next day Diane grouted while Ginger was at work. Lunch is jokingly referred to as "Grout Fish" because Diane threw fish, rice and Jamacian relish in a pan with some cocoanut oil and told Ginger to eat while Diane kept working. Grout, by the way, dries quickly and might be best mixed in smaller batches. Diane "piped" the grout using a thick ziplock bag and a snipped corner. See, all that baking comes in handy!