The Damage

I dyed a skein of yarn in the morning before the destruction and mayhem began... Coleus. It's waiting for reskeining and I'll post a picture then.

Photos of the damage done yesterday...

Here are my new stairs.

Apparently they *almost* didn't get done "in time" and he almost called me to tell me not to come home last night. But he got them done. The first thing he said was, "We made a lot of progress, it's looking really good." So I said, "That means you ripped a bunch of things out." He didn't argue.

That's my son peeking from the upstairs set of stairs onto the main level. The other pic is my daughter in the kitchen while I was on the stairs. Obviously we don't have risers yet. Ds was a little cautious coming down the stairs this morning. First he called me to carry him down because he wasn't sure what to think, but then he traversed by himself.

But oh, man... you should SEE the DUST!

I can't understand why it's everywhere. The dining room just isn't that close to the stairway. I suppose it's between the living room and kitchen, but still. Dust EVERYWHERE. And I'm not real excited about it.

We've got a couple piles of debris as well. This one is in the addition, it's the sheathing, etc. from the outside of the house. We have to use the other door because there's too much in the way of the door.

And this one is in the basement. I'm particularly not excited about this one. If you walk down the stairs into the basement (directly below the see-thru stairs) this is on your left. It's what is left after he got ahold of the block wall with a cement saw and maul.

This just scares me because there's no longer a door at the top of the stairs so no way of keeping the kids on the main level. Our stairs go down and turn to the right, so this is right to the left of the landing. They could just hop right off into that. I doubt they will, but if you're a mom you understand. Moms have unreasonable fears all the time.

So that's where we're at. Dh just got home from drill, he said he mopped everything last night, so all this dust was just lingering in the air and settled while we were sleeping. That makes me feel a little better at least. :) He has already cleaned off the dining room table.

The additional space will be nice when it's done, and boy... will I be glad! I think I need some knit therapy. I got a great big bag in the mail yesterday from a mom on DiaperSwappers I'm trading with. I'm knitting her and her girls some slipper socks and she made me a knitting bag. I need to fill it with yarn and go someplace for some knit therapy. That'll make me feel better. Actually, I don't have time for knit therapy, I've gotta hit the sewing machine. 4 diapers to make by Friday, that's my goal. They don't take long, I've just gotta convince the kids that sewing is a good idea. They seem to like my attention. :)

Why I'm Not Home

Call me crazy. I'm not at home, I took the kids and left to my parents' for the afternoon (and evening). I think I'm a pretty reasonable person, and think I have been a very supportive wife lately. Our house is under some major construction and my darling husband has been doing most of the work himself. He's a busy guy. If you've been reading long you know he's a firefighter, which he does on top of his "real" job. So he's busy. He's also a carpenter and does residential remodeling for said "real" job. He goes into people's homes, tears out ugly and icky things, and replaces them with pretty and nice things. This is where the conflict comes in.

I'm a saver. I'll admit it. I prefer "saver" over "pack rat", because I'm not quite to pack rat level, I get in moods where more things end up in the trash, but reusing whenever possible is important to me, for budget and environmental reasons. Dh isn't a saver. He's a thrower. "What is this, I don't know, I'm just gonna throw it and pretend like I've never seen it if she asks." Part of this I think is because he's used to doing what's easier, and he doesn't foot the bill. And there's something to be said about the price of labor, it often costs more in labor to have a guy reuse a door in a new location than it does to put a brand new one in because reinstalling a used door is labor-intensive. Well, labor is free in our case, materials are what we're paying for, which really is beside the point. The only way this is relevant to why I'm not at home is because he's a carpenter and used to ripping people's houses apart and they're okay, and even excited about it.

Me... not always. I was okay with him waking me and the baby up early this morning with noise. I dealt with him ripping man-sized holes in every level of my house.

I even quietly went out to our (detached) garage and found the fan, opened up windows, and ventilated the house when we couldn't breathe from all the exhaust from the gas powered cement saw. I got a little frustrated when I was sweeping up 40 years worth of dust that fell out of the ceiling into my living room after he tore the drywall out (overhead in the picture above), but the last straw was when he started ripping the stairs off. Yes folks, ripping the stairs completely off to rebuild the stringers. With 2 small kids home. See, when you're working on someone else's house, you communicate with the homeowner on what is going on. They're given a schedule and the lead carpenter tells them what's going on. "So, Mrs. George, this week we'll be breaking holes from the house into the addition so we can get things prepped for the electricians. Oh, they'll be here next week." The problem is, Mr. George is both lead carpenter AND homeowner. This means the homeowner is fully apprised of all aspects of the project, but many of these details elude Mrs. George. Why, might you ask? Because she's busy caring for 2 small children, working part time, trying to run her own small business, and frankly just can't nurse a sleepy baby while hanging siding.

They'll supposedly be done by tonight. If I have to walk on stringers (the part that the treads sit on) to get up to my bed tonight I'll not be a happy lady. You still think I'm reasonable, right?

Just Diapers

I have been waiting to post until I could take some good photos of my newest excitement around here. Maybe tomorrow.

Instead I'll just put up some diapers I have finished. I'll be listing them for Tuesday's stocking. I just think diapers are so stinkin cute! I also have one in a froggy print that I finished up today.

Apparently I only have the elephant one in the computer. I'll get more on. Here's an "old" one, one I sewed up several months ago:

Oh, and other news, I'm currently actually writing up the Tweets pattern. I hope to have it tested in a week or so and then have it available. I haven't decided whether I should offer it free or charge yet. I just can't get over how cute they are...

Some Finished Projects

I have promised to post pictures of a few things here lately and have fallen short, so for this late night post I'll give you the gory details of a few projects I've completed lately.

First off is the first of two pairs of longies I made for a trade. These are knit in Purewool's "Chocolate" colorway and are a newborn size:

These are for the same trade but are a 6 mos size. These are the ones I was having major creative block for. Once I figured out what I was doing it went pretty well. I think they turned out pretty cute:

And this is the felted purse I made for a friend. I mailed it to her and she loves it.

Now she wants one in summer colors but isn't sure exactly what she wants. I was thinking maybe blue or green with some sewed on felted flowers. That would be fun and summer-y.

Dang, I should go to bed. I just got home with the kids from hanging out at a friend's house. Dh is working overnight tonight but he's planning on working on the house tomorrow. So he'll be up making noise probably earlier than I'd like, plus I'll have to make the guys food (suppose I should "pay" them SOMETHING for their free labor). Man, it's cold in here. It's only 37F out but we keep our house cool to save on the heating bill, especially at night. Now I'm rambling. That's what I do when I'm tired. :)

SPRING!!!

Man, it's finally here. Yesterday it was in the 60s, today it's mid-50s and we spent a good portion of it outside. We were supposed to have a playdate this morning so we went to the park (no one showed) and played for 45min or so. It was a little chilly because the clouds took our sun away. It brightened up this afternoon and we spent another 2 hours at the park behind our house. Both kids are sleeping soundly right now. Yes!



So I said I was going to make a shirt, well here it is:

It was pretty fun to make, to create something different. The boot prints go around the back and back to the tent. It's size 6-8 children's. Being from Minnesota I especially appreciate the mosquitoes. :)


I want to try lino-printing. You make printing blocks out of linoleum tiles and use them on textiles (as if I need another hobby). There are a few good tutorials out there, a really good one on Jezze's blog. I think I need a few tools before I can do it effectively, and right now I'm holding out for dh to make me a couple swifts (especially after all the wrangling I did today to get Retro skeined properly) so the tools will have to wait. *sigh*

Introduce... "Retro"

This one was kind of fun. I used a new dyeing technique that I "made up" (which isn't to say other people don't dye yarn in pickle jars) and dyed this skein of yarn.

I am listing it tomorrow for our stocking at Serenity Tree. It is a semisolid yellow overdyed with blue and green. It reminded me of tie-dyeing, hence it's name, "Retro".

I will list this, "Engine 3", and probably a shirt I haven't made yet (which reminds me, I have to go throw those in the dryer, drat!). I'm going to save my diapers for the next stocking. A friend ordered 2 of 5 different prints, so I'm making 3 of each to have one to spare. I'll post pictures later, and leave you today with a swatch of Retro.

Engine 3

Here is the yarn I dyed last night. It's called "Engine 3", inspired by my dh who is not only an incredibly patient man, but a firefighter. I took colors from both the engine and fire. Engine 3 is his ride. Enjoy!

Procrastinators Never Prosper... Especially in a Snowstorm

We had the strangest weather yesterday. Yes, I know, I live in the Midwest. The weather isn't predictable and often is kind of nasty, especially this time of year. Yesterday was a prime example.

It started out raining in the morning, and turned into sleet and snow pellets. I looked out the window a bit later and it was snowing, only not the soft, fluffy kind of snow, but the heavy, wet flakes that come barrelling toward the ground. It was an angry snow. I looked out again later and it looked like the snow was pretty much done, the sun had broken through and it almost looked pleasant outside. Then it started snowing again and blowing. Swirling, twirling, and COLD.

See, I had to run to the store. I wanted to dye some yarn and get a few other things (like toilet paper, which we were COMPLETELY out of). I also had to return a movie to Redbox. I kept putting it off thinking I'd maybe get the neighbor to watch the kids for 20 min while I ran to return the movie, aah, no, I'll just bring them. So of course I waited and put it off, and by the time I decided I should really go, we were in the swirling twirling freezing cold portion of the storm. If I just would've gone earlier I wouldn't have frozen my little toes nearly off, and I probably wouldn't have had to fight with the car door, which was frozen shut. Good and solid, too. I'm the type that wears flip-flops all winter long, if for nothing but the convenience of slipping them on and heading out the door. It was so cold, I got the kids loaded up and came back inside to change my shoes. That *rarely* happens. Of course I couldn't find both tennis shoes, so I settled for my Keens (mine are lime green), which are also sandals but at least have the toes covered.

So we went shopping, bought brat buns, bread, toilet paper, squirt bottles for holding the dye, and got to the saran wrap. In my head, "Hmm, so 'they' say not to get cheap stuff. There's this, or this. Only two choices? Well, I do have some at home that worked fine last time I dyed. I'll just use that." Check out, run to car, go home. I get myself set up to start dyeing, get out the cling wrap... not enough. Seriously, I was like 6" short. I probably would've skipped the store altogether if it weren't that I wanted to dye up a colorway I had in my head, dh was at work, and I had nothing better (read *funner*) to do. So, I ran over to the neighbor's and borrowed hers. The battery on my camera is charging, so I'll put up a picture later, it turned out okay for my first attempt.