Home Improvement: Entryway

A terrible thing happens when you're a homeowner. It starts with some innocent browsing of real estate websites, where you type in what you paid for your house and look at what's for sale for that price now. Pretty soon you find yourself sprinting to the computer whenever you see a new for sale sign in the neighborhood and sneaking into open houses (or maybe that's just me).  We're certainly not planning on moving any time soon, but that doesn't stop the drooling over other people's garages and hardwood floors.

I know I need to calm the freak down and just bask in my house's awesomeness (and probably stop watching so many episodes of House Hunters.) For example, how many houses have you seen that have their very own built-in handmade coat hook wall? I have one of those!

There is an awkward entrance area in the living room right as you walk in the front door. Before, it didn't have anything in it, besides this wobbly lamp and a whole bunch of shoes (not pictured, because I staged this photo to make it look pretty.) Oh, and the walls were orange.

But now, we have our very own FOYER. Do people even say "foyer" anymore? No? Let's call it an Entryway. The board and batten I did all by my little self, and it was my first project using a miter saw. I'm pretty sure the neighbor hates me now because I didn't have a nail gun, and had to pound tons of nails into the wall by hand. There are tons of tutorials on how to install board and batten, so just google it; I used a mish-mash of all of them. I did replace the baseboard, but you can skip this if you have taller ones. I used 1x3 pine for the vertical pieces and 1x4 for the horizontal, and didn't install any boards, only batten. The wall is just painted and looks fine because it's smooth drywall.

The wall color is Benjamin Moore "Alpaca", the choice of which obviously had nothing to do with my fiber-based hobbies. I made the wreath, using this tutorial, out of a boring book on Joan of Arc. Don't worry, I checked out the reviews online first to make sure I didn't want to read it first.

The two framed pieces of art I made; they list all of the places Jason and/or I have ever lived. It's a lot: Virginia, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Missouri, Washington, Georgia, Ohio, California, Montana, and Ireland.

Here's where I got everything, just in case you're interested:

• Bench: Overstock
• Fabric Bins: Home Depot
• Half-moon table: World Market
• Basket, lantern, and vase: TJ Maxx
• Coat hooks: Lowe's
• Frames and key hooks: Ikea

Fresh Off the Wheel

Whenever I mention spinning to a normal human, they almost always assume that I'm talking about the type of spinning you do in a class at the gym. Bike spinning might make you stronger, but it certainly won't make you yarn. And yarn is what it's all about.

This fiber is 100% merino from Pacific Wool and Fiber, a birthday gift from last year. I had a full 8 oz., which is rather a lot of fiber. It was my first spinning wheel project, and I spun it into 3 fairly thin singles, which took my entire life.

The yarn came in somewhere around a heavy fingering or light sport weight 3-ply. New spinners, I'll tell you a secret - 3-ply is much more forgiving to uneven singles than 2-ply. It is more work, but it pays off in the end. I'm not sure how much yardage I ended up with because I haven't measured it, but I'm hoping it's at least 600 yards. I'm thinking about making a stole or shawl, so that I can use up all the yarn, perhaps Woodland Shawl or Sakura.

Next up is what I'm calling "my circus yarn", Merino from Woolgatherings [prepare to spend money if you click on that link]. In contrast, this spin only took about 8 hours total, basically nothing in yarn spinning years. Although the colors look jumbled up in the skein, they are actually fairly long color repeats, so the resulting knit will be striped. I have about 330 yards of sport weight, any ideas? Other than rubbing it all over my face because it's so soft?

Currently on the wheel is a superwash wool and nylon blend, intended for socks, but I guess my brain just stopped working when I ordered it, because I forgot that nylon is plastic, and spinning plastic is terrible. So squeaky!

Baker Baker

A few weeks ago a coworker shared some sourdough starter and I've been baking my little heart out ever since. My favorite recipe so far is King Arthur Flour's Rustic Sourdough; it's not super sour, so if you prefer, try the Extra-Tangy Sourdough recipe. I think we can all agree that home-baked bread is one of the best things ever.

Bonus crafting content: my brother made the cutting board!

One Hook

I've been on a bit of a crochet bender lately. Sometimes you just feel the need for speed, you know? It all started when my office installed this terrible blue lighting. It's supposed to be more like natural light, but really all it does it make it impossible to focus on a piece of paper and cause people to make comments about how it looks like a mental institution. So, I stood up on a chair and disconnected all the overhead lights, and brought in a bright green lamp I bought at Target. My desk started feeling like a living room, so then I needed to get rid of the black plastic industrial pen caddy thing. I raided the recycling bin and my yarn scrap bin (yes, I have a yarn scrap bin, don't you?), and a few nights later I had these:

I don't remember how or why I desperately needed to crochet some hearts, but it probably had something to do with Pinterest or Ravelry. I had the intention of doing a valentine-themed mantle decoration but then I remembered that I hate valentine-themed mantles.

Also the living room is no longer orange and red (post on that to come, sometime). I made the mirror above the fireplace, using this tutorial, in the basement last summer during an epic marathon of 48 Hours Mystery. I am now awesome at glue-gunning and identifying psychopaths/murderers.

Work on the summer garden blanket continues. I'm about 50% done. Unfortunately I'm off crochet at the moment due to an unexplained index finger illness. Good thing I have so many back-up hobbies!

Obligatory End-of-Year Post

Wow, I just blinked, and seemed to miss the appropriate window for posting end of year mosaics. I guess that's just too bad because here are 2 more for you to feast your eyes on. These are guaranteed to be the best you've seen!*

*This is a lie.

Looking back, I didn't finish too much knitting this year, possibly because I learned to spin about halfway through the year. It kind of doesn't matter though, because after 10 years of knitting, I don't need any more hats or gloves or socks. My favorite project was my Haruni shawl, mostly because it looks the most impressive and I'm totally going to kill the lace shawl category at the fair this summer. Oh yeah, this is a throwdown. Bring it, lace knitters. Bring it.

I finished 51 books (16, 218 pages; yes, I keep track of that) in 2011. My top 5, in random order, were Someone Knows My Name, Unbroken, Kindred, No Way Down, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I'm not setting a goal for 2012 because I will fully admit to choosing books with less than 200 pages towards the end just so I could exceed 50. And sometimes I just want to close my eyes on the bus instead of reading.

I've never been much of a resolution person, but I do have 2 goals for this year. One is to take my dumb cell phone with me when I go upstairs to the living room each night. Generally what happens is that I leave it in the kitchen, 2 floors below, then someone calls me, and then it beeps every 15 minutes. I'm totally cool with ignoring the beeping, but it seems to get on Jason's nerves (can't really blame him.)

The other is to establish a craft gifting stash. Knitting and sewing are hobbies, which means that I do them only because I like doing them. I also like making things for other people, but I hate the deadlines. I have deadlines at work, and imposed by outside forces such as the government (taxes, car registration, etc.), so I really don't want to connect them to my hobbies. Hopefully holiday and birthday presents will be made far in advance so that I don't hate December so much next year.

This is the last sentence where I say something positive like "Here's to a great 2012!" So pretend I said that.

Christmas Knitting Revealed

Now that my knitted presents have been received, and I have sufficiently detoxed from the winter holiday portion of the year, they can be revealed for all the world to see. A friend got this little flamingo, which was a fiddly as hell to make. At one point I had one stitch on each of three double pointed needles, and was trying to balance them in a little pyramid on my leg as I knit.

The little dude ended up pretty cute though, so it was worth it. The pattern is free, if you need a flamingo in your life.

This next sweater was made for another friend's baby, who was born only 4 days ago. The parents wanted to keep the gender a surprise, so I went with a neutral orange -- turns out the baby is a boy! The pattern is Baby Sophisticate, and it's also free. I did make a lot of modifications to the sweater due to using a different yarn, and in response to a lot of comments saying that the sweater turned out too long and skinny. Details are on my Ravelry page if you are interested in such things.

Finally I made Anchors Aweigh for my brother. I ended up making a ton of modifications to this pattern, and because I was the first person to post a finished project, I put extensive notes on my project page. I also added a windstop fleece lining, which isn't in the picture because my sewing machine decided to hate me, and I had to borrow my mom's on Christmas eve.

I am now basking in the possibilities of non-deadline knitting and spinning, and realizing that 14 pairs of knitted socks is really just not enough for one person to own.

Bah Humbug

This year I just can't get into Christmas. I don't care. Maybe it's that we had a busy fall--we went on 2 trips and hosted 2 family visits--or that it hasn't gotten very cold yet, or that it seems like we just had Christmas, but we haven't put up any lights, set up the tree, or baked any treats. I'm only about 3 inches into the third stocking I'm making (I made 2 last year). Really, I just want it all to be over so that I can go to a store without 4 million other people being there. Bah humbug, I know. I don't even want to do any crafts.

It's a good thing I started planning back in September, because 3 people are actually getting handmade gifts this year. Too bad I can't show you, yet. So instead, let's talk about spinning. Ok? Ok.

One of the lovely ladies in my knitting group let me borrow her Ashford Traveller wheel. Because I already had been spindle spinning, it didn't take me long to get the hang of it. It was so fast! I didn't have to stop to wind the yarn on!

Now I have reached the part where I eat my words. I know you've heard me say, "I'm not getting a wheel, they're too expensive! I don't need any more hobbies."

I got a wheel. (Actually Jason got me a wheel. Which he purchased from a link I sent him in an email. Kind of like how my engagement ring was purchased... what? I'm not a control freak, I don't know what you're talking about.) It's a Fricke S-160 double treadle.

Frickes don't win any beauty contests, but they get the job done. If any of you are considering getting a wheel, here's why I choose this one:

1. Price: less than $400. There are very few wheels in this price range, and this one had most of the features I was looking for.
2. Ball bearings = fewer points to keep oiled
3. BIG bobbins (although they are plastic and most don't seem to be 100% level. These are the exact same as the Majacraft bobbins, however, and those wheels will cost you a lot more.)
4. Delta orifice: no need to fiddle with a hook
5. There are five, count 'em, five drive ratios! (These are kind of like gears on a bike. The bobbin and flyer will spin faster with less treadling the smaller you go.)
6. Treadling is smooth, and the wheel is quiet. The only sound comes from the brake band whirring on the bobbin.

That blue fiber that shows up in all the pictures is 8 ounces of merino wool that I'm spinning into a 3-ply fingering-ish weight. It is taking for-ev-er.

Here is a bonus alpaca for anyone who just read that post and had no idea what I was talking about.

Finished: Haruni Shawl

So I knit this shawl, and I wanted to take a picture of it so I can show you my skillz. First I took it outside, but this ended up as a lesson in perspective. I promise my hands are not the same size as my head in real life. (or maybe they are...)

Ok, but you can't really see the pattern. How about a real-life pose?

Hmm. Maybe I'll take it inside and lay it on a white comforter, so the pattern shows up more.

Blegch. It's all weird and dark. How about hanging it up on a shelf?

Ok, we're getting there. So close... ooh, the window!

Yay! You can see it now, right? Just combine all of these pictures in your head, and that's what it looks like.
(Pattern: Haruni. Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Persia. Needles: size... 4... or 5? who knows, really) This is a contender for my favorite knit yet. Because I have so many uses for knitted lace, mostly.

Home Improvement: Kitchen Progress

I had hoped to post a fabulous "look at my kitchen before and after, which I accomplished for $0 and in only one weekend" post, but since I live in reality and not in DIY magazine land, this is what you get. When we moved in 2 1/2 years ago, the kitchen wasn't bad. The previous owners had already replaced the floor and painted the gross 80's oak cabinets that every builder insists on using. The countertop was off-white laminate, and stained and scratched.

This is how the kitchen looked when we bought the house, with off-white cabinets, silver handles, visible hinges, and black appliances:

Right away we bought a new stove, as the old one was, well, old. About a year later we got a new dishwasher, after the old one started laughing at us and just spat back out dirty dishes rather inconveniencing itself by actually cleaning them. [I should also note that this is the second stove and dishwasher we got, after both were broken when they arrived. This actually worked out to our advantage because they brought us a more expensive, stainless interior dishwasher the second time around, for the same price.]

This summer I got tired of looking at the off-white cabinets and painted them all again a brighter white (Benjamin Moore White Dove). You can see the contrast with the countertops below:

We also took on what proved to be the most frustrating, terrible project ever: replacing the visible hinges with hidden ones. There was no way to level the hinges, so we had to drill holes into the cabinet faces, basically blindly, and hope that the doors were level. If not, we had to start all over again. I wanted to stab myself in the face, and I'm sure Jason did too. But it looks good! We also replaced the silver handles with black knobs (which we got for free from my parents, who replaced theirs with stainless steel knobs.)

Next we ripped out the countertop. This is an accurate description because the countertops had been glued down (!?!?!). Also apparently it had been used as a trash can by someone in 1984 (see Twix wrapper below.)

Now we have black granite countertops and a new undermount sink and faucet! When I went shopping for them, the first salesman I consulted told me that black countertops in a kitchen would be "deadly." He also referred to me as "young lady." Blerg.

Moving forward, obviously the torn drywall and old caulking stuck to the wall need to go. We're going to tile the backsplash ourselves, once I actually make a decision on the tile. I like all of the examples below, so I should probably actually drag myself to a tile showroom to see how much this stuff costs. I also need to paint the black kickboards below the cabinet (I knew something was off but didn't realize what until I looked at the last photo below), frame the window with molding, replace the old vent hood, replace the fluorescent light, and probably paint. Have you ever read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie? I am a home-improvement mouse, and I have been given a cookie.

Source: fireclaytile.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: cococozy.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: inspirationfordecoration.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Finished: 4 Socks

Over the past few months I've finished 4 socks, and by a huge stroke of luck, they match up into pairs! Funny how knitting works out like that, almost as if it has been planned. The first pair is Spring Forward, which you all should definitely knit, because it's a great pattern. And if you can't knit, oh well, sucks for you. [If you don't knit, please tell me, what do you do while you're doing something else? If you watch a movie, do you just sit there and watch the movie? Please explain.] I used Tess' Designer Yarns Super Sock.

Next up are the socks that would not die. I divided the yarn in half by weight, and started knitting from the toe up until the yarn ran out. I'm pretty sure that each night, small gnomes unraveled a few rows and wound the yarn back onto the ball. That's the only explanation for why these took over TWO YEARS to knit. That, and they were knit on size 0 needles. Members of my knitting group can attest to me frequently groaning and whining, "Uggghhh I don't even WANT these socks anymore." I hate you, socks, and will wear you all the time just to spite you. [The yarn is Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Socka Cotton Color.]

To my brother-in-law, who says I never look at the camera when I take pictures of finished knits: I totally was looking at the camera in every single one of these pictures.