Finished: Knotty Gloves

I seem to have an ongoing trend with my knitting, in which I finish seasonal items during an inappropriate season. I now have my first pair of gloves, just in time for it to be 73 degrees. (Not that I'm complaining about that.)

People who don't knit, upon learning that I knit, often ask how long it takes me to finish a project. The answer? I have no idea. I started these gloves in December of 2009, and knit most of them during an insane Lost marathon, in which I watched over 100 episodes in 3 months. Then I stopped because gloves are so. freakin. fiddly. Are you aware, for example, that we have TEN fingers? Look at your hands; you'll think "10? It doesn't really look like all that many." Then, try to do ANYTHING 10 times. Say your name 10 times, fast. Do 10 push-ups. Give birth to 10 children. Still think 10 isn't really all that many?

I do like these gloves. In fact, I might even love them. I have freakishly tiny hands, and never in my life have owned a pair of gloves that actually fit. Usually the figures just curl over at the ends, giving me crazy monkey hands.

The stats: Yarn = Tess Super Sock & Baby (Purchased at MD Sheep & Wool 2009); Pattern = Knotty Gloves (free on Ravelry); Needles = Size 1 double points (from a thrift store, but I think they might be Boye). Raveled here.

Interesting fact: Through these gloves I discovered that what I always believed to be size-2 needles were actually size 1. Twist!

Home Improvement: Shower

A few months ago, I got an IM of doom from Jason: "Something is wrong with the shower. It's leaking through the floor." Sigh. Eventually we figured out that some of the 26-year-old tiles were coming away from the wall, and water was getting behind them, running into the bathroom below. Luckily Jason figured this out almost immediately, so we didn't have any ceiling damage to deal with.

So, you know me. We could have just patched the tiles, and that probably would have fixed the problem; but that's not how I roll. New shower time!

Again: you know me. Why pay someone to do something you can do yourself? I think at this point Jason was groaning, but with all that "in sickness and in health, in demolition and renovation" stuff, he sort of had to go along. Before, the shower looked like your basic builder-grade installation from the 1980s.

Then it looked like this:

And finally:

(Yes there is a sock on the showerhead pipe.) At this point money was pried from my cold, stingy hands, and some guys showed up to finish the job. Overheard conversation:

Russian tile installer: I like these subway tiles.
Korean tile installer: Oh yes, American housewives, they love subway tiles.

Um, thanks?Drum roll....... the after:

At some point we will have to install a shower door, because the shower curtain gets sucked into the shower when the water's on. But right now we're just happy to have a working shower, and one that makes you feel like you're in a castle.

Upon seeing the final product, I said, "Wow, that shower is way too nice for this bathroom." (Remember, the rest of the bathroom looks like this.) If you give a mouse a cookie...

Trippin'

I ordered the seeds for my garden (a.k.a The Deck Farm) this week. This is truly the best time of year for gardening. In my mind, my garden is a lush oasis that provides a bounty of vegetables, and it is always 74 degrees and stink bugs don't exist. I have totally forgotten about the time last summer when I picked a green bean and a green squishy worm was burrowing into it.

If I lived in a fairy tale (or in that commercial where all the cat food is spiked with LSD), I would have an awesome witch garden where all the fruits and vegetables were the wrong color. This would be possible because these things actually exist.

Pink Blueberries (image source)

Blood Oranges

Purple Green Beans

Apple Green Eggplant (image source)

Purple Broccoli (image source)

Red Pineapple (Photo © Flickr user hellochris)

Black Tomatoes (image source)

Purple Carrots

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