Steekage

First there were no holes....


And then there were holes.


I did it!

Projects finished, projects started

After almost two years in our house, Nick and I are getting around to some of the small home improvement projects that have been nagging us. Behold: the front entrance.


It looks so plain and unassuming, but I assure you, hours of work and weeks of procrastinating went into this scene. First there's the handrail. There never was one there before. That was purchased, sawed off, stained, and then sat in the kitchen for a month before we got around to actually attaching it to the wall. The wooden stairs were scratched and notched and in desperate need of repainting (the previous owners were kind enough to leave a lot of half-empty paint cans in the basement, so this didn't even necessitate a trip to the hardware store), but I quickly discovered that alkyd paint, once dry, is extremely slippery. That led to a trip to the hardware store to buy the stick-on tread tape that along with the handrail, should decrease the chance of having visitors severely injure themselves before they've even made it inside. Then I painted the moldings. Lassy helped.

And you should hear the new doorbell. Now we'll even be aware of when visitors are on the doorstep. A novel concept, admittedly.

On the knitting scene, I've managed to finish a cute little baby cardigan for an upcoming shower. One of my co-workers is expecting a baby boy early next year.


I improvised the pattern using a simple cardigan pattern from a Sirdar booklet. I basically went through my stash looking for anything that was machine washable and suitable for a baby sweater, and came up with two small balls of the dark colour, and half a ball of the lighter denim yarn leftover from a pair of Blu baby jeans I made last year. They're different yarns, but both DK cotton, so I just threw them together and this is what came out. I had just enough yarn (it was a close finish), and decided to accent it with some cute contrasting buttons. I think the mom-to-be will be pleased with it.

In other baby news, my dear friend Deanne had a girl recently. I sent her the second JoJo cardigan that I made some time ago. Finally, a little girl to claim it! Happily, that gives me an excuse to knit another baby girl sweater now - I always like to have one in reserve, as there are more babies on the way in my circle of friends.

My newest distraction is a new lace project.


This scarf bears the daunting title of "Scarf with Edging 21 and Insertion 25 from The Knitted Lace Pattern Book, Thompson Bros., Kilmarnock, Scotland 1850". For anyone familiar with the book, it's easy to guess that this is from Victorian Lace Today. This is for my mom. She picked out the yarn, Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace, when we were in Halifax in June and I dragged her to Loop Yarns not just once, but twice in one weekend. I've been wondering whether I should have used a smaller needle size (the pattern is actually written for fingering weight yarn), but I'm going to trust in the magic of lace blocking and hope that it will turn out as beautifully as previous lace projects that I had my doubts about.

My other big project this week? I'm dehydrating a bunch of food for an upcoming backpacking trip with my Guides. My whole house sticks of onions. You can even smell in outside on the sidewalk. I can't wait to be finished!