bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

I Might be Knitting a Tyvek House

1.  work on the house continues.  thursday, j rented a jackhammer and pulverized our side and front steps so that getting into and out of the house is precarious at best.  unfortunately, j did not announce that he was going to rent a jackhammer and do the work yesterday so i don't have a picture.  j likes to play with crazy ass tools, the bigger the better.  but he did not enjoy working with the jackhammer. 

his advice to everyone is, "don't fuck around with a guy who works jackhammers for a living."  something about guys being strong enough to whip those things around are strong enough to tie you into a pretzel.

noted.

this is what the house looks like right now.

the new windows are finally installed.  yay!  and accent brick has been chosen and priced. we need siding.  that would be nice. oh and steps. 

2.  class is good, i'm pleased with how much i remember.  i've postponed taking the literacy exam to november 17th.  having to take in october was making me twitchy.  too much fun stuff going on in october.

3.  many of you begged to know about my super secret crafty project.  it's really nothing special.  but i do want to keep it on the down low for a bit.  you'll know soon enough.

4.  a crafty project that i can let you see although there's not much to see, is my latest sock. 

i'm knitting this with knitpicks essential in meadow.  to break up the colors a bit i'm knitting this up using a basket weave slip stitch.  i call them "dishrag" socks because of the stitch similarity with the MDK dishrag.   

5.  and i haven't posted a Eye Candy Friday photo in a while.  here you go.  Fall's coming!

Another List

blogging seems to have taken a back seat to life it seems.  it's not that i don't have anything to write about, it's just that i can't muster the enthusiasm to do so.   if i think about this whole blogging thing honestly, clearly i write for myself of course, but i also write for you.  because if i didn't write for you, i'd write all of this down in a notebook and leave it on my desk and not have anyone see it.  every time i post, i'm taking a leap, thinking that someone, anyone, would give a shit about what i care about.  or don't care about. 

thus concludes the navel-gazing portion of our program. 

i'm thinking that for the time being i shall blog using the list format.  i like lists.  and i don't have to come up transitional phrases to link my paragraphs together.  yay lists!

1.  work on the house has been going on at a feverish pace. friends and family have been here almost every day, tearing things apart and putting things back together so that by the end of today, the goal is to have all windows not only installed, but all exterior walls re-insulated and tyveked, prepped for siding.  this is very exciting news.  but it's also meant that between the work on the house and certain inlaws being in town (and only being notified at the last minute of their visit *cough*), that my original plans of fun and frolic for the labor day weekend, including a couple of dinner plans with friends, were put on hold, punted if you will.  it truly was a "labor day" weekend.  (if you knew my out of town inlaws, you would agree too.)   

of course i say that as if i actually broke a sweat.   yeah, my role on the project has been more administrative than anything else.  but someone has to make the runs to home depot and the sub shop. 

2.  on the crafty front, i have been working secretly on a little project.  and it's not yarny.  i'm a little nervous about talking about it here, since i go from really liking what i've done and then thinking it's lame.  but i'm more likely to think what i do is lame anyway, and then watch someone else do exactly what i've done after the fact and watch them succeed and me sit here cursing myself and calling myself a  big fat loser.

3.  i've got as far on the larger than life bag as i can.  i've sewn the squares together and crocheted on the bottom and sides.  now comes the sewing of the lining. well, the fabric purchase first.   yeah, i'll let you know how that goes.

4.  i got a haircut.  i actually took some "before" and "after" pictures in my bathroom but they're horrible.  partly because i used my crappo camera in an artificially lit bathroom with a dirty mirror while still wearing my pajamas but also because i look like shit (even with the new haircut).  but it is what it is.  let's just say that i really like my new haircut.  my roots have been taken care of, and my handful of grays are hidden away (it is still very important to me that i only have a handlful of grays.).  if you live in the boston area, and are in need of a new look., i can highly recommend the lovely danielle.  she does a great job.  she's charming and sweet.  she's a friend of elisa's (who she misses very much) and she feeds you snacks.  SNACKS! plus, how can you resist her super cute website?

5.  i  had my first class this past week.  there's nothing like the smell of chemicals like acetic acid and formaldehyde to take you back to your younger days.    what's been eye-opening is to realize two things:  1.  i love school, and 2.  i love biology.   who knew?   i'm not 100% sure that this class is going to help me prepare for the subject test, as i'm thinking that it might not be rigorous enough, but the discipline of studying may be all i need.  good news though.  i have an exam the wednesday  BEFORE going off to rhinebeck, not the wednesday after so at least the 50 pound biology text won't be eating up precious fiber haul space in my car.

6. that's all i've got for now. 

7. the end.

 

A List: Indecision and Other Crap

1.  so operation "ripping the house apart" continues.  yesterday morning, as i was getting ready to leave for work, j was already outside tearing down the shingles on the west side of the house.

2.  nothing crafty or yarny has been going on.  well not really.  i've been messing around with the larger than life bag, crocheting, frogging, and recrocheting the sides of the bag.  if i were knitting this bag and had to frog this much, i would have thrown everything in the trash.  but the best thing about crochet ... only one live stitch.  rip with confidence.  why am i having such trouble with the sides?  i made some adjustments to the pattern so at this point, i'm winging it. 

oh, there has been some spinning.  so that part about "nothing crafty or yarny" going on at my house was a lie.

3.  i'm having a major case of startitis.  i want to start some new socks but i can't decide on which yarn to use.  what do you think? 

from left to right we have:  knitpicks essential, aracaunia sock, and mirasol peru hacho. 

4.  my love for npr has reached a new high.  a few days ago carole and i were "discussing" how we both had noticed that the leaves were changing really early this year.   or at least it seemed like it.  and that we always thought the same thing every year, that the leaves were changing earlier than we remember.  and that it must be because we were getting old (well carole said that, i didn't).  i noticed the first leaves changing august 11th.  well i was listening to npr the other day.  and get this.  WE AREN'T GETTING OLD!!  THE LEAVES HAVE STARTED CHANGING EARLIER THAN NORMAL!  the northeast has had a particularly dry summer and a dry summer causes the leaves to start changing earlier.  ha!  i knew i wasn't getting old.

and finally... 5.  did you know there's another maryse out there?  i was reading some comments and came across one posted by "maryse" and i thought, "i didn't write that comment.  did i?  maybe i did.  no, that doesn't sound like me."  and then i did the sensible thing.  i followed the link.  duh. 

hi "other" maryse!

Construction Site

a few posts ago, i was so excited about finally cleaning up my office/craft room area.  i had taken some "before" shots (pretty lame actually) and was all set to take some "after" shots in preparation for a "before-after" post until something horrible happened.

j wrecked the house.

this is what the house looked like before (and still looks like from the front:

yeah, pretty "meh."  i like the house on the inside (we've done tons of work on it AND it has tons of storage), but the exterior of this house has depressed the hell out of me every since i moved in.  even the color reminds me of baby poo.   

but the worse of it has been the condition of the windows. 

most people would just replace their windows.  but not j.  nooooooooooooo.  that would be too easy.

no, j decided to rip the house apart.

starting in the back, the ugly poo colored shingles were removed as were the old windows, frames and all.  insulation was installed and in-laws were invited over for a "let's tyvek the house and install windows" party.

   

this is what the back of my house currently looks like.  i'm not a huge fan of the tyvek look, but it's better than baby poo.

next phase of the project -- the west side.

TGIF

today has been a very good day.

for one, i took a personal day.  so i didn't have to go to work.  and that, my friends, is enough of a reason for why this day was so good.

but it gets better.  see, i took today off with one purpose in mind...and that was to clean my office/yarn room.   not a major clean up -- i didn't take all of my books off the shelves and sort them or anything.  my closet still has more craft crap than i can possibly use.  but those two messes weren't making me not want to come into the room.  it was the stuff on the floor, on the futon couch, stacked in corners, and the boxes.  the billions and billions and billions of boxes.  many filled with fiber and yarn. 

several hours later, 4 garbage bags, and a stack of flattened boxes (to save for packages of my own or for recycling) later, i'm done.  i ran out to home goods and found this awesome shelf/drawer thingy that now houses all of my unspun fiber.  and it matches the furniture in the rest of the room!  my floor is clear.  i even have a yarn cake winding station!   

oh, i also registered to take a test.  luckily, the test is scheduled the saturday AFTER rhinebeck. (i procrastinated all summer, my bad).   i think i'm ready to crack open the books again. i think.  i'm hoping i'm not too old or too stupid to go back to school.

and tomorrow, j and i are going to go out and buy windows and roofing supplies!  i've had such a productive day today that i'm even excited about windows!!!

i'll end this post with a little eye candy.  i think it's pretty anyway. 

D Day Minus One

my parental units are arriving tomorrow for a 2 week visit.  *gah* which means there's been some crazy ass activity going on here.  the outside of the house still looks like hillbillies live here, but progress has been made on the inside.

well first we have the new stove.  but also the installation of the new fancy shmancy microwave oven over the stove.  the cabinet over the oven was normal sized before J cut it up by over half to make room for the microwave.  i think i can store yarn up there, but that's about it.

a clean entry.  that doesn't seem like much, but for much of the past 2 years, this area has  been used as a depository for such items as a tile cutter, power drills, microscopes, drill press, shop vac, painting supplies .....  for 2 years the only time those doors have been opened, has been on halloween, when having a house that looks like hillbillies live there is a good thing.  boo! 

a closet door. i finally have a closet door.  last christmas when J asked me what i wanted for christmas, i said "a closet door."  same for the christmas before that.  if i wanted J to get off the phone because i had to get back to work, all i had to say was, "when are you going to finish the closet door?"  "ok, gotta go.  bye."  happiness really is a closet door.

in knitting/crochet news, here's the blanket cardigan  blocking.  i'm not looking forward to sewing it up though.  the directions say "block pieces to measurement."  what measurements?  yeah, the schema is sorely lacking in measurements. 

and here's the crocheted bag that caused my hand to look like a chicken leg.  that's a lot of single crochet.

Who You Callin' a Ho?

now that the sun is out, i can actually take some progress photos.

here's where we left off with the color on color scarf that i want to finish for the world. cup.  i only have 2 more sections to finish (they're big sections though) and then i'll have the i-cord to do (all of those individual strands are i-cords waiting to be knitted).  i'm hoping that my feelings for icord (i kind of like it) don't change by the end of the project.

 

so those of you who don't think i can finish and who have mocked me ... i give you the evil eye. 

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here are some washrags that i've finished.  sugar n cream is so cheap and colorful that making these things is very addicting.  i especially like seeing the patterns that emerge from the variegations.  it isn't always pretty but it's always fun for me. 

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and here's where the title of the post comes in (what would you call this thing?  a back hoe?).  this is what greeted me when i came home from work the other day. 

isn't it lovely?  (it was free, so how could j not bring it home?!)  if we weren't bringing down the property values of the neighborhood before, we certainly are now.  good times.

Hillbilly Hill

my yard wouldn't be such a nightmare if someone hadn't decided that dandelions were weeds and not wild flowers.

To Do Lists

a few weeks ago, i promised myself that i would spend the next few weekends doing nothing. nothing but sitting on my fat ass, watching bad television and knitting...and that's what i've been doing, pretty much.

so this weekend, while J is working on getting us some heat (he's replacing the boiler and the hot water heater) i'm going to do some straightening up.

first i need to do something with this room ... the office if you will.

somehow this picture manages to make the situation look worse than it really is. but my goal for the weekend is to organize this room.

before i do that though, i need to go to the mall....

later....

Typhoid Mary

this house hunting thing is getting to me. we went to a couple of open houses this weekend and found something we really really like but we both have reservations. to contribute to our indecision is the fact that we don't have to move right now if we don't want to so it's very tempting to think "well if we wait it out maybe something will come up that we like better."

but this house is so friggin' cute and so different from all of the other houses we've looked at.

the pros

it's on half an acre
it's reasonably priced for the area (this is massachusetts so it's hardly cheap)
it's an older home that's different and charming with high ceilings and gorgeous floors and woodwork
it's been renovated with a new kitchen and baths
it's got a front farmer's porch and a patio in back

the cons

it needs to be properly insulated
it's right on the road on a relatively busy street
it doesn't have AC
and it's a little small with practically non-existent closet space (and i'm all about closets)

what to do...

Do As I Say

Rachael's in the midst of buying her first home. because i'm so well experienced in the world of real estate (not), at the beginning of her search, i advised her to keep a cool head and not to get too emotionally involved in the process and not to "fall in love" with anything right off the bat. if only i listened to myself.

J and i have been casually looking for a new house. and we've become obsessed with an 1887 colonial. when i contacted our agent to make an appointment to see it, she told me that an offer had already been made and accepted. this was yesterday. this morning i went to www.realtor.com AND IT WAS STILL THERE! it's still available for showing JUST IN CASE the sale falls through. woo-hoo.

*sigh*

on the knitting front i joined Crafters Choice, the craft book club. i figured that since i buy the books anyway, might as well. so i ordered 4 books, 3 of which i've received. and the only one i really love is Scarf Style by Pam Allen. i'm not a scarf person, but i may become one. no one will notice that i wear the same jeans and shirt if i'm wearing a different gorgeous scarf every day...right?

Is It Friday Yet?

i really don't feel like being at work today. there's a virus going around here at work and i wonder if i may have caught it. or maybe i just didn't sleep enough. i need sleep.

my weekend was rather busy but i don't feel as if i accomplished much. i was up until 1am friday being a shredding queen going through old financial stuff. since i've got to sell my place, i need to de-clutter first. saturday morning was spent sorting through old clothes and setting them aside for donation and sorting through my yarn stash. nothing to donate in the yarn department but i did manage to return $75 worth of yarn AND fit all of my yarn inside a pair of side tables that i use as a coffee table. so at least my condo living room looks reasonably uncluttered.

then i went to home depot and bought paint for the other bedroom at the house that will probably end up being the office/spare room. the color i chose is by behr paint and it's called "club soda." the furniture for that room is black -- desk, file cabinet, futon frame -- so i think it'll look really cool. this was my inspiration.
the color scheme, not the car. I'M STILL ALL ABOUT THE MINI!

i also started working on a new knitting project. i'm making the va-va-voom tank, using microspun in royal blue. not so va-va-voomy on the model, but definitely on Rachael. how it ends up on me should be interesting.

i think i need a makeover. i've been mulling the thought of cutting my hair really short again.

Rule of Thumb

this morning i drove into boston for a doctor's appointment. (by the way, if your thumb gets a sore on it that doesn't get better in a day or two with antibiotic ointment and a bandaid, go to the doctor. don't wait for two months in the hopes that your super-human immune system will fight the infection. it won't. and the doctor and your husband just end up thinking you're crazy. all's well though. nothing that 14 days of oral antibiotics won't cure).

when i got back home, J was out front doing a little exacavation work. not a shovel and hoe for J. nooooo, when he excavates .... he excavates.

by the way, i'll be lucky if i can get him down from there ... ever.

i also have a new neighbor. her name is sarah and she's 5 days old. i finished her blanket just in time.

by the way, don't tell anyone, but, um, i made it out of acrylic yarn....shhhh

Creative Painting Avoidance

my husband and i will celebrate our "6 month" anniversary in a few days, but we do not yet share a home. during the week, i live in Boston in my apartment and on the weekends i drive out to his place which is only about 45 minutes away.

this is why:

the whole entire house looks like this. this is what we found when we pulled up the 35 year old carpeting. the floors must have been used as one great big litter box to some cat with the biggest bladder on the face of the planet because there was so much damage, that sections of the flooring had to be pulled up and replaced. anyway, since i have a perfectly lovely apartment just minutes from my job, and to move my stuff in just to move it out when we redo the floors, makes absolutely no sense, we have two abodes. the plan was to have the house done by the wedding. HAHAHAHAHAHA! that was his plan. i knew better.

anyway, right now i'm supposed to be applying primer to one of the back bedrooms. painting is my job. i'm not doing it well. all morning i've been avoiding the whole painting situation by starting another crochet project -- and it's not going well. in fact, you might say it's butt ugly. notice i didn't post a picture. why is it that it's always better in my head than in reality? hmm? why is that?

on a totally different topic, i watched John Kerry on Meet the Press this morning. how refreshing is it to hear a presidential candidate respond to questions intelligently without once saying "we'll stay the course" and without having to have the questions submitted to him AHEAD OF TIME.

ok i'm off to prime.