Wednesday, August 31, 2005

I finally finished reading Middlemarch (thank goodness!) and decided to reward myself by starting the new Harry Potter book.  Three chapters into it, though, I was completely lost, so I had to go back and re-read the previous one.  Hence the long blog silence.  I'm all caught up now, and eagerly anticipating Number Seven. 

And there's been knitting progress (yay!).  Wanna see?  Of course you do!  That's why you're here, isn't it?

I added the zipper to the Tic Tac Toe Vest, so now it's really, REALLY done:

And these are for Tracy (don't look if you're squeamish!):

I got a good start on Mosaic Sock #2 while sitting lakeside this past weekend:

And I have just one sleeve cap to go and then I can put Loll together:

Mica has been a big help, particularly in decorating my black sweater pieces with her silver fur.

On the home front, things have been looking up.  Our major kitchen appliances are still in need of attention, but the house is in pretty good shape otherwise (knock on wood!).

My car, on the other hand, is a different story.

On Monday, I spent a couple of hours at the tire place while the service technician used extremely hi-tech methods (i.e., submersion in a giant bucket of water) to determine that I had a nail in my tire.  Fortunately, the tires were still under warranty, so how many dollars were spent on repairs and maintenance on Monday?  Zero!

On Tuesday, I spent a couple of hours at the Volvo dealership while the highly qualified service technician (and I use that term loosely)

• came back from lunch
• looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about
• shrugged and said he had no idea what to do, and
• made a series of phone calls to find out how to answer my question, which was:

How do you get this:

out of here:

after your brilliant teen-aged son failed to read this:

After making the first phone call, the extremely helpful service technician announced that we would have to pay over a thousand dollars for a new CD player.  I stared at him and said "Excuse me?"

After making the second phone call, the highly trained service technician discovered that we could send the entire unit to somebody or other, who would then send us a replacement unit for $205.50.  Excluding installation.  I squinted at him and said "Hmm."

Glancing at the phone, and sneaking glances around the garage, the guy pretending to be a qualified service technician informed me that with the removal of a couple of screws, we could probably pop the top off of that sucker and get the CD out.  No guaranteeing that anything would work after that, though.  I rolled my eyes at him and drove off.

Word to the wise:  Do not attempt to put non-round CDs in your car's CD player.

Further word to the wise:  Take out enough screws, and you can pop the top off of most anything.  Successfully, thank you very much.

How many dollars were spent on repairs and maintenance on Tuesday?  Zero!

(and how lucky is Son Number One, that his meager allowance wasn't withheld for the next four years?)

Sarah

Thursday, August 25, 2005

So what did I do on my "first" day sans children?

• I ran a series of errands without anyone asking whether we were going home yet
• I went out for a celebratory lunch with my neighbor, a fellow parent-of-school-aged-children
• I turned OFF the Phantom of the Opera CD that had been playing constantly since band camp a month ago (guess what the marching band's theme is this year?) and turned ON the classical music station
• I went to the bathroom with the door open (just because I could)
• I got some work done without having to stop to drive anyone to or from the golf course
• I (almost) finished the sample for my Introduction to Intarsia class

What was that last one again?  Oh!  I ALMOST finished the sample for my Introduction to Intarsia class.  I'll install the zipper this morning, and THEN it will be a fait accompli.

Here's the front:

And here's the back:

What do you think?  I originally tried to use an argyle design, but Son Number One provided the tic tac toe idea after I explained what I wanted to accomplish in the class (diagonal, curved, horizontal and vertical lines, and duplicate stitch as well as Intarsia).  Once again, he proves his worth.  I think I'll keep him around a few more years.

And the X and O double as a kiss and a hug, which I'm sure wasn't part of my son's original plan.  I may have gotten a little too cutesy with the "X♥O" on the back -- I'll provide charts for the whole alphabet so a child's or grandchild's initials can be added instead.

Now I've got to get to work on the sample for my Introduction to Aran class . . .

Sarah

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Today is the first day of the new school year for my kids.

The moms moved quickly from waving at the departing bus with one raised hand and yelling "Have fun at school!" to waving at each other with two raised hands and yelling "Woo hoo!"

I'm outta here.  I've got stuff to DO!

Sarah

Sunday, August 21, 2005

I survived another day with Uberimma (aka The Serial Killer, in case you've forgotten).

She liked Fern!

It fits her!

Ooh!  Now you can see the texture in natural light!

Phew!  I can knock THAT sweater off my to do list, although I wouldn't mind making another one, for myself this time, in the same color and size.  Too bad we can't stick sweaters into copiers or scanners and get exact duplicates (or we could enlarge or reduce as needed!).  Just think -- we would never have to knit a second sock, or a second sleeve!  Hmm . . .

And here's another sweater we can knock off the list: 

I finally found some great, lightweight buttons for my Entrelac Jacket, although I neglected to take a close-up before I sent it off to live at Little Red Schoolhouse Yarn Shop for a few months (That's where I'll be teaching my Entrelac Design class, from whence this jacket originated).

We had a great time at the Michigan Fiber Festival.  I limited my purchases to a skein of a lace weight mohair blend in Cobalt from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill and a niddy noddy from Susan's Fiber Shop.  After spending hours upon hours in the marketplace at Stitches Midwest last weekend, I didn't really have much left on my shopping list!

I haven't told you about my trip to Stitches yet, have I?  Or Knitting Camp?  Or my trip to D.C.?

That's all right, because I'm not planning on doing anything exciting for a while, so we can live off of those stories for a while. 

But FIRST, I have to finish that danged Intarsia sample. 

Sarah

Friday, August 19, 2005

Lookie -- I've been knitting!

Here's most of the first Mosaic sock, which has been living in my backpack/purse for the past few months.  You can see the actual Mosaic effect right in the middle by the heel, where I happened to hit on the right number of stitches for a few rows.  Otherwise, it's just a mishmash of purple, which is fine with me. 

This is the current status of the sample for my Introduction to Intarsia class:

I hope to finish it this weekend, but a day trip to the Michigan Fiber Festival (with a slight detour to find Uberimma at the train station) may delay its completion.

Speaking of Uberimma, I'll be delivering this to her on Sunday:

It's Fern!  Finished, washed, and currently blocking in our very dry basement (please pardon the icky wall -- we have to replace the baseboard).

Home repair update (I'll start with the good news):

• Husband Number One was able to fix the front door so it has regained the ability to stay shut.
• The carpet cleaners were arriving as I was leaving for Stitches Midwest, so the basement is now officially ready for re-entry. 
• Our printer/copier/fax/scanner, which wouldn't copy or scan without throwing a hissy fit, is being replaced with a newer model (thank goodness we went for the extended warranty for once). 
• Our refrigerator is leaking water onto the floor.  Stage one of our investigation involved turning off the icemaker.  It's a lot cheaper to buy ice cube trays than to replace the refrigerator.
• The number buttons on the touchpad of our oven no longer work, which means we can't set the clock, the timer, or the temperature.  Appliance shopping commences tomorrow.

Still taking things one day at a time . . .

Sarah

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Apparently my memory card's new home in the fancy-schmancy new card reader is "J", and not "F".  Now that I've been made aware of that, you can enjoy one of my famous (says who?) photo essays:

This is what our garage looked like when we got home from our week in Washington, D.C. (can you see by the shadows that the car doors are still open?  We had JUST gotten home):

We can usually fit two cars in there.  Not lately, though.

And here's what our living room looked like (at least I THINK that's our living room):

We can usually fit at least four (live) bodies in there.  Not lately, though.  The kitchen, dining room and studio were just as full.

So now you can see what I've been working on lately.  Fun, huh?

I'm not sure why, but I don't have any pictures of the basement.  There were about a dozen giant industrial strength fans and three super huge dehumidifiers running 24 hours a day for about a week (Ka-ching!).  And no, insurance didn't cover the restoration since the damage was caused by the sump pump (our sump pump/wet basement issues and our driveway/yard issues appear to be completely unrelated).  And hey!  We're really looking forward to getting our electric bill this month!  (Ka-ching!)

Here's the aftermath of the ribbon cutting ceremony for our new driveway (Ka-ching!) (you can see the scissors in Son Number Two's hand in the upper left-hand corner):

Of all the things in the yard that were cut within the last two weeks (the water line, the telephone line, the Internet/cable t.v. connection, the invisible dog fence, the irrigation system . . . have I forgotten anything?), that ribbon is the only thing that was cut on purpose.

As of this moment (10:28 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time on August 11, 2005), everything at our house seems to be up and running.  Don't anybody breathe.

Once the basement carpet gets cleaned (to make it gray again instead of its current splotchy brown color), I'll be able to put stuff back down there.  But not as much stuff.  And nothing (Do you hear me?  NOTHING!) goes on the floor. 

Oh, and did I mention that Son Number One is entering the wonderful world of orthodontia this week?  (Ka-ching!)

So -- you wanna help me pay for my new driveway, and my dry basement, and my son's braces?  You do?  Great!  All you need to do is come to Lansing and take one of my knitting classes (Or more!  Take all of them!).  That's easy, right?  I've even posted a new class schedule on my website so you can see what your options are.  Cool, huh?  Thanks for your help!

I'm almost afraid to leave the house again, but I'm off to Stitches Midwest in Chicago tomorrow.  When I get back, I hope to have a chance to start gathering my thoughts (and photos) so I can share stories from my recent travels with you.  Instead of stories from my recent travails, which you're probably getting tired of hearing about.  

I'll see you when I get back!

Sarah

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

I tried to post a photo along with a message saying "I'm still here, and doing okay," but the fancy new card reader that Husband Number One bought to handle all the different cards from all the fancy new devices we've collected doesn't seem to want to acknowledge the memory stick from my little ol' digital camera that the old card reader handled perfectly well.

Just one more minor obstacle to overcome.

After a week of complaining to anyone who will listen about my latest series of unfortunate events, I've realized that I'm very thankful that I haven't had a natural gas leak, that I haven't had dog-sized rats in my basement, and that everyone is healthy.

Knock on wood.

Sarah

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

You'll have to excuse me while we deal with the aftereffects of a broken sump pump, a flooded basement, severed telephone, cable (Internet and television), and invisible fence lines, and possible damage to our irrigation system. 

I know you'll all be relieved to hear that my yarn rode out the flood safely thanks to numerous Rubbermaid arks.

Back soon,

Sarah

Previous month's archive