Thursday, April 25, 2013

Tacky, Really Tacky


I got up this morning with a large amount of motivation to tackle a project I’ve been putting off:  pulling up the carpet in our living room and hallway.  The carpet is old and needs to be retired.  I don’t like carpet at all – I’ve pulled up way too much of it over the years and I’ve been horrified each time at the dirt and crud that carpet accumulates, no matter how much you vacuum.  If I had my way, the house would be completely devoid of this eco-hazard, but The Husband complains about his feet being cold on a floor that has no carpet (I say, “Put on your bloody slippers, man”). The carpet was here when we moved in and I’ve been itching to replace it with something more pet-friendly (and less disgusting) for a while now. So, after The Husband left for work, I put on the work clothes, donned the leather gloves and armed myself with a utility knife.  

Unfortunately, my motivation died a rather sudden death when I realized that removing tack strips that have been fastened into the concrete slab our house is built on was going to be more than I could handle today.  I come from the north, so I’ve never had to pull tack strips out of anything but wood flooring or sub-flooring.  This concrete slab thing is a new experience.  I Googled the best way to remove the strips and the recommended process I found was WAY more than I bargained for.  Since I can’t pull the carpet and leave the strips for another day (due to the 20 paws that could be injured), the renovations are delayed.  Sigh…

I guess I’ll have to knit today.  :D

The Spider Silk lace shawl and I have agreed to a temporary truce.  Tuesday evening at knit night, it took me an hour and a half to simply pick all 515 stitches back up from the lifeline.  The only thing that kept me going was the fact that we were celebrating “Chicken Salad and Cream Cheese Appreciation Day*”, so everyone brought some super-yummy food (you ladies rock!) so I was able to press on.  Last night, I even managed to complete two full rows.  I still don’t trust it, but at least the lines of communication are open and I hope to negotiate a peaceful end to the warfare.

Here’s where I’m at with my Athos socks:


I love this pattern.  You wouldn’t know it by the lack of real progress I’ve made, but I wouldn’t lie to you.  Honestly, I wouldn’t…unless it involved lace.  You can’t prove anything.

I finished both baby afghans I was making for the soon-to-be-here twins and delivered them last night.  The pictures are crap, but you’re used to that by now on this blog, right?

Soft and Sweet
Cuddle Up

Speaking of baby stuff, a few months ago I bought these three skeins from Hobby Lobby in order to do some fun baby things with it:

Bernat Baby Coordinates, Baby Bee Sweet Delight Prints
Baby Bee Angel Fleece

After finishing the afghans, I felt a draw to pull these out of my stash and see what I could get up to.  I bought the Baby Bee Angel Fleece (the one in a ball) specifically to try this Bunny Blanket Buddy pattern that I found ages ago.  I absolutely love the colors in the skein, even though I think any boucle or bumpy yarn is a royal pain in the backside to knit with.  So I cast on late yesterday afternoon and things were going swimmingly until I got the second ear done and was ready to stuff the head.  The poor rabbit’s beaner was wonky and I couldn’t get it opened up like it was supposed to in order to insert the polyfill.  Could I possibly have purled when I should have slipped?  Uh…maybe.  We’ll never know for sure because I ripped the whole thing out.  I will likely try one more time though. Brilliant thing about baby knits:  ripping out doesn't usually constitute a month's work.

I’m still looking for the perfect baby boy sweater pattern to use with the Baby Bee Sweet Delight Prints yarn.  I love the little flecks of brown, blue and yellow, and this yarn, while not my normal snobbish natural fiber choice, is very, very soft.  If you have any pattern ideas, let me know.  I have a horrible time making decisions on patterns when I don’t have a clear one in mind prior to buying the yarn.

Thanks again to everyone who continues to read this blog!  I’m off…

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*I can neither confirm nor deny that this holiday may have been randomly established in order that we might gorge ourselves on Lady L’s chicken salad and other goodies.  I have no further comment at this time.

10 comments:

  1. Made up holidays are the best!!!

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  2. Those blankets are so awesome! I like the square pattern of the baby boy afghan. Also - wonky beaners require photos. Just sayin'.

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    1. The wonky rabbit head shall remain forever un-chronicled out of respect for the slightly deformed. Unless it happens again. Then I'll be sure to get a snapshot. : )

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  3. I love the "Cuddle Up" blanket. The name suits it very well.

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    1. Both of the afghans are from a little booklet by Evelyn Clark that I bought when I first started knitting. I've only used two patterns out of, I think, six that are in the book. They are nice patterns!

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  4. I'm with you about the whole carpet thing. I hate it and wouldn't have a square inch of it in my house if it was up to me. But apparently we married twins separated at birth, because my husband also complains that the floor is too cold where there isn't any carpet.

    I love all your knitting projects! I have some yarn I plan to use to knit one of those baby bunny blankets for grandchild #1. I'm a little alarmed to hear it might not be straightforward knitting though. I hope you are able to figure it out on your second try.

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    1. The knitting isn't the hard part. The paying attention to the knitting...THAT'S my problem. : ) I've started my second try and I'm confident that I'll have a bunny at the end!

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  5. Strange. I've never heard of carpet being installed into concrete floors either... but I'm also from the Midwest. Hopefully, you'll be able to get this done as easily and painlessly as possible. Maybe you can bribe your husband with some new slippers to do the work for you.

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    1. I think The Husband plans to help me get the job done, even without slippers. : ) The biggest job will be keeping our furry crew out of the middle of things!

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