ArgoKnot

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I hope I’m not the only one who sang that song as a kid. When Bob was finished with my basement studio renovation, we both realized how bad the stairs looked! So this weekend he ripped up the stairs and put down tiles, similar to the ones on the basement floor. We had plenty of spare tiles, but they didn’t seem the right choice for stair treads, so he picked something similar.

I’m funny about creating good karma in the places I live. I really needed the entrance to my studio to be inviting to me. I cleared off the shelves on the stairway landing and put stuff that is dear to me there, to entice me down to work!

Today I tied on the rest of a warp I’d used to make a clerical stole for a local minister. The rest of this warp will be a scarf which I’ll probably post on Etsy. When I packed up the studio stuff I put the cone of weft yarn someplace ‘safe‘ so I could get back to weaving when the reno was finished. I can’t find it! This is so typical of me. I wove off the bobbin that I kept near the loom, but I can’t find the cone I need for the rest of the weaving. I wonder how long it will take me to find it…. I sure hope it’s not months….or years!

While Bob was painting the trim yesterday, I made this braid for a workshop I’m doing through my online guild. It felt really good to braid again after more than a year!

>I started a lace panel for our half glass front door. We’ve had this front door for over 10 years now, and I have toyed with idea of knitting a lace panel for it and the two narrow side lights, and searched online for commercial lace panels to buy. When I’m out driving or traveling in other cities I’m always looking at houses with lace curtains, trying to find some inspiration.

This panel is “Rose Leaf” from Marianne Kinzel’s First Book of Lace Knitting. I thought I was probably the first person in decades to tackle one of her patterns, but no! Ravelry has quite a few posts for finished items in this very pattern! I have company! And the fact that all those other knitters finished their projects gives me a lot of confidence! I want to be among those ranks!

I’m knitting the antimacassar chart for the settee, although I’ve enlarged the pattern to fit my door’s window. The actual curtain panel in this pattern had too much plain knitting before the rose leaf design. If I’m worn out after the main window I’ll do the side lights as described for windows, with all that plain knitting.

The yarn I’m using is DMC cotton cordonnet #40. It’s the finest thread I’ve ever knitted. It’s a good experience! Also, this thread is so tightly spun and hard it is making a very crisp fabric. That should work well. Now to keep up the knitting (finished all of part A and one repeat of part B, about 6″ length in all)….

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>While all the previous days have gone so smoothly, with so much accomplished, today everything seemed to go wrong! It was one thing after another. First, Bob didn’t have his wallet when he got through buying miles of 1/4 round and kick plate trim for the walls and floor. Then on his second trip, when he actually paid and took all that molding, it fell out of the car and was broken up all over the road! He scrambled to get it all back in the car before anyone came along to run over it, and I had the exciting job of finding all the matching pieces when he got home with his ‘road kill.’ Then, the rubberized kick plate that he bought for the base of the walls would not stick, not even with glue! It kept falling off the walls into a heap on the floor.

He returned the defective kick plate and bought pre-primed wooden cove molding. He had to clean off all the glue from the previous attempt and put on the new. It was a frustrating and arduous day. Perhaps all this happened so he’d be happy to go back to work tomorrow!…

I had plans to get everything back in place during this week, but since we still need to paint I will have to find something else to do!
As of 6pm this evening, I have three looms back in place. I have a long way to go on getting things back, but for the moment I need to leave room for painting!

Here are my three resolutions for 2009:

1. To enjoy this room and spend a good deal of time working here! I know we won’t live here too many more years, so I want to use it to the fullest!

2. To keep this workspace organized! Always a bit challenging for me!

3. This is the hardest of my resolutions! To use only stash this year and not buy any yarn or fiber. I’m going to need a lot of strength for this one. But I feel buried in my stash, and I’m stashing it all over the house since it doesn’t fit in the two storage rooms off this studio. I bought all of it because it is so beautiful, so now the time has arrived to make use of it!

Wish me luck!

>Today we got a late start. Bob had a doctor’s appt. and some errands to do in the morning. It was noon when he started laying tiles. I had the important job of handing him tiles! The dog’s job was to get in the way as much as possible.

One loom back in place! Tomorrow Bob will finish the alcove (that you can’t see) where the AVL lives. Then it will be time for all the trim. I doubt all that trim will get finished tomorrow. And then there are the stairs to re-do. That will be another big, nasty job!

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My husband is renovating my studio during his time off from work between Christmas and New Year. Lucky me!
We were certain that there was humidity behind the walls in my basement studio. The humidifier seems to run all year ’round, I often feel groggy after working down there for any length of time, and I have just the slightest inkling that some of my migraines occur after spending time down here. So it was no surprise to find moldy, damp cement when Bob cut the walls away yesterday. YUK!!
And, of course, my stuff is a mess! There was no place else in the house to move my looms and other equipment and stash, so we just crammed it into the rest of the room.

Here Bob is jackhammering a French drain to help with the moisture situation. To cut down on dust he’s dexterously using one foot to guide the nozzle of the shop vac so most of the dust was whisked away!

Today’s progress: walls freshly painted with dry-loc! Tomorrow Bob will build the vapor barrier, and then get started on putting studs up for the new wall, which will come out past the French drains. There will be a shelf where the old walls end and the new walls join. More places for me to put stuff!

I will need to pick out new flooring soon!

So what are my resolutions for the New Year? Stay tuned….right now I need to get off the computer!

>Well, aren’t there a LOT of demands on every one’s time this month! Why would I be any exception….

Yesterday was the annual sheep party of a group of weavers in which I am a lucky member. There are only 10 of us, probably due to the burden of buying any more than 10 sheep gifts! I was the hostess this year….and the sheep presents were awesome!….as was the food and the company!

Here’s my favorite sheep

And here’s the funniest sheep, unshorn and shorn!

I am reluctantly knitting a Christmas stocking for my new daughter in law. I got the Ann Norling pattern years ago because I always wished my stocking was the nutcracker. My stocking is a snowman, made by my mother in law, who wanted me to have one just like the ones given to her children by their maternal great aunt. She also knit them for my two sons when they were born, but I believe we are the only family members who got them. Lucky indeed!…..until now, when I have to keep up this family traditon and make one for our newest member. Did I mention that I hate intarsia? Making myself work on this thing has been torture. I think I’d rather have a root canal. So much for the adorable nutcracker! I can’t stand him now! Anyway, it’s still not finished, although anything else with twice the work would have been done before Thanksgiving. I think I started the hateful thing around Hallowe’en, thinking it would be done in a week. Ah….I’d forgotten just how much I hated intarsia since I haven’t done that technique in almost 20 years when I made Kaffe Fassett’s “Jack’s Back” and hated every minute of that!

So, every moment I work on anything else is loaded with guilt. I have now blown by two dates when I was supposed to deliver the stocking. I have knitting rage when I work on it, and that’s really not good. In fact, I fear I am polluting the world with bad knitting karma every time I touch the thing. I’m not sure I can give it away full of such bad vibes. Hmmm….