Purling Oaks

Isn't that the cutest face?

Thanks, Angie, for such cute contest winnings.  The sheepie is just the cutest stuffed toy I've seen in a while.  The yarn is lovely and so soft. 

This place seems like a dream shop to me.  Pottery lessons and yarn in the same place!!!  I'm not good at either but I love to play with them both.  Way back when, before I started my current traveling job career, I took pottery lessons on Wednesday nights.  I have still have most of my chunky fired pottery.........that didn't blow up in the kiln, that is.  Someday, I'm going to play with clay again.  Delicious, squishy, wonderful clay.

DH and I are about to embark (with the help of our general contractor) on the basement redo project as well as the tear-down and redo of our sunroom (aka room with a moat).  It is very exciting but also full of crossing of fingers and toes that no weird things happen during construction, like, say, a geyser springing up in the yard.  Heaven forbid.  That would be just too much of a "design element" to work around, don't you think?  At least, there should be blog material for a while. 

Oh, Cookie, the contractor is wondering where to order that stripper pole.....

Catching up, organizing, and a contest!

This morning's sock status report:  The fixation footies came with me to Chicago and are a little bit bigger.  I picked up the gusset stitches this morning because the train didn't have the lighting I needed with my eyes and this part-black yarn.  I picked up those stitches even before my morning caffeine.  Crazy.  I know the footies are not SOS08 material but I just wanted to finish them.  I am l looking forward to returning to the Magic FG socks that DO qualify for SOS.  I'll be using Cookie's Short-Row tutorial for the Magic FG sock heels.  Thanks, Cookie.

Today is the first day of vacation for me and the DH.  We had planned to stay around home even before the recent basement-changing events and that's what we are doing, outside of visiting with family in Wisconsin.  I'm looking forward to doing some finishing up and re-organizing.  We've just been so busy lately that things have been overlooked, put-off, and piled up.  Especially with *stuff* formerly located in the basement, now located scattered around the first floor.  Now there this time to get everything in reasonable order and it will make me feel good.  I just need a little time to get a list together of what all needs to be done.  (Too busy and distracted lately, for sure, to not have a list!)   Here are a few of the fun things:

• Knit socks
• Weave!!  I've had the rigid heddle loom set-up (not warped, Stacey,) for the longest time and now I can get the first project going. 
• Try to get a few buttons on the blog and generally spruce it up.
• and if time presents itself, sew and dye some yarn. 

• Oh, YEAH, and have a contest!  I am probably going to pass the 300 posts mark during this vacation.  To celebrate that and solicit some ideas from everyone, here's my plan:

I have an opportunity to redo the area that I call my studio because of the recent basement event (ahem).  I would like you to comment with ideas for me to consider for the new and improved space.  I would like to read about how you organize your stash or craft area.  Comment with ideas you've found that you think are cool or interesting for organizing or decorating the place that you have designated for knitting, weaving, needlecrafts, and/or other creative endeavors.  Book and website references are very welcome, too.  Even if you don't have an idea, comment to be included in the contest.  Comment on this post or any more recent posts with an idea for me until Sunday, July 6th at midnight.  You can submit any number of ideas or just plain comments for the contest, each a separate comment.  I'll count up to three entries per person.  One prize per person.  I'll choose three winners randomly from the comments.  Thanks in advance for all your ideas.  I'm looking forward to reading them.

ETA:  You don't need an idea to comment for the contest! 

Honeysuckle Sunday

The oregano in my herb garden has just loved this weather.  It was waving around, hogging garden space from the rosemary and the chives and the greek oregano.  So, on Sunday, I hacked off about half the plant.   I harvested a big batch......a fills the sink kind of batch.  Since we are still drying things out in the house, I thought the front porch might be a more successful place to dry.  At least they will look "scenic" for a few days.... I have a dehydrator that I usually dry herbs in but this batch would have required ten of them.

Wisconsin isn't exactly the high desert of California, so it is quite likely that this outside drying of herbs thing may be an experiment gone wrong, but it kept me busy while waiting for our insurance adjuster to make his way to us through the flooded highway infrastructure that is Columbia County.  I found Sunday that I have developed a pacing habit and it isn't something I'm happy about.  I did knit but I kept dropping the yarn.  More yoga for me, I see.  That or see if I can find my cute red GoKnit pouch from Scout that hangs on my belt loop in the debris of my studio.

It was an educational visit.  The news from the adjuster is looking better than initially thought but it isn't final.  The relatively little bit of water and icky-stuff combination did a whole lot of damage to a finished basement.  Today, the clean up guys were here again to remove not-so-sanitary paneling (that, frankly, I won't miss too much), insulation, drywall, and woodwork.  They worked hard ---- until 8:30 pm (!) and they will be back tomorrow morning at 7 am (gasp!) for a few more hours of work.  The cats are confined to the bedroom due to all the drywall dust, nails, and debris that they would be bound to venture through if they were roaming the house.

The honeysuckle is getting a lot of blog time but I do love it.

I'm going to be approaching the 300 post milestone soon so watch for a contest announcement soon.

Sunday's Backyard View

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This photo was taken a little after 9 AM this morning.  I love how the finch feeder is full of birds and, if you look closely, you can see a squirrel tail on the far feeder.  It started raining early this morning but, as you can see, the snow has started. 

Mom's flight from California made it into Detroit just fine this morning but her flight to Appleton was canceled.  Now, she is on a flight to Minneapolis with hopes of arriving home on a third flight this afternoon.  Good travel thoughts for Mom are much appreciated.

Yesterday, I rented the wallpaper steamer machine from our local hardware store at noon.  DH brought it back at 4:30 PM after we removed the wallpaper from our basement bathroom.  I was afraid this would be a beast of a job but only a normal amount of effort was expended.  One hint for those of you applying wallpaper....remember to prime the surface first, even if it is only a patch.  If you don't prime, the wallpaper will stick, stick, stick when you want it to release should you or someone else ever want to remove the paper.  DH has all ready removed the vanity and replaced the toilet from the old blue (yes, 1970's blue) ceramic.  Now, to research what flooring to install.  Vinyl or Ceramic (on concrete) or some other option?

Friday's Nasturtium Bonus

Today was the first day of a much-welcomed four-day weekend. I did a mish-mash of things with some effort made to stay low-key. The dirt pile arrived today and DH worked until he dropped adding window wells and other necessary stuff before we can move the dirt from the pile to the back yard.

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As many gardeners know, this time of year there is an abundance of cherry tomatoes. I came across an interesting method of preserving them that I'm experimenting with to see if we'll use the result. Cut the tomatoes in half and set them cut side up on a sheet pan. I've lined the pan with parchment paper.
I crammed utilized all the sheet pan surface. The tomatoes were unadulterated (besides having a washing before the knife bisected them) but I've read that some people add herbs and sometimes olive oil.
They baked in a 250F degree oven for about 3 hours to achieve a not-completely-dried state. If they go longer they get crunchy with a very concentrated flavor, which is quite tasty, but not what I wanted to achieve today. As you can see they shrink quite a bit. I transfered the semi-dried tomatoes to a freezer bag for future use on pizzas and other food to be determined later.

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Today I also seamed the shoulders and one sleeve of Sonnet and I'm planning to finish the rest tomorrow unless I'm too zonked from dirt shoveling. I tried on the body of the sweater and it looks good. I hope the sleeves work out, too. I'll definitely need to add ribbon tape to the inside of the button band and neckline to provide a bit of shape-retaining assistance.

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My volunteer nasturtium is blooming. I would have thought our harsh winter would have killed off the seeds of last year's vines but I was proved wrong.

Hurray for invention

We arrived home to more water in the basement on Monday after work. Not a lot......just enough to suck (or is that wet vac?) an hour out of an evening. Sigh. No dirt pile (or time to move it) until Friday. What to do...what to do? DH came up with a great solution with some lumber and a tarp as a temporary way to convey water away from the problem area at the back of the house. It works. We had lots of rain last night. It works. Hurray.

I am knitting daily --- just a few rows on a sock each morning and evening -- but I am knitting. Low energy has been the theme the past two days with a few temporary health-related things piling on top of a lot of work stuff. I'm looking forward to a nice long weekend.

And here is a kitty that knows how to relax. White Dot is helping out by providing a nice photo for the blog. He's such a handsome boy...and a very good purr-er.

No water for me, thanks.

No water in the basement this morning, thank you very much! We have fans and dehumidifers running to convince any lingering moisture to leave. I also called the local truck and dirt guys today so we could get a load of topsoil. Yes, we will be doing a bit of landscaping to eliminate any moat-like tendencies the backyard currently harbors. Of course, I'm referring to the "royal" we. DH is going to be doing the majority of the hard labor, as usual. (He's a very good DH.)

I've been making pretty decent progress on Nasturtium sock number two since I cast on Saturday. I'm working on the heel flap right now. I know my progress is rather tiny compared to the Summer of Socks folks, like Cookie with her 20-plus pairs of socks so far this summer but I do believe my knitting speed is showing some improvement! Hurray.

Tomorrow is haircut day for me after work. I hope my stylist doesn't grimace too much when she sees me. I had to push this appointment back by two weeks....and, thus, had to do a bit of scissor-work myself.

Almost!

Oh my, one Nasturtium sock almost done and another almost started. *g* Photos later....just as soon as I look up some grafting instructions.

We almost have a new shower. If everything goes well tomorrow, there will be a brand new shower in the basement bathroom by the end of the day. I took a few photos to, hopefully, document the transformation. After the shower, DH and I will expend a bit of elbow grease and put in a new floor, toilet, and sink. There will be some new lights but the electrian will get all the fun of that task. Here's a preview of the "old" bathroom:

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And for an almost Friday (depending upon your location on the globe) Flower, here's a blossom of my garlic chives.

Catching up Tuesday

Good grief! How did it get to be Tuesday!? Time is certainly flying by while I'm trying to catch up with work, laundry (I think we brought back several buckets of sand...), gardening (the weeds had a nice vacation, too), and other projects, including this blog. I have made absolutely no knitting progress on any project since getting out of car on Saturday. However, I have made big steps in getting my sewing/craft room habitable. About a year ago, we had several inches of water in the basement, indeed, the same location as the sewing room. It was clean water but never the less, it was water. Sigh. The room was dismantled to dry everything and I never got around to putting the room back together for a number of reasons--mostly emotional ones.

So, a good year passes and now I am back in the spirit of reclaiming my sewing room. Sunday, I acquired a nice, large, cheap carpet remnant from Home Depot that fit the room. DH helped me get the rug in place and I've been dusting bookcases and rearranging my stuff. I made decent progress on Sunday and after work Monday. The room should be generally nice and usable by the end of the week. We're not installing permanent flooring since this room is under the two bathrooms and master bedroom closet that will be undergoing major renovation in the next year or so. So, I don't expect this redo to be the final incarnation of this room. I'll share some photos when I'm at a stopping point later this week.

DH had the camera our final day in the UP. These are two lovely brook trout that we gave to my mom on our way home. DH made good MIL-points. *g* Fresh caught and fried trout are one of my favorite meals. We had a trout earlier in the week as an appetizer. That day on his way into the stream, DH encountered a decent sized black bear. The bear ran off in a flash (so no photo) but he saw tracks in the sand of the logging road when he was finished finishing and on his way home.

Day One of my Summer vacation

For a first full day of a vacation, we had a pretty full and busy day. At 9 AM we met with a guy to talk about redoing the bathtub in the basement bath into a shower with all the fixin's. We ended up signing a contract so I'll post later this summer with our before and after photos. The bathroom "re-do" will be part contractor and part homeowner sweat and possibly some four-legged words---to quote DH. As a teaser, I'll share that the old bathtub and toilet are blue in color.

In between everything, I did about 2.5 loads of laundry and made a blackberry galette (fancy for rustic berry tart) to bring to the engagement party as well as shower and dress appropriately. Then DH and I got in the car and headed east for Paul & Amanda's engagement party. It was a great party at Amanda's father's house and fabulously delicious food made by Amanda's mom with some contributions from the rest of us.
There was a lovely pool, especially enjoyed by the kids. Here are Kaylee, Jack, and Andy being their cute selves. (click the photo for a larger photo)

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Here are the two people that generated the desire for the party...Paul and Amanda. (Jack is in the photo intending to get first dibs on some frosting.) Paul is DH's youngest brother and a great DBIL. I am really looking forward to having Amanda as a DSIL. I'm batting 1000 in that category and the addition of Amanda won't change that one bit.

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DH's Aunt Jane is enjoying reading Purling Oaks. She sent me an email to that effect a little while ago and I said "OMG, Aunt Jane is reading my blog!" We talked a little about the blog today. I should have told her to go here to read more about setting up a weblog. Thanks for your support, Aunt Jane! The cousins weren't the only ones to enjoy the pool!

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DH and I are home now and wondering how we can shoehorn everything into the car for our journey up to Grand Marais. There shouldn't be a problem....I didn't even consider bringing my sewing machine or my spinning wheel. *g*