Goodbye old shrubs, goodbye old wallpaper

I am back to scraping wallpaper. It has two layers of wallpaper, then you get to a layer of blue paint, which has an additional two layers of wallpaper underneath it.

I have a technique down that seems to work.  Basically, I spray it down with this DIF wallpaper stripper gel.  I strip off the top two layers, score the paint so I can penetrate through it, spray it with the DIF again, then strip off the rest with the help of the steamer as well. It goes slow. Luckily, most of the plaster is in decent shape. There is one spot in the wall that is bad, but other than that it seems smooth. This is the room I'd like to eventually make into a nursery. (And no, I'm not pregnant. But, by the time I want to be, I better have a room in good condition.) The wet spots are just from my steamer... it had not dried yet.

Also, I decided that the textured ceiling in this room is intact, and therefore not worth my current time and effort. I hate the textured ceiling, but it's not falling apart like other things... and unfortunately I need to prioritize. So, I am going to eventually just repaint the ceiling.

My husband cut down all the shrubs in the front. They were not taken care of for years, overgrown, and causing some problems to our foundation and porch. We don't plan on doing any landscaping for a while because we need to fix some stuff first.


Max says "These people don't have a clue what they are doing." (Max is the kitty who came with the house.)


Oh, and knitting. I haven't tossed it completely aside. There are husband's socks. I'm on the second one, almost to the heel. And I bought the new Yarn Harlot book, and I have a ticket to see her next Saturday at the bookstore!!

Time to get started...

Well, spring is officially here.  (Even if it is still freezing.)  It's time to get back to work on our house.  So, unfortunately less knitting time, but it must be done....

We hired a man to work on the roof of our porch on Saturday.  If he does a good job, we will definitely get him to fix the roof/flashing on the addition as well.
I have a list of things that keeps growing that I need to get done.

• must finish stripping wallpaper in rear bedroom


• strip paint off fireplace tile in front master bedroom (yes, someone painted dark blue over gorgeous tiles)


• figure out how much work it is to scrape off a textured ceiling


• take a billion things to the recycle center from the basement


• paint the new side door


• plant flowers outside

This is just a list of things to accomplish before we hire electricians.  After we fix our electrical problems, my list grows exponentially. (Going back to the porch for a minute, I plan on having the electricians put in ceiling fans in our wrap around porch.  I have this dream of sitting on my southern wrap around porch, with the fans going, sipping my sweet tea and knitting.)

I have an appointment with an allergy specialist on Tuesday.  After that, I am going to try and score the Yarn Harlot's new book at the bookstore for comfort.   Yay.

Loving the Knitty Funnies

Today's Natalie Dee comic made me laugh. Had to share!


nataliedee.com

Buttons!

I got some buttons on Tangled Yoke, and took a better photo!

FO: Rosebud Hat

This hat is the cutest hat - I will probably make another one.
It's made of Rowan Handknit Cotton. From Itty-Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson. I made the 6-12 month old size. I only used two colors for the roses: two shades of pink.  I also used less rosebuds and leaves than the pattern called for.  I used the "celery" colorway for the leaves instead of the recommended green.  The rosebuds knit up very fast, as does the hat! I even enjoyed the assembly of the hat, and usually I hate the finishing up.

I had a great day off. I went to a knitting class about altering your patterns, and it was very helpful. I learned a more accurate way to measure my gauge swatch, and how to approach your patterns when altering, and how to think about the pattern in a more general way.

Fun stuff! Knitting classes and baby hats. It can't get any better, right?!

One More Day

Can I make it?  I miraculously have a vacation day on Friday (for a knitting event, even better) and thank god I do.  It has been the week from hell.   I'm not even sure I can make it one more day.

One good thing in this week from hell: New Knitty!

Casting On Multiples

I spent a lot of my weekend untangling my Handmaiden Casbah. It was on my swift, when the clamp came undone, and it all fell off. It was sooo tangled it took me two days of going back and working on it (and a lot of ugly language). I finally have 3 wound balls, as I had to cut certain parts due to tangles. I did get it all untangled, even if in segments, and had it been any other yarn - I admit, I would have thrown it in the trash.

I am going to cast on for my husband's socks tonight with the Casbah. I am still debating between patterns...

I also casted on some lace this weekend, my first lace with actual lace weight. I cast on for the Swallowtail Shawl. They say lace looks like a mess until you block it. I hope that's true because right now it looks like a big mess of yuck.

Yes, that is dental floss I am using as a lifeline. I am very pleased with how that works. The waxy coating keeps it from tangling with the fibers of the yarn. Thanks to David Reidy for that tidbit.

I also worked on some little knitted rosebuds for an Itty Bitty hat. I had mentioned on Susan B. Anderson's blog that my rosebuds didn't look like hers. She was so sweet to reply to my blog, and give me tips. I just rolled the bud tighter and finessed it a little bit, and that worked. I have the black hat made, and I want to get a contrasting rose color to finish it off.

I am not sure why the sudden need to cast on for so many things. I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to do what makes me happy!

March Snow

I have always thought our house looks pretty with snow on it.

Looks like it's going to be a good day to curl up with some knitting.

 

Tangled Yoke - The End

Well, sort of the end. I don't have buttons, yet, and won't be able to get them in the town I live in. So, it'll be at least a week. And I can't keep my enthusiasm in. (I may even wear it tomorrow without the buttons because I'm so excited.)

My second adult sweater is done, and I love it! It fits the way I wanted, it turned out better than I could have wished. So, despite the dark dreary night, we attempted photos.

You'll probably have to suffer another Tangled Yoke photo shoot with natural light after I have buttons.

Caught in the act of being cute...

Sam says you must enjoy his cuteness while the Tangled Yoke is blocking!

Once.

I love this movie! I was alone tonight, and thought, I'll rent this through Itunes. (yes, you can rent movies through itunes. which is so awesome because I don't have to get cold to rent a movie.)

I am downloading the whole soundtrack. (I'm not a soundtrack kind of girl, either.)

And be prepared, I couldn't take my eyes off the film, so it's not a great knitting movie. It is beautiful in every way.

Go watch Once.