Saturday, September 6, 2008

Gentleman's Fancy Socks

I finished the Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush - just in time for wool sock weather.



Needles: Size 1 Addi Turbos
Yarn: Knitpicks Bare Superwash in Donegal

The picture isn't that great, but I didn't want to take the time for new photos. Fall is definitely in the air in Minnesota and I've been looking forward to making some seasonal recipes. I started marinating sauerbraten that I should be able to make by the middle of the week and I am making bean and ham soup. Lots to do today - taking out the air conditioners, cleaning the yard, laundry, putting away most of our summer clothes....somehow these chores don't seem so bad today with the sunny and cool weather with yummy food on the way. It does seem odd that on Labor Day weekend it was so hot and humid and now we've got lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s/low 70s. Fall started on the first day of school this year. I hope it last a looooooonnnnnggggg time before the snow flies.

See the Josephine top in the background of above pic? I am have a few inches to go on the back and then onto the v-neck front. These latest projects have been taking me a long time to finish. I have been brainstorming about my next project - that I am not starting until the Josephine Top and the Tilted Duster are finished. I might try some mittens from the Estonian knitting book. Or something maybe with the reclaimed Ecowool from a frogged sweater. I also have enough Cestari to make two sweaters (navy or blackberry). I might see what others are doing with Cestari on Ravelry - always a good place to gather ideas.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Laboring on Labor Day

I haven't had the weekend that I expected, but it has been fairly productive. Productivity was supposed to be the theme of this weekend, but factors have conspired against the progress we expected. We were going to paint a rubber roofing compound on the dormer of our house. We never intended to do it Saturday, then we chose to do other work yesterday and now the weather is hideous today and it would have to be an emergency for me to spend the day working outside today. Hot, humid, just gross. We were going to scrape and paint our front steps yesterday and realized that the project is in the category of 'hurry up and wait'. We scraped and realized we had to apply spackle. So, that was done. Then we wait. And now today and spackle still isn't done and we're expecting rain tomorrow. Which means this project is going to take a week. Spackle, wait, sand, primer, wait, paint, wait, paint wait. Insert rain at least twice. Everything's like this.

I cleaned the basement yesterday and got rid of a lot of things and organized others. I threw away probably 12 pillows yesterday - I had no idea I had them. And I found a big plastic bin with one sweatshirt and one pair of jeans. What a waste of space. I found an air cleaner, food dehydrator, beer brewing notes, a bundt pan, a popover pan. And I have a TON of laundry to do to prepare for a huge trip to Goodwill.

After cleaning the basement, I cleaned myself and plopped in from of the TV and watched the 1963 version of The Haunting with Russ Tamblyn and Julie Harris. Spooky. I should be able to finish the Gentleman's Fancy Socks today - I finished the leg, turned the heel, and finished the gussets during the movie.



I'll probably do some more knitting today while I am doing all this laundry. Maybe a little cooking - should be a decent day. But I have the usual mixed feelings about Labor Day - sad because summer is over and apprehensive about starting another class and work getting into full swing. There are still so many things that I wish I had finished this summer. C'est la vie.