More photos

This isn't really posting twice in one day, though it may appear to be. I slept between postings so to me that means the last post was yesterday and this is today.

I've got a few photos of the best baby blanket that I have made so far. I was really happy with the border. Usually I make a kind of lacy looking border, but I wasn't really happy with it. I wanted this blanket to have a border that framed the blanket so I just did several rows of single crochet. I used 2 light color rows of yarn to help make that distinction. I would have used bolder colors but the yarn tends to bleed a little which isn't really noticeable in the blanket itself, but it would show up on the borders.

As usual one of the cats inserted himself into the photos. This is Daisy, he is a yellow boy cat, but I didn't know that when I named him.

This photo shows the border better.

I intend for the next posting to have more about updating the houses or workshop or something productive besides crochet.

Things to do in the Fall

We have had a most glorious beginning for this fall. The daytime temperatures are occasionally a little toasty, but the nighttime temps cool off beautifully. My brother finished his chemo and had a totally negative PET scan. Whew! That was a relief.

Projects for the next few months include:
1. Build a workshop for John so we can move the shop out of my basement. He can then be more productive and eventually build a real house for himself.
2. Finish insulating the attic at Lenore (my job). I actually like doing stuff like that.
3. Do the design work for the kitchen at Lenore (i.e. where the hell does everything go? Where is a refrigerator supposed to fit? A stove? I think we need a design professional)
4. Gut the Lenore kitchen
5. Gut my bathroom in prep for renovation. I have the design work done for that.
6. Arrange to have cabinets made. I think I am going to ask John's boss if they would be willing to do this small job since John won't have a shop built in time.
7. Wreath-making party (parties, really) on November 28th and 29th. I am going to host it on 2 nights so everyone at work who wants to come can come on either night.
8. More crochet baby blankets - lots of baby girls being born.

First a picture of Little Dude, the kitty who just kills me because he is so cute. I just love his nub tail which spins like a helicopter when he is excited (or hungry which is about the only time he gets excited.)

I'll try to post again later with some other photos.

Since February

Lots of things have happened since February. Most notably, my brother finished chemo for lymphoma and seems to be doing well. Even if you are not the person going through chemo, it takes a lot out of you. Sometimes I felt like I was going through something akin to sympathy pains. If he got a shot, then my arm would hurt. 

I sat with him through most of the 6 hour chemotherapy sessions and I can truthfully say they are exhausting. Mostly I worked on some crochet blankets during chemo. That is what I have accomplished in the past few months. 

I thought I would post a few photos of the crocheted afghans. 

This one was for a little girl named Lauren. She had neuroblastoma.
She named it her "kaleidoscope blanket" at age 3!

I made another one very similar to that for one of my friend's sister. The in 2009 I started one for a friend's grandchild. It took TWO years before I finished that one. 

Ada's grandchild's blanket. Ada says she has to put it up when 

she leaves the house to keep everyone else from using it. 

Then I made a quick one color blanket for my friend Erin's baby boy. This photo shows Cindy modeling it. I made that baby blanket in one week. It is SO MUCH easier when you don't have to change colors every round of stitches.

Cindy is natural ham. She makes the blanket look good. 

Then I made a lap afghan for Kathy as a housewarming gift in celebration of moving into the Lenore house. Yes, the Lenore house is habitable. Not really fixed up all the way, but livable.

Kathy's housewarming gift. It is a variation on the traditional granny square,
basically only 2 rows of stitches rather than 3 or more.

I've got a different one I am working on now but it will likely take a while because I want it big enough to put on a bed. Also I've got 3-4 friends who are having baby girls in October that I'd like to make blankets for. I really like the idea of making gifts rather than buying stuff, but you have to make sure you are giving something that people will appreciate. It's a little tricky. That's why I don't crochet clothing items. You just can't tell what people will like. A blanket is generic enough that everyone can appreciate it. 

House stuff in the next post. 

Take care everybody.

Bling for the Kitchen

I am not good at home maintenance. Most of the time I just tolerate a problem until I am forced to fix. Sometimes I will even have a party to make me solve a problem - such as a deep cleaning of the house. My old faucet probably 20-30+ years old had a stripped out cold water handle. It would spin around but not turn on the cold water. Now most normal people would by a new handle, a new faucet or something to solve that problem. What did I do? Put a small plastic cup over the handle so people would know that that handle didn't work. As the plumber today said "Cold water is overrated anyway." He was joking, of course. How long did I tolerate the no cold water in the kitchen? 5-6 months or more. Really ridiculous, I know.

What made me finally deal with the problem? The downstairs toilet sprung a serious leak so that absolutely had to be fixed especially with my brother and his friends using the downstairs shop to make cabinets for me. In other words, the plumber had to come out so I might as well fix the kitchen faucet as well.

I actually had this replacement Moen faucet for quite a while, but I wasn't confident enough to put it in. And I figured why replace it when you're going to tear out the kitchen anyway? Just for a little overrated cold water.

After the plumber installed the faucet, he said, "It's a little bling for your kitchen." You would not believe how much better it looks. And cold water - it is NOT overrated. It is nice.

The toilet from downstairs was from 1956 - a serious water guzzler. I didn't replace it sooner for exactly the same reason I didn't replace the faucet - that bathroom is going to be gutted. But it is nice to have a new functional low-flow toilet. I searched all over the internet for efficient, reliable toilets and Toto seems to win. This one is a Toto EcoUltramax II ADA with sanagloss, 1.28 gallon per flush. Very exciting. Also not overrated.

Still working on things at the Lenore house, just not with gusto. I am getting re-motivated though.

I actually bought 2 toilets last week, one is for the Lenore house that Kathy and I are working on. The only problem - it has a 10" rough-in vs. a 12" rough-in. I've bought a total of 4 Toto toilets without paying any attention to measurements so I figured my luck would hold. Nope. Just a little too cocky this last time. The plumber taught me how to measure rough-in in case I have to buy any more toilets - (measure from the wall to the middle of the bolt on the floor). Now you know.