A picture of a picture of a picture

Last time Evan was at our house in Alameda, a hummingbird got inside the house and couldn't get out. It flew over to our leaded glass window and Evan got a shot of it. I had the picture blown up and printed on canvas. I will now have it hanging in my den and it will remind me of Evan and our old house. You can see the Oakland hills in the picture which I love.

Stuff

Dakota (aka Esther [because my friend Julie refuses to call her anything else so I put that for her]) turned 7 months old a couple of days ago. First time I have ever known the actual birthday of a pet. Her birthday is November 9th. I can't believe how fast she is growing and her dog classes are going great. She is really smart (for a Saint Bernard that is). She has really mellowed out and she obeys commands most of the time (if you happen to have a piece of hotdog in your hand).

On the home front...





All the cabinets are done and we are waiting to get our stove and hood and to get the counter tops put in. Oh yeah, we also have to paint and tile the backsplash. I can't wait for all of this to be done because washing dishes in a bathroom sort of disgusts me. Call me crazy.

Fern

Yes indeedy, I have been knitting. This is Alice Starmore's "Fern". I love the yarn and I love the sweater so far. I don't love knitting on it in 100 degree weather but it will be worth it when it is 20 below.

I never knew why people in other parts of the country talked about the weather all the time. That is I didn't understand it until I moved away from California. It has become an obsession. Everything revolves around it. I suppose that I will get used to it but in the meantime it freaks me out. For instance, last night lightening (and yes it was still in the 80's) hit a tree on our street and we were without electricity all night. This meant that there was NO air. I started to panic when I tried to go downstairs and realized that it was pitch black and I couldn't see. Me being stubborn me felt my way around the room until I was trapped and really didn't know where I was. Mr Yarn thought it was pretty funny that I was in the office and was groping around banging on the printer. I got downstairs and slept on the couch.

I really don't want to turn into one of those "what about this weather we are having" type of people. I have to refrain from getting stuck with that nasty habit.

Um, how is the weather where you are?

Kitchen remodel Part I

I thought I was sorta unpacked and done moving the kitchen stuff in. We try not to think about the millions of boxes in the basement and garage and the pool room. So, having to start all over isn't much fun. Here is what it is looking like:







Not good.

Here is the beginning of the new kitchen



another shot



If I don't die from the stress and the heat I will keep you posted as this progresses. Oh yeah, I also will take pictures of the new sweaters I am working on because despite the sweltering heat, I am knitting.

I beat the heat wave

Got up first thing this morning and finished painting the room. I guess rolling on paint is the easy part because it only took me a couple of hours.

Someone that bet that I wouldn't get my ass off the couch to paint the room while Mr Yarn was in India owes me some money.

Fun and games in Massachusetts

This is what I see out my window today. Yesterday it was 90 and today is 60. I swear I don't know how I could have given up my "70 degrees no matter WHAT" weather. Mr Yarn owes me BIG TIME. Mr Yarn is in India so I am amusing myself with color. I am painting another room. Who knew that not all walls are alike. Mine were built by Mr Magoo. The ceiling doesn't meet up with either the moulding or the walls. How do I know this? I cut in by hand with the paint. I faked it so don't mention that I may not have gotten it perfect



Oh by the way... I am not done yet. Tomorrow I will roll on the rest.

Memorial Day (or Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore)

So we were doing a few errands on Memorial Day and hit a roadblock. Evidently it was a 5 minute parade down Highway 20 in Westborough. It consisted of Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, a high school band and um....army tanks.

We also threw a BBQ for 20. I was accused of renting people to attend but I swear I didn't. It was a nice day.
Here are a few shots of the new patio and pool.





Here is a view of our neighbors yard from our patio



and the pool from hell



and last but not least my girl Dakota

A little OCD

Ok, I swear this is the last of the color debate. I went with the colors in the stone fireplace at the advice of a color consultant that I broke down and had come over. It was also the advice of smarty pants "Yarn!" readers.

I will never bore you again with this

Cleaning 101

This is a picture of the fireplace when I moved in. It was bugging me that it was so dirty. So I watch too much HGTV but it paid off because I learned how to clean a stone fireplace.

This is the after...

I need advice...

In a nutshell...
These are three of the many colors I have slapped on my wall to try to decide what color to paint a very large room.



We are talking 30 feet ceilings (with skylights) and just a big room in general. I am looking for that perfect terra cotta color but can't find it. If I can't find something soon or at least decide Mr Yarn is going to strangle me.

Another view of big room:



Please give me your opinion. No white, off white or ecru allowed.

I am still alive...I swear I am

Long time no blog but I am still busy trying to get my life together. Here is a new picture of Dakota. Don't want to bore you but I also don't want her to get too big without getting puppy pictures of her.

We are getting ready to have our kitchen torn out. This is what it looks like before (although the photo really isn't too good)

l

Oh and I have been knitting. I am about 3 inches away from being done with the Tumbling Block sweater that I am making for a good friend. I feel like it has taken me forever to finish it.



I got my Alice Starmore "Fern" kit in the mail today. I can't wait to start it although I don't know if that is what I will do next.

I also don't know why the color on all these pictures look so weird but I am too lazy to go downstairs and take them all over again so use your imaginations.

Our new puppy. We adopted her from New England Saint Bernard Rescue. Her name is Dakota. I didn't name her and they made me promise not to change her name because she knows her name. Not my favorite name but I love her. She is the sweetest puppy (5 months old, check out those paws).

No knitting. Still cleaning up the house. Promise to post pictures of the new place soon.

I am still alive

Well, no pictures yet because I can't find the cord to the camera yet. We are still swimming in a pile of boxes and furniture is being delivered to fill up rooms. It has been a hard road but I think we are on the downhill side of it now. Days are spent peeling wallpaper and nights are spent putting away stuff and putting stuff together.

I am loving New England. It is beautiful and I have lucked out and the weather has been perfect. The neighbors are friendly and welcoming and I really feel at home here. The only downside is how much I miss all my family and friends.

I will post more when I get the cord to the camera and time. We just set up computers last night and the connection is iffy at best. Thanks for all the well wishes and thoughts.

Goodbye sweet puppy

We made it to Boston. Our sweet puppy didn't. Her sweet heart gave out on her way out here. I can not begin to write how much we will miss this sweet soul.

Hanami

I tore through this one alright. It is the Hanami shawl. I did it out of Jojoland cashmere. I love this yarn. The shawl was really fun to knit but I am not all that in love with what it turned out to be.

So kids, this is it. This will be the last post until I get to the new house. We are sadly leaving Northern California (I am leaving my heart here though) on a redeye Wed night. We will be in the new house on the 15th. So, it will be a bit quiet around this blog for a few weeks. I can still get email at my old email address. I will never give that email address up!

Bye for now.

Voila

I finished it!!! I just need to block the crap out of it now. Uh oh.

Guess what...

I am on the LAST row of the "Rose of England". Funny thing is that it makes me sad to be finished with it. I started it about 9 months ago and this has taken me longer to finish than anything I have ever knit. It has come full circle. I started it when Mr. Yarn lost his job and am finishing it a week before the move to Boston. What am I going to knit on next?

So, I needed a project to work on while flying to and from Boston and since Rich is freezing his buns off I decided that I would hop to it and knit him a scarf. The fact that Rich is wearing scarves in the first place spells COLD.

This is the DNA scarf (how perfect for a chemist). Pattern is free on line.



One more week and I am outta here!

Ok, so I have been busy

There is so much that is happening that I haven't really had time to do anything other than moving stuff. I know I am boring but...

We sold our house! It had three offers and sold in one week. Not only that but I went to Boston and bought another house that I love. It was like shopping for shoes or something. It was weird but it is the perfect house and if all goes well with inspections etc we will be moving into it on the 10th of April. So, ya wanna see the house that I bought? Keep your fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong. It is on 1/2 an acre and in Marlborough.



another




and one more

House for sale

First open house tomorrow! You can see what the house is looking like now that we did our "thing" with it.

http://2020pacific.com

You can see more of it if you click on the photo gallery icon near the bottom.

2020 Pacific

All newly painted and just waiting for the first open house on Saturday. It looks better than it ever has and my heart is breaking moving away from this old and wonderful house. 103 years this house has been around and I suppose we were lucky to add 6 years of its history. Next people will be lucky to live here. Really good karma in this place.

Damn, it is COLD!

I haven't had much time to knit. We are packing up the house. We just got back from Boston. Boston is COLD. I didn't have a hat so I knit one on the plane. Problem was I didn't finish it until we were back in balmy Northern California. I am sure that it will come in handy in the weeks to come. Did I mention that it was snowing? I am sure that I looked like an idiot as I stuck out my tongue to try to catch a snowflake. I have only seen falling snow one other time. The real estate woman that was dragging us around (we saw 15 houses) must of thought that I was an idiot. Oh well.

We did find a house that we want to put an offer on. It is beautiful. 4000 sq feet on an acre in a wooded neighborhood. Soooo, I have to suck up the fact that I have a horrible hacking cough cold and get going on getting all my stuff together. This is better than waiting for Mr Yarn to get a job but it isn't too much fun. The fact that we have a 165 Saint Bernard that we may have to take to temporary housing (read: hotel with a kitchen) AND two cats is going to be...what is the word for it?....HELL.

The winner is...

Rich got an offer that he is accepting in Boston. Looks like I will be eating lots of clam chowder. The adventure begins...

Living in a house from the 1800's

I love my old house. There are tons of great things about it like the original stained glass, and the original fixtures, and high ceilings, and that it is made out of REAL 2 x 4's that are redwood. I love the original old floors, and the original glass that is still in all the windows. I love that there is a cupboard in the kitchen that used to be for ice to keep things cold, and that the original built in is all rickety and old but authentic and wonderful. Then there are all the things I hate. I can't stand that there is not ONE closet in this whole house (what did those people do with their clothes?). The same windows with the original glass that I love I also hate because it is drafty. I can't stand the small small rooms. I can't stand that there are NO closets (oh, I already said that). So everything has its good sides and bad.


The thing is that I am starting to get itchy to fix it up. We did the huge backyard thing a couple of years ago, and who knows if we are going to be staying here (I hope we do). I figure that I am going to fix up the bathroom. If we move it needs to be fixed and if we don't move it will be a nicer bathroom for us. So the question is how the hell do I move that tub? Heavy? Uh, cast-iron heavy. I don't know where to start. If I take this wallpaper off I know (call it psychic) that the walls might be crumbling under there. I want paint. I hate wallpaper. So, it is daunting.



Since most the rooms in my house are bright victorian type of colors I also think we should paint. I have been watching too many TV shows with names like "Sell My House". Muted and safe colors they say. Ha! Check this out (and please excuse the mess, I didn't know you were coming over)



A smashing peach color that I have been too lazy to change (yeah, I have lived here for 4 years, so?)



This room is really brick red but I sorta like the color that it is in the picture!

and last but not least



This is really orange and not lemon yellow but I never said I was a photographer.

So you get the gist of what I am saying. Sell "as is" or Navaho White?

Stinking Rose of England

I am still working on this puppy. It goes on and on. I would say that I am more than 3/4ths done. I work on it almost every day and hopefully one day I will be done with the damn thing.

In the moving front. Still don't know where we will end up. Choices now are: Boston, Texas, Boston again, Wisconsin more than I can hope for right here in the Bay area. Miracles do happen now and then. Don't they?

A promise is a promise

I promised my friend Leigh that I would make this sweater for her husband and by god I will! Argh. It is going pretty fast and will need a hell of a blocking, but I think that it will work out. I did this K Fassett sweater back in the 80's for myself. That sweater is sitting in a cedar chest. This one will look fine on Don.

Food fun

I decided to do something other than knit and so I spent my day in the kitchen making Blood Orange Marmalade. I have to say that I have canned lots of stuff but this one had to be one of the most labor intensive marmalade/jams to date.

On the knitting front...
I finished Pearl Buck but can't get a good picture of it. I am sending it off to mom because it will look way better on her. It is too cropped for me and just not my style.

Hope everyone has a great Holiday. I will be spending mine being a curmudgeon.

Pearl Buck

Finished the back of the "Pearl Buck Swing Jacket" out of the Winter 05 Interweave knits. Fun knit but I think that the cable design could be a bit more sophisticated. I would rechart it but I am just too damn lazy to have to think about it right now. I am just an idiot who mindlessly knits away on patterns that were done by others. As soon as I get my brain back I am going to start designing some for myself.

Time for another hobby!

I have decided that I want to play the Dobro. I do! When the dust settles and I know where we are moving I am going to buy one and take lessons. May be a while till I invite you over for a concert but it is the desire to play that counts.

On another note, Dr. Yarn is on his way to Boston. Another interview. Next week is Dallas. Week after that is New York. I am thinking that we may end up in Wisconsin...



then again, I won't count the chesse until we hear one way or the other on Friday or Monday.