The Knitting Doctor

New Counters!

The granite counters got installed yesterday. They are just gorgeous, so I thought I'd show some photos. No knitting here, so if that's what you came for, move along. Nothing to see here...

This is the fancy-schmancy sink we got for the powder room (with Randy, our contractor):

Looks heavy, boys!

Yes, I cringed a bit while they were cutting the opening for the cooktop. He did it without any noticeable finger protection, eye protection, or ear coverings. I'm not their mother, so I didn't say anything.

Last but not least, a glass of wine to celebrate:

Today is plumbing day. The sinks will be functional after today, and if all goes as planned, we'll have a dishwasher. Then all that will be left will be the tile backsplash and a few finishing details, and the glass doors on those cabinets in the dining room.

Just for a little comparison, here are some photos of what the kitchen used to look like.

Bye bye, ugly grey plastic!

Peacock in Progress

I'm finally to that point in this shawl where it's getting exciting again. You know how it is. You start a big lace project, you're all enthusiastic about it, and you can't put it down. Then it gets to that point. All you lace knitters know it. The shawl gets big enough that it just looks like a blob on the needles, and the rows keep getting interminably longer and longer. It seems like you'll never get to that last chart.

Well here I am. At the last chart.

I have 22 rows to go. The rows currently have around 450 stitches, and are getting longer and longer and longer. Now that I'm seeing the end, though, it's getting fun to knit this again.

Here's how much yarn I have left of the first hank.

I'm pretty sure it won't make it through the last row. Fortunately I bought a second hank of this. I won't have to use much of it, but this is one of those shawl patterns that is a little hard to adjust by adding or subtracting rows.

Our other big project is the kitchen remodel. We now have cabinets and sinks, and the granite counters will be installed today. The rest of the finishing work should be done by next week.

We're also remodeling the "powder" room off the dining room, since the cabinets and counters were the same as in the old kitchen.

Now we just need to decide what will be the first thing we cook in the new kitchen!

Free Yarn, Part 2

You guys rock. I got way over 100 comments on my last post. It's amazing how "Free Yarn!" brings people out of lurkdom. Thanks for all the lovely Blogiversary good wishes!

You all have some great gadget ideas, though admittedly, I've used many of them already. I'm mostly impressed that knitters are so accomplished at MacGyvering ordinary objects into knitting gadgets.

Ok, I know what you all want. You want to know who won, and what they won. I'll stop yammering. Here's the way it works. The random number generator chose the first winner, and I picked the second one because she was the first commenter to make me laugh out loud. And what are the odds, they're both from Minnesota.

Miss T won the random number spot, with her comment about her very special stitch markers. If she hadn't won the random number award, she'd have been a contender for the "make me laugh" award. Her favorite stitch markers say "Oops" and "Crap".

The funny award goes to Chris. She listed several of her favorite tools and gadgets, one of which is her treasured drug dealer's scale. Her second comment was the one that made me laugh out loud.

"Oh! I got my drug dealer's scale via amazon.com. You know how they have those "people who purchased what you are looking at also bought" links? There was only one such link, and it was to a book of marijuana horticulture. I shoulda taken a screen shot."

What do they win? Here are the photos. Miss T will choose first, then Chris gets to pick from what's left. They each get to pick one thing. I had a hard time picking stuff from all my favorite yarn, let me tell you.

First up is a pile of sock yarn. Each of these choices has enough yardage for a pair of socks.

From left to right:
Socks That Rock mediumweight, in Fairgrounds
Schaefer Heather, in Gertrude Ederle, one of the Memorable Women colors
More STR, in Lenore, one of the Raven series
Dream In Color Smooshy sock, in Deep Seaflower
STR again, this time in Silkie, a merino/silk blend. The color is Walking on the Wild Tide
Last but not least, Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, in Dusk

Here are the non-sock options.

Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk, in a very pale pink. There are three skeins, each 146 yards.

On the left, one lonely little skein of Alchemy Haiku, in the color Mediterranean, 325 yards. On the right is Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace, a silk/wool blend, in the color Sage, just ever so slightly not-solid, 1250 yards.

Knit Picks Shimmer, in the color Grape Hyacinth. This is a total of 1760 yards.

This is more alpaca, this time from Hood Canal Yarns. The color name is "Ocean Collection 1". This is approximately a sport weight, and is a total of 300 yards.

Last but not least, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts again, this time some real cobwebby stuff. This is Silk Thread II, in the color Grawk. It's 1125 yards, and would make a lovely shawl, if you are inclined to knit an entire shawl out of nearly black thread.

Let the games begin! If either of you have any other questions about the choices, let me know. They've all been lovingly stored in closed containers, and are unused, though all have been occasionally fondled.

Free Yarn!

No this isn't an April Fool's Joke. Once again, I've missed my Blogiversary by several days. March 26th, 2004 was my first blog entry. It's been a crazy fun five years, and I've learned a lot about knitting and blogging. I've also met a lot of really wonderful people by starting a blog. Who'd have thought?

In honor of the five-year anniversary, I'm having a contest. All you need to do is leave a comment, telling me about your favorite knitting gadget or tool. You know how I love gadgets. Your gadget can be something that's made especially for knitters, or it could be something from the Muggle world that you've adapted to knitting. It doesn't have to be something that I don't already have, though that would delight me to no end and give me something new for which to shop. My definition of "gadget" is rather broad: it means anything that you use in your knitting that is not actually the yarn.

Prizes? Of course there will be prizes. I just haven't picked them out yet. I'll choose two winners. The first will be by the random number generator, the second will be for the gadget comment that amuses me the most. The two winners will each get their choice of something from my vast stash. It will be a choice of sock yarn or something lacy with enough yardage to make a scarf. (No, you can't have my Wollmeise. I'm not totally nuts.) Once we have winners, I'll post photos of a couple of fine yarn selections and let each of them choose. The random number winner will get to pick first, then the amusing winner, just to avoid fights.

I'll post a photo of my favorite gadget just to get things started. You've all seen this before. It's my treasured drug-dealer's scale. Every time I post a photo of this I get questions about where I got it. You can buy it here if you want one of your very own. You can't have mine, it's not one of the contest prizes.

You have through the weekend to leave me a comment. I'll close the contest Sunday night, April 5th, at midnight Pacific time. May the best gadget win!