99 and 44/100% of the Projects Are IN!

Tonight I go to bed for the first time in months at a decent hour - not staying up until my eyelids droop, knitting in my sleep and quietly fretting that I'm not getting enough done. Today I sent off 3 of the last 4 items for Romantic Knits (the last item is a pair of silk stockings being knit even as I write by Carol in Oregon - Hey Carol!) and boy are my arms tired!

Remember this amazingly colorful nylon ribbon yarn that I purchased at Looped in Buffalo? (hey Jill!) I'd been meaning to use it for the only shawl in the book (I talked them down from 3 shawls to 1 and added the 2 hats) so here it is! It's a pretty simple lace repeat, and I feel it shows off the yarn nicely - this was great stuff to work with!

And, possibly my favorite piece as far as sheer simplicity goes, here is a skirt that was inspired by a quilt on my bed when I stayed in Cinncinati with Donna & her husband (hey Donna!) This was worked up by Crystal in Ann Arbor - (hey Crystal!) - who did a magnificent job using Passion, a washable silk yarn from Lambikins Hideaway (hey Christine & Sara)

This is a skirt that I could see myself making and wearing just about every day - but then I dig a knit skirt, they're not for everyone. Here's the detail at the bottom of the skirt, which is worked as chain embroidery using several colors.

Benjamin Moore in the Morning
My house is in an upraor - we have EVERYTHING upside down, dust all over the place and drop clothes and plastic wrapped around every thing that stands still for 5 minutes. The dog is very afraid. We are having the interior of the house painted (and it's more upheaval that I expected!)

We're going with neutral colors with white trim - traditional. The painters are doing ALL of the trim in the house plus the hardest rooms (wallpaper removal, plaster repair) while Gerry and I will be painting the living room and bedroom walls. The trim is the part I detest, I sort of dig painting the walls, so this works to keep costs lower than they might be and assuage some of my guilt at not doing the job myself. Uh, yeah, right, THAT lasted for about 5 minutes.

Our hope is that the investment in upgrading the house interior will mean more $$ when it actually comes time to sell the house. And if we end up not selling the house, then we've made it more livable.

One of the perks of this upheaval is that I seem to have acquired a new office in the basement! I've been without a roost for 4 days now, and it's wearing thin. Gerry and I figured that we'd temporarily move my stuff to the basement to make more room for the painters to manuver, but I may just dig in down there - space is nice!