Oatmeal on a snowy morning. The perfect energy boost to get that sweater dress knitted up and that new shawl pattern published. Not to mention the gray and red swing coat that is at the tech editor. Lots of new stuff coming soon! Perfect for our season of hibernation (for those not going to snow hotels 250 km north of the arctic circle.)
A couple of weeks ago I decided to paint my knitting room sunny yellow. Well, at least one wall of it.
Sadly, it looked like someone had thrown scrambled eggs at it. Not much better than the Martha Green "Before" wall.
My beautiful bird painting from Margaret Owen disappeared into the background.
After six different samples of pinks from different paint stores I finally found one that is perfect. Yellow? Whose wall is yellow?
At least one wall has a pretty color on it now. When I get my next burst of mojo I'll finish the pink paint and make the other walls white. Can't you hear the Martha Walls calling out for it? Have a nice Thanksgiving, everyone (if you're in the US.)
You may remember this post from Hurricane Sandy when the lights were out? This was the outcome of my granny square project. I'm not sure (in answer to Husband's question) what made me do this by lantern and candlelight but most likely it was Monopoly Avoidance. I hate Monopoly so I set up the kiddos to play.
I dipped these in sugar water to stiffen them. The clock is from Handpicked Collection which is a beautifully curated UK shop that I love to peruse. You can see the off white granny squares are wool and the pure white ones are cotton. If we have another hurricane maybe I'll redo them to make them all cotton but for now I'm calling it finished.
In between knitting designs and testing out paint samples on my knitting room I'm trying to recover a chair which is really just two cushions that stack on top of a metal frame. When I saw this fabric at the Cath Kidston outlet in Kildare I just couldn't resist! And for what it's worth, did you know that we could stay a week on the Red Sea in a 4 star resort, all inclusive, for the same price it is to go to Lapland overnight and sleep on a bed made of ice? Husband should not have let me look at the travel website. I'm such a martyr. The one thing I did discover is this little pearl, and that's when I knew I could handle any matter of iced toilet seats or pillows. Of all the gin joints, in all the towns...
Yo, Vip! How about a little sneak peak of a mother/daughter sweater coat that has been sent off to the professionals to be sized? I have one to match, just on the final sleeve. It will be called, most likely, "Ice Hotel, Baby" after our - choke - accommodations in Rovaniemi, Lapland and in a nod to the Vanilla Ice song.
In case you're late to this, it has been Husband's dream to visit Lapland with his eventual (and now) kids to meet the real Father Christmas. I tried to explain that Father Christmas will soon be at the Warwick Mall but he chose to ignore me. Watch out Snow Hotel - and the toilet seat had better not be made of ice.
This is my first time using linen stitch in a pattern. One has to use large needles and it takes about 1/3 more rows to get the amount of fabric as other stitches so it's a bit slow. It looks woven, though, and when you add fluorescent pink to the act, well, it's really gorgeous! Plus it's a way of keeping myself out of trouble. You see folks, this week I taught Juniorette how to paint walls. I also elicited her help in choosing wallpaper. Two of us, partners in crime at Casapinka, could be more than Husband can handle.
I like this one but she just says, "Yuck." It would be for the corner of the kitchen, two walls that come together. It's from Pip Studio but I definitely don't want something that has too much "play." I don't know if a lot of people actually have it or it just makes the blogosphere rounds a lot. It's nice to be a little unique, though, (otherwise I'd just paint them Martha Green and be done with it.)
The need to keep out of trouble stems from Husband coming home the other day to find the foyer wall whitewashed (never mind the wallpaper action in the living room.) Plus, I painted Juniorette's wall another color altogether (at her request) and I'd been saving this marvelous Cath Kidston duvet cover for her (see below) for a time when we got our new house and started doing up her room. I can't stop looking at it! I bought it at the Cath Kidston outlet in Ireland last year and hadn't shown it to her. She was so excited that it's hard to get her out of bed now where she has her nose in a book lounging in her gorgeous roses!
So, although we had a big storm last week, no electricity, followed by Junior who got a 6 day fever and was out of school, and now Juniorette has a fever, and I'm pretty much CEO of LASTNERVE.COM - at least there is a pretty duvet cover to look at.
Referring back to the fluorescent pink knitting, I do think it's odd that not one person commented on my color choice while i was knitting in line waiting to vote this morning. Guaranteed: Had it been a shade of oatmeal or Martha Stewart Green, they'd have been fawning all over me. Principles people, we must remember our principles. Praise versus integrity.
I just love this Brian Yates Belle Large Floral wallpaper from Tangled Tree Interiors (appreciate the designer discount!) the wallpaper was meant for the far wall in my kitchen but it just looks too dark in there. I decided to hang a sample next to the bathroom door in the living room. This was the same night I set up the Cynthia Rowley chairs which didn't go over well with Husband.
Ah, the cross to bear by we unappreciated color loving folks. I also altered the tv console. I hate an exposed tv and this fairly guarantees that the doors will be left open, thereby hiding my beautiful wallpaper job and exposing the tv quite a lot. A little lesson to think things through, Pink! Before you tell me to paint the wood aqua or orange, let me assure you there will be no painting of the wood. That would involve a divorce attorney and I'm fairly aware of my limits; I was lucky to get the fireplace brick painted white. I was doubly happy I slipped in the pink crown moulding to get my own Google category which really fails to impress people. PINK CROWN MOULDING.
This weekend, Juniorette and I painted a wall in her room bright pink at her request and we started on the foyer, just whitewashing it to get rid of the Martha Stewart green that seems to adorn the homes of tasteful people everywhere these days. The thing is, it's really just Updated Hospital Green. Think about that the next time you pass over the bubble gum pinks and grass greens!
Due to the Irish connection in Casapinka, a cup of tea is given to young and old during times of happiness, fear, excitement, fatigue, you name it. So, when the winds of Hurricane Sandy were nearly on us the kids and I had a tea party. We'd made chocolate peppermint bread and pumpkin spice muffins in preparation for being stuck for a week with no chocolate or electricity so this went well with our tea. The electricity was still on, Husband was safely ensconced at work and I was nervous but trying not to show it. Junior didn't even break the teacup although after the lights went out the cats dragged half the chocolate bread across the floor and had a tea party themselves.
Prior to Sandy, my bedroom window contained fiber for a current project which you will see next week. As the wind picked up the power dutifully went out but I was READY. I say this in capitals because a certain family member, who wasn't in the house through any of this, had poo-pooed my storm preparations. When the lights went out, candles came out of the "Blackout Bin" and I wore my kids spelunking headlight so I could boss everyone around hands free - Don't leave legos/Beyblades/Monopoly pieces/ in the middle of the floor - we'll step on them in the dark! Keep the hallways clear of stuff!
Husband did come home with two Jesus candles from Stop n' Shop the day before and I really wanted to kill him. Jesus candles are dim lighters. They are supposed to burn for ages in someone's memory, not allow you to knit during a hurricane. I smiled and thanked him, though, a proud moment of self control.
The kids chose Monopoly out of the Storm Game Bin and put a lantern in the middle of it. There were some fights here and there. It's the Dublin edition so those of you who know Dublin would appreciate the humor when Junior howled, "I don't WANT "Shoes-berry Road!" "Everyone wants Shrewsbury Road, Twitface, it has nothing to do with shoes!" his sister informed him.
I sat on the floor and put stiffener on Granny Squares in preparation for a project which is now done.
The next morning the world appeared dark and wet, the rain still coming down and the ground now full of leaves and branches. Many electrical workers and road cleaning crews were driving around sawing fallen trees and branches and repairing electric wires.
The response was impressive. We didn't get the brunt of the storm and were very lucky to have suffered only a couple of days of power outage. I feel so sorry for the many other areas which were completely devastated by Sandy. The main tree in the photo is our Root Beer Tree, which grows bottles and cans of root beer about once a month. We're hoping that it's very special root system is still intact and that it doesn't start producing cod liver oil, although the occasional artisanal gin would be most welcome.
Hurricane Sandy is on the way. In case our house blows to Kansas and my living room disappears, I thought I would post the latest picture of it. The chairs were a present from my Mother-in-law and are made by Cynthia Rowley. Pretty amazing gift, no? I really love them, unlike Husband, although it could have something to do with the wallpaper I put on the real wood tv console thing. That didn't win me any friends in the Husband department, although if he were to read this he'd learn that it's only adhered with double stick tape. HA!
Husband is working until Monday night (it's now Sunday) but he has told me a number of times (in response to "Could you help me: put outdoor furniture away, change the cat litter, get D batteries, flashlights and candles, do laundry, cook up the chicken, tie down the garbage and recycling bins, stock up on canned food and water, get some Bailey's and wine, bathe the children, fill the bathtubs in case we lose water, and remove the air conditioners from the windows.) "Honey, the storm isn't coming until Tuesday. You worry too much. Don't do any of those things - it's just hype!"
"Don't worry, I'll get a flashlight tomorrow", Husband reassured me from the safety of the hospital. There are, however, no flashlights for sale in Rhode Island. We have a flashlight and Husband got batteries for it and they were the wrong size. And sadly, there are no D batteries left for sale here, either, so it looks like we will get acquainted with the way of the candle should our power go out.
We're lucky that the ground floor of our house is stone, which will hopefully weather high winds. Lots of tall trees, too, which are hopefully used to big storms. I wish all of you a safe week if you are also being hit by Sandy and think of me when you use your D batteries - stuck using candlelight to stop the kiddos from pantsing each other.
I've always been a scrooge around Halloween. I hate the color palette of orange and black. This year I decided to do something about it rather than just be a grump.
Last night, the kiddos and I made brownies and then Husband and I took the them to a pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. There was a brief episode of stomping when I painted instead of carved my pumpkins. "You always have to make everything girly!" Junior actually yelled at me. He was still upset at my saying I wanted to put polka dots on our mailbox. Husband rapidly reminded him that he was wearing a pink shirt with a tie today (thanks, Husband!) Then we ate pizza on the kitchen floor followed by brownies and then Irish tea.
We even have a pseudo black cat in the form of KitKat who does amazing things to get onto the mantel. I got the little heart card at MOMA which is simple but I love it alone on that small bit of white wall. I guess we'll have to remove the pink pumpkins from the porch during the Frankenstorm but at least they'll look pretty in the living room.
