chillin’

not as in chillin’ out, but actually feeling chilly—temps here have dropped considerably since the weekend, with a gray sky to go with them. it’s in the 60s today and there is a definite feeling of fall in that air . . . just sayin’.

as promised, i have photos of my newly finished study to share. david got a lot of the heavier stuff installed and organized; now it just remains for us to hang some paintings and for me to tweak and put the last few things away (my credenza has always been perpetually cluttered, but going forward, i’m making a vow to keep it cleared).

i love the things in this room, many of them collected from the curb when i lived in brooklyn, or purchased cheaply from thrift stores and flea markets (can’t you tell, haha?). as we have the funds for it, we’ll get our furniture finds reupholstered, but for now, we just keep them very clean and enjoy the shabby textures. (the rug is not a found object; i bought it at rhinebeck two years ago for the third floor and found when i got home that it was too large for that bedroom and too small for the library. it’s just right for my study, though . . .).

my dad’s old desk look amazing—with years of darkened varnish and dust rubbed away and david’s special brand of TLC applied, it is a rejuvenated version of the piece we grew up with in our attic playroom.

the inside, which was formerly puddled with spilled model-building enamels and glues is now polished and smooth; the drawers are repaired to glide smoothly in and out. it still bears the deeper nicks and scrapes of a past enriched by child carpenters, mechanics, electricians, and pool sharks, but such are the wrinkles earned in a life well-lived and they are dear to me.

my favorite feature is the very old, wavery glass; i could look at that shimmery surface for hours. likewise with the windows throughout our house—the main reason we have not replaced them; i just couldn’t let go.

the effect is echoed on the walls, which are finished with david’s signature hand-burnished plaster and reflect any little amount of available light fill the room. we kept the woodwork light to enhance the effect—just a little limewax and elbow grease.

the front and back workrooms are connected by a short hallway, which makes it super convenient for me to grab supplies, yet ensures a desirable amount of separation from the mechanical clutter.

one space is for standing and moving work and one for sitting and thinking work (that one also doubles as an additional guest room). it’s nice to be able to accommodate both types of traffic flow (i’m a klutz and forever tripping over stuff if i don’t have a clear path).

once the renovation moves downstairs and the first floor gets torn apart room by room, i’ll have a quiet place to continue working.

the next project (and last room on the second floor) will be the main bath—a long awaited one. but while the weather is still good, david is going to tackle the sunroom and upstairs porches to get them looking their best.

our enclosed sun porch is a favorite summer hangout for us—this is where we eat our meals and sit with friends when the weather is nice. it has a great connection to the comings and goings of the neighborhood, minus the bugs. but it desperately needs a cleanup; he’s going to replace the ceiling and windows, polish the paint off the floor, and figure out a better solution for the entryways on each end (plywood inserts and aluminum doors, really??).

speaking of hanging out, instead of our usual sunday spinning class, we instead went to brunch to bid bon voyage to our dear friend anne marie, who is moving to the lancaster, PA area this week; BOO-HOO, we’re so bummed . . . but we already have plans in place to meet up with her a few times and she has made it completely clear that she wants to keep test knitting sweaters (thank goodness!).

anne marie has been a very special part of this wonderful class since we got it started and we’re going to miss her to pieces. i’m just grateful that we can all keep in touch easily these days . . .

and speaking of friends and keeping in touch, i received a nice gift from rustle, husband to my good friend janel. now, i’ve never met rustle (and that is soon to change), so i was especially touched by his kindness in sending me a new gadget he’s developing

the iFaraday stylus for iPhone/iTouch/iPad and other capacitive touch screen devices. i don’t text or email much from my iphone, but when i do, i struggle with the typing—my fingers are big and clumsy and i have to go slow to be accurate (and going slow is just not the way i roll).

i have an apple stylus, but it’s pretty useless—it just doesn’t work unless i pound on the screen. this little stylus is different; it’s quick and light and very accurate—just what i was jonesing for. i love it.

did i mention that it’s fast? it really is. this is the first product of its type that i’ve had the pleasure of working with (and there very well may be others like it), but it’s certainly a keeper for me—it’s going straight into my purse where i’ll clip it to the pocket i store my phone in. it’s just what i need when i’m on the go.

in other news (i know—all i’ve had today is other news), i celebrated the cool breezy weather by washing another load of sweaters

how’s that for a neat segue into knitting content?

because i spent a considerable amount of time getting ahead on patterns last week, i find myself with a little more knitting time this week. and with the much cooler nights, the rosebuddie blanket is now moving steadily toward completion.

we have edging, finally. i’ve finished one side of the edging over the last two evenings and if i set to work on it when i’m done here, i may get through another whole side this afternoon and evening.

i like this edging a lot. it’s an original pattern that i devised, using the motif from the main body of the blanket—tiny rosebuds surrounded in garter stitch with a simple eyelet join to the blanket hem.

by repeating a few elements from the larger piece, i think i’ve achieved the cohesion i like to see between border and body. now that the whole thing is rolling off the needles, one repeat at a time, we can see the composition so much better, too. here’s the view from the center out

just look at that chastity color—it might be chaste, but it’s unabashedly joyous, nonetheless; i’m still in love with it after all this time . . .

now of course karolyn has finished hers and since she’s working in colorway meadow, she’s sending her blanket along to me to be photographed. when it gets here, i’ll show it to you; it’s wonderfully different from mine, but still energetic and happy like a spring lawn.

ooooh, i just can’t resist giving you a little peek now—isn’t the limey-green just wonderful? a nice alternative to all that pink if pink isn’t so much your color (or the baby’s).

i’m tooling right along on the second sleeve of my vintage shirt. the spirit trail sunna yarn has got everyone here drooling—lovely, lovely stuff.

i’m working as fast as i can through this sleeve so i can get going on the patterned front piece. i would hold out and put that one off to the end if i wasn’t so curious about matching the gauge and confirming that my shaping will be right.

but still, all stockinette, all the time makes this knitter a dull girl, which has inspired some measurable progress on my fledgling mitt projects. they are the perfect thing when i need to knit just a few rows of something more involved.

lisa totally hit it on the nail when she (very enthusiastically) guessed that the pattern for this lavender mitt was adapted from the bougainvillea sock. i thought that a long, pair of these would set my niece to swooning. i’m using the same dream sox yarn i used for the sock, in a different colorway.

BTW, though dye dreams has been dissolved, stephanie plans to continue offering her hand-dyed yarns on her own. keep your eyes peeled for her new label, dirty water dyeworks.

and then, because one is never enough when it comes to fall fingerless mitts, and because my niece did request two pair, i took out a second ball of left over yarn to knit another pair.

this time in gray classy sox and based on the woodsmoke sock pattern (with a few adjustments). i’m so psyched—this is definitely a pattern i’ve always wanted to knit again, but haven’t for lack of time. mitts are the perfect way to relive the experience, in a shorter, quicker form. love that.

more on both those projects later; i have quite a ways to go before i’m done.
for now, i think i’ll take this chance to retire to my new knitting room and wile away the hours on the blanket edging . . . see you later.