High Fiber--Coming Down the Home Stretch

The big news on the fiber front this week is my Dogwood Blossoms. The steeks are done.

In the photo, you can just see the front is cut open. The armscye steeks are also cut. I used my sewing machine to sew on each side of the cutting line before I took the scissors to it. I'm getting pretty relaxed about cutting steeks now. My first one was the Classic Lines Cardigan. I "watched" a number of other people cut theirs before I dared do mine. Now I've done five sweaters that required steeks. I'll be picking up stitches all along the fronts and around the neck to make a button/button-hole band and sewing the sleeves in.

As I expected, the sleeves aren't long enough, which is why I put them on waste yarn. I'm adding to the top of the sleeves. Afterthought pockets are also planned. I'm hoping to wear this sweater this winter.

I'm just recovering from a bad cold, which kept me from knitting or quilting for a couple of weeks. Yes, I was so sick I couldn't enjoy my usual fiber fun, but I'm almost back to normal. We had planned to have friends in for Thanksgiving, but didn't invite anyone after I got sick, so we had a quiet dinner alone together, which was nice. I felt good enough to cook by then. I had no plans to shop on Black Friday, so I just took it easy, and we had leftovers.

Saturday I participated in the Shop Small movement by visiting a small yarn shop and a quilt shop in Salt Lake City. At the yarn shop, I bought some buttons for my Dogwood Blossoms sweater. I can't talk about my other purchases, because they are intended as gifts, and the recipients might read my blog. However, I was aiming for 50% or my purchases to be Made in the USA. I was able to hit 67%, which is good, because it will balance off some items I had already bought.

The bathroom remodel is making progress. The powder room is finished enough to use. All that's left to do is put on the trim around the doors, stain and finish the doors and add the towel ring, a toilet-paper holder and a small shelf over the toilet to hold items. The broom closet still needs shelves and hooks to hold the brooms, mops, brushes, etc.

The master bath is coming along, too. The vanity is done except for the knobs and pulls. Just to remind you of what we had before, here's the old master vanity:

Here's the new one from almost the same spot. As you can see, we moved a wall to add all this room for a two-sink vanity, a bigger shower and a new closet.
This was the old shower, barely as big as a phone booth:

Here's the new shower stall, nice and roomy!

We still have some things to do in the master bath, too. Just as with the powder room, we need to add the trim to the doorways, and stain and finish the doors. Then the hardware needs to be installed on all the doors, as well as the cabinet doors and drawers. The toilet-paper holder and towel racks need to be installed. We have rods for the closets, and those have to go in before we can put clothes away. My job will be to paint the ceiling and the walls where the changes were made, including the enlarged attic access.

Today we get new insulation in our attic. I'm looking forward to being toasty this winter for a change! Well, I'm off to check out the Cyber Monday sales....

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms
What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Pigeon."
What's on my iPad: The House of the Deer by D. E. Stevenson from Audible and Odd Interlude by Dean Koontz from the iBookstore.
What's in my wine glass: Copper Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon. Nice choice!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

Helping Others at Thanksgiving and Christmas

It's Thanksgiving time, and I'm feeling grateful for the roof over my head and food on my table. Not everyone is so lucky. When I drive to Salt Lake City, I often run into people with signs that say, "Homeless. Please help."

Friends have told me that they are reluctant to give money to these people, because they are concerned that it won't be used for food. Even if they use it to buy food at a fast food restaurant or convenience store, they won't get much for their money.

Here's what I do instead: I keep a bag of nonperishable food in my car, just in case I run into someone who is homeless.

I include a can opener, canned food, packaged food (like granola bars), napkins, plastic cutlery, etc. Nice to add are antibacterial wipes, toothbrush and toothpaste, "Space Blanket" (to keep warm, available at Walmart), a list of soup kitchens and anything else you would want if you were living on the streets.

I try to make the food more or less a balanced diet; including vegetables, fruit, a starch and a source of protein (beans or tuna). A small piece of candy is nice to include. I save samples of cereal or other packaged food to put in the bag.

I gave one of these packets away in Wisconsin during a visit there. The man who received it saw my license plate and said, "Thank you, Utah!" Other responses have been amazed expressions, looks of wonder and effusive thanks.
I've never had a homeless person seem disappointed to get one of these, and if your car breaks down in a deserted area, at least you won't starve while waiting for help.

While we're talking about Thanksgiving, I found this hat on Facebook. I wonder how to make it in Tofurky? Use Soy Silk?

The bathroom remodel continues. The shower enclosure is supposed to go in today. DH is finishing the doors himself. Just the doors and a few touches, and it will be done...for now. Here's the broom closet, which is in the powder room:

Besides the door, it needs shelves at the back to hold cleaning supplies and to store other items. The brooms, mops, etc., will go on the wall, and the vacuum cleaner in front of the shelves.

Here's the new closet in the master bath, with the doors up and ready to be stained and finished:

There's a laundry chute in the floor of the closet. It will deliver dirty clothes directly to the laundry room on the floor below. We're still waiting for the end panel on the vanity and the trim on the medicine cabinets, which are hinged to open from the outside edges, so they can be used together to see the back of your head.

For the baby fans, here's a shot of Miss Daphne, showing off her smile, and baby brother Zachary in the background, looking on.

The Dogwood Blossoms sweater is almost ready for the steeks. I've been recovering from a cold, so haven't had much energy for knitting, but should get back to it soon.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber--Back to Normal Again.

After the long trip home from Golden, Colorado, I had to get up in the morning to go to Vintage Stitchers. It was worth it, though. Brenda had this wonderful tesselation quilt to show off. She's putting the binding on now.

Rebecca has started a new appliqué project (of course)! She has all the pieces glued on and ready to appliqué down. 

Carol made some witch shoes to go with her witch cross-stitch:

Then she brought out this great sampler quilt she's making for a friend. She just needs to put a border on.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch...

The sink and toilet have been installed in the powder room, along with the doors and the door to the master bedroom.

I made some progress on the Dogwood Blossoms Cardigan on the trip home, but was too exhausted to work on it steadily. I will be ready to do the steeks in just a few more rounds. The day after Vintage Stitchers I came down with a bad cold and haven't felt like knitting.

We had a major snow storm the last few days. There was a tree down across the road yesterday. We got about 3' of snow over several days. This is very unusual weather for us.

On the baby front, here's Soren, ready for his first half-marathon:

And Zachary can pull himself up to standing. He'll be walking soon! Daphne is enjoying having a little brother. (Just wait until he starts getting into her stuff!)

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms Cardigan, almost ready to steek.
What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Pigeon."
What's on my iPad: D. E. Stephenson's The House of the Deer from Audible
What's in my wine glass: Fish Eye Merlot 2011. (Not a very appetizing name for a very nice wine.)

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber--Canvassing, Cabinets and Cutting

Common Threads met on Thursday at Jean's. She has made progress on her blanket made of leftover sock yarn:

While we were there, a couple of moose paid a visit.

As soon as I got home, I had to pack for the trip to Colorado to canvass for the election. This time I got to go to Denver on a bus with lots of other volunteers:

The long trip from Utah to Denver gave me lots of time to work on my Dogwood Blossoms cardigan. The body is almost done. Then I will have to try it on and see if I need to make the sleeves longer. (See previous log posts for information on this project.)

We stayed with the brother of one of our local volunteers. It was fun getting to know new people. The brother's wife is a knitter. I'll try to share some of her knitting next week.

We had an surprise job Sunday night. Utah volunteers were among those selected to work the president's visit to Aurora. I took this photo:

The people who worked the event got places in front, so I was also among those whose hand he shook after his speech.

While I was in Colorado, some progress on the bathroom occurred. Here are the cabinets for the vanity:

This is the new linen cabinet:

In baby news, Soren had his first haircut:

He was so good! I guess he's too young to be afraid of a haircut, I guess!

Tomorrow is election day. Be sure to vote. If you don't vote, you can't complain.

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms. Coming down the home stretch.
What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Pigeon."
What's on my iPad: The House of the Deer by D. E. Stevenson from Audible.
What's in my wine glass: Amberhill Secret Blend 2010. I think I have a new favorite!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.