The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh
Life is what happens while I am busy planning my next knitting design.
Though I hovered over my spring bulbs today coaxing them to grow faster, I don’t have to wait for baseball anymore.
Spring Training has begun. My boys are back!
To celebrate the occassion, my cousin bought me a new Phillies shirt designed by Thom Lessner. I just love it.
Originally uploaded by freakin pizza
It feels so close
and yet so far away with the temperature at a chilly 35F. At least it is no longer below freezing.
I can’t wait to start tidying up the garden, trimming the hedges, and deciding what to plant in my veggie garden. I am less enthusiastic about raking up all the seed pods the two Sweet Gum trees have dropped over the winter.
Jake is my cheerleader when it comes to that task. He loves to pick up all the dead sticks that I rake up with the seed pods.
I am at the point in the BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman, Ravelry link and non-Ravelry link) where it stops looking like a half knitted cardigan and starts looking like a yarn blob.
If the designer was anybody but the renowned and respected EZ, I might have my doubts. As it is, I am knitting merrily along.
The closer I get to finishing the jacket, the more sure I am that I will have yarn left over. So, I’ve been brainstorming about what small accessory I could knit out of the extra yarn. I’m leaning towards a garter stitch bonnet. I thought of a scarf, but then thought it might be obnoxious for both the baby (confining) and the mother (easy to lose). Or I could add a hood to the jacket. Any thoughts?
It’s exactly what I wanted: a new floor!
On our anniversary (two days before Valentine’s Day), Dan was away on business in Virginia while I stayed home and supervised the installation of our new floor. YES, Dan and I did celebrate our anniversary the proper way with a night out on the town. He even offered to make the long drive back home Thursday night so we could be together on our anniversary. Practical Me told him to not bother. He loves me; that is good enough.
Before I tell you about the long and arduous installation process, I first want to thank everyone who offered their opinion on which floor I should choose for our bathroom. It helped us make the decision. Even Dan read your comments and found the information helpful. Thanks to your warnings, we eliminated the white floor tile immediately. It was difficult deciding between the vinyl fake hardwood and the ceramic tile. We eventually landed on the vinyl for a number of reasons: less of a gap between the bathroom floor and the bathroom floor, softer underfoot (my heel periodically causes me pain when I stand on hard surfaces for any length of time), warmer, counterbalances the cool blue tiles, no worry of cracking or breaking, and I loved the fact that it would blend with the rest of the house.
But, can I tell you about the installation process? What I thought was going to take 4 hours, took all day. This is what the floor looked like at the beginning of the day.
First, the old, rotten plywood was removed with a crowbar.
Then, a thin piece of plywood was placed over the patch in the floor so that everything would be of the same height. Afterwords, he feathered in a compound to smooth the transition between the old linoleum floor and the new plywood.
At 1pm, Gary the installer announced that the installation of the new floor could begin. Mind you that he showed up at 9 am. The next two hours were dedicated to piecing the plywood over top the entire bathroom floor.
The process involved an air compressor to power the staple gun and the nail gun. Jake quickly decided that he did NOT like the noisy contraption. He tried to hide between the couch and the coffee table at first.
After ten minutes, he ascertained that his nook was too close to the machine and moved to the farthest corner of the house he could find.
Poor Jake. He was so happy when the installation was complete and the noisy man left.
Jake and Marie will play.
“Play” = knitting in Marie’s book.
“Play” = bark at any little noise and find
sticks in Jake’s book.
I’d love to show you pictures of the knitting
I have accomplished, but Dan took the car
and the fancy new laptop to Virginia. Hal, my
11-year-old-computer, won’t talk to my
new camera or our new monitor.
(The car has nothing to do with the reason
why I cannot show you the pictures.
I just wanted to get Dan in trouble with his
mother. It brings me such joy. [evil grin])
The BSJ is coming along quite nicely. I have
recently begun the many increases.
Every time I pick up the jacket, I fall in love
with the yarn color all over again.
The big news is that by tomorrow this time
I’ll have a new bathroom floor. It hasn’t come
by easily. I’ll give you the full story along with
the pictures next week.
Have a great weekend!
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On the way home from our walk today, Jake reminded me that I hadn’t posted the pictures of our latest snow storm.
Can you spot Jake?
He is laying down in the snow after finally rooting out his prized stick that Mother Nature had buried.
You can barely see it, but Jake’s nose has flakes of snow on it. I thought it was so cute.
Dan’s Uncle Charlie and his wife Maria are expecting their first and second baby in August. Twins!
The whole family is so excited for them.
Of course one of my first thoughts was “What am I going to make for them?” The first few thoughts that popped into my head were grandiose (matching knit blankets, entire knitted outfits, hand stitched quilts, etc). Thankfully, I had the good sense to think my plans through before starting anything. There is no way I would be able to finish any of those grandiose ideas before June. (She’s not due until August, but I imagine the baby shower will be held a few months prior). There simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Back to the drawing board I went.
Having long admired both the designer and the design for years, I opted to queue up the BSJ (Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket).
Next, I had to hunt for the perfect yarn. I searched my stash first and came up empty handed. Nothing matched the specific criteria:
Criteria for BSJ’s Yarn:
1. Superwash Wool, preferably Merino
2. Sport weight, approx 5-6 sts to an inch
3. Plyed – no singles
4. 300+ yards
5. Variegated yarn
6. Gender neutral colors because they haven’t announced the sex of the twins yet.
7. No pastels – only because I’m sick and tired of knitting in pastels for babies.
I found exactly what I wanted on WoolGirl!
The yarn is Yarn Love’s Marianne Dashwood in color Maiden.
100% Superwash Merino Wool
330 yards
Sport-weight
You’ll notice that I only bought 1 skein. Hope is high that they will announce soon one of the twins is a girl. Then, I can go back and buy yarn saturated in pink.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 