Slowly knitting my way through my Christmas list...

O.K. I know I've been slacking... I haven't been writing a lot. But, I've been busy knitting a bunch of Christmas gifts that I can't show! Some people might see their gifts!!!!!!! I've also been busy with my real life work (the one that pays the bills) and preparing the house for winter, you know, installing the storm windows, closing up the pool, putting the potted plants I want to save, in the ground, planting bulbs for next summer, etc...

 There is something I'll be able to show you soon. I have a short green cape my daughter gave me last year. I wear it often, but it's a bit too short to keep my arms completely covered. So, I'm knitting sleeves out of wool in the same green. I'll sew them in as soon as they're finished and then, I'll show you, promise!

I can also talk about a man's sweater I'm knitting for my friend's son who's studying abroad for a year. He wanted a very simple round neck sweater, brown, with his initial on the front. He wanted it very loose and soft and as close as possible to his dog's colour. After looking far and wide, I found a wool alpaca mix in the exact colour he wanted! Yeah! I knit the ribbing by hand because the SK120's ribber needs a new sponge bar and since they don't make them anymore and I have to make it myself and I haven't had the time to go shopping for what I need.... Well.... There you have it, the ribbing is hand knitted and the rest will go on the SK 120 bulky machine. I made that machine a new sponge bar last year! I should have made two... Sigh...

Since a post is always better with pictures, however pedestrian they might be, here's what the brown yarn looks like:

The colour changes depending on the lighting... I still haven't decided what colour his initial will be...

I cut my fall sweater and installed a zipper!!!

A few months ago, I hand knit myself a wool sweater. I never wore it because I was terrified,  reluctant to install the zipper it needed,  also, the sleeves were too wide, much too wide... That's what can happen when you make up the pattern as you go instead of planning it out. Oh well, knit and learn...
The yarns are Galway Worsted and Manos Del Uruguay.

I loved the sweater, it was thick and warm, I wanted to wear it! I often looked at it longingly!
Since the temperature is getting colder and colder and I want to be cosy and look cute, I decided to grow a pair and repair the sleeves then install a zipper! This weekend was cold and wet, the perfect combination for a warm sweater. The perfect weather to do surgery on a couple of humongous sleeves and to install my first zipper on a hand knit.

I did it!!!!! The sleeves were quite easy to fix, a lot easier than I had expected! But it took me a long time to get the zipper just right and to make it completely disappear when it's done up! But I succeeded! The patterns also match!

 The pattern was freely inspired by "Three tams".

The sleeves are now a lot narrower! They fit!

Yes, I cut my sleeves! I'd never done it before and it was strangely liberating!

With time, the raw edges should felt a bit...

I sewed the sleeves twice to make sure nothing would unravel. Once with the Galway wool and another time with red sewing thread (because of all the floats...).

It's hard to take pictures of myself all alone, so forgive me for the crappy photos, but this is how it now fits!

It's a snug fit, so that I can wear it under fall and winter coats or jackets.

It's very very warm, much too warm to wear indoors! ;-)

Getting there. Slowly but surely...

This was a very busy 3 day weekend.

I finished the linen curtains and hung them. :-)

I finished moving furniture around. I just need the new bookcase...

I cleaned the house and cooked because:

I had my family over for supper at Thanksgiving.

I went to a family brunch.

I stored most of my patio furniture in the attic. That means carrying it up two flights of stairs...

I canned turkey stock.

I visited friends.

I started to crochet a baby jacket for a friend's adorable baby girl. I had so much fun trying out different stitches and yarns that I didn't get to finish it...

I replaced all the summer bedding with winter bedding.


Here's what I did to hang my curtains:                                                        
                                                       

A crochet border! The wrought iron poles are too cute to hide. Look, they swing out!!!

Yes, the basement walls are very thick, 3 feet thick!

I organized part of the basement. 

Before, 

And after

The other part of the basement is almost done, all that's missing is the new bookcase to match the one above.

Most of my canning jars are in there:

 and in there:

The basement is now a place to fill my mind as well as my tummy! ;-)

A little crochet, a lot of moving furniture around...

Hi! I know I haven't been posting much... It's just that this is the time of the year where I get swamped in all my canning and go outside to look at the leaves!

It's also the time of the year that reminds me that very soon I'll be spending a lot of time inside, sooooo, I start to move furniture around, to make curtains, to nest! Every year it's the same thing, I just need to change my surroundings before winter settles in.

This time, I decided to finally take care of the basement. It's a beautiful space but I never quite knew what to do with it. It always bothered me to be wasting so much square footage but I never had a clear idea of what it could become. There were a few pieces of furniture, but no clear purpose...


Well, after a lot of measuring and planning (and spending time on Pinterest), I decided to move my office and all the books (well most of them anyway) there and to turn it into a cosy library!!!

This wall will be getting bookshelves. I've already moved the couch  at the other end of the room.

That was a couple of years ago when some of the yarn was downstairs. Those shelves are now filled with books.


Since my office was in the attic with the knitting machines, I also have to move some stuff around upstairs...

Here comes the tricky part, for my plan to work, I need new bookshelves, similar to those in the picture above, but my handyman isn't available!!!

I don't feel like waiting around for months! I'll just have to make them myself!
Stay tuned to see how it all turns out...

Since lugging furniture from the basement to the attic is hard work, I have to relax my muscles. This is what came out of this down time, I made a few crochet hats!

I just made them up as I was going. They're really thick and warm, perfect for the kind of winters we get around here.

I'm also making linen curtains for the basement. The linen I chose is beautiful but the weave is very loose, so it's hard to work with. I'm hoping the results will be worth all the aggravation!

Now, if I can only get a couple of strong men to move a few big, heavy pieces of furniture up and down three flights of stairs, I'll really be able to rearrange everything! Wish me luck! ;-)