Knitting Progress Has Slowed

My progress on knitting projects has slowed considerably.  The reason:  I got called back to work.

The state budget was signed on Thursday, July 18.  A message went out that all contractors could return either Friday or Monday.  I decided to go in for a while on Friday to just make Monday easier.  I got through my emails and checked on the status of some work that was in progress when I left in June.  Maybe Monday was easier, but it was still very, very difficult to get up when the alarm went off at 5:30 am.

As I mentioned, knitting progress has slowed.  I'm not getting time every day like I did over the break.  My LYS has a knit along for the Papillon shawl.  During break I was able to go the the Tuesday afternoon sessions.  Now that I'm back at work I'm going to the Wednesday evening sessions.  If I get a section done each week at the KAL and at least one section done over the weekend, I'll have this done by mid-September.  My hope/plan is to have this done by October to take along on my Rhinebeck trip.  My sisters and I might catch a Broadway play while we are together for the weekend.  I want to take this along with me to the theater.

Did I mention that while I was home for three weeks, Squeaks was my shadow?  She followed me everywhere I went in the house.  Don't tell Ed, but I also let her in the bedroom while I was sorting through my clothes.  She explored all the nooks and crannies of the room and then found a spot under a table to watch me.  Now she seems to be mad at me.  It might be because I'm not home all day with her.  Or it may be because I got rid of her favorite chair.  Whatever the reason, she is taking her revenge on my yarn.  I can't leave anything exposed.  She immediately wants to play with any yarn or knitting I have out.

I turned the heal on the Uneek socks I'm working.  This is the first time I've done a short row heel.  It was a lot faster than a gusset heel, but I'm not sure how it will hold up.  Only time will tell.  I thought about doing an afterthought heel, but I was not sure how to measure the foot to start the toe.  I decided to just do a short row heel on this pair so that I can get an idea of the fit.  This pair will be a reference for when I decide to do an afterthought heel.

The Hamilton sweater is coming along.  I finished the front yoke and have joined under the arms.  Now the piece is worked until the ribbing.  This is coming along nicely.  I think this will get done by the end of September, in time for its debut at Rhinebeck.

I wasn't 100% thrilled with this yarn that I got from the Knit Picks sale.  It was close to the color I wanted, but a little more muted than what I wanted.  I also was sure I wanted a tweed.  Now that it is coming together, I'm falling in love with it.  I think this yarn will not pill like the yarns I used for Weekender and my green raglan pullover.  Squeaks approves of the yarn too.

Lots of Knitting Progress

No resolution yet to the state's budget stalemate, so I'm still spending my days at home.  The air conditioning is fixed.  I'm slowly going through my clothes and purging things that I haven't worn in years.  My daily schedule involves a simple breakfast with a cup of tea and some knitting.  After that I work on something around the house.  I should get outside to weed, but it is so hot and humid I'm not motivated for that.  I'd rather stay inside because we now have our air conditioning fixed and it feels wonderful.

The many WIPs are coming along.  I work on one or two things for a couple days, toss it aside and then grab the next two in my pile.  I am actually being quite productive.  

My Hamilton sweater is coming along.  I picked up the stitches for the front and did the short row section last night.  This morning I worked on the yoke V section.  For the pattern, you first knit the back down to the bottom of the armhole opening.  To start the front stitches are picked up along one shoulder, a section of stitches are cast on to make the front of the neck opening and then the stitches of the other shoulder are picked up.  Because I was working right to left I used the e-wrap cast on for the center section.  After picking up the stitches, the pattern calls for a series of short rows for the right shoulder.  The cast on stitches across the center are then knit to move you over to the left shoulder.  As I knit the section of cast on stitches, I realized I had a lot of slack in the yarn.  I had to adjust the tension before I knit the left shoulder stitches.  Now that I look at it I'm not all that pleased with how the neckline looks.  I'm hoping that once it is done and blocked it will look nicer.  I'm not going to rip it out and redo, but I am going to make a note on the pattern to do something different if I ever make the pattern again.  I'll have to make a pattern page for this so I don't forget.

My Uneek socks are coming along.  I'm almost at the end of the current color pattern.  I'm going to try a short row heal.  I'm thinking about pulling yarn from the other end of the ball for the heal.

My Relax sweater has been a long hibernating project.  I've added it to my knitting rotation.  I'm now in the section to make the armhole edge.  A little more than 4 inches to go on this and then I'll be able to seam it and then work the sleeves.  

I love how the armhole increases look on this pattern.

That's all for now.  Time to grab a box out of the garage and pack a few things to take down to the donation box.

Calling a Professional, Or Two

The house is nearly 22 years old.  Like us, it is starting to show its age.  We've replaced flooring in most rooms and have done general maintenance on a number of things.  Recently we noticed our kitchen faucet was dripping as well as our shower.  Having fixed dripping faucets/showers in the past we set about fixing these on Thursday, which happened to be the July 4th holiday here in the US.  Ed was tackling the shower while I was going to do the kitchen sink.  

About a month ago when we noticed the kitchen dripping, we called the manufacturer who sent out replacement parts for the lever handle.  They said we just needed to disassemble the handle and replace with the parts they provided.  I was sure I could do it since I had the schematic which supposedly showed all of the parts of the faucet.  I unscrewed the lever and took off the cover.  I immediately realized what I was looking at didn't match the schematic.  Our faucet had an interior cover which wasn't shown on the drawing.  The opening at the top of this covering had a piece that matched the next piece I was supposed to remove, but I needed to remove this other covering in order to release it.  I tried lifting it and it didn't budge.  I then tried twisting it, but then heard a little snap/pop.  I immediately worried I broke something important.  Since Ed was working on the shower upstairs, which didn't have a shut-off valve, the water to our entire house was off.  I didn't know if I did something bad, but my gut told me I did.

About this same time, I started hearing a good amount of swearing from upstairs.  Ed was having the same issue.  The housing around the shower dial cartridge wasn't releasing.  He tried turning it with some vice grips, but the entire housing turned.  I could see that he torqued the two pipes feeding from the water line into the housing.  

At this point we decided we needed to call in a professional.  He went downstairs to turn on the water.  That is when we realized the extent of the damage we did.  The kitchen sink now had a small, steady stream of water coming from the lever housing.  The shower was much worse.  Water was spraying inside the wall behind the housing.   We shut off the main water line to the house and hung our heads in defeat (Our defeat was not quite so passive.  There was a bit of swearing, mostly on Ed's part.)  Being a holiday, we knew we wouldn't be able to get someone out that day so we decided to make the best of it.

After the tempers cooled a bit, Ed commented that the house felt warm.  My first thought was that it was just his blood pressure, but I felt warm also.  The air conditioner was running, but the thermostat was showing that the house was 83 deg F.  I felt the air coming out of the register and realized it wasn't cold at all.  The AC  was broke and we were in the middle of a hot, humid 4th of July.

On Friday, we were able to get a plumber out to cap the shower.  This involved unloading my side of the closet and cutting a hole in the wall.  The plumber cut the pipes, removed the fittings with the frozen housing, and installed shut off valves.  Because the July 4th holiday fell on a Thursday, plumbers were only taking emergency calls on Friday, July 5.  Monday we will have another plumber come out to repair the pipes and housing. 

Fortunately, the kitchen sink did have shut-off valves so we were able to turn our water back on midday Friday.  Saturday we went to the hardware store and just bought an entire new kitchen faucet and replaced that ourselves.  A little money saved there at least.

Saturday morning the AC guy came by and pronounced the AC as dead.  He said would call around to see if he can get a replacement for us.  This time of year, with the excessive heat we've been having, it may take a few days.  We are now on Day 4 of no AC.

We are all getting a little tired of being hot and sweaty.  Showering doesn't help much.  As soon as you dry yourself off, you start to sweat again.  Even Squeaks is getting a bit annoyed with it.  She is spending her days napping.  Smart kitty!

We're making the best of it.  July 4th we went to the local fireworks display with Trisha, Craig and my brother Joe.

Blake was home on Friday so we spent the evening at a microbrewery enjoying a few cold, adult beverages.

It is now just Ed, Squeaks and me.  It is Sunday and my plans are just to relax, read and knit.

I finished another section (#11) of Papillon.

Paris by Day is coming along nicely. I love how the colors are pooling to create a striped effect.

I need to give my wrists a break now for a while.  Time to pull out my book.  I'm re-reading one of my all-time favorites:  Jane Eyre.  I first read it about 20 years ago.  Now that I'm older, and have raised a couple daughters, the book is more meaningful for me.  If you haven't read it, check it out from your local library and give it a read.  It is a classic with a timeless message.

Budget Issues

As you may know, I am an IT consultant currently working for the State of Ohio.  The Ohio fiscal year ends June 30.  Each year, my contract is renewed for the next 12 months.  The first year in this gig, I had a mandatory break in July until the purchase order was processed. Then the next 2 years I was allowed to work 'at risk' while waiting for the paperwork to catch up.  This year is back to the waiting at home mode.  The Ohio Legislature hasn't yet passed a budget, so all consultants were told to go home and wait until things are resolved.  I've heard it could be up to a month.  Financially it won't be fun, but it won't kill us.  To be honest, I'm not disappointed that I get to sleep in in the morning and play with Squeaks all day long.

Yesterday I decided to cast on a project that I've had in the queue for a couple years.  I know, I know.  I have a lot of WIPs.  I really don't need another.   But I have lately learned to schedule my knitting and have a plan for getting my primary projects done.  By following the schedule I'll make progress on this new project and the others in my active WIP pile.

So what is it I am starting?  It is Paris By Day by Baah Yarns.  It is an easy, chevron pattern made with three colors of their Dipped and Dabbled La Jolla yarn.  I'm starting with the yellow.  Then will probably do blue, then black.  The pattern says to knit until the colors run out.  I'm sure it's going to be a very long shawl.  

I've created a page to capture my progress on this project.  Check it out.