I blog because I have kittens

Tiny Black Kitten On Red Floor Against White Wall (Corrie)

Tiny Black Kitten that Wants to Eat Your Camera Cord (Coop)

Reference Bookshelf

The library nook is nearly finished. You may recall it previous looked like this:


We painted it a lovely shade of gray and today it looks like this:


There are details left to finish. A rug, some decorations, and alterations to the curtain. I am quite pleased with the curtain - I found it at Goodwill for $2. I would never be able to buy just the fabric for $2. Like nearly all modern curtains, it is too short for my window and I'm thinking I'll add some red fabric to the top to make it longer.

Also super cheap...the bookshelf. The fancy (?) cinder blocks were in our basement. They were spray painted gold, which I didn't realize until we got them out of the basement and into the sun. With the addition of some painted boards and the complete 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica, the Reference Bookshelf is under way.


How does one procure a complete 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica? Well, one day Bill emailed me and asked "do we want a free 1985 Encyclopedia Britannica?" And I replied "I don't understand why you are asking this question? Is there anyone that doesn't?"

So, if you have any questions which require the latest info about the USSR or Reaganomics, you know who to ask.

Today, I'm filling the bookshelf with other hardcover reference books. Lots from college, some on home repairs.


And a few old, old reference books we picked up at a library sale. The bottom book is a Better Homes and Gardens reference for family health from the 60s which says if women complain about cramps during menstruation to just tell them it's all in their head and they'll get over it. Also, to not let them crawl into bed for rest, but rather encourage them to be up and about, presumably making dinner and doing laundry.


We also have two copies of "Our Universe" (1986) from National Geographic. Even before we started dating, Bill and I talked with each other about reading and re-reading this book as a kid. I like to keep both our copies on the shelf together.


Inseparable.

Goal progress (subtle)

Gradual change is difficult for me. It's boring. Bore. Ing. One of our 2011 goals is to make the upstairs landing adorable. So, I'm painting it. It's boring. The landing connects with the hallway upstairs and down and we like it in a light color. But painting with light colors is BORING!

See! You can't even see the progress. Snooze!!

It's nothing like making a blue bedroom orange. Or taming a crazy pink guest room with a calming yellow. Or a turning a poop colored bathroom into fresh Irish spring green.

It's changing from beige to...greyish beige. Fortunately, the color change is more visible from some angles, or else I'd go batty. Bat. Tee. (New color on the right)

Also, it's making the current grimy walls all shiny and new. See all that muck on the lower part of the right wall:

That's not new gray paint or shadows. It's old, oily fingerprints. Eww.

In other goal-related news...I drove the truck back from town yesterday! I stalled a few times in the parking lot, and I kinda drive like a cautious old lady. But, I'm still driving.

My February project for the Self-Imposed Stash Club didn't work out. I had some very picky, lovely yarn that refuses to be anything right now but yarn. For March, the randomly chosen project was socks for Bill. This yarn is the very first I purchased at a yarn shop. Never knit with it because it's boring and Bill has very large feet. Nearly two months later, I'm about this far:

April is much more exciting. Another long-held yarn - my first Creatively Dyed yarn. It is becoming Aquaphobia (this is a Ravelry link, but I think common people can get there now?).


And, I'm spinning. I've moved from cheap merino I've dyed myself:


To a merino/raw silk blend dyed by people way better than me.

Shiny!

January Goal Progress Reporting

This is a serious post about the work we've done this month.

Seriously.

Not really. It's about knitting, natch...and spinning. Knitting, of course, being the most important of the goals for 2011. (Actually, we've also been working on another goal: feeding Sugar homemade food pretty regularly. She mostly gets whatever we're eating - meat and potatoes, oatmeal, waffles. I don't think we're at 25% consistently, but I expect we'll do better in the summer when we have veggies.)

First - I've been practicing my spinning and dying so that I can knit a sweater from yarn I've spun. Here's the rovings from the previous post spun up:



I also dyed some more roving - this is decidedly more girly.


I'm nearly 4/5 done with my monthly mystery package January shawl.


Bill picked a new package this weekend for February. Another ruffly shawl! Tornando dalle Cascine in a Mohair/Wool blend from Rhinebeck.


I also worked on a house goal! We've decided that February is the time to tackle: Make upstairs landing into library nook. Toward that end, I did very important work. I took "before" pictures.

Step one is clearing the landing. Then, we'll paint the walls and floor, make a curtain and install some bookshelves.



But right now, some girly roving is begging to be spun...