New Ride

Until yesterday I've been driving Brian's 1997 Civic. It had 178,000 miles and it was really starting to fall apart. Basically, we were putting more into it than the car was worth. Although we loved that car and it had been reliable for us, it was time to bite the bullet and get a new car.



2009 Honda Fit Sport- I really needed a car that gets good mileage since my commute is 40 miles. Also, I wanted a fun, sporty looking car that handles well. Finally, I really wanted a 4 door car. I rarely have passengers. But the 2 door Civic was really not cool when I wanted to transport more than 1 other adult. And if we ever decided to have a child.... The Honda Fit really met all wants.



Here's the passenger side. I got the Blackberry color with black interior. I'm saying it's dark blue. Although there is a little purple in there.



That's my car's butt. HAHA!



We hadn't planned on getting one with the fancy navigation system. But this was the last one on the lot. (Cash for Clunker cleaned them out!) Now I just have to figure out how to use it. With the end of the model year and a Costco discount, we got a great deal too. YAY! No more praying that I make it home. This little beauty should last me the next 10 years.

I Admit It

I bought yarn. Mind you, I haven't bought yarn in MONTHS. OK, like 2 months. But still.

The Loopy Ewe sent me an email and I couldn't resist some Lorna's Laces in their new colorways.



Cookie's Deep Dark Secret



Nightmare's Night Out



Zombie BBQ



Amy's Vintage Office. OK- this one's not new but I've been wanting it for awhile.

I also got a Namaste Zuma bag in Black from Scout. No picture but I LOVE it. I encourage you to score a Namaste bag if you don't have one. They are fantastic!

Now I really want one of these. But I really need a knitting chair for the office more. So I'll hold off on another knitting gadget for a but.

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

The Saga of the Red Kitchen

When we bought this house, I knew one of the first things we would do was pull the wallpaper off the kitchen wall and paint. Little did I know the trials and tortures this would entail.

A week or two after moving in March, I started scrapping. And scrapping. And scrapping. I used fabric softener, Dif gel, a fancy paper scoring tool, and a razor blade. NOTHING worked. And I managed to chunk the dry wall in the process. Yes, the paper was applied directly to the dry wall. UGH!



The wallpaper that refused to come off.


Then, someone at work suggested renting a steamer. Apparently you can rent them at home improvement stores for about $50 a day. Well, for $100 you can buy one and amazon will bring it to me. Say hello to my little friend!



That sucker worked like a charm. It was messy, steamy, and still took 8 hours but the wallpaper finally came off. And with much less wall damage. I figured it was worth buying since I still have 2 bathrooms with wallpaper of doom to pull out.



Safety first, kids!



Finally, the wallpaper was GONE!

Once a color was chosen, painting began...



It looked REALLY BAD. I mean this is crapping my pants, thinking about plan B kind of bad.



Oh my goodness! What did we do???? But facebook friends reassured me... just keep painting... And I did.

After 6 coats, the color really became what I wanted. A nice, rich, velvety red that makes the room feel warm and cozy.







Shoot! I should have moved the ladder!



The color is off in this one. But you get the idea.

So here we have it... Before...



and After....





Family Room before...



and after...



The patio furniture finally made it outside.



Slowly but surely, the house is coming together.

An FO for the little ones

This year, there are no less than 15 babies being born to people I love. It's quite clearly out of control. And I just can't knit that fast. However, there are some babies whose moms have been through so much with me, I can't deny them the handknits.

The Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater may be one of my new baby favorites.



Pattern: Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater- Rav
Needles: Knit Picks Options US 4
Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Sport- Malted Milk
Date Started: 6/17/09
Date Finished: 7/25/9
Mods: I did not use any closure on this sweater. No buttons. No snaps. I think it'll be cute to just let it be open and it'll be easy to throw this on over any outfit.

The organic cotton was wonderful to work with. And I'm always impressed that Knit Picks can offer such quality at such a low price.

In Which Brian Buys a Grill

In lieu of a trip to Sock Summit this weekend, I'm basking in the glory of my new exhaust manifold and catalytic converter. I hope my sarcasm is coming through here. I'm very annoyed that my weekend trip was put on hold. And the car still needs a new transmission. Unfortunately, we're in the unenviable position of having a Honda Civic that just NEVER stops. It has 175,000 miles and this is literally the first time the "check engine" light has come on. I can't complain but we have to start thinking if putting money into the car is worth it. On one hand, we can't buy a comparable car for what the car is technically worth. But we're headed to putting more into the car than we'll get out. For now, I we're fixing it. But in a year or two, I'll have to look for a new car. sigh....

But that's not what this post is about... Brian bought a grill.

Well, really it's more than a grill. It's a ceramic refractory cooker. If you're interested it's a Komodo Kamado. And it's a beast. Watch the Today Show segment.

It arrived bright and early this morning in a big truck.



I've never received anything in a crate before. Yikes!!!



Brian couldn't wait to bust into the crate.



The guys who makes these is Art Linkletter's grandson, Dennis. He lives in Indonesia. That's where our (not so) little guy came from.



Here's where is gets really interesting... We have to move this around our house, through the garden to get to our patio.



Not sure we're ready for this. There were lots and lots of theories of how to do this. It's on wheels but there's no solid walkway from the garage to the patio. We have silly little stepping stones that are of no help at all in this situation. So we settled on wheeling it over the garden on boards.



At 500 pounds, Brian and I got a workout getting this far. But we didn't count on the uneven terrain and all of the boards breaking. (On a side note, there was much snail carnage!!) At this point we were out of cheap plywood and had to take a quick trip to OSH. A very grumpy Nell and a very optimistic Brian returned with 4 particle boards that seemed thick enough to roll the final 30 feet.



At the lip of the patio, we were almost stuck again.



But a final push got us to the concrete patio. (Is it just me or does it look like an alien robot???)



We made it!!!! Brian's so proud.



A moment of silence please for all the lumbar that was sacrificed today...



When we put it where we wanted it, Brian said, "if we sell this house, the cooker comes with it."



Good. Because rolling that through the garden was not fun. I'm told I will be paid back in pulled pork which makes my backache totally worth it. Tomorrow, we go to Costco for MEAT. Look out!

Welcome Summer

I walk through my little garden everyday. And about two weeks ago, I noticed little green spheres attached to my tomato plants. Guess what?!?! They are tomatoes!



The red cherry tomato plant was the first to put on fruit. This one is the biggest. I'm counting on him to turn red. For years I've been growing tomatoes in pots and never got fruit. I probably forgot to water them or they didn't have big enough pots. So this year, I just want 1 red tomato and I'll be thrilled.



Here's the Super Sweet 100's. The plant is TALL. I read that some people get 300-600 fruit per plant from these. Seriously, I just want 1 from each plant. There's also a Mama Mia plant for sauce. OK, I amend my hopes... I want 1 red tomato from the cherry plants and 1 batch of sauce from the Mama Mia. That would just be awesome!



Look how big the plants are getting! I had to upgrade the tomato cages.




The lemons are growing from the tiny buds...



to actual fruit.



The Baby oranges are growing.



Although lots of the persimmons have fallen off the tree, there are still about 20 hanging on. I hope they make it until harvest.

This explosion of growth lately can be attributed to one thing.



Summer has arrived. Thank goodness for AC.



Even my gorgeous hydrangeas are wilting a little in the heat. Once they get a drink in the morning, they'll be just fine.

A Pair of FO's

I've been remiss in showing you my knitting progress. There have been lots of opportunities to knit lately. And deadlines (such as births) have passed. So I can show you a couple of things...



Pattern: Jenny Wren Socks
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock S188 from The Loopy Ewe
Needles: KP 2.5mm, magic loop
Date Started: 1/1/09
Date Finished: 5/29/09
Mods: None. But I sure am glad these blocked out nicely. And the yarn really softened up.

And yes, I finally bought sock blockers. I heart them.

Here's a close up of the cable details



Also, Driesy got a sweater. Even though it's going to get warm here in the next week or two. It's still cool at night. And no nephew of mine will be without a handknit sweater to keep him toasty!



Pattern: Baby Yours by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee from Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Yarn: Koigu KPPM P418 from Purl Soho in NYC
Needles: KP 3.5mm
Date Started: 4/12/09
Date Finished: 6/1/09
Mods: None. But I wish this wasn't seemed. What a pain!



What I really love is the button. Cute but matching the cable motif. Now I only need a pic of Dries in it. Ahem, Sally!