Sheep Shots

Monday, December 18, 2006

Kitchen is finished (except for the new stove, but I believe that's coming today!)

New curtains are downstairs waiting for a very minor adjustment to the length (we "lost" 1/2" in floor to ceiling height) because they aren't long enough to "puddle" fashionably on the floor.

I'll get to that later today.

Then I'll put up the Christmas tree (takes only a few minutes--it's small, and the lights stay on it year to year), hang the wreath on the door, and call the house "ready."

The Aran, however, is not ready.

Yesterday, I had about 4 more hours to go on the second sleeve. I decided to put it aside temporarily (because my hands were/are screaming in agony from using the same size needle for days on end) and pick up the button band (smaller needle, should help a little). That involved a little math and some adjustments as I had lengthened the sweater about 4".

I picked up the stitches with a 29" size 4 needle (nice point, slightly smaller than the called for size). Hello! 29" needle could barely accomodate the nearly 400 stitches so I knit the first row onto my 60" addi turbo (not as sharp a point, but a long enough cable for all those stitches). Three hours later (factoring in breaks), I bound off all the stitches, and proceeded (after scouring out the kitchen sink) to "scour" the wool.

Very hot water, a healthy squirt of dish detergent with "degreaser" added (I used Ajax brand, but lots of others feature degreasers). Three soaks and 2 rinses later, I tossed it in the washer to spin out the excess water (it's too big for the salad spinner!) then patted it out on towels on the pool table.

I am pleased.

Film later, perhaps.

// posted by Ann @ 12/18/2006 06:40:00 AM

Comments:

Your kitchen looks great - love that flooring! And the Aran is going to be absolutely gorgeous. Good for you, continuing to make progress while giving your hands a break at the same time.

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