In which our heroine is reminded that she has the best dad that ever was.

Ho-LEEEE goodness, what an adventure yesterday was. Attic Renovation 2008 is *thisclose* to being done, and the Crafto-Dad agreed to help me move my mattress and box spring upstairs. Very nice of him, especially considering he has an odd work schedule (works at night a lot, so sleeps during the day sometimes) and was rather tired.

Now, anyone who's been to my house knows that the stairs to the attic are, shall we say, quaint. Which is to say "old." Which is to say "narrow, steep, and treacherous." There's a door at the base of the stairs, then they move upward at a drastic angle pretty much immediately. This, as you might suspect, is not what you would call "convenient" for moving furniture.

So. We get the mattress upstairs, but just barely, and only because it was flexible enough to bend the corners down a little. It was iffy whether or not the box spring would fit, because, hey, that's not bendy at all, but there really wasn't any choice but to give it a shot.



Yeah. Not so much. Crafto-Dad figured he might be able to get a little more maneuvering room if he took out one or two of the stairs with a crowbar. Then we'd be able to angle the box spring forward before tilting it up the stairs. Or so the plan went.



What resulted was a whole bunch of insulation all over the place, and a box spring still stuck in the doorway. Crafto-Dad suggested it might work if he took out one more stair. Nothing. Repeat times six. This was the result:



Hey, where'd my stairs go? Oh, there they are:



At this point I learned how to tap out and remove old nails from a board. And how to assemble stairs. I went to Home Despot to buy new nails and a hammer [side anecdote: HD employee-guy saw me looking at a wall of nails and asked what I needed nails for, so he could help me find the right kind to buy (not that I'd asked him for help... but anyway, at least he was polite). Based on his facial expression when I said "a staircase," I'm pretty sure he'd expected an answer along the lines of "I need to hang a picture of kittens and flowers." That's right, buddy, stairs. I need the nails for stairs. Ahem.]

Anyway, Crafto-Dad had thus far been working on this "15 minute" project for about five hours, and had to go home and sleep. He'd gotten about half of the staircase put back together, so the rest was up to me. After about three hours of nailing, I was thinking that a fitting blog post title would be "Day of a Thousand Profanities." But I did it! And here's what the stairs look like now (again):



It's just barely out of view behind the corner, so you can't see it, but the box spring MADE IT UP TO THE NEW ROOM! Thanks, Crafto-Dad! :)

Startitis

startitis\star-TI-tis\noun\
Affliction affecting knitters, particularly those easily distracted and prone to procrastination, in which the victim continues to cast on for new projects, causing said knitter to ignore indefinitely those which are already in progress.

Yep, I've been stricken. I am a poster child for Startitis right now. Really, it all started because I was metaphorically running and hiding from having to re-knit part of my Hourglass Sweater. (I will at some point. Just not right now.) I cast on for the Not-so-orange Wave Cardigan several weeks ago and actually got a lot done... but I got stalled when I was about to go on a long-ish car trip and, telling myself that the NWC wouldn't be a good project to bring (nearly finished, requiring too much concentration, yarn highly uncooperative should I need to frog a row or two in the car... I tells ya, I am a champion rationalizer, oh yes!), I cast on for Buttony, which is perhaps the perfect car project. Row after row of stockinette with raglan increases and a little bit of garter stitch for flavor. Nearly impossible to screw up.

So I'm back from the car trip now, and I have Buttony and the NWC staring at me, takin' up needles, and OF COURSE I've started something new. But I have a good reason, I swear! I'll be travelling to warmer climes in the near future (sorry, I'm not saying where or when for all the interwebs to see), so clearly I need to knit something fun and summery to wear, right? Right?! Maybe a fun tank top to wear over a swimsuit, for instance? Anyway, I thought so, so I've cast on for Carrie Bostick Hoge's Lace Nightie pattern, as seen in the Spring 2007 Interweave Knits. I'm using this fantastic cotton/viscose yarn that I'm hoping will be as lovely to wear as it is to knit with. It's very bright. Magenta. With a capital M.

I'm pretty sure that the cure for Startitis is to knit on a deadline, even if that deadline is self-imposed. I'd say trying to finish something to wear on a trip fits the bill, eh? Wish me luck in my recovery...

Progress, progress, everywhere, but not a thing complete.

Yes, Attic Renovation 2008 continues. No, it isn't quite done yet. At this point I don't want to post too many pictures, lest I ruin the effect when everything's actually done. I'll give you just a snippet, though. Here's a shot of one of the dresser drawer handles I'm getting rid of:

And the new version:

But wait, there's more! My Not-so-orange Wave Cardigan is nearly done:

And in fact it probably would be done by now, if not for the progress I made on Buttony, which I opted to take on a car trip over the weekend.

Oh! And I completely forgot to take pictures of the vegetable seedlings in my living room. The cantaloupe, in particular, is really taking off. Eh, next time.

Eureka

At last, I've solved the problem of What The Heck to Do With The Batch of Pink Variegated Yarn.

I was given a bunch of pink variegated yarn at least a year ago. And by "bunch," I mean "at least ten small skeins" or "enough for a long sleeved sweater" or "more than I know what to do with." I may not be the girliest girl that ever was, but I own some pink. I'm not afraid of pink. Pink is fine. But I really don't know what to do with variegated yarn. None of the projects I've been wanting to knit seem to lend themselves to variegated yarn. This may be because I'm boring and go for classic looks, rather than fun projects that require an element of risk taking, but whatever the reason, I fear that using variegated yarn in a project that has other visual elements (lace, etc.) would look too busy. Also, the yarn in question is cotton, and I've had... "issues" in the past with cotton not holding its shape (and thus looking like a tent-sweater on me. shudder.)

Ok. So. I'd decided I was just going to find *something* that would work, so I could get the stuff out of my stash. When the Blush pattern was released last week, I thought that might be my savior (leaving out the colorwork, of course). It's a fun pattern, why the heck wouldn't it look okay with a bunch of shades of pink? And I could figure out some way (adjusting gauge, etc.) to address the Cotton Problem. Almost a perfect solution.

But. I realized that if I knit Blush, I'd be stuck with several skeins of leftovers and still no idea what to do with them. And thennnn, I was scouting ravelry (oh how I heart ravelry!) and found a few examples of Buttony that I liked. It's a long sleeve sweater! With enough whimsy to handle variegated yarn! But not enough of a stitch pattern to make it look weird! Hooray! I'm planning to continue the hem ribbing all the way up along the sides, and also use increasing/decreasing for waist shaping.

Can't wait.

Also, my Not-so-orange Wave Cardigan is speeding along. I finished the back yesterday, so what's left is the right and left front section from the armholes up, both sleeves, and the i-cord ties.

AND (wow, lots of updates today), the electrical stuff in the attic is d-o-n-e DONE. Switchplates and outlet covers, bay-bee! All that's left is painting the 9 dresser drawers and replacing their handles, painting the closet doors (probably two or three more coats), painting the inside of the closet, and figuring out whether I can attach one end of the closet rod to the plywood access door to the chimney (the question being whether it's sturdy enough).

Whew!

When it rains it pours...

I can't figure out why, but it seems that my social engagements and other scheulding committments always end up clustered together, so I have long stretches of days with nothing exciting to do, then -pow!- an exhausting week where I've got every spare second scheduled. This week goes in the latter category. I mean, it's mostly good things I've got scheduled, but whooo-eeeee, exhausting.

Fun lunch yesterday, fun lunch today, work lunch tomorrow, fun lunch Thursday (thankfully, at least, I won't have to plan ahead to pack food to bring to work until Friday). Errand after work Monday, grocery store after work today (I used the groceries to make veggie lasagna with zucchini in place of the noodles. yummerific.), possible dinner plans after work tomorrow (though if not, I'll have a respite and a chance to wash dishes and such), dinner plans Thursday (birthday! woot woot!), dinner plans Friday (birthday observed! woot woot!).

And thennnnn, on Saturday I have birthday observed a la Fam (Thursday is The Dad's birthday, too). Sunday is a mini-road trip to see my college girls (woot woot!) AND to catch up with a law school friend (woot woot!) one state over.

Sunday evening I plan to clean my house so all is right with the world for the new week. And I suspect I'll sleep *very* soundly.

Yes, another sweater!

Would someone please give me a kick in the pants and make me paint my damn attic already? It's languishing with primer and no actual paint, and I just can't. get. motivated. To procrastinate, I've been doing a whole heck of a lot of knitting. And I finished my Bella Paquita!



Yay!

I've also started an Orange Wave Cardigan (though not in orange). I can't link to it because it's on Ravelry, but if you've got an account, go look it up!

(Next day update: I somehow managed to give my own self a kick in the pants, and I got a coat of paint on the walls in the attic. Um, except that I didn't tape off the trim, so nothing within a couple inches of said trim has been painted. Also, I'm amazed how a stretch of wall can look so thoroughly saturated in paint when you're atually painting, then so patchy and uneven when it dries.)

59 Minutes

I've finished the Hourglass Sweater I was knitting, but the neckline and shoulders are just a teensy bit lower than I'd like, so it isn't *entirely* finished and perfect. (Get it? It's an Hourglass but it isn't quite done? 59 minutes... yeah.) I'm fairly pleased with the shaping and darts, though, so I won't have to change the whole thing.