Baby blankets and Remodeling

In keeping with my declarations around ‘one for me, one for you’, I’m now knitting a simple preemie blanket to go to Warm Hearts~Warm Babies (a Knitting4Children charity):



This is Simply Soft in a light lavender – I’ve lost the ball band, so I don’t know what color exactly. There’s actually another 3” or so on it by now – it’s a fast knit, and I’m a slow picture-taker. Very, very simple pattern: five repeats of the 5-Hour Baby Sweater pattern, followed by fourteen rows of stockinette, with a border of garter stitch at the sides. Lather, rinse, repeat until you reach the end of your yarn (or patience, whichever comes first). This is a preemie size, roughly 18” wide and planned to be about 20” long.

After this, I’ve decided that I need to do a whumping of preemie hats for the same outfit and send them along. I’ve got a sudden itchin’ and skritchin’ for little hats. Probably because I need more instant gratification in my life – everything else is insisting on taking it’s sweet time!

We are getting perilously close to having actual plans for the construction-type people to work with at this point. The architect has finally produced plans that are both acceptable in terms of what we need and the amount of cash we’re willing to put into the project. We have scaled it down considerably since we first began discussing it – and by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’, because left to himself the husband would be adding about 2,800 square feet plus a four-story castle turret and a koi pond in the kitchen.

The man does not dream small, people. He also has no fear of God nor man and really truly believes he (with the help of his trusty Shopsmith) is equal to any task.

As of the last volley of emails with the architect, we’re looking at putting in two nice-sized bedrooms (bigger than the existing ones, which will be nice) and a small bathroom, a total of just under 500 square feet. The roof will need to be messed with (dang), but since we’re coming under the magic 500 square foot thing we are spared a whole mess of other fees and permits. Woo hoo!

Aaaaaaaaaaand of course before we can do much of anything we’ve got to get the permits (allow two to six years months) and then onto the contractor’s schedule (“Eh, I dunno, it all depends…”) PLUS ALSO there will undoubtedly be ordering issues (“Gee, those windows have been on backorder for six months now, I dunno if we’re going to get any in before the next millennium…”)

In other words, pretty much everything is out of my hands until further notice. I’m just along for the ride. And also to write checks, because as CFO of the Den, it is my job to do so. And to keep track of expenses and to keep everybody honest about what costs how much and why.

It is going to be an interesting experience. I’ve never done anything like this. I’m expecting that I will be even more of a crazy person than usual the entire time sweaty men are in here driving nails into things and shouting, “Hey George, did they want a window here? No? Oh…oops…”

But I was reconciling myself to it. I was telling myself that all I needed to do was get through one day after another, and eventually the dust would settle and the sweaty men would be gone and we would have the glorious space after which we have been lusting ever since our family went from a sane four to an utterly insane six…

And then it dawned on me that when we are finishing up, that very last part where we put in the carpets…ALL of the furniture from ALL of the rooms (including, duh, ours) is going to have to go Elsewhere for the duration.

It was about this point that I fell on the couch in a swoon clutching a bottle of KettleOne and groaning, “But I just got all that stuff upstairs! I don’t wanna lug it all down again! Especially since I’ll just have to bring it back up a few days later! Can’t they just, you know, carpet around everything?!”

That this particular phase is months away means nothing to me. I’m already exhausted. EXHAUSTED I TELL YOU! The very thought of having to dismantle our king-sized bedframe and lug it anywhere has me near tears.

Thank goodness for my knitting. That, I can control. That gives me progress, real, tangible progress. I am competent at this. When it comes to baby sweaters, people, I really know my @*^&@.

Therefore, I herewith decree that when it comes to furnishings, the moving of same, painting and other ‘handiwork’ kinds of things…I should stick with what I know, and direct traffic from my rocking chair.

Knit two, purl one, knit two, purl one…chair in the corner, shelves against the far wall, gentlemen…knit two, purl one…