WiP Wednesday - Must Have Wrap

I know, I know...another new project, but when I saw this pattern come through the CEY newsletter, I had to make it.  I think it will be a Christmas present for someone, but we'll see what happens.

It's called Must Have Wrap, and I think it's a fairly accurate name.

I went stash diving and came up with my ColourMart Silk/Linen 12/60NM Fingering Weight yarn.  I have about 1600 yards of yarn and this pattern calls for about 1200 yards.

I've cast on using my brand-spanking new Darn Pretty needles...let me count the ways over these things.  If you don't own some of these, go buy some...and do it fast because there is quite a LOOOONG wait for them.  I'll write about them next week and how much I want to scatter them on the ground and roll around with them.

Now let me admit how lazy I am.  I cast on for this twice.  Both times, I'm pretty sure I counted right, but since it's not a big deal, I didn't really bother to go back and count.  Both times, I wound up with the stitch count not working on the wrong side rows.  So, I just fudged it and have moved on.  Oddly, it works perfectly on the right side, but not on the wrong side.  So, because I'm such a slug, and don't want to figure out how many stitches I have, this will remain a mystery.  Had to get that off my chest...because if it is a pattern error, then at least you've been warned.

Moving on.....Ravelry Project Page

Mixed Bag

Quick rundown of the fall, so far.

In September, I went to my SIL's bridal shower...very nice, good food and some cool presents.

Mr. LIH and I went to see Phantom of the Opera in NYC (holy crap it was so awesome, I can't even describe it).

It was a beautiful day in the city.

And then of course, there is this little guy...

Sickness Abounds

Sorry for the dead zone here, my son is sick and my dad is recovering from surgery so I've been quite preoccupied.

PCH - Basement Redo

I'm not even sure where to begin in describing the scope and reasons behind this whole business.

We moved into our house and unpacked, settled in.  Then we started noticing an odor...a stinky one, coming from the basement.  It was an amalgamation of many different odoriferous sources.  Cat urine (my personal favorite), dust, and must.  Our basement had thick, luxurious nap carpet.  It was so soft and fluffy, but unfortunately when your basement is really damp and you have some kitties who are mad at you for moving them, you have a recipe for stinkification.

So Mr. LIH packed up all my our stuff and moved it into the smaller unfinished part of the basement and proceeded to rip up carpet.  Our plan was to do half of the room and lay down some vinyl.  Well, as we pulled up the carpet, the kitties moved their pee place further and further to accommodate the lack of the cushy, urination location.  UGH!  So he put the vinyl all over the room.  Well....now we decided we might as well paint and pretty it up, but not until after we get the new basement windows installed.  Oh, yes...this was part of the plan too.

Finally, last week the windows were installed and we could paint.  But I had another wrench to throw in.  What about board and batten????  I loved it, and it would add so much character to a boring, rather dark basement.  I scoured the web and found all these wonderful sites, this one, this one, and this one, also that one.  Let's not forget this one.  I think that ours will be a mixture of most of these.

Now we have begun. (I apologize in advance for the photos, but the lighting down there is dreadful)

Here's my basement.....see the carpet?  So nice and fluffy....and full of kitty excretions.

Here are the walls after painting the top (already primed).

Here they are after putting up the chair rail and battens (you can see where we "staged" some of the battens).
You can also see that the carpet is gone, replaced with vinyl flooring.

The color on top is Benjamin Moore Hazlewood in Satin Finish and we used Benjamin Moore Gloss White on the bottom.




Ok, that's all for now, but I will be back with some finished pictures and a final tally.

Photo Friday

(flowers)

WiP Wednesday - Olive Basket Cardi

Chugging along on this again, and happy to be back.  Knitting has been competing with FB gaming, reading and sleeping, lately.

Here she is, in an all her dusty teal glory....minus sleeves, those are in the making as I write this...

Also, I'm totally sorry for this terrible photo.  I looked all over the place trying to find a spot with good lighting where I could get a shot of the body of this thing...aka needed a hanger.  I need to get myself a make-shift dummy to at least drape my projects on for fit and photos.

Ravelry Project Page
Pattern Page

Thursday Weigh-In

Okay, I'm wondering if this will start to get boring as I am holding pretty steady at my current weight.

I might discontinue this particular segment (which leaves me with nothing...ahem) and possibly start up my blog again, back to the schedule I was on.

I have a new idea to add in, but that will probably not happen before November.

I think that next week I will start back to normal.  I've been knitting again and getting back into the swing of things, so I have stuff to talk about, which is what the blog is all about anyway.

WW Stats:

CW : 129.4 lbs

GW : 128 lbs

SW : 148.2 lbs

WL : +0.2 lbs

Thursday Weigh-In

Sorry for missing last week, but I wasn't feeling very well and the last thing on my mind was writing a post about my weight loss, but I'm back today and feeling normal, so here we go.

WW Stats:

CW: 129.2 lbs

GW:: 128 lbs

SW : 148.2 lbs

WL : 0 lbs

Notes:  So, I have been pretty steady over the past two weeks, my weight getting as low as 127 and as high as 130 lbs.  It seems that the WW points that I've settled at are working pretty well for me.  It's still a fairly strict diet, but now that I'm over 20 years old, staying skinny doesn't come "naturally" anymore and requires a bit of work.
I still walk everyday, at least for an hour or so, and I think that that is a major part of the "program".  Diet is nothing without a little physical activity.