Return of the Knitting Mojo

I've been reading the postings in my knitting chat room and have been surprised to see how many experienced knitters had lost their mojo this winter. Mine has been missing for so long I wasn't sure I'd recognize it when and if it ever came back. Well, I'm happy to report that it has returned! After practically forcing myself to finish a multi-sweater set, I started to 'wing' a girl's size 6 shrug in white Bernat Softee Baby on a US 8 circular needle using my basic rag

lan-from-the-neck-down cardigan pattern. Finished it in 3 evenings having spent only one ripping it out. It's a v-neck with short sleeves, no buttons with a twisted rib band around the whole thing. I was so pleased with the results I started another. This time a size 4 in

yellow. Should finish it tomorrow. I don't know if my mojo returned because I didn't feel alone or just because the shop opens April 5th and I have made basically nothing this winter. I may be able to crank another one off the needles by then. That should momentarily fill the holes in my display.

Thursday after work Jeff and I went shopping for a new chair for Mom. I was thinking of a recliner and he was pushing for a power-lift. We found a couple we liked and went home to talk it over with her. She wasn't exactly against the idea but there wasn't much enthusiasm showing on her part. Yesterday after work we loaded her into the car and went to the furniture store. She complained all the way, most of the time we were in the store, all the way home and most

of the evening. We bought the power-lift recliner with zero-gravity design...suppose to be less painful for someone with Mom's arthritis . It has a 5 year warranty on the lift motor and wasn't too expensive...about $1000 and we'll get about a $150 rebate on the motor. She argued it was too expensive but I said we were using some of the money from the camp sale that I had earmarked 'Mad Money'. She thought I should be able to come up with something better to blow $1000 on besides a chair. (Well, I could spend that much on yarn if I really tried but where would I put it? At least the chair has a spot in the living room.) It was delivered this afternoon after she had worked herself up into a nervous state. Jeff told me to go knit and he spent a couple of hours going over how the chair worked and coaching her to use it. Every objection she had he would explain away except the color of it...mocha. Mom said it was too dark and she couldn't see it. (It hadn't changed colors on the trip to our house, it was that color in the store but it wasn't objectionable then.) Jeff suggest a slipcover and I suggested a beach towel. Now the chair has a bright yellow and blue floral beach towel covering the back and the seat making it very visible to Mom. She hasn't totally accepted it, and while she begrudgingly admits it's easier getting out of than the old chair, she won't admit that it's comfortable. Tomorrow morning should be interesting....

Jeff checked the garden today and said so far about a dozen garlic greens have come above the 6" of leaves he covered them with last fall. Hope the rest show up soon! He also announced that the new vents in the compost bin seem to be working. The pile has gone down about 6" since he put them in. We knew it was working by the heat escaping thru the 'periscope' but compressing 6" in a week is pretty good. The peas and beans are big enough to transplant and they'll be in by the end of the week with a plastic hooped greenhouse system over them.

Oh, and the sale of camp is final. Jeff and I met with the new owners today. I thought I'd be sad but we had many good years up there and it's just time to move on. I wished Frank & Carol as much enjoyment as we had and he promised to send photos of the renovations he does.

The next major change in my life will be retirement at the end of June. Can't wait! Maybe I'll be able to keep the house clean, finish all my OTN's, keep my stock up, the yard mowed and my pile to to-be-read books down. It should be fun trying!

Needles Are A Clickin'!

I'm finally getting back in the mood to knit...did some toddler hats with a train on one and sheep on another. Sunday night I decided to try a girl's shrug but of course couldn't find the pattern I wanted...so I decided to wing it! With white Baby Bernat on size US 8 needles, I cast on for a v-neck raglan from the neck down (CO 8 work in ribbing for 5", drop yarn w/o binding off. Attach another ball of yarn and go back and pick-up 8 sts from cast on edge and work in ribbing for 5". Then rib 5, pick up 55 sts along one long side and rib the last 5 sts. I cut one yarn then and work the end in. That way I can decide which side of the ribbing is the 'right' side. Purl across wrong side adding markers: rib 8, marker,p2, marker, p12, marker, p27, marker, p12, marker, p2, marker, rib 8.) And just worked the yoke as normal increasing as if it were a cardigan. When I finished I just worked a 1 1/2"rib on the sleeves and...well, that's where I am now. I'll post a photo tonight. It's a size 6 and would be perfect with a First Communion or even an Easter dress. I found the pattern I was looking for on my worktable this morning so I do know how long to make the body. I think this may call for a trip to JoAnn's for yarn. I still haven't spend my allotment from the camp sale.

Hydroponics

Jeff's been reading about hydroponics this winter and decided to try it so he built a plant stand out of an old tv table and some 1x2's. He added a shop lite fitted with a grow light and ...he was on his way! There are peppers and 1 large tomato planted in a plastic storage bin that he had outfitted with wicky pots filled with compressed clay pellets, and a watering system. The concentrated liquid nutrients cost more than everything else put together but he's getting results! The growlight has had to be raised about 6 times...sometimes twice in 1 day. Now we're waiting for the plants to flower and produce veggies.

Cooperstown

The shop in Cooperstown is scheduled to reopen in 12 days...April 5th... so yesterday was a clean-up session there. The 5 other members who volunteered their Saturday morning did a great job inside and out and there are just a few tasks left to be done (outside painting and cleaning the bathroom to name two). We lost a couple of members who will be missed but gained 1 so the work force should stay the same. I've been having a hard time this winter finding the motivation to knit but after seeing the shop look all clean and freshly painted I actually did some knitting last night ...and this morning. Hope my ambition stays so I can finish most of my OTN projects by opening day .

Venting the Compost Bins

I never realized how much heat a compost bin generates until Friday when Jeff vented them. Each bin now has 1 of these these sticking out of it-like a periscope. He drove a 2' length of pvc pipe into the ground and slipped a larger piece of pipe over it after drilling holes in the larger pipe and adding 2 rubber vent caps to create air pockets. The T- joint on top is to keep rain out. Jeff then moved the existing compost from one bin to the other. He's planning to move the compost from one bin to the other. ..called turning it...each week.
and, boy, this vent really works! If you stick your fingers in the T you can feel the heat rising! Jeff's hoping this will make the compost decompose faster so he can use more of it. I never realized how much work there was to gardening.

SEEDLINGS

Jeff's been busy starting seeds under the grow lights but he's running out of room, so a tray load...48 peat pots... have been transferred to my tv room where they have found a home in front of the big south facing window. A few small problems with this: they have to be watered daily, and turned daily...some times 2x a day, and I had to move a lot of yarn to make room for them. Oh, yea, and they're growing so fast I'm sure they'll hit the curtain rod before he's ready to put them in the ground! The garden is tilled and we're ready to put down black plastic and clear plastic hoops but overnight temperatures are suppose to get very low for a few nights so we're waiting until it gets above freezing again. These are some of the peas and bush beans he's started.

We Have Water!

We have water again in the kitchen sink! Jeff connected the reverse-osmosis filter and the water lines last night and we were in business! (No leaks under the sink but one from the base of the facet.) The water is a little discolored...from turning the water on and off so many times...but that is clearing up and I can't smell sulfur at all...but then I usually don't. When Jeff goes up today we'll let his nose be the judge! Under the sink is a maze of narrow tubing...red, yellow, green, blue & black...for the filter system, a small holding tank and the 3-filter system. Not much room let for soap and paper towels, guess I'll have to find a new home for them. This morning before I came to work I washed the kitchen window & curtain, the open shelves on both sides of the window and all the knic-knacs....sawdust everywhere!! That's the 3rd time I've cleaned up sawdust on that side of the kitchen. It seems to settle on everything over night!! The counter patch will be my job. I'll do before and after photos to post here. Wish me luck!!

Today Jeff's taking about tilling the garden. At least getting the winter leaf cover tilled in. He wants to get bone meal, blood meal and organic gypsum to till in with the compost to supplement it. We're planning on changing the style of the garden. Keeping it in 'farm' rows with 'square foot' boxes in each corner and 2 barrels along each side will more than double our production. We're planning on putting in some strawberries and I've got a blackberry waiting in the living room for a new home. Jeff's got 4 seed trays (72 cells each) started with tomatoes and peppers under grow lights in his apartment. And his attempt at hydroponics has produced pepper plants and a huge tomato plant that is developing flowers already!

A Half-inch Is Not Always A Half-inch

This weekend we put in a reverse-osmosis water treatment system. Our well, while deep (210'),has black sulfur water in it. Nothing we've tried in the past has worked very well. Jeff's been reading about reverse-osmosis on-line and he thought it would work and the price of the basic system's been going down so it seemed like the right time to use some of the camp sale money before I get to spend it on yarn! (I've had to use some for the windshield on the car & some to pay some bills, so it was The Time!) Before we went to Lowe's, Jeff went down cellar to check on the size of the pipes he would be cutting (the size of PVC pipe is printed on the length every couple of inches...helpful, huh?) and off we went. We got the reverse-osmosis system and another charcoal filter system to pre-filter the water, extra filters, a length of PVC pipe and the fittings to put things together and headed home to get busy. After a cup of coffee to fortify himself, Jeff went downstairs to install the pre-filter. Soon there was an argument going on down there...and Jeff wasn't happy. Seems that the 1/2" white PVC pipe that would fit into the filter is larger (???) than 1/2" cream PVC pipe that's in my cellar and the fittings he bought wouldn't work. So back to Lowe's...and this time with some help from a clerk who knew what Jeff was talking about...got the right stuff. The pre-filter was installed quickly...none of the joints leaked...and seems to be removing some of the black sulfur. While checking the water for discolor and smell, we noticed that some of the small cracks in the fiberglass sink had jointed to make 'arrowhead points' that were lifting and sticking up, so Sunday we went back to Lowe's and bought a new sink. This time we got the right fittings and Jeff was ready to put the system together. Until he realized that he had to recut the opening for the sink. That took most of the afternoon because he was forced to take thin slices off the counter top on 2 sides coz there wasn't enough room to take more. (The saw kicked back once missing Jeff but gouging the counter top so I'm going to try one of the Formica patch kits. If that doesn't work, maybe that new Rust-o-lum resurface kit.) There was/is sawdust everywhere! The sink...stainless steel, 2 bowls-1 bigger than the other...looks good and the 'clean' filtered water will have it's own facet. Unfortunately, we ran out of time last night so I was washing supper dishes in the bathroom. Today's project is to connect the sink and the reverse-osmosis system. Wish us luck!

Would A Horse Be Better?

Friday evening we stopped at Lowe's so Jeff could get some PVC pipe and elbows and T's to build a grow-light base to start seeds indoors. He had found plans online and thought it would work nicely in a smaller window in his apartment. If it worked, maybe he could build one for me, too. He pushed the pipe into the car thru the back hatch. A nudge pushed it on to the dashboard and against the windshield. We got in the car, shut the doors and turned on the defroster to unfog the window and...the windshield cracked. Neither of us could believe it! Because the car was 8 years old when I bought it I didn't put comprehensive on it when I insured it. OK. That meant, I had to pay for a new windshield. I asked/called around and ended up with an 8am appointment Tuesday at Rockford Glass in Utica...and a lecture from Jeff about not leaving Rockford's to wander around Utica on foot (as if I would?? at 8am??) until I suggested he take the car up there. Which he did and he did wander around Utica at 8am on foot! Took himself out to breakfast, checked out a hotdog stand next to the Aud and got himself a free cup of coffee there because the coffee wasn't ready when he asked for it! Walked over to a barber shop in a prominently black neighborhood and as the only 'white boy' in the place waited to get a haircut. Boy, did that make heads turn as people walked by! Don't think the barber had much experience cutting a white man's hair but he didn't do a bad job. And it only cost $14! My windshield ended up costing $211.75...not bad either. (We watched a horizontal crack develop across the windshield all weekend. It spontaneously started in front of the driver and moved towards the spider crack in front of the passenger...but never connected with it. Left a 3" space between the ends of the crack. Weird!) Add that to the new cradle that had to be installed so the car could pass inspection in February ($903) and I think that's all I want to invest in this car. Oh, I did add comprehensive ins! Maybe horse would be better...at least we'd have the manure to use in the garden!!

The grow-light stand works great and he's got peppers and tomato seeds planted under it. I'll have to rearrange the den furniture to put one he's building for me in front of a window. The elbows and T's cost as much as the pipe!!