FILET OF DRAGON AND BASEMENT SPACE
Not much inspiration yet on the basement spare room. Aside from a general cleaning that can’t happen until the electricians are done with the wires in the ceiling, and the ceiling tiles can go back up, all progress on that project is mental. A chair, a place to put the sewing machine up, and more storage are all great ideas. It’s a bit damp in the basement, so I’m leaning to well-ventilated storage options. I noticed Target has some open wire mesh cubes on special this week.
On Filet of Dragon, here’s the latest progress shot:
Going back and working in the other direction from my cast-on row has created a bit of a fold. You can see it at the left hand edge of the tree behind the knight. It won’t be so evident when the piece is blocked out and stretched on the curtain rods. Other than that – I’m quite pleased with the way my experiment in filet is turning out. Thread consumption to date is in between 1.3 and 1.5 balls of the Coats & Clark Royale 30-weight. At around $3.00 per ball and $1.25 for the crochet hook, this is also turning out to be one of the least expensive projects I’ve done.
On the frame – I’ve got to do a bit of measuring. I think I’m still a bit shy left and right, then I need something to set off the central design and that allows me about a half inch top and bottom for curtain rod space, followed by another half-inch to make sure the curtain rods don’t pull out. Options include some simple geometrics, some text either all the way around, or at the left and right edges (I’d work a sig and date into the text), or another still narrower scrolling pattern that spreads out into a wider one at the sides. More think time is needed…
WORKSPACE
Another quiet day here at String Central. Yesterday we had no power in the house because the electricans were installing the new whole-house panel. Today power is up and down, as they do punchlist things around the place.
Progress proceeds on Filet of Dragon. I’ve started the left hand edge panel, but have not yet decided on the whole-piece frame. There’s not enough yet to make an interesting picture, so I’ll spare you.
Instead I post this:
This is the spare room in the basement. It’s a former summer kitchen/laundry room. There’s a plastic?tub sink just to the left of the work table. There’s also a recycled kitchen countertop?with a?shallow dish sink, the corner of which you can see just peeking out on the right. The three white storage cabinets are Home Depot $19.99 specials that (miracle of miracles) managed to survive our move. The table is a legacy from the former occupants. There are two gas lines – one on each wall. Plus some dismal dropped ceiling panels (stacked on the table but shortly to go back up), grungy linoleum flooring, and ancient beadboard paneling, painted sloppy white to cover pea green some time during the Eisenhower administration.
This utopia, this palace, this vast expanse will be my sewing/knitting studio and the family’s laundry room. Eventually. Once we’re done re-wiring, I’ll be able to clean it out. Then I get to relocate my stash of six Rubbermaid storage tubs. Some time when we can afford it we’ll be redoing the room completely, moving the washer/dryer back downstairs from the kitchen (I hate listening to?them upstairs). ETA on the greater rehab plan:? plus or minus 6-8 years from now.Until then, we have to make do with what we’ve got.
I know there are all sorts of great re-do suggestions on HGTV. Ellyn’s studio transformation was incredibly nifty, but way beyond my price range. Plus it seems so wasteful when we’re planning on gutting the entire basement in the future. So my question is – given the space at hand; the three cabinets and the table, plus six Rubbermaid containers; and a budget of as close to $0.00 as possible – ?does anyone have suggestions for making this a useful, creative space?
BEE VEWY, VEWY QUIET…
Some of you asked about my de-beeing. Here’s a photo summary of what happened.
The problem – an active honeybee hive of unknown age, in the walls and floor of a stucco-finish sleeping porch:
The solution – Jeff from Bee Busters – a company in Acton, MA. Jeff is seen here about to cut a one-foot square hole in the porch floor to get to the hive’s probable location:
It turns out we were lucky in most respects. The hive was relatively new (in a 95-year old house anything is possible). It was mostly in the wall as opposed to being in the floor. While that was unlucky in that it required knocking an additional three foot square hole in the stucco, the hive was easy to remove. Here’s one large piece. The queen is under the scrum of bees at the bottom corner:
The overwhelming majority of the bees were captured, including the queen. Some of the stragglers?were caught using a bee-vac, a juryrigged crate fitted out with a dust-buster engine and a three-inch wide flexible hose. The hummers are now?off to quarrantine to make sure they harbor no parastites, then after that – to work as productive little droners working away in local orchards and fields.
I’m delighted that no giant comb system existed. If it had, we’d have to go through a ton more demolition and restoration to get at the hive. The down side of it being a young colony is that I didn’t end up with honey. Honeycombs are two-sided. If a comb has honey stored on both sides it can be harvested for extraction. These combs had bee larvae on one side and honey on the other, typical for newer hives but not suitable for people-use.
The gaping holes in my porch now sit open for several days to dry out. A few foragers out shopping when the hive was removed remain, but Bee Jeff assures me that they’ll load up with pollen and follow another bee home to a new hive. He said that if they arrive "with groceries" they’ll be accpeted by their new foster family.
All in all the experience was interesting, highly educational, but expensive. Now of course we have to repair those gaping holes…
WORKING REPORT – SUEDE T
O.K. Enough blather. Back to actual knitting…
Progress continues to be made on my Berroco Suede Shapely T. I’m now up to the armhole decreases on the back (this shot shows the front folded in half, and the back still on the needles. The entire front is here):
It’s been slow going however – and not because of the pattern (which is great), or the yarn (which is annoying but I’ve gotten used to it.) I’m afraid life has intruded into my knitting time. We’ve made an offer on a new house, and I’m now in the middle of a cleaning and de-cluttering frenzy, getting ready to put our current place up for sale. Here’s a snap of the new place:
Knitting relevance? This 1912 bungalow has a striking well-preserved Craftsman-style interior and a large dining room. While I don’t have a dining room table yet, I will finally have somewhere to display my now estivating Kinzel Tudor Rose tablecloth. So I better retrieve it from the Chest of Knitting HorrorsTM and finally finish it off. Plus, although you can’t see thehouse’s interior,I think there’s scope here for some knitted lace curtains as well.
So laugh if you will, I’m off to pack up my closet-dwelling stash, and The Chest of Knitting HorrorsTM
String-Or-Nothing 