sale! Making shade...

 To celebrate the launch of Fissure, my new pattern, I decided to have a sale. 

Save 20% off all my Ravelry patterns!

Use the coupon code:

Fissure

The sale ends July 31st at midnight (CT, US & Canada).

While I've been away from the blog, I've been busy.  The Professor travelled to Ottawa for a second conference, the boys had summer camp, and Sadie the dog has needed an endless supply of walks, kongs filled with peanut butter, and other entertainment.

Also, it's been warmer than usual here, and we don't have air conditioning.  We don't feel we need it, but our living room was heating up.  I used an old sheet, some masking tape, and made a big curtain, and voila!  Shade.  However, it wasn't terribly elegant.  I missed seeing the dappled sun through the leaves, but also?  Our bank of windows cooked the room.  So, I spent $20 on curtain rods at Corydon Hardware Store.

I got out a bolt of muslin I bought years ago.  I made curtains. It was easy to hang them.  Old houses mean someone has done this before; we just used the holes they left on the window frames. We think we may take them down at the end of August, when it gets cool around here...but I didn't spend much on the effort, and it sure is cooler in our living room now. (I've purposely made this a small photo so you can't see the mess, right?!)

Don't forget the 20% off pattern sale!  The coupon code is: 

slow progress

Well, that title's a lie there. For those who know me, I'm usually sort of fast on the uptake. Lately, all progress around here has been glacial. I'm getting better, but the weather does persist on being warm (dang it!) so my lungs hurt (asthma) and I am just feeling under the weather. I've been prescribed some nice medicine that makes me feel loopy.

That said, sewing on a sewing machine always feel like such a speed demon (compared to spinning, knitting, weaving, or sewing by hand) that I decided to get mine out. I mean, I felt too loopy to drive, so why not operate a sewing machine? (logic was lost for a little while there, but don't worry, I haven't hurt myself or others.) I put the spinning wheels on the window seat out of the way and set to sewing...about 6 seams, maybe.

For a long time, I haven't wanted to look out my kitchen windows. (I took this scenic view from the third floor, but I pushed aside a curtain first!) That would be because I have an awful view of the back door and parking lot of this place. The back door is where all the super skinny ladies sneak out after their face is all red and scary looking from the "beauty treatments." I could say a lot about why I don't think we need to have this place in the neighborhood, but I'll skip it for now...and talk about curtains.

I've had several ideas about the kitchen curtains, which even included weaving fabric for curtains. That plan went very well until I went to finish the handwoven fabric. It unexpectedly felted together and shrunk. Uh OH. That fabric will now become textured pillows as soon as I cut it up and sew them with my sewing machine. (scissors+loopy meds+ handwoven fabric? Uh oh. I'm waiting on that, too.)

A few months ago, I happened upon the perfect colored gingham fabric at Artsjunktion. Have I mentioned how I love that place? It wasn't a large piece of fabric, but fine for making cafe curtains for two windows...not enough for enormous gathers, but good enough and it was free. What held me up? Getting out the sewing machine and finding the right size tension rods. I went to several stores this summer looking for tension rods. (curtain rods/pressure rods--I thought of every name I could think of) I could not find the smaller sizes of tension rods. I couldn't use the magnetic rods, because my old window casements are made of --wood. It was frustrating. So, since I was at home and not driving anyhow, I made the curtains and thought: If I sew it, they (the curtain rods) will come. (Like building a baseball diamond, only different, right?!)

My kind professor sat next to me on the sofa and surfed the web with me until he found the right sized tension rods. (At Home Depot, of course. Why didn't I look there?) So, after my curtains were all made and washed, he went by the hardware store on his way to work and brought home the final ingredient to making kitchen curtains.

You'll note that you can still see the sky and trees above the curtains. Good. You can also see the ground and grass below the curtains. (Good for monitoring dogs at play.) Also, when you look at the photos, it sort of looks like I've always had these totally bland looking matching curtains there. (Perfect.) So, I feel satisfied with this project. I won't even tell you how stupid and loopy I felt while discovering I had the casing on one side and the hemming on the other at first..but I fixed that. They look ok now, and that's all that matters.

My sock KAL over on Ravelry is winding down, I think. My Mary Jane socks from Fiber Gathering are nearly done. I've decided to extend the ribbing as far as I can to use up every last bit of this lovely hand-dyed yarn. I'm sure I'll being doing the picot edging with the tail end of things, but my ankles will be warmer, come winter.

That is the knitting/sewing/fiber art-y news around here. Please--feel free to admire my (incredibly basic) kitchen curtains. :)
Every time I go downstairs for a cup of tea, I am still smiling in a somewhat loopy way at them. Maybe it's the antihistamine that's making me do that?!

how the curtains go

Well, now everyone can feel free to look up without embarrassment as they walk along Stafford St. (whew!) We have curtains that really cover up the bathroom windows. (a big relief!) We went to Fabricland together, they had a big sale on. The professor's mother sewed a lot and he is well versed in both fabric stores and purchases, so I needed him along. We got 2 meters each of these decorating fabrics for $33 CDN, which seemed like a good deal when compared to finding pre-made curtains to fit these old windows. (If this was a terrible deal, I'm not sure I want to know right now!)

The bathroom windows needed a sheer that would match the rest of the room and allow in light. We found this light sage green embroidered fabric that I loved. I used the old hooks that were already mounted in the wall...and each curtain only took about 4 or 5 sewing machine seams, very fast to make once I figured out which boxes to open for sewing supplies and did all the math and measurements. I used very skinny dowels as curtain rods as the hooks were old and narrowed with age and paint.

I love how the knitted curtains look underneath the sheers--it looks a lot like the windows are wearing expensive, knitted lingerie!

The hall curtains were a bit more challenging. These hang on a small landing in between the first and second story of the house. Unfortunately, if our bedroom door is open (which it usually is), you can see Stafford St. from bed! The street, which is busy, includes a stop light that shifts green, amber,* red and some bright backlit business signs. Obviously, curtains were in order.

*Note my use of "amber" here. Some Canadians call a yellow light an "amber". That would be all new vocabulary for me!

We chose a beige eyelet for this staircase. Remarkably, the hardware store around the corner had a new version of the same hooks that were in the bathroom. I'd never seen this kind of curtain hardware before, but it looks great here, as I think long ago, these very same hooks were used. (we were able to put the hardware right into at least one pre-established hole.)

These do limit the daylight on the staircase but even with the curtains sewn double thickness, the traffic lights still shine through a little at night. It's a compromise, but I think it's an ok one. The curtains, in both cases, look clean and new but like they were always here, and that's a great thing in an old house, in my opinion!

We really like the old Craftsman woodwork on the windows in this house, so we'd like to avoid curtains in the public rooms. However, if it's drafty in winter, we will, of course, revise that decision...

In other news, I met a lot of really fabulous and friendly knitters at the annual Assiniboine Park Knit Out yesterday. It was pouring rain and about 64F. Chilly, but inside a roofed pavilion with a raincoat, I enjoyed myself! (no photos, I forgot the camera and it was raining hard!)

There was a yarn swap and I came home with some delightful goodies, but I will bring that up in another post...the short version? Everyone was so welcoming!

Many commenters thought I sounded very happy. I am, I'm really enjoying it here, but coping with all the details of this shift to another country is frequently overwhelming. It feels a bit like the TV and the radio are on (in my head) while I'm trying to cope with the daily details. Everything's just a bit (or a lot) different. It's exhausting.

Luckily--a vacation is coming up! The professor is going to a conference in Crete. (yes, that's in Greece!) I am going along for the ride. If you're read my blog for a while, you may remember we went last in August/September 2006. We're really looking forward to this repeat trip. I plan to eat, sleep, knit, read, and enjoy the scenery, not necessarily in that order. I'll likely get in one more post before our next travelling adventure begins.

So, what do you think about those curtains?! Comments? (it's not knitting or spinning but it's close!)

the curtain

Warning: Gratuitous pictures of completely mindless knitting ahead! Want complicated stitchwork? Come back another time...
Old houses have lots of quirks. Ours lacks a first floor powder room. (washroom/half bath, etc. choose your own vocabularly here..) As a result, the second story bath that we use daily needs to be clean and well maintained.

This bath has a fabulous old mosaic tile floor. At the very least, I need to clean the heck out of it. At best, it's time for some restoration. Some of the corner tiles are loose or missing. I'm not a mosaics crafter but I may become a mosaics repair specialist sometime soon.

The room also has two windows which overlook a busy street. They clearly needed a curtain so we could, ahem, do private bathroom things. For the first few days, I hung a Kenyan batik cloth on the windows. (I use it as a picnic blanket and it was in the car for the trip. Lucky.) However, when I did that the room became so dark as to be claustrophobic. Time to consider plan B.

Plan B: I had a lot of sock yarn with me, and a set of circulars. Using Green Mountain Spinnery's fabulous Spinnery Sock Art yarn--which happened to match that mosaic tile, I cast on 40 sts. (Actually, I can't remember what I cast on, but that sounds close.) I knit in garter stitch, checking my progress at the window as I went.

Our theory with old houses is that if they have hooks that look usable, it makes sense to use them. No point in removing old curtain hooks and risking paint flakes, holes in the plaster, etc. to put in new ones. In this case, there were hardware hooks I've never seen before that look like they perhaps held a very skinny curtain rod once at both the top and bottom of the window..perhaps for taut muslin or gauze curtains.

After I finished the first curtain (garter stitch on size #13 needles is speedy like a race) it seemed only logical that I rush on towards the second. After all, without furniture, there wasn't a lot else to do other than walk the dogs...

So, what do these accomplish? 1) They let in light. 2) They obscure things slightly, so that people on the street might not see completely nekkidness if they look up. (nekkidness=nudity if you're northerners. :)

These curtains do not insulate the window, and they probably are not the most modest option I could have chosen. They don't show off any kind of complex knitting talent, which is ok with me. I debated lace, but concluded that lace on big needles equals bigger holes, and, well, I didn't want the neighborhood to see that much!

I figure, come winter, I'll rethink my options if there's a draft or we need something more substantial. In the meanwhile...

The curtains seemed like an interesting metaphor. Lots of things in Winnipeg seem to be about "letting in the light." First, in a concrete way, because it doesn't get dark here until very late at night in the summer time...think 9:30 or 10. There are nights that I've fallen asleep before it gets dark. It gets light early too, which makes for wonderful dog walks between 6-7 AM. By 7:15 AM, forget it, our new neighborhood becomes like dog Grand Central Station. Not an enjoyably quiet meander anymore...

In a more figurative way, I've been so impressed by the efforts Winnipeggers make to appreciate and make the most of the diversity of their human and natural environment. Everyone seems to make an effort to go to the summer festivals and to spend time outside in cafes, exercising, and in parks...even when this summer is unseasonably cool. There's a citywide effort to support fundraising for a new national museum called the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. There's fundraising afoot to open an educational butterfly conservatory at Assinibone Park. Not only that, but they were thrilled to meet with the professor right away about enlisting his butterfly expertise for the effort. (in town 2 weeks and suddenly he's needed!)

The metaphor of the window as a way to see out into the world and the curtain (does it enhance or cover up the view?) has really struck me as a way people here see their city. When we explain why we're here...the professor to do research, and me, the writer...many people seem curious and excited about what we'll lend to the cultural/intellectual landscape--either that, or they fake it very well!

Most of the necessities of life are now unpacked. My office is still in boxes and there are definitely a lot of projects ahead. The backyard fence is being built today. I hear there's a "pick your own" raspberry place that's got me excited about a visit. Things around us are at once stimulating, intriguing and --in the home department--hopefully going to settle down soon.

I haven't been knitting since finishing the (totally mindless) curtains. While I don't need to sit down to knit, I do need both hands free, and that's hard to do while unpacking!