Let there be (more) light

Our living room is new and improved! I promised pictures, and here they come.

You may remember what the dining room looks like in our house. It has a nice chandelier which is somewhat new but has an Arts & Crafts style, so it matches our house. Better yet, when it's on, you can see your food while you're eating. (This is key, I'm really into function, if you hadn't noticed.)

From the doorway, you can see the front hall. In this photo, Sally t. Dog is demonstrating the beauty of the hallway for you. Again, it has an entirely functional and -bonus- aesthetically pleasing fixture.

Now, the living room had a different arrangement. First, it featured these neo-Colonial sconces, which were probably installed in the 1940's or 1950's, if not before. (Back when it was cool to re-invent the Colonial style, I'd guess, but I'm not up to date on my interior decorating history) The sconces all had to be turned on at the fixture, and they were placed relatively high up on the walls, so I could only reach 2 of the 4. (The professor, at 6 foot 3", could turn them all on, of course.) On a dark winter afternoon, when all 4 of these things were turned on, you could maybe see your hand in front of your face. Knitting dark colors was totally out of the question, and reading anything with fine print was difficult.

We stationed two stick lamps in the room, and that's what gave most of the light for knitting and reading this winter. It was ok, except one of the stick lamps was $8 when we got it at a big box store, and, well, they lacked class. I felt like these crummy lamps screamed "dorm room!"

(Note, all the photos of the sconces shot here were done in the daylight, when the big windows allow you to see them clearly. The sconces themselves are not turned on!)
About two weeks ago, I saw some advertisements in the paper of fixtures on sale. I saw ones that sort of looked like they would match the dining room and hallway fixtures. Next thing I knew, the professor had purchased 4 and found someone to help with the wiring...so that I could theoretically flick one switch and the lights would come on. All last weekend, they were hard at work. In the end?

Only 2 out of the 4 fixtures are on the same switch...but hey,that's 2 lights that I flick with one switch and bingo! They're on. The other two are still turned on with little switches at the fixture. This is because (surprise!) the joists on this side of the house appear to be reinforced with concrete. It is hard to rewire that kind of thing, (a concrete thing) and no one wanted to explore why that concrete was there, so we stuck with the old system.

If one focuses solely on aesthetics, I think these are an improvement. They also offer a bit more light. Sadly, we still are messing with stick lamps as well, but maybe that's because I insist in knitting occasionally with dark colors in the winter time. Maybe the solution is just to go with all white yarns, all the time?

Nah. I'd just spill on it...let's be practical.
For now, though, I am trying to admire what we've got (living room lights) and appreciate all the hard work that went into this switch!

Note: For those in the Winnipeg area, I'm teaching an Introduction to Spinning Class at the Manitoba Craft Museum and Library on Sunday from 12-3pm. If you're interested, give the Museum a call by end of the day on Wednesday! I hear the class is almost full...and I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of brand new spinners! If you sign up, you'll also come home with a spindle and lots of practice wool too...it's part of the class fees.
To everyone else? Let's hear it for the light!

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!