Cluttered or Decorated? You be the judge...

Here is a sneak peak at my most recent project for the house.  It felt like such a waste to have all those beautiful wedding pictures tucked away, unprinted and unseen on our computer.  So, here is my solution:

It looks crazy right?  It's just the beginning though.  We are making a frame collage, but, before we break out the hammer and nails, I've traced the frames onto newspaper adds and hung them on the wall with painters tape.  This way, I can hang them, think about it for a day or two, re-arrange them, look at it for a day, re-re-arrange, rinse, wash, repeat.  Actually, its a great idea, and I wish I could brag that I had come up with it myself!  I stole the idea from a DIY blog I've been reading lately.  But, basically, it keeps Ryan happy as we aren't putting a million holes in the wall, and it keep me happy, because I can change my mind a million times before I settle on the perfect setup.

Here are a few more pictures to give you an idea of what we've got going on over here.



Step 1:  Buy/collect/round up a ton of frames.  I hate inconsistency, so we are going with all black frames.
Step 2:  Trace the frames on newspaper or sale adds




Step 3:  Start hanging and re-arranging




Ryan being artsy with is picture taking.  He literally laid down on the ground, pushed Staley's face out of the camera and snapped this one before she tried to sniff him again. 

 Here is what we currently have on the wall.  It's not done yet.  I've inevitably got to change it like 13 more times, and we still need some more frames for the top right hand section.  Then, I need to find a few filler pieces (things that aren't frames but hang on the wall and look good with the overall feel of the collage.



Actually, looking at this picture, it's already outdated.  I've already changed a few things around.  Guess you'll just have to come back to see the finished project!

 My plan is that this will be a living piece of art.  That we will swap out pictures, that we will add and change the art, and that it isn't made up totally of pictures.  I've got a few ideas up my sleeve of special things I want to incorporate, but I'm going to hold off on sharing until I've got it all complete.  This will be an ever changing, ever evolving statement of our lives and I can't wait to share it with you all when you come to visit!!

Frogging....and no, I'm NOT talking about Kermit

That TOTALLY looks like a sweater, doesn't it?  Click here.  This totally looks like the Daily Sweater doesn't it?

Ok, I agree, there isn't much sweater here.  But, how does this look?

It's defiantly not quite finished in this picture either, but it sure does look like a sweater right?  Like a giant sweater?  Like a sweater that's WAY too big for me!  And so, I will explain Frogging for you all today.   
I started this sweater back on Jan 1st.  My goal was one sweater buy March 1st.  It was my first 3-D project and I was determined to do it well.  The way you knit this is you start from the neck and knit your way around and around until you hit right under the armpits.  Then, you hold the stitches for the the arms on little holder things, and you knit around and around a million billion time until you hit the bottom hem line.  Then, you bind off and go back to do the arms.  One first, then the second and WAAAALAAA...you've got a sweater.  HAHAHAHAHA!!!  That is, unless its a million billion times too big for you. 

To give you a little perspective on just how big this sweater turned out to be, here are a few pictures for you.



Here is a picture of my Daily Sweater laying under a normal sized sweater for me. 




Just to give you some more perspective on the size of the body. 



Don't mind the weird pose.  Ryan wasn't home to help take pics, so I had to take this myself :O)  It's huge, really really huge. 


I was frustrated, and a little mad, so I put this project down and started on those beautiful Fiddlehead Mittens I blogged about here.  But, it's time to get back on the Daily Sweater saddle.  So, here you go, the process of Frogging (which, is just a nice term for calling it a day and starting all over!).

So...the process of Frogging.  I guess you've got to learn somehow right?

So, it's not hard really.  It's not rocket science.  You find an end of the string and start pulling.  Pull and pull and pull.  Wind and wind and wind and eventually you will be back to start. 

A close-up.  Look how nice the yarn is.  You can see the little loop holes towards the middle.  That part is usually being held by your needles.  Unless, of course, you are frogging. 

So, as you pull, you need a chair, or a husband I suppose to hold the yarn.  Then, once you've pulled a whole skein from the sweater and wrapped it around the chair, you go back and start rolling it into balls.  It took me 3 nights to get the full sweater pulled apart, but, now that part is done, and its time to "try, try again". 
Things I plan to do differently:
1.  Follow the pattern for 1 size smaller.  I knit this one using the size small, but I'm moving down a size to try and get a better fit.
2.  Use smaller needles.  The pattern calls for size 7 needles, but that obviously didn't work out well for me.  Part of my problem the first round was the size (S) and the other issue was my gauge.  I thought I checked it, but I must have been wrong.  So, down a needles size, and a pattern size, fingers crossed!! 

Stay tuned for more pics about how this whole sweater goes.  I'm determined to make it right, and make it something that I will want to wear.  Here goes nothing!!

P.S.  Did you know that some knitters will go to thrift stores and garage sales looking for clothes made out of yarn they want to recycle into something else?  It's a cheap way to get into knitting, and it's fun to think of all the places that yarn has been.  This yarn here isn't recycled.  In fact, it's from a cute little knitting store near my grandpa's cabin in Northern Wisconsin.  But, maybe my next project will be recycled!!

I'm off to cast on the sweater for the second time.  Wish me luck!

A new basement for the lake

Last weekend while Brenna and I were away having fun in Florida on Ladies Weekend, our hubbies, and parents-in-law headed out to the lake house to start work on the big project for 2011.  This year they decided to sink a few dollars into the downstairs area making it more comfortable and more conducive to just hanging out.

Since I was away in the sun last weekend, I don't have any "before" pictures to share with you, but I do have plenty of "durings" and "afters" for you all.  Last weekend they started on the priming and painting on the dark colored panelling in the basement.  They painted all the little metal pieces that go between the ceiling tiles, and installed a new door to the real basement of the house.  They painted and painted and painted and decided we would be back the next weekend to finish up.




PHEW!!  What a mess....and this is 1/2 way through the project, not a "before"!!


Looking at what was left it sure didn't feel like we had much to do this weekend, but, like most projects, things have a way of getting away from you and often, one project quickly turns into many more.  The plan for this weekend was to finish up the painting, build valence boxes for the new shades, cover up the metal load bearing pole with a nice wood cover, then rearrange the furniture and snippity snap we would be done :O)




Another mess....but, it looks like work is getting done!



I had to sneak in a pic of my cute doggies.  "Hey mom, whatcha doing??"




Grandpa helps by "supervising", but I have to be careful, I spent some time "supervising" right there on the couch next to him :O)




EEKKK!!! A new hole, I thought we were working on wrapping this baby up! 




Hang those tiles Jer!




The lovely new pole Ryan built.  It looks SOO much better!

 Hahaha...who knew it would turn into a few other jobs along the way.  We ended up taking out an old air conditioner in the wall, fixing a few of the windows and placing the ceiling tiles (which might seem like it would be a simple job...but take my word, it's quite the project!).

Anyways, we finally made it home around 9pm Sunday night but the project is mostly (*wink*) mostly finished.  Just a few finishing touches and Lake Projects 2011 should be mostly complete!!



The view from the stairs, looking right.




The view from the stairs, looking left.



AND DONE!  (at least for this weekend)