After returning home from Home Depot one day - when I actually went into the store with Poppa -
...... we found ourselves with a new stove. It is the kind with a small oven, a large oven, or a super-duper larger oven. I have been using it regularly and loving it. It allowed me to take the countertop oven off the counter.....
... which freed up a LOT of counter space (which I love!), but....
..... created more work for Poppa - what is he doing under the sink?? Well, as it turns out.....
... he was installing a new dishwasher. The old one - which was here when we moved in - was quite noisy and took forever to run through a cycle - so I VERY seldom bothered with it. This new one has a special 60 minute cycle and is so quiet! The first time we used it we thought it wasn't working because we couldn't hear anything at all! So - at least once a week I use a lot of pots, pans and dishes! The weather here has been quite hot this year....
...... Squeegie and Taffy put on cool outfits, but by the end of the day.....
.... they were still hot and sweaty, so Happy joined them and they all had a nice tubby! But it was cool in the basement where my knitting corner is and I finished a pair of socks.........
......... that I had started in the car. It is just easier to finish off the toes while I'm sitting in my comfortable chair!
I just realized - oh my goodness - I never did finish the story of the stairs........
.... when we moved into the condo, we had carpeted stairs with oak railing. Well, recently Poppa pulled off all the carpet and then pulled off all the underlay and then.....
... Munchie and Poppa pulled out all the staples (there were a LOT!) left behind after the underlay came off. Then.....
.... this skilled carpenter came in and took off the railing, then....
............ he worked and he worked over a period of three days....
..... he re-capped all the stairs with oak treads, added some oak trimwork and replaced the bannister. When he left....
.......... the stairs looked like this - except of course, the bannister was back in place as well. Poppa spent one day staining, followed by three days putting a finish coat on them, and....
.......... here they are!! We all think they are lovely. No, they are not slippery at all..........
... they are much more attractive - all the way up!
.... I have a few minutes to bring you a little bit more up-to-date. I finished this project about a month ago .....
... and sent if off to the person who wanted a hoodie! She was quite pleased with it - but then it got too warm for a hoodie. Oh well - she'll be able to wear it again in a couple of months.
Meantime, when Munchie was here visiting he asked if he could have a new blanket - and he said please - so I started. His favourite colours are orange and blue.....
... and he loves stripes - but they are kinda boring to knit so I decided to do a stripey chevron pattern in those colours and added an off-white stripe to lighten it up. The blanket had to be in the same kind of yarn I've been using for his blankets from the time he was born (October 10, 2008) and I think he must have at least nine blankets now - but they are too small - they don't cover him from head to toe - he wanted a bigger one. So I bought some Paint Box DK yarn from loveknitting.com. It is really nice - vibrant colours, soft touch - perfect for a little boy's blanket!
Mommy was stopping in for a brief visit one day - so I went to get the blanket for him to check out. I had made it big enough to cover me from head to toe, so I thought he would be happy with it.
And, when I went to pick it up - out popped a little smiling face! He's not nearly as big as me! But he wanted it wider so when he stood up it would wrap all the way around him too.
I picked up my knitting needles again, and made four more strips. I decided to offset the strips to make the blanket more interesting and this is the result.
Taffy helped me sew on the border and fold the blanket. I put it in a big plastic bag because Daddy was coming to pick up some things from our house. Shortly after Daddy arrived back at Munchie's house I received.....
.... this photo! I think the blanket is quite large enough for our little Munchie - and he looks happy to show me! Gosh - his outfit matched the blanket!
...... we found ourselves with a new stove. It is the kind with a small oven, a large oven, or a super-duper larger oven. I have been using it regularly and loving it. It allowed me to take the countertop oven off the counter.....
... which freed up a LOT of counter space (which I love!), but....
..... created more work for Poppa - what is he doing under the sink?? Well, as it turns out.....
... he was installing a new dishwasher. The old one - which was here when we moved in - was quite noisy and took forever to run through a cycle - so I VERY seldom bothered with it. This new one has a special 60 minute cycle and is so quiet! The first time we used it we thought it wasn't working because we couldn't hear anything at all! So - at least once a week I use a lot of pots, pans and dishes! The weather here has been quite hot this year....
...... Squeegie and Taffy put on cool outfits, but by the end of the day.....
.... they were still hot and sweaty, so Happy joined them and they all had a nice tubby! But it was cool in the basement where my knitting corner is and I finished a pair of socks.........
......... that I had started in the car. It is just easier to finish off the toes while I'm sitting in my comfortable chair!
