Am I Blue?

Or am I grey? (a before & after during post)

We have friends coming to visit this summer so I decided it was high time to get the guest room sorted out (I can't tell you how exciting it is to finally have a guest room).  Evie has visited a couple of times since we moved and at Christmas she practiced her hooping indoors - leading to walls that looked like this.

The result of a large black-and-white striped hoop being whirled around a fairly small space.

I'm thinking of decorating the room in black and white (oddly enough) but I didn't want to paint the walls plain white, and I thought a pale, silvery grey would go nicely. So I started looking at paint swatches, and paint company websites, and places like Pinterest - and I found it's really difficult to find a grey that's not too dark, or too blue or (shudder) "greige". Eventually I brought a bunch of swatches home from Home Depot, taped them up in the room and then started pulling off the ones I didn't like. I narrowed it down to two paints from Behr - Sterling and Burnished Metal - and after buying sample pots last Friday I painted large patches on the wall to compare:

After I'd done it I realised this wasn't the best wall to use because the light coming in from that side window was distorting the colour a bit (which is why I have a second patch of the BM on the left, closer to the light.

All through Friday and Saturday I kept popping back into the room to see the colours at different times of the day, and in artificial light, and I decided the Burnished Metal was just a little too dark. My only concern was whether the Sterling was going to turn out to be tinged with blue after all.

Sunday morning I made myself a large cup of coffee, put on Terry Pratchett's "Making Money", unscrewed the switch/plug plates, taped the room and started painting. I love painting - it's so zen. Especially with an audio book going. Terry Pratchett and Agatha Christie are my authors of choice for painting.

The Behr is pretty stinky in the can but the smell disappears as the paint dries and by the end I could hardly smell anything. After I'd done the cutting in I was getting very nervous about the colour, but I persevered.

I got all the way around the room but didn't have enough paint left to do the inside of the closet so I've had to leave it for now. I was still seeing pale blue, until I ripped down the masking tape - apparently it was casting enough of a shadow/reflection to tip the colour over. Once it was gone the paint was exactly what I'd wanted - a pale, pearly grey (I went for a satin finish for that little extra gleam).

I tipped the headboard sideways and leaned it against the wall so I could see the effect of the grey, black and white together and I think I'm going to be really happy with it.

Now I just have to decide whether to just get an extra quart to finish the inside of the closet or buy another gallon and do another coat all over. I could probably get away with one coat because it covers really well, but there are a few spots where I didn't have quite enough paint on the roller, and a few others where I had too much and there are some drips.  I won't have time to do anything with it until Friday at the earliest so I have a few days to look at it again and decide whether to be a perfectionist or whether OK is good enough.

Update: I've decided to be a perfectionist and I've bought a second can. Hopefully I can get on the second coat/paint the closet this weekend.

Knitting Update September 2011

Finished Objects

I've been a very busy girl this month - I've finished the Crow Waltz shawl and the socks for mom, knit four scarves, three pairs of fingerless mitts, a little princess crown and an octopus.

I'm so pleased I've finally finished the Crow Waltz shawl. I didn't have enough pins to block it properly so eventually I may reblock it but at the moment I'm pretty happy with it.  Here's a picture of it blocking and I'll try and get one of me wearing it.

 I've been knitting fingerless mitts for a charity that distributes them to dialysis patients, although Evie tried on a pair and decided she wanted one. Since she's headed back to chilly Reading next week I'll give her the black pair and knit up some new ones to replace them. I was really tempted to keep the purple ones but I have some yarn left so I'll make a pair for myself next.

(Evie was the hand model for these.)

I finished the Monkey socks at campmeeting but, as I feared, they were too narrow for Mom's feet. I had my purple socks with me and they fit her much better so we did a swap, and I'm now the proud owner of the blue & green Monkeys.

I was working on my pink bamboo Shale scarf while at campmeeting and it garnered much interest and requests for similar scarves so when I'd finished mine:

 I made one for Noely:

 (she just got it in the mail and loved it so I've asked for a picture of it on her)

And then one for Mom:

 (Shh, I haven't sent it to her yet)

I've also knitted a little princess crown and a scarf for charities through Ravelry, which I don't have pictures of at the moment, and crocheted an octopus for Evie's friend Claire, in California, as a thank you for picking me up at the airport in July.  Apparently she loves octopi.

I think he's pretty cute

What's on the Needles

So, at the moment I'm knitting a lace cowl for myself out of the Debbie Bliss Andes I made my slouchy hat out of last year:

It's going pretty fast so I should have it done by the end of the weekend, if not earlier.

I've also started a coat for Evie out of Ella Rae Classic worsted wool in a dark red, held double, which will be felted down to make a kind of pirate-y coat. It's knit on big needles (8mm) so it's going pretty quick, but I won't be able to felt it until Evie comes home for Christmas (to make sure it fits), so I'm not in a hurry with this.  It's stockinette, so fairly mindless knitting and I can work on it while I watch TV, although I do have to be careful that I take up both strands in each stitch - I do have a tendency to miss one every so often.

And finally, I've managed to block the pink cardigan:

The empty living room is perfect for blocking at the moment. I've brought up the spare twin mattress and covered it and a throw rug with sheets.

If I can get the cowl done before the weekend I'm going to make a start on seaming the cardigan up.

Hibernating

Nothing at the moment!

New Stash

Apart from the new yarn for Evie's coat and the commissioned scarves I've been mostly knitting from my existing stash.  I did make one "retail therapy" purchase when I was having a very bad day, of some gorgeous Malabrigo sock yarn, with which I'm going to make a lace shawl.  The colourway is "Velvet Grapes" and the name of the shawl is "Candy Shoppe".

What I've Been Listening To

Lot's more Agatha Christie - it really is the perfect knitting listening, entertaining without being too demanding.  I've also been listening to a fair number of the divine Phryne (rhymes with briny) Fisher books by Kerry Greenwood, also very entertaining. I've just seen that the ABC in Australia (the books are set in Melbourne) are making a TV series, so I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I've downloaded some more knitting podcasts - still working my way through the 150-odd KnitPicks episodes - but have discovered a few more that I enjoy, including "Never Not Knitting".

What I'm Reading

Again, not a lot, although I have discovered a fun knitting/mystery series at the library by Sally Goldenbaum, set in a little seaside town on the East Coast of the States (Massachusetts I think, they visit Boston a fair amount).  There do seem to be several knitting/mystery series but this is the one I've liked the best so far.

Knitting Update July 2011

Finished Objects

Hufflepuff Scarf - Oct 2010

Because in the Harry Potter World I'm a total 'Puff.

Felted Tote Bag - Feb 2011

I crocheted the tote but it ended up so enormous that I threw it in the washer on the hottest cycle and it felted down to this perfect size.

Lacy Summer Socks - June 2011

I started these on the coach trip in Europe at the end of May and finished them on the plane to California in the middle of June.  They are Cookie A's "Summer Sox" pattern and were so much fun to knit up.

Stashbusting Bags for the Kids

And some charity knitting

Recovery Buddies

Handmade Especially for You 

and a random alpaca hat for a homeless charity

I've also knit about 8 cotton dishcloths but haven't bothered to take pictures of them.

What's on the Needles

As of this moment I'm a couple of inches into a second sock for mom.

These are Cookie A's "Monkey" socks and are looking good in the self-striping wool I'm using.  I started these at Mom & Dad's in June and will hopefully finish them in time to give them to her for campmeeting in a couple of weeks.






I'm also knitting an "Old Shale Scarf" from bamboo sock yarn and I love the way the self-striping is creating the wavy pattern in the scarf.

Hibernating

I haven't worked on my pink alpaca cardigan since I finished knitting it in the winter.  It just needs blocking and sewing up but I just haven't found the initiative to do it yet.

I finally started the "Crow Waltz" shawl in my beautiful "Old Maiden Aunt" yarns in April.  I knitted up the lace border and then picked up the 200 odd stitches to make the body but several inches in realised I'd been doing something wrong and had to frog back to the border.  Since then I've been too demoralised to pick it back up again.  I think I will take this to California with me later this month and make it my campmeeting knitting.

New Stash

I got money for my birthday and the very next day went to Muse in St Helena and blew it all in one go.

The bright pink with a hint of green is Zauberball sock yarn and I've been coveting this colourway since the first time I saw it.  Initially I thought I'd make a pair of socks with it but then I saw a picture of it make up into a Citron shawl and due to the semicircular shape it looks a bit like watermelon so I think I'll go with that.

The other two skeins are Manos Serena, made of baby alpaca and cotton and I just couldn't resist them.  One is a solid purple and the other a variegated purple.  I'm not sure yet what I'll make of them yet but in the meantime I'll enjoy petting them.

So thanks to Lauren and Fin for the funds, and Maria R-B for her excellent enabling!

What I'm Listening To
Mostly I've been listening to books on CD lately, rather than music.  Right now I'm alternating between Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None", and William Gibson's "Spook Country".  I've also, belatedly, discovered knitting podcasts and have been working my way randomly through some of the ones I've found on iTunes. I particularly like the Knit Picks podcast as it's well produced and extremely informative and entertaining.

What I'm Reading
As I've been listening to books on CD I haven't done a lot of reading of actual books but at the moment I'm re-reading Laurie R. King's "The Language of Bees" before I read the sequel, "God of the Hive".