Walnut Cheeks

Springtime updates

Here's a little photo essay of the happenings around my home lately.  Spring is here and I'm enjoying planning my own garden, and discovering what's coming up from the prior owners garden.  If you remember, our entire back yard was a garden, so although it looks pretty bleak with no grass, it does seem that most things popping up are intentional and not just weeds.  The fruit trees are, obviously, the most identifiable and interesting things right now - here's a picture of the buds on the plum tree - it should be glorious this weekend:

As for my own garden, I'm experimenting with a straw bale garden this year.  The video I've linked to is a great companion piece to the article in Fine Gardening that got me started on this idea.  I like that it gives me all of the benefits of a raised bed with none of the permanence.  And, it's just so cool, I can hardly wait to start planting!  So here's what our Sunday looked like:

Straw bales are a bit hard to come by in the spring - I had to call around a bit to locate these four, and they only had six bales in total, I'm glad we didn't wait any longer to get started!  On the left are the four bags of compost and sheep manure (and you thought this wasn't a wool-related project!)

  Chris raked away enough wood chips and dog poop to clear and level the sunniest spot in the yard.  We rolled out a foundation of chicken wire to prevent burrowing critters from underground sneak attacks.  Hope it works....  And yes, that's the plum tree in the foreground, and in the back corner are raspberries.  Oh, and that big rectangular block that the rake is leaning on?  Its a block from the Minneapolis Opera House - I'll show you in more detail another time.  The prior owners left behind all of the neat stonework you see.  

Straw bales organized, and a failed attempt at a silly posed shot with the dog - a good time for scratches and smooches anyway.  After we set these all out, we had a bit of a debate on whether we wanted the baling twine to run horizontally (as shown) or vertically (as we ultimately settled on).  I read a few arguments for horizontal that claimed the twine wouldn't decompose as quickly and the bales would have a better structure for a longer time.  However, I found many photos (including the Fine Gardening article) with the twine running vertical, thus, resting on the ground and more likely to decompose faster with all that wet straw on it.  We were ultimately swayed by the idea of more surface area and ran the twines vertically.  

Our neighbors across the alley were playing hip hop music the whole afternoon and I occasionally had to break into a dance.  Here I am showing you a number of exciting things: the bales are now wrapped with chicken-wire for critter deterrence and some extra structural support; there's granular fertilizer all over the straw, to promote decomposition over the next week; and we filled in the middle with hay and potting soil, for growing carrots.

Finally, we spread the compost/manure on the top and watered the whole thing with a liquid fertilizer.  Now, we let it cook away for ten days and then start planting.  Over the ten days, the straw will begin to decompose and create a perfect environment for plant growth.  

Here's how things looked this morning after a night of rain: so far, so good.

One final garden update for you - remember my Yankee Tipper bird feeder?  It definitely solved the squirrel problem, but somebody new has discovered it:

One very sneaky chipmunk has taken up residence in a woodpile that we hope to get rid of soon, and has been chattering loudly and making frequent visits to the feeder:

The cheeky devil isn't nearly heavy enough to tip the tray and fall off.  So far, he's not consuming the insane amounts that the squirrel did over the winter, but its only a matter of time before he brings friends and we have a wild chipmunk party in our yard.  

Finished Knits!

I finally caught up with some overdue finished knits photos - here's a tour of my accomplishments:

Ardent Cardi, pattern from Twist Collective.  Look how pretty!  I just love this yarn, it was my inspiration for this project and I'm thrilled with the final result.  I wound up having to noodle around with the gauge and the shoulders a bit - by the end of this project, my pattern was completely scribbled up with notes and little math equations.  This was a really fun knit - I LOVED working the lattice section, twisted stitches are really fun!

Here's a shot of it all buttoned up.  I don't wear it this way often, with all of that shaping in the waist, its very flattering unbuttoned.  And speaking of buttons:

Aren't these cool?  They're vintage glass and have more iridescence than I can capture in a photo.  I live near an amazing fabric shop that I visit every now and then and the last time I was there, I thought: this is where I'm buying buttons for my next finished knit.  The women who were there this day were a blast - I pulled out the sweater, they all oohed and aahed and then pulled out card after card of buttons - these were everyone's favorite.  

Slip-stitch hat by Shelly Kang of The Yarnery.  Here's the hat I've been sporting all winter - this was really really fun to knit and people are always surprised when I tell them that I made it.   Here's a closer look at the detail and colors:

 Details of the slip stitch - so charming.

Kiri Shawl, knit in Scheaffer Anne.  Here's my mini-model strutting her stuff on the deck.  I'm pretty surprised that she sat still as long as she did.  She even got up, turned around, and sat down again so I could take pictures of the detail, see:

I love the pretty effect of leaf veins on this.  A triangle shaped shawl is my favorite thing for wrapping around my neck with a coat in the winter.  I have a robin's egg blue coat that this looks just lovely with.

Here's what's on the needles now: Dale of Norway Sirdal.  I started this ages ago, had a devil of a time getting gauge, got frustrated, stuffed it in a bag and walked away.  I'm feeling much happier about my efforts this time around.  I've re-knit this cuff maybe four times now - this was written in the pattern as a button cuff, but it was really bulky, so I tore that out.  Then I decided that I didn't like the colorwork as charted, so I switched that around a bit.  Then the circles looked good, but the pattern was wonky at the pattern repeat point, so I had to fix that....  Fortunately, there aren't a lot of stitches at this point so none of this has taken long and I wound up tinkering around with my two-handed technique while all of this was happening so now I'm pretty comfortable with it and my knitting is looking really even.  I'm a little surprised at how dramatically the sleeve increases are happening - at the rate things are going, I'd easily be able to smuggle a few bags of popcorn into the movies in these things.  And I'm knitting the kids age 12 size - I know that Dale sweaters run huge, but this just seems excessive.  I may have to check the instructions again.

In other news, we've been gathering paint chips and talking about what we want our home to look like.  As soon as the weather is warm enough to open the windows, we'll be getting out the rollers and the brushes.  And we've got some plumbing projects planned for the end of this month - I'm definitely looking forward to having some better water pressure around here!

Back to the needles - the Dale is calling!

Room by Room: The Kitchen

The kitchen was the first room that was "done" when the big move happened.  We had some overlap with our lease, so we spent a week cleaning the empty house and ferrying over a carload of boxes at a time.  I made the kitchen my main focus and I'm glad I did - having it all ready to go made the rest of the move a breeze (well, better anyway).  For me, being able to get up and make breakfast without having to dig through or work around boxes was an absolute joy.  

Here's the south wall, and where all the action happens.  This is all of the counter space we have, so the things that made the countertop cut are all considered daily essentials.  And here are the answers to the three most frequently asked questions (as I know you're wondering):  No, we don't have a dishwasher.  I thought it would be one of our first purchases, but after living here for a few months, we don't really mind doing the dishes every night, so we don't plan to get one any time soon.  No, we don't have a microwave, we haven't had one for over a year and we haven't ever missed not having it.  And no, the coffee maker didn't make the cut - there are a couple of french presses in the cupboards and a kettle on the stove.  We're not daily coffee drinkers and pressed coffee tastes better anyway.

See that radiator on the right?  There's a window over it that looks out to the yard, and this radiator multi-tasks all the time: it's the perfect height for sitting on and warming up, I often set hot things from the oven right on it, and I like to warm up plates and bowls on it before I serve - they come out of the cupboards so cold.  The other morning, I set a bottle of maple syrup on it when I started planning pancakes and by the time we ate, the syrup was perfectly warm and runny.  

The north wall and backdoor.  Not much to tell here, but want to see what's out my back door?

My beloved Yankee Tipper.  I got really sick of watching a couple of big fat grey squirrels clean out my regular tube feeder, so I cashed in some gift cards for this big momma.  The tray is spring-loaded, so if you're heaver than a bird, it will fall out from under you - and there are no posts to hang on to, sorry.  I watched those squirrels come back and give this thing a long hard look before they gave up and moved on.  Haven't seen them since. When I got this, I thought the five pound capacity was a bit excessive, but birds are on it constantly, and I only have to fill it every few weeks, and the cats and dog are so thrilled, that it's a win all around.  I love it.

Back to the kitchen.  If I sit on my radiator and can tear myself away from bird watching, here's what I see:

First, my charming little pantry.  The stairs to the basement are on the right.  I'd like to find some nifty knobs for these doors.  Having this space makes me so happy - all of my big kitchen toys fit in the bottom: the cuisinart, the mixer, the pressure cooker....  And all of my foody staples fit up above: flour, sugar, coffee....  (Here's a secret - I keep chocolate in that pretty copper pot next to the cookbooks!)

And  here's what I see if I look east:

This lovely, framed view through my dining and living room.  Don't you love how the amaryllis is framed by the doorway?   That little cupboard on the right had an ironing board it it, but I took it out and I'd like to add some shelves and store spices in there.  I'd like to change out that pendant lamp in my dining room also.  

So, as it is, the kitchen is really quite functional and pleasant, but there are some things I'd like to change.  In the short term, I'd like a new faucet with a sprayer hose, some shelves in my ironing board cupboard, new knobs in the pantry, better lighting, and fresh paint.  I know, the green is really fresh and cheerful when you're IN the kitchen, but check out the view from the rest of the house:

That green just screams at you, "I have no logical relationship to the rest of this space!"  Every wall in this house needs paint anyway, it's just a matter of where and when we start.  Until I can wrap my head around the colors I DO want, the screaming green stays.   

In the long term, I think it would be possible to get more counter space in there, but not without a major overhaul and that's tough to envision right now.  One thing I do like: Heath tiles (ah, but we all knew that was coming).  In the kitchen though, they'd be the perfect compliment to my Heath dishes.  Here's a bit of inspiration from the Heath site, I love the combo of wood and watery blue here:

And here, I love the yellow tile, white trim, and gray walls:

  

Room by Room: The Lav.

I thought I'd share pictures of my new house, room by room, and share some thoughts as we unpack and decorate.  Let's start with the bathroom - a room I initially had a lot of mixed feelings about: loved the old cabinet and the pedestal sink - it's the perfect scale for the room, but hated the overwhelming white tile.  It's amazing how a good shower curtain can make all the difference in the world.  

White, white, white.  I'm still not nutso for all that mis-matched white tile, especially since the floor tiles are so worn that they never look clean, but I have to admit, adding a white shower curtain made me really really happy with this space.  Pretty towels also helped a lot:

In the short term, I'd like a new lighting fixture and like the whole house, these walls desperately need repainting.  Long term, I dream of updating the other fixtures, re-tiling, and changing the faucets.  

And a little P.S. for those long-term dreams: Health Tiles.   Mmmm, these blue-gray tiles make me swoon.  I love that the glaze has some subtle variation.  It's the same effect I love out of somewhat-solid yarns: elegant use of color.  

 

Dear Seller,

Hi Seller, this is Buyer.  So, before our final walk through tomorrow, I thought I'd let you know that I've been visiting the house regularly and watching the progress on the roof, and it looks fantastic.  I am especially fond of all those sharp corners on the  fascia and rafter tails - so much nicer than the crumbly corners from before.  It looks great:

I know you've been working on moving the rest of your things out and we'll see what's left tomorrow, but I wanted to remind you of a few things in the yard that you might have overlooked.  Let's start the list with your tie-die curtain on the porch - wouldn't it be sad if you forgot that?  

And, don't forget your rusty (but trusty?) little bike and push mower - I'm sure you'll want those in your new home:

Oh, and your mini Adirondack chair!  How charming, you'll most certainly want that!

If somehow there weren't room for you architectural selvedge, I'd be happy to adopt this funky triptych, but let's make sure you have space for the other stuff, m'kay?

Good.Better.Best

Holy smoke - I'm closing on my house in one week.  One week!  Today, my realtor sent me an email that instructed me to: "call the seller, he wants to leave some stuff - you have the right to refuse junk."  It was a bit of an odd call to make, I had some suspicions about what he might like to leave behind - I was right on two, and surprised by one (sadly, not the Morris chair).

Here's the good: an ancient fridge.  See it there on the left, here in my future basement?

The seller assured me it works and says that they plug it in every winter to store apples and carrots.  Sure, cool, whatever.  I sort of figured that we'd wind up with this (sounds like there's a long-standing tradition of sellers passing on this fridge to new owners) - it's a royal pain to get out, now it's my royal pain.  My parents wound up with an upright piano that was too big of a pain to get out.  A piano is certainly a better bargain than this beast of a fridge, but it is what it is.  I can see how this might come in handy around the holidays anyway.

On to the better: a twin bed.  Yup, that's it there on the right.

The seller says he built it and that there are drawers.  Sure, cool, whatever.  Also a beast to move, yeah, yeah.  We have a cobbled together twin bed...okay, it was an air mattress on a frame that dump you on the floor if you roll around too vigorously.  That lived in my craft room and was fine for the apartment, but this will be better, well, sturdier anyway.  Let's hope the mattress isn't stinky.

Okay, here's the best: the dining room set.

The seller went into great detail about how they clean the upholstered chairs with an organic cleaner once a year and spray them with a 3M product.  I was pretty surprised that he wants to leave this - and pleased, as we have a dining set, but we don't love it and I've been dreaming up ways to keep it's scary wheeled feet from scraping the dickens out of these floors.  Yes, I will certainly be happy to inherit the dining set!  I can't tell if it has any leaves and expands or not, but there are six chairs, so I'm hoping that it does.  I thought it was funny that the seller also apologized for the ugly pendant light over the table.  Yeah, it is pretty ugly, isn't it!

Sounds like the seller is making the big push to get moved out this week, and we'll be doing our final walk through on Monday.  Cross your fingers that the roof is done, the fascia is back up, and the trim is painted for close!

Like a breath of fresh air

What a delightful re-discovery I made yesterday: Jane Brocket's new blog.  Ages ago, my bookmarked link pulled up nothing, and I thought she'd gone away to the world of print and the blog was gone for good.  I'm so glad she's still sharing her pictures of candy colored socks, stunning flowers, and mouth-watering baking.  As I clicked through months of old entries, she reminded me about a wintertime hobby I'd forgotten about for a while: forcing bulbs.  Life with cats (read: JOE) has required me to abandon some indoor gardening pursuits, but the idea of a fragrant hyacinth in the middle of a Minnesota winter - in my very own house - makes me swoon for the snow a bit.  Timely, as we have more coming tomorrow.  

Want to see some of the great windows I'll have in the new house for growing bulbs this winter?

Front windows - facing east, all of the other light in this room is coming from the five south facing windows that run the length of the house. 

My little kitchen - yes, the green alone is sunny and cheerful (a bit of a strange choice with the rest of the house, but fine for now).  I love a window over the sink.  When we first walked through the house, we noticed that the neighbors have a corresponding window over their kitchen sink.  Wonder if we'll be friendly and wave to one another?  Tonight, when we stopped by to see the progress on our new roof, it smelled like they were making soup.  People who make good smelling soup must be nice neighbors, right?

We are hoping that this room will be our bedroom and we'll have this nice view of a tree lilac to wake up to.  The room is a bit wee, but I think we can make it work.  

And some day, we hope to finish the attic and make this space a nice, roomy, master bedroom.  Until then, it will be a nice quilting, guitar-playing, guest-rooming sort of place.

Before I go - wondering what I knit on yesterday?  A mitten.  I know, all of that sweater talk and I go and knit a mitten.  One down, one to go!

Already!?

Winter boots, I didn't think we'd be seeing each other again so soon.  Thanks for being there on that icy sidewalk.

Wenny says: Manda, it's cold out, see how I'm holding a foot up to keep it warm?  Don't make me have to alternate, let's GO already!

The strange dichotomy of fall as seasons co-mingle.  I know winter will win, I just was hoping for another few weeks of changing leaves and crisp - not quite cold - days....

If I were ewe...

A Finn?  I've never heard of these Finns, but now I'm certainly curious now, thanks to this quiz courtesy of the fine folks promoting Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Wool.   I'll be curious to see this book when it comes out, I had mixed feelings about The Knitter's Book of Yarn: the content was just fine, and certainly interesting, but the artistic decisions with regard to how the garments were photographed really irked me.  I remember all of the models were dressed "catholic school girl" style and posed with desks and chairs out in fields.  What?  Can we please stop infantilizing adult women - especially in a book marketed towards an adult female audience?  I returned it to the library and didn't look back.  Here's hoping that the artistic director for TKBoW has a different vision.

So, these Finns, I'm intrigued.  I recently finished the Kiri shawl that I've been working on for ages, and I haven't been able to lose myself in a new project yet.  I'm half tempted to start working on Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Cardigan using the cones of Gems Pearl I picked up on clearance last spring.  I'm intrigued by the idea of mindless stockinette, and an open gauge with a fine yarn.  And, assuming I knit like the wind, this would be a perfect fall color:

Then again, I do have two sleeves done on my Ardent Cardi, and I hate to leave a project half finished....  I started on the back and a few fiddly errors slowed my progress.  I may shift my attention to one of the fronts for some faster gratification and see if that ups my motivation on this one, I do love the idea of the finished sweater, especially in my oh-so-soft magenta tweed:

Whoops, there goes the timer and I have to go tend to some brownies!  I'm temporarily absolved from having to choose a project for the time being!  We'll see how the spirit moves me post-brownie!

October? Already!?

Let's just skip the apologies and excuses this time and get right down to what's been keeping me so busy lately.  It's this:

A little pre-purchase fascia face-lift.

This sweet little house will be our new home at the end of the month (cross your fingers that our closing goes smoothly, of course).  We spent quite a bit of the summer getting ready for house hunting and buying and I'm really delighted with the house that we finally settled on.  Really, there was no settling at all, we knew immediately that it was the house we wanted, after that, I think we spent a few days settling into the reality of making this big, grown-up, expensive decision!

Here's the very first thing I loved about this house:

"Who kisses the joy as it flies, Lives in eternity's sunrise."   -William Blake

Sure, the flowers are looking a bit parched, but this poetic window box charmed me.  We'd seen a lot of houses at this point and a lot of hideous things - like the front yard hill that someone decided would be more manageable with a layer of concrete over it - and this small touch spoke volumes about what sort of people owned this house.  Thoughtful people.  People with taste.  With old houses, you tend to think a lot about what kind of care a home received in all of those years prior to your walking through the front door, and there's a lot to be said for details that hint at some love.  I know, it's only a window box and I've already shown you a picture of the scaffolding that's up so the rotting fascia and old roof can be replaced, so there are things that didn't get done for this house over the years.  

Built-ins galore!

See?  There are some updates that didn't happen for good reasons.  I can't tell you how many places we saw that had lost all of this original detail work in some way - it was ripped out, painted, broken....  I've always wanted a house with this sort of character and history, and this house has it.  It was built in 1925, and has all the great things you want in a Craftsman home of this vintage - really solid construction, efficient and clever use of space and lighting, and details that make me swoon:

It practically begs to be bought by a knitter.

So, now you know.  This is the first time I've shared anything about the house publicly - it's so exciting!  For a while, I felt like it was too soon, you know, just in case everything fell through, but we're getting closer and closer to our closing date and things are going so well, that it feels okay now.  The reality of all of this is starting to sink in and lately one of us will turn to the other and say, "Oh!  We're moving!  We have to pack!"

A cottage in the city.

So, we're off to hunt for boxes on this rainy weekend.  We've had some good and chilly fall weather lately, which lends itself well to dreaming about that fireplace in our new living room.  Mmm, can't wait!