A Week of Variety

The hideous kitchen experiment begins

This past week has had it's ups and downs.  Last weekend I decided that I couldn't stand the painted kitchen cabinets any longer.  The awful peachy pink leftover from the most recent decorating spree of the previous owners, circa late 1980 or so, was so old, worn and icky that I couldn't get it clean.  Scrubbing was a fruitless activity, since everything stuck and stained the old paint.   Plus, I really, really disliked that particular colour then, and 30 years later, it still hasn't grown on me.  

So, I had my sweetie start yanking doors off, removing all the hardware.  I scrubbed and sanded with a scrubbie, then sandpaper and steelwool.  A trip to the paint store and more work, with lots of drying time in between.   It's taking a while, but hopefully it the next week or so, I'll have some progress to show for all this work.  At least it won't be pink cupboards any more.  Now, if I could get rid of that hideous wallpaper and border.. two borders, one at the top and one mid-way on the wall no less.  the problem there is that we've no idea what is actually under that paper.  It may be a job we're not ready to undertake at this time.

I have a first generation fancy sewing machine, which does embroidery.  However the no longer supported software was originally written for Windows 3.1 and apparently the last version of the operating system to support it was XP.  So, when my computer got cranky last winter, I was no longer able to use that part of my machine.  Part of the problem is also because the software is on a 3.5 floppy and the sewing machine needs a serial port to hook up to. A friend very kindly gave me an obsolete to her laptop, which works for me.    I can digitize on the laptop, but had to resurrect the old desktop and play around to get it back working enough to transfer designs.  I got it happening however and I spent most of the day Wednesday stitching out favours for a friend.  I've since found out that there are USB/Serial hookups which could work with the laptop.  That would be awesome if it would actually work with the sewing machine as well!

I finished the second bobbin of the BFL/Nylon blend sock yarn and plied them together.  I ended up with 380 yards of yarn, which should be more than enough for both an interesting dye experiment and a decent pair of socks.

After dropping off the 23 loaves of bread I made yesterday for a friend's dinner - (that was a lot of work, so much so that I forgot to take a photo of the mounds of bread) ,  I popped into the Fibre Garden  on the way home.   It's not actually on the way home, unless I go out of my way, but well worth the trip.  May I just say that the store is filled with the most awesome fibery stuff and the boys  there are friendly, knowledgeable and fun. I spent way too much money but came home with tons of goodies.   The Russian support spindle was a difficult call.  It was a difficult choice between two different styles, this one and a slightly heavier one.  Hopefully I made the right call as I don't have a huge budget for spindles.    I also found a pound of raw Perendale fleece.  Although I'll need to wash it, it's got an amazing colour and lovely hand.  Look at that length!  I'm quite thrilled with it and it will be an interesting change from my usual choice of Shetland.