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A Post-Christmas Catch Up

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

We've had a lovely and in many ways unexpected Christmas break around here, but I wanted to share some of the fun, albeit belatedly.

We had SNOW for Christmas.

We're not talking snow man quantities or even sidewalk cover, but it was fun and beautiful and made this a special Christmas.

We always use the stockings my Aunt June knit for each of us on Christmas Eve. I love them so much I have to put a picture of them up every year. (I'm sort of fond of the "child" too.)

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with family and friends.

And the holiday was made complete by Hannibal, our Doberman's presence at the table. Unlike the cats and our other dog trouble, who as mere mortals have to jump onto the table to reach the food, Hannibal is so tall that he can just saunter over and grab a bite.

I hope your holiday, however you celebrated, was as wonderful as ours.

The Big Lace Shawlette — A Very Quick Knit

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

I have been obsessively occupied with the idea of knitting "Big Lace" for quite some time now. I date it pretty much to the time I discovered Malabrigo's Rasta, a bulky and extraorinarily soft Merino yarn. It's a pleasure to knit with, and very pretty in a simple cabled scarf. But I was longing to see it knit up as big, chunky lace.

Although I couldn't find a pattern that was exactly as I envisioned, there were a few brave big lace knitters on Ravelry. Armed with their wisdom, I cast on and knit me some B.I.G. L.A.C.E. And, it was big and quick, because about 24 rows into it, I was done.

Although I want to play around with the shape a little bit, I love the idea, and I love how this gently variegated yarn looks knit up in this way. This one needs a good blocking before you get a final show and tell, but I think I'm ready to call it a success.

The Artist Decorates

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Although this is just a humble knitting/art blog, I secretly aspire to be a high-end design blog like decor8 or remodelista. High fashion. Cutting edge. Very, very beautiful.

Well, actually, I don't. I'm sort of surprisingly satisfied with being just plain old me. But I do want to share a little bit of my new in-home office space. We've moved on from the little kitchen update, and the office is this month's excercise in refreshing our home.

We started with this:

Actually, that is not completely true. We started with peeling red walls, inherited 13 years ago from the previous owner, and the desk in the middle of the room amidst a tangle of computer cords and lots of junk. Nothing else.

One night I mentioned in an offhand manner to the Judge that it would be nice if there were two desks in there so we could surf together. "Not possible," was the response. The room, he opined, was too small. I took that as a challenge, albeit with a little bit of help from uber-cool Birmingham decorator Sarah Jernigan.

I have to start by telling you that Harry found the entire process of moving furniture in and around to be completely exhausting. He promptly retired to the stairway. He seems to believe his coat is set off to perfection by the new lavender-gray paint job.

While he napped, I did all of the work.

Do you like the results? It's now a fully functional office with plenty of filing space and a lovely settee (Room and Board, my new favorite store for furniture basics, and their in home delivery is excellent). The addition of the little frosted glass table at the end of the settee gives me something to pull around and work on when I get tired of reclining on the settee and eating bon bons. (And yes, for those of you with a keen eye, the pillows on the couch are Liberty of London for Target.)

The finishing touch is a fabulous George Nelson saucer fixture — something I've wanted to have in my home forever but have always thought would be out of place in our Tudor home. It turns out to be the perfect touch for a modern oasis in the middle of Tudor arches and kid-clutter.

I like it so much that here it is again, up close and turned on.

In case you are worried about Harry, you will be relieved to learn that he revived, promptly upon realizing that there was salmon for dinner.

All in all, it was a good day.

Random Things That Make Me Happy

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Fresh produce from the farmer's market.

Cashmere, just waiting for me to dye it so I can knit something for Ellie.

Japanese Rice Candy, found at World Market. Growing up in a school system that had a large Asian population, this, along with seaweed wrapped rice balls, was one of the biggest snack-time-trading scores.

Freshly picked baby tomatoes from our garden — and the person who picked them!

Tiny visitors to our home.

Kitchen Progress

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

We're making some progress, slowly but surely. Going from a deep rich burgundy colored kitchen to a pale oyster was sort of a shock. So I'm currently auditioning turquoise and burnt orange as the colors to punk it up a little bit.

I'm really in love with the counters. But as you can see, we ran into a little trouble with the backsplash to the stove, which has always been this big stainless steel plate. I was going to remove it and paint, then tile over it with sea glass.

But it turns out the plate covers some big gaping holes to the outdoors, so it's got to stay in place. I'm hoping I can find a good tile guy who can tile over it and make the gap between the bottom of the steel plate and the top of the granite look normal.

We're still working on details like utensil holders and towels. And of course picking out the tile to cover the hideous plate of steel.

But undoubtedly the new kitchen's best feature is it's floor. Yes, it's a fabulous tile that doesn't show dirt. More importantly, it's a comfortable, cool resting place for a hot doggie during summer!

The Flooded Basement and The Cure

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

This is what a post-flood basement in a 90 year old house looks like.

This is how I consoled myself after after as much pre-plumber clean up as possible.

Yarn is definitely the answer.

An Unexpected Day

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

This is the first time in twenty-plus years that this dress has seen the light of day. That's because it's my wedding dress (and was also my Mother in law's wedding dress), and is preserved in archival packaging.

Or at least it was until today. This morning, we discovered a small flood in our basement. After pulling absolutely everything out, we realized that the main intake water pipe had sprung a leak and was spraying a fine mist of water everywhere. Apparently it took some time before there was enough water for us to see it on the floor, but the box the dress was in was in a direct line of the spray and completely saturated, along with a lot of other items. What a mess!

I'm running the dress by the cleaners in the morning, in hopes they can carefully clean it and re-preserve it. Ellie, trying desperately to be 11-years-old-polite, asked if it could be altered to have spaghetti straps when we asked if she thought she might want to wear it one day. I guess I'll have to hope for a like-minded daughter in law, just like my Mother in law did. I thought it was the perfect dress.

The impromptu clean up really wasn't the end of the world since we're decluttering/destashing the upstairs in preparation for some painting and redecorating. This reminded me I've got bins with the kids old clothing down there, which would really be better off used by someone who needs them. So our unexpected day has at least a bit of a silver lining. Now I'm looking forward to a little time knitting and then lots of sleep!