Was it worth it? You be the judge.

Before:

During:

After:

Yeah, it was worth it – even if it did cost more than my first car! Of course, my last sewing machine cost more than my first car. We were all set to take delivery on the new countertop, with the old one torn off and the water shut off to the kitchen, when Mother Nature intervened. A terrible snow/ice storm hit our area and the contractor couldn’t get here on our original install date on Tuesday. So, we had to do without the kitchen for a few days. But doing dishes in the bathroom sink really made us appreciate our dishwasher. Now all that’s left is to put up the new wallpaper. I ordered that today and fate smiled on us – the store had two rolls of my pattern left from a case that they had on sale for 75% off! That saved us enough to buy a new coffeemaker. That’s the trouble with remodeling – it makes everything else look shabby. As Sockbug wisely pointed out, the four most expensive words in remodeling are, “While we’re at it!” Boy, can we identify!

On the knitting front, I was working away on the socks for my secret pal at work when they began to speak to me. Does your knitting ever talk to you? I finished the first sock, but when I got just past the heel on the second, it said, “Pssst! Hey, you! I don’t want to be a sock. I want to be a fingerless mitt.” Well, I’ve learned to listen to my knitting and in this case, the sock was right. I had begun to think twice about doing both socks and mitts for my secret pal, and I know she would rather have a pair of fingerless mitts. So, voila:

Now I just have to rip back the other sock and reknit to match. This was an easy redo and I think you could use just about any sock pattern. Just knit until the mitt reaches the desired length to the bottom of the thumb. Using waste yarn, knit a thumb’s width worth of stitches (in this case, 71 stitches to start with because the cables draw in a lot, 12 stitches for the thumb). Slip those stitches back to your right hand needle and continue on with the pattern until the mitt is an inch or so from the desired length, end with ribbing. Pull out the waste yarn and place the stitches on the needles (24 stitches – remember, you have a top and bottom). Pick up two stitches in each corner to close the gaps and knit an inch or so or desired length for thumb, bind off. This particular pattern was taken from Charlene Schurch’s “Sensational Socks”.

Tomorrow we’re off for a relaxing day on the “Spirit of Washington Dinner Train” – or in this case “Brunch Train”, courtesy of my boss. Thanks boss!