NEW WEBSITE

Well, it's been a few years since I've been a blogger, and a lot has happened since.  Please join me over at my new website:

http://pattylyons.com/

Destruction and Rebirth

A lot has been going on in the last six weeks since out apartment has been taken OVER by our kitchen rehab. With the Living Room / Dining Room being the staging area, the kitchen torn to shreds, our guest bedroom / office being our kitchen. That means we have been living in our bedroom. It's kind of like being back in a college dorm w/o the cheap white wine.

I got to escape the madness for a few days in mid March to go to Seattle on business. I got to meet up with the awesome ladies from Knot Another Hat. It was great to hang with them, and Seattle was beautiful, although we hardly got to leave the hotel.

Here we are in the hotel before dinner (Sarah, Nichole & Me)

After a short biz getaway, it was back to the construction zone. We've had more then a few glitches along the way, and a few things that have put us SEVERAL weeks, behind, but it's looking pretty good so far.

The cabinets are really pretty


and include some fab features, like David's spice rack:


and our two level silverware drawer:


Our favorite feature so far is the cork floor. It came out really nice.


As long as we were ordering the granite for our counter tops, we decided to demo the hearth and get a piece of granite for our new hearth stone. I can't wait for Wednesday when the install happens.

I finished the Mini Cardi to wear to the YMN conference in Seattle. It only took me two days. It's a really fast knit. I still haven't chosen the buttons yet, but it's cute without buttons.




I also cast on Hey Teach in the Recycled Cotton. It was a really fast knit (especially since I did the 8" of stockinette on the Studio's knitting machine.


I have a four day weekend and it was in the 70s today, so I decided it was time to clean up the garden. We are a bit behind this year in getting things together, but I thought I could get started.

I finished my swatch for the new Stripe Class I'm teaching and took it upstairs to the deck to dry. The sun was so hot up there, it was dry in a few minutes!


Things were starting to bud all over the place in our little garden






Last year's e-bay purchase of a Weeping Cherry Tree, was looking pretty good. Last year it came in the mail as a stick, and this year:


and FINALLY our little Forsythia plant actually bloomed. We have picked up our free Forsythia clipping at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Forsythia Member Day for three years, and we finally got a non dud clipping!

Tomorrow, plant the Dahlias, the Cannas and finish Hey Teach. Hopefully I can get the earthboxes set up soon.

Let the Rehab Begin . . .

We've been talking about it and saving for it for years. Now we are finally starting. This Tuesday we begin our 4 -5 week (hopefully) time of living in our bedroom & eating in our office. Say goodbye to this black tiled nightmare:


With broken, badly done tile countertop:


And the undercabinet oven that doesn't fit:

We've packed up our whole kitchen into boxes & bags and stuck it in our office / guest bedroom


This will now be our little kitchen. Toaster oven on the desk,


Here's the tea cart from the dining room with dishes below & the microwave & coffee maker will go on top


The guest bathroom becomes our "dishwasher"


I think I'll be enjoying some serious take out!

I did finally finish the crochet edging and cowl on the Weekend Knitting Cami & Cowl.





I also have almost finished David's sweater back. I feel like I'm not going to make it with the yarn I have, so I did order more, but of course, it's a different dye lot. It's a bit lighter, so I'm going to use it for the ribbing for the front & arms, and for the collar.


David also requested a pair of Wool-Ease Thick & Quick slipper socks, like I made for the Studio staff. I had a bunch of left over bits, so he chose this color combo:



So tomorrow is our last day to enjoy the living room, before we shove all the furniture to the side, cover everything with plastic and move into the bedroom. It won't be so bad, it will be like living in a dorm room. I'll take during and after photos to see how it all turned out

A Series of Extremes

It's impossible to sum up the last few weeks. A lot has happened in our lives since I last wrote in late December. In honor of a very special man who wanted his family to live their lives and find joy, I will focus on the things that give me joy, peace and fill me with gratitude. First there is my wonderful husband who makes my life an adventure. Through difficult times, I have the support of my amazing family and friends. I am also very grateful to work with the best team of people I have ever had the good fortune to be associated with. In the last few months they have really come through for me which has allowed me to come through for my family.

I've had several good times in the last few weeks too. New Year's Eve was spent in with friends and good food in front of our fire. A little before midnight we walked up the hill to Prospect Park to watch the fireworks. How lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place!

The next day we headed off to the winterwonderland that is Vermont in January.


I had never been to Vermont, and I loved it. It was all like a postcard. David, as always, patiently waited while I visited a couple of yarn shops. I really liked Black Sheep Yarns in Dorset. It was a lovely shop and I picked up some locally spun Silk / Wool blend. It was undyed, and I thought I'd use it to try my hand (finally) at natural dyeing.

Here are a few more glimpses of the snow covered town

Talk about an extreme shift . . . a couple of weeks later, we were in Barbados! The trip had been planned for a long time. It was a 50th birthday trip for my friend Tim. It came at a not entirely ideal time, but then again, David and I really did need the rest and relaxation.

We stayed at my friend's bosses house. It was really lovely.


Right inside the front door, there was a shelf full of beach treasures that guests had collected.


This little garden was just inside the front door. It had no ceiling, but instead a screen roof. This meant when it rained, it rained inside. Very cool.


The sitting area behind the dining area had no walls, just screen. It is so strange to have a house in such a temperate climate that a section of your house can have no walls!


Here's Tim and I in the living room.


The pool, just out back


David and I arrived late afternoon. We headed to the beach right away to take a dip while the sun went down. That's the birthday boy far right (Tim), and his friends Richard & Daryl (and me). This was the first of three spectacular sunsets.


The late afternoon light on the beach and the pink clouds were amazing.


The next morning we sat poolside for a bit. That's David's Tweed Boyfriend Sweater I'm working on. You don't think I'd go anywhere without a few projects, do you??


David spent most of that first day correcting homework by the pool, while we went into town. He was so behind from the week he took off of work, he had to take a ton of homework to paradise.
The rest of us took a short bus ride into town. It was an adorable little town, with some cute shops. There was a nice art gallery featuring all local artists. I picked up a rum cake for Tracey & Michelle back at work. I was missing both of their birthdays, and I wanted them to have a little bit of the island.



Later that afternoon we went back to the house and pried David away from his homework. We walked down the beach a bit to a lovely little beach bar. We had cocktails and watched spectacular sunset #2.

Sunday we made ourselves a fab lunch poolside


Sunday afternoon it was back to the beach for our last sunset.

Our traditional, take a picture of ourselves, picture. Even though any of the guys could have taken it, it would have broken with tradition.


There were these tiny little sand crabs that would come out of the little holes in the sand. They were adorable.
Our last, and perhaps, most spectacular sunset


For our last night, we made ourselves (mostly David) a wonderful meal and watched the Golden Globes. It was a magical place and very hard to leave.

This weekend I managed to finish a few things. I finally finished the cowl for the Fluffly Lace Camisole with Pull off Cowl.

I finished another two pairs of the Wool-Ease Thick and Quick socks. One for me (finally) and a pair for my pal Nell.


I also finished fixing the sleeves for David's Anniversary Sweater. It bothered him that the top of the sleeve and the bottom of the sleeve was so wide. I made this back in the day when I just chose a size and knitted, before I was changing patterns to fit people better. Luckily, it was an easy fix as the cast on edge was the top of the sleeve and then you decreased down to the cuff.

So, I took the sleeve off, and with a careful cut, I took about four inches off the top of the sleeve. This made the top of the sleeve much narrower, as the row that I now bound off was at a much narrower part of the sleeve.

Next I unbound off the bottom edge (the cuff) and knit the four inches I lost at the top, while continuing to decrease. This made the cuff narrower too!


Then, I sewed it all back together. The nice thing is my finishing is so much better then it was 2 1/2 years ago. When David gets home I'll take a new picture of him wearing it. I hope he likes it.