Thursday, November 27, 2014

Making coffee cute, with knits

Pete's been bringing home Tim's every weekend for just about ever, but the last couple of weeks I've gone a bit swoon-y because look:


If you are reading this from a comfy chair in the U.S., you may be unfamiliar with Tim Hortons: this iconic Canadian chain of coffee shops is an integral part of most family road trips and hospital visits, morning or afternoon klatches for seniors, after game snacks for kids, weekend renovation projects, and Saturday morning crosswords.

And this winter, their cups are decorated with Christmas sweaters.  The cute!!


I love these designs so much...


Even though they kind of cheat and just superimpose the reindeers on the knit stitches.


In other news, Omigosh renovation.  What is it with Pete and me and fixer-uppers?

When we bought our tiny house, we breakfasted on Tim's coffee and Tim's donuts for several Saturday and Sunday mornings on the then-cement stoop.  You know, to shore us up for another day of cleaning and repairing and painting so the place was ready to accommodate our possessions, with results that would have had Mack Sennett taking notes.

(the most shocking job was also the easiest: removing the ivy that grew on the brick outside, in through a rotting window frame, and along a bedroom wall.)

The condo is nowhere near as rough as the house was, so Pete is sticking with the office while I do what needs doing on my own.  Which is mostly wallpaper removal and painting, fueled more by ham sandwiches than coffee and donuts.  And unlike the house, in whose garage we found a discarded album of wedding photos, the condo had been lived in for many years by a devoted couple who clearly enjoyed their home and were lavish with amazing paintings on every wall.  You can actually feel the happiness they left behind.

So... not a hardship to be there, washing down papered walls with an audiobook for company, and wondering how best to fit a tub into the less than 5' run of space in the master bath... which is currently tiled over, its drain location to be discovered after I get up the nerve to tackle the tile removal.

Just... kind of overwhelming at the point in the year when Tim's is already using Christmas cups. 


Isn't it lucky that chunky gift cowls only take a couple of hours to knit?


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