Monday, May 23, 2016

Knitting with intent

My long-weekend intention: FINISH A KNIT!  Man, I am getting desperate.


We're looking at over a year now of pretty much socks here at Hugs, aren't we?  And yet most of you are still here listening to me, a small miracle.  Were you reading back in the days when it was nonstop hats, each one different than the last?  Or nonstop spinning?  Yeesh.  I haven't touched my wheel in approximately 18 months, except to move it out of the way.  But here I am with a pair of nearly-finished socks and my goodness, I am going to finish them and get something new cast on if it kills me.  Which it probably won't, so I can make that remark with the confidence born of low risk.

I don't know how I ever managed without tile samples to serve as backdrops for sock photographs.  They aren't quite 'peeling front porch', but they're pretty good.

Tile samples and lighting boxes - the lights I ordered that weren't discontinued have started to arrive - and have taken over the best part of our condo: the window wall in the living room with pines and ferns planted outside so we can watch birds all day long.  I set it up for frequent use the minute we moved in, and I guess it is still frequent use, because I am so busy sorting out all the hard finishes for the house these days. 


I am trying not to be frightened about how many lighting boxes we will end up with, but the size of the Hudson Valley box doesn't bode well for us.  This is the smaller of the two kitchen ceiling lights, and there's a chandelier en route, too.

A big part of assessing tile options is deciding which paint colours might go well with the shortlisted candidates, and then deciding whether or not we can live with them.  So I am running a series of tests in a chair facing the windows for different paint colours.  I think that one on the left is a 'greige' (grey beige, and I don't know why it isn't just called 'slurry', though I lean toward 'mushroom' or 'stone', myself so I can hardly point fingers about whether or not to call a spade a spade.)


It is truly astonishing how much paint colours change from one family to another over the course of a day, as the sun moves across the sky and the light sources shift from dappled natural  light to lamps and ceiling fixtures. 

(Or in our case, a single lamp by the reading chair.  I can't test for ceiling fixtures here at the condo because for reasons I will never understand there aren't any, except over a place where the builders thought people might want to put their dining table.  And because the ceiling drywall is set right over cement, adding new fixtures is a bit complicated, involving new wires run from the electrical box in the distant laundry room and rods or beams strung across the ceiling to hide them.  I would be SO into doing this, if we were staying.  Or even if we hadn't already started dipping into the condo renovation budget to pay for more house.  I hate to leave it as less than it could be... I have really come to love this place and I feel all nesty about it.  You know those people who live in a place without feeling any particular attachment to it and can move without any hestitation whatsoever?  Maybe you are one of the lucky ones too in which case I would be so delighted if you would loan me some of your outlook.  Until the house is done I don't have to think about letting somebody else live here, so I'm trying not to, but I know it will be painful when the time comes.)

Logically, paint being difficult and changeable should make me want to run like the wind into the arms of practically any white, or maybe just into the general vicinity of pine boards, where I could peacefully enjoy colour in textile form.  I mean honestly, when was the last time your shawl changed colour in person?  On camera, yes, but never in person.


But no.  Last week when I was near the Benjamin Moore store, I picked up more paint samples.  Even now I couldn't tell you what I was thinking.  Am I really intending to paint a room pinky brown, or maritime blue?  I may have been looking at the top colours on the strip, and using the bottom colour as an indication of where I'd end up if I went too far, but even so.

Pretty sure I picked up the black swatches with our fireplace surround in mind.  Or maybe the porch?  Surely not a wall or three.

I really need to keep notes.

Or just knit the sock!  That's it, I'm going to go knit the sock.  There are still as many as eight viable hours left in this vacation day, and they're best spent on knitting, don't you think?

Hope you're having a good day too, and I'll see you tomorrow!


2 comments:

Laurinda said...

Too many choices- ACK!! But ooo, knitting (-: I really love the top left gray, & want it in my living room ASAP! Because what would highlight my art better than a lovely dark charcoal?
You're lucky that Pete helps you with some of the decorating decisions. My husband looks at the price tags & picks the cheapest D-:=
Also, because I'm apparently stuck in a (comfortable) rut, I cast on a third raglan shawl. Cape? Thingy. In a beautiful tweedy, navy blue, silk blend. Because I'm worth it

Mary Keenan said...

Laurinda, that grey is Benjamin Moore 'Gray Shower', 2125-30 :^)

Sometimes I wish Pete would pick the cheapest thing! We're both pretty practical about spending generally and only pay more when it's clear that it will save us in the long run (which is often, sigh) but honestly, it's gotten so that our first pick is made without looking at the price tag, and if the one we like turns out to be not the most expensive one, we celebrate. It almost never happens!