I'm Still Knitting

 I am still knitting, and I'm going to show you here in a minute.  But before I do that, let me show you today's project.  

First, here is the before shot-- taken a couple of years ago, because I didn't think to do a before shot this morning:

Ever since I moved into this house, I've been talking about turning this corner into a reading nook.  Eventually, I'd like to close that door completely off, and just make it into a little snug area.  Then, I'd widen the doorway between the kitchen and living room, so that the heat from my wood stove flows into the living room better.  

The problem is finding a local contractor who'll actually show up...Most of them don't want to do small jobs like this.  Unless you're remodeling the whole house at once, you're just out of luck.  Around here, at least. I still haven't found someone to come hang my shutters...that hasn't blown me off, that is.  

But enough about that...

As I said,  today's project was one I've been meaning to do for a long time now.  I just kept procrastinating.  You'll all be pleased to know, today, I finally stopped the aforementioned procrastinating, and got 'er done.

And what was that project, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you.

I moved that gun cabinet out of there, and moved this little bookshelf from Cody's room into the spot where it stood.

Moving that big, dark cabinet out of there makes the whole room look bigger and brighter.

I'm planning on getting some sort of little lamp to put on top of that bookshelf.  I have to run into town tomorrow after work, so I may just run by the store and see what they have.  And since we're getting off at 2:00 instead of 4:00, I'll actually have time to run into town after work tomorrow.  I'm also thinking about getting an old looking framed map of the Republic Of Texas to hang over it. 

Oh, and I want to get rid of that whole chair rail thing.  I've never been fond of chair rails anyway, so it's got to go.  I know it's going to be more expensive, but I'd like to take all the walls down to the studs, get the wiring up to code -- because I'm sure it's not -- and just re-do it all.  I'm going to put spray foam insulation on all the exterior walls as well, plus put new, energy efficient windows in.  

I don't even want to think about how much overtime I'm going to have to work to pay for all that!

Anyway, while I was standing there admiring my handiwork, I noticed the other side of that chair had become a bit cluttered and dusty, so that was the next project. 

Just a little bit of tidying and it looks much better.  

That's not dirt on the floor.  It's actually primer from when I painted the bricks.  I had tape and drop cloths down, but somehow, it migrated under the plastic and stained the floor.  Since I intend to replace all the flooring eventually, I haven't really worried too much about it.  I did get in there after I took the picture and scrubbed it up with a little steel wool, so it's not as obvious.  I also cleaned the dirt off the wall.  Heh, I probably ought to do that stuff before I take pictures, shouldn't I?  

Finally, as promised, here is the evidence of my knitting.  This one is another charity hat, made from Red Heart.  

I haven't gotten as far on this one because this yarn isn't the best to knit with.  However, it'll soften up quite a bit when I wash it, so I'm carrying on.  But I've also been working on this scarf some. 

I started it a few years ago, when I went up to Missouri to watch the eclipse with my friend Peggy.  Thus, I've named it the Eclipse Scarf, even though a few months ago, I ripped it all out and started over.  I'd decided it was too narrow.  For reals.  I mean, it's still pretty narrow, but it was even more narrow before.  

The pattern is Trekking Is For Necking, from the now defunct NipperKnits blog.  Fortunately, I'd printed out a copy before she took the site down.  The yarn is Lion Brand Mandela, in the Spirit colorway.

I had to google it, because I lost the ball band a long time ago.