Knitting in the North

I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to sit at my own computer in my own dining room, uploading photos and writing a blog entry. A sigh of relief fills me as I type. I had no idea how attached I would become to blogging, but my soul loves the sharing of what I'm doing and who I am, and I'm grateful and appreciative of all you who read, and share your own souls in turn. Here is the promised photo of the baby socks I finished during hell week. You may recognize the yarn, it is the self-same Patons Krazy Stripes that I made Katie. I thought I would have enough to just "whip up" a pair for Gwen, and set to it. Then, just as I came to the toe, I realized I was not going to have enough, and fished another ball of this out of the stash. Then, I decided to just knit as long as I could with the bit that was left, and ended up finishing with the original ball! I had approximately 10cm(3.94") of yarn after grafting the toe. How perfect! My frugal self hates, hates, hates wasting yarn, and this kind of economy pleases me immensely. To knit 2 pairs of socks, from 1 ball of yarn, and have basically no waste at the end? What could be better than that? I'll tell you what could be better than that - using my dining room again! For those of you who love renovations, here are the before and after shots of my lovely room. At least - after so far. I have purchased new curtains, and we have now decided to repaint, as well. I'll show you the real after shot later, once we finally get there. It will be a bit, since now that the dining room is done, Stuart is doing the kitchen floor as well. As happy as I am to have this new, beautiful floor. (And I am happy. Really. We have been living with this old floor for the past 5 years, always meaning to re-do it, and never getting there. Both Brian and Gwen have done their bit, finding weak spots in the old, brittle tile, and breaking bits off and trying to eat them. Gross.) Still, I am dreading the thought of no kitchen for the next week, or however long it takes Stuart the wonder husband to finish. He's a very hard worker, and I do so appreciate his willingness to work all day, come home to take care of the kiddies while I go to work, and then spend an hour or two renovating our floor. We are very fortunate, though, that Jeannie is in the basement, and is willing to let me invade her little kitchen every time I need a cup of tea, or whatever. So I should stop complaining, I mean, look at my new floor! So thrilling! Just in case any of you notice, yes, the light fixture is higher in the second picture. We had the dining table under the light before, and tied the light up high while we were flooring. (I use we very, very, loosely.) Now that it's up there, I kind of like it, and am thinking of centering the table on the wall with the picture of Wales on it, where the bookshelf used to stand. Knitting progress continues on the Pirate Sweater, and Brian's socks. It's all about Brian this week, although I'm planning to take time today or tomorrow to weave in ends and block the ISE scarf. I'd really like to get this in the post this week, although I'm still on the hunt for some little goodies to include in the package. I'm pretty new at this exchange stuff, and am unsure. What do you all send, if you send parcels?