Those Weasley sweaters

Along with the progress on the house, there has also been progress on the Weasley sweaters. This is Adam's Ron sweater, also knitted in Webs Williamstown yarn in the Merlot colour.

I've nearly finished the knitting on both sweaters, but need to embroider the initials and sew the sweaters up. Both boys opted to have character initials rather than their own. I need to get a wiggle on with the finishing as the scout halloween party is on the 20th so I don't have too long!

Raising the roof

This week the roof framing has gone up. It's fabulous to see the house taking shape, and the layout of the mezzanine/loft looks great.



Hopefully the actual roof will go on next week, but it sounds like not soon enough...roofing scheduled for Thursday, rain arriving Tuesday...please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Week Six: progress

There was a lot of visible progress on the house this week. On Monday the insulating contractor came to install the under-floor insulation. We dont have this through the rest of the house and it really seems to deaden noise so it's definitely something to put on the list...(for when we get some more money of course)

By Monday night the new sub-floor and gone down. Once the floor was down the framing started. Photo below shows the framing for the windows at the front and the large beam in the foreground is the main support for the roof at the back. This is the height of our rear wall and will have large windows and french doors.

On Thursday the framing for the loft was in place. You can see the new loft gallery in front of the kitchen door. Oddly enough the water heater is right back where it was positioned when we bought the house - bang in front of the door. You can also see the lower level of the new mud room/back door in this photo.



On Friday the roof started to go up. The maximum height of the new build is 1' higher than our existing roof line, but the main roof line will also be raised to match the height.

It's really exciting to see the house actually taking shape. However the fun is about to start - I spent the entire weekend clearing everything out of the kitchen because next week they need to open the kitchen roof to tie the new roof the the existing joists. Sadly I mised Lambtown, but Lambtown will be there next year (I hope) when I will have plenty of new storage for additional fiber purchases!

Music Man

The boys both earn an allowance by good school work, and chores, with an option for some extra for extra chores and/or maths.

This summer Adam saved all his pocket money; he did a lot of extra maths, cleaning my car, and helping in the garden....and this is what he was saving for:

He started his lessons this week and is thrilled that his is already learning 'songs' (Peter Gunn and Brain Stew apparently). He came back from his first lesson and played what he learnt. The following day we bought his headphones for the amp!

House update - week six

Stuff has been happening on the house, although not much of it is visible (and do you really want to see our nice new sewer after all?).

We just had the under-floor inspection so the next step is insulation and subfloor going down. Then the framing of the walls starts and the house will really start to take shape.

DYB DYB DYB*

Never one to be left out - Finlay has joined the cub scouts. Here is our newly minted Tiger cub in his brand new uniform:

The boys both went to a popcorn fundraiser outside Lunardis on Sunday so both were duly shined and polished. Adam has graduated to be a Bear Cub this year and was keen to show his little brother the ropes. Here they are demonstrating the cub scout salute.

*Do Your best - but cubs and scouts in the USA don't appear to say this.

85% beer bottles

On Friday Nigel and I took a trip to Point Richmond to chose our new kitchen countertop. You might ask why we went 1.5 hours away just to get a counter - but I have to say it was more fun than I expected chosing a counter to be.

We went to a factory sale at Vetrazzo which is located in the old Ford plant. This factory was built in 1931 for the Ford model A production line. It's a quarter of a mile long, and with north-facing skylights is naturally lit for most of the time. The old building was rescued and restored and is now the home of several 'green' companies.

Vertrazzo make counters from recycled glass. 85% of the content is post-consumer waste with a cement binder. The colour range depends on the particular glass content. We chose a colour called 'Alehouse Amber' which is made from recycled beer bottles - apparently up to 1000 bottles in each slab. Here we are in front of our future kitchen counter:

Close up you can see that this particular slab (which was an experimental variation of alehouse amber - hence it's inclusion in the sale) also has green, blue, and some red glass.

Check back some time in December* to see the finished counter in our kitchen.

* I hope...

A busy week chez Ferretworld

After what seemed like a slow week on the house, this week has been eventful! We had the first inspection at noon on Wednesday, by 2pm this was parked in the street:



I was astonished that we had 3 concrete mixers full of concrete in this relatively small extension, and that the activity was so frenetic. The concrete supplier told us that 2 years ago he was doing 2-3 projects a day, now he is pleased to get one a week!


The contractor was filling the footings with thicker concrete, then adjusted the mix for more runny concrete to fill the forms. Runnier concrete goes around the re-bar easier, with fewer airpockets, and leaves a smoother finish on the exposed part of the foundation. The tall pipes in the foreground are the vents for the new plumbing in the utility room, the plumber was using the pipes to test for leaks before the plumbing gets encased in the concrete floor!

Yesterday the forms came off and we have foundations! You can really feel what the new layout will be like, and we walked around the 'rooms' last night fantasizing about how we will furnish them!

Monday should see the lumber delivery - so we move into a new phase of construction.

On the needles: Weasely Sweaters

So, the boys are going to be Harry Potter and Ron Weasely at Halloween. Adam will be Ron, Fin will be Harry. We have already made the robes, and with help from Nana assembled the rest of the costumes. (She sent school shirts and ties from the Liphook and Southampton charity shops - thanks Mammie!).

It's usually pretty warm in October here, but sometimes Halloween can be cold, so I decided that as a knitter, the least I could do was to produce some Mollie Weasely Sweaters.

Im using the pattern from Charmed Knits which I got from the library. I'm using Webs' Williamstown in Navy for the Harry sweater, and Merlot for Ron's sweater.

The yarn is a wool/acrylic mix and feels nice and soft. I'm planning to add the initials with duplicate stitch (swiss darning).

Kick Off!

Saturday saw the start of the soccer season. Both boys are in a league this year and played their first ever games last weekend.

In Finlay's age group the coaches also run about on the field shouting instructions...eg "Kick it towards the goal" and "spread out". Fin* is in the middle of this shot in the maroon, playing for the Iguanas in jersey number 5.

* Finlay has announced his intention to be known as Fin and has arranged with his teacher and soccer team to call him Fin.

Week four - for Gill

Long-time-reader (and sister) Gill asked 'what has happened to your kitchen and playroom doors?'

I'm waving from what is my kitchen door. The following picture is the playroom and kitchen doors, along with a nice montage of all the colours these rooms have been painted (what were we thinking with that lavender colour?).

In other house news, Sunday's rain has created a nice new stain in the dining room, fortunately this part of the ceiling will also get demolished at some stage.

Gold Rush

We spent the Labor day weekend in Gold Country. We took the boys to Columbia State historic park which was a great success. Columbia was an early Gold Rush town, and at one point it was one of the largest towns in California with some of the richest gold deposits.

A surprising hit was some children's toys that the park rangers had available. Finlay was a demon with the hoop rushing up and down the street.

They also enjoyed the tug of war...

We visited the school house where they were appalled by the dunce's cap, and we stopped for a sasparilla at the saloon where the major attraction was being able to throw peanut shells on the floor!

Finally, of course we panned for gold. The boys took this very seriously and were thrilled to be rewarded with some tiny flakes of gold which they bought home.

Sunday we visited Railtown 1897 in Jamestown where we rode on one of the steam locomotives.

We had a great weekend in Gold Country, staying again in Murphys with the obligatory trip to Nelson's Candy store.

Week three - laying the foundations

Most of the digging is done and the contractors are beginning to set the forms for the concrete foundations. The shape of the extension is beginning to be apparent - the forms here are the perimeter of the new construction.

We still have some further foundation work, but that is under the house and will be done when the kitchen is out..something fun to look forward to!

Week 2: Day 1

Week two of the remodeling project. Today was a lot of digging - I am very grateful that it was not me!

This trench is the beginning of the foundations for the extension. The new foundations are 8" thick.

Russian Ridge

On Sunday we went for a hike up at the Russian Ridge OSP. It's part of the huge peninsular open space preserve on skyline blvd. Russian Ridge is basically above Portola Redwoods - but is worlds apart in terms of landscape.

This view looking westwards from the trail.



Nigel and Adam had previously been to Russian Ridge with the scouts and been rained on while in the valley we had a nice day...so we were expecting it to be cool. San Jose on Saturday experienced record-breaking heat, and Sunday it was still HOT up on the ridge.

The trail was quite sandy and we were able to see a lot of animal prints: coyote, deer, and this one...



Quite a substantial mountain lion print!

My beautiful laundrette*

Losing the utility room meant that I lost the space for my stacked washer/dryer. While I try not to use the dryer much I do use the washing machine almost every day and the prospect of endless trips to the laundrette was somewhat depressing.

After a casual conversation with one of the contractors who said that they had previously connected washing machines on patios temporarily, Nigel and I got to work.

After a quick trip to Ace Hardware for hoses and an 18 gallon bucket we had created our temporary laundrette in a rubbermaid shed on the deck. We also get the benefit of greywater for the garden while the sprinkler system is out of action due to construction.

Nigel and I have been congratulating ourselves on the Heath_Robinson nature of the setup. I think that in the USA, Heath Robinson is not well known and people use the reference to McGuyver to describe this sort of cobbled-together contraption.

* I was shocked when I looked up the reference for the film to discover that I saw it in 1986....makes me feel old

Last day of summer

On the last day of the school holidays the boys and I went to the beach. Rio del Mar beach again by popular request.

We took a picnic and Adam's new skim board. They have been earning extra pocket money doing hard labour in the garden!

For those who have not seen one in action a skim board is like a small flat wooden surfboard. You throw it into shallow water at the water's edge, while the wave is receeding, and ride the board out on the wave. I can assure you that it's much harder than it looks!

Finlay and I stuck to the boogie boards. No Sea Otters this time but there were a lot of dolphins and seals, one of which came up very close to have a look at us.

On the Needles: Chirimen sweater

I've cast on a new project. This is design number 12 from Jenny Watson's book for Noro: "Flowers". Christina sent me this book and had singled out this design as being one I would like, and it was the first one that captured my attention.

The yarn is Noro Chirimen, one of the new range of Noro yarns. Chirimen is a double knit weight yarn of 60% cotton, 24% silk, 16% wool, with the typical long colour runs that Noro yarn is famed for. This yarn is colour 001 which is considered 'black, taupe, and grey', I saw a sample of another sweater knitted in this colour at Yarndogs which was predominantly black and taupe, however my sweater seems to have a lot of a lovely pistachio green and a light smoky blue as well.

I'm knitting this for me, although clearly my desire for another Noro sweater outweighs my need!

First day of term

The boys headed off for the first day of first and third grade respectively.



Finlay was excited about being a first grader, getting his own desk, and meeting friends, but also a bit shy about his new classroom. Adam wouldnt admit to looking forward to going back...summer holidays are much more fun!

Now you see it...

now you don't. Here is our house on Day 2 of the remodeling project.

The space seems very small without walls. The new area that we are building on this part of the house will be nearly 400 square feet bigger.

Chez Ferretworld

Ferretworld took an unplanned blogging break during August - but here is the main reason why... on Sunday the house looked like this:

This morning it looks like this:

We have spent a lot of time doing this:

and a little time doing this:

(Not really - but the contractor asked the boys yesterday if they wanted a one-time-only opportunity to bash holes in the wall with a hammer...and this is the same guy that bought his delightful border collie...so he was very popular yesterday).

Off the needles: Indigo Ripples

I don't think this skirt made it to an 'on the needles' post - but here it is...already finished.


The pattern is Cat Coyle's 'Indigo Ripples' from Interweave Knits Spring 2007 issue. I knitted it in Elann Den-M-Nit cotton. The Elann yarn is similar to Rowan Denim that I have previously knitted two sweaters from. I really disliked the Rowan for it's colour bleeding and it was harsh to knit. I preferred the Elann yarn, it seemed softer, and although there was some colour bleeding onto my hands when knitting it was much less.

I got gauge with 3mm needles which seemed impossibly tiny to knit a skirt, but actually it was rather a quick knit - maybe 4 weeks or so. I tried to knit true to size, with the intention of wearing the skirt at my natural waist - but in fact it sits better on my hips and is a better length worn on the hips. The yarn is intended to shrink when washed and it actually shrank not only in length but also in width slightly. Before washing the skirt was 25" and after washing and going through the dryer it was 21". This has made the knitted fabric nice and dense and I wore the skirt today without a great deal of bagging at the seat.

I did end up modifying the ruffle like Amy did to line up the feather and fan on the ruffle, but other than that knitted the skirt according to the pattern.

Surfin' Safari

The last few weeks have been rather frenetic here at Ferretworld - more details shortly. In the meantime some photos from the last few weeks here. We spent our vacation close to home - mostly at the beach!

Nigel and the boys at Rio Del Mar beach

At Rio Del Mar with Julie and Flossie

We get Jules into the water!

The boys at Sunset SB

Adam just bought a skim board so I anticipate another trip to the beach in the near future!

Where in the world: Windy City edition

I spent last week on business in Chicago - and actually it was the most fun I've had while working for a long time. I was speaking at a conference, and I enjoyed both the conference and the venue. It was fun to be in a big city for a week.

Here is a photo taken on State Street under the L (elevated railroad), it seemed a quintessentially Chicago view.

Our hotel was on South Michigan Drive which is basically the main drag north/south, near several parks and close to the lake. We were near the Millenium Park and I did go and see some of the sculptures including The Bean, otherwise known as Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, it was actually pretty great...you can see me in the green shirt taking the photo.

One afternoon I skipped out and did an architecture river tour by the Chicago Institute of Architects as recommended on Ravelry. Chicago certainly seems overloaded with excellent buildings, both public and private. I especially loved the new Public Library. This is a view from the river of the Willis tower (formerly the Sears Tower).

On the last night I went out with my team for Chicago Deep Pan pizza, which I have to say, I was not so keen on...I prefer my pizza crispy I think. However it's the local 'thing' so I had to try it. I had a nice evening and we walked back to the hotel. I stayed at the Chicago Hilton, and had this great view from my window.

I guess a lake view would have been 'nicer' but I never get tired of looking out on the city, especially from a room with excellent soundproofing.

More yarn

This is some yarn I spun since I spun the Columbine yarn. I was trying to make a thicker yarn to knit a hat or cowl or something.

The fibre is from Tactile Fiber Arts and I bought it at Stitches West 2009. Its a Blue Faced Leicester combed top in colour 'dogwood'. Tactile use natural dyes and the colours are pretty and delicate. I love the pink/green colour combination and wanted to preserve the long colour transitions, so I spun the top without splitting it, and then navajo/chain plied it. I had tried navajo plying previously but it was much easier with my tensioned kate. I have 85 yards from 2oz of fibre, although I had spun a little of it on my drop spindle so the yarn is actually about 1.7oz.