Some assembly required

I like knitting things. I do not like the finish work. I wish I could just knit and be done. But for these gourds I had to knit, felt, dry, stuff, make the little segment parts, knit the stems and then sew them on. Whew.


I have no idea what I am going to to with so many of these. And yet I want to make more. I still have the ones that were white, then green and ugly. Now they are dark blue/purple and still ugly. They are wet. I'll probably stuff them when they are dry. Or maybe I'll do it next year.

The TV fairy came! Woot! Unfortunately the Get-rid-of-the-old-HUGE-TV-and MASSIVE-TV-cabinet fairy has not come yet. It's probably going to be a couple weeks at least as we already have weekend plans this weekend and next.

Ellie's thrown all the gourds on the floor. Now Louise is batting them around. Maybe they are just toys?

Today

Today we found a frog (or a "rog" if you are Ellie) in the yard. I don't think Ellie understood it was real. She kept saying "rog! rog! rog!" and then it hopped. She SQUEALED. I told her it was hopping. Then she proceeded to say "hop, hop, hop" until it moved again. And she SQUEALED. Then we petted it. She jumped around and stomped her feet. "ROG!!!!" It was amazing to see it through her eyes. She was completely amazed. Every time it jumped, she jumped back and laughed.

Today Miss Mary asked "Mom, how does a baby come out of your body?" Eeek! It was right before bedtime. I said "you go to the hospital and the doctor helps you." That was my answer I gave her once before when she asked a similar question. She said "no, I mean, where does it come out of your body? How does the doctor do it?" I said "hmm, well, now that I think about it the doctor doesn't really do that much but stand there and make money." Then she asked me what the doctor does with the money. John told her the doctor uses it to buy ponies. End of conversation. Whew.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

TV stand...after

First, let remind you of the before:

And after:

I paid $40 for the dresser and the mirror (you can sort of see it backwards and upside down behind the dresser in the before pic). We're keeping the mirror. I'll find a use for it some day. So the dresser as I am using it wasn't really the full $40. I used primer and paint we had. We also had the paint brushes, rollers, etc. I bought the glaze. It was $17, but I used maybe 1/5 of it. Probably less. I had the wipe on poly. I bought the spray paint for the handles. It was $6.99. I used less than half of it. I can't believe I'm replacing our huge $700 TV cabinet with something that was under $50 including the supplies to completely revamp it. But the old one is large and takes way too much room in our tiny living room. I am not sure what we are going to do with it though. We pretty much need someone to come and take it out of here. There's no way John and I can get it out of the house ourselves.

Still waiting on the TV fairy too. But I think he is waiting to figure out what to do with the old TV and cabinet. I think if the TV fairy just had to drive to the store and get his new TV, he would have already done it.

They look like Easter eggs

Or something. They sure don't look like gourds/pumpkins yet. And the white ones are now green. I cannot get white things to felt and stay white. I put them in with the lightest jeans I have. They turned blue. Very light blue. Just enough to make them look dirty. Ugh. So, I dyed them green. I ran them all through the dryer, but they are so thick that they are still damp. They'll have to air dry a few days before I can stuff them.

I got a first coat of poly on the dresser last night and it looks so nice. I'll lightly sand it tonight and do one more coat. Then it will be done. Think there's any chance of me finding a working flat screen TV tomorrow while I'm at the community yard sale?

Hmm, I have no idea what to do next.

I think I need help

I think I need a 12 step program. Or an intervention. I can't stop making these things! (oh, they'll become felted gourds when they are done) They are so easy to knit up. Then I have to felt them, let them dry, stuff them and make the stems. 

These are the ones I made last year for my Mom.

Only one more day until I can work on my dresser again! Woot! Then maybe I'll stop knitting these dang things. Because assembling them is no fun at all. But they are a good way to use up my yarn stash.

What is it?

John saw the first one I made. It was the yellow and white one. He asked "What the heck is this?" I told him it was a hand knit willy warmer, but I was joking. 

I'm dumb....

I put the drawers back in without the handles. Now there's no way to easily get them back out.


I've got my helper with me today:).


Detail shot of the drawers


I think I am done glazing. I need to look at it tonight when Ellie's not down there with me. I also need to figure out what to do with the exposed area of the inside. Paint it? Cover it with cool wallpaper or scrapbook paper? Nothing? Paint color--blue to match or black? Hmmm. I can't visualize it with the DVD player and the DVR inside. I'll have to think about it.

Pictures!

I started glazing the dresser last night. I would have done the entire thing, but I had to go watch Lost with John. I should be able to finish the dresser itself tonight, and maybe work on the drawers a bit. I think it's going to take two coats of glaze in some areas.

These pics aren't the best. I took them down in the basement and it is overcast today. You can see where I have done and where I haven't between where the drawers go.

Here's the side:

Here's one of the top drawers that won't be going back in. I used it to practice as I had never glazed before. Oh, and I put the hardware back on to see how it looked. I love it!

I am so excited about this project! Like I said, I've never glazed anything before. I was nervous about it. I liked how the dresser looked just painted and considered leaving it. I am so glad I didn't. I can't wait to finish it and see it with the drawers in.

Us.

Here we are on Easter. We'd been at church for a good hour and a half. The girls were hungry and tired. I still think the picture came out really well. (and could John be any better looking?) Hmm, I just realized that not only did I dress the girls in matching outfits, but John and I match too. That was not on purpose!

I'm making progress on my dresser. I got the final coat of paint on it tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to start glazing it Wednesday night. I am not sure how many coats of glaze it will take or how many evenings that will take. I'll be practicing on the three drawers that won't be going back in. After I'm done glazing, I'll have to wait a week to use some poly on it. That will take 2 or 3 coats, with 24 hours between coats. Of course we don't even have the new TV yet or a plan to get rid of the old one. But I'm still plugging away. Hoping to have some new pictures soon.

No foolin'

Down 30.6 pounds since 10/12/09.