This WIP is gonna have to wait until next year.....

Despite my best efforts - I did not finish dry-walling.

I only took pictures of the parts I DID do ;-)



Next year is another year - it will be finished in good time.

{This moment}

***

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Wishing you a joyous weekend!

From Soulemama

Electricity done

After two intense day's, I'm done with the new and the old electricity in the attic.
Chainsaws and powerlines just don't mix well.

We now have:

The hotel circuit restored, which allows the light in the first attic to be switched in the attic as well as on the first floor. (Phew - this was my biggest fear - not beeing able to restore this)

Integrated lights in the ceiling of the dormer - in both rooms, independently wired.

Three new outlets in the craftroom.
Two "old" outlets in the craftroom restored.

The door between rooms was moved - because the old one was an arched doorway. With the dormer this just does not look right anymore.

Light-switches of both rooms have been moved because of this.

In the utility room I have changed the outlets for the washing machines to be on a different circuit. Number three was just getting too big now. Both machines run now on circuit 1 which was brought up from the bathroom on the first floor.

Two other outlets in the utility room have been restored, and a new one has been installed by the doorway - think ironing board ;-)

Both rooms have functioning ceiling lights now, the second room suffered from an error for the last years - I installed it myself several years ago, and erred with the hotel circuit which was intended then. Oh well, we were using a standing light without even thinking twice about it.

And by the way - the hall light for the first floor? It too has been restored to fully functioning hotel circuit.

I'm really tired, but satisfied with my work!

Insulation

The most important thing of a building and any extention or alteration is to insulatate.

It's really quite easy to do:

Spray small openings and/or odd ones with builders foam. (be careful not to get it on your clothes though... it's horrible!)



Then evenly space small wooden bars - ideally so, that you can cover them with plasterboard without trouble.



Stuff the insulation between the bars.



I will have to restore the electrical wiring before I close up with plasterboard - but that's optional!

All the best wishes for all of you!

Saturday, the 18th of december

I´ll try to recapture the whole journey with the dormer on our roof.

This was the before situation:


The big surprise was the snow - an the freezing cold!

Very early in the morning they started - -5 degrees Celsius and no daylight yet.



Look at him - showeling snow on the rooftop - mindboggling! I have vertigo ;-)
Nope, he's not preparing for Santa - he's preparing for destruction.



By lunchtime our house was destroyed.





Then - thank heavens - some actual building started.



It went really fast actually.



By four pm the builders left - and we had a dormer.

from the inside:



and from the outside:



What I not quite realized was, that the work then just started.......

Waltz on by Wednesday

Even though I'm kinda swamped with the extention of the attic, I'm gonna join WOB Wednesday.





The insulation goes in - a second layer, as I don't think the standard 7.5 cm are enough these days.
Today we resurrect the electrical wiring.

Keep your fingers crossed, that we finish this year!

{This moment}

Step by step ......

I'm almost done washing and moving all my fabric stash.

Today I put the primer on the shelves. These are in use for almost ten years now, they moved to me when my old neighbors went away. I always planned to colour them white. Finally now I have the space to flip them over - this is as good as it get's!



The table will be disassembled tomorrow. For now it's really useful:


I covered as much as I could with used boxes from the snackbar - I hope it will be enough protection when the roof will open up.



The utility room is ready to be cleared as well, as the last load of fabric is washed.




Onwards!

Craftroom tetris

In the last two months I had cleaned out the attic to make myself an dedicated craftroom.
Luck will have it, that I now have to disassamble all of it, because we will get an extention.

Craftroom tetris at its best ......... wish me strength.

At least I will see ALL of my stash again, because I have to move it ;-)

Half way point:

These will house all random crafting supplies - no fabric or fibre though.


The fabric stash closet. It's all prewashed now, I took the opportunity ;-)



This desk is (was) for crafting and shipping. This is the side where the extention will be installed.


The cutting table and another closet:


The almost cleared side of the craftroom. Next week this will look very different.


I'll keep you posted!

{This moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Happy Weekend to you!

The baby is almost a grown-up now

IMG_3699
Originally uploaded by breiduiveltje

Where did time go?
It's december.....

{This moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments at SOUL MAMA's blog for all to find and see.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Finishing things.........

Yesterday I've finished the Celtic knot stole I've been knitting off and on since the end of august. I love this pattern!



I've finished "Anna Karenina" from audible - read by the much beloved Davina Porter. It was a very enjoyable experience - surely because I was spinning the lovely fibres from David at Southern Cross Fibres meanwhile.
Because of the raving critics and the fact that I very much liked the october installment of the club spun into navajo plied bulky yarn, I'll try to do the same to my february 2009 club - "Love over gold", also Polwarth.



In the evening I've finished reading "The Angel's game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I think it's a MUST READ for everybody that enjoyes the magical world of books.



The year is ending as well, leaves colouring, temperatures falling slowly. I enjoy this season very much!

Golf Balls, Marbles, Sand.

** I'm still trying to find the correct source for this gem - I'll let you know as soon as I find out!**

On the first day of class, a university professor stood in front of his philosophy class with an empty jar.

Without saying a word to his students, he removed the lid of the jar and filled it with golf balls. When no more golf bars fit he closed the jar with its lid. He then asked his class, “Would you say that the jar is now full?” His students observed the jar and concluded that the jar was indeed full.

The professor then proceeded to open the jar up and started inserting marbles into the jar. The marbles started to fill the gaps between the golf balls. After sealing the jar, he asked his class once again if they thought the jar was now full. The class concluded that the jar was indeed now full.

The professor opened the jar a third time and started pouring in sand. Obviously, the sand started filling the gaps between the golf balls and the marbles. He then sealed the jar and asked his class a third time if the jar was full. His class chuckled and replied in unison, “Yes, it is now full!”

The professor opened the jar and emptied two small cups of coffee in the jar. The liquid completely filled the gap between the golf balls, the marbles, and the grains of sand. He then began his lecture.

“I hope you realise that life is very much like this jar. The golf balls represent the important things in life, like faith, family, loved ones, health, things that you care intimately about. If we lost everything else in life, our lives would still be ‘full’. The marbles are the other things in our lives that are important, but our happiness shouldn’t depend on them. Things like our work, our house, our car, etc. Finally, the sand represents everything else; the small stuff.

“If we were to have filled our jar up with sand first, there we wouldn’t have had enough room for the marbles or the golf balls. If we use all our life and energy on the small stuff, we won’t have any room for the important things.”

After a brief moment of silence one of the students asked, “Professor, what does the coffee represent?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked,” replied the professor. “It means that no matter how full your life is, there is always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.”

{This moment}

Food for thought and a smile...

UNNATURAL LAWS

O'Reilly's Law of the Kitchen: Cleanliness is next to impossible.

Lieberman's Law: Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.

Amercrombie's Law : No good deed ever goes unpunished.

Shrimpelheimer's Version : Virtue is its own punishment.

Gold's Law: If the shoe fits, it's ugly.

Handy Guide to Modern Science: If it's green or it wiggles, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it doesn't work, it's physics; if there's a mushroom cloud over it, run like hell.

Green's Law of Debate: Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

Perry's Postulate: For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Oliver's Law of Location: No matter where you go, there you are.

Rabbet's Law: When the going gets tough the tough -- all leave.

Glyme's Formula for Success: The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made.

Cole's Law = shredded cabbage.

{This moment}

Adopted

My neighbor was just here, bringing me a new addition to my wheel collection. Yes, it indeed is a collection by now.

It's an old model "Schippertje" - boatsman if you like.

He got it from his grandmother, and since he is a grandfather for a long time himself, this wheel is most certainly older than I am.



I will clean it and add a new driveband, and have a spin with it. Love the lazy kate - which is detachable - with FOUR bobbins.

Morsbags

IMG_3465
Originally uploaded by breiduiveltje

I've joined morsbags.com.
It's a brilliant initiative, and I will morsbag every customer that spends more than 10 Euro's in Alke's Attic.
For now I have 8 bags, only waiting for the labels.

{This moment}

Doornroosje......

I was asked about 30 times today which part of the wheel pricks into fingers...
;-)
Shame I don't have a flax wheel!

Appearantly there are a few spinners in my little village - and everybody wanted to know where I got the lovely Polwarth I was spinning. Southern Cross Fibre's of course!

It was a lovely day with lots of interesting conversations.

{This moment}

Alke's Attic opened today.

Alke's Attic opens it's doors!

It was a dream for a long time...
Now, after more than two months of preparations, I'm proud to present:

Alke's Attic

A walk through the garden

Yesterday was the last allotment check I needed to clear without getting a citation. I did it!
Probation is over, I'm once again a "normal" member of the allotment society.

Due to the heavy rains in august the garden is almost overgrown now.

Butternut sqash and courgette taking over the rest:



The thornless blackberry keeps producing! I see lots of muffins in my winter!


The galia and watermelons didn't do very well - but we did harvest peppers!



Bed 6 is cleared and was dug over yesterday. It was to dry first for the Kohlrabi - they all split.



We keep harvesting broccoli and dill.......



Brussels sprouts and cole.



Beetroots are preserved already, and we have eaten the broad beans - very few this year.



Next year I'm gonna leave the trallis for the legumes to be taken over by the cucumbers. The plants on the ground got sick again.



I have canned green and waxbeans already, but I'm expecting a second harvest from those plants. It's a VERY good bean year.
The horseradish is back as expected, I'll try to use it this year ;-)




the second plum tree is producing nicely this year, that's a first!

The cherries are cut down to regulation: