In which Jenn gets a her hot little hands on a craft room

So, on Saturday, our roommate P moved out. (Who, for the record, is so selfish & nutty that he banned our friends J & M from coming to the house while he was living there, because he and J exchanged words,(J insulted P's ex-girlfriend and P insulted J's wife) and J apologized. However P wasn't satisfied so he told us that we could never again have them at the house while he was living there. Normally, I would not have agreed to this and would have told him where to stick it, but then Ry pointed out to me that he's on meds and keeps guns in the house, so I kept my mouth shut. So that's the back story about P.) There are three exciting things that come out of this grand move-out: 1) No more P, no more hippy friend and no more stinky tea that's on the DEA watch list!(that all counts as one as far as I'm concerned) 2) We get a dedicated guest room and 3) I get a CRAFT ROOM!!!! Glorious! I spent the day Saturday setting it up. (Truthfully it's not totally finished yet, I need to make up some curtains,get a more comfortable desk chair and slap a coat or two of paint on the walls and baseboards,but I didn't have the time for all of that because Sunday is study day.) Ry hauled two shelving units in and put them in the closet, which is where I have my yarn and fabric organized. I swept and mopped the floors, cleaned the window sills, washed the windows, dusted and organized. All of my woolen yarn is now neatly packed away into plastic bags so the moths won't get to it. I have WIPS on one shelf sock yarn on another, DK, Worsted and Aran weight yarn on their own shelf, and my novelty and cheap acrylic yarn has been segregated away from the good stuff. (I know Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have something to say about my malicious yarn segregation, but any knitter will tell you, it's not all created equal) All the yarn still in bags is on the top shelf. Then I put my sewing items on another shelving unit, Washed and unwashed fabric is separated out, WIPs have their own shelf, the scissor/zipper basket has a little home of it's own and I have a remnant bag as well. My embroidery floss is hanging from little hooks in the shelf as well. At my built in desk, I went all Martha Stewart-y and strung up my twine an ribbon and I have a couple of glass jars holding crochet hooks and some knitting needles.




I have what use to be P's TV shelf, holding my sewing machine, books and magazines as well as all my vintage and new sewing patterns.


(these pics are before the rug was put in) Ry put in an area rug that the dogs love and I have two big sunshiney windows in there so I can have a lot of natural light during the day. I just love it. While I was putting my room together, Ry was starting the guest room (which also needs paint, it's the most atrocious green I've ever seen in a room.) He swept, mopped dusted and cleaned his little heart out. He moved a dresser up there, all of our shoes, the spare bed and two night tables. We just need to paint and decorate..and put beddign on the bed.

This will also be our first time living ALONE together! Which we are both incredibly excited about. No more, "is this our milk?" type questions, because from now on the answer is "Yes,yes it is." In knitting news I finished the Anouk dress and Saartje's booties(did I already say that?) and I'm almost done with the embossed leaves socks.

I am casting on for the Belle Cardigan this weekend, I even did a gauge swatch!
I am knitting it off-gauge though because I kept reading reviews on Ravelry that it comes out way too big, so I'm knittign a smaller gauge and a smaller size, both in the hopes that the gym will have really paid off by then and it will be a near perfect fit. Oh yes, did I tell you? I found a gym near work, so I've been going on my lunch hour everyday since the 19th. I've already lost some weight! Hoo-ray! Deb really inspired me, she does an aerobics class on her lunch hour and is driven to lose weight. So, I hunted down a nearby gym and joined up, it's the favorite part of my day now. Except, of course, for knit-night on Fridays!

One last shot of my room.