Last evening, after posting, I put almost a coat of paint on the walls of the bathroom, got distracted by working around the mirror, and realizing that our light fixture was hideous, and waited for Mr. Ink to get home.

Once he did, I told him I wanted a new light fixture. Since we are making so much progress making the bathroom our own, and updating it, I couldn’t live with the light fixture. He said “I’ve said that since before we moved in.” Well, that’ll teach me to start listening!

I left him to explore light fixtures online while I went to get yet another creepy basement shower. Despite the fact that I wanted to go out and look at fixtures in person, I ended up in PJs. And they weren’t warm enough so I donned a sweatshirt as well. Mr. Ink took one look at me and said “Hey, are you ok?” I said “Yeah, I just can’t seem to get warm.” And we went about our business.

Then Miss Butterfly got home, and she took one look at me and said “Mom, are you getting sick?” I said “No, I am fine, I just can’t get warm.”

I am sure you know where this is going. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, crusty nose, and drippy sinuses. As well as a general all around yucky feeling.

Now, we’ve got a party to go to tonight which I need to make food for, I’ve got a million errands to run, AND, I needed to get the grouting done on the bathroom. Since I have no interest in postponing the shower makeover, I decided to do the grouting for sure, and see where the rest shakes out.

Well, I’ll tell you what. Grouting is fun. AND, it covers a multitude of evils. I really love the result! I am glad I did it. However, I had someone tell me it would only take an hour. I cursed him at 3 hours in. Let’s face it, I am slow at EVERYTHING when it comes to new projects. But, I think that pays off in the end.

But, I am also exhausted, and fixing to take a nap next, and see what I can accomplish afterwards.

How long has this been going on?

I was so determined to get the last of the tiles done last night. I knew I didn’t have much  more than 2 hours of work left. But, by the time I got back from the hardware store, and Mr. Ink was done clearing our massive driveway, and we had dinner, it was after 10 p.m.  And I knew that starting something at 10 p.m. is really bad news for me. I am just not at my sharpest at that time.

So I had to settle for the most perfect hole in a tile I’ve ever seen.

And then I went to bed.

This morning I got started around 9. The first thing I did was get that tile in, and then lamented the fact that I didn’t think it necessary to cut new holes in all the tiles.

But that’ll be easily forgotten once the fixtures are in.

Then I finished the wall, and I was right, it was about 2 hours worth of work, and then more than an hour of clean up.

You may notice that I’ve already taped for painting. I am hoping to get started on the painting today. I might as well, now that I have to wait until tomorrow to grout!

Today, I am moving right along. I finished the back wall.

SOOOO happy to be done with that one. Then, I started the wall with the plumbing.

I was pretty excited to make 3 out of 4 old tiles fit here. We moved the pipes a bit and attached them differently, so I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to use these. Thankfully, they do fit, though not quite the way they used to. I pulled out the fixtures and made sure the holes would not show. They don’t, so that’s a win.

Right now I am sitting at “almost done.” with the tile. I’ve got to finish up this wall, but I need Mr. Ink to get home so we can discuss how we are putting a hole in one green tile. Then I’ll finish up this wall. I can’t wait! It’s my intention to finish tiling tonight.

Tomorrow during the day I’ll paint. Then I can grout in the evening, once the thinset is officially dry. All that will be left is to seal it and clean up!

Which is great, because showering in the creepy basement shower is getting old!

A day off(ish) was lovely. I finished waterproofing, Don made sure everything was ready to go with the plumbing, I cleaned, and I taped in the anticipation of painting in the fairly near future.

I also snuck in some spinning time.

I am not sure I showed this off before, but this is from batts I created, out of BFL I dyed, as well as silk add ins and some loop extras.I actually got this particular bobbin done. It was nice.

Today, we got a snow storm. Now, we knew THIS one was coming. The last one we had little knowledge of before hand, and they told us 1-3 inches, but we got more than 7. THIS storm they’ve predicted all week, sometimes we were told that we would get more than 10 inches of snow. Well, we got snow, but I’d say it was more in the range of the unpredicted snow storm. Maybe 7 inches. Not sure though.

No matter, Miss Butterfly and I were inside for the day. Mr. Ink had to go in to work, but we were home. She said she planned to build legos with her blinds open so she could watch the storm. And that she did.

I tiled. I had a really hard time getting motivated. But once I got my thinset mixed, I was at it for a solid 6 hours. Butterfly was good to come help when I needed it. Even after 6 solid hours of tiling, I couldn’t get the back wall done. I got 10 out of 14 rows done, but after 6 hours, my thinset was no longer thin, and I needed to go snowblow the driveway so Mr. Ink could get back home.

I will certainly have this wall finished tomorrow, and at least row one on the final wall. If I really push, I might even be able to get it all done. We’ll see! I am certainly at a point where it would be lovely to get finished now.

I’ve decided to take today off from bathroom renovation. Mostly. I’ve got some water proofing left to do, so I’ll get that done. Mr. Ink worked on getting me a new faucet and valves installed. The 1960s hot water faucet was beginning to leak, and I figured if we had the walls down, now’s the time to change it. Plus, putting grungy 55 year old hardware back on a freshly tiled wall seemed….morale killing. We also noticed that the pipes had come loose from where they were to be secured, the old screws rusted through. So we took the time to fix that too, even though it necessitated widening the access panel in my craft room closet. Of course, all this made quite a mess, so I can take today to get things cleaned back up as well.

Additionally, the house itself is getting a bit out of control. I’ve not had the time to work on it, and beyond the things I’ve asked Mr. Ink to do for me, it’s just settling into a state I cannot live with. I can’t ask Mr. Ink to keep it up to my standards and ask him to help me, and cook for me as well.

We also decided that maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to do something “fun” or not home related for our holiday. So we will see a movie, I’ll get laundry done, and get some light clean up done, and waterproofing, and then I’ll have the entire day to devote to tiling tomorrow.

In the meantime, I can absolutely say that no more knitting or spinning will be completed this year. Which brings me to totals. We’ve had SUCH a busy  year and my totals are lower than ever! I only managed to knit a little over 9 miles of yarn this year, despite the fact that included in that is my entire lizard ridge blanket. As for spinning, I’ve only spun a little over 7 miles of yarn this year. Again, that’s pretty low.

I have, however, decided to start keeping track of  my spinning a little differently. I think I am going to go with the idea that singles count as how much you’ve spun. Thus, if I spin 200 yards of a 3 ply, that will count as 600 yards. That’s for the new year. It’ll up my totals, but it’ll also be a more accurate representation.

I’ll be back with more pictures of tiles tomorrow. I even started taping for the upcoming painting of the walls last evening! I am so excited to have a new, modified bathroom!

And a bit of a holiday update.

Hi all! I hope for those of you celebrating, you had a lovely holiday! We sure did. We had Mr. Ink’s daughter over, and his mother, for a late dinner and gift exchange. Then we played one of Miss Butterfly’s new games. It was low key, and it was very relaxing.

Which is great, because I had spent 7 hours scraping the adhesive off old tile, and it was the 4th day in a row of the same. I was just exhausted and my hand hurt so badly.

While Mr. Ink made Christmas dinner, I sat with ice on my hand and enjoyed a glass of wine. I was absolutely Done IN.

That night, I ended up having nightmares that someone drove over my pile of neat and tidy scraped tiles and ruined them, forcing me to continue scraping another day.

Day after Christmas I finally got to put tiles back up! And it was exhausting.

It is really really hard work, and that first row is so difficult, I just wasn’t mentally prepared. After I finished this wall, I decided I was done for the day. I’ll be more prepared tomorrow. In place of continuing to tile, Mr. Ink and I went to the hardware store and picked up grout and sealer, as well as a new faucet. If I can get inspired tonight, I may do some taping of the walls in anticipation of painting in the very near future.

I maintain that Mr. Ink and I have the best set up. I do my thing, with no interference. Which I prefer. And then when I need help, I call. He jumps up and jumps in. Today, he made me lunch so I could have a quick break, and when I was done, he cleaned up my mess while I got a shower. It’s a perfect set up for me.

Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with another wall! And someday, I’ll get an opportunity to do crafts again! But, at the moment I am barely missing them.

As I mentioned yesterday, my cement board went up on Monday evening. But, we didn’t get a chance to do the small patches in the corners of the tub that needed to be done. I was so eager to get started when I got home from work yesterday, that I cut and added the patches myself.

Because the next step was waterproofing, and I was quite eager to get started!

So, officially I have the walls up, and the waterproofing done. I also rinsed some tiles I’d sprayed mold remover on. But, I am still sitting at 65 out of 196 tiles cleaned, which isn’t great. I had hoped to have Mr. Ink look into a possible faster way of getting them cleaned up, but I just ran out of juice after the waterproofing was done and I had dinner.

Tonight on the schedule is a trip to the hardware store for thinset, after I take Mr. Ink’s mom to the dentist. Then home for tile cleaning, to which I am hoping will go a little faster than it did on Monday! The tile needs a full 24 hours to dry, and I’d really like to get started on Christmas eve!

As far as the holidays are concerned, while we are hosting a Christmas dinner at our house, we have explained quite clearly that it won’t be a typical “Shells” situation in the house. Mr. Ink will be responsibly for the meal, and it might not be overly clean and tidy as my time will be spent on the bathroom project.

Mr. Ink, a man of few words, has been quietly supportive of my project. He doesn’t interfere, just quietly and quickly gets down to work when I ask him for help with something. As I mentioned before, our relationship works really well when I ask for what I need. So, last night I asked him if he was proud of me for doing all this. (Because, quite frankly, *I* am proud of me.) And he was very quick to respond with a “YES! So much yes! You are amazing and awesome!”  To which I said “Good, because I plan to redo the kitchen and dining room floor next, and I don’t want to hire someone for it. I am hoping if I do a good job on this, you won’t be too nervous when I decide to do that.”

I took Monday off to hang out with Miss Butterfly, and to continue work on the bathroom.

We picked out 196 of the nicest blue tiles to set aside for scraping and cleaning.

This is not all 196, but it’s some. I’d already begun adding tile to boiling water so that we could get them well scraped.

We basically spent all day scraping the backs of tile while watching “Buffy” and “Angel” in the basement. I can’t believe how invested she’s been in this entire process.

She can actually get a tile cleaner than I can, it’s very impressive. As is her staying power. It’s exhausting work, I’ll admit. But it’s also wonderful bonding time.

We were able to get 65 tiles scraped and cleaned. That doesn’t feel like enough, AT ALL. But, I’ll keep after them, and I think I can get Mr. Ink to give us a hand as well this week.

Last night after dinner, Mr. Ink and I went to pick up my cement board and got that installed. We have walls in the bathroom again. I need to get the hydrobarrier up, and I’ve only just realized that if I don’t get thinset now, I won’t have it when I (hopefully) need it on Christmas day!

There’s been NO knitting at all. I was working on a scarf for Mr. Ink’s mom for Christmas, and even that’s on hold. I am afraid scraping tile has my hands so messed up that no knitting can be achieved. But honestly? I do not care. I am loving this process as much as I love a good knit or spin project, so it doesn’t bother me. Just doesn’t leave a lot of interesting reading or pictures for those of you who come here for the knitting and spinning!

I had to work all Spinday at it, not getting even a small chance for spinning, but the tile is now completely off the bathroom shower/tub area.

I yanked out the worst “wetwall” board right away. And then kept after all the tile. As I got to portions where the back was less water damaged, those tiles became far more difficult to remove. It took a lot of time and energy, and I had to use a hammer to force my scraper behind each one. I lost a few in the process, but since I only need about half, that was ok.

Mr. Ink was worried I would be too eager to take down the walls all the way to the studs before even knowing what the damage was. So, I tried to evaluate carefully what the wallboard damage actually was, even though I really preferred the idea of a clean working surface, taking the entire thing down to the studs. Well, as it turns out, that was a job for Mr. Ink, I couldn’t easily get the wallboard removed, and as soon as he came in, he said “Are you sure you want to leave any? Seems like it might be best to remove it all so we can be sure we won’t suffer this type of damage again!” To which I said “Yes, yes, that is what I want!” And it was done.

Last evening I sprayed mold and mildew remover on those studs, as even though they are in fine shape, they were a little damp when I removed the wallboard. They’ve had a good deal of time to dry out, and they’ll have all day today as well. Then, tonight, I hope to get the cement board up.

Miss Butterfly and I have today off. We carefully chose the best of the blue tiles and our plan today is to scrape them carefully to make sure they are ready to be put back on the wall. It was a tough search actually, as we had to inspect each tile for damage to the front, and many of the tiles were moldy, with the backs cracking and mold infused into those tiny cracks. I just do not want to use those!

Mr. Ink and I have found a very nice way for me to do home improvement projects, it works for us both. I envision what I’d like to do. Then, I tell him what I want to do, and let him think on it. Then he presents me with further information and ideas. I think on that for awhile. Then I gather my tools and start my project. I leave him out of it completely until I actually find something I cannot physically do or figure out. Then he steps in and gives a hand. This is working very well for  us, as I like my projects to be “mine” and this way I always get that sense of satisfaction of being the lead on it.

It must be working for him as well, because he’s no longer balking at the idea of me taking on more projects. 🙂

When I purchased my house, I fell in love with all the original 1960s details that hadn’t been changed, since I’d purchased it from the original owners. One of the things I loved was the blue tile in the bathroom.

You can just see the tile in the above picture, as well as the shower curtain we are working with.

Unfortunately, one of those tiles cracked. I noticed it right away, and have been keeping an eye on it. Also, I noticed that the grout would just fall out every time I cleaned the shower. So, I kept caulking those grout lines in hopes to just keep it together for awhile. For awhile there, I would think “I think that back wall is bowing.” But it was hard to tell if that was my anxiety speaking or if that was actually happening. Well, it’s become apparent that was not my anxiety speaking. The crack in the tile on the wall I think is bowing is very much so widening. Here it is:

Also, we don’t really need those bars.

Here’s another photo, you can see along the corner wall that the tiles are actually trying to pop themselves out, and are held in by caulk.

And here’s another thing that has been bugging me, it looks like the tile was put in, then the tub settled over time, and the gap between the tile and the tub is really large.

And, the tile sitting right there? Is the lime green I have decided to put in, along with the old tiles if I can manage to remove them without completely ruining them. Seeing as they are trying to pop off anyhow, I should be able to. But we won’t know until I start. Tomorrow.

Of the knitting variety.

Here’s the deal, I STILL haven’t been home when it’s light out. So, I still don’t have pictures of the various knitting and spinning projects I have going on right now.

But, I have been thinking about my knitting goals. Seeing as when I do make goals, I generally achieve them. We’ve got a new year coming up very quickly, and so I decided to reflect a bit on what I’d like to make happen in the upcoming year. I am reflecting NOW because my time to do so up until the new year promises to be rather limited.

I have three sweaters on the needles RIGHT NOW. I have the Funky Grandpa cardigan that I started on December 4 2014. That’s my oldest, and it needs sleeves. Then there’s the Grandpa Cardigan that I started December 16 2014. Equally old at this point, and not even as far finished. And then, naturally, I cast on a sweater mid October of this year, the Pas de Valse. And, it, too, is not done. These all need to become finished sweaters or get frogged. And I think that frogging them at this point would be a sin. Also, I have to remind myself it might be nice to have those needles back!

As for what I, and you the reader, can expect from the blog, I’ve got some home repair projects I am about to embark on, and I am taking you along for the ride! It could go smoothly, with me feeling empowered and doing more home projects, OR, it could go terribly, and I plan to show you either way.

That I start on Saturday. 🙂

I am already looking forward to another, how about you? Though, there’s, again, a ridiculous amount of stuff needing to be done between the two weekends.

Since the extremely rainy weather made pictures so difficult this weekend, All I’ve got is a snapshot of more fiber on the drum carder. I decided to take some fiber I had dyed, BFL, and add some stuff to it.

I just wasn’t in love with it as is, so I figured adding to it couldn’t hurt.

I added quite a bit of silk, and some loop fiber. Carded twice, I ended up with some pretty cool metallic looking batts. Which I’ll show off. Just as soon as I can get a good picture.

The weekend was predominately quiet after a very crazy week. The last event we had going on was Friday night, my company holiday party. I guess you could say it ended early Saturday morning, as we wandered off to another event afterwards. But, here we are, Mr. Ink and I, at the holiday party.

We had a great time, and then I slept on and off for two days straight.