The DIY Disaster, Part 2

Yesterday was dominated by my DIY Disaster. In the morning episode I was preparing to install a laundry cupboard when I hit a water pipe with my drill. I think the image of a jet of water following my drill bit out of the wall and expanding into a bubble in the plaster will remain with me for a long time.

The current state of affairs is this:
My neighbour came and opened a window in my wall so we could inspect the damage. You can see a neat hole in the timber stud and the pipes passing through that same stud. In fact there are two neat holes. The slightly lower one being from the previous set of shelves in that same location. I guess I was lucky that time.

You can also see a join in the pipe to the left of the stud. That join is new. It was the object of much attention and effort on my part yesterday. Basically the damaged section of pipe was cut out and replaced it. I learned a lot about plumbing. I learned a lot about my capacity to work under pressure. I learned a lot about my neighbour's skill, experience and generosity. By the time D returned from his lunch engagement, I'd been to the hardware store, bought the necessary parts and made several attempts at making the necessary joins. I'd managed one water-tight connection, but was unable to make the connection back to the remainder of the plumbing because of the location of the stud. D cut the pipes to different length to move the join to a better location and then completed the job for me. He's even promised to come back in a few days and close up the wall once things have had a chance to dry out.

To get the full picture of my situation, you have to superimpose this plumbing scenario onto an incomplete batch of procion dyeing, with skeins in various stages of rinsing and a drying rack full of fabrics, yarns and my weekly wash. Add to that several fleeces, waiting in the bathtub for my attention and the fact that it's a long, long time since the bathroom got a proper clean. Oh, and I'm in the middle of a mouse plague, having trapped three small mice and one monster mouse in the kitchen over the weekend. And I'm supposed to be avoiding too much stress for the sake of my mental health!

Groan or Giggle?

Today's post was going to be a peppy progress report on my laundry storage. I've been fantasising about having some good cupboards above the washing machine and laundry tub. This week I bought some--flat-packed of course. I started this morning with a quick coffee, breakfast and assembly of the first cupboard. My friend W arrived just before ten to help me to attach the cupboard to the wall. That's definitely a two person job. Well, at that point, things went pear-shaped. What you see below is a very wet floor:Let's put it this way, my enthusiasm was quickly hosed down! I drilled through a water pipe which was quietly sitting behind the wall where no water pipe should be. The first I knew of it was a fine, strong jet of water in my face from the point in the wall where I'd just pulled out the drill bit. Things moved very quickly from there. W and I rushed outside to turn the water off at the main. I must admit I simultaneously spent a few minutes swearing not too quietly. The next step was a moment of hysterical giggling followed by a call to the plumber whose fridge magnet is there just for moments like this. He can come on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday afternoon is only two days away, but that feels like a very long time.

W had to go. She's off on holidays tomorrow, and apart from sympathy, there's not much she can do to help me now. Just as she drove off the neighbours started to surface. I swallowed my pride, knocked on the door and shared my story. D from next door is a handy handy man. He's promised to come over when he's had a coffee and something to eat and see what he can do. Meanwhile, I'm blogging--to get it off my chest. Next I'll make a few calls to secure myself a bed for tonight. After that, I guess I'll gather my courage and assemble another cupboard. I'm working on the principle that one way or another the bathroom will reach some semblance of order. It may be a while.

Seeing is Believing

My optometrist was a major feature of the last week. I've had reading glasses for a couple of years, but treated them as a minor inconvenience. Lately, though, I've been noticing a fair bit of eye-strain and some blurring of my distance vision. I made an appointment to have my eyes checked. The news was not good. Not only had my close vision deteriorated--as might be expected at my age--but so had my distance vision. The glasses I'd been prescribed weren't quite right. That, combined with my passion for small details of fibre, meant that my eyes were sacrificing their ability to focus at a distance and locking into the close work. I was prescribed not one, not two, but three different pairs of glasses to cope with the demands on my vision. I got a spare pair thrown in for good measure. Now I have glasses for reading, knitting and other close work; another pair for weaving and computer work and yet another pair for teaching and other situations where I need to change quickly from close to distant focus. Phew! This is going to take some getting used to, quite apart from how long it will take my budget to recover from the shock.

This morning was the first test of my new regime. This is black t-shirt dress-up number two: 16 different tiny blue buttons. I originally planned to range them all neatly around the neckline, but by the time I got to half way I rebelled and scattered the rest in a zig-zag pattern. I stitched for an hour solid: black thread on black fabric.
No eye-strain, no locking . . . seeing is not only believing, it's relieving!

From Ho-Hum to Happy

The saga of the black-on-black transformations continues . . .

A few evenings ago I picked over my button collection. It's amazing what a wealth of memories that jar holds! I separated out groups of buttons I thought I could use to dress up some of my black t-shirts. Yesterday morning, while I was chatting on the phone to my friend D, I sewed on the mother of pearl set :Various sizes, with a few silver buttons thrown in for variety; arranged in a random-ish asymmetrical v-shape. I happily wore that t-shirt yesterday afternoon and didn't feel at all ordinary in it. I have set of blue buttons to try next. Meanwhile, I have yet to fully liberate my house from the Procion dye invasion. I've managed to empty three of the jars, so the end is in sight. And I'll have to write a quick post on the Quilters at Sussex blog to report on progress with the raffle quilt.

Treats

I spent a happy couple of hours stitching at my friend M's place yesterday afternoon. We used to be part of the same quilting group, but my attendance has fallen to nearly zero lately. That makes it extra good to catch up when we can. I'd asked M to spare me the temptation of any sweet treats. My resistance is particularly low with the cold weather. Instead I found these scraps of fabric on the table when I arrived: Leftover bits of silk and brocade in blues, greens and mauves, just begging to be part of something or other. I don't know what, but it was lovely to pat them and take them home. I'm thinking of doing a small bag in crazy patchork, but for now they're just fun to have and they won't cause me any problems with clothes not fitting properly.

Sea Foam

I'm still fighting the battle against black on black. I made myself another cowl. This one is a bamboo-wool blend and not as warm as the last one. Bamboo already has lots of drape and I knitted this on large needles, so it really flows. I was a little bored with the dark colouring, though. so I added a cute little ruffle in a variegated blue-green crochet cotton. Now it makes me smile. As I was crocheting around--I ended up with some crazy number of stitches to make the ruffled edge, 900 on the last row!--I was thinking of the colours of the sea and the frothy tips of the waves, so this one is my "Sea Foam" cowl. Given the weather around here and the winds that come off the antarctic ice, it will probably be the only sea I experience for quite a while.

Warm Fuzzy Situation

I'm a sucker for warm fuzzy things. At the shopping centre yesterday I snapped this shot with my phone. There were 8 puppies asleep in a warm fuzzy pile at the pet shop. Thankfully this pet shop takes great care of their animals, so I could happily admire their cuteness without worrying about their welfare.It was a different situation when I got home. I was unexpectedly greeted by two hungry kittens. They ran across the footpath to me, then took shelter under my car. Their owner had been in hospital for a few days and these little things were craving attention--and food. I shared my chicken with them and had to quickly extract my fingers to stop myself being eaten alive! While this was happening, their owner came home from hospital with her sick baby. She told me she couldn't keep them--they would have been sent to the cat "protection" society with a very small chance of being adopted. Despite loving their feline furriness and being concerned for them, I couldn't take them in. I have two dogs who love cats--to chase! And I'm allergic to cats myself. When I'd fed this pair and put a box with a blanket out for them to sleep in, I went inside to placate my indignant canines and take some antihistamines to control my itchy eyes and nose. But I couldn't get the kittens off my mind. I decided I'd rather be the neighbour from hell than find them cold, hungry, or worse, dead on the road. My other neighbour is a cat lover from way back. I knocked on her door and told her the story. She agreed to take them in. The deal was settled when the kittens saw us talking in the driveway and ran over the road to say "hello" and see if there was any more food. Within seconds the youngest kitten was tucked under M's chin, purring away. A minute or two later that kitten had transferred to her partner's arms and M was picking up the older--still only half-grown--cat to take him inside. That left me free to feed myself and my pets without worrying about the little feline orphans.

Now I have cotton dyeing on the kitchen bench, chicken stock on the stove and silky wool waiting for my attention on the wheel. Having settled the affairs of the animal world, I'd better get back to work on my fibre world.