My Sewing Room

This past weekend I spent most of my time in my sewing room.  I had to make curtains.  I don’t like making curtains at all. So even though these are from Ikea and the most of the battle is completed for me, I still moan at just having to turn up the hem.  Sorry for moaning straight away in this post.

Let me try this again, look at the first sentence, “I spent time in my sewing room.”  This is the part that I am really excited about.

Oddly enough, the sewing room at my last home was not my favorite room.  I don’t know why.  I could never quite put my finger on it.  The room only got the early morning sunlight and I was never in my sewing room in the early hours of the day to sew.  The room was nice and large, but something was just cold about it.  I moved furniture and bookshelves around all the time just trying to get a good feeling in it.  But it just never felt right.  And I have never had this feeling ever about a sewing room!  It might have been the size - it was larger than what I have been use to.  So much so, that it became a room to catch a lot of over flow things: it had a sink, so the girls used this corner to do their hair and makeup in the morning; a cabinet that held the linens and odds and ends.  So part of the room was sewing and the other part the “catch-all” area.  

In our new home, I have the smallest room in the house for my sewing - but it has the best afternoon sunlight.  I think it’s the smallness of the room that I like.  Since loosing The Whiskey Room in this move, I got the couch and I think this is what was lacking in the old room.  I finally have a place to sit and look at my quilting books and knitting patterns.  I also inherited the huge bookshelf that was in The Whiskey Room where my “salt and pepper shaker collection” and “shot glass collection” use to reside and in which they still do.  But there is not much room to maneuver in and this should really bother me, but for some it just doesn’t!

So even though the first thing I did after completing the unpacking was to hem curtains I still really enjoyed being in this room.  And for the first time, in a long time, I can’t wait to start hanging out in this room!

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter

Tuesday's Tin of the Week

Gin and Vermouth both started back to school last week.  They both look forward to the start of the new school year, as this brings new students to the school and therefore, new friends to be made.  So in honor of “Back to School” and to making of new friends, here’s a mint:

This is actually Gin’s tin … the mints are still inside so I can’t have the tin yet.

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter

Introducing: The Whiskey Corner

I think I have finally survived yet another move.  Successful? Time will tell.  I don’t mind moving – I consider it a good general clean out.  But I will admit it can be frustrating I have been known to say shortly after all the boxes have been remove this: “Where’s that blah blah blah??? At the last house it was right here! At this house, I just can’t find it!”

At the last house, my favorite room was what we called “The Whiskey Room.”  Growing up my family home had a family room, a kitchen, a formal dining room and a formal living room. This living room was similar to the scene from the movie “The Cat in the Hat” with Mike Meyers, where Kelly Preston announces, “no one steps into the living room.”  Ok, in all fairness, if you were in my mom’s bridge group – you got in; if not, it was the family room for you. 

But in our last home in Holland, we had a family room and a living room.  Honestly, I think it was the first house ever where we had these 2 rooms.  The Shaker and I were discussing that this wasn’t going to be a room like with what we grew up with, the formal living room.  We wanted this room to be “gezellig” – a Dutch word meaning “cozy.”  It was far from formal – it was this mish-mash of furniture and it contained conversational things representing both countries – America and Holland.  It contained my “shot glass collection” (started by The Shaker from all of his travel destinations due to work) and my “salt and pepper shaker collection” (an idea given to me from Tasha’s father, a UK friend).  It had my desk from which I do most of my blogging from and a warm fireplace.  And lastly, it contained an antique bar that I bought The Shaker for his 40^th birthday.  So it just naturally became known as “The Whiskey Room.” 

The qualities of these photos are not the best, but, sadly, it’s the only ones I could find: 

The Shaker's bar is on the other side of fireplace 

Then after we returned to Holland from house hunting trip last February, we told friends and family that we found a home in the city.  The natural question was “Is there a Whiskey Room?”  Sadly, there wasn’t.  We were back to the standard living space of having a kitchen, dining room and a family room.  But the family room area in our new home is huge! 

Of course the first order of business for the family room was where does the TV console go and then it was, naturally for us, was where does The Shaker’s antique bar go?  We have messed around with this living space for the past few weeks and have finally settled on splitting the living space into 2 sections: one containing the TV area and another part divided by the furniture to create The Whiskey Corner.  We hope that in the coming months that this will become our family’s favorite area once again. 

Our new Whiskey Corner with another great view

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter

Tuesday's Tin of the Week

This past weekend The Shaker and I were able to move in and organize our own spaces.  For him it was the office/guest room space and for me it was the sewing room.  He was so happy when he came across this tin that he came into the sewing room and said, “Close your eyes.”  When I opened them he said, “Look, I found next week’s Tin of the Week.”  So in honor of all of the unpacking and discovering of new hidden treasures is The Shaker’s Tin of the Week – I think it was from a golfing trip with his Scottish buddies:

Furthermore, I would like to take this moment to say thank you for your continue support of stopping by to check out my blog.  The move is nearly complete and hence the reason for my “blog silence.”  The moving guys come back today to pick up all of the empty boxes.  So therefore, I should be back and up and running in the coming days. 

Again, thank you for your continued support,

The Martini Knitter

PS: Today is the

Tuesday's Tin of the Week

I received my first package in our new home last week from Olive!  Inside was this cute little summer flip-flop tin!  Perfect for summer and perfect for split rings.

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter

Just Add Water

I am my father’s daughter … when I get over stressed or my anxiety levels hit top levels, it is time to get out and exercise!

Last week, we decided to take some stuff over to the new place just to get it out of the way at the old place and to make the move a little easier.  Ok, I admit I decided that this should be done for my own sanity.  So of course, the night before my mind was racing all night long and no real sleep was happening.  And as a result tensions were a little high in The Martini Knitter’s household the next morning. 

When we first saw the apartment, the relocation guy said that this apartment came with the option of a pool -- meaning for an additional fee per month.  I said I would love the access of the pool but not the additional fee.  But no decisions needed to be made straight away and we could think about adding the pool to the rent.  It’s nothing fancy it’s just lap pool. 

It's not Olympic but it's perfect for me!

So while over eggs and bacon one morning, The Shaker ever so politely says to me, “Today while I am taking some measurements and hooking up the TV and Internet you will go and swim.”

I love swimming! I always have!  I think it’s because as a child growing up I had painful earaches resulting in “tubes” being put in my ears that were suppose to be there for one year and stayed in place for 7 years!  Having these tubes in my ears resulted in a full-on “Catch 22” situation – one side no more earaches and the other side no going under water.  

So yes, I took The Shaker’s advice and went swimming.  I swam for about 30 minutes and when I came out I was completely relaxed and feelin’ like a new woman!  That pool has been the best Swiss money we have spent to date!

When the girls noticed “the drastic personality change” they asked what happened?  He smiled and said, “Just add water!”

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter

Tuesday's Tin of the Week

I got this for The Shaker last week:  Elvis cinnamon mints.  However, I am a little surprised that they are not banana and peanut butter mints actually.  

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter

Glutton for Punishment

Because I am one to never leave a party early, I have added another project to the Ravellenic Games 2012 for Team Apathy.  Now seriously I may not finish my project by the end of the Closing Ceremonies so, again, technically, I am keeping with the team’s motto – “We don’t care if we finish or not.”  I just have to admit that I have enjoyed being apart of the banter and comradery of this team.  Again, I am sorry to my teammates if I am showing overexcitement.

I just finished my first project, Team Apathy Socks for the Ravellenic Games 2012.  The second sock is now completed and Gin loves them!

But I still have one more week until the Closing Ceremonies and I don’t want to miss out on the fun with my team so I signed up for another easy stash busting event.  So I went to my stash bag of sock yarn and found some yarn that I bought over a year ago for The Shaker. 

This time I am making these socks from the toe up and the challenge is this: to finally use my Sock Wizard program from Knitting Software that I purchased 2 years ago!  The software is just your basic sock formula program – pure and simple.  In the help section of the program is does show you how the heel flaps and the gussets are worked.  But I have also chosen to use Wendy D. Johnson’s Socks From the Toe Up book as a quick reference when I am constructing these socks as well.  This is because in her book she uses fingering weight yarn and the sock yarn I have chosen for The Shaker is bulky – 5 stitches to the inch.

Cheers!

The Martini Knitter