I have questions.

Do you have answers?

1. Why do I never, ever, EVER have a pen handy? I buy a lot of pens. And yet? Not handy.

2. How can a child be an eight week old baby one moment and a second grader with no front teeth the next?  Are we talking time-space continuum warp? What am I missing?

3. Why is what I want to eat never in the fridge? Do I have a syndrome?

Help?

Dining Room Renovations

Backstory:

My house was built in 1906 near the rocky shore of Lake Superior.

We moved into our new old house almost a year ago.

I got excited about choosing a paint color for the dining room, which is the central room on the main level.

I painted a bunch of swatches on the walls one night while my husband was away.

I left them there to think about which I liked best.

I left them there because I was busy.

I left them there because I really wanted to face the embarrassment of hosting out of town family for Thanksgiving.

It's such a classy look.

These swatches have now been on my wall for almost a year, and I'm ready to move on to a different kind of crazy.

I decided to put up wallpaper. Then I decided not to put up wallpaper. I decided to put up wainscoting, I decided not to put up wainscoting.

I own five books about paint colors. I own three complete paint fan decks.

I know a little about color.

Something had to give. I forced myself to make a decision.

One of the colors below will be in my dining room.

I took a picture, looked at the picture, and then eliminated the ones that didn't speak to me.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Bought the paint.

Didn't like it.

Mixed up my own custom color because that is the only gosh darn way to get anything done.

Meanwhile, why don't you assess the plate rail situation?

Do all plate rails like to keep a 1/4" gap between themselves and the wall?

No? Just mine?

Also take a moment to notice the previous owner's paint job.  I'll wait.

Does this help in your assessment?

Let the record reflect that yes, I have 46,000 paint swatches on my dining room walls, and yes, they've been there way beyond the allotted time. But let it also show that I would never, ever slap some latex paint on top of oil-based paint on top of antique woodwork without primer and without even cleaning up the pebbles, dryer lint, bird's teeth, and other detritus before hand.

Methodical decision maker, me? Perhaps.

Purveyor of shoddy workmanship? No ma'am.

I shall now compose a letter to the previous owner(s) of my home.

Dear Previous Owner(s) of My Home,

Please take your awful painting skills for a long walk off a short pier.

And not one on Lake Superior, either. The Coast Guard here is too competent, and they're just itching for some excitement.

We do have 11,000 other lakes that might be able to assist you in the short pier department.

Love,

Yarnista.

The plate rail had been badly repaired in four sections. Emphasis badly.

We bit the bullet and took it down. Took it down so new stuff could be put up correctly.

This is what was behind the plate rail.

Yes, that's a hairpin. Yes, I'm perplexed.

I also love this fine piece of workmanship here. Oh, 105-year-old plaster needs patching? How about we just cut some drywall to fit? That'll blend seamlessly.

See? Totally seamless.

You might be asking yourself if I'm ready to check into a "sober living facility" for "exhaustion" yet.

The answer is no. As my friend Katie likes to say, I'm from hearty Midwestern stock. If the worst I have to worry about is some perfunctory painting and some poorly patched plaster, then don't look that gift horse in the mouth.

Speaking of gift horse.

The horsedog is now a year old. She loves construction projects, especially ones where she gets to lounge in plaster dust.

This is the horsedog's finest hour.

More dining room renovation updates to come soon. The train has left the station, ladies and gentlemen. No getting it back in the shed now.

Just keep pinning...

Are you on Pinterest yet?

Pinterest is a place to Pin things of Interest. All that fun stuff you find on the internet during your daily travels that you'd like to save for future reference.

Like those bedroom color schemes. Like those chocolate linen settees.

You can categorize your pins in any way you like by placing them on a virtual pin board. I have boards for fashion, food, crafts, home decor, and more.

You can make boards for things like yarn, knitting, recipes, whatever floats your boat.

(Dear Santa, Please bring me these shoes for Christmas. I've been a very good girl. Love, Yarnista.)

You can then share your pins with other people, who can choose to follow you, comment on things you pin, and repin things they like to their own boards.

Pinterest is an eye candy extravaganza.

You can see all of my pins here, and follow me if you like.

You can sign up to get a Pinterest invitation so you can join and start pinning things yourself. (It's free.) I can also send you an invite, if you like. Drop me a line using the contact us button, and I'll send out as many as Pinterest will allow me to.

I'd also like to thank Elle, who tipped me off to Pinterest several months ago via a blog comment.

Happy pinning!

who makes your yarn?

Perhaps moi?

I was interviewed for the latest issue of Knitcircus magazine, which is available now. This is one of their best issues ever -- the patterns are scrumptious!

If you'd like to read the interview, you can click here.

But I highly recommend checking out the entire issue -- it's full of great info and eye candy.

Ask the Yarnista

Today is Friday the 13th.

That means it's Ask the Yarnista day.

Why? I don't know. It just is.

It is because I decided it should be about 30 seconds ago.

I used to do a monthly feature called The Yarnista Answers Your Questions, and I'm in the mood to start again.

Leave a question in the comments here, and I'll do my best to answer it.

Here's one to start us off:

Hi Sharon,

I have a question, and I'm hoping you can help me. My wife loves your yarn, and has a large collection of it. I want to get her a little something for her birthday coming up, but don't know which color to choose. Can you make any recommendations based on my wife's order history? She wears a lot of black, but I don't know how that translates into yarn.

Thanks for the help.

P.S. Thanks to you, terms like "merino" "kettle dyed" and "yarnista" are regular topics of conversation at our house. Just thought you'd like to know.

And here's my response. I've removed any name hints so the sender's wife can be truly surprised.

Hello,

Thanks for your email. I know and love your wife, and can certainly steer you to some colorway options she might enjoy.

I then inserted colorway/yarn information here. No hints, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I'm sorry you have to talk about yarn at dinner all the time.

Wait, I'm not sorry.

Talking about kettle dyeing is perhaps bit fluffy, but there are far worse conversations one could have over a meal. The dog is sick, for example, or my crazy relative is coming to live with us indefinitely. Honey, I've gambled my retirement money away, or I keep forgetting to tell you, but the basement has a foot of standing water. I accidentally broke all your fishing rods, or the very nice IRS agent stopped by and said the house looks like we've done a lot of work on it.

All in all, merino wool is a fairly innocuous, mildly pleasant topic in a frenetic world fraught with peril. As for conversations regarding yarnistas, I'm afraid I am of little assistance in that regard.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Sharon

Your turn! What's weighing on your mind? It certainly does not have to be knitting/yarn related (although it can be). If you're wondering why Oreo cookies are so delicious, for example, I might be able to help you there.

If I don't get to your question today, I'll try and answer it in a future installment.

P.S. Doing a bunch of Carpe Yarnem stockings this weekend. Check here regularly for updates.