It's getting a bit biblical

 Having had the flood two weeks ago, this week we have had a plague of flies, the roof is leaking, the flush unit on one toilet has stopped working and we discovered a leaking radiator.  Remind me again why having an old house is a good idea?

The basement is gradually drying out, not helped by several rainy days and now by the weather turning ridiculously cold (11 degrees C).  We have a damp probe left over from the leak we had last year: probing on the 'control' floor in the dollshouse room which did not get wet shows 15% damp.  The area of the flooded portion that was under water the longest shows 25%, so we have a ways to go.  I decided that it was probably safe to put things back in the sewing room as long as I kept the floor clear, so I have emptied out most of the living room.  DH wrote his exams on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (very stressful for him, but also stressful for us having to tiptoe around, keep phones silent, shut cat away etc. and also my work computer really didn't like the wifi in the dining room and kept kicking me out of my remote desktop).  So Wednesday afternoon onwards I could move all my stuff back into my office which was a relief.  DS thinks two of the exams went fine but the first one was horrendous and he's really not sure if he passed - we have to wait six weeks for the results now.

So I've got calls into the roofer, the maintenance man for the toilet/radiator, and I've booked the annual service for the boiler plus we took the cat to the vet for her annual injections.  One of those weeks where you feel you could just as well have gone out in the street and started throwing money out of your wallet up into the air for the wind to carry it away.  We've also conducted an intensive search of the kitchen (opening up all baseboards, looking behind everything and on top of cupboards etc.) to try to pinpoint the source of the flies. We found a few in the bin but nothing to explain why so many have appeared in the kitchen this past week.  I looked online and apparently it is not uncommon in old houses for something to get into the wall then die there, with subsequent fly consequences. Great.

I have almost finished my denim t-shirt knit.  In fact, I have almost finished it several times: the neckline has been back and forth repeatedly. After I knit the cable section of the neckline, I sewed the raglan sleeves of the seams and body and then sewed on the cable section so I could try it on.

I found it was far too tight under the arms for comfort.  So I detached the cable neckline, opened up the raglan seams a bit so I could open the cast off edge, then cast it off more loosely.  This set off a repetitive cycle of undo/alter/re-do:

- looser cast off, nope

- rip out a few rows on front and back, re-knit with fewer decreases, re-seam and try again, nope

- rip out a few rows on front and back, re-knit adding extra height, re-seam and try again, nope

- rip out the raglan seams completely plus a few rows on front and back, re-knit to the extra height but with far fewer decreases, cast off loosely, and re-seam the raglan seams as loosely as possible.

By this point I was fed up with it, so I sewed on the cable portion and called time.  It's still a little tighter under the arms than I would like but it's okay.  So I picked up and knit the rib portion on top of the cable and tried that on.

- rib knit as per pattern: too shallow, neckline far too wide

- undo cast off, knit rib higher: looks much better apart from now the rib is rippling terribly on the cast off edge.

- undo cast off, rip ribbing most of the way back (try saying 'rip ribbing' 5 x fast), knit again with two decrease rows within the ribbing so that the cast off edge will be smaller than the pick up edge.  I have not actually tried this on yet, I hope it fits but it's getting to the point where I don't really want to look at the project for a while so it's having a time-out.

I have also finished my afternoon tea dress which is so fancy that I will probably never wear it anywhere but I'm quietly pleased with how it has turned out. Perhaps we all have a little bit of Disney princess lurking inside of us.

Otherwise this week I have done a bit of cross stitch and bobbin lace and also tried an online tutorial for a new-to-me craft of Kumihimo, or Japanese braiding.  This is essentially weaving with a set number cords such as 8, 10 or 12, in a pattern using a flat 'loom' disk that you can make yourself out of cardboard. It reminds me of the French knitting spools we used to use as children, because the braid descends downwards through a hole in the middle of the disk as you weave.  It's obviously quite a slow craft but I don't mind that.  You can make round cords (which can be used for necklaces, bracelets, key rings etc.) and flat plaits (used in Japan for kimono ties).  I didn't like using the homemade cardboard loom but I liked the overall idea sufficiently that I have now ordered some commercial foam looms (they're pretty cheap) and a book on how to do various braids.  Because I needed a new hobby...

And it's a bank holiday weekend, previously a cause for celebration but now just a bit 'meh' as the days blend one into another.  Hope you are doing something more interesting with it than we are!