Didn't Plan To

I didn't really plan to wash windows today.

There was plenty of other work to do. The laundry was waiting, more loads than usual since it had been postponed for a while. I don't have a particular day to do the wash, just whenever it piles up enough to make it worthwhile.

But since it was such a lovely day, and the temperature rose to around +10C (+50F) I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. But I did the really, really quick method. With about five inches of hot water, laced with Palmolive dishwashing detergent, and several good big dollops of white vinegar, I quickly soap the window using the sponge on a stick. Blade off the soapy water, rinse with lots of plain hot water (a trick I learned from my friend M. who trained as a hair dresser), blade off the water, and wipe the edges with a dry rag.

Our house is built into a berm, so the main

living areas are upstairs with ground level

access at the back. Fortunately for me, a

balcony wraps around the front of the upstairs and I can easily reach most of the windows. Here's the lovely clean living room window, just sparkling in the sun.

And here's the dining room windows and door to the balcony on the other side of the room. These windows were washed inside and out. The rest of the upstairs windows

had only the outside washed. In the back of the house it was too cold to wash the inside.

I'll have to catch them some morning when the sun is on that side.

Nothing like clean windows to make a house sparkle. Sure am glad I did that this afternoon.

Earlier this morning I had finished redoing

this sweater of Jim's. I knit it for him in 1990, and it's pure wool. The edges of the cuffs had become frayed, so I removed the cuffs and reknit them. The ribbing at the waist was knit one, purl one, and there was just no elasticity left in it. So I raveled that out also and reknit it in a knit two, purl two. The whole redo turned out really well, and now the sweater is ready for another 10? years of wear. The elbows are getting a little thin, and I may need to either reknit them sometime in the future, or sew a suede patch over them.

I had saved a small amount of yarn that was left from the sweater as originally knit, and was also able to reuse much of the yarn from the cuffs and the waistband ribbing. Since the waistband was the last thing redone, I just knit until I thought I was running out, and then began the bind off. There were lots of stitches, and I worried that I'd run out of yarn before it was complete. Look at how close it came! I couldn't have done it closer if I had measured it all out. Love it when something turns out like that!

Well, the moon is coming up huge and yellow behind the shelter belt, and it's time to turn up the thermostat again. Have a cozy evening!