The Fix is In

The fix is in, or at least the hat is fixed. I put a new brim on with the same yarn and things went mostly according to plan. You may recall that this hat was originally crocheted brim-up and I then removed the brim by snipping some yarn. I then crocheted into the existing loops and worked a new brim onto the hat. It's as if I worked two ways from one starting chain except there is no starting chain any more. I threw in a row of alternating HDC/front post HDC for interest. The hat looks good.

The next fix rip is an earband that is just too small. I love the pattern, but it doesn't show because it's very fine handspun in a dark color. The earband isn't tall enough either -- about half the height of my ears. I adjusted the repeats and the length for the diameter of my head, but I didn't adjust the number of repeats properly for the height (or is it width) of the band. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with the yarn. It's not very much, but it's really nice one-ply, handspun, huacaya. And it's not going to happen this evening, because ripping yarn this dark and this fine will require better light, tweezers, and possibly a magnifying glass.

My project today was to clean up the pump house so I could bleed the pressure tank. For those of you on city water, buried wells, or modern pressure tanks, this is a chore you've probably never heard of -- and are well advised to avoid. If you leave me a comment, I can explain the physics of the task in gory detail, but you probably don't want that either. Suffice it to say, I needed to work on the pressure tank today, which requires me to work in the pump house. It also means our drinking water system would be open to the environment of the pump house.

Before I could start working on the pressure tank, I had to clean the pump house. This involved removing the mixture of decaying fiberglass insulation, mouse droppings, and less savory detritus from the pump house. I cleaned up six very large plastic garbage bags this mess from the pump house and washed down the interior with a mixture of bleach and water -- very heavy on the bleach.

My cleaning thus accomplished, I set out to drain the water from the pressure tank and promptly broke the water main. That's right, I managed to snap the pipe that carries the water from the pump house to our house. Plumber was called. Emergency charges will be charged. Water is restored.

And not only do I not feel very good about anything I've accomplished all day, this whole mess has really cut into my spinning time.

One the spinning wheel: Pinero's fiber -- natural gray alpaca
On the crochet hook: Child's hat -- Fixed and finished today.