My Basement!

Man, I really miss writing this blog!  The Internet diet we were on sucked, especially since it happened during March Break (Ontario's version of spring break).  Then there's been sick kids, doctor's appointments, and the 4 day Easter weekend.  I'm also trying to get back on track with my other blog.  Some days I really feel tied down to the computer :(

I know I am very lucky to finally have my own work space.  When I first started machine knitting, I used my antique dining room table for over a year.  Then I had a desk for three years.  Then we moved here and I was able to have my own space, and of course, have expanded my yarn and machine collection to fill that space.

That means though, when something happens to my space, it's a complete disruption in my creative life.  And that's another thing that's been messing with my life lately!

 Another leak in the basement.  We had the first one about 8 months after moving in.  We wondered why there was water damage on the bottom of the bar when we moved in.  Then we found out!

The bar was taken out and the wall repaired, though left unstudded.  We were going to do some cosmetic work in the basement, since it was already "finished".  Then my husband started fixing somethings and he couldn't tolerate the poor (and unsafe) job that had been done and it's turned into a total gut.  Bit by bit though.

I've had my studio space fairly well organized, though a little cluttered since it was also serving as storage space.  It tended to be cold and a little damp down there, with not a whole lot of natural light.  We've toyed with the idea of moving my space to my son's bedroom upstairs and making him a bedroom downstairs....but I'm not ready for a teen hermit :)

One day in early March, after a warm spell, I was down in my area getting some yarn.  I noticed that the laminate floor was pouffy and raised in areas near an outside wall.  It had the same look as when the drain pipe came off the furnace and we had a little river.  And, even worse, if I stood in one spot, my foot got damp!
I cleaned up, and moved things around for when Rob got home.  This was not on our agenda for quite some time, but you can't leave a water leak!

 First he cut a hole in the wall to see where the leak was.  It wasn't where he thought it'd be!

 I encouraged him to take up the floor and he had to start over by the back wall (inside wall).  The drain area seemed fine, so it wasn't a back up.

 However, the previous people had put cardboard under the laminate, and it was wet and moldy and smelly.

 The cardboard came up and we found plastic duct taped to the floor.  There was water under the plastic.  And boy, was it stinky.  This is only a small area of water damage, but I couldn't stand the smell.  I can't fathom what a whole flood would do!

 All the wet floor was taken up, and the rest of the lower wall removed.  We found this area that had been patched with tar.  We left it for a day, and sure enough, there was a river soon!

 They had only "fixed" the lower half of the wall, but the crack went all the way to the ceiling!

 Rob had to grind off the tar (smelly!), put in these plastic "nipples", and fill the crack with expanding foam.

 Well, this is where the crack meets the outside!  See the little bit of tar (I don't think that's the right word) they had painted on?!

 Once the foam hardens, the nipples are cut off and the crack is cemented over.

Once this job was done, Rob finished up framing a storage room and most of my bins moved there after I sorted stuff out.

 This is MOST of my yarn.  I didn't include the yarn in the six bins in the cubby unit (the black bags are the yarn that was in the open cubbies).  Also not included is all my cone yarns and my yarn that was already upstairs waiting for work.

I ended up with 6 of those big (86gallon?) bins, and yarn piled on top of them too.  I culled some out, hoping to sell it on kijiji.ca but no takers.  Not stuff I really want to give away free though.

I can finally get back to business down there, though I don't even know what I want to do first...there's so many things I want to do (especially after fondling nearly ALL my yarn!).  There's also some sewing I want to do.  I feel a little overwhelmed.  So, I bought two 50gr balls of cheap yarn at a discount store.  $2.26.  LOL.

Yarn In:  100gr + 5092gr = 5192gr
Yarn Out:  1504gr
Balance:  3688gr more brought IN than out
Cost:  $2.26 + $155.71 = $157.97/93 days = $1.70/day

While I am at about half of what I brought IN compared to last year (much of that was a donation), I am at way less for output.  Partly because I haven't totalled up a bunch of stuff yet, and I've been making a lot of little hats that use only 40-50gr each.  Need to do some more big stuff!