what an awesome sweater! (glad you had something pretty to counteract the mud!)

Those socks- I'll scrub any mud you like!

Glad you're blogging about knitting again. Missed you.

You've done it again. Not a single yarn left in Trifolium!

They're awesome socks! so very colourful :)
Looking forward to seeing your finished sweater, it looks like a very interesting knit.

Congrats on having running water again, and good luck with the pansy plan!

Love the sweater and socks---be happy in your new water world.

I knitted Lucy Neatby's Ophelia sweater and I learned a few neat tricks from that. I'm still likely to take it off and show knitters the shoulders - outstandingly clever.

In a few months all the mud will be grass (or paving, depending whose mud it is) and all you'll have is the joy of making a cup of tea at the same time as the washer is on.

Oooh like little rainbows speckled with sunshine! Seriously gorgeous sock and yarn...

love the sweater and am swooning over the socks! aim high - I'd go for a flowering shrub for the garden. a nice lilac, or rose of sharon, maybe?

Your stripes are so perfect on the self-striping sock yarn. Did the dyer dye with your gauge in mind?

It's nice to know that country folk aren't the only ones enchanted by a functioning water supply. We have some sort of miraculous gravity fed running water in the barn. We're not sure where it comes from or why it stops from time to time, but blowing the line out with air seems to revive its magical properties. Don't remember why we tried that, just that it seems to work.
I think I have to get that baby sweater pattern. BSJs never get old, but it would be nice to have a variation on a theme, and the chain knitting intrigues me.

Always ask for more - settle for less :)

After replacing our furnace/hot water system last month, my husband and I too got to experience the joy of suddenly having hot water pressure. For a week all we could talk about was how quickly the dishwasher ran through a cycle. I'm sure our family found our conversations to be just thrilling.

I WILL WASH YOUR DISHES FOR A YEAR FOR THOSE SOCKS.

So glad they got that water fixed--the neighbors are better off for it too. Love the sweater and love the socks--a fitting (ducking!) way to celebrate.

Umm, I really hate to mention it but it kinda looks like there might be a slightly mud colored stripe going down the back (or is it the front?) of that darling little sweater...sorry I said anything...forget I mentioned it...

Oooh. Aim higher. Those are very attractive socks!

Congrats on water (again) and water pressure to boot. :)

I like all the colour. Spring is here!

The pure joy of being able to fill the tub while using water elsewhere is not truly appreciated by those that have always had water pressure. Enjoy!

I'm always amazed at how the little things in life are the most appreciated. Especially when they've been absent!

"We've always had enough water, as long as you didn't want to do more than one water thing at a time - like fill the bathtub (20 minutes) and flush the toilet, or run the dishwasher and do laundry, or brush your teeth and wash a pot."

Ha! We just bought our first house and it's 102 years old and we've realized this same thing. No flushing while someone is taking a shower :).

I love that you raised three girls with one bathroom. Everyone today seems to need their own bathroom and own bedrooms and whatnot. with our small house there will be lots of sharing :)

I am loving those socks!

Congrats on having water! Does your coffee taste any different?

We had three girls and a boy and one bathroom... but it was the 1950s and nobody expected to be able to use hot water while someone else was filling the tub, or cold water during a toilet flush. I've never before heard of a house that would let you flush without affecting the shower. Right now I am envying you the new pipes; mine are similar to your old ones, I suspect, though the street-pipes were redone a decade ago.

If there's anything worse than plumbing problems I don't know what it is. We have been through the joys of living with a backed up septic tank...I'll spare you the awful details. We got news today that our A/C needs some major part fixed/replaced or it won't work...when you live with summer temps in excess of 110F you know what priority the A/C gets. Our dog has to be operated on to remove stones from her bladder to the tune of $1190-$1300. So we're out $2000 buckeroos for this week. Holy Moly!

Forget the socks. I am jealous of your new pipes and being able to use water in multiple areas of your home.

When it comes the rainbow stripey socks, the sky is the limit :D

Even better, a competition where the most impressive chore wins.

I bet the quality of your coffee has improved quite a bit.

The socks might be great bribery for any neighbors who don't accept your offering of pansies.

The wonders of modern plumbing!

I am in love with those socks!

The sweater and socks are the perfect antidote to mud!

I was looking forward to pictures of the work. But I glad it's working for you.

I am always so excited to learn there is another household in North America with only 1 bathroom, no shower, and teenagers (boys). But then I think: she had three teenage girls? and low water pressure? I am amazed that social services didn't find a foster family shower for your daughters.

Happy sweater, happy socks, and Happy bathtubs filled with water!

Dumb question: what type of heel are you using for your stripey socks? I'm doing my first pair of self-striping socks and I'm thinking a short-row heel might be best but I've also heard talk of people doing an afterthought heel. Thoughts?

I like Joe. Does he have an older brother?

I love all of the "color-ness" that you get to work with after the mud! And I'm so happy that you have water AND water pressure...

Kudos to you for living through all that! We had a similar septic tank problem (common in Texas) that required the trench to go through the MIDDLE OF THE HOUSE and we had to stay with my mother-in-law for a while... enjoy your baths and especially that fabulous rainbow yarn!(and Marilyn @ 1:15, that's waste yarn...)

"As Joe said, when I told him that was my plan 'I hope they're GREAT pansies.'"

Joe, ever with the dry humor! *lol*

And I want some of that sock yarn! *wah!*

Interesting...the yarn was wound backwards? The socks are toe up, and the colors go rainbow backwards (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red)

Gorgeous colors! do you (commenters) find that the names of yarns make you more or less likely to purchase it? I'm inordinately drawn to the nerdy science named ones; if the rainbow yarn was called "rainbow sprinkles" or "rainbow bright" or something, I don't think I'd go for it, but with it being sold by a company called "String Theory" it's really hard to resist ^.^

3 teenage girls and water rationing? I genuflect in your direction! (When I can get past that idea, I'll come back and admire the stunning knitting.)

Dear heart, that sweater is going to keep that poor baby awake.....

>:-)

Loving the rainbow theme. Seems very apropos.

Congrats on the good water pressure and may your pansies be the most beautiful on the block. Do your neighbors like homemade cookies? That sometimes helps...

Love that Continuum. I have a skein in Coronal Mass Ejection to knit up. And I do think that the names make a difference...

Congratulations on surviving another episode of "This Old House". The show is never as entertaining as real life!

Hmmm, a silent auction for the socks...with chores as the "cash"? I wonder if my guys would fall for that?

It is spring and that yarn with the sunshine colored stripes are bright, happy and encouraging...which in light of all that is going on this side of the border is GREATLY NEEDED!! Thanks for the hope and the smiles you send out thru the web.

DH & I are staring at the shell that was once our washing machine. Parts are suppose to arrive Thursday, which would be fine if I didn't just get home from a conference! May run out of socks by then.......so if you have socks that need a home!

The magic of running water is seriously under appreciated! :-)

Now I'm cursing myself for not getting that happy rainbow yarn when I had the chance. Sooooo appealing to my inner 12 year old.

I got a new bathroom tap installed today and it was a wonder - so completely new, rust-free pipes and WATER PRESSURE must be flat-out awesome in the truest sense of the word.

At least the garden was in spring and not in full flower of the season. Maybe a chance to rethink...? Trying to be positive here.

The baby jacket sounds like much fun and I love the socks. Those colours alone would end second sockitis. [I explained the syndrome to my colleague. He suffers as do I and he said, "I hadn't realized it was an officially recognized syndrome."]

Love that cute little sweater. Is the pattern available in adult sizes?

If the neighbors get very grouchy, you could placate them with socks. It would work for me, and I have terrible neighbors!

I am keeping my fingers crossed my kitchen faucet replacement (which was supposed to be done in two hours last Friday) doesn't end up being as much work as your plumbing project. I cleared out everything from under and around the sink Thursday night. Stashed all the ceramics and fused glass all over the house, and still no progress. I'm waiting to hear from my Ms. Fix-It to find out what is happening this week. I have no idea why I wanted to own a house so badly!

I think you should hold out for the laundry.

I think you guys need a power washer rather than scrubbing the mud. Its a great tool for this application. Just remember that it's a powerwasher and that it will powerwash off your skin if you try to rinse your hands in it.

Rainbows appear after the storm that cleans up all that mud.

Only you can find the upside in raising teenagers without water pressure.

Dude, those socks are totally worth a spring cleaning.

Rainbow socks! Those are too good to be true.

And that sweater... that sweater... I don't even know that I need the sweater itself so much, but my hands and brain hanker to make it.

I should think that the neighbors would be grateful that the plumbing issues werent theirs. They should be bringing you sympathy cookies just watching all that happening. complaining is just bound to bring on their own world of plumbing ills. After all- werent the houses built about the same time?

The sweater is amazing! Even without reading the pattern, I can see it has some unusual construction. Your choice of colorful yarns means some baby is going to feel very special (unlike the model in the first photo on the Ravelry page -- she looks like she's conducting an exorcism!).

The socks also look great. As someone else noted, it is unusual to see self-striping yarn come out with stripes that perfect. I suggest you offer them to the first of the daughters who cleans up all the mud, washes all the clothes, and does all the dishes -- with cleaning the cat box or washing the car thrown in, as needed.

The neighbors will LOVE your pansies. If not, do a weird little dance and chant to make them think you are wishing worse plumbing problems and a yard full of kudzu on them.

I have been looking for rainbow self-striping sock yarn for AGES! I am dying to make some rainbow striped legwarmers for my baby due in June, and I am so ecstatic to have found the yarn, thanks to you! (And thank you also for inspiring me to de-lurk and comment for the very first time.)

I'm always so thrilled to read a new post, and since it's about your life Stephanie, I don't care if it's about the house, the kids, airports, beer, knitting, spinning, conferences, summits and competitions, or whatever is going on in your real life. Your comments and humour are what make all of us halt for a while in our own real lives to find out what happened now, commiserate, laugh ourselves insensible, nod sagely, and sometimes shed a tear. If you felt you had to restrict yourself only to spinning and knitting issues, I think we would all be the poorer for it. There are a lot of knitting blogs out there but only one Yarn Harlot!

Those yarns for the baby sweater and socks look almost the same colourcombination, a bit like fraternal socks. Those bright colours are a great antidose to mud. Imagine clearing the mud with your old waterpressure, no coffee for hours while cleaning. For your garden: take a semi sabbatical year. Sow all kinds of non invasive flowers that never had a chance in your grownup garden and ponder about replanting with shrubs and hardy plants, then, during summer, plant them. Your garden will look very flowery this year and you will have time to rethink (no shrubs or trees where there are service thing-a-me-jig pipes and lines in the ground. By the way, how does your cherrytree do? Or did you put a sign on: pick as much as you can can?;-)

When there's a bedroom w attached bathroom for every teenaged daughter in the house, you don't get to see them as much. Love your socks.

I hate to be a harbinger of doom, but please watch out for all those old taps and pipes and other things connected to the water supply. All that extra pressure may be more than they are used to. A perfectly sound joint which survived 50 years under "never shower & flush" conditions may find it all too much...

Choose the crabbiest neighbor and make them their size. What a way to disarm them!

Well, I don't know if it is aiming higher, but I have a batch of delicious caramel (and rolo) fudge brownies. They are super delicious... and I would make a second batch of that or something else for the matching stripey sock.

How about a contest? The person who does the most cleaning and housework gets the socks...you be the judge.

Stephanie, I adore you and your blog, but I am now heartbroken that I cannot get that sock yarn! No fair showing us something that glorious when it's out of stock. Those socks remind me of Rainbow Bright, and I'm in love!

i love that yarn. i bought enough for two pairs of socks. I made me a pair and wore them a bit. They wore out with in a month. I used the second skien for gloves in the hopes I did not have the same issue. My daughter wears the gloves and gets a lot of positive comments on them. I wish I knew what I did wrong knitting the socks that the heels were "gone" so fast........

wow-sorry i posted gthat three times.

I'll come clean your house top to bottom for those socks ;) They look very good and I love the baby sweater. It looks very warm and cozy :D

Here is what you do with the socks: You invite all of blogdom to donate $5.00 for the socks raffle. With each $5.00 donation you get a raffle ticket for the socks. The proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders, and you let the computer randomly pick one winner. You could do a raffle every season. Fun!

This weekend I managed to install a new shower head and, lo and behold, what I thought was a water pressure problem was just a shower head problem! Made me so happy that I told everyone at work ... after a bit I noticed people looking at me strangely and realized that perhaps my news was not quite as exciting for them as it certainly was for my daughter and me.

It's the same reaction I get when I enthuse about a particular yarn or technique (last week I was all about felting!) when I talk to non-knitters.

But, honestly, the whole felting thing just is so fantastic!! Bloopy, floopy yarn magically turned into solid, shapeable creations. What could be better?!

Lawheezer great idea!

This weekend I managed to install a new shower head and, lo and behold, what I thought was a water pressure problem was just a shower head problem! Made me so happy that I told everyone at work ... after a bit I noticed people looking at me strangely and realized that perhaps my news was not quite as exciting for them as it certainly was for my daughter and me.

It's the same reaction I get when I enthuse about a particular yarn or technique (last week I was all about felting!) when I talk to non-knitters.

But, honestly, the whole felting thing just is so fantastic!! Bloopy, floopy yarn magically turned into solid, shapeable creations. What could be better?!

That's an MCN base--aim higher!
Where would we be without Lucy Neatby, or Cat Bordhi, or ... to turn knitting on its side/upside down/inside out and make us think/learn new techniques?

Three teenaged girls in one bathroom? Hmph. We had 10 kids in my family and only one bathroom. We are all experts at (1) annoying the hell out of each other for any given length of time; (2) loving each other very much because we know how special our family is and (3) taking really efficient showers.

We just had to dig up our septic tank this morning. At least you have clean water coming in. I'm afraid to do laundry, dishes or bath until the septic guy come. I think your plan with the pansies might work they are colorful and spring-like.

Always love a pattern with a bit of a challenge. And the colorway of those socks may just compel me to dive into sock knitting.

My husband (architect, home inspector and building consultant extraordinaire) said that the reason your concrete basement floor doesn't go all the way to the walls is that you probably have a stone foundation wall (considering the age of the house) and stone weeps (depending on the weather), so the water can run along the face of the wall on the interior into the ground.
Sorry for lurking all this time and not posting any comments previously. I love the colors you work with!

I love the yarn in those socks! Yes, yes the socks too ;)

I have also grown up in a home with water "trouble" no long hot showers, limited things that work at the same time. I truly understand the problems you have had. I like to think it made wonders with my character and me and my sister are still alive and talk to each other.

And the baby sweater looks like a must try project.

Ok, with the String Theory striped yarn how do you get them to line up perfect? Start at the same color repeat and then... afterthought heel or regular heel? I am knitting practice socks before tackling my special striped yarn.

This comment does not reflect on your last entry, however, I just couldn't wait to mention to someone who may understand how knitting draws in others. My daughter tore her ACL recently. Having had surgery and now lots of PT appointments, I have an hour to knit! With this knitting time, I've discovered how frequently knitting draws non-knitters to the activity. Just last week I was asked if I was making socks. I was knitting a pair for my husband...finally. She told me she received socks from a friend last Christmas and could feel the love. A week prior to this a young mother asked if I was making a sweater...it was a baby blanket. She was amazed I was making the on such odd needles. They were circulars. Her son was amazed at my speed and watched me for several minutes. Others in the waiting room have commented on my color choices. Many look at me with smiles. One gentlemen told me his mother made all their hats, mittens, and socks. He thought the art of knitting had died. We have several more weeks of PT appointments. I wonder what other comments I can collect.

"Lucy knit hers out of Kauni (tripled by way of chaining it as you go along to preserve the stripes) "

Would some kind soul be willing to explain to me what that means?

Yay for running water! YAY for great water pressure!!

My parents house is like yours was, couldn't have a shower and wash dishes or you'd shock the poor shower-taker.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that sock yarn! I am not a fan of knitted socks.. That is, I'm terrified to try knitting them... again... but OMG, that yarn!!!! I love that yarn!

Love the yarn for the baby sweater. Love yarn for the sox. Amazing the stripes turned out so evenly. I hope the mud is gone soon and you have the delight of water available to more than one faucet.

I just burst out laughing at "Joe and I have spent a really unreasonable amount of time this weekend rushing around watching the bathtub fill while the washer is on".

That's laughing with you in great sympathy and imagining how our own reaction will be when our bathroom is re-done with more lights than just a clip-on lamp over the mirror.

And to Karen from April 3, 2012 9:25 PM
...tripled by way of chaining it as you go along to preserve the stripes...

Sounds like basically a crochet chain, just with the loops super long, maybe several inches.

I will keep your dpns in perfect order forever for those socks.

I love the Lucy Neatby baby sweater and your color choices...I can't figure out what colorway you used? Also, you doubled it, two strands of worsted to make chunky? Those must be some big needles. I am assuming you need at least a 10. When I see something I want to make too, this is what happens. Shoot me now.

Oh, I wonder how much yarn the baby sweater takes? I've a skein of my hand painted yarn that I think needs to be one of these.