Post 149: Building

I woke this morning at 7am to the sound of an engine nearby, It turned out to be a pile driver on the vacant lot next door, which is approved for a 9 storey apartment block.

The top of the pile driver was about 2 metres from my balcony.

The pile driver itself made almost no noise but there was a motor, presumably powering it, that made a steady engine noise.

The work seemed concentrated in the corner of the site closest to me - the north east corner.




I was out much of the day. When I returned home this evening this was the result. I seem to remember the developer added a screening wall in this position. It looks as if the build is about to begin.

I rearranged my blocked shawl, removing the towel which holds moisture underneath. When I got it pinned out again, I recalled buying blocking wires last year.  They turned up in the last place I looked - under a sideboard cupboard right at the back against the skirting board.

They certainly made blocking more even.

I love the way garter stitch turns out in squares when blocked.




I left the blocked piece to dry out properly while I was out.


This is how it looked  when I removed the blocking pins this evening. It is quite large and wrappy.



I managed to complete a few more masks before heading off to my Sit'n Stitch with friends this afternoon. One of my stitching friends wanted to talk today about mask-making, so I left the last 4 in various stages of construction to demonstrate the process.















This worked quite well. I just need to finish these and I have another set for family to try out. 

Jennifer was at Sit'nStitch today. Our hostess made us a great lunch of pizza and her home-made pasties. Jennifer has some permanent heart damage from her Covid experience, which has resulted in fluid on her lungs. She is taking diuretics and limiting her fluid intake to get rid of this. She also has a thorax stenosis reducing her air passage by 50%. On 6 August she is booked to have a balloon inserted to widen the air passage and also have an angiogram.  The latter will provide more information about treatment. She gets exhausted and can't exercise or do anything strenuous. We has a good time stitching.

I worked on the owl today. It's coming along nicely.

This weekend I have a two-day class at the Guild with Christine Bishop. Six months ago this would have seemed routine, but right now it seems exciting and daring.

The biggest challenge will be waking up in time! I'm not sure pile drivers work on Saturdays!