When is a Door Not a Door? When it's a Fucking Nightmare
What have I been doing lately? I've been disillusioned with my knitting. The last time I picked up the baby blanket for Astra, it looked a bit funny. I folded it over and realized I had loosened up in my gauge so much that the width of the blanket was almost 2" wider than at the cast-on edge. I was horrified. I argued with myself about letting it go and working it out in the blocking, but in the end I just couldn't continue. So I'll be ripping about half of it out and reknitting. Sorry Astra! I swear Sebastian will get this blanket before he goes to university.
Starsky went swimmingly along until I got to the plain stockinette sleeves. I knit the back and two fronts in record time but for some reason, when I started working the sleeve, I just couldn't keep gauge. What is wrong with me? I ripped out the sleeve back to the ribbing twice. I think I need a smaller needle to get gauge with the stockinette. I was using a 4.5 mm for the rest of the sweater, and I'm going to try again with a 4 mm for the sleeves. Believe it or not, the pattern calls for a 6 mm. How tightly do you people knit?
In the meantime I have almost finished a pair of socks. I made the second one a bit too short, so I have to rip back the toe and add about 4 rows before I reknit the toe. Not only can I not keep gauge, I also cannot measure. I have just been so frustrated!
Jeremy had the last couple of days off, so we decided to get something done around here. We used a gift card from Christmas for Home Depot to buy a new door for Alex's bedroom. We have plans to replace all the doors because they are awful, but Alex's came first because it was hung the wrong way. It opened into the centre of his room instead of toward the corner; when the room in question is so small this is awkward and stupid. Particularly awkward was the fact that the door, when opened, obscured the lightswitch. You had to enter the room and close the door in the dark before you could turn on the light.
We've never hung a door and jamb before, but lack of experience doesn't stop us. We tore off the trim, ripped out the old jamb and started shimming. On the top and left side it was easy to get the jamb plumb. The other side was a nightmare because the framing for the door was way too big. The new door is exactly the same size as the old door, and we discovered only after ripping out the old jamb (which was shimmed in the most creative manner!) that we were going to have to get creative as well. What we ended up doing is screwing the old jamb directly to the 2x4 of the frame, and then shimming the new jamb from there. It sounds confusing but I took some pictures and it'll all make sense when I post them later on.
Anyway, with some struggle we managed just fine, and that jamb is perfectly square! We are awesome. It's probably the only square thing in our house. Right before we went to hang the actual door, we decided to read the instructions.
Now, we used some vague directions we found online. That combined with watching countless doors hung in countless frames on countless home reno shows gave me the confidence that we knew how to do this. When we looked at the instructions that came with the door, they said we should hang the door before we shimmed the jamb. Wha? I guess that would work when your jamb actually fits into the frame with millimetres to spare, but we were working in a space that was about 3" too wide. Anyway, the door hangs correctly, but it doesn't swing because the bottom needs to be trimmed about a half-inch to allow for the bedroom carpet. Jeremy's going to saw it off this morning, and tonight Alex can have his room back!
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Comments
sorry about the knitting boo boos, but good job on the door, reno-geeks!
sandra · Mar 29 · 1:47 PM
HAH! Don't praise too soon! As it turns out, we actually fucked up the jamb. So much so, that we must rip it out, get a new jamb and start the fuck OVER! I am so ready to get drunk right now.
Maggie · Mar 29 · 1:49 PM
aaaahhhh . . . the joys of home improvement. i've heard that hanging doors is tricky business.
i have the same problems with gauge in my knitting. i ALWAYS have to use needles at least 2 sizes smaller than called for in the pattern.
rebecca · Mar 29 · 4:06 PM
BOOOOO to fucked up jambs!! BOOOO!
sandra · Mar 29 · 10:04 PM
You are better home owners than we are. We just don't do anything in the house, but we really should do it.
We might be better off renting some place. But that is pretty hard to do these days.
And your next door will go almost flawlessly!
marjon · Mar 30 · 8:59 AM
whatever happened to starsky??
i have been waiting for a "finished" post.
can't wait to see it
ann-marie · May 24 · 6:05 PM