Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pasta Salad

Elliot continues to amaze me. Not because he is brilliant, however. He ate pasta salad today. Like actually chewed and swallowed 2 noodles with Italian dressing and cheese. No veggies for him though. He truly is a special cat.

I'm trying to be productive tonight. I actually got 15 more thank yous done. Its so sad. My wedding was three months ago. I can't even really use the school excuse anymore cause I've been done for 3 weeks now. They take a while cause I'm handwriting each one and its not a hard-and-fast message I'm writing in them, because some people just sent money and did not come to the weeding, some came, etc. I just finished baking cookies for Zach's care package I plan on sending our Friday. I still have to get some necessities he asked for (sunflower seeds, sour patch kids, bug lotion, and a red bulbed flashlight) but at least I know what I have to get.

I was thinking today as I looked about my living room, why does it seem like one never has enough space? before we got married, I never really paid attention to trying to make everything seem like it belonged and making it look organized. I swear it was because we didn't have as much stuff, so it wasn't an issue. Now, however, its like we always have random stuff I can never find places for, or not enough space in places I try to make for things. It's frustrating. I think after I get back from visiting Zach I'm going to block one of the weekends I have left and completely clean the apartment. I'll try to get all the basic stuff caught up before then (dishes, laundry, vacuuming, etc) so that I can focus on organizing. I think I'll need one whole day for my office, so maybe I'll save that for Sunday because it will be the most time consuming and the least important. We don't hang out much in there (ok, Zach only really stores stuff in there and I haven't been in there since it became the place to store stuff from the wedding we don't know what to do with) so if it is the only room that doesn't get done, I wont be to broken up over it.

Wow, that was a really long ramble on how I need to be more organized. Sorry for that. Made me feel better though :)

He takes after his father

My kitten is insane. Certifiably loco. For the past 25 minutes he has been running and jumping around the apartment like he is being chased my something, which he isn't. He plays with anything he sees, whether it moves or not and whether or not it is attached to him. Walls and vertical objects are not a hindrance, just more running space. Moving at the speed of light isn't fast enough.

I keep joking with my friends that Elliot (the kitten) takes after Zach. They are both such BOYS. That and Elliot always makes messes I have to clean up, much like someone else I know (eh hmm, laundry especially). But we wont go into that.

Finally finished Yolanda's fetching and I don't like it. I don't think it was the right yarn for the project and it was hard knitting something that was black because the stitched were hard to see. I think I might just order some nice purple yarn from knit picks and try try again. Such a shame though. Oh well

The Summer

It's that time again when Zach leaves for the summer and I'm left to enjoy (or not) the summer by myself. This time its not as long as last summer, so that's what I'm trying to focus on. Maybe I will get lots of knitting and organizing with him gone.

We finally named little kitty: Elliot! He is so cute, but he is definitely playful. I feel bad because some nights I come home from being gone all day and he just want to play play play and I'm done after 15 minutes. Luckily he is starting to play on his own with some of the toys we bought him.

Not too much else to report really. I am almost done with one of Yolanda's fetchings. I just did the last cable row so I think there is only 4 more rows left, the bind off, and then the thumb. The thumb kind of scares me. I was pretty proud considering I went from having like 40% to 90% done the other night. I am hoping after I get my errands done tomorrow that I will be able to finish it and maybe work on a baby blanket? I wont let myself start ANYTHING else until I get at least one of those done. Oh yeah, should probably work on wedding thank yous too. I bet if I really wanted to I could finish those. That would be cool. We'll see what happens.

Unnamed Kitty

We got a kitten! He is a cute 10 week old white and brown striped cat. It is hard to get a decent shot of him because he moves so fast and is still exploring, but here he is:


He hasn't figured out that you cannot walk through the window screen we put up between our living room and kitchen (where we are keeping our little guy for a while). He loves to play with yarn. I cut a piece thinking I would play with him for a little while, but he took it away and played happily by himself for 10 minutes! We still don't have a name... nothing we have come up with seems to fit. Hopefully we'll think of something soon.

Knitting is going well. I have been so determined to finish those blankets I haven't worked on much else, but I'm on my last skein of yarn for Aubrey's and over half done with Nicholas'. I also got another few rounds done on Yolanda's fetchings. I hope to have those done in another week or two.

I bought Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting by Laura Chau today at A. C. Moore. Zach actually suggested I buy this a few weeks ago, but I stobbornly said I didn't think it looked that good. I thought it would be one of those generic knitting help books put out by people who didn't actually knit. Boy was I wrong. This book has instructions for every way you could want to knit socks (magic loop, dpns, 2 circs, flat, toe up, cuff down, etc) with GREAT pictures illustrating every move. I think this is just what I need to get going on socks. Another great part of this book is a kind of troubleshooting area in the back. It not only tells you all the common mistakes made in knitting, it has pictures to show you what it looks like AND tells you how to fix it. It is definately going to be close by the next few weeks.

I should probably stop my kitten from eating my kitchen chair...

Simplicity

Its a funny word really. Like one of those unattainable things that taunts those of us who are too busy for our own good. I thought that after school was out that things would get less hectic, but life hasn't slowed down a bit. It's always one thing or another eating away at our time. Making life more simple is something Zach and I have talked about a few times, but then it seems like we can never do anything to get there. Part of that is because Zach is a mover and a shaker. He likes to be always doing things. Not that he doesn't enjoy just vegging out to a movie with some good snacks, but he likes to be around people and doing things. I'm more of a homebody. I like to stay home, maybe clean or organize, read, knit, watch a movie, talk about things, etc. Not that I don't like to get out and do things with our friends, but I guess I'm just more reserved where Zach is more outgoing.

Now that I have rambled on without mentioning knitting once, I suppose I should give you an update. Still. working. on. baby. blankets. I have GOT to get those things done. Its just one more thing on my list of things to get done and I'm getting kind of sick of them, truth be told. Plugging along on Alex's scarf. I'm not too worried about this. Ok, not worried about it at all. It's a Christmas gift, and its mostly mindless knitting, so I figure especially once the baby blankets are done I can work on that during car rides, short waits in various places, or while watching a movie. I also started Yolanda's fetchings and those are moving along nicely. I"m really enjoying the pattern and want to make myself a pair after I'm done with hers. The only plave I see myself getting confused is the thumb, but I figure I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I got my knit picks order in today. I love that place. They have great stuff and its AFORDABLE. I had ordered 2 40" long circulars in sizes 2 and 3 for socks. I think I may try one more time before Zach leaves and I go to Barb (LYS owner) for a lesson. I have always pretty much figured stuff out on my own and its really bugging me that I can't get this. I also got Socks a la Carte, Knit So Fine, and Things I Learned From Knitting Whether I Wanted To Or Not. I've been working through Knitting Rules for a while now. Normally I tear through books because I'm a fast reader, but I have been making myself slow down for this book because I love it so much. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has such a great writing style and very real attitude toward knitting. Its a refreshing read and makes me want to write my own knitting book. Not likely, but still fun to think about.