Dainty Kitty

Googly Things & Knit Nights

I've been meaning to post this picture ever since I took it at Fulton Farm several weekends ago.  This isn't the pumpkin I came home with but I had to take his picture and give him a couple of googly eyes.

Today was proof that I'm not made of steel.  I think I thought of things I wanted to tell Jake no less than a dozen times and going the entire day without emailing him or getting an email from him was strange (we would email at least once or twice a day).  We also talked on our drive home every day so that was really hard - it's the first time I've cried since we actually talked.  Thank goodness my drive is only about ten minutes long. 

I had plans to meet up with a few women I met from Ravelry tonight but by the time I got home I was feeling pretty worn out.   But I made myself go!  I forced myself into the shower for a little wake up, gathered my things and hit the road.   Of course, once I got to where the Panera was supposed to be, I couldn't find it which drove me to near tears.   But I eventually found it and had a good time.  I can't imagine what I'd feel like right now if I'd just stayed home.

I think I'm going to frog the Noro hat I was working on.  It's a beehive pattern of k4, p4 but I was k4, p3 for some reason.  I kept losing track of the purls, I guess.  Over and over and over.  And it's huge so I think I'm going to drop it down a few stitches (although doing that hasn't  worked all that well for me in the past).

And I completely forgot to return Knocked Up on my way home so I have to run back out.  That reminds me, I finally watched Snow Cake.  It's like I was saving it for a special occasion when I knew I could just sit down and watch it uninterrupted, without feeling the need to do something else with my hands.  It was certainly worth the weight - Alan Rickman is just dreamy and this was such a good role for him.  That reminds me, I have bunny ears on the television in my bedroom which also double as a picture frame and held a photo of Jake.  Yesterday I replaced it with the Rickman photo Kim included in that awesome Knitter's Hunk prize package.  ;-)

Beep's First Trip to a Yarn Shop

Meet Beep.  He's an UglyDoll.   

While in Destin, Beep and I took a stroll down Miracle Strip Parkway and came across the cutest little yarn shop called Unwind.

Beep's first trip to a yarn shop couldn't have been a better experience.  It was a beautiful place and the owner, Ellen, was absolutely wonderful.  I wish I could move her and her shop here (because I really don't like going to my LYS all that much - it's never a very warm experience).

I fell in love with the felted Noro bag with the big red dot.  And keep an eye on the scarf next to the pretty blue sweater. 

Her window displays were adorable, too. 

I also fell quite in love with these seventy-five dollar namaste leather bags.

If you look closely, you'll see the reflection of a striped bag in the window.  I managed to walk out with only three skeins of yarn.  Remember that scarf I said you should keep your eye on?  My mom admired it so I (pretty blatantly) bought a skein of the Misti Alpaca 100% baby alpaca it was made from (the pattern was conveniently free with purchase) to make her one for Christmas.  I admired the other colors but the color they had chosen to knit it in was really the prettiest.  Maybe by the time December 25th rolls around, she'll have forgotten....I love this yarn and I love this rib pattern.  It's so soft (I gave a piece to Jake while we were watching BSG the other night and he rubbed it between his fingers for several episodes) and the pattern is so easy but makes such a pretty scarf.  I'm definitely going to make one of these for myself as well. 

I also bought two skeins of Jojoland Melody sock yarn for my second pair of socks.  :-)

And that was our trip to Unwind, the sweet little yarn shop!  Later on you'll get to meet Beep's friend, Bop.  But that's for another day.

Besides finishing my sock, I managed to (finally) unpack and get things ready for the living room rearrangement tomorrow so right now I think I deserve some curled up in bed book time....

The Knitter's Hunk

Hee hee!  I won!  Much thanks to Alan Rickman for the inspiration and Kim for running such a fun contest!!   

Isn't It Nice to Have Someone to Come Home to?

When I came around the corner today I spotted something  sitting in the tree outside of my apartment. 

It was my friend Mesmer the Little White Monkey!

He was just waiting for me to get home as his family had dropped him off on their way to Georgia for a little alone time.  I must have missed their letter; I had no idea he was coming.  Luckily, Mesmer enjoys watching traffic so he was content to hang out in the tree and watch the cars go by.

Right now I'm going to go pour the little guy a bowl of monkey chow.  The amigurumi book I've been waiting for, Amigurumi! Super Happy Crochet Cute finally came in and I'm dying to sit down and take a closer look at it - the quick flip through in the car doesn't count! 

The Knitter's Hunk - A Plea From Your Pal

There's been a little contest running at Hand Eye Crafts for the Knitter's Hunk.  There are currently three very heated ties that need to be broken.

Colin Firth vs. Alan Rickman

Johnny Depp vs. George Clooney

Mike Rowe vs. Ewan McGregor

I'm encouraging you to vote because it's fun (and rather addictive) but also because I really want Alan Rickman to win this round.  Hee hee! So if you have no preference between Mr. Firth and Mr. Rickman, do your old pal Emily a favor and vote for Rickman. 

Thanks for your support!

A Glimpse of Things Other Than Cats That Live in My Home

After the AleFest, Jake and I stopped at the grocery store for an onion and vanilla ice cream (onion for him, ice cream for me to go with the delicious oatmeal cookies he'd bought at Trader Joe's earlier in the week).  As we passed a cart of discounted plants and flowers,  I had to stop. 

I came home with a Cyclamen ($2.99) which I transplanted (pot on sale at Lowes for $2.99) as a thank you for my parents who treated us to pizza and salad at Dewey's (in fact I'm warming up leftovers right now) and a mini rose bush ($2) for myself.  I'm not sure if the rosebush will bloom anymore - I can't find any buds on it - but it was too pretty to pass up for a mere two bucks.  The daisies and the lovely Muppet looking yellow flower are what remains of the birthday flowers I received from the office (Season Three Sept 4th - woot!).  Daisies are my favorite flower for for many reasons - the fact that they continue to hold their color and live for weeks is just one of them. 

I also came home with a new pet, aptly named Wednesday.  Who can pass up a Venus Flytrap for only two dollars?  Not me! I transplanted her into a cute blood red pot I also got on sale for $1.99. You're supposed to pot them in soil made for African Violets so I'll have to make another stop for a bag of that and a mister (as in the type that softly sprays water, not the type that means a new boyfriend) as you're supposed to keep the soil damp.  Last year I had a plant (named Gomez) which had leaves that would curl up when you touched them.  Gomez was totally awesome but, unfortunately, he didn't last long.  I'm not sure if it was the transplanting, where I had him in the room or the fact that I couldn't stop touching the leaves every time I walked by that killed him.  So I'm really going to try harder with my second vaguely creepy plant.  My apartment is pretty bug free so I'm also resisting the urge to go outside and find a few to feed to Wednesday because...well, that's kind of gross.

Ahem, Wednesday is also quite a lush and spends all of her time hanging out at the bar.  It's a bit embarrassing really. 

And I leave you with a quote from Henry David Thoreau...and my yucca plant.   

From Now On I'd Like to Be Addressed As...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Marchioness Emily the Potential of Chalmondley Chumleyton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Bush v. The Zombies

I was very happy to find that even Mr. Bush is aware of the possible threat of a zombie invasion.

Mad Notes

You don't know "Jungle Love?" That shit is the mad notes. Written by God herself and sent down to the greatest band in the world: The mother-fucking Time.

- Jay, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

Our theme for the year here at the office is a jungle theme complete with vines everywhere, stuffed snakes, monkeys and tigers...and a CD of any song we could think of that has anything to do with the word "jungle."  It gets played twice a week - Monday and Wednesday - to gather reps for the morning meeting.  Today we finally got to my contribution, "Jungle Love" by Morris Day & The Time.  For weeks we've heard "Welcome to the Jungle," "Jungle Gym" (Jack Johnson), and Steve Miller's "Jungle Love" over and over and over...finally someone skipped ahead!  What a great way to start a Monday morning!

I finished one Kolenya this weekend...except for the thumb...I need to do some research on that.  I did put in the bridges but if I were to make them again I'd probably leave them off - not because they were hard - they were easier than I thought - but I'd leave them off for comfort reasons.  I'll have pictures here in a few days...I accidentally left my camera at Jake's last night. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Insert Clever Scrabble Pun Here

The 2007 Scrabble Players Championship has come to Dayton, Ohio!

Jake and I went downtown to Thai 9 for dinner Friday night and spotted several players carrying their black and red tote bags (I’d love to have one of those – I can’t explain why but I would). I’d loved to have talked to a few of them but it wasn’t very convenient and I didn’t want to appear to be a Scrabble groupie or anything. I just thought it might make for some interesting conversation. I told Jake that I really wanted to write seven random letters on a piece of paper and ask them what they could come up with. 

As we were waiting for our check, a pair of players walked by and I realized that Joel Sherman had been sitting two tables away from us the entire time we’d been eating.  And who is Joel Sherman, you ask?  Why only the man who won the tournament featured in the documentary Word Wars!  He’s the one on the bottom left on the DVD cover.

On our way out I stopped, briefly, at a table of players and wished them luck. They thanked me, a bit stunned, and one of the older men pulled it together quick enough to wish me luck as well just as we were walking out the door. Oh I love a good game of Scrabble and got a great score once for the word “zen” and also won a challenge once when someone said you couldn’t use brand names…I had spelled the word “sprite.” Ahem. But it takes a special kind of person to play in a tournament.

Oddly enough, we had already had one brush with celebrity that night…we walked around the Oregon District for a bit while waiting for our table and exchanged pleasantries with Tom Archdeacon and his wife/significant other/lady friend. Mr. Archdeacon is a human interest sports writer for the Dayton Daily news – his articles are about the only thing I might read on the sports page.

And to end on a Scrabble note: I found this photo while looking for a picture of the Word Wars DVD. Very cool.