happy birthday dad!

today is my dad's birthday! happppy birthday! we're going to Carraba's tonight for dinner, i'm pretty excited.

so i started a sweater about 2 weeks ago. it's called the February Lady Sweater. it's so cute! i can't wait until i'm done with it! i have the body finished, and have to start on the sleeves. hopefully i will actually finish this one. i think i will because i really want it to wear. i'll post some pictures on here this time.

the side, and the detail of the lace. it's a bit blurry, sorry.

what the front looks like.


i'm calling it the Doctor Sweater because i have been watching Doctor Who and it's spin-off, Torchwood, while knitting. a lot of the sweater is repeticious so it's nice to have something to watch while knitting. i'm almost done with Torchwood, so hopefully i will continue on without it.

Doctor Who has become one of my favorite shows. for those of you who don't know what it is, it's a British show about a 900 year-old Time Lord who flies through time and space in his ship, the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space). He basically saves the world/other planets/universe from aliens in every episode with his varied companions. it started back in the '60s, went off the air in the '80s, then came back in 2005. there have been 10 different actors playing the Doctor (because the Doctor can regenerate), but i find this one to be my favorite:

it's a really great show.

i've gotten quite behind on my reading due to Doctor Who and knitting. i finished The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett just recently and also the two books by Maureen Johnson i mentioned in my last post.
Girl At Sea by Maureen Johnson 323 pgs
The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson 370 pgs
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett 368 pgs
total pages read this summer: 4,658 pgs
woooo! i am now reading Persepolis 2 and The Catcher in the Rye. i'm reading The Catcher in the Rye again because of this:

i wish that i could go see John in Spring Lake on monday, but i have to work! booo! but John and Hank Green are planning on going on a Nerdfighters Tour and they will probably come to MI again so i will see them then!

ok, this is quite enough to put in a post. kbye!

an update.

ok, time for a post. we went to VA for a week, it was really, really great. our week was packed full of stuff to do. i have pictures, but i have not put them up on flickr yet. yes, i have a flickr, i will post a link to it farther down. i am going to post pictures on there from now on because it just takes so long to do it through blogger. it was so great to see ali and david and be back in the lovely state of Virginia.

just one more thing about our trip. on the way back we stopped at Monticello. it was sooooo amazing. i want to live there. the house was beautiful and amazing, and his gardens were just wonderful. the view was breathtaking, i didn't want to leave.

his garden inspired me to keep gardening, it was just amazing. so this leads me to taking pictures of my own little garden. i have a sweet pepper plant and i have a little pepper growing! also, my second tomato plant is HUGE! and blossoming like crazy! soon we will have pretty striped tomatoes! my other tomato plant in the box is kinda dead, but i think it is coming back to life. the boxes got flooded when we got all that rain, so i think the plants drowned a little. my oregano is pretty much gone, and the peppermint is taking over! my chives and basil are still going strong, my chives have a beautiful purple blossom on it. my dill died long ago, sadly. so i guess i'm doing ok with my veggie/herb garden.

a book update: i have finished/read three more books since i last updated.
This Lullaby by Sara Dessen 352 pgs
Water for Elephants by Sarah Guen 335 pgs
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 318 pgs
which brings my total to: 3,597 pgs.
Bel Canto was simply amazing, probably up there on my favorite books of all time. the story is so engrossing and it's hard to put down. it also made me want to learn about opera. so i checked out a book and an opera on CD, Rigoletto, from the library. currently i am reading Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson. i got another book by her, the sequel to Peeps by Scott Westerfeld and two more books by Ann Patchett. i also started Salt, which is very interesting, but kind of dense, so i see that as a book that i can read in segments and come back to every now and then.

ok, so i actually have some stuff to say about knitting! i have been in a slump yet again, but jess inspired me to start up crocheting and knitting again. i finished the crocheted bathmat (pictures on my flickr) i also made two hats, the couvercle and the amanda hat. last night i finished and felted a bowl! it's pretty sweet, used up some of my rough wool yarn. it will be nice in our apartment!

today i organized my out-of-control yarn stash. i separated out the yarn that i will not use to trade/give away on Ravelry, a knitting/crocheting social networking site. i also separated out all the acryllic yarn that i can use for my slowly coming crocheted afghan. i also put all my WIPs and completed projects in a bin. my yarn stash is a lot smaller now. i guess i better get more yarn! haha!

another thing happened today, my aunt had a heart attack. she's doing great now, but one of her arteries was totally blocked. luckily they were able to put a stint in and unblock it. i am really happy she's ok. she's diabetic, so that kind of brought all this on. hopefully now she will take of herself better, and eat better and exercise more. i also hope that this will inspire my cousin to do the same.

i am pretty much ready to quit my job, it's getting ridiculous. i'm not going to go into here because i am just tired of talking about it. i only have about a month left working there, so i think i will be able to make it. i am actually looking forward to going back to school! i know i will think back to these days of nothing in the fall and wish i still was doing that, but whatever. i think i am more excited about our apartment. 38 days until we move in! yayayay!

alright, well i think that was a pretty thorough update! make sure to look at the pictures on my flickr! <3