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!

books!

i have very high aspirations for this summer. specifically my summer reading. i officially started my reading list on May 3rd. so far, this is my list:
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (i'm not linking to these because...well i'm sure nobody reading this blog will actually want to read them)
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld
Feed by M.T. Anderson

most of these are young adult or "teen" fiction. but i really enjoy YA fiction, especially in the summer. they are pretty good, most of the time (steph meyer i am looking at you). i really like Scott Westerfeld and Maureen Johnson, and of course you already know how i feel about John Green. but i'm on my last YA book from the library, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. i thought it was going to be really sappy and stuff, but i actually like it a lot. i'm half-way through, and will probably finish it tonight. then i'm starting Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (amazon is not working right now, so no more links). Ms. Bowser recommended it to me, and i picked it up.

anyway, so i've read 8 books in one month. 2,592 pages so far. i didn't set a goal for myself, i just have a very long list and am going to try to make it through by the time school starts. maybe june will be adult books, haha. i'll see how fast i can get through those. i'm not saying that YA books are any easier to get through, but they probably are. i dunno. the point is that i'm reading, right?

so, i was feeling really down that i was in such a knitting rut, i was looking through my books for something to make. and i came upon a crocheted bathmat. and i thought that i could do that, so i started it. i'm about half-way through, except my yarn keeps getting tangled and i'm really annoyed. but anyway, i am on a crocheting kick right now, i learned how to make granny squares so i am making a bunch of those with yarn i already have to hopefully make into an afghan. we'll see how that goes. oh! i have a picture.

i quite like this square. its purple with the DAZZLE yarn i got! i love it.

well, it's about a week until we head down to VA. so close! even more time to read on the way down! yes!

oh my, i'm sure it's time for an update!

well well well, a lot has been going on. well...i guess more than usual. so, i took my finals, and everything went well. i moved back home and am now settled back into kalamazoo life.

i've started working back at Heritage, the retirement community i worked at during high school. it's been pretty good so far. just like riding a bike, you never really forget how to serve old people. haha. things have changed a bit, but it's a good job for the summer.

yesterday was very exciting in that i went to Grand Rapids to see Barack Obama. it was amazing, and John Edwards showed up to endorse Obama. we really thought that they were going to say they were running mates, they did everything but. it was a really good day. i might upload pictures, but it takes a very long time to upload them on here. so maybe tomorrow when my head does not hurt.

i am excited for june because we are going down to Virginia! 29 days! i'm counting down because i really can't wait to see ali and david. also, Virginia is a pretty nice place.

an update on my summer reading: i have finished the second book of the Twilight series, New Moon, and am now on the third one, Eclipse. it's going ok, although i find myself being very annoyed and literally laughing out loud at some points. but i will get through it within the next couple of days and move on. i ordered some books from amazon. i got An Abundance of Katherines (which i cannot wait for, if Looking for Alaska was any indication of the awesomeness that is John Green, then i will surely love Katherines)i also got Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, whom i love, The Way the Crow Flies and Tomcat in Love, which are suggestions of jess. i am excited for my new books. yay for reading!

i have also started an herb garden. i will take some pictures tomorrow and upload them along with my Obama ones. i have dill, basil, chive, peppermint and oregano. i also got two striped tomato plants and a sweet banana pepper plant. i hope they grow and produce something!

ok, i think thats all that is exciting enough for this blog. goodnight!

ETA: here are the pictures i promised. (actually, i'm not going to upload pics of my garden because 1) i haven't taken pictures of it because i'm lazy and 2) because, like i said, it takes a very long time to upload them on here and to upload from my camera to my computer. sorry)

these are kind of dark and grainy, but still amazing. i love the ones with both of them in it! obama/edwards 2008!

ahh! relief!

i am done with classes for the year! how exciting! this week went by very fast. i had my ISS final on thursday and then my last ecology exam today, so these past few nights have been filled with studying. but i feel good about them.

my finals week looks really good, for once. i only have two finals next week, one on tuesday, one on thursday. they are both later in the day, so i feel that i have a lot of time to study.

after my chem final on thursday, jess and i are going to This American Life Live! they are broadcasting a show live, through movie theaters! i am soooo excited! then i'm going home on friday morning.

jess is coming to kazoo for the westnedge hill garage sale on saturday so we can find some stuff for our apartment. woo!

i mentioned in my last post about my cat, holly. since that post she has died. it kind of makes me wonder if there is anything else going on to make two of our cats die in less than a year, but i know they are all getting old. she was a really great, loving cat, and i will miss her a lot.

i am officially going back to Heritage this summer. i have it all set up, i just have to go through orientation again. i'm a little nervous, but i think it will be fine.

i'm also very excited for our trip down to williamsburg this summer. i can't wait to see ali and david, and the wonderful town.

i must mention knitting to validate this "knitting blog". i have not done any knitting recently. i don't know why. i think i'm in a really big rut, and i just haven't felt like it. nothing has really caught my eye to knit, so whatever. i had to get a second storage thing for the yarn i accumulated this year. its kind of getting to be out of control. i think my knitting rut seems to have something to do with summer, whenever summer comes around i just don't feel like knitting wool hats. i know there are plenty more things to knit that are lighter and summery, but i don't know. i think i would rather read.

on to reading. i read the book Looking for Alaska by John Green over last weekend. its probably one of the most, if not the most, amazing books i have ever read. seriously. it is for teens and "young adults" but, i think everyone would be able to relate and enjoy it. also, i don't think i've ever cried so much over a book before. also, john green is one of brotherhood 2.0, so i may be a little biased, but whatever. my summer reading list is growing. i am looking to accomplish reading many books this summer, and hoping to read many different kinds of books. i have some poetry, some novels, the obligatory summer teen reading, and some nonfiction. i need more suggestions, so please leave a comment with a good suggestion for my summer reading! i really can't wait to start my list! i'm really looking forward to going to the library too!

so that is pretty much it. i'm still thinking a lot about post-graduation, but i think i will keep that to myself for a while. i probably won't update until i'm back home, and hopefully with something more interesting to talk about.

i guess it would be nice.

i've started a sweater. it's a top down raglan, meaning that i knit it from the top down. its super easy! and no seaming when i'm done, hurray for that! i'm using Red Heart Soft in a minty green and chocolate brown. i really like it, and it only cost me about $12. usually i don't use Red Heart, because i can be a bit of a yarn snob, but i quite like the soft version of it. and for $2.99, how can i not use it? here's a picture of my progress.



i took that yesterday afternoon, and i worked on it pretty much all night. i did a whole green stripe and am about half way through a brown stripe. i am almost done with the increasing rows, and then i will be able to go on to the body. how exciting!

jess and i are kinda doing a knit-a-long. she is knitting a cardigan though. we went to JoAnn's and Michael's yesterday and i bought a skein of Lion Brand Wool to finish up my felted slippers. i finished one, but didn't feel like starting the other one. they are mismatched, but that makes me love them more. i can't wait to felt them and use them next year!

i just finished this book, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. it was really good. i want to read it again, because i want to kinda put the pieces together. its definitely something that i would buy and read again and again. next i'm going to read Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser. he wrote Fast Food Nation and i really enjoyed that. this one is about the black market in america, i hope its as good as FFN.

kaitie is coming up tomorrow night and hanging out because we are going to see RENT! i'm very excited! i can't wait to see her, and it will fun to have her up here!

i do not like the fact that it is snowing today. or that it is cold. why? yesterday turned out very nice, and now its 30 degrees? weird. but its michigan, what should i expect, eh?