Adventures in Cat-sitting
Do you remember that movie Adventures in Babysitting? I totally wanted to be that babysitter... so cool, so pretty, so exciting. But I digress...
This week and next week I am officially a cat-sitter. Aside from some extraordinary feistiness on Monday, which involved much scratching and biting, the cat has been lovely and happy to see me. And since I don't have my own cat (and very much wish I could... stupid landlord), I've enjoyed playing with him and tending to his needs.
Today I decided to have some adventures tied into the cat-sitting. Since I have been commuting to the cat (bus and subway, including a subway change), I decided to take advantage of the proximity to the subway of a yarn shop that I've wanted to visit. (See this story is knitting related!) I haven't purchased yarn since the Kauni, so I figured a deserved a little, especially since I fell in love with Norah Gaughan's Loppem (non-rav link). My plan was to browse the store's stock, see if they had Berroco's Norah Gaughan Book 3, buy the book, see if there was a suitable and affordable yarn, if yarn could not be found, then I'd leave the store with the book and maybe a skein of sock yarn.
Let me say that it took a lot of self-control to not leave with one of every sock yarn, which would have totally blown my next 3 paychecks, Knitty City has a fantastic selection of sock yarn and a good selection of other yarn as well. I was very impressed and happy with the number and variety of knitting and crocheting books. I don't think I've seen a store with so many books. The staff was very friendly and several asked if I needed any help, but were very hands off when I said that I was just looking. I like knowing that the staff is willing to help, but that they are also willing to let you just roam around and around and around touching and petting.
Since they did have the book and Cascade 220 (color 8509), I succeeded in my goal of getting the book, yarn for Loppem, and not spending more than $50! I still wanted to bring home an armload of sock yarn, but was able to resist. Next time I need some sock yarn, I'll definitely be heading back there.
Then showing additional self-control and lack of self-control, when I got to the neighbor of the cat, I went into the best named chicken place around, "Wonder Chicken," and ordered some french fries, but avoided ordering the delicious fried chicken. The cat and I had some lunch together, played attack the feathers on a rod, watched TV, snoozed, played don't attack Kim's Brock Croc Sock, played ok here's a small piece of yarn to play with, more snoozing and TV watching.
On the way home, I decided to take the longer walk back to the subway station and got an extra 20 minutes of exercise (hopefully taking away a bit of the french fry damage). I was fortunate to catch a train that was running so far behind that it switched to express, even though there are technical no express trains on this line. That did mean I couldn't get off at my usual stop, but I got off at the other one and took a different bus because I realized that I could get off that bus at the diner and get myself some breakfast for dinner (Kevin had an afterwork function and I was otherwise going to go home and eat junk for dinner).
After a lovely dinner, I walked home and stopped at the bodega to get some drinks. I ended up with Captain Morgan's Mojito drinks. They aren't very good, but they are drinkable.
Now I've been relaxing with Captain Morgan, watching the backlog of General Hospital that I have DVRed (which a much hotter Morgan... Jason Morgan), winding Cascade, knitting a gauge swatch, and starting Loppem.
I haven't been this excited about a sweater in a long time. I'm hoping that this turns out nice because I can see wearing it constantly. Pictures of progress tomorrow if my camera batteries haven't died!
