i shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my squishy

apparently Petco's adoption program extends beyond just cats. Chris & I stopped by today to try to pick up some new fish for the pond and found a sign advertising 6 huge goldfish up for adoption. We left the store $3 lighter & 27 fish later. Great deal if you ask me!

mahlzeit!

April endeavor #2 completed! Today, I made Chris & myself homemade gnocchi with a garlic lemon butter sauce :9. Unfortunately, I finished my bowl of gnocchi before I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures... oops! Anyhow, I was quite satisfied with the texture; it was softer and lighter without being too doughy. I'd have to second the grating technique, messy as it is. The sauce on the other hand? Meh. It was aight. I didn't really know what I was doing so I just tossed a bunch of things in a pan and heated up 'til saucy. Thankfully, we still had some leftover pesto from the batch my sister & I made, which helped save it. Next time, I think I'll try a lighter sauce or a marina methinks.

skurrously!

there are a few things that I would like to accomplish, mainly in the realms of food & knitting, so I've been checking out a lot of sources for ideas. I think I'm gonna try to complete something on a monthly basis, which may not sound like much, but trust me, with school and my schedule, this may be a rather ambitious feat. I've already selected my 2 upcoming projects for April:

1) since my nephew is coming, I've only got a month to make him an elephant. I got this pattern from the lovely & amazing Rebecca Danger. My sister-in-law is Thai so I wanted to make an Asian elephant, but I'll have to figure out how to make the ears a little bit smaller and how to add tusks...

2) my other endeavor will be fresh gnocchi made-from-scratch, mmm! I've made gnocchi before, but it never melted in my mouth, even when I used Chris's ricer to get the right consistency. But then, I found this recipe from smitten kitchen that uses a cheese grater instead of any of those fancy schmancy tools, so of course I'm gonna give it a try! I've also never pan fried my gnocchi, but I've had it at some other places and it's really good. I'm no chef, though, so I just hope these turn out tasty...

i wants

I found this little guy at ouou's shop on Etsy. He's just so perfect! In fact, it's worth checking out some of her other stuff because they're equally as adorable. She also has a blog, Everything in Blue, featuring some more of her print designs. I've mentioned before that I wish I had learned print-making before. I've always admired original, hand-made designs, cards, stationary, and whatnot. Next time I'm in Portland, I'm just gonna have to check out her shop.

but until then, a little word of advice:

via

if your skirt gets any higher, I may have to arrest you for dealin crack!

so I've put my blog through a little re-vamp, and while I think it could still be edited, I'm happy with what I've got so far (mind you, this is the extent of my HTML capabilities...). As spring slowly, but surely comes to Seattle, I feel that I need to do a little cleaning and organizing. Already I can feel the weight of this overloaded quarter (19 credits, eep!), but as I attempt to study for exams and write my papers, all I can think of is how much I look forward to upcoming events.

first of all, I finally get to meet Andres, my nephew, in a month! I had hoped that I would've met him before his first birthday, but at least when I do get to see him, he'll be interactive enough to play with and hopefully to remember me. I've had to watch him grow so quickly via the internet and see him play with the toys I've made him or outgrow the clothes I've given him. Now that I'll finally get to see him in person, all I can think about is what kind of toys to knit him!

speaking of knitting, as of late, I've gotten back into the whole knitting groove, thanks to hansigurumi's Amigurumi Knits (or really, thanks to Andres because if he weren't born, I probably wouldn't have picked up the 'ole needles again). Not only did she get me excited about making all sorts of projects, she taught me a lot of new techniques and shaping ideas. And now, I find myself perusing the web for more knitting projects, events, and circles, and through my search, I've discover so many amazing books, craft shows, fellow knitters, and patterns! I want to incorporate some of this energy to this blog.

so without further adieu, my first review: Loopy Yarns in Chicago. A few weeks ago, I visited the midwest for the first time, mainly to check out a graduate program at the University of WI - Madison. While I was out there, I made a stopover at Chicago and instantly fell in love! Even though it snowed, that didn't stop me from exploring Millenium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, Sears' Tower, the infamous Chicago-style pizza, you get the idea... Anywho, I was so glad that I still decided to take the trek down Printer's Row and check out this little gem of a yarn store. The staff was super-friendly and knowledgeable. They greeted me with a smile and offered to help while still giving me time to stand in awe at their beautiful selection of yarns in every color imaginable! As I was fawning over their inventory, one of the ladies showed me downstairs where they housed (literally! This shop was like a revamped house) a cozy, welcoming knitters nook: books, comfortable seats, a separate room for their classes, a kitchen, and bathroom. And of course, the Seattlelite in me was all too excited to see that in their kitchen, they separated their rubbish from their recyclables AND compost ^_^! But I digress. I ended up buying a little stand for my needles/supplies and a spool of malabrigo yarn in a rich, gorgeous burgundy. Not quite sure what I'll make... perhaps hand warmers? To top off my visit, the staff very graciously gave me a cotton knitters' bag since I was "from outta town", which I'd have to say was the best souvenir I got from the city by far! I definitely recommend anyone living or visiting Chicago to check this place out, and I only hope that I'll be able to find something like this in Seattle.