I’m not so sure why she looks very “guilty” but she just does. Oh and “Hi!”

Hooray for finished knitting! Purple cardigan (aka, Cocoa’s Rug) is finished.

Yes, it’s purple (I know I say I don’t really like purple, but for some odd reason, I end up with a lot of purple stuff – weird).

Yarn is from Ariel from eons ago – Christopher Sheep Farm Two Ply (I’m almost certain). I wanted something with positive ease – basically something easy to wear for warmth. And boy it is super warm. I can’t say that I am a huge fan of the yarn itself though, it was rather rough to knit with, but I think it will wear just fine.

Pockets were last minute addition – 2 people told me “yes pockets” 1 person said “no pockets” – I’m not sure if the pockets added much for the “look” (it’s possible that the cardi could have looked more “refined” without the pockets), but at the end of the day, I am very happy that I decided to go with pockets. *note to self: pockets should be planned instead of adding on later.

Oh another thing – I always think that I like seamed sweater vs seamless (I think they’re overall better structured than seamless sweaters). But working on this cardigan was a terrible reminder of how much I dislike seaming. It’s rather labor intensive. So I’m still in love/hate relationship with seamed sweaters – true story!

… then I started something new. A pair of socks.

I don’t know how I was able to not knit for past few years. Seriously, I feel like I never stopped knitting.

Guess who has two thumbs and is back on the knitting-wagon again?  That, would be me.

So far, it kinda looks like… well, something for Cocoa to lay on. Actually, these pictures were taken last week, so there is a bit more progress but I haven’t had a chance (or desire) to take more pictures – because we all know, it’s nearly impossible to take a cat-free picture if I had to set something on the floor.

Honestly, I’m not sure who’s happier about me starting to knit again – me or the cat. Cocoa has been observing me ever-so-carefully whenever I try to knit. But she’s been a very good girl so far. Though she’s been laying “on stuff”, she hasn’t tried to chew on the yarn (quite yet).

The Fourth of July fireworks at the lake (which by the way is always on the evening of July third each year) was definitely underwhelming this year.

Well, because it was super foggy.

I was thinking about taking pictures with actual camera, then I decided against it. After taking this picture with my phone, with the fog and all the smoke from the fireworks itself there was just loud “boom” in the pitch darkness. No fireworks to be seen within like 10 minutes into it.

What a shame.

It has been quite uneventful summer so far.

Well, few “eventful” things did happen. We finally said goodbye to “little Saturn that almost could” and bought a new car. And Chris’s sister got married. And taking a couple of summer classes online and accounting is kicking my butt.

And since baking isn’t exactly the most fun thing to do in warm weather, instead, I started to paint my nails. It all started when Ariel came to visit me in April. She and I went to get a manicure (it was a first for me – shocked, I know). Afterwards I decided I wanted to get some nail polish and I’ve been changing nail colors every so often ever since.

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Speaking of which: pictures from when Ariel came to visit me in April – in conclusion, there was a lot of food involved. We made ravioli, chocolate truffles, mocktails and savory pie. Oh and I made birthday cake for Ariel since she visited me right around her birthday. It was a slap-together version of black forest cake but it turned out okay. I used my go-to sour cream chocolate cake recipe and made whipped cream. I tried to pipe out her name out of melted chocolate, it turned out okay but it was indeed a pain in the butt to do. I suppose it was A-okay for efforts.

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… and that pretty much summarizes the summer so far. Ciao.