... that I've also been busy organizing the yarn stash (yes, again).

So, this is what I've come up with as an organizational system for the yarn.  I'll have three categories:
     Category 1:  The Yarn Closet.  Yarn that is enough to make a large garment out of, i.e. sweaters, cardigans, or at least tee-shirts will be separately bagged and saved.
     Category 2:  The Yarn Chest. Categorized into the four large drawers as:  1) Noro;  2) Sock- and Lace-weight yarns;  3) Worsted wools with 200-500 yards;  4) Cottons and Bulky yarns.
     Category 3:  Yarn Spectrum.  Divided into six categories of colors, this is where all of my random scraps will go, or odd amounts under about 200 yards.  (I haven't quite decided where to put this yet ....)

And, I've been going nutso on the craft-alongs. I've signed up for the April Project Spectrum Postcard Swap ...

... and I'll be sending something to Emily in TX.  I have to admit, I'm not very scrapbook-y, and so I hope that I can come up with something that is half-decent.  We'll see ...

And, I've also signed up for the Project Spectrum Hand-Dyed Yarn Swap ... I'll be sending yarn to Suzy in MA.

And, I've signed up for the Knitting Vacation Swap to be held this summer.  It's still not too late to get in on the action!

Yes, I know ... bad, bad blogger! 

1.  Remember that cold that I had about two weeks ago?  It turned into a sinus infection, and though I went on antibiotics last Tuesday, I really just started to feel human again this weekend.

2.  Meanwhile ... I've been working on my crochet skills!  (More details to follow ...)

3.  ... and I've been spinning!  (More details to follow ...)

4.  ... and I've been dyeing!  (Dyeing yarn, that is .... more details to follow ...)

5.  ... and I've been obsessed with knitting afghans!  (Yes, more details to follow ...)

6.  ... and I've been knitting pinkish things for Project Spectrum: March!  (By now you know this -- more details to follow ...)

7. The Big Sweetie went out of town last Thursday to visit his mom on Cape Cod, and so I've been kinda busy with short-term-single-parenthood, too.

8.  But then, I found a local source for vintage Noro!  I had to think twice about sharing this link, but I just can't help myself.  I mean, if I can't buy it all up myself, I might as well let you all in on the action, right?

9.  I had a big, fun group of knitting friends over this last Saturday -- because with the Big Sweetie out of town, this is how I manage to still have a social life -- and it was great to see Cathi, Wanda, Erica, Alex, Lesley, Kristen, Sam and Diane.  (If you couldn't tell, the guest list of the party was carefully orchestrated to make Diane, an insanely talented and prolific knitter, want to be a knitblogger, too.  When are you starting a blog, Diane??)

10.  Cathi's virtual enthusiasm has completely rubbed off on me, and seeing her recently with her new running bod (she looks so great!), has encouraged me to up my running a notch and try to start running 5-6 times per week, versus the measly 2-3 times that I've been averaging.  I got fitted at a really cool local running store for a pair of shoes -- they videotape you running on the treadmill and analyze your gait -- and I'm all set to train for the Title 9K coming up in May.  Anyone else out there want to join me?? 

So ... watch for more details this week.  Knit on!

We pause here for a little holiday quiz:

Your Irish Name Is...

Fiona O'Carroll

I know that this is shocking to everybody.  But, it is a Monday.  So, for random Monday-ness, this is what I have:

1.  My apologies for the footnote to yesterday's post ... yes, it still freaks me out and it's all that I can do to look at the photos of that apartment without being reminded of this other poor Jennifer's fate.    As an aside, it was supposedly some guy that she had met in a bar, so I'm sort of hoping that this wouldn't have been my fate had I remained in "Fort Fun," as the local Fort Collins citizens sometimes call that fun city.

2.  Because I just know you're dying for photos of the kittens grown-up, here is Rini:

This is a typical Rini expression.  What she's really saying is, "You really should just put that thing down and pet me right now!"

One more crazy aspect of the Rini personality:  Her one love besides me is going outside every day.  She will brave snow, cold temperatures, and even rain so that she can go outside.  Brrr.

More random kitty stories:

Rini remains the "more difficult" one between my two kitties ... she has an incredibly demanding and annoying meow (the kind that makes the Big Sweetie cringe, and go straight for alcohol), and she is very fickle -- "let me in;  no -- let me out;  no -- let me in;  no -- let me out."    I actually find it a little bizarre that she is such an odd cat, because most kitties are, well, just kitties.  Rini in fact only loves me ... when my MIL (an enormous cat lover, and owned by a black kitty named Lilibel) comes to visit, Rini just barely warms up to her by the end of the week.    My MIL is, in fact, the only person that I can recall Rini ever warming up to.  Meanwhile, it's all that she can do to just follow me from room to room hoping that I will maybe just extend my hand and give her one little pat.  Right now, she's behind me on my chair hoping for a little extra love.  If I just look at her, she meows.  "Are you going to pet me?" 

Because of this, we've nicknamed Chloe "La buena," and Rini "La mala."  (Poor little Rini.)  My cats, in fact, have a lot of other nicknames; the kids have christened Chloe "Cocobel," after the MIL's cat.  Rini is also known as "The Big Rini Kitten," or actually "BRK" for short, as well as Rinibel (if the kids are feeling generous). 

Ah ... having pets sure does give our lives a little drama, doesn't it?  :) 

3.  I also spent the weekend with a cold ... the kind where no matter how many drugs you take, your nose still needs a perma-kleenex on it.  (I'm *so* over the kids-bringing-stuff-home-from-school phase.)

4.  We're also entering crisis mode with the vehicular situation here ... and we're preparing to go one-car-family as one of our cars is just on the verge of breaking down, and we just keep postponing buying a new one.  By "one of our cars" I mean it could be either one, as they're both in pretty bad shape now.  And by "a new car", I mean a car that's six years old.   (I'm *so* over the trying-to-live-on-one-salary-and-not-really-making-it phase.) 

5.  And I ripped a bunch of projects!!! I'm rather exasperated with my WIP list, so I'm in a ripping mood.  Sorry, no photos ... but trust me, it was fun.

6.  But then I cast on for this ...  what was I thinking??  I'll never finish it. 

(I can tell that I'm a little stressed when my blog entries reflect the attention deficit disorder that is reigning my life.)

So ... when we last left off, I had two little kittens that I found in a shelter.  Going back to this time period, this was when I moved to Ft. Collins to work on my master's degree in Spanish literatures, and I also decided to do a "graduate certificate" in Women's Studies (it was sort of like a minor in a Master's program).  It was an empowering time in my life as I was living by myself for the first time ever, and I was learning, exploring, and growing.  (Sometimes, I really miss that time period.  This isn't really the life that I have now, as a mother of two little kids!)

I couldn't decide what to name "the girls" ... so I thought long and hard, probably as hard as I did with the naming of my own children. 

I finally decided that the little half-orange-faced kitten was beautiful, gracious, well-mannered ... and, well, French.  She had to have a French name. 

Meanwhile, the little orange-stripe-on-the-nose kitten was feisty, unpredictable, a little demanding, but very passionate in her absolute love for me ... and, well, Spanish (in a Latin lover kind of a way).  She had to have a Spanish name. 

So, I then made it a must that the kittens had to have names that began with C ... they were cats after all ... and I finally settled on Chloe and Catarina.  (Get it? Cat ... Catarina?)

They were the cutest little kittens around.  Really.   

Seriousy, they used to hang out in the window of my apartment above* and everyone in the building loved and adored them.  (With the possible exception of the property manager.) 

Meanwhile, the Big Sweetie had already entered my life the year before.  We met when I was working on my teaching certificate -- okay, I was a student teacher! -- at his school.  Around the time I went to Fort Collins, however, we really weren't sure that what we had was going to last.  However, as time went on, we would break up and get immediately back together as we just couldn't stand the thought of breaking up.  So, when the kittens entered the picture .... I will say that the Big Sweetie wasn't entirely pleased.  I think that he actually called me something like "insane" for taking on two cats.  (Hmm ... there's a pattern to him calling me that, now that I think of it.)   

In time, Chloe really took to him ... she thought he was great, and she has such a happy little personality, that all that she really wants in the world is lots of love and little bit of wet food.  (Actually, reverse those two, and that's what she wants.) 

Rini (as Catarina became known) did not take to the Big Sweetie.  They developed an intense dislike for each other, and we joke to this day that Rini is still mad at "The Big Mean Guy" (that's what she calls him) for moving in and taking time away from her one true love ... me.  In fact, Rini really hates everybody else in the world ... she doesn't really care for her sister that much anymore ... she intensely dislikes the children ... but she is absolute in her need to always be near me, no matter where I am in the house.  (She's on my lap as I write this.)  She's kind of crazy, but -- hey, she still my little Rini kitten. 

And those are my two little calico kittens!  More stories to come, as I'm running out of FO's to report ...

*I seem to be doing lots of annotated blog entries lately ... anyhow, do you want to hear a crazy story?  After the girls and I moved out of that apartment my second year of graduate school, and moved in with the Big Sweetie, there was another girl named Jennifer (and from my hometown!) who moved in to that place and finished my lease.  Guess what?  She was murdered in that exact apartment!! Isn't that such a horrible and freakily coincidental story??  Just had to share.