I just wanted to record some thoughts of my impressions of NY.

Had I not already spent some time in the US, I think I would have found wandering around NY on my own to start with as terrifying. Extremely terrifying. They do things differently here. So I’m glad I’ve had some experience being amongst Americans.

The money is difficult to handle, I have to forage through my wallet to find the right notes. The only coins I remember using are quarters mostly. Don’t ask me the value of the other ones. When we left sf, we had a Giants thermos filled with small coins because we never used them, seriously just too hard. I left the thermos beside a street bin, so a homeless person would have a pay day.

They talk fast. They talk excitedly fast. Which is really fine because I can understand them. Things I overhear people say here, make them different to Australians, it makes them different to San Franciscans too.

There’s a pharmacy nearly on every corner.

There’s ATMs at every corner.

There are police everywhere.

Food is cheap, unless you go flashy.

The computerised talking conductor on the trains, sounds like the voice of the guy who sings ‘wear sunscreen’. Particularly when he says ‘Ladies and gentlemen’.

Most people are polite.

Traffic is tooty.

People jay walk without looking. I stand out because I don’t jay walk.

The discount shopping is amazing.

There are a lot of smokers here.

It’s a dirty city. By that I mean, there’s a lot of graffitied trucks driving around, graffitied buildings (not public buildings, they’re all shiny). Some Most of the roads need major repair or resurfacing.

Service is normally great, because of the tipping system.

Like Melbourne, people wear a lot of black here. I bought and wore a coral pink jacket and all of a sudden I stood out.

That’s about all I have.

I’m in New York!

I’ve spent the last 20 plus hours travelling to get here, and somehow strangely it’s still the same day! The parallel existence of time when planning to meet Damian in New York and the different time zones, led me to think of my favourite movie ‘The Lakehouse’. Or it could just be the jet-lag.

I also thought of the film when Purl gave me one last snuggle as I set to leave at 4am on Sunday. I tried to explain to her that I was coming back (despite the suitcases) and that she was in good hands and that it was only 2 weeks. Well, 2 weeks in cat years is like 21 weeks and I felt crushed by the guilt and all the last smooches she gave me. Cats are not dumb. Why can’t she always be that affectionate?

Tomorrow begins my 5 days of personal touring of the city. Show me your yarn stores!

Somethings’s up. The last human in this household to have packed bags, has yet to return; and now Sonia has done the same, but she hasn’t left yet. Curiouser and curiouser…

Despite wanting to be a better blogger, with fabulous FO’s and photos to match, I fear all I have to offer this week is a progress photo and greetings from Purl.

I can lay some of the lack of finished objects blame, fairly and squarely on this despicable weather we’ve been having. I didn’t even get to bake this weekend (yep, I still haven’t made cookies, ever), because I dared not to venture outside in this heat to gather said ingredients. I’ve also been rather busy at work, extremely busy and this has fatigued me by the time I’ve reached the couch this week.

Next week will be better, with a home delivery of groceries, at least baking cookies will be probable. Like all my English friends, I declare, I want to move somewhere cold.

The socks have been a joy so far, despite messing up the cable twice in two rows. This was due to the loss of a cable needle on a ride in a monster truck. I also accidentally flung a stitch marker, which was the stand-in cable needle, and it too disappeared before my eyes. Sometimes travel knitting doesn’t work.

Phew! How busy has it been? Last weekend we celebrated my youngest sisters wedding, it was a big day which left me pretty well exhausted for the remainder of the week. Here’s a photo of my outfit for inquiring minds. My feet are still sore from wearing the heels.

This weekend was our wedding anniversary and we celebrated by going away for the weekend. Whilst our home was being cat-sat (the yarn stash was safe), we missed Purl greatly. Luckily we had a ‘privacy cat’ as a stand-in. The stuffed toy amuses me much more now than it has in the past. A good sign I’ve crossed over to being a cat person. The upside to the toy cat is she doesn’t mess with my yarn and I could leave knitting projects unattended.

Speaking of knitting… My first installment of the Cookie A sock club arrived this week just in time for the weekend away. Apart from starting my socks 3 times, I’m really really enjoying the knitting and yarn so far. The club is proving to be a lot of fun already, and oh my gosh, I might even bake some cookies, I have never baked cookies.
Till next time.

Sorry for the blog silence. I’m exhausted. After a rather happy and fun first week with Purl, Purl got a little ill last weekend. I took her to the vet, it wasn’t anything serious, I’m not really sure what it was or what caused it. But it was traumatic for me, traumatic for her, thermometer anyone? And quite frankly the stress of being a parent kicked in.

I knew she was well again yesterday after she was being very very naughty. Her eye is almost right but not quite, I’ll stop worrying when I stop having to put ointment in her eye.

On top of that, she is having trust issues. She’s due for more vaccinations next week, awesome!

Right now she’s sleeping in her favourite spot. Sweet dreams little trouble-maker. Knitting time.

I was tired this morning, so was ‘Purl’ (this is her current name, thanks for all your suggestions, I just didn’t think it would be this hard!).

I went into the living area and couldn’t find Purl. Then I got on my hands and knees and found her nestled beneath my yarn shelf. Yes, the yarn shelf. Where the two lower layers have yarn and fibre bagged up in ziplocks. I ran out of ziplocks. So far the yarn and fibre is safe, a pillow case is covering my wheel (apparently some cats like to chew on the Majacraft drive band). So far there hasn’t been an avalanche of bags falling off the shelf. So far so good. But I haven’t pulled my knitting out yet.

We played and played and played last night. I was a little afraid she would be expecting the same this morning. Thankfully she was too tuckered out to come out from under the shelf, I think she’s a night owl. Currently she is banished to the front of the house, mumma has to have her rest.

Leaving home this morning, I felt different and responsible and happy to have such a lovely kitten. Hopefully she’ll stay this way.

Here are some first photos that Damian took of her tonight.