While still dreaming of Kauaii...

ah.... the Napali Coast.... warm sunshine, cool ocean water, everything green and blooming...

Oh, right I'm back in Philadelphia where the snow had finally melted.

I spent the New Year's weekend organizing my yarn stash and trying to play peace maker with kitties.

I started by pulling all of my yarn out of everywhere. I have so much! Unfortunately not enough to make lots of things. This is the problem with purchasing one ball of yarn because it's beautiful. You only get one hat, one mitten or something tiny out of it. I need to not do that so much anymore. I do have enough to start another sweater which I did, and then some more.

I also discovered this snarled madness:

I was extremely tempted to chuck the whole lot. But I diligently sat there pulling strings apart and ended up with one ball of red cashmere, three balls of turquoise wool, and several more balls of different red wools. Probably about $60 worth of yarn. It was worth it. Plus I got to play with cute kitties. Although Jacques was still very. put. out. He has asserted his dominance vertically. He jumps on everything, chairs, tables, stools, me, etc. while the little one stays on the floor. This is apparently a good strategy as validated by my friend Rachael. Whew!

So after two days of organizing, winding, and so on, I was able to color organize my stash.

Isn't it beautiful? (Yes, I'm a yarn-aholic nut - I admit it). But it feels good now to know that

when I go into a basket of yarn, it won't explode out as one giant yarn monster.

The little one was very helpful. he was good at pouncing on balls of yarn, or carrying them (such as the blue one) into different locations.

But best of all he was so helpful at winding things. He would either chase the yarn being wound or watch the winder intently.

Most of the time the two stayed in their separate corners. Jacques stayed up on a stool,

the little one stayed inside the basket. He claimed this place pretty quickly after coming into the house.

As of yesterday the growling and yowling (from Jacques) had mostly subsided. There was still some hissing but they were able to eat dinner almost face to face in peace.

Unfortunately the little one discovered a new game - chase Jacques. It boggles the mind sometimes how smart all these little critters can be - but they have zero concept of their self-image. Jacques is 16 pounds. The little one is maybe 6, if we're lucky. Instead of turning around and whacking the kitten once, Jacques kept cowering and running away. The game was making Jacques really miserable so this morning I had to put a stop to it. Every time the little one stalked and chased Jacques I squirted him with a water bottle. He learns quick that little one. I came home today and both parties were calm and came to greet me, the little one only needed to be squirted one more time. They even touched noses a few times without anyone freaking out. Maybe this is a good sign. The little one sure is cute:

That's my empty knitting basket. What a comfy place to hide from Jacques. I'm leaning towards naming him Romeo. We'll see.