Girl's Night and a Trip to George's Island

This weekend was a great weekend! First we had a girl's night at Kel's place on Friday night and then all hungover, Lisa and I, along with my boy Chad and our friend Gillian, headed out to George's Island. George's Island is one of 2 islands that sits in Halifax Harbour. McNab's-a large tree covered island, sits at the mouth of the Harbour and is open to the public. George's Island has apparently NEVER been open to the public before. I have been totally obsesses with it since I moved here-it always looks so romantic and lonely, and there are ghost stories about it too! ;)
Alright-be warned-this is a heavily photoed! ;P ha h aha h aha

Karyn being very expressive about something

Lisa is all "Looks at my fancy drink!"

Kel likes my smooches ;)

Me and Kel-we are quite drunk at this point

Lisa getting some love ;)

Me and Lisa

Kel can outdrink us all apparently :P

On the ferry just about to George's Island

I thought this was the Married Officers Quarters but upon looking at my map again its actually the lighthouse keeper's house

Gillian and Lisa hiding from the wind-it was super insanely windy out there-Halifax itself is really bad for the wind but that day was EXTRA windy!

My man, Chad, with Lisa and Gillan

Chad crawled up this bank, so Lisa went up after he came down so she could see. This is right after she got scolded to come down by security :P

The outside of Fort Charlotte

I zoomed in on this because I can see my apartment! Weee! We live on the 3rd balcony down on the building smooshed between the front trees-right up from the butt of that cruise ship

Chad checking out Halifax

Fort Charlotte is actually built INTO the island, so that the enemy couldn't see it. They would face a deep ditch if they came running up it!

Gillian with a big cannon :P

These cannons were so big that they actually had to build the rooms AROUND them, instead of building them and then installing the cannons afterwards.

Creepy hole to the outside

The gang with the cannon

We found a room with a gross slimey wall-Lisa is showing you how gross and slimey it is.

That would be McNab's Island out there.

Yay! Downtown Halifax!

Southend Halifax!

THIS was the married officer's quarters

Lisa and Gillian sitting on Chad's BIG CANNON heh heh heh

Some sort of labyrinth storage area

I have no idea what this was but it was right by where we caught the ferry back

Chad and Gillian in line to go home

I feel like Andre the Giant next to Gillian :P

Afterwards we went to the Lonestar for some yummy food!
Lisa

Gillian!

Me

Chad :P

Whew! That was a lot of pics! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Knit Girls Fundraiser

The KnitGirls was founded by Rhonda Adams (aka Madamknitgirl) in December of 2007 as a monthly competition of bad ass women who knit and have tattoos, where the winner is crowned a Knit Girl and has her own feature page on the website as well as being included in future KnitGirl projects and events. It was an immediate hit and she has been running Knit Girl competitions each month since, showing no signs of slowing down! The Knit Girls has expanded and can be found on it's own website, and Knit Girl Blog, Ravelry, Myspace, Facebook, and Lingr.

The KnitGirls is so much more than the monthly competition, as many women in theRavlery group can attest to. We have become a close-knit (pun intended)family and support system. There are several women who can probably admit to spending precious time that they could be spending knitting chatting on the Ravlery group instead.

As some of you know, the website and competition have been completely funded by Rhonda. These costs include,but are not limited to, website fees, voting system fees and prizes that are presented to the winning Knit Girls, not to mention all of the time and effort she spends each month maintaining the site and running the competition. There is a KnitGirl Etsy shop where group members have graciously donated their handmade products to raise funds for the continuance of the Knit Girls,and this is what we are asking of you now.

Please take the time to donate $10 to the Knit Girls.Along with supporting one of the greatest communities of female knitters, you will also be entering yourself into a raffle of wonderful prizes donated by fellow group members. It is a quick and easy way to help out the KnitGirls.And lets face it; the prizes alone are worth it!

A busy busy week

Alright, so it's been a week. What have I been up to? Well, let me just tell you!
Tuesday I bummed around all day on the internet looking for jewelery making supplies-I haven't done a stock up in a while and I need to get off my ass and do it already. This time I was looking for some pendant frames-I've really enjoyed making the belt buckles and I found some neat copyright free stuff on Etsy that I can buy for cheap and use, so I need to find some good pendant frames.
Tuesday night was our first derby practice this season. After us all being off skates since the fall(when we lost our outdoor space and were unable to get an indoor one) only TWO of us showed up. Pretty shitty. The one bonus was that I really got to help the one other girl that showed up and she was skating pretty damn good by the end of it. For me-it was just like riding a bike. I love having my skates on!
Wednesday-I went downtown and met the boy for lunch, picked up my lovely casserole and bowl set from miss Brooklynn(!) and walked all over the place. Then I ate some supper and walked with Jillybean to L's place for knitting night(about an hour walk from my place). Lots of good exercise. I started a crocheted afghan for my bedroom that is all sorts of little squares in different colors all sewn together in the end. Later in the week I actually doubled the size of the squares so that a) my sometimes uneven crocheting wouldn't be so noticeable and b)so that I wouldn't have quite so much sewing up to do in the end. I think I need something like 130 squares in 3 different colors to finish it :P ha ha ha ha It's going to be a while. I think I'm on #4 right now.
Thursday I went to the mall with my loverly friend Raven Maven and we tried on lots of stuff in the search for this one damn dress I am trying to find. I finally found what I was looking for at Smart Set and of course, they didn't have Large which was what I needed. :( Then we ran into Kent Building Supplies Garden Centre so I could get lots of pretty veggies for my balcony garden! I didn't do ANYTHING with my balcony last year, so this year I wanted it to be nice.
We also picked up some fast food on the way home, which I haven't had in forever! I grabbed a big bucket of mixed KFC for me and the man to have for supper. It totally wiped me out of my days Weight Watchers points but it was sooooo gooooooood! ha ha ha ha ha
Friday I puttered around, met the man for lunch downtown and went to a second Smart Set to find my dress-again, no large. That leaves 2 left in the whole city. Friday night we hung out and watched Idiocrisy(?) which a friend had lent us.
Saturday we went to the park and had a good walk and I wandered around with one of my old film cameras snapping pics while the man and his brother played catch. There were many many funny dogs to be had. Then we walked all the way back and I picked up a little tree for Chad at another garden centre for the balcony. It's cute :P Then we had a full night of watching hockey and me making nachos and things and crocheting. I was going to go to a party that night and totally lost track of the time and next thing I knew Maven was texting me about going and i was half asleep and not up to heading out(it was after 11 at that point), so I didn't go :(
Sunday was our second derby practice! More girls showed up this time and most of the way through practice I totally fell during a drill and took my partner down with me! It was hilarious! But now my ass is sore-I totally always land on my right ass cheek. EVERY time!!!! My palm of my right hand hurts a bit too, but nothing I can't live with, of course. It was quite a good time and when I got home I was exhausted!
Well, that was my week. I'm glad I seem to be out of this reclusive rut I was in. For weeks now I have put off going out, even on beautiful days, and haven't really planned a whole lot to do things with friends. I have to make a point of just going out and enjoying myself, even if I am by myself at the time.I may even start reading down on the boardwalk-it's only about a 5 min walk from my place.
Alright, so that's it except for some pics of my balcony and a note to miss Brooklynn-I sent you a present! I don't know how long it will take to get there, but it's on it's way!

Tattoo Festival 2008!

Alright, so Saturday was the first day of the tattoo festival! I got all dolled up and headed out in the rain with my girl, Sarah(aka Raven Maven), to get our merchandise and all that set up. We met our manager and Kelta(Tragedy Ann)'s husband Chris(Scratch) there and started setting up. Then I realized that I, moron that I am, forgot my banner for our table at home. So he graciously drove me all the way home so I could get it. Then, on the way back, we stopped into the Burger King drive through to pick up some food for lunch and ran out of gas on the way out. :P So there I am, all dressed up and useless, sitting in a gas-less SUV in the middle of the road while Scratch runs over to get a gas can and some gas from the nearby(thank god!!!) gas station. So we finally get there, finish setting up and the day went pretty good.
Sunday I was there from mid afternoon until 9. I picked up a couple of pairs of earrings and some FUDGE!!!! it was yummy :)
Then today, the last day, was the longest seeming day yet, probably because it was a slow day, we didn't do much in sales and since most of the artists had nothing to do, I was wanting a tattoo even more than I had the other 2 days :P Soon enough, I keep telling myself, soon enough.....
Here's some pics from my camera-I'll post some more when other people get theirs up on Facebook :)

Last day of the convention-me and our biggest fan-Nicole! She stalks us on Facebook apparently :P She knew who we all were and everything! ha ha ha ha ha

Scratch, me, Daisy Chained and Rocket Angel on day 2

Me and Rotten Dutchess!-day 2

Raven Maven and Scratch-day 2

Tattoo Festival!

This weekend I will be busy working my roller derby's booth at the tattoo festival.
I worked it last year, but was very nervous, mostly unprepared and it was very cramped. I'm hoping this year will be better. We all know each other a lot better, and it's at a different local than last year, so there should be a lot more room. I desperately wish I was getting tattooed by my buddy Wade, even just a little one, but I am sooo broke right now. Plus, what money I had went to a new haircut, which I hadn't had in MONTHS, and some stuff for our table, like a little acrylic sign holder for the prices(we're selling t-shirt and pins and things, and I am selling some belt buckles and earrings to benefit the team), some glow bracelets, some little name tags(hee hee!) and probably some photo copying today for our flyers.
Here's some pics from last year-

Rotten Dutchess getting her tattoo done

Part of the freak show

Some of the girls working the table

Me grabbing some random tattoo guy who hung out near our table all day :P

Adventures in Knitting

Alright blogworld, what's new with you?
Since my last post, I have put myself on a some-what yarn diet. there's a few things I need to pick up, because I have a taste now for knitted garments and want to make myself some fun summer stuff, but I need to save money and get the stash down to make room for even better stash in the future, so no buying random yarn for a while! ha ha ha ha I have made my first ever actual garment for myself this week. It is the Eyelet Shrug from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. I found the pattern a little confusing, but overall it turned out good, just a few little mistakes. I think it's cute. :) and it's not BLACK! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Lisa and I are on a big mission to stop making clothes or buying clothes in black all the time-it's REALLY hard. Black is soooo nice! ha ha ha ha haha

Last night was our first attempt at a group knitting night with a bunch of extra people than our "core" group. We rented a room at a local coffee shop that seats 15 or so people and invited a bunch of people we thought/knew were interested in coming, but that we couldn't normally invite because a) space in our living rooms is at a premium right now and b) some people don't really know other people and you don't want to be inviting strangers to peoples places and all that and c) we like having just our little group most of the time because we all mesh good and can gossip and all that good stuff. So there we were, at the coffee shop, and there were SIX of us. Out of all the people we invited SIX showed up. One regular was sick, one didn't show up and another that was supposed to be there also didn't show up. And then some people just never got back to us. So it ended up being more expensive than we had previously thought. :( Hopefully next time will be better. It was too bad. And then me, genius that I am decided I wanted a NEW project to work on, so after trying to find yarn and patterns and all that I chucked a hank into my bag with a pattern and some needles and ran out the door. Only to realize I can't knit from a hank. So I spent 2 hours out of the 2.5 we had there just winding it into a ball :P ha ha ha ha ha ha I suck!
Anyways, that's my world. Now I have the rest of the week to knit and watch the SIX movies I rented this week and have yet to watch, that have to be returned on Monday night. King Kong, Superman Returns, Zathura, Kinky Boots, Black Snake Moan and Snakes on a Plane. All movies I meant to see when they came out and then didn't get a chance to. Well now I will-if I manage to fit them all in with the working out, laundry and the boy's family being up all weekend.....

Knitting again at last!

Well, with all the stuff going on around here, I haven't done much knitting latey. But the last few days I have been working to get the Ernie sweater ready to stitch up for this Wednesday, because Wednesdays are knitting nights and I want to make sure I have some experts on hand when I start. Just have to do the second sleeve by then. As well as clean my whole apartment-knitting is at my place this week!
Also, last night my fellow derby coach and I met with a potential new roller girl. She was very nice and will make a fine addition to the team, I think. I can't wait to finally get back on my skates-it's been months and months since I even had them on my feet! Stupid winter and stupid lack of indoor venues=no practicing for us :(
Here's some pics of some recent yarn acquisitions and the ernie sweater in progress.

My name in the dictionary

Hahahaha Master of eating ravioli, maybe :P ha ha ha ha

Stephanie --

[noun]: A person who is a master of making ravioli

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

The Quest for Yarn-in pictures!

Well, since my friend Lisa and I are still unemployed from work, and most of our friends are not, we decided to do a fun little field trip on Wednesday while they were all at work, down to Gaspereau Valley to the yarn shop! Weeeeee!
This is an old textile plant in Windsor that is being turned into condos. Very cool!

That mountain waaaay in the distance is where the Blomidon Look-off is-see pics further down!

The yarn shop! This red barn has animals behind it(see next couple of pics) and there's another barn off to the right(not in the pic) that has all the yarn and wool and fleeces and a dog!!!! Yay!

This way to wool! Lisa is very excited :)

Farm animals! Weee!

Yarn barn! Mmmmmm....yarn.....Lisa is reluctant to leave!

Yarny goodness!

Drool.......bathtub full of brightly dyed fleecy goodness!!! It felt soooooo soft!

Blomidon Look-off! It was so worth the extra driving!

The one pic of me, because *I* hold the camera 99% of the time :P At Blomidon Look-off

If you are ever in Nova Scotia, or you live here-you HAVE to go to Gaspereau Valley Fibers. Seriously. I want to move there :P ha ha ha ha ha ha

Another zoo pic

One of me and Lisa that was on the boy's camera. I look like a cow in this-but I always think that, so nothing new there. I suppose the empire wasted shirt doesn't do me any favors!
:P ha ha h ah aha ha I want some llamas in my apartment. They're funny :)

Where have I been? Well, let me tell you!

Okay, so I have been MIA for a while now. A month. I am so sorry :( I kept meaning to update you, dear blog, but I was always busy or too lazy to take pics of my progress-and I do hate to post without pics.
So for weeks now I have been working on some freelance work I picked up, so I have been putting in long long hours. It was totally worth it, though. I got to work on a Tori Amos comic book, and from what I saw, it's going to be great! I can't wait till it comes out.(My job on this was not a glamorous one, dear blog, but I was honored nonetheless).
And along with that, I have also been dreadfully sick lately. Totally my own fault. I took a medication I really shouldn't have and it had some very nasty side effects. I was in the bathroom being sick on either end for days and days and even now, days and days later, I have to be EXTREMELY careful what I eat or I will get sick again. I don't know how long until it's completely out of my system, but for now I have to wait and see.
So all this has left me with very little knitting done-which is horrible :(
But on a plus note-I'm learning how to spin my own yarn! Weeeeee! I suck horribly at it right now, but practice makes perfect!
And now, for some photos, shall we? Yesterday, my boy and I and my best friend went to the zoo!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!! We were supposed to rendezvous with his brother and his girlfriend and their family, but we ended up there early and so started off without them. The zoo is such a weird place-for the most part it's exciting and interesting and there's a whole pack of pugs running around and you can go into some of the pens with some llamas and things, but on the other hand it's kind of depressing to see the exotic animals just laying around in small pens :( I will say one thing-I think the Oaklawn Farm Zoo's animals are better off than others I have seen.
Anyways, on to the pictures!!!!!! I took soooo many, but I will try not to put too many up here :P ha ha ha ha ha

My boy petting a llama or something close to it

The lemur on the left is trying to steal food from the one on the right-what a jerk!

Lisa getting mauled by pugs!

A raccoon!!!!

Lisa and a llama-there were soooo many yarn producing animals there....

This camel is literally eating it's own shit. Too gross!!!

The Telus monkeys!!!!!

Lisa wants to steal that goat!

And I wanted to steal this sheep! He looks all soft but surly!!!

Chad didn't have any food for this guy and he got PISSED!

These birds were on the ceiling and we almost didn't notice them! Lucky they didn't poop on us!

This cat was also wandering around, looking for love. Chad petted him for quite a while :P This is Lisa taking a pic of them together :)