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 :)

My Favorite! Yay!

Take the Quiz here!

Photo post!

Okay-since I usually lack in photos, I am determined to put a few up for you.
First off: The just about finished devil hat for Sarah



Secondly, my crocheted nurse purse! I love it so much!



And thirdly, well, I'm not actually sure if I can post them because the person I made them for might be out there somewhere looking at this.....hmmm.......well, not to name any names, maybe.
Mug Cozies!!!!!

Crochet? Moi?

Okay, so I learned how to crochet last week with the insistance by a wonderful Ravelry cohort in Germany that I did not have to stay "crochet retarded". I struggled with my first swatch, but came out victorious in the second one, so I started and finished a project using single crochet-which is as far as I had gotten in teaching myself :P So I now have a nifty, slightly wonky nurse purse! Woo! I want to put picks up, but I want to block it first and haven't had time to yet.
On the WIPS, I still have to finish what was my mystery project, but is actually the devil hat from Stitch N Bitch-I already told the recipient she was getting it and she found my blog because I am dumb and linked her to it to see my weiner dog :P ha ha ha ha
Started a little more work on my dad's socks, but then I had to rip back because I was dumb again and accidentally left it inside out, so the stockinette stitch turned bumpy.
I think I am going to start a small project for a friend whose birthday was a few weeks ago. I have to mail her present to her, but I would like to include something handmade. Maybe some jewelry-that would get done quicker :P
That's about it for now, I suppose-I will try and be more interesting when I am not half asleep and blogging ;)

Knitting

Knitting was fun this week :) Last week I taught a friend how to knit and she came over the other night to start her first real project-the lace-up gloves I made from Naughty Needles. She got so obsessed with them she went home and kept knitting and ended up finishing them already! Woo!
Knitting night(last night) was great too, despite my having been soaked on the way. We had 2 more girls than usual, so it was plenty full! I got to work more on the weiner dog I started the other day and today I resolved to do nothing(I've been out doing stuff all week!) and I finished him! He's a little haphazard, but he's adorable. He will make a great draft dodger for Chad's sister :)

9 years! Holy Crap, Batman!

Today is our anniversary. It's been 9 years since we started dating, and I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything in the world. I love you!

Here we are in 1999 just after we started dating:



And this was taken on my birthday in January, this year.

WIPs

Wow...I just added a new project I am working on to my Ravelry and I see I now have 8 WIP's(work in progress). That's baaaaaddd........I know I will finish the newest one soon. I can't say what it is in case that person sees this post. And I have a blanket I am making that won't be done for ever. But the other stuff-I should really get on that...... I have:
1. a dishcloth I started forever ago after completing one and needing something simple to keep working on
2. the blanket
3. the new project that I can't talk about
4. Kitty Dim Sum cat toys-I made 2 but didn't finish a third that I started
5. Socks for my dad that were supposed to be for x-mas that I told him he would get "some time"
6. My garter belt from Naughty Needles that matches the wrist warmers I made already-it's slow going-the yarn is sooo thin
7. A baby bib I started before Christmas
8. A baby sweater I started when someone at work was having a baby(which is now almost a year old). It's an awesome sweater though. I really should finish. I did it in burgundy with off white collar and cuffs and it will have swallows on either side of the collar in the off white too! Too cute!

Hmmm.....I think I will tackle the cotton stuff alternately-cotton always gives me a burn on my finger. Then maybe the socks. :)

I wonder if I can knit and bike at the same time...

What to say, what to say? I'm still very much enjoying my time off, but the money coming in is not enough to stave off the bill collectors, so things are getting a little stressed for me around here. Hopefully Chad and I will be back to work sooner rather than later and things can get back to normal-although my knitting time will be greatly sacrificed :P
Last week I finished a very early b-day present for a friend which I unfortunately can't post here yet because she MAY stumble across it on here. But I will say that it is wicked awesome and I hope she likes it.
I'm also working on a bag that I am making up as I go that, if it turns out, will be up on my etsy page.
And I think tonight, for knitting night, I am going to start a devil hat for my friend Sarah, who learned how to knit and purl last night when she was over.
Yesterday Sarah and I went out and each bought an exercise bike. I couldn't really afford it, and Chad was very much against it since I had an elliptical for about 2 years and barely used it, but even thought my bike has left me broke, I am determined to have it and use it to death. My weight has been slowly making it's way up again and I can't let that happen. I have the time to work out, so I should be. And now we have cable again, so I get to watch tv AND workout at the same time. Then knit. Then workout :P ha ha ha ha ha ha
Sorry no pics this post, maybe next time :)

Zartan likes to play Scrabble

Your smile for the day

I'd like to thank my adoring fans...

My darling, Mama Brook, has awarded me with a "You've made my day" award! So sweet of her :) I'm going to run away with her some day ;)
So, following the rules, here I go!

1. Mama Brook and Frisk the Frigidaire-a girl after my own heart
2. My House Brew-The housewife I wish I could be
3. The Thrifty Knitter-the knitter I wish I could be, designing all over the place
4. Once more, with Knitting-my friend's wife, who is too adorable and is a knitter after my own heart
5. Fil A Suivre-this girl is crafty like me, so I love her!

Here' are the "rules":
1) Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day
2) Acknowledge the post of the award giver
3) Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news!