Zoo..

One of my last days of freedom. My friend J came into Philly with her daughter and we went to the zoo. Thankfully, another friend had given me two free passes to the zoo; which made the day quite affordable with the free parking in the park (the parking lots were full). I will admit to being a bit disappointed.  Since my last visit (at least three years ago) they redid the big cat exhibit.  All the big cats are now behind either plexi or fences, which makes pictures very difficult.  This is not the zoo to visit if you want good animal pictures.  Plus we waited in line for over 30 minutes (I stopped counting) to get lunch.

I did find this quite amusing.  A bird carrying around a toy.  Sorry about the pic, my camera focused in on the fence.

Hungry, hungry hippo.  These gals were out in the open.  The sign at the exhibit said they weigh about 4500 lbs.

My visit to the tortoise display wasn't as interesting as last time, but I got a few good shots.

Baby Tiger (1 year old).  These were taken through plexi.  I can understand that you want to bring the people close to the animals so they can see them, but some of us want pictures and have a good zoom on our camera.

Cute Kitty and oh yeah.. I graduated.

Cute Kitty. I haven't been able to get a sunny day picture of him yet, so here he is sitting on my computer in front of his directions.

Pattern: Stackable Cats (I'm in love, even if it does require a LOT of sewing)

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted with some leftover SWS for the embroidery

Needles: size 6

Took an evening to make.

Even though I have another 12 weeks of classes to go, we walked and participated in graduation on Monday.

Me and S in our gowns.

A shot of the nursing students.  BSN and MSN.

Funky stage.

I don't have many pictures of the nursing school ceremony.  It was dark in there and they didn't come out well.  I'll have to see if my friends got any good shots.

It's dry.  I may have overblocked it, but I can fix that next time.  Two years... sigh.

I rescued a few...

As you may remember, I've been having camera issues lately.  Since I just got a tuition bill that would buy a small car, I've decided to hold off on replacing my camera till I finish school.  This time, either I wasn't paying attention and really wasn't taking pictures... or it lost all the pictures I took earlier this month.  I'm actually voting that I wasn't really taking pictures, as it seems to be working now, and all that I seem to have lost are the pictures of my secret pal package.  I may have been too distracted by the cats trying to jump into the box as I was unpacking it to realize that it wasn't really taking pictures.  For not having pictures, I apologize to my pal Audrey.  She sent me an awesome package full of yarns I've never used before.  She also totally spoiled the kitties, hence me being distracted.

I've been having a very productive break.  I got the apartment sort of cleaned (those who know me, know that's as good as it will get).  I've been finishing up projects that have been laying around and I've been blocking and finishing projects that I never got around to doing.  I've even been into Center City twice, the mall once and wandering around campus almost every day.

Ages ago, I set myself a goal of six pairs of socks and six sweaters to give to Warm Woolies this year.  I found that I'm a bit busy for knitting up the sweaters, but my mom was more than happy to pick up my slack if I gave her yarn.  Here are her first two creations made of gifted yarn that's been sitting in my stash.

The white one is a bit smaller than the blue and white one, basically because mom knit it on size 9's.  That sweater is bomb proof... I had to soak it for an hour to get it totally wet and decided to let it sit overnight since the yarn was rather old and it needed a good lanolin soak.

Next up.. If you were with me at Rhinebeck last year, you had to listen to me moan over the dragon scarf kit from Morehouse Merino.  I finally got around to buying it when they had it on sale.  I must say, I now know why people pay $10 for 100 yards of merino wool.  This is the softest, springiest yarn I've ever used.

I tried to steam block him, but he has a tendency to fold in half, so he's soaking right now.  Even with adding five extra repeats, he's only about 52 inches long.  

A very bad picture of the shawl I started in May of 2006 when I moved back east.  It is currently occupying my bed, so I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight.  

And for those who are curious... my gown and hood

Here comes the grad...

I went to the bookstore to pick up my gown and hood today.  It didn't dawn on me as I was walking home how heavy the bag was.  So I get everything home and like a good girl, try on the gown to make sure it fits.  OMG, I think this thing is made of wool!!!!  It's MAY!!!  I'm going to die in this funky sleeve, tight neck, calf length black thing.  I know I bought an outfit to wear under this, but I'm thinking of going back to my idea of shorts and a tank top.

Don't get me started on the hood.  First.. who picks these colors????  I mean really, when you think of nursing, does apricot come into your head?  And how well do you think it matches with Penn's blue and red?  Then, I guess they figure that since we're graduating from Penn with advanced degrees, we should know how to put this hood on.  Umm... NO clue.  Thankfully, the grad center is having a breakfast on Monday morning and agreed to help with the hoods.

Ready for the best part now?  Yeah, I graduate on Monday, but I still have 12 weeks of classes left to get through before I'm done.  I guess they do it this way so everyone gets to walk.  If you spread out to all ends of the world after you're done, who is going to want to come back to Penn just to graduate?

ETA: Okay, I finally found the label in the robe.. it's not wool, just very heavy polyester (bleh)

Maryland Night One, Day Two

Yes, I went to the Ravelry party on Saturday night.  I don't have any pictures of me... guess those are on someone else's camera.  Much larger venue this time, but rained on us and we ended up in a space pretty much the same size as the room at Rhinebeck.

J, D, and M.  Friends from NYC.  I love going to these events for just this reason.  I get to see friends I only see twice a year.  I don't know if J and D have blogs.

M with Casey.  She had to have a picture with his shirt.  For those who are curious, Bob is the funny looking dog on the right hand side of this page.

And for the end of the nightly report... One of the sponsors of the party.  Yes, I asked her if I could take a picture of her shirt.  Poor woman, she was trying to eat and I just had to have a picture.  Love the buffalo!

So, that was Saturday night, now onto Sunday.

I so want to know if the above plate belongs to someone from Knitpicks!

Okay, those two weren't knitting plates, but still... I thought they fit.

Now, for some sheepy pictures:

Getting a hair cut.

I wish the sheep had looked up just a bit.. I may enter this one at Rhinebeck this year.

"Hey Mister, Hey Mister... put some of that food in my trough"

"Blaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

That was kind of how I felt by noon, and since I knew there was going to be construction on 95 I left the fair grounds early.

I realize there are still no pictures of what I bought, but I will say I was very good.

One fleece, one braid of roving, one ball of roving and one skein of yarn.  That was it. 

Maryland Day One

I know you're looking for yarn pr0n, shots of friends and what I bought... but I thought this might be more fun.  All of these were either found in the parking lot at the hotel or in the few rows of the parking lot we traveled up and down at the festival.

Not fiber related, but totally cool:

Okay, one cute animal shot...

I did it myself!

I keep forgetting that my phone has a camera in it now, so there's no picture of the flat tire that I changed all by myself this morning.

Things I learned:

1.  Full sized spares are nice

2.  I really need to clean out my trunk

3.  Most people are idiots.

See, I'm in the CVS parking lot (thank g-d for small favors) and I notice my tire is flat.  First thing that goes through my head... "great, now I have to wait for AAA".  Second thing, "wait a minute, I can do this, and I still have a full size spare from my cross country trip".  Third thing, "damn those pneumatic tools" as I'm trying to loosen the lug nuts.

So my car is currently sitting at the shop for an oil change and to see if the tire is patchable.  I'd rather not have to buy a new one, but since my donut spare is in dad's garage, I'll have to either buy a new tire, or risk driving without a spare.  With the week I've been having, that's a big risk.

I will make it to Maryland today, just a bit later than I had planned.  Now I'm really glad Criosa isn't waiting at the airport for me to pick her up.

Gotta get some wool...

This weekend, I drive down to Maryland for the sheep and wool festival.  I got lucky enough to find someone to split a room with me so I have more money to spend on yarn.

I even have a reason to celebrate...

No,  it's not my grades (sigh).  

I am now an official two gallon blood donor!  My father taught by example as I was growing up, donating blood at our local hospital.  I need to stop trying to catch up to my father, I think he's around 10-12 gallons.  I encourage everyone to donate blood.  It only takes around 20 minutes and doesn't hurt all that much.  Plus, you get cookies and juice!