I'm a dog chasing cars...

I can't believe its Sunday already - the weekends fly by much too fast - but I am ready for a lazy creative day at home with the dogs, some yarn, needles and a just maybe, even a plan (other than trying to stay cool despite these wretched temps and out of the thunder storms)! If I can get my creative mojo flowing, I just might even get out the beading supplies, which would lead to a brand new item in my etsy store!

I feel like one of the cool kids since we caught an afternoon showing of The Dark Knight in IMAX yesterday (yes, we ordered our tickets well in advance... all showings were sold out for the entire weekend), followed by a delicious dinner at an Italian place. I enjoyed the movie and especially Heath's performance as the Joker and all his memorable quotes... "I'm a dog chasing cars. I don't have plans. I just do things. I'm not a schemer." Christian Bale's Batman voice left a little to be desired (yes, I just might still be a Val Kilmer Batman fan...). All in all, it was a great film and very cool to see in IMAX. There were quite a few city wide shots from above... simply stunning!

I did some doggy shopping last week and was delighted to find a nice summery toy for my Dogs on Thursday summer swap pal. It was a nice idea, no?

Was being the key word there... as you see, while I was bringing in bags from the car, getting the mail, etc., this happened....

Ok, so I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture of Lola tearing around the house with the new toy (tags still attached) in her mouth, but once I realized what she had... well, we had a little fun with it. She's a sneaky devil who tries her hardest to stick her head in to every bag that comes in the house, no matter what's in it, but I had thought I'd put these bags up high enough out of reach... then I thought again....

What toy Mommy??? You mean it wasn't for me?

Sophie seemed to think if it wasn't meant for Lola, it must've been meant for her...

All while my boys just carried on, laughing at the girls who got caught red handed camo pawed... guess its back to the doggy store this week for another toy for our pal...

Speaking of the DOT summer swap, I just had to share the cutest email I received from my spoiler...

Fetch the tissue,
The ribbon and glue.
We're filling a box
That's heading for you.

We're putting in fun stuff
And good stuff to eat.
It's for you and your doggies
To help beat the heat.

So watch for the mailman
As you sit by the pool.
The Dogday Swap
Will help you stay cool.

Isn't she a creative one? I just can't wait to find out who she is!!!

Well, back to my lazy creative Sunday...

FO Monday!

We had a new arrival in the family (Matt's cousin's new little boy, Ethan Ryan) late Friday night/early Saturday morning, which prompted a quick weekend knit... the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch. I had Rowan's All Season Cotton in hand - in both pink and blue, waiting on the official call ... and blue it was!

A very quick knit... I cast on Saturday before heading off to an arena football game and finished it at Matt's racing yesterday.... off it went in today's mail with the cutest little doggy (are you surprised?) outfit!

I even got to use my newest project bag from GypsyKnits. Kathy's bags are the best small/medium project bags around - complete with wrist strap and metal carabiner clip (take note of the dog bone one on this bag!), perfect for knitting on the go. When she inquired about some of my stitch markers, we set up a trade and then she showed me this new doggy fabric she got in... how cute is this??

Now, since I still have a skein of Rowan in pink, I'm going to whip up another umbilical cord hat for a friend who's expecting a baby girl this fall...

Enjoy the rest of your Monday... I'll leave you with a few recent wildlife shots.

Chucky (or maybe its Woody?) hanging out in the storage room...

A pretty butterfly...

Some of the 101 duckies who came to see if we had any bread in our pockets visit us while we were walking around Essex...

Yarn and Otters and Bears... OH MY!

What a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than at your favorite LYS? I did just that this past weekend at A Knitter's Garden. I went to help Joanne out with her Summer Blow Out Sale and of course had to make a few purchases of my own. I also photoed the shop for Joanne...

My new little toy has a neat "stitching" feature that allows you to stitch together 2 or 3 photos to result in a cool panoramic.... (you can click on these photos to open them up larger)

Here are the Lapdog Creations stitch markers on display... small sets of 3 on the board and regular sets in the basket underneath...

Yarn... glorious yarn!!!

I left AKG late Saturday afternoon to head to The Stone Zoo (hey that's my honey to the right, with sunglasses on, standing in line for our Cheesecake Factory slices... guess I was too short to show up in the pic because I was right in front of him and my friend Dani is behind him...) for their annual Wild Affair "tasting" event. This was the first time we went and it was a blast... the food was delicious!! I think we're all definitely going again next year!

I stupidly left my camera at home, but did use my cell phone to snap a few cute pics. They had a lot of the animals out and about for people to see up close and personal, including this BIG guy.

I totally love cute, furry things and am especially fond of both otters and meerkats...

Lookie here at Mr. Big Kittie Kat! This photo was actually taken from behind the glass and I can't believe how well it came out...

They had various fundraising things going on during the evening, one of which was $25 for a stuffed bear (who roars... Sophie has already stolen it twice, she's quite infatuated with him). You pick which bear you want, all are numbered, and you are guaranteed a prize worth at least the $25 you spent (prizes ranged from gift cards to restaurants, hair salons, car washes, even a vet's office... to autographed sports memorabilia... to behind the scenes tours at the zoo). Later during the event you bring your numbered bear to the prize table to see what you've won.

I got my bear on the way in (they were selling out fast) and picked #98... then as we were walking around, I was looking over the prize list and said "oh cool... a rose quartz bear pendant... oh and a behind the scenes tour of the new black bear exhibit... some autographed Red Socks stuff..." Then as we were looking for the prize table, I started thinking "oh great, watch me win the free car washes and I'd have to waste half a tank of gas just to get there to wash my car..." Then the nice lady starts looking for #98... nope, its not here on the prize table... its not any of those baskets, not even that big Red Sox one.... okay, she goes and looks in the flat envelope box and pulls one out a big envelope and hands it to me... its this...

The Rose Quartz Bear pendant, valued at $200 from a local jewelry designer (attached card says rose quartz bear, rose quartz & garnet beads, sterling silver, faceted fresh water pearls and swarovski crystals). How funny is that... I ended up with the first prize I mentioned out loud(damn... if I had only read "behind the scenes black bear exhibit tour" first... note to self for next year...)! Needless to say, I was quite happy with my $25 investment (I'd never spend $200 on this!)... now to keep the little growling bear away from The Princess who wishes to de-stuff him......

Sheep and Yarn and Alpaca and SNOW?

I spent Mother's Day at the NH Sheep & Wool fesitval with Joanne and a couple of blogless girls, Cheryl & Marlene. What an excellent day for fiber frolicing - the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold!

While none of us were looking for spinning related items, we did happen upon some beautiful wheels, including this beauty (click for a 2nd view)...

Look at that wood work... and the matching chair too boot! The pictures hardly do it justice.

Of course there was a lot of other stuff to buy... including yarn! I had gone with the attitude that if it wasn't something I really loved or unusual, I wasn't going to buy it... I'm at the point where my credit card company could see a $1000 yarn store purchase in Hong Kong and never question if the charge was legit or not in my stash where I don't need to just buy yarn for the sake of buying yarn. So I ended up walking away with just 3 skeins...

From left to right, that is a 3.5 ounce skein of hand painted alapca from Sallie's Fen Alpacas... a skein of Seacoast Handpainted Llama/Wool in the colorway Colorado and... a skein of Seacoast Handpainted Mohair/Wool in the colorway Pink Patch. Both of the Seacoast yarns were marked down to a steal and the alpaca was just one of those that I couldn't leave behind! I'm not totally sure what they are destined for just yet... possibly mitts for me, maybe a baby something with the pink patch... maybe a Calorimetry, although I just received my Spring Coffee Swap package and my awesome pal Criquette made one for me .... its gorgeous, but after a quick try on in the office bathroom, sadly its too large... BUT, that got me to searching on Ravelry for input on the sizing (seems its too wide for most everyone - you'd think by now they'd have publised a revision!) and it looks like less stitches, less repeats and maybe even smaller needles are the way to go...

My only other purchases for the day were a delicious buffalo cheese steak and some apple crisp... and this sweater pattern...

Both Joanne & I were ooohing and ahhing over the sample and then realized the vendor was wearing another version. Its gorgeous... and the only sewing in the entire thing are the buttons!

Now I'll leave you with a montage of cutesy animal photos because you know there were plenty...

This is the sheep impression of my Lola & Sophie...

There were lots of cute sheep...

There were sleeping sheep... and smiling sheep...

There were fluffy alpaca...

And alpaca with cute hair cuts...

Curious alpaca...

and the cutest little angora goats!

There was even this...

Yes, you non-New Englanders... that is left over snow!!!!!!!!

Oh and as for the coffee swap package, I picked it up on my way to work and did bring it inside for fear of meltable goodies inside (I was right!) and snapped a quick camera phone pick before tearing in to the beautifully wrapped goodies... I'll post more about the package & real pics tomorrow!

Great Game!

I have to say despite some dimwit spilling her beer on me, then falling on me later last night's Bruins game was one of the best games I've ever been too! There is nothing like playoff hockey in Boston... especially against Montreal! Now its back to Canada for game 7 tomorrow night... Let's keep the winning streak going boys!

In other news, my Dogs on Thursday spring swap package arrived from Chan and it is wonderful! I will post pictures soon. I'm feeling organized in that I've sent in my registration for the annual Granite State Knit In, made plans with the girls to attend the NH Sheep & Wool and registered for the Knit & Crochet Show... its going to be a very fiber-ful spring/summer!

Happy (almost) Easter!

You Are Jelly Beans

For you, Easter is all about fun and sweet treats. None of that Jesus dying on a cross stuff!

What Easter Candy Are You?

Your Chocolate Easter Bunny Personality

You know what you want in life and how to get it. You're not going to waste time or let yourself be meek Whether it's chocolate, money, or power... You take what you can get, and you act quickly. You have a lot of energy, and people sometimes scared by your determination. Not that you care what other people think. You're not going to apologize for who you are.

The Easter Bunny Quiz

A Rose By Any Other Name..

Since Thursday is the first day of spring, and Thursdays are dedicated to Dogs on Thursday and I'm bored, I thought I'd share some springy fun today. We all know the April showers bring May flowers... (yeah, yeah... its not quite April yet but for those of us doing the Clapotis KAL, March 31 will be here in the blink of an eye!)

You Are a Rose

You are a total alpha dog who tends to be a leader. Your friends depend on you to hold things together and make decisions. Potential lovers are drawn to your raw power and strength. While you are the center of attention, you are secretly introverted and a bit shy.

What Flower Are You?

Beware of SABLE

Are You a Knitter?

You are a Knitter, with the capital K.You are never found without needles and yarn in hand. Your favorite place is the yarn shop and you can never seeme to leave without buying needles or wool or a pattern or those fantastic stich markers. Darn yarn fumes.Your stash of yarn is the kind that spills out of closets and is taking over the house. And it's still growing. Beware of SABLE (Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy). You may need to bequeath yarn to people in your will.Knitting is a lifestyle for you, not just a hobby. You do it for fun, to make presents, or to cool off. We need more of your kind in the world. Go start a knitting club at your school or local coffeshop.
Take this quiz!








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Why yes, yes I am... My name is Nichole and I am addicted to knitting.

High Strung & Overpowering?

Part because I'm kind of bored today and part in honor of the upcoming sign ups for the Spring Fling Coffee Swap...

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

And another one just for fun...

You Are a Lemon

You have a very distinct personality. And if you're not being sweet, you're a little hard to take. You're a bit overpowering, especially in one on one situations. And while you are very dominant, sometimes your power is needed and appreciated. You can liven up a dull situation, and you definitely bring a fresh outlook. You are a bit of an acquired taste, and you tend to grow on people over time. People feel refreshed and rejuvenated after spending time with you.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

Crapola

I thought I'd share this (courtesy of our local news) for those of you I'd like to smack I've heard mumble and grumble about not getting enough snow this winter...

More snow on the way tonight into Saturday. We are rapidly approaching record levels of snowfall here in New Hampshire, and with more on the way I thought I'd recap the records for you...

As of right now, (in Concord where the official records are kep), we are at 102.2" snowfall so far this year..... that has us in 2nd place for highest snowfall in an ENTIRE SEASON since 1900.

How about ALL TIME? For that, we're currently in 8th place, but should be moving up that list a bit by tomorrow, depending on how much snow Concord receives. Here's the list for all-time snowfall that goes back as far as records have been kept.

1) 1873-74 122"
2) 1872-73 115"
3) 1995-96 113.2"
4) 1886-87* 111"
5) 1887-88* 111"
6) 1898-99 103.2"
7) 1874-75 103"
8) 2007-08 102.2" ----- so far this season

So, how much will we add to that? Snow will move in tonight (between 9pm and 1am) and will continue heavy at times overnight and into Saturday. As a secondary area of low pressure develops off the Maine coast, the system will slowly lift away through the afternoon and Saturday night. This will leave most of us on the colder side of this storm, meaning mainly snow. Expect a big chunk of the state to be in the 5 to 10 inch range, with a few spots (as always) perhaps seeing a bit more if you're in and around mountainous areas....

So, how's your weekend looking? We're supposed to be heading in to Boston tomorrow late morning for the Bruins game with friends... assuming we do get there, I suspect pure hell in trying to find parking.

Happy Leap Day from our home to yours...

Pasting Sophie 101...

Yes folks, while recovering at home (while I am doing better today than the past fews days, I am still not well enough for work) I decided to finally update my blog header & button by pasting in Miss Sophie's sweet face. This took some time - esp with the button.... you see, the original was done with a single photo of the 3 dogs (Zeus, Lola & Tut) and since I've yet to snap a great pic of all 4, I opted to just cut & paste Sophie in. What do you think? You can grab the new button here or from my sidebar - please just be kind and save it to your own server, thanks!

While home sick, I also learned that sign ups for International Scarf Exchange 6 are now open! I decided to dive into this swap for the spring edition! I also noticed that sign ups for the next round of the yummy coffee exchange open March 20th - I can't wait for that one! Speaking of fun stuff, a few weeks ago Chan asked me about designing a button for those of us who multitask while at work... well, I thought she just wanted a button, but this has since turned in to a quickly growing Ravelry group! Won't you come on over and play with us? You can also grab the button below and add it to your blog as well!

I'm heading back to the couch now... Zeus has been cuddling with the blankie Grammy made him and I think I'm going to go find a blankie of my own!

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Did everyone get to enjoy the beautiful Lunar Eclipse last night? The dogs and I had a perfect view from our front door. The so-called photos I managed don't even come close to doing justice to just how perfectly we saw it... our digital camera simply doesn't like zooming in on a black sky (and don't even suggest the "night" setting - that made for ghostly blurbs that I could've probably sold to the National Enquirer as "UFO Visits Southern NH" photos). Here's my time line of photos from about 9:15 until 10:20 pm last night...

The dogs loved that Mommy wanted to keep popping outside last night, despite the arctic, hell-froze-over bitter temps. They didn't understand why the heck I was pointing the flashy thing up in the dark sky though, so in between trips outside we took pictures with their Valentine's from the Dogs on Thursday valentine swap. Thank you to everyone who sent my kids a card! Here's their loot...

Which Inspector #1 and Inspector #2 promptly had to sniff out...

They each picked a favorite to pose with. This was Lola's pick and that's her nosey brother sticking his head over it doing the "take a picture of ME" thing...

I think Sophie has a secret crush on Chan's Mugsy... she kept trying to kiss him!

After getting in Lola's picture, Teutul

sniffed out this one as his favorite...

Zeus picked this one... Think he's

got a thing for chic little doggies?

Sophie had to take a peak too...

maybe she had a previous couture lifestyle?

Even though it is doggy Thursday, I wanted to share my Clapotis progress. I worked on it some more at knitting guild last night...

I'll leave you with this Thought For The Day: Has your knitting blog gone to the dogs too? I have noticed that I get more hits & comments on Thursdays, as opposed to any other day! Even when I post long knitting content, there are just a few comments. I think the furbabies are taking over! In fact, as I'm flipping thru my recently uploaded photos on Flickr, I see that I have at least several months days worth of new dog photo content... but I'll keep that to share with you later. I'm battling some awful sneezy, achey, sore throat cold again and figure this post is already long enough, right? Happy Woofy, Yappy Day... now go give all your furbabies scratchies!!

Vote for The Kids!

I've entered a photo of each of the kids in the HSUS Spay Day USA 2008 photo contest and am hoping you will vote for them! Each person can vote for any dog once, but can vote for as many dogs as they want (i.e. you can vote once for each of our dogs, as well as any other dogs you want... and you can tell all your friends to vote for each of them too).

You can vote for them by clicking on each of their names below. The links will bring you to their exact page where you will just need to click on the "Vote For Me" button (I also listed their ID #'s next to each name just in case).

Sophie ~ ID: 1003108704
Lola ~ ID: 1003108758
Teutul ~ ID: 1003108771
Zeus ~ ID: 1003109069

You can also vote by going to this page and using the search feature - search by Last Name if you know mine and you'll see all 4 dogs on one easy page. You can also search by State (NH) and find all 4 dogs next to each other. ***UPDATE: all links seem to be working now ***

There will be a celebrity panel of judges to pick the 36 winners, however the top 500 vote getters will each win a prize from one of their sponsors, so please ... VOTE FOR OUR PACK!

They have made these campaign promises to everyone...

We will never lie to you.
We will never flip-flop.
We will never pretend to be who we are not.
We will never renege on our promises.
We will never bad talk the other doggies in the running.
And most of all, we will never ever increase your taxes!!!!

Please vote for us!!!
Woofs, kisses and high-fives,
Zeus, Lola, Teutul & Sophie

Hand over the cookies...

and no one will get hurt!

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

Take The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Another Award

On this black Monday, I find that I've been given this award from both Grace and Ally...

Thank you ladies, you make my day too! As do many fellow bloggers, so I'm just going to give it to everyone reading this post... if you have not yet received this already, please consider this one yours too! As always, thank you for reading my blog and making my day!

I've also been tagged for that "7 things" meme a few times in the past couple of weeks and haven't had time to repost it, but I did remember I got this last May, so please excuse my laziness please see this old post.

I'm going back to my mourning now... Here we go Bruins, here we go ... and maybe Tony could win Daytona for me?

Dog Senses Danger!

The kids wanted to share a little Friday humor with you that we got in email from their buddy Willy's Mom in SC (no, that's not Willy in the picture, not sure where this one originated)...

Have you ever heard that a dog 'knows' when an earthquake is about to hit?

Have you ever heard that a dog can 'sense' when a tornado is stirring up, even twenty miles away?

Do you remember hearing that, before the December tsunami struck Southeast Asia , dogs started running frantically away from the seashore, at breakneck speed?

Do you know that dogs can detect cancer and other serious illnesses and danger of fire?

Somehow they always know when they can 'go for a ride' before you even ask and how do those dogs and cats get home from hundreds of miles away?

I'm a firm believer that animals - and especially dogs - have keen insights into the Truth.

And you can't tell me that dogs can't sense a potentially terrible disaster well in advance.

Simply said, a good ol' hound dog just KNOWS when something isn't right when impending doom is upon us. See an example below…………..

They also wanted to remind everyone about this little event on television on Sunday...

Another Award...

Wow, its like the Emmys this week! I just found out that Rhonda over at I'm Running to Win Two gave me the You Rock the Crib and Loveable Blog awards!

Thank you Rhonda... its so nice to be loved! Now, I'm passing this Loveable Blog award on to all the same ladies I passed the You Rock one on to yesterday.... as well as to anyone else reading my blog!

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Dogs on Thursday (see today's earlier post)... and wanted to ask you to please visit the Best Friends Animal Society website. They've been doing lots of wonderful things for animals who would more often than not, be put down otherwise. They have a special dog area called Dog Town and actually have an awesome documentary show on National Geographic channel now as well. If you're a dog lover/parent and have not seen this show yet, you must check it out! It is on Friday nights at 9pm and then usually repeats over the weekend. Amazing reality tv... although I will admit to having tears rolling down my eyes at the end of the episode from last weekend when one of the volunteers was seeing Wiggles, a cute little bulldog, off to his new forever home. Having fostered so many wonderful babies this past year, I could totally relate and feel all of the same emotions (love, joy, pain, heartbreak, satisfaction....) that volunteer was feeling....

An Aggressive Independent?

You Are a German Shepherd Puppy

Intelligent, quick witted, and a bit aggressive. You've got the jaw power to take a bite out of anyone you choose.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

You Are 58% Independent

Overall, you're a pretty independent woman. You don't follow trends just to fit in. You've got your own cool thing going on, though you sometimes still care too much about what other's think.

Are You an Independent Woman?

Eager to Please?

I took the Potter Craft Fiber Quiz today and came up as Angora:

Angora – Soft and warm “Angora has a warmth that rivals cashmere and softness that rivals qiviut. Best of all, it comes from cute little bunnies that look for all the world like furry footstools with ears.” –The Knitter’s Book of Yarn

Angoras are eager to please and are highly sensitive. Flexibility and adaptability are your strengths and sometimes your weakness, as well. You are essentially a warm and feeling person, and little escapes your impressionable mind. You are generous with others and strive for harmony in your relationships.

Eager to please and highly sensitive? I think someone confused me with Teutul. I think I'm usually much more fitting to the Camel description... How about you?

When Life Hands You Lemons...

Some of these silly things are so true, its scary...

You Are Lemon Meringue Pie

You're the perfect combo of sassy and sweet. You always know how to brighten someone's mood, but you're not overly sappy. In fact, you can be a bit too honest at times. And most people find that refreshing. While you're always true to yourself, you keep things light. That's how people are able to stomach your slightly bitter outlook. Those who like you have well refined tastes. You're complicated - and let's face it - a true enigma. You enjoy defying expectations, and there are many layers to your personality. There's not one easy way to define you.

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Happy pie baking day almost Turkey Day!