Jo Knits!

I did it!

This morning I DID it!!!

I knitted in public! LOL! For me it's a big thing ok? ;) I brought my knitting project with me and thought maybe I could advance it while talking with the moms at my coffee and mommy chat this morning. Then I got a bit shy and didn't bring it out at first, after an hour my hands were itching to knit. So I quietly got my needles out and started to knit, someone noticed and said "oooooh! what are you making?" I beamed with pride and answered that I'm knitting my 1st sweater for Zoe. No one really cared that I knit or not in the class so I just did. By the end of the morning I had knitted four inches on the sweater! Well, that's 4" more than if I had left it home. It was nice to knit while I was talking and listening along! Next week I won't be shy to bring my knitting along, I should bring socks. That should raise a few eyebrows, maybe that fairisle self-patterning yarn? But then they might want me to knit them some! LOL! Oh, now there's a problem! LOL! ;)

Here's a pic of the sweater so far:

Also I joined a whole gang of knitters in a felt-along taking place on Feb.4! On that day we will all be felting our Fuzzy Feet slippers and then Kate will post pics of all the slippers! She made a special page so you can join in the fun too. Felt-along! I better finish sanding my DPN's to get a head start on knitting up my slippers. I'm just lazy. ACK! Also the sweater I started is just so much fun to do! LOL! Mindless knitting as the whole body is done in the round. I just LOVE circular needles. :)

Hey! If you are a Canadian knitter and read my blog, please let me know, ok? I'd love to build up a lil'list of us Canucks out there who like to knit! :)

hugs! :)

H, for Holidays!

WOW! It's been a while and I just don't know what to type. I haven't written before 'cause I had writer's block! LOL! I had so much to say I didn't know how to write it, it's weird but it's true.

Last I wrote we were about to leave home to go eat lunch at our neighbours house across the street. That was on Christmas eve, the lunch went well. Marcelle has alzheimer's pretty bad and also parkinson, she used to be a 2nd language english teacher in high school. As soon as she retired alzheimer's started. :( It's really hard to see such a strong woman slip away like this. She worked hard her whole life to benefit from her retirement, she was planning trips all over the world and just plain enjoy life. Now she goes to an elder's center twice a week and a nurse comes to give her a bath two times a week. On the 24th, you could see at what extent this disease's has hit her. For one in a the last 3 years she's gain over 150lb. She more than doubled the weight she so hardly maintained all her life, she used to be very careful at what she ate and would drink skim milk. Now she's addicted to Pepsi and fries, her dh doesn't cook much so they eat alot of fast food. She is now on a waiting list to be placed in an elder's home,her dh just can't take care of her anymore.

Back to our lunch! ;) We had the surprise to see that the parents of my friend's boyfriend arrived. They are very nice people and they brought gifts for our kids. What a thoughtful gesture! I was totally shocked to see this, she had even baked them cookies, what a nice woman! :) We ate lunch, well THEY ate lunch and I ran around the house after the kids who didn't feel like sitting down to eat. As everyone was full after lunch, my stomach was growling, when we got back home I had to make myself lunch! :( The kids got to open gifts after everyone was done eating. Zoe received from her Godmother a Peter Pan tape and stickers to color that she can stick on the walls of her room, they are Winnie the Pooh stickers! Just the theme we are planning to make Zoe's room with! LOL! What a coincidence! :) Lucas received a book, the main caracter from it is named Lucas, how neat! It came with a CD and it has music on it too. From the "in-laws" they received a "fake" Barbie doll with her kid sister and a red Tonka 4X4 motorcross. Man, Lucas was allover the dolls! LOL! We all joked that next year they would switch the gifts on the kids! ;) Lucas is my little "precious" boy, he loves to slather lotion on his belly, loves to wear play jewelry and where grandma's heels! LOL! NO, I am not worried about him when he grews up! In fact if he ever is gay, I don't give a hoot apart from me wanting him to be happy. I can't say that I'd willingly by him a dress if he asked though! ROFL! My mom received a big fruitcake and some fancy jams. Our neighbor gave my mom, dh, both kid and I, twenty dollars each so that came up to 100$. Once we left the lunch party my mom stayed to help with the dishes and then both kids went down for their nap. When my mom got home we took 40$ from our gift money and used that on buying groceries. For Christmas eve's supper we had Coquille St-Jacques which is basically: Scallops and shrimps with Mushrooms in Cream Sauce, the kids had seafood lasagna. By midnight my mom surprised dh and I with a little gift. :) I received 20$ with bus/subway tickets and had to promise that I'd spend all the money on magazines for me, I'll need to hand her the receipt for proof too! LOL! My mom is the sweetest 'quirky-ist' person I know. She simply wants to make sure I treat myself to something I don't usually buy. Magazines can be so expensive to buy but now I get to splurge and buy a few just for my pleasure to read! :) Off to sleep we go.

Then next morning right on Christmas morning I get up really fast to bake some cinnamon buns, oh thank heaven's for Pillsbury! ;) As they baked the smell filled the whole house, it was making us pretty eager to get to eat them buns too! LOL! Well Zoe asks if she can open the gift next to the plate where Santa ate his cookie and milk. He left her an activity book with stickers. This is the only gift Santa will have left her BUT he did bring other gifts that mom, dad and grandma had sent him to wrap up though! ;) Our story to her was that we bought gifts and sent them to Santa to have him wrap them and he'd bring them back on Christmas day if they slept well. LOL! The most appreciated gifts the kids got this year are wood blocks They've been building and crashing their creations since they open the gifts, each got a set of 40 pieces. I paid 5$ for each set and they came in the cutest backpacks too. I was really eager to get my mom to open the gift I bought her since I didn't have many things to give her I wanted to wait in the afternoon but then I was soooooo excited to give it to her! LOL! I gave her a zen-inspired gift box with 3 soaps in it from Bella Pella each soap has a chinese sign on it and they smell great. That wasn't THE gift I was waiting to give her though. ;)

I offered her a new Kodak Adventix F350 camera!!! :) With the easy loading film in it, my mom's older camera that we gave her last year is destroyed! LOL! The kids had a bit too much fun with it! ;) This time I bought a cheaper camera, well it was on sale with 20$ off so it's a great value but for a cheap budget! She will have ot pay more to get the film processed but I think it'll be worth it. I can't always be there to put the film in the cam! ;) Of course I need to first read the instruction book and then show her what the camera does! LOL! I'm the instruction book reading of the family, I'm also the warranty card filler and sender. ;) Needless to say she was happy as can be about her gift. I had to reassure her that I did not break the bank to give it too her and the gift giving wasn't finished as I got her 3 Advantix film too. Then as the final gift she received Lindt chocolate that is 85% pure. She was is heaven, I mean chocolate, who wouldn't be? LOL! Dh had given her a basket filled with nuts and munchies and also two magazines, she was happily surprised by it! I'm glad, good thing I was there to suggest what to put in the basket! LOL!

I did received a 20$ gift to spend on myself on whatever I want to spend it on but it needs to be for me, myself or I and no one else! My mom's pretty stubborn, so I better respect her wishes! ;) Dh on the other hand had nothing to offer me.... of course he didn't, he doesn't have any moeny.... SIGH! Now no one remembers this but 6 months ago I posted about my birthday and once again dh had gotten me NOTHING! Of course when it is HIS bday you better be giving him something or he'll be in a sucky mood all day. I had bought him, back in july, a handhelp electronic chess game. He loves to play and I don't so now he gets to play! My mom gave him a few gifts also so he can't say we didn't think about him. She even gave him a 10$ card that added minutes in his cell phone.

With the money we had all received the day before we ordered supper to make it a special Christmas meal. Well the chicken place as closed so we ordered chinese! Best chinese meal we had in such a looooong time! It made our meal great, we had cheesecake for dessert. Thankfully dh was willing to share it with us since it was really a gift from me to him.

Boxing day was pretty relaxed, my mom and I did go shopping but we didn't buy anything. Being that we are both pretty broke, we just walked and walked and walked a tad more! ;) We did need to buy food though. Dh's paycheck was never deposited in his account as we were expecting it to be done on the 26th. So now we have a whopping 40$ to last us for the next 2 weeks in food. Bills will have to wait once again. UGH! That made me pretty depressed, I can't believe this is happening again. I am so tired of this life of being broke all the freakin' time! All my life my mom had to be careful with money and then ever since we had the kids we've been more than broke and it's always because of dh's spending and of course, I never got to benefit from it! UGH!

For the last 2 days I've been pissed off about my life and choices. I am blessed to have both kids, they are really the sweetest! Zoe knows that we can't always buy for her at stores and she'll say that's ok, maybe next time! ACK! I already know that next time I'll have to tell her no too. :( I'm tired of having to pass up on things I'd like just for his sake. He wants spending money from each paycheck he gets and I don't even get that pleasure. I can't take money and just do what I want with it. We were supposed to have cleared off the Visa bill by the end of the year but NOOOOOOO! it's still over the maximum. Becuase he decided he could spend on the card while he had left us back in October. I still resent him for so many things, I should be happy he is back home but it's really hard. Ok so the sex part has been nice! LOL! But other from that!? I feel like our relationship is like addiction, we are both addicted to having each other there but we aren't working together in building something stronger.

I've been taking of starting that class I wanted to take while dh was gone. It's a course that is 18months and then I'd be trained for a job in a drugstore, it has to do with helping the pharmacist in filling prescriptions and stuff. It's a night class though, I'm not sure I could keep myself motivated for so long taking a class that finishes way past the kids bed time. It could be fun though, I'm just afraid I'd drop out and I wouldn't want that but that's who I am. I start something and then drop out at the 1st signs of difficulty. :( I also thought that taking a knitting class could be fun, motivating me to start bigger project too and just being around other knitters. Well now dh wants to take guitar lessons, sure enough I was the one who cleared the bill for his guitar 6 months ago when I first started taking care of finances. He played maybe 2-3 times ever since and now he wants to take a class? UGH! You can't afford it boy! I hate how I just said I wanted to take a class for myself and then he wants to take up something too! I haven't had the time, energy, money to take up something in the 5 years we've been together and the second I feel motivated enough to look up classes he wants to do the same. I feel like I'm always competing with him. I don't get to leave the house 10 hours a day, I don't get phone calls from friends just to say hey! I don't have anyone I feel like calling just to go out to the fabric/yarn/2nd hand stores with. Funny how I know someone who likes all those things though! She's my mom's friend and she's great but I'd feel funny calling someone who is 20 years older than me just to go shopping! LOL! and then I'd have to leave my mom at home with the kids! I feel I'd be stealing her friend from her.

Ok on one brighter note!!! I finished the soaker I was knitting for Lucas, of course it doesn't fit! LOL! I expected it to not fit but hey, I can hope. So for now I won't make another soaker until I can find a toddler pattern and they seem to be hard to come by on the internet. I've found at the most 5 patterns for soakers. I am knitting him a diaper liner now though and that should fit! LOL! ;) It's a very easy garter stitch project, you simply cast on 30st and then knit until you have 15inches or the length of a liner you want. I'm going to make it 15" at least so that I can fold it up front and make it even more absorbant. The liner will be thinner than the infant prefolds we've been using as a doubler.

Last piece of news, I've activated the notes on my diary, so you can now leave me little notes instead of signing my guestbook. I will be keeping this diary open after all, if I do put a diary on my website it will be a kniting only blog so that it can be included in a knitting bloggers ring I like. I haven't had the time or the inspiration to work on my website so it's very boring. One day I'll have an idea and know where to build it! LOL!

hugs to all, happy holiday and knit on! ;)

Change is good

Sorry for the mess in my blog, I am changing it's template and it is not going too well! LOL!

I did finish my mom's scarf last night! YEAH! Now I can start on the fuzzy slippers and the kids sweaters. I made a swatch to check my gauge for the 1st sweater and got 14stitches/18rows over 4inches. I needed 12 stitches, apart from buying more needles, can I just start knitting the sweater and hope it'll still fit ok?

It is freezing cold out and would prefer to stay inside with the kids. The wind is so chilly it makes my eyes cry and then the tears freeze on my eyelashes. My cheeks feel like they will crack from the cold. ARGH! Hot cocoa is my best friend right now! ;)

I'll go finish making my double point needles to start the slippers out of Lopi yarn! :)

-

Here is what is happening here in Montreal today.

I started a new blog at another place to keep my family life and knitting blog seperate. I'd be happy to give the new link to those who ask for it. You can email me HERE.

Now onto knitting! :) I'm 28inches along in my mom's eyelash scarf. About 12" more to go. I can't wait to see her wear it. :) Love my mom! :)

Other projects lined up to be knitted soon.

New dishcloths from the dishcloth boutique, to learn new pattern stitches

Two hooded sweaters from Lion Brand if they come out nice then two more sweaters for dh and I.

Felted slippers from Knitty.com with my own handmade double point neeles! :)

So that's all for today. If I'm lucky tonight I'll have time to felt my bag. I will also attempt to sew a small messenger bag to tote my knitting projects! ;)

Ciao for now.

Asian

What's your Inner European?
brought to you by Quizilla

I usually don't do these tests but since they keep on popping everywhere I go. I better just start doing them and see how similar or different I am to most other bloggers I read. ;) Becca is the one who inspired me to do the test today!

So I'm more Asian than European, what can I say. Maybe I'm not french enough? LOL! I am French-Canadian after all and at home we speak french all day and watch french tv and read the french newspaper. LOL! Nothing wrong with being Asian either! I mean hey they have Hello Kitty lol! ;) YES I am joking.

So I've been thinking I better start buying some sheep to keep in the backyard 'cause I'll never find all the gorgeous yarn I see online in Canada. I just need to do it all for myself! ;) Shoot, then I'd need a wheel to spin the yarn though. Oh dear too much expenses. I'm going to have to buy American! ACK. Oh wait maybe Ebay.ca has something in store for me? LOL! Who am I kidding, Ebay is NOT a place to go when you are broke. LOL! I know I got broke a few times just lurking around auctions. LOL!

So here's my mom's boa yarn scarf. I'm just following the pattern from the yarn ball band. It's very easy to do, a basic stockinette pattern with a garter stitch border to prevent curly edges. This would be Lucas with his face that seems to say "what do you mean it's a girly scarf?" lol! The pic is huge but such cuteness doesn't fit in a smaller picture! ;)

This is the only knitting update for the day, I am hoping to have a prolific knitting weekend! :)

Time for a new template for my blog, I still want to add a Weather Pixie and there is no space to add her too. I want you all to see how cold it is here. We might be complained but these past few days, I tell ya, we have a good excused to whine about how cold it is out. Today it was tolerable though, I still like the winter and love seeing the kids get all excited about the snow. It is magical to see their eyes when it snows! :)

Today I added my blog to the Queerknit ring, which is owned by a "Canadian" well hopeful she will become a real Canadian in the next months!!!

I've been wanting to go back to school for some time now and as I was reading the newspaper this week I read an article about jobs that will have openings in the next few years. Pharmacy technical assistant only had 3,2% of the graduating students not find jobs! So this is really getting me exciting about signing up with this year long course. :)

knit out.

blackout/scary

Update at 09:25pm: We just had a black out, it lasted 50minutes it was pretty scary. I don't mind a black out in the summer but do mind when it happens in the winter when today it is -36Fahrenheit degrees out. When we loose our power, we loose our heat. We don't have a fireplace nor have a generator. There is never a dull moment in our lives! LOL! Ok now here goes my entry that I wrote before the power out.

No knitting today but what a bunch of emotions we had.

We saw the ambulance stop in front of our house. Uh oh! It was for our neighbours across the street. I wonder what's going on. Finally they bring the ambulance "bed" into the house. UH OH!!! Wonder who it is for, either the husband who has heart problems and is a chain smoker or the wife that is overweight, has advanced alzheimer's.

After what seemed like hours but really only a short time in reality. We see that the wife is all bondled in the bed. ACK! What happened, why did they need an ambulance, we're praying that she will be ok. She is on a waiting list to be placed in a home for people who lost their independance. She's near the end.... her life left is probably calculated in months. This woman has been my mom's best friend since they met 25 years ago. She had a daughter my age and Valerie is now Zoe's godmother. This woman was my english teacher in high school(in Quebec french schools, we get english as a 2nd language classes throughout elementary and high school). She was a tough teacher too, she knew I'm bilingual (at least by french Canadian standards!) and she never gave me the perfect score in all my school work. It would piss me off 'cause I knew I had everything right! I'd always get 99,9%. As she would always say, there is always place for improvement. I got my revange when I did my end of year exams for the board of education. That when I finally got my first perfect score of the year. ;)

Well finally she will be ok. Seems she fell off her bed at 3am and her dh waited until the morning to call the ambulance. He wasn't sure she was hurt as she has fallen from the bed before. This lady weighs like 200+lb. she used to weight almost 100lb lighter when she was teaching. It is such a shock to see her today. In the morning she complained of pain and went to the hospital, she was released by supper time. So that was a relief but then again we are hoping that this last incident will help her get into a home quickly. Her dh isn't qualified to help her out as much as she needs. So that's that.

Tomorrow Carl has the morning off (which was hard for him to get) to go to the health clinic with the kids and I. Well...... life being the way it is. I am busy tomorrow morning, I have an "asthma class" I get a 60 to 90minutes course on how to deal with my kids and their asthma. Thing is we were going to have them checked and see how strong their asthma really is!? So either we get up at 7am (LOL!) and run to the health clinic, have them checked and then I either go or cancel the "asthma class" or I go learn all about asthma and then learn they don't have it. UGH! Such bad timing.

I only learned that Carl got the morning off last night. Then today I had already things planned and couldn't go to the ped clinic in the:00 AM. UGH! Carl needs to be back by noon at work So he wouldn't even have time to take the class with me. I hate having information stuffed into my head, as soon as I get out of the room, I'll forget more than half of it! ARGH!

So off to go knit, I've missed it today! ;)

Knit 1, Purl 2.

yarn-o-rama

I bought yarn, I bought yarn! :) All cheap yarn too! LOL! Walmart had a sale ont he Homespun yarn I wanted and I saved a dollar on each ball I bought. I got the color Honolulu (purple) for Zoe and Delft (blue) for Lucas.

I can't wait to start casting on the sweaters for the kids. It'll be such an accomplishment to knit them. I never thought I'd be good enough to knit a sweater. Oh well, time will tell! LOL! Good thing I have a few persons I can add advice if needed.

I did start a surprise project for my mom, I found some Bernat Boa yarn in the color Raven (black). Now PLEASE consider this when you are buying Boa yarn. Knit only with this type of yarn for someone you REALLY love! LOL! This eyelash-type yarn is so difficult. You can never tell where the stitches are with all the "fuzz" all over it. I began a scarf ith it and I'm eleven inch along. I still have 39 inch to go! LOL! Touching the knitted "fabric" is sooooo nice though! It IS worth the trouble, bummer it's not for me though. ;)

Finally this is the bag I am about to felt it is 16inch wide and the orange on it is actually one of our placemats! :) We eat our meals on colorful placemats all the time, right now we have oranges and apples to eat on.

I will most likely decorate the bag once it's felted. I was thinking maybe blanket stitch the top and sides with red embroidery thread and the add red cord straps. I like yarn. ;)

On the family front, I can't believe how beautiful Zoe is becoming. Of course every mom will say so of their own child but it's so true! ;) Lucas is talking more and more everyday he is still struggling over the word Zoe though. He says "oé", soon enough he will be 2! Time has flewn since I brought him home from the hospital. I still remember seeing him in NICU and just feeling so bless to have a boy. Weaning is still on my mind, he is very needy these days. Maybe his molars are coming in? I forget when Zoe got them, teething has been so different between the two kids. Zoe had her 1st tooth at 4months and Lucas at 9mo.

Today I feel blessed for having healthy kids. Now if only I could get it out of my mind to have another one! LOL! ;)

hugs,

Zen

We bought green tea, I feel zen! ;) I did my yoga with Zoe yesterday, that me made me feel zen too! LOL!

Today I am going shopping with Carl while the kids stay home with grandma! Zoe is actually eager for us to leave. Grandma will be crafting with her and Lucas. I'm going to try to find the Yoga kids tape for Zoe. She'd love to exercice with other kids. We bought this tape in May/2002 as a gift for a little friend and Zoe's been asking for her own tape ever since.

Also I'm going to go buy yarn! WOOHOO! lol! We are going to WalMart's away to get some Lion's brand Homespun! I will soon start my 1st sweater. It's kinda scary but exciting too! :) I'll be making the sweater that's on the last page of the Knit it! magazine.

Zoe has requested a red sweater and if the price is right I'll purchase blue yarn o make Lucas a sweater also. :) It'll be fun to go at another Walmart than we usually go! They don't sell the same brand of yarns nor the same needles. They even have a whole food section which we don't have at our closest WM store.

Then dh needs to get his reserved book from the library, another woodworking book. One of his 1st wood project wil be a bagel slicer! LOL!!!!! Nothing is too small! ;) Last night dh and I had a BIG fight about finances. ACK! Luckily Zoe's godmother called right after and came to visit us with her boyfriend. We had alot of fun and I can't wait to see the pictures they took on their tip to Cuba over the new year's holiday. Zoe is very lucky to have such a godmother. She's the only family a part from grandma, daddy and myself to be present in her life.

On a GREAT note, Theresa (my knitting mentor) told me my gauge is close enough to make the felted slippers I've been rambling about WOOHOO!!! :) I will start them soon, using DPN's that I made! :) Second good note is that I finished the bag I will felt. I just need to attach the bottom to the body of the bag. I will post a pic prior to felting it.

hugs,

Happiness! :)

I feel happy tonight! :)

I worked on knitting my bag only a bit but had a great tv night. I watched the Gilmore Girls for the first time in so long. I felt like I could be the young girl who's just starting out in life. Oh to go back in time with what I know now! LOL! I sound JUST like my mom but it is so true. At 16yo I was an ackward teenager, I tried to rebel against school and what I did was skip most of my classes. Then what was to happen did, my great grades went down to not so great but still I was in enriched classes year after year. The drive to achieve wasn't there anymore though, school wasn't a priority of mine and I didn't feel like giving it my all either. I never went to college more than 2 weeks and then dropped out. I figured college wasn't made for me, I wanted to live life, party and so I did just that for a few years. I'd go out 5 nights a week. I did party! I did think I was happy while ingurgitating tons of beer a night. I wasn't, I had a 34-23-34 figure, never needed to check what I ate and still was I happy? Nope. I was lost, hadn't accepted the death of my father from when I was a child, hadn't accepted the fact that I wasn't doing anything with my life. So I did what was easy to me and party. Oh and best of all? I'd party in a gay bar! LOL! I did surprisingly enough meet my now fiance right outside of the said bar. ;)

Why am I rambling about my school years? Because I am thinking of going back and sit in a classroom, on my little chair taking notes all day and ACK! study again! Am I crazy or WHAT!? ;) For the first time in 7 years I am seriously thinking about going to school. This is a surprise to even myself. There's this one year course that I could take which ends up with a diploma for assistant pharmacist. If I graduate I'd even start at a salary higher than what Carl is getting at his present job. Something to think about if I really want a better future for our family. Also if Carl ever pulls his stunt of leaving us "again" I'll be able to provide for my kids. :)

I knitted the bottom of my bag before finishing the body, I wanted to make sure I had enough to have a bottom on my bag! LOL! I don't care if I don't have any wool to make the straps, I believe the bottom was more important! ;)

Happy news, Theresa and Ethan are back home from the hospital! :)

hugs,

quick entry

The USB port is all ok and I can now get my beloved digicam to show off the many pic a day I take! ;) I just LOVE taking pictures and having a digital camera sure is fun. I like instant gratification, no waiting to get film processed, getting to delete awful pics right away.

So I knitted on my bag again today, actuall I just finished the 1st ball of yarn that I'm using for make it. The pic is from last night, it was 4" long and now it's 8 inches long.
I will be knitting the bottom of the bag before going on with the body. Wouldn't it be just my luck that I'd finish the body of the bag andthen no yarn for the bottom? LOL! That is just SO "me", my kind of "luck".

Today I entered Wendy's contest, unfortunatly my guess was wrong, oh well. I really wanted the book and at least I tried! :)

Here's a real picture of the Lopi I bought this weekend.

I really like it's color and can't wait to knit it up. It sure is a treat to knit with wool instead of acrylics for once. I have a ball of Confetti that I promised Zoe socks out of. So I won't be needing to touch acrylic for a while! ;) hope I won't become a yarn snob though! I can't afford too! LOL! I learned that I can finish off my socks with a 3-needle bind off instead of the kitchener stitch. YAY!!!! Now I just need to do that. I'm really eager to get to wear my 1st pair of handknitted socks. Ok, I should start by casting on the 2nd sock! LOL! ;)

While watching Caillou, Zoe asked that I come knit besides her. Bless her heart, she knows knitting is now a part of our lives. ;) She did see a few patterns online over at the patons site. I could see her eyes beaming over a certain one too! here's the direct link incase the pic doesn't show: Patons baby wee gals I think it's still out of my league though. Maybe in the spring I'll be up to it. I think it is really a very cute set though! :)

I finally somewhat resolved the Moveable Type matter, I won't be installing it for my new website after all. For one I'd have to find a host and well for now it's not in the budget. Friday the kids are spending the afternoon at daycare so maybe this time I can work on my website? lol!

Lucas has become obsessed with nursing this past week. Enough to start thinking about weaning. Zoe weaned at 30 months so I'm not sure I'm ready yet with Lucas. Well see maybe it's just a "phase" again! LOL! Today Lucas wanted to try the potty but then decided that peeing in the tub was way more fun! LOL! My baby sure is growing up...

Theresa and Ethan are still in the hospital. Please send good vibes to them.

hugs and enjoy your knitting! LOL!

blablabla!

Major rambling tonight!

Who ever said knitting was a cheap hobby sure didn't know about bamboo circular needles and cashmere yarn! LOL! Some of the yarns out there can sure put a whole in your pocket. Which doesn't help 'cause I am majorly influenced by people's opinions. I just read the WHOLE list of diaries from the knitting bloggers. WOW! Some of these people sure can knit! I felt like inviting a few to Montreal just to come and teach me how to knit just like them! LOL! ;)

Last night I started a new project, I'm going to make a felted bag and will use the Indigo merino wool I have. It's only a worsted yarn so I hope it'll felt well anyway. I've knitted about 4inches on it tonight while watching tv! Of course I'd love to show you a pic but there's this sweet child of mine who played with our A drive. Seems to have something fascinating inside of it! Well I can at least show you a pic of the culprit! LOL! For the fun of it I'll even post a pic of both kids! ;)

Lucas is on the left, wearing an unfinished hat (that explains the needles popping out from his head!)
Zoe is the attitude princess seen on right! ;)

I've been reading blogs for a few months now and some I read every day. A few of my favorite blogs I found by jumping from link to link. I feel like I should tell these people that I read them every day! LOL! One is a local mom and I feel like telling her she's doing a great job as a mother. Another is a knitter's blog and I started reading her on Sept.11,2002. She used to work in one of the two WTC buildings. She was even in one of them on that tragic day. Isn't that amazing? Again though I feel shy, I feel I'd be bothering them by emailing to say hey, I'm reading you! Funny though since they are blogging for the world to see. Oh well, I guess I'm just silly. LOL!

I've got all these ideas for my website and no time to work on it and then there's the fact that I'm not a web designer. So if I have something in my head, it just doesn't come out like it should! LOL! I tried to play with Paint Shop Pro to make some graphics but I can't seem to know how to make cocktail sticks with names on them. It seems so clear in my mind though! ;) I "sorta" miss the PSP group I was in last summer. It gave me an opportunity to learn alot about graphic making. I need to make some more again. I want to show off the ones I made in the past, when the website will be up.

Last before I leave for the night, please keep a friend's son in your thoughts! He was admitted to the hospital tonight after being sick thus aggrevating his asthma.

hugs!

Fire Tweed!

Today was a great day! :) I had planned to go to the yarn store for a few days and I made it after all! I am so pleased! :) I went in looking for Lamb's Pride worsted wool but alast there's none to be found in Montreal I guess! LOL! So I left the store with two balls of gorgeous fire tweed Lopi yarn! :) I've heard of Lopi online before and I believe people like it! The store manager said she once saw a client's felted bag made with Lopi. Of course she had no felting patterns to be seen in the store but at least I got some "feltable" yarn! I need to start my swatch and see what my gauge is on this! I really hope I'm not too far from the one I need to finally start my fuzzy feet slippers! :) Hopefully I can start them soon! I am very intrigued by the magic of felting!

Talking about felting I finally figured out what I will do with the indigo Classic wool I have! I'm going to make a small felted bag I am pleased as can be about this new idea. I just LOVE bags and right now I have none that are just right for holding my work-in-progress!

On the home front it is VERY cold today, -14Celcius plus freezing cold winds but we are no wimps! LOL! We went downtown to La Tricoteuse anyway (ok, so we took the subway there!) I got to touch some oh so soft yarns. Noro silk, Debbie Bliss cashmere, Regia in every pattern possible. I resisted and only bought what I had came in for though! ;) They don't sell any bamboo circular needles, I wish they did. I can't seem to find any in this HUGE city. Oh and there's not enough yarn shops either! LOL!

Zoe just woke up from her nap, she's crying. Gotta go give her a few magic hugs to get her to smile again! ;)

Oh! Do kids go through a growth spurt at 22months? or why oh why is Lucas always wanting to nurse these past two days? Ok I know he loooooooves me BUT please, I need some breathing space too!

hugs to all! :)

exhausted

Ok it's official! There are not one Elizabeth Zimmermann book to be found in the city of Montreal, Quebec! UGH! I've been to the two main english book stores and none to be found. I've searched the entire public library circuit to find one of her books and nothing! How can someone who is considered like the knitting goddess bu many not have one book available for little ol'me to look up. I know almost everyone says her books are GREAT! I'd still like to look at the books before having to buy any. I think I'd love the Knitting without tears book but again, why can't I just get to read a bit of it before I fork over my money?

Last night I went to the biggest public library here, it's called the central library and looked at the very few knitting-related books they had. I left there with not one book about knitting. Sigh! :( Dh did find a book about bench saw techniques, he's into woodworking these days. He wants to save up and buy himself all sorts of tools and start making us a bed and then Zoe a "princess" bed or something. I should just be happy he's found a new hobby but it annoys the crap out of me to hear him talk only about wood. I guess that's exactly how he feels when I start talking about knitting though! LOL!

Here's a pic of some squares I knitted for the Knit-along a friend of mine started. (The link is in the previous blog entry)

In the above pictures there are samples made in these fellowing stitches: twisted cable rib, rice stitch, checkerboard and interrupted rib.

Sadly enough I got an email telling me that the course I was interested in taking is full. This one-year long course was going to start in February but oh well. I could always register for the August session. The somewhat good part is that it would be the day class instead of a nigh class and the course is only a year not 18-months like I previously thought it was. I need to decide and register before March 25th. I was eager to start doing something with my time and now well August seems so far, I don't want to register now and then something happens and I can't making it then. Oh well...

I've been having insomnia for the past two nights. I force myself to stay asleep or else I'd be knitting an afghan in two nights or something. LOL! But then in the morning the kids have so much energy I need to be somewhat rested for them.

Yesterday morning I had a great time talkive with the moms from daycare. We eat breakfast together and drink coffee and just plain old gab about anything and everything for 3 hours! LOL! Tomorrow night a few moms are going to the restaurant for supper, I said I wouldn't go 'cause I'm too dang shy but it could be fun to eat out with them. I know where they are going so I can always just show up. I know myself though, by 7pm friday night, I'll be sick with knots in my stomach and not go! I'm too SHY! I can't stand it but that's what I am. Oh well... :(

hugs to all, Lucas is sleeping on me so I'll go put him in my bed for his nap! :)

blue or pink?

Well there's no baby to be born in nine months. I'm sad but at the same time I know it's not the right time for us either. It's not like we are even trying to conceive anyway. It's just that ACK! I see babies everywhere and my own baby will be 2 next month.

Oh good thing about being a low-income family in Canada are the tax refund checks!!! LOL! What a nice surprise to check the mail yesterday and find one of the checks to our name! :) Dh wants to put half of the amount on bills and then we split half of the rest together. He suggested I buy the Lamb's Pride worsted yarn I need to make the felted slippers I've been talking about. Ain't he a sweetheart? Well... I heard him talking to my mom... he's thinking that after making my 1st pair of slippers he can then have me make his own pair! LOL! That guy is slick! ;)

For those of you who read my blog and are interested in learning new knitting stitches or to simply start knitting here's a great place to start! Theresa is an online mommy friend that knits for a living, she has her own online store called: Little Turtle Knits. Soon her store will take a new turn and she will be selling handmade needles, yarn and patterns. Stay tune for more details 'cause this is a great Wahm to encourage. :) Here's the link to her Knit-along where she posted pictures of different stitches. I'll soon start on the knit-along, we will end up with some baby blocks for the kiddos to play with! So you learn and they get to play with the final product, hey neat is that? ;)

I think my ISP server space won't allow MoveableType scripts after all, so I'm not sure how I'll go about that. I had already planned on using the Plain Jane template so I'll have to look somewhere else to find a suitable script for the new site. Friday afternoon the kids will be at daycare and I'll devote that time to my website, 3 full hours without interruption. Hopefully I'll have inspiration that day too! LOL! ;)

That's it for now,

hugs and "don't just sit there, pick up those needles and knit something" :)

p/s: did you notice there's a new icon at the buttom of the page, don't be shy to click on it and check out other knitting blogs. I just joined the ring and many blogs are very interesting! :)

Here's a pic of the swatch I made using the Patons Classic Wool I have.

Back to reality

Well Carl is now back to work! It was fun havng him home for hte past 2 weeks but it'll be nicer to get his paycheck every week too! LOL!

I've finally decided to knit up a hat with my wool yarn and if I'm lucky I'll have enough left to make myself a scarf.

Today I am bored out of my mind, I can't believe it but it's true. I have nothing to do and don't feel like going outside just yet. My mom went to the store with Lucas and Zoe is happily fixated on the TV watching an english cartoon. Here I am on the computer. I've read all the blogs I usually check out, been to every board I read and it's not even 11am yet. LOL!

I should work on my website, especially since I'd really like to start blogging there but I know nothing about GreyMatter and MoveableType, I don't even know if I can use those "programs" on my server either. UGH! I know nothing and I want to change the world! LOL! I want my own diary entry script (is that what you call it?) but I have no clue how to search that on google. I want a user-friendly way to blog, just like diaryland but with it being on my own website. Oh well...

Why is it that I usually get AF each month at the same time and now it hasen't start yet? Of course this is only making me as nervous as can be! I've been obsessing about it for the past two days, even though today is really the day I've been waiting for. Problem is I'd really love skipping AF for 9 months but I just don't know if it's a good idea for us right now. I guess it's out of my hands but I don't want AF to come today, ok? ;)

Well I have some crayons to go dig out and show Zoe, they are those Crayola markers that you can use to draw on windows. I'll go do that with her, it'll be fun, right? LOL! I'm not washing the windows today either so it better be cute! ;)

hugs and may everyone knit freely! :)

Great day!

Well yesterday was a great day! One like no other great day since a long time.

The kids went to skate at the rink with dh and my mom. I stayed home a while but was going to go join them and skate too. I got a package from Cindy, (she's a WAHM that sells wool soakers) each kid got a handsewn pair of fleece mittens! It was a simply a gesture from her heart! WOW! I was floored, what kindness and generosity this person has. I ran, well slipped and slided on the icy sidewalks, to the ice rink to show the kids! They thought the mittens were great but alast I couldn't find my skates before leaving home so I sat on the bench while everyone else went skating.

Then my mom kept the kids and Carl and I went downtown. I had a big bill of 20$ to spend! ;) I was planning on buying one or two knitting magazines and some yarn. At the book store I only found Knit It and bought that! We then went to a crafting store and checked out the yarn. I heard that Patons Classic Wool felted well. Great, I thought, I can then start my felted slippers from Knitty that I'm so eager to knit! I even started my swatch as soon as we got home! The color I chose is indigo but when I look at the yarn at home it looks black, oh well.

This morning we got up pretty early to take the kids see a game of hockey played by young ones. Zoe would LOVE to play hockey with other kids but poor girl she can't skate without holding a big plastic orange cone! ;)

Then we got back home, made some nice pancakes for breakfast. Hey, that game was eeeeeeearly! LOL! Then I continued on my swatch. Weird it's not adding up, my gauge is waaaaaay off than the one on the site. See, I substituted the yarn thinking it wouldn't be a problem. Well, who am I to think that? ARGH! The Lamb's Pride wool they suggested is a thicker yarn! ACK! ;( Now I'm stuck with these 2 balls of yarn, they costed me 13$ plus taxes and I could've bought something else instead with that money! I am so, so, SO bummed about this! I mean, dang it! we are so broke and then I go out and splurge on myself for one with gift money and I buy yarn that ain't good for what I want to make! Grrrr! Ok so I could knit up a hat or a scarf but I don't want those! I wanted felted slippers that I could show off proudly and say *I* made these. ;(

Then there's the fact that I'm being hormonal! Don't even get me started and I BEG you don't even ask! If I have something to add, in due time I will. :X

Also tonight we rented one of the three free movies we got fromt he satellite company. We called them saying they have bad service and then got free movies! LOL! Anyway, we will still need to cut the service soon, at least for now we did cut on our channel selection. So we watched Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, well I didn't get it! I must be the only one who didn't "get" the movie but I guess I'm slow. What was Viviane's secret, what was it that her daughter did not know about all her life? I guess I missed some important conversation while I was concentration knitting Carl a washcloth! ROFL! It was a nice movie but I just miss the punch line I guess.

I still need to learn kitchener stitch! LOL! I'm dreading it but I need to learn it. It's hard to get all your concentration on something while the kids scream around you though.

Oh yeah, last night after buying the yarn we went to a 2nd-hand store, it's one that belongs to a big chain of stores here. Anyway I found some yarn there! LOL! I jumped on it and got some old Kmart neon orange and lemon yellow variegated 70% acrylic 30% wool yarn! 5 balls in all and 3 still had their original ban on them. You can tell this was bought way back when 'cause for 1- Kmarts have been closed in Quebec for a few years and 2- the balls sold each for 1,83$ at the time. I paid them all for the price I could buy one ball of yarn at a main retail store. That got paid with my gift money, it was yarn after all! ;)

I've been reading my Knit it! magazine and really like it. Just like I like the Family Circle Easy Knitting magazines. I did notice a lil'mag called Knitting Digest and they had I believe, 2 afghan patterns that I really liked but it wasn't worth paying aroudn 7$ just for a pattern or two.

Well tomorrow is dh's last day off before going back to work, it'll be weird to not have him around all day. I guess it might be for the best though...

Today it snowed all day, a nice and light snow. Zoe asked all day to go play in the snow, finally after supper we went outside and she made a row of snow angels on the front lawn. It looks so cute to see all those angels. She was so happy making them, I think she was beaming! ;) Lucas had a blast shoveling and I'm thinking tomorrow we'll be spending some time playing in the backyard!

Oh yesterday I received a gift from Valerie! She just came back from a week in Cuba with her boyfriend. They brought me back a very cute wood box that has a burned landscape and the word Cuba on it! It is VERY cute, I really appreciated the fact that she took time to think of me while on her vacation. It touched me! :) Inside the box were 2 lollipops that the kids seem to believe are theirs! HAHA! Will I let them have them or not....? Well tomorrow IS sunday after all! They can eat one candy on sundays! :)

hugs and anyone got an idea on what to knit with 446yards of wool? LOL!

2003

2003 is here but let's talk about the last moments of/2002 before.

In the past year I've had mixed emotions about someone who was in my past. I never got over him, sort of my lost love, I like to call it. I decided that I just needed to leave him behind and simply wrote to him the night before 2003! I told him everything, well within 600 words! LOL! I poured my heart out, told him about dh leaving us twice in the past few months, about Lucas going to the hospital, how both kids were diagnosed with asthma, my new love for knitting! LOL! Anyway, it felt good to just write it out and send my new year's wishes to him also. Ok, that done, we watched the ball go down and illuminate the big/2003 sign! Woohoo! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Both kids were up and they didn't get why we all got up to kiss and hug! LOL! Then we went to sleep. Next morning I made cinnamon buns, soooooo good! :) As they cook the smell fills up the whole house and then we rush to each eat one, then both kids wanted another one. ACK! Soon enough we were already out of buns! ;)

As per my usual morning routine. I sit down, coffee in hand in front of my computer to check emails. Well the usual TONS of emails from every knitting list I am on but the 1st title in my inbox is not one of those usually email. HE wrote back! I am shocked and surprised that he replied at 2AM on New year's day! LOL! Wouldn't he be partying all night? Well, his reply touched me, alot. I almost felt like our "relatioship" had just shifted into a new gear. I believe I can now consider him a friend! WOW! I had never done that before, he was always on the back of my mind as someone I regret not still being with. It was good, felt good and he had just the right words to make me smile. :) I don't know if I will contact him again but at least I finally got the closer I needed to move on with my life!

Well that started the new year well! ;) On the 1st we were pretty mellow, stayed inside all day. There was ice everyone outside and no salt on the sidewalks. Only the middle of the streets were walkable and well, when they are cars speeding pass you it kinda makes you shake in your boots! Then if you're shakin' on ice you slip and slide! LOL!

Yesterday though we went for lunch at one of my mom's friends! She is the greatest, if she were just a tad younger, I'd want to beher best friend! LOL! She's done almost everything I've dreamed of doing and she just loves the kids so much. It's a real treat to see her each time. :) Surprisingly enough her neighborhood was ice free. Funny how in the same city, you can have one area where there's no way to walk on the sidewalks and then another area that's bare of any ice! We spent the afternoon hanging around just watching a movie for the kids which was Casper with Christina Ricci. Both kids then fell asleep for their nap! Gotta say that was great, I never expected them to want to nap there. Then she suggested that we watch an adult movie (NOT XXX, just with no cartoon in it!) ;-) so we watched The Thomas Crown Affair with Mister Pierce Brosnan, that was nice too! ;) yummy even! LOL! The kids woke up by the end of the movie and then Zoe started to be hungry. So Louou suggested we stay for supper! WHAT!?!? We didn't want to impose ourselves, we know she doesn't have alot of money and well we felt awkward. We did stay though and enjoyed a very spicy spaghetti! :)

Now this morning, dh called the clinic 'cause we wanted to get the kids checked out about their asthma, well it's closed. Right now I'm on the phone with an AOL rep. to cancel my "bring-you-own-access" account with them. Well if you know anything about AOL, you know they won't just leave their customers cancel their accounts! LOL! So we just got 6 months of free service! Woohoo! Can't argue with free! ;) We will still need to keep our main internet provider but it'll be nice to have AOL for free. :)

So today, what will we do? Yesterday at Loulou's I finished Zoe's sock! woohoo! :) All that movie watcing and knitting sure was for something! I'm so happy I brought my knitting, it fits right in my winter coat pocket! :)

I heard about a neat yarn store near me, that sounds promising! Also I still need to get my magazines that my mom is buying me! :) Oh wow, it's starting to look like a busy day for me! LOL! I need to learn the kitchener stitch today and then start on Zoe's 2nd sock! It always walks better with a matcihng pair o'socks! lol!

hugs to all! :)