Jo Knits!

08.31

~*~Happy Labor day to all the workers!~*~

I guess this marks officially the last day of summer (technically I know it's not but I'm sure I am not the only one who thinks like this). School is starting again for millions of students, malls are back to being empty on week days. I do enjoy summer but I like it best when people are back to school and work, so many less people all over the place. Then I'll go shopping and have the stores to myself, I'm so greedy! ;) So I hope all the workers will enjoy there day off today, is Thanksgiving the next holiday? I know Canada and the US don't celebrate at the same time either. Carl will be working today! LOL! He's only going for a few hours and I know he's eager to get out of the house, it'll be good for him. We've been lucky to have him spend so much time with us, it's been a blast for myself and the kids. They SO enjoy the presence of their father, we did tons of family outings and just spent time together. Went down town many times and the kids love shopping so we made sure to shop 'til they dropped. Now back to reality, dh working and I'm back as being a stay-at-home-mom! :)

This past weekend we had a BBQ outside, it was really nice, the kids were running around being happy and we were just enjoying the sun. I'm pretty sure this was one of the last times we will be eating out. It was nice! :)

I've been knitting away on my little shawl. Thank goodness for emails!!! :) I got stuck on saturday night with the pattern chart and emailed a few knitters. LOL! Each gave me great help and combined I came to a good result. Thank you for answering my cry for help! I did go and xerox'd the pattern to a bigger size, then got crafty to make it easier for me to follow. I had the repeat a sequence of stitches on several rows 5 times so I went and did exactly that on paper, now I don't need to calculate anymore and get loss in my row count. The picture is where I got stuck on saturday night, now imagine a hot pink safety line at the last row and add an inch more of knitting, that's where I am this morning. :) I try to knit only in the evening when the kids are sleeping but I love this project so much, it's hard not to pick it up in the day. On top of that it's my only project right now. I didn't knit for 24 hours and my oh my, was I ever getting depressed, silly little thing is that I was too busy and not at home to knit. Good thing last night we watched a movie so I knitted with pure pleasure. We saw America's Sweethearts on saturday night, it was a cute movie. Then to see Julia Robert (yeah, she's in that movie) pull out needles and for a split second knit on screen! ACK! The horror, there I was watching the movie without any knitting going on and SHE was there knitting. ROFL! It was surreal actually. ;)

I'm not sure what other project I want to begin right now, I might just go and finish a few odds and ends for now. I need to knit a sweater this fall, soon it will be my 1st anniversary since I learned to knit and I NEED to make a sweater. I know I can do it, ACK! I'm just scared. ;) I think the fall issue of Knitty just might help me get over my fear, only a few days until we get to see it.

Wishing you all a great day. :)

hugs,

The Jo Lives! blog has been updated, you can access it by clicking the blue fish button on the right! :)

08.29

Yeah, yeah, I know! A blog without pictures is a tad boring (to me at least). I'm just too lazy to take a pic right now but come by later on to see my finished bucket-o-chic hat! :) I'll have a blocking party this weekend and block all the hats at once. :)

(deleted this long paragraph, if you read it, I'm sorry it wasn't very nice comments I had to say.) I shall deal with this another way.

Wishing you all a great weekend, I'll be taking a big 2 day break from blogging. See you back September 1st!!! :)

p/s: for those so interested in my life LOL!!! Jo Lives!has been updated. :)

08.28

Working on my baby alpaca highand triangle shawl with the Denise interchangeable needles. I am happy! Just that 1st sentence is what makes my day. *I* bought some niiiiiiiice yarn for myself, *I* splurged on new knitting needles for myself and *I* am knitting a project for ME!!!

After the miscarriage, I wanted to splurge on myself, make it all better. Went to a 'chic' yarn shop, the kind that don't even say hi to me when I go in. Got GRRRRREAT service for the first time, I was in shock but of course pleased as can be. Maybe having Lucas with me helped, he can be quite the little charmer. ;) Also dh was there and had Lucas pet the big Saint-Bernard dog, maybe that's what made the owners warm up to us. It was nice to have friendly servie for once, hey I might look young but I do consider myself a good knitting customer. I knew what I wanted, had my pattern with me (the owner commented the shawl was beautiful and look really nice on me), I was friendly and had dh bring Lucas outside when he started to play with all the yarn balls he could find! LOL! I really want to go back soon as they had some Regia yarn on sale, why didn't I take it when I was there? ACK! Silly me, it does give me an escuse to go back though. ;)

I am having a great day, it's still early but we are planning to go down town and simply enjoy the day with the kids. Lucky us they like to shop and we did promise Zoe we would go try on some skates. teehee! She is beaming! :)

Wishing you all a super sunshine filled day. :)

08.27

Little things make me happy, mail came yesterday AND I had no customs fee to pay. I had a great day! ;)

I'm off to go knit at the mommy & coffee meeting, they'll have no clue about Denise interchangeable needles and get all impressed by them! Teehee! ;)

Anyone have an opinion on figure skating!? We are thinking of getting our 4yo started but would like to hear stories (good ones, I'd prefer) ;) Here's the skating program Zoe would learn: CanSkate

08.26

I have updated my other blog and changed it's template. You are welcome to go check it out: Jo Lives! I need a new button to match the new template, oooooooh that'll keep me busy today! LOL! ;)

I'm hoping the postman comes by today, I have no patience when it comes to waiting for something in the mail. LOL! Guess I'll go knit my hat for a while. :)

08.25

A new week starts and life goes on. I am as happy as can be and blessed that we have two wonderfully polite and healthy kids. They really are precious, some days more than others. LOL! ;)

Our weekend was filled with enjoying the outdoors and walking 'til we dropped. Saturday we got the kids in our big mean red wagon, just to notice that a wheel was flat, it doesn't fill up with air anymore so it seems we will need to by a new wheel. The red wagon is great when we go garage sale shopping, it gives us somewhere to put our buys in. ;) So we went to check out 2 pretty lame yard sales, one had absolutely nothing interesting and the other one didn't have sales. LOL! The lady was charging twice as much as what we expected to pay. That's ok though, it gave Zoe the opportunity to start her Christmas gift list. LOL!

Sunday we went to a big 18th-Century Public Market in the Old Montreal. It was great, people in costumes and many products for sale BUT to pay 1$ to taste 2-3 pieces of bread or a dollar for half a slice of bread and homemade jam!? The tasting prices were ridiculous, we did survive 'cause we had left home prepared. We had brought all sorts of snacks with us. When we walked all around the market area, we found a park, ate our snacks and let the kids loose to play for a while. I did get to see a woman spin some yarn on a wheel, she was kinda old and didn't look friendly so I didn't talk to her. They has euroflax yarn and it was nice to touch it, not my kind of yarn but pretty neat I guess for vegan knitters. ;)

Ater all our walking we stop at a bookstore and I looked though a knitting book, of course I forgot the title. I've talked about this book before I think, it's a "choose a style to knit for your child", something similar to it. It's a basic book but I liked how the pattern in it were for classic sweaters. I could see myself knit some of the patterns for the kids. Well.... that's if I ever got over the sweater fear.

Talking about sweaters, the new Knitty issue should come out around middle of september, if I remember correctly this is the 1st anniversary issue and should include many sweaters. :) Fall is my favorite season, people finally cover up! LOL! I hate mini-skirts and too tiny tops that show every inch of skin possible, I'm just not that kind of person and it sure makes me feel self-conscious when I see people like that. I try to remember that they didn't have two kids nor have they breastfed for 4 years. LOL!

I started yet another Bucket-o-chic, this one is finally for me, will I dare post a pic of myself wearing it? ROFL! We'll see, we'll see. ;) I'm tempted to try and knit a felted version of the bucket-o-chic also, I think that would look neat. Good thing I LOVE hats, I can knit these over and over and over. :) I can't believe how easy the pattern is, I got to learn how to do the 3-needle bind off which I was eager to try and I'm getting pretty good at picking up stitches, you know after picking like a thousand, someone gets better. ;)

Now if only I could get mail today, I would finally start swatching for my shawl. My needles are either still in the air or about to hit home. I am so eager, this shawl will hopefully look so nice, at least it will be VERY soft. I love this baby alpaca, I'm going to call this Highland Triangle shawl my own comfort shawl. :)

hugs, wishing you all a great week.

OOPS, forgot to say that I got the forms to register Zoe to the english pre-kindergarden but now I don't know, is she ready!? ACK!? I'm gonna miss her SO much in the day, it's only 3 days a week but waaaaaaaaah! She's growing up too fast. ;)

08.22.03

Reasons I am happy:

-I have dh by my side
-went to play bowling and had such a blast
-have enjoyed TONS of family time
-a few hours at daycare for the kids
-meeting up with a local knitter
-baby alpaca
-new knitting needles
-having two cute and healthy kids
-nice weather
-getting dh to walk all over town just 'cause I feel like it. :)
-splurge on myself and be encouraged to do so by dh. LOL!

I started a 3rd bucket-o-chic, I am really addicted to them and if it weren't for walking around for 6 hours yesterday, I'm pretty sure the hat would have been finished. Lucas has to be in a picture this morning so he tried on the smaller hat too, his hat will look just like it too. ;)

08.19.03

Second news of the week...... Carl has been laid off from work! Right after his vacations, how stupid is that?

Can you tell my week is going well? ;) Actually, I am doing good, maybe too good too fast. I started another Bucket-o-chic hat, the pattern is almost mindless knitting, which is exactly what I want right now. I won't be knitting the Spanish Christening shawl after all, like announced, it just wouldn't be as fun anymore. I will make a highland triangle shawl, it will be my comfort shawl in a way.

Still going slow, I wish I was still on vacation, the place we were at was so beautiful. At least I have company this morning with dh home and the kids going to daycare. I might make up a webpage to show off pictures of our vacation spot but now looking back at the pictures, they aren't nearly as beautiful as the place itself.

hugs,

08.18.03

"I lost my baby,
I lost my darling,
I lost my friend,
I lost my mind."
...Jean Leloup

Seven weeks along and it's another surprise life brings us. Baby "trio" was not meant to be. I am taking another week away from blogging as my heart, stomach and whole body aches at the moment. I will go on and read your blogs to catch up a bit, I just don't have anything I want to blog about right now.

We had the best holidays ever, sunny all week, the place was terrific, the cabin was gorgeous, the employees were great, the activities the kids did were a blast. All went downwords on saturday... I tried to still have fun for the last day but it was hard. I'm an emotional rollercoaster right now.

Talk to you all later,

P/S: Thank you all for the warm wishes you had sent, both in comments and emails. This makes it all the more harder to tell you all about this.

08.11.03

To you all, my dear knitting friends,

I'm leaving very shortly for a 7-day vacation with our little family. It's our first vacation ever as a family of four. Today though, I'm sad to leave all my good friends behind, sure you will all be there when I come back with great pictures of knitted projects. It will feel just a tad weird not reading what's going on in your lives or what new projects you are all starting. :)

I'm bringing along my broadripple socks to be make and hopefully completed. I just don't know what yarn to bring. LOL! I knitted a bootie and it came out so small even a preemie wouldn't fit in it, so I don't think I'll pack baby yarn after all. I did JUST buy, the bucket-o-chic pattern, maybe we will all come back with a new hat. LOL!

As for the shawl I want to start, it'll wait after our vacation. Also I changed my mind AGAIN, it won't be the highland triangle shawl after all. After having a very generous blog reader share her Folk Shawls book with me, I fell in love with the Spanish Christening shawl pattern. I think it'll be a great throw for when watching the tv and I feel like curling up under something. :)

Now just to be sure that you will all remember me even with a week away from blogging, I leave you with a little scoop. :) Click on the giftbox to find out what it is. teehee!

Wishing you all a GREAT week!!!! :)

hugs,

08.08.03

Thank goodness it's friday and let the fun BEGIN! :) As soon as Carl walks in this door late tonight it's holidays for us! Yippeeeeeeeeee! :) We have the weekend to pack and monday morning, after I post my last entry (please come back and see what it will be!) we are off for a week of fun in the sun. :)

Eleven full days with dh NOT going to work, he is obligated to bring his cell phone on vacation BUT I will make sure that it is closed all day and that he checks his messages only at the kids naptime or in the evening. I wouldn't mind getting some time to reconnect with him too. We're bringing a few card and board games to keep us occupied. Our favorite game is to daydream of our future anyway so you don't need to bring anything for that. You just start wishing for something and keep on following your dreams. We've owned a B&B where kids got to make their own pizzas in the kitchen, I had a Zoe's Bubbles biz where I sold soap and bubble related products! ;) Many times we dreamed we were traveling across Canada in a winnebago with the kids making new friends everywhere we went. Dreams don't cost a thing and most surprisingly enough some dreams you realize! :)

Last night I bought 90$ worth of toys for a 25$ HA! My Christmas shopping for the kids is done, isn't yours? LOL! I just LOVE my supermarket, this is the same store that sold 2$/piece clothes a few weeks back. :) Found huge beach balls for 40cents and an Elmo kite that we will try out in the backyard today. If you love sales as much as I do, now is the time to buy beach toys, bubbles, and toys. :)

Off I go to dream about my vacation, just hope it will be sunny all week. :)

p/s: I'm really sad my pictures are down, hopefully they will be back up soon. Also if you notice some pop-up pictures when you come to my blog, please let me know. I have no idea where they are coming from.

08.07

Almost forgot...... here are the pictures of my felted bags. LOL! You can check my august 1st entry to see the 'unfelted' bags to compare. I love them both! :)

Well my swimsuit is ready, got some new shorts that are eager to see the sun and Zoe's keep bugging me about when do we leave for our vacations. We are now doing the how sleeps until we go countdown. ;)

I have stopped dieting! LOL! How much can you loose at only a few days before leaving for a week. I am really liking how I feel though, incorporating exercise in my life right now makes me feel great. I will keep on walking and doing some yoga, might try to look into pilates too. Yeah I do have a short attention span so diversifying my exercise might help me keep at it! :) At least I'll have access for a full week to a beach and beautiful hiking trails, I can't wait to get there and see all the beauty of the place. :)

Yesterday I had a GREAT mommy&coffee meeting, can you believe for the 3rd week in a row I have been enjoying the company of these women! LOL! Those same people who thought knitting was so UGH! useless.... Well I'm showing them that adding a little kool aid and some felting can add great excitement to knitting. :) I am proud to have them interested in what I do, they now see me as the knitter and are surprised if I don't take my knitting project out as soon as I come in the room. "What will you knit next" they asked all eager to know! LOL! This makes me feel good, knitting is cool and I am just spreading the joy. Now if only they would start knitting too, now THAT would be ever better! ;) I have made friends with one of the moms there that I just couldn't stand, we now have nice conversations and I am pleasantly surprised to see the sensitive non-annoying person she really is! :) She has thanked me for the past 2 weeks on my attitude change towards her, it feels good to see that we bought have worked on our ways and are now both benefiting on a new friendship we are slowly building! :)

I tell ya, must be something in the air, I am just so dang HAPPY! :) Far from the depressed ~Jo~ some of you might remember from last winter. Exercise might be helping also I'm not on the computer as much, I try to do something different everyday. Even my mom noticed that I am being more active, trying to do fun things with the kids. Trying to be happy and enjoying the days that pass by. I hope others are as happy as I am right now. :)

hugs, have a great day. Why not take that extra step today to make someone smile! :)

08.06

Felting fun is happening in this house!!!! :) Both my Rainbow Suki and the Daypack backpack are drying, smells awful but I am SO pleased with the size they shrunked too. :) I almost forgot about both projects, ACK! I was just knitting away and UH OH, ran to the basement all scared. Luckily I got there JUST in time, the Daypack was perfect and the Suki was just about done. It went back in for another waher ride and then it was done. Finding was to fill the bags got creative, I used a small diaper pail for the Suki and a show box for the Daypack! LOL! I can't wait to show off the pics... tomorrow! Yup, gotta build some anticipation!

I've been thinking about this for a while and in septembler I believe I will treat myself and start a big shawl for myself. Kind of a Christmas gift for myself, we all know how slow I knit, that way I won't be putting pressure on myself. I think I'll treat myself with nice yarn too. :) I never knitted a shawl I really liked the Highland triangle shawl I have talked about in the past. It looked like a good nice and large piece, hey it gets cold here in the winter! ;) I think a shawl would be exciting to knit, it would last for years (hopefully!) and that's why I think investing in some good yarn for it would be wise. :) There will most likely be a chart to knit the shawl and I have never worked with a chart, that might get... hummm... interesting. ;) I might look at free shawl patterns and ones that are sold in kits or something. I'm still not convinced that I want to buy the Folk Shawls book as it is quite pricey.

That's my little entry for today, have a great day! :)

08.05

I've been doily/dishcloth crazy yesterday! LOL! Finished an old dishcloth that I had started long ago, dh really likes it because it is dark. Then I started a white doily for my mom while watching Paradise Hotel! LOL! My online friend Crystal, got me to watch it, it's a great show to knit too. ;)

My big "what will I bring on vacation to knit" drama is over, little baby projects will be great, I'm sure they'll be of use to someone. That said, I'm quite excited to try knitting a few small projects, instant gratification will be nice! :) We'll be spending our days at the beach or hiking so they are perfect on-the-go things.

The neighbor is having his walkway redone and the workers got there at 6:45am. ACK! Yesterday at least it was at 7:30am. No more milk in the house, so coffee will have to wait. This morning the kids are going to daycare and I'll be shopping for the last few items needed for our trip. I am really getting eager and excited to go, it'll be a nice week in the country. :)

-Need to felt my bags, I promised I was going to show them off at my mommy&coffee group tomorrow AM. Just hope they'll have time to dry by then.

Wishing you all a lovely day. :) Yesterday after supper, I saw a rainbow, bummer I didn't have my digicam on me.

08.04

What a busy weekend we had, it was so humid too, almost unbearable. Carl came home from Toronto withOUT my Toronto Sun, I knew he'd forget but he did bring home a surprise...... he sprained his ankle the night before and could barely walk. ARGH! He knew I needed to go shopping with him for our vacations. I did manage to get what I needed and he napped most of sunday, basically the kids didn't see him once again. Good thing our vacations start next monday, 7 days filled with activites with DADDY! I am taking the week off, he can play with them all he wants! LOL!

In knitting news nothing too excited, I knitted my 1st doily, which was nice, easy and fast to do. In an evening someone can make one, I knitted most of it while watching an old movie. Next time I might try making a double flower doily. These can be used as dishcloths but my mom thinks they look too nice, she doesn't want to get them dirty! LOL!

My Broadripple sock is coming along slowly, I've been knitting too many things at once, so it's been left behind. I'd really like to have one done by the end of the week. I'd knit the other at the camp, I'm still stressing over what yarn to bring, gosh, what would I do if I didn't bring enough? It's not like they'll be a yarn store right at the camp. ACK! Maybe I'll just knit doilies for everyone there! LOL! Maybe baby booties could be fun to make too, I could donate them to a lady I know that takes care of low-income pregnant women. I was on that program when pregnant with Lucas and getting little surprises was so much fun. :) In Quebec, we don't have a WIC program, we do have a program that helps pregnant women from weekm 20 to 40 of their pregnancies. You get milk, orange juice and eggs every week to help make sure preggo mom gets all the calcium, vitamins and protein she needs. Anyway, yup! I think I'll try to find cute baby bootie patterns and knit those at the camp. Won't take much space in my bag and it'll be a fun project to knit. :)

Ok got any EASY baby booties pattern to share? You know where to find me! :)

08.01

Picture day! :) (click on pics to see them even bigger)

Carl is off to Toronto this afternoon, I know he's nervous and excited. I hope he has a good time there, even though it's on business he is going. It's his 1st busness trip as a warehouse manager after all and his 2nd official meeting with clients to get a on contract. His 1st meeting was yesteray! LOL! Hope he bring home the Toronto Sun paper, I spent an entire summer reading it and it's silly but I miss reading that paper.

We bought some beach towels last night, hey anything gets me excited! ;) The kids got some that fold into a backpack, dh and I both got BIG 40"X70" towels. Gotta love end of season sales! My towel is sooooooooo nice, it has 6 hibiscus flowers on it. Oh what the heck, it's picture day. LOL!

Wishing you all a fun and SAFE weekend! :)

p/s: You might want to check Kerstin's party today!!!