Jo Knits!

We survived!!! The first day of school was great, the teacher seems really good to the kids and I got a good feeling about her. I am SO proud of how Zoe acted in class. She was the only kid to raise up her hand straight to the sky without screaming or having her arm moving around to get attention. She answered questions very well, made her teacher laugh and charmed her with a great big smile. Oh and on the way out Zoe offered her an apple, the teacher melted. I think we are at a great start. They will be 23 in her class, alot of kids but last year they were around 20 also so I am not afraid the teacher can't handle it. Zoe knows at least two other kids in her class so that is nice for to not feel too lost around all new people. The principal at the school is a new one, he is young and seems nice, hopefully we won't have to deal with him too much. LOL! I doubt Zoe will be much trouble this year. ;) She went to bed quickly last night, so excited to see what games she will be playing at school today.

After school last night we found Lucas playing with this new tractor. Carl jokingly told Lucas that he never saw him bring it back from the apple orchard. Lucas is BEAMING with pride, he is ready to rework our whole yard. Who cares if it was raining yesterday our son was having a good time riding his new toy. :) Even thought Lucas didn't want to let his sister go to school he seems to have recovered quickly. He already asked when I'd start school with him so tomorrow we start! It'll be fun. :) Maybe we should start with arts & crafts and brush up on the colors he knows... I have some yarn to dye! LOL!

Soon I will get back to blogging about knitting, I promise.

Apples!

Last night I couldn't sleep, today is Zoe's first day at school and I am starting to feel very nervous about it. Luckily we go with her today and it's mostly a meet and greet thing but still, it's my big girl's first day of what will become routine for the next 10 years minimum (I hope!) of her life. I can't believe she's actually starting school today and that we will have to get ready every morning and hopefully not be late walking to school each morning and afternoon. I have set up a little school schedule for Lucas and he is quite looking forward to having school at home. He is so sweet, getting new craft supplies for him might have helped a tad bit. LOL!

To end our last summer weekend with a bang! We went to the orchard to pick apples yesterday, it was so much fun. The kids couldn't have enough and we filled up our bags too quickly in their opinion but sheesh! We have 20lb of apples and a non-working over so pies and apple crumbs are out. LOL! We had a great time and the weather cleared up just as we were arriving there. Kids enjoyed climbing up the ladders to pick the apples at the most top of each tree (of course!). Who cares if some of the biggest ones were at their height standing up from ground, that was not part of their plan. ;) Our apples are HUGE, it's the kind we picked that is like that but it's amazing that we could pick apples at this time of the year and we left plenty of apples behind for other to go pick. I wish we could go again next weekend just for fun, being in the country really is good for Lucas, he adores it and Carl grew up there, you can see how comfortable he is around animals and farm machinery. The boys love it each time we get out of town, they are SO proud to see all the tractors along the highway! LOL!

Also yesterday, we stopped by a huge flea market, I never went to one as big as that. Sadly no yarn to be found but I fell in love with something though... A djembe drum, I did resist and left my beloved drum behind and I knew the sellers didn't know much about their products. From the little I know I could ask pertinant questions and they couldn't answer them or did but gave the wrong answers. Even though a drum is an investment and I could have got one cheaply I prefer to wait and save up for a good quality one. It will last me for years and it's no use to buy a cheap one that won't live up to this drumming family. You should have seen the kids in the 'shops' they tested out every drum in the place. LOL! We all played drums recently at a kids even in a big local park and we have been talking about drums ever since. The kids really got into it and Zoe's loving african dancing so we could get a show started with mom at the drum and lil'Zo dancing the night away. ;) Every sunday in Montreal a BIG drumming event happens at the base of our little city mountain. People from all around come and play drums all together for the love of music and fun. I hope to go before the season ends, if I'm lucky I might get a few referrals as to where I could buy a good quality drum. Also the kids could run around, dance and play to the send of music, what a great opportunity for them too, to discover something really different in our own city.

Better go Zoe is pretty eager for us to start packing her school bag. You can bet the teacher will be getting an apple.

hugs,

New issues?

Does anyone know when the new issues of Knitty and MagKnits are coming out? I know Sεx in the Knitty came out not too long ago though. I am just eager to see what the new fall patterns will be. :)

Carl is working today but it will not make us miss the fun of the 18th-century Public Market event that is happening over the weekend. I think I would've loved living in those pioneering years, knitting was a necessary back then and spinning and lace making and .... oh the joys of living without a washing machine. ACK! Maybe there are some modern items that are good too. LOL! Sadly yarn will most likely not be sold there but food and handmade soaps/candles and whatnots will be. I just love old day markets like these. :)

Have a great weekend!

Strawberries for everyone!

The whole crew: Carl, my mom and the kids bringing baskets. Note both kids are wearing red shirts 'cause we all know strawberry stains won't show on red shirts! LOL! ;)

Wednesday we went strawberry picking and what a blast we all had. Carl was the pro picker, he filled up his baskets in a flash. Lucas was our official quality tester, he ate so many strawberries by the end he said his tummy was full. He had a good time just running up and down each row and bringing us strawberries to eat. LOL! Zoe was good at picking too and both my mom and I just loved our experience. It was her 1st time picking fresh strawberries. The kids asked if we could come back, which most likely not but I think they will remember that day for a long time. :) I think we have enough to last us until next summer! LOL!

Thursday was jam day, we cleaned, cut, mashed strawberries and both Carl and my mom got to make jam for the 1st time. Our jars sealed right away so they are all good for up to a year. Kids are still loving strawberries after eating them almost non-stop for two day. LOL! I woke up sick so I stayed in bed most of the day and knitted away. Zoe is settling well in her new "going-to-school" routine, Lucas is not, he doesn't want to go to sleep at night and doesn't even nap anymore. It will prove to be difficult on days where my mom will be home alone with both kids on mornings.

Today Zoe went on one of her first playdates, they had such a good time that for the 1st time ever she stayed at her friend's place for supper. WOW! It was really weird to have her away for 5 hours. I know that as soon as Zoe starts school she will be away a few hours everyday but it will be different as she will come home for lunch. We are lucky enough to live only a few minutes away from her school (which I attended also!!!). Her schedule is that she is away 2,5 hours in the morning then has a 2 hour lunch and then 2 hours in the afternoon. Totally different than having her gone five hours straight at a friend's house, right? ;) Lucas said today that he doesn't want his sister to go to school. :( I think he's starting to realise she won't be home all the time anymore, just today he found it long not having her to play with. I am excited to get some one-on-one time with him though. Zoe takes up alot of space and it will be good for him to have some undivided attention a few hours each day. Also I already planned out a few activities for him, we will 'play' school for him also so that he can proudly show his big sister that he's learning too. :)

Now have you ever had a knitting project that you simply hate but keep on knitting it? It's happening with my thrum sock, the roving is a pain to pull apart and it looks like it matted/fulled somehow. I am dreading have to deal with the roving each few rows I knit. I have no idea how spinners do it, they must have a little secret I don't know. ;) I keep on knitting the thrum sock but really am hating the experience and I just don't know if it's worth the pain to keep on knitting it. I don't want to stop and take a break as I know myself and will never go back to it. Now I hate knitting the project so does it mean I'll hate the end product!? UGH!

Today both kids are going to daycare, it's a full day so they will be eating lunch with their little friends. It is also Zoe's last time there officially, non-officially she might beg us to go on a day off we'll see. LOL! The kids sure are growing up quickly when we see all that has happened over the last years, just over the summer Zoe seems to have become wiser and Lucas is in full toddler-hood, he makes us laugh daily and he can charm just about anyone. :)

Wishing you all a lovely day. :)

Back into the groove

This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of Zoe ever!!! Lucas just seems to wonder what's the problem with mom taking all those pics.

Life goes by so fast when you are busy! Monday, I have renewed my website for another year, registered both kids for skating lessons again. Tuesday, bought brand spankin' new Jackson skates for Zoe. Luckily Lucas still has skates that fit him, when they don't we"ll simply dye Zoe's old skates and he'll be happy. :) Went to a gorgeous nature park on monday at Laval which is north of Montreal. Yesterday we went and played at the jungle aventure, it's a place where kids can climb up rope ladders, jump in "pool balls" (area filled with balls), slide the small, medium and BIG slides. Parents can go in for free and both Carl and I had an exhausted blast running around with the kids. We were so pleased that there were less than 10 kids in the games at all times. It was great, the kids had so much fun and the parents too, though we did have to catch our breath a few times. LOL! Geez, we're getting old. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun though just playing around like that. :)

I have finished the Lucy Neatby rainbow hat that I had bought from her back in may. Both kids have asked for it so it's still a toss between them, I have enough yarn to start another one, if I run out of yarn by the end I'll try to make it smaller so it will fit Lucas. The feather and fan blanket it stalled, see I was knitting on it the other night in the car. Well it was after 10pm and pitch black outside, so I was knitting by feel only, not too easy when you are purling a few rows. The next morning I noticed that I knitted a row instead of doing the pattern row, I started frogging it but then decided to get back to another project. The thrum sock is going along very nicely, after getting the confirmation I was doing something wrong with my thrums it is alot easier now. LOL! I added about 2 inches to the sock and 2 thrum rows later it's starting to get easier. :)

Also last night over supper, Zoe lost a 2nd tooth, poor girl hope she doesn't loose anymore before starting school, what will they think of us? LOL!

Well it's a beautiful day and I am happy! :)

hugs,

I love cars!

We added about 1000 km/620miles on the car since we've had it. Luckily our friend is leaving us the car today too, it is very easy to fall in love with a car though. Yesterday we had great use of the car as we went crazy and went to Quebec city for supper, that's about a 2,5 hours ride.

Sunday morning we left home bright and early for a fun-filled day! We stopped at a truck stop for breakfast, which made Lucas's day. He adores big trucks! :) Then we spent most of our day at the Village Québécois d'Antan, which is a village where earlier ways of life are in harmony with present day living. This typical French-Canadian rural village recreates the 1810-1910 period. It takes about four hours to tour the village, we took 5. It was one of the best days of my life!!! The kids loved running around and tour one of the 30+ houses where people would talk to us about their life.

Both kids got to feed sheep, Lucas went in 1st and couldn't stop, he was having a blast so then Zoe decided she could handle feeding them too. LOL! Lucas sure is an animal lover, he loves them and Zoe is more afraid, she will try something once she knows her brother can do it.

We brought back some freshly baked bread, molasses cookies, handmade soaps, beewax candles, a recipe book. Oh dear, the quilts I resisted but it was SO hard, they had wool socks for sell also. Zoe got a gorgeous stuffed bunny and Lucas got a little black board, like way back when in school. If we lived closer I would spend my whole summer at this place, it was great to be so close to pioneers.

After a fun day we went crazy and drove to Quebec city for supper, this city is so beautify from it's history. Unfortunatly yarn stores were closed by the time we got there so no yarn purchases were made. LOL! We went to a very modern sport-themed restaurant and got a nice surprise when we learned that kids eat for free on sundays. LOL! Sure ended our day very nicely, so note to any local people, support on Cage aux Sports on sundays. lol!

After taking a few gravols we all came back home with the kids sleeping safely in their carseats and us adults just chatting along about our fabulous day. :)

Now what's in store for us today? BIG grin!!!
hugs,

Ride along...

Wrote an long entry and then did something else before saving. Poof! Entry is gone and I'm too tired from a cold to restart it over. So here are the main things happening:

- baby girl is born on thursday, we couldn't be happier for our neighbor! (I knitted her a hat and baby booties)
- a friend announced to us, on the same day, that she is pregnant, she will become a great mother and the daddy-to-be will love having a child of his own!
- we have a car for the weekend!!! :) we also had access to the same car on wednesday and Carl and I spent the whole afternoon going to places I could only dream about. A yarn shop and a cute gift store were new places to discover.
- last night bought 2 car seats for the kids and went for supper out of town, we were about to go eat at IKEA when at a crossroad I asked Carl where another town was, well by car it's only 10 minutes away. Woohoo! Got to visit a yarn store in the mall too.
- we will buy lots of groceries this weekend, usually we buy only what we can carry along in our hands so this is extra special. Do you know how heavy potatoes are? LOL!
- we should go out of town this weekend too, visit a place I have never gone too, so this is very exciting. Might even stop at a sheep farm where they sell their own yarn.....
- started a BRIGHT orange feather and fan blanket, just for fur! LOL!

hugs, enjoy the weekend. :)

Camp Jr Stitches2

What a fun day we had at Camp Junior Stitches yesterday! We went to the camp grounds big kids party by bus (so... city camping grounds are a tad big!). We ate mini-donuts and had homemade lemonade, though other fair foods were available too. We saw mango flowers (mangos on a stick), funnel/drizzle cakes, watermelon, cotton candy.

We played drums with many new friends, saw a show with our favorite clowns, did some gymnastics using props. Also, for the fiber content we made pompom bracelets! ;)

We ended our day with supper on the bbq, smores for dessert and a movie in the tent. We all slept like babies, I did hear cats fight in the night but other than that our night was event-less. I sure wish we could keep on sleeping in the tent for a few more days but the weather just might not be on our side.

Anyways, today activities at Camp Junior Stitches should include: handpainting wool with Kool Aid. Our junior campers might get to drink some of the dyes also, no I won't make them drink the actual colors we will dye with! An intro to knitting class will be given to those who would like to try. We will also provide a few arts & crafts projects to keep the young ones busy all day. For the pompom lovers we shall provide plenty of yarn too.

Next year or next week, whenever we can find the time, hand felting could be a fun activities for our juniors.

hugs,

Camp Jr Stitches

Good morning from Camp Junior Stitches! Our junior knitters went to bed way past their bed time last night but slept peacefully all night. As you can see they had plenty of room to roll around in their sleep. LOL! Dh had a good night snoring in my ear and I was just too excited to sleep. I'm such a kid! It was so fun though to be outside, this will be the closest to camping the kids will experience until we get a car to drive us to a campground.

Back to out tent our campers at Camp Jr Stitches are eager to eat.
hugs,

Garage sales

Oh how I love garage sales, this summer there seem to have less of those sales and I was sad. Well that's until we found two in the same day! I bought a tent so we can camp in the backyard! LOL! Also purchased a Diana-like sewing form. I couldn't be happier but wait, I also got 12 balls of baby yarn and 10 balls of grey shetland weight yarn. All of this for less than what they would ask for a used tent. teehee! I am happy. :) So now I shall get back to sew right? lol!

Thrumming isn't going too well...

hugs,

Sniffles

Well I DID it! I have knitted booties that are the size of a baby and knitted them easily reading and understanding the pattern at first glance. I am sold to the new Creative Knitting magazine. Even if it's the only pattern I knit in it it will be worth what I paid, I actually haven't read the magazine yet as I was knitting as fast as I could to get these booties done on time. The will become my regular baby booties pattern, it's just that easy.

To celebrate I started a new project, one that I couldn't wait to start either. I bought the kit while we were working in Nova Scotia and I got the chance to visit Kathryn at the Fleece Artist workshop. Even though we were off hours and obviously she was about to leave home, she generously opened her shop to us. She shared her passion of the outdoors and how the area had been affected by the Juan tropical storm and by the past winter's blizzard. It was so interesting learning all of this history by someone living it day to day. I was running around like crazy in the shop touching every fiber and trying to decide as quickly as possible what projects I should bring back home with me. I was too good and bought only a thrum sock kit promising myself to order from Kathryn when I would need more yarn in the future.

Now that I have started the thrum socks I am stuck! What else is new? LOL! Hopefully someone out there has knitted thrum socks or mittens in the past and can help me with this. Here is where I am at right now: thrum 1 as follows insert right needle through the stitch below the 1st stitch on the left needle, place a 4" piece of roving (pulled and twisted) over the right needle and pull it through to the front, then knit the stitch on the needle Pass the thrum up and over the stitch. So.... do I pull a 4" piece of roving for each round I thrum!? Also how do I thrum? LOL! Sure the instructions are right there but I don't "see" it. This must be one of those things you need to see to get!?

I truely hope this does not affect copyright of the pattern but this is the only way I can ask for help on the particular pattern. I do not want to bother the designer if I can get help online.

Woke up with the sniffles, I want to go back to sleep already.

hugs,

Pucca love

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Ok something is odd! Just as I finished the knitting Sophie and am about to knit the i-cord handles I wonder... Why is this bag so small!? I check my stitch gauge when I frst started the bag but not my row gauge, I simply presumed it would be fine. HA! When will I ever learn!? The gauge for the bag is 20 rows and 16 sts over 10 cm Stockinette isn't the rows usually more than the stitches in a regular swatch!? I'm sad that I'll have to rip it or felt it and get a teeny tiny bag, which would be perfect for Zoe, I was expecting it to be bigger though. Already I had plans to embellish it with some hand embroidery but a tiny bag just might not be worth the whole design I wanted to embroider on it. UGH!

Maybe I should just forget about knitting, I never felt like such a bad knitter. Oh dear, do I really have to simply stick to knitting hats!? ARGH!

Our vacations are exhausting, I might be anemic though. LOL!

Breakfast in bed

First day of vacation and breakfast in bed. I woke up and the newspaper was already on my room's doorstep. Yesterday Carl rearranged our whole room with the new furniture we have purchased. My room finally looks like an adult's room. It's pretty boring at the moment but I'm hoping to find some Norman Rockwell art to decorate the room. If I weren't the world's worst wall painter I'd paint my room over but I am best kept away from a paintbrush. lol!

After knitting yet another huge bootie I am giving up! I don't see why I am having such a hard time with those. I did find great little baby pj's 50% off at our local Loblaw's so the hat and then ensembles will be enough. lol! To remind me that YES I can knit I started a Sophie bag, not that I need it, it will most likely never be worn because I am not a "purse" gal but that's ok. Zoe will adore it and hide all her little secrets in there. The Sophie bag will be navy blue but I have some natural wool and kool aid that I have been eager to dye. Poor kids they are so excited to see that we have kool aid in the house and they won't even get to drink some. LOL! They have drinked Kool Aid twice in a week, I have corrupted my kids and don't even feel bad about it. It taste like liquid jello and dang it was good too. I might make kool aid popsicles, that might be less bad than drinking it!? Oh well, we've resisted giving them some until now, I think that's pretty good.

My to-do knitting list is getting longer by the minute, especially with fall coming. I hope to knit a few sweaters this fall. HA! Sweaters, yes I am still terrified by those but how many hats do kids actually need? I can't keep on making hats just because I find them easy to knit.

Oh my goodness, I am LOVING MT-Blacklist!!!! I was having nightmares of having to deal with all my thousands of spam comments. Instead I get less then 5 a day now and I can add them to my blacklist. I was looking at my activity log and can see how this is working for me. Without me ever knowing it has denied multiple spam comments over the last few days. It's so fun to not have to deal with all these comments anymore!

ugh!

What is wrong with baby booties patterns!? I have been knitting some all week and they all look weird so I am back to having none again. I tried 4 patterns and they all ended up huge. I know to expect them to look big but they sometimes were too small or really huge. I can't believe I am having a hard time with such a small project. At least the baby hat is done but I feel silly just giving a baby to a baby.

Anyways, I am pretty blue because I had planned a fun weekend away from home but.... as usual (more like as always) something came up. Carl has to work and our weekend is blown. He will have the week off and I called in work to say I was taking a week off. I don't have any work scheduled so it's not like I'm cancelling hours of work. This weekend is the last one for a very fun event in Quebec city, I've been trying to make it twice now but something always seem to make it impossible for me to go. Sure maybe trying to do spur of the moment things aren't the best thing but Carl was to have saturday off. Oh well, hope people that are in Quebec city enjoy the New France Festival.
I've been wanting to start a lot of new knitting projects at the same time. Thing is I can't seem to choose which one, I don't have a problem starting projects, I have the opposite. I can't seem to finish up any one I start. It's always easier to start a new project than to actually complete one. So a few friends are trying to keep me from starting new ones until I finish a few so that I can have access to my Denise interchangeable needles again! LOL! I believe all my cords are in use in some sort of projects at the moment. Also I have two pairs of socks that are an inch away from being done, I simply need to finish a toe on one pair and a cuff on the 2nd pair. Sheesh! Why can't I get motivated for that? Instead I've been knitting all week booties that just won't make it to the baby.

So that's my boring post of the day. Oh 1- anyone have an opinion on spiral socks? I'm thinking they would be good for the kids and 2- why I make it on time for a freebie at Old Navy.... pathetically, I doubt it. I'm feeling blue knowing that I'm not going away for the weekend. Sigh....

Pure bliss

Love is....

having someone wake up in the morning an hour earlier just to say I love you.
someone making coffee and your lunch to encourage you even really early.
taking the time to go see how donuts are made at Krispy Kremes.
visiting for the 1st time an ethnic grocery store together.
having a special magazine bought for you just 'cause.
being appreciated for the little things you do.
knowing that high or low, you'll still be there.
magical and I am lucky to be surrounded by so much of it!

I've been planning a special weekend for Carl and I, just the too of us. At best we will go this weekend if not, by next weekend we should have gone. Lucky me, gets to spend time with him all week as he will be off from work. I am taking a week off also (not that I have any work scheduled for the upcoming week anyway). Many activities are being planned to make the most of the whole family being together. Rain or shine we will make the most out of our family vacation week. So my plan is have 2 days for Carl and I and then we'll be rested and ready to party with the kids all week long. LOL!

I brought Zoe to her 1st eye doctor appt yesterday, it was very "ooh let's get your eyes checked before school" thing. So luckily they had time to see her in an hour. What are 2 girls to do will waiting 60 minutes in a shopping mall? Shop of course, we went to pick up the Pitchou mag I wanted, my mom couldn't believe all the wonderful patterns in this issue too. I can't wait to start knitting sweater for the kids. :) My favorite patterns seem very basic too, I can't wait to get them started, I haven't been so excited over knitting in a while. LOL! Back to Zoe, she did great, luckily I had talked her through what usually happens at an eye exam. She did great and her doc gave her an A+ on her eyes, no glasses needed this year. Yeah! The doc said I could bring in Lucas if I wanted, they have many little tests they can do for 3 year olds. I think Lucas would have a blast going there and trying on 'clown glasses', sitting on the BIG chair and see drawings on the wall. LOL! As much as Zoe is afraid of the unknown, Lucas strives on it, he adores new things.

Oh! I just GOT to tell you about my new favorite store in the world!!!! Yesterday I almost got to work late as I had to stop at a very special store opening. Old Navy has now opened 7 stores in my province!!!! Next all we need is Taco Bell to open a few restaurants and I'll be happy as can be to live in Montreal, Quebec. LOL! The store was packed with people, you mostly bumped into customers more than walked. I just ran around to see everything and already I had to leave to go to another store and actually work. The clothing available at Old Navy is on SALE!!!!! Gotta love that and also I saw many items I like for the kids, Carl and myself included. Is it totally wrong to want to buy a whole new wardrobe for myself? I'm going to love shopping there that's for sure. My favorite sweater in the whole house is one I bought last year when I went to Toronto with Carl, a lambwool red sweater from Old Navy. On a special note, any Quebecers wanting a free Old Navy cap simply have to be one of the 500 first customers at the store on saturday. I'll try to get my freebie! teehee!

Well that's it for me at the moment, hope everyone is enjoying the sun today.