Jo Knits!

A week in a post!

Thursday night was another fun filled Stitch&Bitch meeting with the non-meeting gals, as usual we had a GREAT time!!! We even got a new member who was at the cafe to study but he preferred to get his yarn and needles out of his bag instead. I got to meet new people and really enjoyed my time at the S&B but I'm really having a problem with this name. We don't Bitch much and I most always end up eating some I want to rename it Stitch&Eats! LOL! I got to show off Clapotis and everyone got to feel how luscious the Lush yarn is. ;) I even got to see some lovely new yarns, I found the yarn I'll be knitting the Shedir pattern with and am really eager to start on that too. :)

This week Zoe brought home her 1st straight face in her agenda. Everyday the teacher makes a face in the agenda to let us know how the day went, since day 1, Zoe got happy faces and I sure hope to not see any sad faces this year. The straight face was accompanied by a note saying how my daughter was throwing leaves in the air and the teacher got lots in her long thick hair. Oh dear, I sure felt bad as we sorta encouraged this behavior last weekend by playing in the fall leaves. So I printed out a few pics to include in Zoe's agenda for the next day and replied to the teacher's note. LOL!

The kids got to celebrate Halloween a few days early at their skating lessons, since we wanted safe-to-skate costumes we went with the wings and set our little angels free on the ice. Is it just me or those wings make Lucas fly, I mean, skate quicker, he was just so cute. They played games on the ice and had a blast, at one moment they had a race and had to find toys under big orange cones, we were just as excited as the kids themselves when they were racing. This morning they got to play games again, they had fun, we were happy to be there and all was well. :) For the last few saturday morning we've been joining some people for breakfast after the skating lessons. This morning one of the people, a judge for figure skating was working at a competition but his boyfriend still came to sit down with us while the kids skated. One of the coaches on the ice is 12 years old and she is so wise beyond her age, no one gives her less than 16yo. we got to meet both her parents over the last few weeks and this morning we all went for breakfast. Slowly but surely I am feeling more and more at my place in the rink even though the club's director doesn't really like us much. If she had let our kids wear their helmets at the skating recital we would have made it, I'm sorry if my wanting to protect my kids didn't suit her. Anyway, today we talked about the skating club's coats they had made last year. I'd love to get one and one for Zoe, oh dear, she'd feel really proud to wear it too. :)

Last night we were watching the Skate Canada International competition on tv and both kids were glued to the tube. When the ads came on they both created a pairs number for us to watch. LOL! They are a hoot and sure love skating, I am so proud to have signed them up. Sure maybe it's because I personally like figure skating but still they sure seem to enjoy jumping on the ice twice a week. Did you know they have lessons for adults, even for those who never skated before? I'd never sign up, chances are I'd brake a bone! ;)

p/s: Check the previous entry Zoe's school pic is up! :) Next entry will be more about knitting! LOL!

hugs,

Beep beep!

Just passing through, my health is better, I am not pregnant no need to start rumors! LOL! Worked at 7am this morning but almost made it late to the store, we work up at 6:45am, got dressed, brushed teeth and ran like crazy to the store to make it at 7:00 SHARP! I love working close to home, this sure saved our butts this time.

This week so many events have happened like the kids celebrating Halloween at their skating lesson last night, both were dressed up as little angels, it was fun to see them "fly" on the ice. Another great skating event is that last saturday Lucas received his second skating badge aka the glide forward one. Woohoo!!! We are so happy for him, he was really proud when the head couch gave the badge to him, he ran to show it off to everyone.

We have received Zoe's first school pictures, this is such a fun event in my new mom-of-a-school-kid life! LOL! It's funny Zoe is smiling but she looks really serious in this picture, it almost doesn't even look like her. Her group photo has to be re-taken so it'll be fun to see what her class friends look like.

Talking about her class, she just received her 3rd birthday party invitation since the beginning of the school year. We don't do birthday parties, for me it's a hassle I can live without and prefer to celebrate my kids birthdays in a special way, we always plan a special activities and plenty on undivided attention to the birthday kid. Both kids have many memories of these past celebrations and I fear the day they ask for a true party with friends. ACK! The part I don't like is that I feel that I am asking for gifts for my kid by hosting a party (don't worry I don't think that's why people do parties, I know it's for the pleasure of their kids). Also like these new kids from school, I don't even know who they are even less who their parents are. I feel odd sending my kid spend the afternoon at someone's place that I never met before, I have often barely heard Zoe talk about this friend from school too. I do know that Zoe heard blurbs about two birthday/halloween parties from last weekend and felt bad she didn't go. She doesn't seem to feel bad about missing out on the fun I just hope I make the correct decision.

Tonight is my little local Stitch & Bitch meeting and I am so tickled to go, at last I can go, as I missed the last one for some Old Navy inventory. ICK! Let's not remember that... I can't wait what people are working on and get to finally have time to sit and knit for the 1st time all week!!! I just might celebrate by dropping a few stitches from Clapotis! ;)

Knitty came up with a great surprise for this issue and I can not tell you how much I love the Shedir hat pattern from Jenna! I have already knitter the celtic cap from the same designer and really like how she totally write out her patterns to make them the most complete as possible! As soon as I can find the right yarn for my project (I need some sort of wool content, Rowan Calmer won't cut it for our Northern cold winters) and I'm starting it asap! :)

Have a lovely day! :)

16 hours!

Saturday was a lovely day so we went and did the fall thing to do! Off to the park-with-no-toys and let's play in the leaves. We ran around, the kids, Carl, my mom and I in the leaves, played soccer, threw leaves in the air, hid the kids under the leaves and took a million pictures. It was gorgeous the air was crisp, the sun was out, we had a fast food picnic in the park, the kids were happy, everyone was actually.

Then, on sunday we went to work... 16 hours we worked in two different store, we had a small break for lunch after 7 hours of work and then left one store to go start working at the other store. That give us about 15 minutes break so we grabbed what we could be eat and ate while walking, I had a hotdog which I will regret a few hours later. At 11pm people were getting hungry, angry, not very pretty, it was awful as we work standing up the whole time, no you can't sit down so I did what I could... I was walking on my knees by the end of the day. Here I was working in a decoration department of a hardware store and I wanted to die, really I did. I had the worst headache from hunger and dehydration I just wanted to go hide somewhere I die right then and there. Instead, I finished my work and left as soon as it was possible, the next day (monday) we would have to work at 7:30am. Let's just say we never made it out of bed before 10am. Luckily we are smart and had people replace us for that morning's store. Bad thing is I was litteraly sick ALL DAY long! After working 16 hours I then slept 16 hours but not in a row, like I'd be that lucky. HA! I slept from 11:30 to 10:30am (WOW!) then 12:30pm to 1:30pm, again from 3:30pm to 6pm and one last time from 10pm to 9:30am this morning. Do you think I was a tad tired? I was also sick all those times I was awake, nothing would stick to my body, so here I am two days after that dreadful sunday and I haven't eaten or drinked much in two days. The headache is still there but at least today I can eat a bit, coffee isn't taksting good today though.

So tonight I'm working at 6pm in a grocery store and I can't say I'm eager to go, tomorrow morning it's at 7:30am we will start. Let's hope I have time to sleep tonight as I believe my body truely can't handle the non-sleeping part anymore. Can I just say that today I feel OLD, I might be 27years old (hey, you'd never say so if you met me!) LOL! but I am just so tired, I never feel rested. This job is tough and I am finding it harder each day we work long hours. I almost dream of a job at a desk just to get to sit down 8 hours a day. LOL!

So that's my story for the last 3 days, I wish I could show you pics of my knitting but I never touched my needles in the last 48 hours and actually I am off for a nap right now, just to have some energy to work tonight. Oh the joys of my life, sure tomorrow will be better, right?

hugs,

Yarn and planes

Yesterday we had a day off and a car to ride so we went to a far yarn store to see what they had. I was especially going for some Lady Godiva yarn from the Fleece Artist, they are the only sellers in the Quebec province to sell Fleece Artist. Sad thing is I really don't like this yarn shop, they are cold and hate kids. So guess who I brought along with me? Lucas my charming 3,5 year old to give them a heart attack! HA! Once at the yarn shop I noticed they had some Noro Kureyon, a yarn I thought for sure we didn't have locally so they scored one point in my book. Sadly though they lost about 5 points by the time I made it out of the door and won't be going back there. This is my 2nd visit to the yarn shop and as I said when I was in Toronto, do NOT come to Montreal with hopes of finding great yarn stores. In my book Les Lainages du petit mouton is the most unfriendly yarn shop and they really don't have much yarn that you couldn't find elsewhere.

Even though they had some Fleece Artist, 50% of what they had were thrum socks/mittens kits (I wasn't looking for one), 25% were poncho kits (really not into that) and then a few skeins of hand dyed yarn. They had 3 balls of Lady Godiva all in the black/grey-ish colorway definitely not what I'm looking for but hey they could special order for me. Well... let me think about it, they 'just' told me how it took them a month to get this special colorway and I know the Fleece Artist is booked until january with special dying orders. So that won't work for me, I want Lady Godiva right now. (Stomping foot!) LOL! Lucas was sitting on the floor with his head resting on the Fleece Artist thrumb kits that were in a box, he was adorable, he said they were so soft. Then it got a tad ugly, I told her I got some Fleece Artist yarn online at a special price (hey it happens!) and then it was all about questions and I felt some jealousy and just not so charming attitude after that. So we left, I had things I wanted to purchase there but I will find them elsewhere, they are not worth my money.

Oh to add to their odd attitude, the seller and a "granny" customer told me both how my kid sure was calm, we don't see that often. Well SHUSH! Lucas loves yarn but we'll be getting it elsewhere for my kid I'd shell out alot of money for a ball of yarn he thinks is soft (thank goodness they usually keep cashmere out of hands!). LOL! I might not look like a rich person but when it comes to yarn I like to buy the expensive kind and surely this store would have been happy about that. DANG! I feel like driving to Toronto just to go see some friendly yarn shop owners and have a NICE shopping time. They are worth my money, even more as we'd have to pay for lots o'gas to actaully make it there. LOL! The attitude I got at the store is one of the reasons why I don't associate with the Montreal Knitting Guild as it is more of those same people and I really don't appreciate them. Knitting is supposed to be fun and my kids love yarn, I can't just leave them at home to please some old yarn shop owners because they most likely don't have kids and believe they are all evil. Sheesh! The picture of Lucas was snapped only seconds of us entering the store, does he look like trouble or what? I don't think so. LOL!

To make our day a fun filled one despite that yarn shop visit we brought Lucas to the airport. Had lunch inside with many airplane pilots and flight attendants all around us and then went outside to see the planes. We actually went in a small road and got to run around a big yard and just look at the planes lift off right in front of us. It was really special to see that and Lucas and I we said Bon Voyage! to each plane and waved to the people as they left for who knows where. It must be fun to work in an airport, never see the same people, wonder where they are all going, what's the prupose of their trip. The airport is WAY too far from home to actually make it possible but hey, I can dream. :)

In other news, I still have motion sickness, wednesday we rode to work and I had Carl stop at a Krispy Kreme not for donuts but to meet Crane, I was so sick I was shaking. Then it was back in the car, Carl almost had to strap me in so much I didn't want to go back in. We found some Gravel and 10 minutes later we were at work, I felt like going home but I knew I'd get such an earful from our "not-so-lovely" boss that I just said nothing. I felt awful all evening and wasn't counting as fast as I could've been but at least no one screamed at me. I made sure to take a Gravol (motion sickness medicine) before the ride home.

We have three days off in a row, can't say it's too much as next week we have 7 days of work in a row. OYE! Luckily it is mostly mornings so we get to 'see' some of our days but still when you have to be at work at 7am that sure means you wake up early as public transportations aren't always too quick.

Our day was over before we knew it as Lucas safely parks the car. LOL! Bonus points to anyone who noticed the hat my boy is wearing, it's the Celtic cap I made last spring.

hugs, have a fun filled weekend! :)

Exhausted

Ever feel like your life is so crazy you can't keep up? Well that's how I've been feeling yesterday, Carl called 6 different people in the afternoon and I was dizzy from all the talking he did. It is looking like we will be back on the Walmart inventory run though. Last year from january to the last day of june we worked in 76 different Walmart stores. It's fun, no two days alike the 'core' team is a team of about 30 people that always travel together and work in all the stores, then the 'support' team is local people from each cities that come to help us out. I have met great people in different cities/provinces.

Next week we are working 6 days between sunday and the next saturday. OYE! We will be working in 7 different stores and I already apprehend the sleep we won't be getting. It's hard work as we are mostly standing up all the time and walking around all day.

Been feeling blue for a few days, it'll pass but I just don't feel all that happy these days.Too much things are happening, mostly work related but I feel so out of control about everything. Already I need to think about next january, should I get Zoe to start eating lunch at school, should I get Lucas to go to a daycare IF I can find a spot for him somewhere!? It's really hard to plan everything so long before it happens and that's IF it really does happen.

Tonight we are working in a big crafting store not all that fun, counting paintbrushes and tons of rubber stamps.

More Clapotis

I have a few handmade stitch markers but it seems I need to make a run to the beading/craft store. I am missing a few to adorn Clapotis with nice stitch markers, had to get some plastic ones out to the rescue. It felt odd as I have used handmade markers ever since I make them. They look like little jewels as you knit pass them, so beautiful. :) I am still working the increasing rows on Clapotis, since I don't have as much yarn as the pattern calls for I have to change the pattern a bit. My thinking is 1 ball to start up and for the increases, then 2 balls for the straight rows and the last ball will be used to decrease. Lots of prayers will go into that last ball, let's hope it works! LOL! I don't know if it would be best for me to knit the Clapotis in a shorter width or lenght so I'm going to chance it.

Have been looking online for Lady Godiva yarn from the Fleece Artist, it's really hard to see her colorways on 1 inch square pictures as they usually have multiple colors in them. I'm really bummed that my trip to TO didn't result in me purchasing Lady Godiva, I didn't even know I liked it until going to TO! The colors there had at Romni really didn't suit me and I'd never know that from a small online picture. So this is where shopping online isn't always for the best, it my perfect world I'd get to see the yarn locally before buying it cheaper online. LOL! Just like Koigu colors, it's so much easier to see them in an actual yarn shop, the differences are so subtil. I can't believe I was at the actual Fleece Artist's last May and didn't just hand her my paycheck and buy yarn to last me for a while. SHEESH! Maybe next year I'll smarten up.

Not much to say, the swift making isn't going to well, Carl trying too much to help and not seeing "my" vision of the project I want... Maybe it's best for me to buy one after all. LOL! Oh, have you seen all the Rhineback talking on many knitting blogs? WOW! That place seems like heaven for fiber loving people. I am so jealous! LOL! Lately I've been thinking about a spinning wheel, no I won't get one right away I can't even spin with a spindle. What I'd love though is to get the chance to learn locally but as usual... Montreal is the wrong city for that kind of hobby. Sigh...

ACK!!!

It's 1am, we went to work 12 hours ago and finished less than an hour ago. We are working in a supermarket in less than 6 hours. So I should go to bed, right?

Well... I just realized that I forgot Clapotis knitted on my Addi Turbo at the hardware store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, I want to cry.

Carl's on the phone with someone still at the store. ACK! I have to go to bed but waaaaaaaaah!!! my LUSH, my Clapotis, my Addis! Too much work does that to you. I'm wanna cry but don't have time, gotta go sleep.

tic, toc, tic, toc.... Will he find the bag or no!? Argh they keep on talking on the phone and it's taking so much time! I have no patience right now....

Ok! HAPPY DANCE, come on get off that chair and dance with me! We got a New York Old Navy black and hot pink in sight. He checks and finds Carl's magazine and some silly yarn. HEY! It's not silly but thank you, he's bringing my lovely Clapotis tomorrow AM. Yippeeeeeee!

1:15am, ok now I'm REALLY off to bed but what will I knit in the subway + bus tomorrow? I don't care, I haven't loss Clapotis, sheesh! Can anyone get more attached to a scarf so soon after starting it?

p/s: Lucas is back to being himself again, thanks for asking V. but Zoe's got a cough, hey it's cough season and cough syrup is on sale at the drugstore. lol!

Clap, clap, clapotis!

I started Clapotis last night and really didn't want to go to sleep one inch into the project. LOL! I really had to sleep though, so I tossed and turned all night instead. I don't have enough yarn to make the full size scarf but I'll with that later on, right now knitting with this red wine-colored Lush yarn is delightful. So from now on I might refer to this project as the Bordeaux Clapotis. LOL! Yes, I know it is silly to name your knitting projects but why would designers have all the fun.

This morning was the kids skating lesson and it was so much fun. We are those excited parents that clap and do thumbs up's to their kids as the lesson goes along. What was really fun today was that Lucas skated with the big girls aka Zoe's group. It was SO cute to see him skate along with girls twice his age. Sure he wasn't the fastest one there but he sure gave it his all. He actually had his very own personal coach while the other coach was mostly leading the 3 girls in the group. Zoe is working towards her 4th badge and here was Lucas working on his 2nd one skating right next to her. She was really proud to show him how to spin and all. It was really a great lesson to be at, I felt lucky to have not missed it.

I got to work on Clapotis at the rink but am so scared to mess up a knit through back loop or forget to increase at one end that I prefered to not knit too much. I already have a weird whole from a yarn over about an inch down and will not frog back. I didn't swatch for this and luckily the fabric I'm getting is really nice, I am SO motivated about this project. Sadly we are about to leave for work, we start at 1pm and will most likely come home past our own bedtime. Then tomorrow morning we start at 7am a grocery store. OYE! Today we are working in a HUGE hardware store called Reno-Depot or for Ontario people, the Building Box. Let's hope we don't work more than 10 hours tonight.

Monday and tuesday I am off and we are going to build my yarn swift!!! Woohoo! We already have the wood and I know what colors I am going to dye it. So stay tuned for that next week.

Have a great weekend.

Post-Old Navy

It's 5:30am and we just stepped in the house! We started the last Old Navy to be done at 6pm, had a 20-minute break (WOW!) to eat supper just before 9pm. So the ladder wasn't so bad tonight... I worked with a guy and he climbed up most of the evening. teehee! We had a blast joking together and it made the evening really fun. Our store was done at 3am and went to eat a snack after with my partner of the evening and our team leader aka boss that evening. We had tons of laughs while at the restaurant, it was totally worth working tonight. Funny how some days my job is fun and others it ain't so hot. We missed the prior days store and I sure don't regret it, some people finished working at 4:30am. Oye! Tonight there were 17 missing people to do the store, some predictable and some just never showed up.

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days.


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

This is just like me, the new *me* actually the knitter that is growing since knitting sweaters. It's is really exciting to let myself conquer my knitting fears. :)

Anyways, just my luck, after buying Lamb's Pride yarn for a specific project I seem to have misplaced the pattern of said project. To add to that I believe I might not even have enough yarn to complete that same project, just my luck right? When I finally decide to spend money to get wool I loose the pattern to knit up some felted clogs. Luckily I can always knit some fuzzy feet, though I was really eager to try the fiber trends pattern, oh well.

So I have this friday off, we are about to go to sleep while many others are waking up from a good night's sleep. Let's just hope Lucas's gets better today, he never ate last night as he didn't keep down his chicken broth. :(

Have a great weekend! :)

my heart aches

Got my new hat done using the Manos del Uruguay yarn which is lovely. Next up, a new project.... not sure what though. LOL! I really want to play with some of my newest yarn so either felted slippers, another chunky really neat hat or maybe a headband. We'll see as the days progress which inspires me most.

Last week Carl and I got the idea to build a yarn swift, I recall a few months back seeing someone blog about their hubby building a swift. Of course I can't recall who anymore and my multiple searches online haven't got me the results I hoped for. So we looked at many, many, many pictures of yarn swifts and got the design down to almost each details. Now off to the hardward store, well that didn't do much for us. We went looking at a 2nd hardware store but the pieces we were looking for were no where to be found. I'm sad as we were both excited about building this little project together and maybe a tad motivated by the money we could have saved. Guess I will have to go and order a swift online anyways as I really want the regular swift model.

One of my kids has been sick all night and frankly you never feel as helpless as when faced with a sick kid. You'd want to magically take their pain away and be sick in their place. Sickie boy was up all night and so were all the adults to try to make him feel better. Funny how I was whining about how sore I was feeling but instead now I haven't slept all night, my little boy is sick and still I will get screamed at on the phone if I skip work tonight. Why is it so hard to get people to realize that I might have a life beyond work. My work is one that mostly students take as you can work, days, evenings, weekends just about any time there's an inventory to be done. Maybe 10% of the people at work have kids and then usually they are teens or adults so mostly can take care of themself. Life sure is full of surprises when you least expect it.

Off to bed while Lucas is sleeping.

Hard work

Oye! Yesterday we worked in two stores, usually it's one gig a day and you get tired after one. Yesterday morning we inventoried a whole Maxi (big supermarket) in 5 hours. Then we came home went right to bed, slept an hour and were back to work for our 2nd store of the day. It was the 1st time our team was working in an Old Navy (they just opened in Quebec two months ago). Carl and I started earlier than most of the team to attack the stock rooms. Old Navy (I love their stores but now HATE to work there). I worked the tops most evening, from 5pm-9pm I carried a folding 10 feet tall ladder and went up and down for those hours. Sure I got to see where they hide all their great sales clothing BUT it wasn't worth it, the store was closed after all. LOL! Then I counted the t-shirt they have on tables, and t-shirts they got plenty. UGH! I wanted to die right there as the tables had a few shelves under it too, Then to add to our oh-so-enjoyable evening, we got no breaks (though we were promised one!) and walked the 20 minutes walk home. Our team started at 5pm and then 3/4 of the rest started at 7pm, we left the store a few minutes before midnight. So in all we were away from home 18 hours and got 12 hours paid, no breaks, no time to eat supper. A few minutes later and the Montreal Subway was closing most people we work with have no car and the bosses couldn't care less...

So tonight we are taking the night off, by choice. It's another Old Navy and I just can't work with that 10-feet ladder all evening again. Worst part is the store is more than an hour-90min away from home, we were scheduled to start later and the rest of the team is starting at 9 and 10pm which means the store might be done around 2am. There is no way we could come home by public transport at that time.

Instead tonight I am happily going to assist the kids skating lesson, they are so excited after seeing us a full 3 minutes all day yesterday. I am eager to spend that time freezing my arse but see them smile and spend my time with them. Tomorrow we will work at the last Old Navy for the Montreal team, today I'm giving my thighs and calves a break I can feel my muscles throbbing still.

Let's just say today, I might not love my job as much, that and I woke up with a cold, the dust and bad air circulation helped in my sickness. UGH! I am weezing like someone having an asthma attack, I don't even have asthma.

Back to knitting today I need to rest. LOL!

TO loot!

Here is the loot I brought home from our trip to Toronto. The Knit Wit book (it was after all the reason for our little escapade to the anglo's provice), some oh so good coffee from Ideal Coffee a few steps from Lettuce Knits. You should have seen the shock we got when we were served in french. LOL! The Wonder Knitter is a fun i-cord maker and seems that you can make jewellery with it, something I want to try. As for the yarn (I bought some at each yarn shop I visited) there's butter soft red Naturwolle, Classic Elite Lush, Lamb's Pride worsted (I love this stuff and can't find it locally), Manos del Uruguay in autumn and 2 Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns. Still everyday I think of a bag I almost got from the Naked Sheep. Hopefully they will still have some when I go back... :)

Now for a quick version of our weekend, worked saturday 8 hours instead of the 4 hours they expected the inventory to take. Still waiting for my schedule for the rest of the month but seems like we will be working tons. Last friday after the kids skating lessons, we asked if there were less kids on the saturday morning lessons. The next day we went and tried to see if the kids would prefer that day to skate, it went perfectly, less kids = more coach/child attention. We went out for breakfast after the lesson and ended up going to a figure skating judge's place for a few hours. Now how's that for interesting! LOL! He has always liked how Zoe stands on the ice and let's just say she sure seems to be in the good sport. Lucas is doing so well at the lessons, it's a pleasure to see him improve so well.

Last night we watched Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 movie, this is the second documentary I see from Moore, the first being Bowling for Columbine. There always has been controversy around Moore, those who believe him and those who don't. It was interesting to watch though and I'm sure many things we learned in the film were true, some I already knew and others just comfirmed my opinions. I hope to see Supersize Me from filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

We were watching the movie while enjoying a Keith's (we actually toured this place when we were in Halifax) and I was knitting a gauge swatched with two strands of wool. At the beginning of the movie I decided to rip my swatch and made a big ol'd knot which took me most of the movie to untangle. LOL! Today's lesson, don't rip out multiple strands of wool, they tend to 'stick' together quite fast. This morning as I type this entry, I check the pattern I am working on and notice that is does not say to decrease 3 times but only 2 times each rows. Oh dear, lesson #2, Jo can't knit and drink a beer. LOL!
________________

On a sad note, Superman is no more.... Christopher Reeve died yesterday from heart failure.
________________
Have a good week! Tomorrow we work at 7am and 7pm, looooong day ahead.
hugs,

Top Secret!!!

This week I received one of the best compliments a knitter could get. I had knitted a baby hat as a gift in the spring and the mom just told me that the roll brim hat still fits AND it is her favorite baby gift that she has received. She is going to treasure it in her child's baby keepsakes box. I was so flattered to her this, I couldn't believe that one of my knits was going to be treasured like this. I never got to knit baby items for my own kids and it means so much that a mom thinks my little hand knitted hat is worth keeping as her favorite baby souvenir. I am so touched, you know?

Anyway I have been talking about Toronto all week to everyone I know and you know my company has an office in TO too and we've been talking about Toronto for a year now and ..... ACK! Can we move there already? Can you imagine if we did, I'd be so annoying blogging about all the wonderful yarn stores in the city and there many S&B's a week. I REALLY want to have that and we just don't have that in Montreal, the yarn stores just aren't as lovely as TO. So we aren't moving yet but I can still dream and try to convince Carl. LOL! ;)

The Top Secret sweater is done and I can't be happier, this boucle-type yarn is not a type of yarn I really enjoy. It is GREAT to have my own sweater and I am proud that I did stick to it to the end. I want to have more finished projects from now on, not just a big pile of work in progress projects and never finish them. I will try to get that WIP pile down a bit and start new projects that I want to complete, things that make me happy and not just to keep my needles busy.

Wishing all the Canadians a safe and happy thanksgiving! We don't celebrate it much in Quebec but my Ontario living family always made a huge deal out of this holiday. We might eat some PEI lobsters though instead of the regular turkey. LOL!

hugs,

"7"

There's 7-Up, the seven wonders of the world, the seven deadly sins, seven days in a week, I was born in '77, lucky number 7. So seven is a big deal right? Well today marks 7 years since I met Carl in the gay village of Montreal.

Seven years ago I met Carl in a 'depanneur' (convenience store) while walking around with a gay male friend. He knew my friend and commented that I must be a trouble maker, as soon as he left I gave my friend an earful about this 'guy' and his comment, what's was HIS problem!? LOL! A few hours later after having spent the evening in a male strippers club (don't ask!) we bumped into Carl again, he invited us for a drink and the rest is history.... I went home the next day to get some clothes and never left Carl's side ever since. Never in a million years did I think we would have a 5 year old and 3 year old on our 7 year anniversary. Never did I expect that my life could be filled with so many events in that time frame. We have been through just about every event that would drive a couple to split, we have gone through many emotions together but like crazy glue we are stuck together. LOL! Well, we choose to be, he truely is my best friend and has always supported me like crazy. Never did he complain that I am too shy to order for pizza over the phone and proud he was that he could drive me to Toronto last weekend. Never did he whined the Knit Wit party was a drag, how dare he! LOL! Phil kept him company almost all evening and you GOTTA meet Phil, he is one funny guy.

So this past weekend in Toronto was a revelation, yet another one. Ever since I started knitting the kids their sweaters I felt I have been changing as a knitter. I know now that I can knit well enough to explore more difficult projects and it is so invigorating. Having access to beautiful yarn shops has opened my eyes/mind to new possibilities. There is so much offered online but it's hard to make up your mind before touching some fibers. It truely is inspiring when you can go to the yarn store and see the yarn they refer to in patterns. I want to start knitting projects that are worth my time working on them, sure I will keep on knitting silly little hats but I want to knit more for myself. I deserve it and dang it! if I need to go to TO more often to check out yarns well I shall go. Might not go as often as I want and Ottawa would be easier to go but TO is such a special place to me.

So tonight we went out to celebrate with the kids, the 'fruits' of our love! After spending a lovely weekend away we want more than ever to build more memories together and feel lucky that our crazy love has kept us bonded through everything. So off to join him on the couch and knit together, his scarf is slowly coming along.

Love ya Carl!

Knit Wit!

WARNING: This is a VERY long blogging post, please get your favorite beverage and a snack before starting, don't say I haven't warned you! ;)

Friday we left Montreal around midnight to Toronto, the ride up was great, we sang songs obnouxiously loud to keep us awake while I knitted alot. We did stop in a truck stop about an hour away from Toronto to sleep for two hours. Imagine about 50 trucks all lined up and our little sport's car, also it was pretty funny to see me stretched in the back seat (small sport's car and I'm 5'9"!) while Carl slept in the driver's seat. Luckily we got to check in the B&B at 9:30am and we went to bed asap, after a short nap we hit the streets and started shopping. LOL!

Toronto is our favorite spending place and don't worry we did that very well. In three days we visited three yarn shops!!! Lettuce Knit is a very cute shop. The place is small but packed with fibers in every available space. Rogue was on show in the window and I was not the only one to check it from every angle. (Lucky me I even got to see a 2nd Rogue on sunday at Romni, it was of course worn by it's designer) :) Megan was a delight to meet, she has the cutest toddler too, made me wish we had brought Lucas along for them to play together. ;)

Romni Wools, what more can be said about Romni? It's heaven on Earth, filled with fibers of all sorts everywhere. I believe I touched each and every ball of yarn before deciding what I would bring home with me. LOL! The basement was full of rovings and yarns on cones, Carl was having too much fun with a spinning wheel so we had to go back to the main floor. This trip was a great excuse for Carl to get back into knitting, he had told me he wanted to start a project and since an aran sweater is a tad difficult (for me it is, he would probably love knitting cables all over silly guy) I went and suggested him to start out with a scarf. Yes, I know a boring scarf but it will be his to knit and wear proudly, not it's not on tree trunk needles nor does it include eyelash yarn. :) As for myself, each time I enter a yarn store all the lists I can make myself disappear. I see all that is offered and just want to bring it home with me, after all Toronto has GREAT yarn shops compared to Montreal. People here are happy, friendly, helping, interested in knowing you and wanting you to want to come back to the store. I almost hated meeting the Toronto knitters as they were, of course, all friendly, happy, wanting you to move to TO and buy yarn forever. LOL! One good thing about being at Romni is that I got to feel some fibers I had only seen online. I now know that I prefer the touch of Fleece Artist's Lady Godiva more than the Silken which surprised me but only once you touch it can you know. It was funny we I met people at Romni and we would talk up right away, I asked if they would attend the Knit Wit book lauch party and they sure did. :) Makes me think I might not be all that shy anymore, well at least not with knitters. LOL!

The Naked Sheep, oh what a lovely shop! So cute, so pink, so girly, makes me want to attend their wednesdays S&B meetings. The shop had a gorgeous selection of yarns and bags, oh dear I really has to resist very hard to not buy one of their cute bags shaped like a brown paper bag. I kept going back to them but I was strong and resisted, not a very smart move as with the yarn I bought this weekend a new bag would have been perfect to tote my new loot! LOL! We were tempted to sit and knit all day on their comfy couch but really we had too much to see in the short time our weekend in TO was. This shop is sure to be on our yarn shops to go to list from now on. Actually all the shops we went to this weekend we will have to go back to when in Toronto, they each had their charms. :) There are still a few yarn shops like Village Yarns and Knitomatic that I hope to visit someday.

Now for the saturday evening Knit Wit party. WELL.... it was FABULOUS, many knitters, designers (appareing in the book were: Amy and Amy, Jenna, Jillian, Kate, Kathy, Nathalie, Stephannie, Véronik) and Amy all made us feel welcome. I sure am happy I brought my french canadian accent with me as at least 2 person knew I had to be that quirky Montreal/Quebec girl when hearing me talk. LOL! It was such a great event to meet fellow bloggers and hint, I mean BEG, those who didn't blog to start. I saw Shannon, Kathy and Kate whom all blogged in the past and reminded them pretty clearly (no subtle ~Jo~ here) to get back to blogging as *I* miss reading them. Also isn't it more fun to read a blog when you actually met the person? Waves to Aven and Chelle! :) Just like isn't it more fun to buy books, patterns from designers you have met, it's like you know they are nice and worth encouraging! LOL! It was funny too to realize how you can envision how people are from their writting and they turn up to be even better. I had a great time meeting tons of new people and hope to get a chance to attend another great big knitters meeting like that some day.

Hope everyone had fun at the Knit Wit party, I didn't have time or the guts to say hi to everyone, I did enjoy myself immensely. :)

Thank you Amy for all your hard work on the book and preparing for the party (you have to try her guacamole recipe!!!), it was tons of fun and MADE our weekend. Sunday we stayed a little longer in the city and Carl and I bumped into the Knitty team of walkers that were participating in the Run for the Cure, I think they were treating themselves with some yarn shopping. teehee! ;) On the way home we stopped by Ottawa with the intention of sleeping there but after supper we still had enough energy to drive home and surprise the kids by being home a day early.

Off to go play garage sales with Lucas! LOL! Tomorrow Carl and I celebrate 7 years of being together and this weekend was our little romantic get away. It was worth it and only wished we could have stayed a week instead of a weekend. LOL!

Do I get the prize of the longest post ever? ;)

hugs,