Jo Knits!

Ball of nerves.

It's monday boys and girls and that means my internship starts TODAY!!! I am doing pretty good at this exact second. I calmly took a long shower this morning, didn't fall in it or anything. LOL! I'm all dressed up in black, did my hair with the blowdryer (that's BIG I tell ya!). I am even considering breakfast, how calm do I sound? I slept through the night, went to bed early too. Doesn't this all seem odd to you or just me?

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a few knitters and I was WAAAYYY more stressed out about getting to see them than this morning. LOL! I haven't been to a meeting in six months so I felt really nervous but all went well. I laughed alot and everyone told me today would go well, maybe I am believing them. :)

Carl left a few hours ago, he was all spiffy and nervous too. He'd never dare tell you though. ;)

p/s: send good vibes, I am thinking the nerves will start as soon as I sit in the subway. LOL!

Beautiful day,

Friday at school we had a conference from a motivation guy, he was amazing! He did his job very well aka motivate and he had quite the life story to tell. I have been mesmerised by what he told us and remember some detials of his words in each action I take. Let's face it, I am not the most optimistic person, actually I am far from it but I try to change and change is tough. Since starting school I have tried to modify many aspects on my life, myself, my ways and at days I think I am doing too much at once. Also it is SO easy to fall back to what's easy, as complain, depress, just sulk and do nothing. Baby steps though, I am trying to become a better person. :)

Luckily last week in the mail I received the new Bergere de France catalog, I love catalogs! There is nothing better than one to look through for ideas and inspiration when bored. I will look over and over in a catalog and only read through once a magazine. Magazines have many patterns but rarely will there be more than two that I would actually knit. Then again I don't enjoy knitting for myself much either, now I'm in a knitting bags groove and frankly, how many knitted bags does one need? I already have two felted bags (a Suki and a daypack) and two Booga bags waiting to be felted, sadly I don't use any of these bags either. Get this, I have at least 3 more bags on my immediate to knit list. Argh! At least I don't have a problem with shoes! LOL! I only have a few pairs, come to think of it I own way more bags than shoes.

My main goal for this weekend is to finish my sock and wear the new pair on my way to "work" on monday. I call my handknitted socks, my courage or lucky socks, depending on the situation. Monday they will be my courage socks, if they end up making me lucky too well all the best. ;)

Earlier today we went to the 18th-century public market in the old Montreal. It was a blast, I had a great time and the kids loved their day. Also we stopped by l'Atelier Toutou (the english name is the Plush Workshop), they just opened a boutique in Montreal. Last december, we went to the store and both kids made their own teddy bears, I just adore the concept of the store and wish they had opened closer to home. LOL! After touring the new store, we stepped back into time to see people in costumes and we enjoyed the beauty of the 18-century life. :)

I am happy to be back to 2005 though. LOL!

My name is what?

After getting through 3 finals in two days I need a break, especially with the 1st final being totally incomprehensible. Luckily my program coordinator is now back from her long 3-weeks vacation and she is bursting with energy that always rubs off on our class. A month ago I had to deal with unemployment and make a new demand, they pay for me to be at school though it can take quite a while until they make the decision. It has now exceeded the time they thought it would take and no one seems to be able to help me. I just hope this gets done with before my internship, I really don't want to have to spend time on the phone when I am supposed to be learning on the job site intead.

Something that is not helping me though is that somewhere in my forms for the government I forgot how to spell my name... My program coordinator now writes Joknits each time she needs to write my name. It's a joke that still makes me laugh. :) Sadly enough I had to call the gov, press a ton of options, wait 20 minutes and finally convince someone that yes, I know my name and that no, Joknits ain't it. LOL!

I love the number 51 colorway I used from Noro's Kureyon yarn on this bag. I could just imagine myself in a sweater in the same colorway and sipping hot chocolate while it's snowing outside, it's just those colors, I tell ya! :) Since I never felted the first Booga bag, I will felt them both at the same time and if one is dry by monday, I might use it to go to my internship work place. :)

Carl gifted me a little something as a belated birthday gift, my bday was in june but we had both lost our jobs at the same time and it just wasn't the happiest of time. I, myself, bought his gift a few months later than his bday but it was extra special. He listen to his ¡-pod each and every day on the subway. I don't listen too much music but in the morning I must say that it does help the commute to go faster, also music give me a set of mind to get ready for the day. Carl thought a little handheld gadget would suit me best, he even downloaded a program that was knitting related, now if THAT ain't love! ;) It's not the latest super high priced model but I have solitaire installed on it and I couldn't be happier, if only it had Tetris though.... teehee! As I have always said, I am easy to please.

Next time I'll share why Carl settled on buying my 2nd choice of gifts.
hugs,

Busy weekend

This weekend was La fête des enfants, the annual kids party at the park. We try to go each year as a huge park is filled with so many activities you never have enough time to do everything. Both kids tried climbing for the first time, Zoe my little scared of heights one did very well and Lucas was just happy we got him to try. LOL! They reserved this for kids 6 & up.

Saturday was a rainy but we got up and went to the park anyways, we will not let a bit of rain ruin our day. All the blow up toys were flat on the ground for safety regulations, that's usually what kids go for all day. Frankly I didn't miss the long lines to see my kids jump 3 minutes, instead there were no lines for all the crafting tents. The kids built a wooden box, made a metal plane, got 2 free water bottles, made pinwheels, played the african drums, ate free corn on the cob, tried a mango (this was not a success with anyone!), we even got 2 free t-shirts. It was actually great that the rain scared most people away, we got to spend more time doing something instead of waiting in line for activities.

Lucas even leaned how to take off a wheel from a car, so if you ever need a wheel change just call my 4yo. LOL! He even surprised one of the mecanics that went to undo the bolts Lucas tightened, lets just say my boy added more pressure than the guy expected, his pals got quite a chuckle. ;) It was fun seeing Lucas dance to music as a true toddler does, Zoe lost that "free in the world" attitude already. When she sees people are looking, then she'll stop dancing.

Zoe lost a 3rd tooth on wednesday and the tooth fairy made a stop at our household. Our fairy sure is a fun one, she never brings the same thing twice, sure she brought a coin or two but I think Zoe prefers the suprises best over the money.

The Booga bag is done and I started a sock, busy week ahead.

Obsessed by wool

After thinking about it all day in school, I need the book, yes that 25$ book. Argh! I, of course, am now obsessed with it and searched high and low in the net for the lowest price but see I am quite the impatient knitter. I have no patience especially waiting 3 weeks for a book by then I will have lost interest I am sure. Now to justify such a buy I better knit more than one pattern from this said book. I got a great idea of surprising Carl BIG time for Christmas and knitting him a sweater. Man, I'd be girl-of-the-year if I made that happen!

See that picture just above this, nice pic, hun? The yarn is Iro 25$ per ball (ok Canadian $$$ but still pretty expensive) know how many balls it would take? TEN balls, now I'm all for knitting something special and all that but uh...So I checked Ebay and the cheapest price I could knit this sweater would be 200$ + shipping. I think Carl will get a scarf for Christmas.... sorry!

On a brighter note, I called the place I will do my internship and my future boss sounded almost more excited than I to go work there. LOL! She was so lively and full of happiness, I can't wait in two weeks. I have 2 teachers now that say that this chain has the best of trainings when hiring new technicians so I am very lucky. They both said that their training is 100 times more complete than my course, I couldn't be more motivated now. Also if I end up getting a job there I could get health benefits, do you know how good that would be? Sure we are all healthy now but in the long run this way be just about the ideal job place one could work at. I am SO happy right now at this exact second! Hope it lasts all day 'cause we have one boring and b*tchy teacher today. LOL!

hugs,

To knit or not to knit...

Last week I wrote to three different online stores and actually, I even contacted a last one on sunday and they were the first one to reply. Any idea which one I will be ordering from? I do understand companies are busy but how long should I wait to get a simple answer?

After spending more than an hour at a yarn store and changing yarn 5 times, projects 3 times, I left the store with yarn and a pattern in mind. Once I get home though, I regretted my choice, not the yarn but the pattern. Here's my problem though, how do you justify buying a 25$ book just to knit a one-page pattern. Sure Cornelia Hamilton worked hard designing her projects but come on, I'm not knitting Klaralund, the one I liked is Tovesta. I really wished that some designer patterns were available for sale seperately, this is not like I can borrow the book at the library. LOL! Sure I could try to wing it... that in itself is pretty funny. So what to do... what to do? Either I go with knitting a Booga bag (which I have already in the past but it still needs to be felted!) or I try my design talents on the Tovesta bag. What's the worst that can happen, really, that I frog the project? It wouldn't be the 1st time but Kureyon is quite a pain to rip though.

Here's to wanting to start a project quickly and now instead, wondering if I should knit up a bag that I'd end up giving away or fork over big money for a book that I won't need anymore in a week. Argh! Above that's my yarn colorways aka number 51!

hugs,

Happy day after tears

Last night I met a lurker of my blog, it always feels odd to hear that some read my blog and I never know about them. Obviously not every reader will leave a comment but when I introduce myself to someone and they know about me it can be unsettling. ;) Luckily I also got to meet one of my very favorite persons too and we had a great time knitting the evening away. To you both, thank you for the time, the laughs and just being there. It was great walking from school to meet people and have a blast. I even did some knitting for a second square which I finished on my home too. So all in all a productive and fun time was had by me! LOL!

Now school today.... uh.... well at first I knew that I didn't want to go but I'm no liar so if something bothered me about school I was going to show up there and deal with my problem. I am proud to say that I went and my day couldn't have gone better. Sure I did cry before 9am but it was worth it, in all honesty I explained to my english teacher how the oral presentation was making me so ill that I wanted to drop out of her class. Between tears, I told her that sadly it's my favorite class and for the 1st time in my life I am actually learning some english too. Well she reassured me right away that I didn't need to be evaluated as she knew I could speak english, she was so proud and said that for me to learn something in her class made her day. I do have to make a written presentation to her and this is working out to my best, I need to learn more about english grammar so I will be learning most this way. Carl did his own oral presentation in class (we aren't in the same english level and he went up 1st) and he WOW'd the whole class and especially the teacher. It was amazing, I was so proud, I almost cried once more. LOL! The teacher said good luck to the others following up his presentation! I know he did good and he is really getting to learn to speak english better, it's a lot of fun to see him progress too. He learned english working in warehouses, between guys on the job and let's just say it wasn't the best of english.

At lunch time we had to call an optical office and right over the phone I learned that I had been accepted for my internship starting in less than 3 weeks. Woohoo! I am so happy, I am accepted at my 1st choice of places too. This is a Canada-wide chain that sells glasses so they should be around for a while. If all goes well I will have my 2nd internship there and a job in the end too, now wouldn't that be the greatest? One of our teachers has worked at that chain before and says they have one of the most extensive training when hiring a new technician so I will most likely learn from the same books and will get the best of school and on the job training. I have already met my supervisor and the one that will be teaching me. He was very generous with his time when we met him last week, he really seems like a guy that I can get along with. This is very exciting, Carl and I are the only 2 that have confirmation of internship in our class, it's a lot less stressful now that we have been accepted. Carl's lab is apparently a really 'special' one, he will be dealing with many custom orders which will be full of challenges but I just know he'll have a blast there.

I tell you, all is good! :)

Non-knitting

Sorry this post isn't about knitting, if this is why you are here, please come back another day when I will be back on track, until then you are still invited to read some of my ramblings. :)

After school we started waking to the subway station and right after crossing the street we heard a heart-stopping BANG! Both Carl and I turn our heads to see a car go right through a window in the courner appartment of the street we just crossed. We ran to check that everyone was ok, the driver had to come out the passenger's side and was majorly pissed off at this event. The poor lady who was watching tv in her living room came running outside asking what they had done!? She came to senses to actually go back inside to change from her bathrobe to actual clothes.

I was in shock, first my heart stopped, I screamed just from that shock, I then squirmed from hearing the loud bang of the truck not making his stop into the car that did not have a stop. Then to actually see the car swirve into the building was quite something. We walk by this building each day and night, I always like to look at it as by the windows they have dragonfly decorations made out of old glass frames.

Now yesterday something else happened too, geez, maybe I should start wondering... I went to the National public library after school once again. Note to self: be very careful tomorrow after school... So the library has only been opened a few months and has been having all sorts of problems. Some glass tiles have fallen from the outside walls, the computers keep crashing and most of all the elevators keep getting stuck. I got to witness this while waiting to take it from the third level back to the main floor. The doors closed as I pressed the button to get on, oh well I can wait... but then the doors closed and that's it. It didn't move to another level or anything, the three men in it called security and were told to stay calm.... uh ok! A security guy came and talked to them through the glass walls. I decided that my best bet was to walk down the three floors, wouldn't you? LOL! Finally by the time the firemen arrived 30 minutes later the 3 men were already freed and gone I am guessing. I don't know how long they were stuck but I sure am happy I wasn't in there. From now I can promise you that I will always use the stairs to go from one level to the next. Imagine if I had the kids with me, you can guess that's just the time they need to go potty right? teehee!

Last but not least, Montreal is getting it's own basketball team and not that I'm a huge fan, I still think it's pretty neat.

Charity knitting 2!

Let's face it, I never knitted much for myself. Even when I learned to knit it wasn't for me that I had in mind. Charity is a very important cause for me, a mission in life to help others. Some do, some don't, no worries, I'm not here to judge anyone. I am basically offering my time though, so if you have yarn (especially wool & wool blends) to offer. I am willing to knit the unloved yarn to offer it to a preemie, a homeless, may it be a toy, socks, a hat, mittens, you name it, if it's small I can knit it. I can include a note with my donations with your name saying you provided the yarn, a gift that just keeps on giving. If you are game, email me. I have more than enough pattern links to keep me busy for a while and plenty of addresses for places needing donations.

This is a big swatch of a square I was knitting in memory of John. Sadly I can knit a mean 7" or 9" square but that 8 inch shape is getting to me. LOL! This slip stitch pattern is really fun to do and is found in the Big Book of Knitting. Off to rip out this 'swatch' and start again. I will get this, all projects are on hold until I have knitted a few squares.

hugs, still surviving school one day at a day!