Jo Knits!

Nine!

Look who just turned a year older! Zoe is now enjoying life as a 9 year old. WOW! Can't they stop growing up so fast? I'm afraid to blink and skip a few years ahead! The picture above is from our hotel room last week. We had a little chocolate fondue dessert in our room after a late dip in the pool.

Ottawa we love you! Our little vacation was a success and just gave us a taste of what we already knew. We truely love this city and it's the perfect spot for the kids and I to go too. We are big walkers and in Ottawa, you can walk to just about everywhere you need. Luckily, the only time we took a local bus, we had a resident to steer us in the right direction. LOL! We went to museums (still have many to discover in the future!), spent an afternoon at the farm (saw a sheep being shorn), went swimming daily. Had the friendliest service at the hotel, we got perfect restaurant suggestions. This family had a GREAT time and we are planning to repeat the experience this summer. There's something comforting for the kids in knowing the city a bit more each time. I'm hoping we'll find a way to get Lucas into learning english, that means many more trips to Ottawa 'cause he's a slow learner. Ok, so maybe that's just an excuse to go but I'm keeping it. lol!

I'd say the most shocking thing of our trip has been that I did not knit one single stitch in 5 days! In the morning, we'd go swimming before breakfast, then we were busy all over town throughout the day and by the time we came back to our hotel room in the evening, it was back to the pool and off to bed. I was just as tired as the kids! LOL! One fine day, we went to Knit Knackers and had a great time. Have I said how we find a way to enjoy ourselves just about everywhere? The yarn and fiber filled store was a pure joy to look through, the kids got to feel so many different fibers. They even started their own fiber stash. teehee!

Since we got home, the week flew by so fast. First there was the end of year outing, where I tagged along with Zoe's class. We went and climbed in trees all day! Since her teacher had an injured arm, I decided that it would be fun if I climbed with the kids. Boy, did we ever have a great time, especially trying the incredibly long zip line of more than 350 feet! Now I want to go back and play more, wish I could go with the kids but it's not an easy place to go by public transport.

At the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, we tried out some poffertjes at the Holland stand in the International Pavilion. They were like tiny pancakes covered in powdered sugar. Each different country had foods to sample or crafts to do for the kids. Our favortie country to 'visit' was Japan. The kids made origami tulips and wrote they names in japanese.

Meet Khadra, when she learned that we were celebrating Zoe's birthday on our trip. She came and hand delivered a chocolate sunday to our door! Khadra truely made the difference on our vacation, she made our stay go from great to fabulous!!!

We really had a FANTASTIC trip last week and it made me realize so many things about the kids, myself and my life. It felt good and I know I grew from this 1st trip taken with the kids and myself alone. Our little unit is built strong and the kids are even better than I had realized, they truely are little individuals on their own with opinions and different tastes and all that. It was good to take a break from our routine life and just get re-accainted. Summer is only 4 weeks away and I look forward in spending much more time with the kids.

More socks,

I am happy to report that I can finally knit a sock without looking at a pattern! It took some time but I could never remember how to make the heel turn. It felt great to realize that I was free from a pattern, it's silly but it made me happy. This sock is at it's third strike, first it was to become an embossed wave sock but the result wasn't pleasing me. After I tried out the Donyale pattern but once I got to the heel and had Zoe try it on, it wouldn't fit, this pattern had no stretch at all. So, we finally ended up with a modified Swirl sock, this pattern was is Zoe's favorites and she really likes it. In a funny way, she got to try out her top three patterns from my Ravelry favorites, luckily one will become a pair. It's been very frustrating to start a sock three times though.

At least Lucas sock didn't give me any grief! LOL! He is the one that suggested that I knit Zoe a sock after his, then I'll finish his pair and end with completing her pair. Guess it'll be my turn after... I did make one orange twisted tulip sock but meh... it's a nice sock, a nice pattern... I'm just a knitter that really enjoys Regia and Opal yarns. The Sea Wool from Reynolds isn't my kind of socks yarn, I'd love to use it for light hats or mittens, colourwork knitting but... perhaps not the best for socks.

Around here, we had a terrific mother's day, the kids made my mom and I, breakfast in bed. It may have been the best Nutella toast and juice, I ever had! Zoe made a card that had origami tulips on it, in class she wrote up sentences that started with each letter in my name. It was so touching to read what she wrote, it was all about me! Lucas did the same work at school but with mom qualities for each letter. The previous day we spent the afternoon at the Botanical garden and it was just splendid! The tulips that weren't open the week before had all bloomed at once. It was just breathtaking and so peaceful to walk around the grounds. For Montrealers who might not know, it is free to walk around outside when there are no exterior events. Even though the Olympic stadium stands high, you can easily forget that you are in a city bustling with activity.

In the last week I made a realization, photo is really a media that I enjoy and even if I don't take artsy pics of my knitting, it is something I would like to learn more about. When I was a teenager, I had bought a single-lens reflex camera... and I had a blast taking pics of my family (I spent one summer babysitting cousins deep in the woods). Now with digital SLR cameras, it's even more fun with the preview screens. Anyway, I had to share. LOL!

Off to go see my kids art exhibit at school, the theme is Quebec painters and they did a fabulous job. How do I know? I spent all afternoon yesterday helping out teachers set up the whole shebang!

What a wonderful...

If you had the opportunity to start your life over, would you take it? I'm not talking about regrets and whatnots. I mean, pack up and leave for a new city/province/country. Would you go for it or stay in the area you always grew up in? See, I like to think about how would it be somewhere new? I often see blogs where people talk about moving for work, for love, for family. Me, it would be none of those, well... Already I checked out the skating club in that city, they have one and it looks really well organized from what I saw on their website. Yarn stores aren't really popular though so that would be a big change.... but great for my wallet.

I guess I wonder what would life be if... there are so many possibilities elsewhere. So much history, either good or bad is attached to this city, I can only imagine how freeing it must be to leave that all behind. Start new, start fresh without expectations from anyone else other than myself. That said, I do think about the effects it could/would have on the kids. So I wonder...

Recently, I went to my lovely LYS Ariadne Knits with the kids. As tradition goes, if the kids step into a yarn store with me, they usually come out with yarn for them. I made the promise to knit each kid a pair of socks for our trip to Ottawa in less than two weeks... Call me crazy I like deadlines. LOL! It's funny to see what yarns or colourways appeal to them. I was shocked to see my daughter choose a solid sock yarn (then she even chose a stitch pattern she liked!) and my son went with something I would have never chose. Hey, whatever rocks their boat. I love that smaller socks mean quick turnaround, I rarely get single sock syndrome when I knit for the kids. Also they appreciate handknits SO much, it really is a joy to knit them projects.

After constantly being pressure by nice new spinners, I sat at my spinning wheel and tried it out! Shocking, I KNOW! Why, oh why did I fear it so much? It seems so silly now but I was terrified to try it out. Let's just say that those days are gone, now I want to spin all the time. It's funny to see how much one can achieve even when totally clueless about what one is actually doing. lol! I just tried spinning true roving (fibers going in all ways) and it is totally different than working with prepared (combed) top. I just can't wait to try out different fibers!

Last week, our little family went to the Botanical Garden to see spring in action. The tulips weren't opened yet but we got to see many more flowers growing outside. We love to go walk around the Garden grounds as there's always something to see, we didn't even go in the greenhouses. What's fun is that although we are in the heart of the city, walking around makes you feel elsewhere. I forget everything else and just enjoy the views of all that is around me. There's a small lake and we saw a daycare group having a snack near the ducks. It's just soooo relaxing to walk along the trails. We had a terrific day.

Expect yet more socks over the next season. I joined the Summer of Socks knit-along.