Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Habs Experience

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Friday night, I got to experience the experience of a lifetime. Jamie & I were supposed to go out for dinner to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary, and when he told me that he turned down playing on ice at the Bell Center for his teammates’ birthday, I told him that we could go out for a late dinner, is he crazy!???

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When we got there, we got to go behind the scenes of the Bell Center. As a Habs fan, this was extremely amazing. (Above Zamboni Parking and where the Zamboni comes out to clean the ice).

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We walked down the hallway where the “away” team gets dressed before games. That was the locker room the boys were in to dress.

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The birthday boy went all out and borrowed official practice jerseys from the Habs, for Friday night’s game. He even went to the extent to get plaques made for all his friends/teammates with everyone’s first name initial & last names. This was a very nice added touch.

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This was the view, before the game, behind one of the goalie nets.

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(Left) The view from center ice.
(Right) This is where the Habs come out from their dressing room before games. The doors were actually unlocked and we peaked in (curious of course!) but there were nails and wood everywhere, as it’s all under construction.

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(Left) My tush is on sacred ground. This is the bench that the Habs sit on during games.
(Right) Jamie & I.

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The boys actually sang their own rendition of the National Anthem before the game. I recorded them singing. I need to upload it to YouTube one of these days.

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My brother’s girlfriend (left) wanted to learn how to knit, so during the game she worked on the knit stitch). I got some knitting done on a gift that I will talk about later this week.

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The boys playing.

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When the game was over, the boys all shook hands. And then they decided they needed to do some stretching.

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I got to go on the ice. Some girlfriends brought skates to go on afterwards, however since we were going out for a late dinner after, I didn’t bring skates this year. Maybe next year if we get to do the same thing again next year. Next year I would definitely bring my skates & get on! We were 5 ladies in the 21,273 seats that the Bell Center has. (3 girlfriends, 1 wife (myself) and 1 sister of the players).

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It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. I’ve never gotten the opportunity to do something like this before, and I don’t know if this will be an annual thing that Jamie will get invited to, or not. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and it was very awesome. No other words to describe.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

9 Years

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Today is our 9th wedding anniversary. It’s amazing how quickly 9 years fly by. 9 years, 3 kids, 2 businesses and lots of love, healthy, and happiness (ok, and lots of yarn too – I had to throw that in there!) Here’s to 99 more!

Kitty

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This little cutie was found on my front steps yesterday morning. He ran from my stairs to the street and a local lawn care guy almost ran him over with his truck. He rang my bell (I was still home before work) to see if he belonged to me. We tried looking around for the mom, with no luck. I thought it was only 2-3 weeks old. He has a bit of an eye infection, but hopefully with meds, that could be cleared. I took a diaper box with a towel in it, and I brought him over to the cat vet in my shopping center where my shop is. The vet tech who took the cat in said he is probably around 3-4 weeks old, could probably eat on his own and that he is so cute that she'll probably take him home for her mother. I was so happy that he will get a good home. I can't even imagine what could have happened to him had he been left on the street.
I tried to keep him but Quentin was petrified, and the final answer was no! Maybe in a few years once the kids are older…

ETA: The vet emailed me to tell me that he's doing well, and they named him Grizzly. Grizzly is a local company that does lawn care and they felt that name suited him because of whom found him! 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A birthday hat

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I knitted up another one of these Ribbon & bow beanie hats for my cousin’s daughter who just turned one. This is my 3rd one of these, the first two are store samples. I knitted them up to show how the Berroco Vintage & Berroco Weekend knits up. If you want to feel them or see them they are on display at the shop. Because our winters are so cold in Montreal (actually, she’s in Toronto, but their winters are almost as bad), I think I am going to knit up a 2nd hat for her in a superwash wool, and this hat will be a fall/spring hat, since it’s cotton.

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This was a very quick knit on 4.5 mm (US 7) needles, knit up in a day. For the 1-2 (age) size I used up 41g of Berroco Weekend in Lilac and 15 grams of white for the ribbon and the bow.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Striped Trap

I just finished knitting up Striped Trap by Andra Asars, which is a free knit-a-long pattern by Berroco Design team. It was a simple knit, which the color change made more interesting. I absolutely loved working with the Boboli Lace and the Folio, both by Berroco.

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I knit this up (as per pattern) until I ran out of the Boboli Lace. I needed 1.6 skeins of Folio to match the 1 skein of Boboli Lace. I used a 4.5mm needle (US 7). This Shawl/wrap had to be blocked once done, as it’s all stockinette stitch and was curling in on all sides. After a good blocking, it looks great. It’s now hanging in my shop and ready to be admired!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Comic Con Montreal 2014

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This weekend we took 2 (of the 3) kids to Comic Con Montreal. This is my 3rd year going. Two years ago (September 2012) I dressed up as Wonder Woman (and no one else in my family dressed up). Last year (September 2013) I dressed up as Rainbow Brite and the rest of my crew were Superman, Darth Vadar & Batman. This year, we planned in advance and we went with a DC theme. We were the Bat Family. Batgirl, Batman, Joker & Robin.It was TOTALLY awesome. (I think I look great in red hair! I haven’t been red in many years. (This was a wig… not my natural hair).

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We had a lot of fun. Lots of people asked to take our picture. I keep checking to see if any of them will show up on other instagram feeds, with comic con hashtags, or photo mapping of Palais des Congrais.

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I even got to meet Stephen Amell, who plays Oliver Queen aka “Arrow” on Arrow. I am a huge fan of him & the show. I got a picture of him autographed. I wanted to do the photo op too, but hundreds of people stood in line to do so, and with the 2 kids there was no way we were able to wait a few hours from 515pm. The kids were exhausted and wanted to leave by 4-430pm. Either way he liked our costumes and he shook my hand, and that was awesome enough! And he let me take a picture of him signing my photo.

Now we must start thinking about what we will do for costumes for next year. Next year we will bring Quentin with us (this year, at almost 4 he’s still a bit of a handful and keeping an eye on 2 kids was a lot of work in a crowded place, we didn’t want to be outnumbered with all 3 kids, especially since Quentin doesn’t sit still). We’re thinking a Marvel theme for next year since this year we went with DC.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Expensive Happy Meal Toy


- Happy Meal with Toy: 3.99$+tx
- Plumber to get flushed toy out of toilet: 100$
- Plumber puts back toilet (after having to remove toilet) and now it’s leaking, so he send us to Costco for a new toilet: 94.99$+tx
- Plumber comes back to install toilet: 50$
- Hoping my almost 4 year old learned his lesson and won’t ever do that again… PRICELESS
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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Yarn Bombing

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For work, over the summer, I worked on a secret project with some of my knitting/crochet friends. I decided to yarn bomb a bicycle that had been sitting in my parents shed at their house for many years. I thought it would be a neat window display, and a fun way to attract people to the shop, and definitely make a conversation piece. Well, it’s certainly working. It was a fabulous idea. I started off with crocheting a bike seat cover in Berroco Vintage Colors.

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Then I made streamers for the bike handle. Those were a lot of fun to make. I used leftover neon scraps for the handles and N.Y. Yarns Twinkle for the streamers. What a ton of fun!

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Then I made a basket for the bike. I based my pattern loosely on the pattern I linked on Ravelry, however I didn’t buy her pattern, as I understand the basic design so I made up my own. And it came out very lovely. It was pretty simple to figure out how to make one. It was a lot of single crochet! The yarn was also leftovers from my stash.

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Then I used swatches that I had made to cover a bike helmet. No real pattern for it. Instead of fighting with the shape of the helmet for seaming, I used my trusty hot glue gun to put the swatches on the helmet.

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So this picture above is the finished window display. I love the way it came out. I want to thank all my knitting & crochet friends that made a piece or two (or a few) to cover the bike. I absolutely love it and it’s just very awesome. It was a fun project to work on. I am already dreaming up what we can yarn bomb next…

Come by Pointe-Claire Plaza to check it out! It’ll be on display for a little bit longer while we prepare the next window.