Ariadne

It's sad to see my fave LYS close it's doors. It's pretty much the only yarn shop in Montreal that I enjoyed visiting. Always friendly faces to greet you when you enter, great selection of yarns, and always was made felt welcome there. Yesterday, I visited MollyAnn to see what was left in store before she closed her doors.

Quentin on the other hand wasn't interested in the yarn, but in one of my best friends gold bracelets. I took the drive down the yarn shop with her, I'm such an enabler.

And of course, I couldn't walk out empty handed, right?

7 skeins of Lamb's Pride Worsted (I'm thinking sweater) in Kiwi.

2 skeins of Lamb's Pride Burly Spun in Kiwi & 2 in Black. Now, I have already 4.5 skeins of the black in my stash. These 2 skeins are bought specifically for a chunky cowl in mind, for winter, and the other 4.5 skeins are reserved for the Cozy Bolero.

I also picked up 2 skeins of Project B (which MollyAnn hand dyes herself, if I am not mistaken) in pink and in red. No actual colorway names on the skeins. I also wanted to try out some Turtlepurl Asian Leaf Turtle Toes in Violent Violet. The dyer is from Gatineau, Quebec, and I've never heard of her before, but the skein is in one of my fave shades of purple.

I also scooped up a copy of St-Denis Issue 3 (Spring 2011) and Interweave Knits Weekend 2011.

Souvenir Yarn

While in Toronto, I got to make a quick stop at the Purple Purl (Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 while we were downtown we had some time). I wanted to go to at least one yarn shop while we were out of town, and my hubby wanted to check out 401 games. I've bought from Purple Purl before, but at Frolic in 2009. I've wanted to check out their shop though. I also wanted to check out Lettuce Knits and maybe a yarn shop in Mississauga (I found 3 online) but we ran out of time. (I've been to Lettuce Knits once before, for the TTC Knit-a-long in 2007) but that was at their old location, now they're in a much larger shop up the street). Another time, then.

It's quite nice in there. Such lovely yarns for sale. I wish I could have bought a few of everything!

I did however, pick up some Waterloo Wools Niagara in Garnet, and some Dye-Version BFL Sock in Viridian Sea, Neptune, Rosebud, and Prussian Princess. I wanted to buy local stuff, and that's just what I did. I had also asked her to show me what else she had Canadian, and of course she had a huge selection of Tanis. Though, I wouldn't go all the way to Toronto to buy Tanis, when Tanis lives 10 minutes from my house. I'd prefer to buy it straight from her! Plus, I was looking for stuff not local to me. Both Waterloo Wools and Dye-Version are both new to me yarns.

Then on the Thursday night, August 4th, I went to a Mississauga Knit group's knit night. They usually meet up on Monday nights but Monday was a holiday in Ontario (and the group organizer's birthday) so they agreed to meet on Thursday night, so that I could go out with them, while in town. It turns out, that Cindy, the organizer, dyed one of the sock club kit yarns for my (dormant) shop last year when she was first starting out! What a small world. It was so nice to meet her & everyone else who came out to the knit night (and I finally got to experience Panera Bread - after hearing so much about this awesome place - they have to come to Quebec one day... let's pray!) I worked on a new project, which I will talk about in my next blog post.

Of course, Cindy brought some yarn from her shop for show & tell (ok, I emailed her beforehand to bring - I wanted to play with it!) and ended up taking these 4 lovelies home. I picked up 2 skeins of Bootsie in Return to Lagoon and in Candied Grapes and 2 skeins of Dollfeet in Eggplants and Bermuda.

I had a great yarn experience while in Ontario. Hopefully next time I'll get to check out some other shops that are new to me. That would be great. I'd also love to go back to a Mississauga knit night - I had a great time with the group.

Please Touch Museum & South Street

On August 8th, 2010 we headed into Philadelphia, a good 35-40 minute drive from where we were staying at my friend Lauren's house. Above is a view of the skyline as we were approaching the city.

Our first stop today was to Loop on South Street.

The colors that were in this store were hard to resist. So inspiring.

Our next stop was to the Please Touch Museum.
I highly recommend this to anyone with kids.

There were way too many awesome photos to show you, so I selected my fave.

The had a 100 year old carousel that had been restored. It's gorgeous. All 4 of us went on.

After we were done at the museum, we headed to South Street.

It was a very funky street with neat shops.

We were going to have some Cheesesteaks on South Street but the line up for it was a little long. My feet were killing me from all the walking (my poor pregnant feet were so swollen) and the kids were getting tired & restless. So we decided to pick up cheesesteak and eat back at the house. That was a much better idea in the end.

07.09.10

Today, Mack stayed in from school, his last day home. He’s feeling better, so he’ll be going back on Monday. My day did not go as planned. I was supposed to go to Pre-Natal Aqua this morning. First Sean threw a fit when he overheard that Mack was going to go to my mother’s house while he was in school and I went to aqua. Then just as we were about to leave the house, Sean decided that’s when he HAD to use the toilet do do this business. He sat on the toilet for 20 minutes. I missed aqua. Not my morning.

So I decided to just take both kids out with me on all my errands today. Some points of my day were better than others. I managed. Especially in the pissing rain. Our first stop was to do a return to Reno. It was easier just to go myself to do it than to wait for Jamie to get around to it. Then it was close to lunch, so we made a pit stop at McDonalds. Everything was going fine until we got our food and walking to the ketchup/straw/napkin counter and Mack and Sean both collided into me and the tray went flying. Most of our food was salvaged as their happy meals were in bags. A nice man who worked there helped me out and replace my drink that had spilled all over the floor. Ah, what a morning. Mack actually ate lunch today – which I am really happy about. He hasn’t eaten lunch all week because he hasn’t been feeling well. Dinners also haven‘t been that fantastic for him. Finally got some food into him.

After lunch we made it to the grocery store before it started to pour (rather just as we walked into the store, it started to come down). I had 6 bags of cans that were piling up in the garage. Jamie had given me the “get rid of them or I’m putting them out on garbage day ultimatum. The boys had fun taking turns putting the cans into the machine. A great activity for a rainy day. And I walked out with almost 25$ from the returns. I couldn’t believe how many there were. After returning the cans, we got some groceries and then waited a bit until the rain stopped pouring down and made a mad dash for the car.

I ran home, put some groceries away, picked up some shorts for Sean (some how he managed to fill his pull-up (even though he’s been using the potty/toilet) and leak through. I am so happy the I had just put in a Piddle Pad on his seat. Mack already has one that came with his car seat, but Sean didn’t. I am so happy that I remembered to put it in his seat when we left the house this morning, because I just washed his car seat yesterday! I would have been very upset had I had to wash it again. After changing Sean and putting the spare Piddle Pad I had in his seat, we left to a local bead shop to see if they had 2 items in stock. Neither were found there, so we left to go to Pointe Claire shopping center. I wanted to go to stores. First to an LYS in there, and then to a hobby shop. At the LYS I picked out some buttons for Zoe’s February Baby Sweater (see below). One of the ladies who works there, was entering my last name into the computer and asked me if I was related to (my dad’s brother). I asked her how she knew him, and she even mentioned she knew my dad. Apparently her sons growing up were good friends with my cousins. They’re the same ages. The older boys didn't remain friends, but the younger 2 are still best friends and she was telling me that my cousin slept over at her house last night. Small world.

Back in the car, Mack fell asleep.
I drove around trying to do one other errand but the shop was closed.
I let him sleep until we got to Chapters.

I had promised they could come here to play a bit after a long day of running errands. Now Sean wants a train set. I told him to start saving in his piggy bank or to put it on his birthday wish list. I think there are sets that aren’t brand name (like Thomas the Train) that are cheaper, but this set is ridiculously over priced (and that price doesn’t even include the table).

I let them play for a good 20 minutes. (Yes, Mack’s not wearing any shorts and just a diaper). We had another diaper accident when we got to Chapters. (Not our day, let me tell you).

And I managed to get a few rows knit on Zoe’s FBS.

Tonight while watching TV with Jamie, I cast off the last stitches on the sweater. All I have left to do is seam up the sleeves and sew on the buttons. The buttons however, I have no idea which to use. It’s between 2. (See below).

I bought round pink ones, that have little white lines in them (hard to see in this photo) and oval pearl type ones that are sparkly. I really can’t decide which to use. What do you think?Hopefully I can make a decision soon.

I’ve been eating our snow peas right off the plant. Yum. I love summer. And they taste so awesome. Tasty and fresh. I am so glad that we decided to plant the snow peas this year. They’re definitely a huge hit. I think we are going to try steaming them and see how they are steamed as well.

Mack’s black sandals are missing. They’re Spiderman ones, that light up. He was wearing them on Tuesday when we got home from work. He napped in the car, while I sat in the car in the driveway until he woke up. We came in. Not sure what happened to them after that. Luckily he has brown ones too, that he’s been wearing. Phew. I just don’t get where they disappeared to. I noticed they were missing when we had to go to the doctor on Wednesday and they were no where to be found. I didn’t even realize that I still kept Sean’s brown ones from last summer until Wednesday night, and put Mack in socks and sneakers in this damn heat we’ve been having because his sandals were no where to be found. I’ve asked him numerous times where he stashed them – with no luck. I’ve seriously looked everywhere. I guess they’ll turn up when I am not looking for them? I just don’t get how things go missing. I’ve been searching for them now for 2 and a half days (since Wednesday lunch).

04.26.10 :: 173 weeks old

Sean is 173 weeks old today. Since he’s in Montreal and I’m in Vancouver, I’ll take a weekly photo with him when I get home. Boy do I miss him. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times on the phone since I’ve been in Vancouver, but it’s not the same. I miss him, I miss Jamie, I miss my bed, I miss my things. I am having a great time, don’t get me wrong. Though, I do miss things about home and the people who are in my home.

Although I miss my car at home, I am loving this dodge caravan that we rented. The stow-n-go is awesome and it’s just spacious. I swore I’d never drive a mini van ever again (it was the first car I drove as my mom had one many moons ago), but I see myself already thinking about what color & what features I’d love to get one in/with. This car ran smoothly and numerous times between Vancouver and Mission before it required a fill-up.

This morning on our way to Urban Yarns in Vancouver (on West 10th Street), I saw across the street from the LYS, a HABS flag on the building across the street. I couldn’t believe it. GO HABS GO! (They played tonight and won!)

At Urban Yarns, not only did I get to meet the wonderful Kim Werker, whom met us there, but I got to meet Anina, who is my knit friend Christine’s sister-in-law. They’re working on moving their shop this week a few doors down, and I got a sneak peak at the new location.

Kim is the ex-editor of Interweave Crochet Magazine (the sister magazine to Interweave Knits). She also has a couple of books out. She’s a really awesome person.


I got her to autograph my new copy of Crochet Me.

Kim autographing!

After Urban Yarns, we headed to Jericho Beach.

Mack had fun on the beach, and I collected some sea shells at the sea shore.
(Try saying that 10 times fast).

After Jericho Beach, our next stop was Granville Island.

Mack got to talk to some birds.
He had entire conversations with them.

We did some sightseeing.

Took some photos.

Had a nap while in the Market.

We picked up some gifts and checked out Maiwa, a surprise yarn shop at the market!

After we were done at the market, we dropped off Cynthia at the bus stop that she had to go to, and headed into Richmond. Tonight Bea & I stayed at my husband’s dad’s best friend Tammi’s house, which is located not even 10 minutes from the airport. We wanted to be close to the airport as we both are flying home tomorrow, my flight being at 10 am, and to drive from Mission to Richmond tomorrow morning we’d have to get up super early and still get stuck in traffic. We didn’t want to take any chances, so we stayed closer to where we had to be.

Tammi had her son come over for dinner tonight with his wife & their 2 kids. Their daughter is almost 2 months older than Sean and their son is 2 months younger than Mack. Mack played really well with them tonight. It was so nice for them to come over to see us.

The kids had fun playing piano.

Bea & I tonight just before we headed up to bed.

What an awesome day & what an awesome trip.
It’s really been amazingly incredible.
I got to meet some really awesome cool people whom
I’ve been talking to online for what seems like forever.
I got to see new places & spend time with Mackenzie.