June 20 of 30

I got these lovely black stitch markers in the mail from Elspeth today. Thank you very much Elspeth, I love them!

These are the really cool light bulbs I put in our bathroom. They take an extra second to flicker on after you turn on the light, but that's okay. It will take some getting used to... but if it will help save money, and it'll last longer than normal lightbulbs that I'm used to using, then why not.

I worked on my notion's bag for the swap I'm doing. I'll post pictures of the full thing once my partner receives her bag and goodies in the mail. I'm mailing it out tomorrow. There was no time today for packaging it up and going to the post office with it.


Today, Kadi & I went over to the new Yarn Shop called Tricot Quartier on Monkland. Nice little shop, but not a great selection of yarn. I was really in the mood to spend the last of my birthday money on sock yarn, but all she had in stock was Tofutsie, and I do not like the feel of it. Plus, I couldn't justify spending 17.95$ on one ball of Tofutsie.

So, I ended up getting 2 skeins (realized later that I only needed 1 skein) for Calorimetry. Try saying that word 10 times fast. Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry, Calorimetry!

I am in love with the colors in this ball of yarn. It's just gorgeous, and totally me!

So tonight, I cast on for Calorimetry. I still can't figure out how to say the name of the pattern. Tongue twister, lol... that or I can't talk today.

Tonight I went out with some girl friends to Peel Pub to celebrate my birthday. There was beer & knitting. I thought it was a shit hole, until we got there, and realized first off, that they moved, and are now a pretty cool place. I have no idea when they moved, but to tell you the truth, I hadn't been there, in.... maybe 10 years? (When I was 16 and 2 years off from being legal to drink in Quebec!) That's one pitcher of Belle Gueule Pilsner, one pitcher of Belle Gueule Originale, and one pitcher of Belle Gueule Rousse. (One light, one medium & one dark beer). Mmm, beer!


And lots of drinking of lots of beer while TRYING to knit. I tell you - even casting on while drinking beer was hard. Especially when you need to cast on 100 stitches. And then count them out.

With me tonight, was Angela (who doesn't really like beer, and thought she'd try it out tonight).

And Alison (Brainylady).

Me with blogless Jennie.

And with Kadi.

We had a good time drinking & knitting. There was a lot of food involved too.

Jennie brought me a gift for my birthday. I just love it! There is a cute notebook, and the rest if organic stuff. A lip balm, candle, chocolate & tea. Thank you so much Jennie!

Then there was a ton of gifts from Angela.

I got 6 lovely stitch markers (one is already on my Calorimetry project). Aren't they gorgeous? Look at the fun colored wire. (Must get me some & I know where to find it!)

And this little cute beading kit!

And some Paton's Classic Merino Wool, in two delicious colors that soooo go together.
Not sure what I'm going ot use it for yet, but I'll find something.

Two cherry headbands with a cherry clip. I heart cherries.

And a sheep mug (HOW COOL!) filled with lots of goodies. Earrings, face masks, and gold rings for my pearl stitch markers... remember I wanted some? Well Angela knew I needed some! Thank you Angela for the very thoughtful gift. I love everything!

I'm sooo happy I got to go out with the girls tonight. It was much needed. I don't get to do it often, especially not for a beer (okay, a lot of beer) & knitting. But for my birthday, I had Jamie stay home with Sean, so I could get out for a bit!

March 12 of 31

A very quick FO! My sister's camera case. It's finished! And that's my fun camera modelling the case. I took these photos with my Rebel XT, which has been really depressed lately, because I've been neglecting using her. She'll be coming out of the woods soon, I have plans to start using her much more! I love her and miss her. Just, ever since Jamie won the camera above at a 2005 Xmas party just over a year ago, I've been using him since then since it fits in my pocket! Yes, that's correct, my Rebel is a her and the fuji finepix is a he. I've used about 9 grams of yarn from the 50 gram ball that I purchased, so I will be making more camera case cozies - that's for sure. They're such an easy knit!

STATS:
Pattern: camera case
Needles: 2.75mm Pony DPNs
Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Millefili Fine. 100% Cotton. Colorway 263. Made in Italy.
Timeline: Sunday, March 10th, 2007 - Monday, March 11th, 2007

I love it. I hope my sister does too! It's very soft for a cotton, and I love it! Too bad the LYS only had 1 ball left - and it was being liquidated - otherwise I would have bought more in that colour - I just love it! It's so fun!

Kadi came over today, and we beaded for my stitch marker exchange, and we knit. It was a very nice girls afternoon, and I very much needed it. Sean was a little cranky this afternoon but passed out this evening, and I'm hoping for another night of full sleep. Two nights ago he only did 4 hours in the middle of the night, but last night he slept from about 10pm until 8:30 am this morning! Wow - what a wonderful sleep I got! I feel like a million bucks!

My post-natal aqua teacher wasn't holding a class tonight due to her hubby's birthday being today, so I am very disappointed there is no class. Tomorrow night I want to try to make it to Meg's deep end Aqua class again, it was soo much fun last week!

Girl's Night Out

Did you know that.... A Russian woman holds the record for having the most children. Between 1725 and 1765, she was pregnant 27 times and had 69 children.

... my friends... that is crazy. I don't think I'll ever have that many kids. And think about it... that means, at least during most of the pregnancies, she had at least 3 kids at one time!

Today, unlike other days, I was out of bed at at 8:30 am. Jamie came around 8:10 to give my his kiss goodbye, as he was leaving to work... and well, I was up and couldn't get back to sleep. I tried for about 20 minutes, but saw that I was restless, so I got out of bed.

Today, I baked 2 apple cakes (one which I took with me tonight to girl's night) and the other, for the house. (Jamie loves it when I make my apple cake!) The apple cakes took a lot longer than usual to prepare since a) I was making 2 instead of 1 and b) the apples were DARN small... not the nice big MacIntosh that I'm used to. They were weeny. So, it required more of them, and I have this really cool doo-dad that you put the apple on it, turn the handle, and it peels the apple for you. However, the only problem with this is - that the apples were a little too small, so it only got half the apple, and I ended up spending more time using my knife to peel the rest that the thingy missed. OY! But, in the end, my apple cakes came out DELICIOUS!

I watched the movie The Break-Up with Jennifer Aniston. I was going to bring it tonight to girl's night, but my friend's TV is actually broken. Which actually turned out better, because we don't get together often, and it was really nice to talk and catch up. I'll get to girl's night in a moment. The Break-Up started out really cute, but then was just okay in the end. My dad taped it off the satelite dish and I snatched it before my mom could watch it or anyone else would borrow it, and then I'd never see it! I think I was a tad disappointed, but nevertheless, I got a lot of knitting done, so I'm happy.

Jamie's birthday Irish Hiking Scarf is coming along great. I've finished the first ball. From the first ball, I was able to get 32 inches of scarf. I'm hoping that 64 inches will be long enough to keep Jamie's neck warm, but I think it will - so all is good. I didn't want to have to spend another 20$ on another ball of yarn. (It's pricey as it is!) I can't wait to finish the scarf. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I'll be done.

Anyhow, it was really great to see my friends Vera & Cindy (another Cindy, not the same one that I saw on Monday night). I really enjoy their company, and it was good to hear that Vera has quit smoking! Go her! I hope it sticks! Cindy's trying, but there is a lot going on in her life, that I think for now, the smoking is keeping her calm and level! (Odd, to say that, I know). Cindy had to take off to be home for 10pm, as she had a conference call for work with China (time difference), and Vera and I kept chatting a bit. My apple cake was a huge success! Everoyne loved it. Dinner was a little disappointing though. I was under the impression that Cindy was making the lasagna, but she picked up one of those frozen ones from the store, and to be honest, they are garbage. (There are some good frozen ones out there, but she picked up the cheap kind - and I think it upset my stomach). Had I known, I would have made my own with my homemade sauce. Oh well, next time. Vera though, made a salad and some guacamole - that was fantastic. I need to get her guacamole recipe from her. Oh - it was to die for! I could have eaten just that with the tortilla chips for dinner, really!

Vera and I started talking, and she was telling me that her boyfriend, all he does all day and all night, before work, and after work until he goes to bed (and we're talking about late bed times) is play video games online. She says it's as if she's living there alone, and has a roommate, not a boyfriend of like 5 years. (I'm pretty sure she's been with her boyfriend just as long as I've been with Jamie, if not longer!) She can't believe that he is sooooo glued to the video game. Tv shows they used to watch together... and that he wouldn't miss.... he misses now. They don't do much together anymore, except once in a while go see a movie, which is not really quality time because you're focused on the movie and you can't talk. I didn't know what to tell her. I admit, Jamie spends a lot of time playing on his Xbox, but it's not that obsessive. She doesn't even have dinner with him anymore, she's always eating on her own. He'll eat in front of the computer video game. Jamie and I try to eat dinner together every night, even when he has friends over. (He has his one friend, the mooch, who will come here straight from work, sometimes arriving (like today) before Jamie even gets home from work - I find that annoying) and he'll stay downstairs in front of the tv or will use Jamie's computer while we eat dinner. I have no idea if he ever eats dinner himself, but when I make dinner on nights that he's over, I don't offer him any, because why should I feed another mouth like 2-3 times a week? Jamie's friend the mooch is a whole other story (and the guy has gotten a lot better than he used to be) but still... I constantly feel like I'm feeding another person, and I don't have money to do that! Anyhow, that's another story for another day. I am just GLAD that Jamie is not like my friend's boyfriend (who is still legally married but seperated from his wife for years now, just hasn't gotten around to getting a divorce. I didn't realize he was THAT lazy, until tonight, learning about his video games, and how my friend his upset that she never spends time with her boyfriend anymore. I would not be able to deal. Not really too sure what to say to her either?

34 week pictures coming tomorrow. Not in the mood to photograph them today. I'm going to a birthday party tomorrow night, so I'll take some new shots with some different scenery! Photos of the Irish Hiking Scarf won't be until I'm 100% done the scarf... so hopefully by the end of the weekend, as long as I get enough knititng time in! (Need to wind the 2nd ball into a cake!)

Alright, I'm going to go watch some TV on the couch, I found a comfy position! That makes me happy. I really feel huge now, with a watermelon for a waist. The back pain is getting worse and whenever I sit down I always wonder if I am going to be able to get up (since I can't use my abdominal muscles to lift my upper body anymore, it's hard!) The other day I was worried that I wouldn't get off the toilet, so I squatted to pee instead of sitting, for fear that I wouldn't be able to get up and have no one to help me off! Oh, 6 more weeks... I'm ready!

Yarn & Knitting & Homework

Today, I've fallen in love with the colours of this yarn, on La fabrique de Zézette's blog:

Aren't the colours just delicious? The yarn actually comes from Walmart. So where did I go today? To two different Walmart's in my area (Decarie (around the corner from me) and then to LaSalle) looking for this yarn. Neither store carries them. Decarie had some other colours but by the same packaging (so of course I had to purchase some) and LaSalle had none of the sort. Ugh! I emailed Stephanie to find out where she purchased it - and it was at the Montreal-Nord Walmart. I guess I'll have to find some time to go to Montreal North! (Mapquest says it's only 18 minutes away by car - not too bad - without traffic though!)

This afternoon I started working on my project (photoshop quiz) that is due tomorrow. Teacher gave us this example - as well as the file of the gun and the file of the bullet, and we had to re-create it:

I works on it during the afternoon, and then again when my guests left this evening - and well - got stuck on the background, and was having a huge problem finishing it. I'm really zonked, so I'm going to see if someone tomorrow morning in class can help me out - before handing it in. I took EXCELLENT notes, and have apparently somehow missed one teeny tiny step somewhere in the creation of how to do the background (teacher went over it in class before "assigning" it, and said that once it was handed out - we could ask him no questions and for no help on it - as it is an exam....) Anyhow, I don't know what step I've missed, but it certainly is something to affect me from not finishing. UGH! This is what I've come up with so far (Obviously not done):

I am frustrated since I can't finish, but at least if it was an image I liked, I'd keep trying and trying (even after Adobe Help has failed me and as well as Adobe Photoshop CS bible and as well Real World Photoshop CS (two really good books I own on photoshop)) however, I hate guns, and it just pains me to keep looking at my failed image. I am sure tomorrow, in class, someone will help me out - and I'll be like "shit" I should have known that! Even by looking it up and doing research to try to find the answer - it doesn't help me at all.

On a brighter note, my cousin Jenn came over late afternoon and we watched an episode of Knitty Gritty on the dish. To quote Jenn, so I don't have to re-type the same story: "What a cheesy show! It was the episode with Lily M. Chin and other than 1 cool technique I learned, everything else was so dumbed-down! It was like "Cosmo" for knitting. Lily ACTUALLY pronounced the knitting acronym "yo, k2tog" as "yo-ke-two-tog". Who says it as a word? People don't SPEAK in acryonyms! You don't tell your friends "brb" or "lol" or "roflmao", and if you DID you'd pronounce it sarcastically, like "el-oh-el"." Yeah.... I thought the show was cheesy the last time I watched it about a week ago - well I'm even more thrown off from it - I don't reall think I'll ever really want to watch another episode again. Maybe the sock knitting edition (If it ever re-airs). After the show was over, (to half quote Jenn again): "Jennie, Karine and Kadi got to my house and we gabbed, knit, gossiped, ate, watched a movie (Sideways, which is always great a 50th time watching it), tried to guess Jenn's riddles and just had a nice fun girl's night. I'd be up for that anytime, we laughed a hell of a lot and I had a great time."

Alright. I'm going to give one more "go" at this quiz due tomorrow, and if not, I'll deal with it. It's so frustrating though.

Girl's Night Out

Today was a really nice day. I slept in a bit until about 11 am. (However now, I wish I had slept in longer). We went out for lunch with Jamie's dad & step-mom as well as Jamie's sister who was in town to celebrate my birthday and father's day. We wen out for Chinese and it was as delicious as ever. (Our fave Chinese place near us). I received a birthday gift from my in-law's - I got this gorgeous set of 3 travel makeup bags (but seeing as though I don't wear makeup - I plan to use them for knitting projects - they are certainly big enough! Perfect!). I also received a gift certificate to HBC and I can't wait to see what I can find for myself. Not sure what I want. One of the stores associated with HBC does sell yarn - but mainly acrylics and some cotton, and nothing else really that interesting. (The selection of yarn at Zellers is pretty crappy - as it really does only contain acrylic (which I will now only use for afghans, and baby items).

After lunch, I came back home and tidied up a bit. My sister-in-law came over and we sat in the backyard at my new patio set (minus the umbrella seeing as though we don't have the stand for it yet) and talked. Eventually some friends started arriving, and we were supposed to have a free facial/makeover at my house at 3pm. Well, this was moved from about 2 weeks ago, to today. I figured it would be cool to have her come a couple of hours before going out for my birthday dinner, and receive some nice treatments and then go out looking all pretty, for my birthday dinner. Well, 20 minutes before she was supposed to show up here (and she lives 1 hour away from Montreal in Mascouche), she cancelled on me. Says she can't get a babysitter and so she can't come (2 weeks ago, her husband had to work and she couldn't get the car. I wonder what was wrong with her husband, he obviously wasn't working, as she had the car today....?) I was very sad!

But, those who showed up early for the facial, we still had a good time. We hung out and talked, and enjoyed my backyard. It was nice.

Eventually a few more people who were coming just before we were to leave for dinner starting showing up.

My cousin Jenn got me a ball of sock yarn for my birthday - a ball that I had been admiring at her house - I AM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH THE COLOURS! It's the Calgary Canadian Colour by Regia.


Don't you just LOVE the red, yellow, orange and pink mixture? Heaven! I can't wait to start knitting these up!

Dinner was fantastic and at the end of my usual meal, my cousin Jenn nonshalantly asked me "After the wedding, when I come back here - what dessert should I try?" I told her the cheese cake was fab! And .... a few minutes later, without me realizing, the waitresses came out singing happy birthday to me, with a nice piece of Cheese cake. Mmmmmmmm Boy was it delicious!

After dinner, outside we took some fun pictures. Here is a picture of Vera (with her coat as a pregnant belly) taking a silly picture with me, with my pregnant belly!

Here is a group picture of a few of us who came out for dinner! There was 12 of us girlies, and it was very nice. I had a good time.

Left to Right: Amy, Jenn, Robyn, Vera, Iris, Saskia.

After dinner four of us (Jenn, Vera, Andrea (my sister-in-law) & I) went out on Monkland for some "drinks". For me that meant water and a salad (since, of course, I was still hungry)! It was nice to go out with some friends for my birthday, just the girls. I can't remember when the last time I went out just the girls. This was definitely a treat.

I got treated to a few other gifts today:

From Vera I got a pot of gorgeous pink flowers.

From my sister I got 2 books (Odd Ball Knitting and a book on pregnancy/babies).

From my friend Julie I got a gift certificate to Thyme Maternity.

From Mindy, she paid for my portion of dinner (that was nice of her).

From Saskia I got some lipgloss, chocolate and bath soaps.

From Jenn I got that ball of Calgary Regia.

It was nice to receive some gifts, although totally unecessary! I just wanted my girlies to spend some time with me out to dinner, all that was just an added bonus!

BRING ON THE RAIN!

Today it was soooo hot and mainly humid - I just had to do the dance to bring on the rain. (Which finally came around 5pm). Thank you rain - I hate humidity!

Today I worked on my project that was due yesterday. I have to hand it in tomorrow when I go back to school. I have 95% of it done, so I think, but I will just have to see about a few things once I get to school - and Laura is going to help me out with the logo - seeing as though I've actually done some of her homework for her in full before. But, something is corrupted with my file, and apparently I'm not the first person in the class to have this (according to Laura who didn't miss yesterday's class) so she's going to help me out on that one.

At about 3pm I was finally ready with my homework (and also got a little bit of laundry done AND baked 3 different kinds of muffins {blueberry, chocolate chip & apple/cinnamon} as well as organic brownies) and jumped into a shower as I had to meet up with Angela around 3:15pm around the corner from my house.

Met up with Angela and did a few errands (picked up juice and soda, went to the bank, did a return at Walmart and returned some movies back to the videostore). We got home, and chilled a bit (and folded more laundry) until Jenn showed up for dinner.

I made some whole wheat pasta for dinner and we got finished just before people started showing up for our little Montreal Knits chez moi.

Here are pictures from this evening:

Left to Right (Above): Isabel, Jennie, Angela, Sharon.

Left to Right (Above): Kadi & Jenn.

AND ME!!! (A very goofy picture of myself!)

At one point, the doorbell rang, and I thought it was someone for our group - but instead it was CANADA POST delivering to me my very first SP8 Package from my SP8 Pal! THANK YOU PAL - I LOVE IT!

I got some Fortissima PINK sock yarn (LOVE IT!) and some Patons Sock yarn (LOVE IT!) and some Moda Dea sock yarn (LOVE IT!) and some beads (LOVE IT!) and some needle protectors (LOVE THEM!) and some bamboo DPN's (LOVE THEM!) and some stickers for scrapbooking/collage (LOVE IT!) - Thanks a million SP8 Pal - you rock! It totally made my day (especially since my bronchitis has turned into a cold now, I can't breathe - the humidity is NASTY NASTY NASTY and well it just brightened up my day!)

This evening, while knitting (I got advanced another entire repeat on Clapotis - I need to photograph the progress - I will soon) we watched TV and spent from 8-9pm making fun of B-list celebrities playing The Price is Right on Gameshow Marathon, and then 9-10pm making fun of wanna-be dancers on So You Think You Can Dance? It was fun, and I had a really good time. I hope that everyone who came over had a good time too. I am very excited that there is an official meeting next week at 2nd Cup.

The package came complete with this birthday card, HOW CUTE!

LOVE IT!

Anyhow, everyone just left and I need to go clean up and head to bed (I am back at school tomorrow - after almost a week off from being sick!)

Sister Time

Bosco was just about getting up when I got there from his morning nap. My parents had fed him and let him out before leaving to the airport. I took him out when I got there, (apparently when he's up you need to take him out to pee every hour - he's not even 4 months old, so this is to avoid any accidents - which he hasn't had in months - he'll generally go to the back door when he has to pee - but if you play too long, he can forgot to ask - so you have to take him out). My mother left me a list TWO pages long on his schedule, routine, how to feed him, when to feed him, how to do this, how to do that...

Spoke to my parents, they're flight was delayed, my mom kept "checking in" on how the dog was doing.

During his afternoon nap I did some errands. I went to pick up the DVD of my wedding digital files from my wedding photographer's office, her assistant was holding fort while Wendy my wedding photographer is on vacation, as she apparently mailed my DVD weeks ago, but I still have no received it in the mail. Mail from the same city to the same city never takes more then 2 days. It's been since about December 13th, and still no mail from her. So, I picked up another copy, and went on my merry way. Watch, I'll get her DVD in the mail sometime next week. If not, it is very lost! After leaving there, I went to the yarn shop in the same area and picked up a stitch counter, a really cool yarn cutter that you can use on airlines (looks like a necklace pendant) as well as some stitch markers.

I headed home and had to play with Bosco for a couple of hours before dinner, as late afternoon is his "WILD" time of the day. Boy was he wild and a devil. After dinner he pretty much slept for a few hours in the den, while my sister and I watched a movie and I worked on the afghan that I'm crocheting for myself (I think).

It was really great hanging out with my sister tonight. We watched a movie called This Girls' Life and it was very interesting. Plot Outline: "Slice of life" take on life of international porn celebrity, Moon, and her musings on modern life, love and loss.

Just about to go into a shower and Amy will straighten my hair for me. It really was nice hanging out with her tonight, it's been a while since we've had a "sisters night".