Keep knitting, just keep knitting...

....yes just keep knitting and maybe I will be able to finish knitting all my gift for Christmas. *crossed fingers* The longer one is the cutest one : a Trellis vest for my 16 months nephew Zachary.

Trellis is a pattern from Knitty Spring 2005 with only 890 projects on Ravelry, but that was before Ravelry and for sure there is a LOT of work involded in this one so not everyone with little one have the time to do it !

I also have 3 others projects to finish before December 24th at night.... just keep knitting, just keep knitting...

Last swap of the year

Just received my last swap package of the year... but not the least fun ! I was again in Faves things swap (round 5 now) and I was matched with a pal from South Africa !!! Rozan did an amazing job spoiling me and I am so lucky to have her as a swap pal :)

She sent me gorgeous things very local for her : a shopping tote (I love the handle), 2 cards of buttons handmaidens by south African women, 4 balls of Vinnis Bambi cotton yarn (!!!), a South African calendar, chai black and green tea and ....

a wonderful pair of fingerless gloves in a soft soft, very soft yarn and look at the color !!! Little something in the picture above... did you see that I am poiting out South Africa ? :)

Travel to Riviera Maya part 2

Umm looking to these pictures makes me wanna quit everything and get back to Mexico !!! We had such a wonderful time over there and I wish we can go back soon enough...

I wanted to share some more pictures with you about what we can see over there and leave for a moment in my memories of sun, sea, farniente....


I told you we went to Tulum but we all saw some pictures of Mayan ruins one day or another so I decide to introduce what we did after visiting Tulum ruins. We hire a tour with Mayan Xtreme adventures and we had 3 activities in the afternoon : flying in the sky over the rain forest in a canopy,

let our self go down from the sky using ropes and rappel techniques and finally swimming in a cenote (pure water that is found underground in Yucatan peninsula).

On the Hotel site we had the chance to see a lot of wildlife including those swans.

What I miss the most is the ocean and the sound of the waves on the beach... watching boat, go for a little swim and dreaming all day long in front of it...

But back to real life, we needed to head back home and we found out snow and a little surprise : my mom had decorate our christmas tree in our apartment and now we are sure our neighbour think that we are crazy since we had automatics lights on our tree since October 15Th... LOL

I hope that I will be able to travel again soon and next time I will bring knitting and find a LYS to buy local yarn too... !!!

FO : Owl baby vest

Yes another FO, my current projects are just so quick that I don't even have time to picture then as a WIP and they are already FO in my Ravelry page and here on my blog... :) I love that and it's very rewarding to look at those FO!

Here are the specs of my new FO :


Pattern : Owl baby vest by Jodi Haraldson

(it's a gift for a mom to be in my entourage, she may read this but since she is not the only pregnant woman... wait to see if you are the lucky one !)

Needle : 3.5mm

Yarn : Rowan Calmer in a navy blue color about 1.2 ball



Cast on : November 20th
Cast off : November 21th

Mods : none except for the bind off : I used EZ sewn bind off for the arm holes and I forgot for the head but it still big enough. If I made this again I would had button in the back or at one shoulder to facilitate the work of the mom to change clothes on such a little baby...

Those are for ME !!!

Yes my new FO is for me... not quite for me to wear but it will be for my .... child... I am pregnant for now 5 weeks and I already started to knit baby stuff for the little wee one that will enter in my life around July 29th 2010...

Here are the spec :

Pattern : Two tone-socks by Debbie Bliss (Simply baby book)

Needles : 3.5mm

Yarn : Rowan Calmer (navy blue) and Classic elite Wish (pale blue)

Size : 0-3 months

Cast on and cast off : November 21st

Comment : I love baby sock but this pattern is not my favorite, yes it's cute with 2 colors but there are way too many ends to weave in after the knitting part is done. Also the shape is a bit strange : the socks are pointy and too thin at the feet. I don't think that I will use the pattern again, I hope I will have more success with the other patterns in the book.

Christmas gift number 2

Yes another Christmas gift is ready : fingerless mittens for my brother.

Here are the specs of my new creation :

Pattern : Dashing by Cheryl Niamath, Knitty Spring 2007

Needles : 4.5mm

Yarn : Wool of the Andes bulky by Knitpicks in color wine, about 1.2 skein

Cast on : November 7th
Cast off : November 14th

Size : medium

Mods : none but I wish I had made them a little bit shorter after the cables at the wrist but since he have bigger hands that me, it will be fine for him (I hope). Fun and quick pattern, even if it took me one week to finish them it was because I was sick with influenza but the knitting itself doesn't took too long and I am very happy to be done with them !!!

Travel to Riviera Maya part 1

Hello !, here as promise, my pictures from my latest trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico in October...We had wonderful time and meet great people and we have a party we them tomorow night, that will be a lot of fun seing them again !!! No knitting trip, I had to rest from that too, but I will bring at least a little project on my next trip because my fingers were itching too much back home, I play with my yarn and pattern before to go to bed and I was exhausted... ;)


We left on October 9th from Montreal in the early morning so we could go to the beach on our first day out there. Here is a quick shot over Florida on our way to Mexico...

Riviera Maya is well known from tourist from all over the world and it's about 45 minutes from Cancun airport. Our hotel was Iberostar Paraiso Beach and we really really enjoyed the resort. We even consider going back next year for our wedding. Needless to say that it's a 5 stars hotel and it was so cool. Huge resort, a lot of walk but we enjoyed to walk to go to the beach and coming back to our room was a pleasure and we used to go the pool after the sea to take another drink in the pool.

We were very pale when we arrived in Mexico but we worked hard on that and now everybody seems so white to us back at home... lol !

Finally arrived at the hotel at 14h30 and we immediatly went to change in bathing suit and run to see the sea !! It was so cool finally being there after daydreaming about this travel for months !!!! I ran into it and finally felt in "vacation" and that last for 3 weeks.

Then we spent our time between having fun, meeting new friends, take cool colored drinks and enjoy the sun and the sea...

There are a lot more to say and must talk to you about our little aventure to Tulum Mayan site, that was awesome, stay tuned for part 2 soon enough !

First Chritmas gift is done !

Hello !!!

i'm back with more knitting, I had a busy month in October and since I've been 2 weeks in Mexico, I did not had time to update here, I hope you still read me...

So, on a special request I knitted a second pair of Fetching, almost like the one I did in 2008 for my sister-in-law...but since my brother used them so much she really need another pair. I followed the instructions but I had a repeat of the cable on the wrist and also one more cable on fingers because I found them too short last time.


Don't worry about me spoiling the surprise...she doesn't read this anyway !!!

So here are the spec of my new pair of Fetching


Pattern : Fetching by Cheril Nyamath from Knitty summer 2006

Needle : 4mm DPN

Yarn : Michell and CIA Luxury fine merino superwash DK, about 1.2 ball


Cast on : November 7th
Cast off : November 8th

Was fun and I'm going back to knitting right away Christmas gift #2....stay tune... oh! and as soon as I have time I'll post pictures about my trip to Mexico and tell you how it was !

FO : Habitat

Oh yes I am way behind on blogging and since I am constantly out of home for many reason it's hard to keep up...

So here is my latest creation :

Pattern : Habitat by Jared Flood
Yarn : Malabrigo Merino Worsted in color Azul Profondo 150
Needle : 4mm and 5mm

Cast on September 20th and cast off September 26th
Mods : none

Comments : I love love love love, adore and love again the yarn !!! Why didn't I knit before with Malabrigo ? It's now my favorite yarn ever ! It's soft, fun to knit and the colors are gorgeous, did I say that I LOVE Malabrigo ? ;)

On the serious side : pattern.... Jared Flood is a genius with cables and did a great job designing this hat. The S/M size is too short to cover my ear but that's ok because I will use it mostly in fall season here and in Swiss this winter so not too cold. I was planning to do a M/L for the Man but I think it will be a bit short because he have a bigger head than me. If I do I will use a color that both suit us to be sure... And I am so happy to finally had knit a hat for ME and no one else ! :)

What about a close-up on the cable to finish ?

Hat war is ... over for me...

I told you yesterday I was behind on blog posting.... Almost 10 days ago I receive a weapon by mail... and that was the end of my war. My assasin did an awesome job and I love the hat so much that I am almost happy to be already out !

Check out the cool weapon :

Hat war was fun and I will do it again next year for sure !!! :)

Frog pond

A long time ago, on February 2ND 2008, to be precise, I cast on for a lovely project : Cherie Amour published on Knitty... I choose the exact same yarn that the pattern called for at once and I even made a gauge of the lace and a gauge of the ribs... but I don't know why it doesn't came out gorgeous as I hope for. Body was too short and the sleeves a mess. So yesterday morning I took my courage and decide to pull out the project from the hibernation and try it a last time and finally frogged the whole thing...

Sometime don't you think it's the only thing to do !

Now I am feeling GREAT and he good new is that I have a lovely yarn in stash to use for a cool new project. I originally bought 5 skeins but I gave the 2 news one to my best friend for her birthday with cool patterns so now what can I do with 3 gorgeous balls of yarn.... Future will tell soon....

FO : Thrum mittens

Yes yes yes !!! My hands will be toasty this winter to play in the snow with the Man and throw snow balls in the back of his head when he's not looking at me.... ;) lol !

Specs :

Pattern : Thrum mittens kit by Fleece artist, color is Mineral I think... but not sure it wasn't written on the pattern.

Needles : 3.5mm

Size : adult medium

Cast on : September 12Th

Cast off : September 18Th

Mods : none

Notes to myself, don't be afraid about pulling on fleece and pay attention to my hands and wrists, I don't know if it's the thrumming but my hands were very painful at the end of this. But quick and fun pattern will certainly make more.

Tonight is Stitch and bitch with the group of Quebec city ! Yippee !! :) See you tonight girls :)

Hat war is on !!!

Yes I am in war !!! In hat war... for those who don't what I am talking about, before you think that I am totally crazy read this : hat war is a competition in knit and crochet world. I found the event on Ravelry and I sign up. We must knit or crochet a weapon, a hat, and send it as quick as possible to our target. Once the target have the weapon the target is "dead" and must send her incomplete weapon to the assassin who will have to try to kill the second target. Last one standing win a big prize of yarn of course...

The patterns were available at midnight on Friday morning but I was sleeping and when I woke up I decide to finish my thrum mittens (which I will blog about tomorrow) and then choose a pattern and knit it up. I choose the pattern then I knit it up quickly...
Specs :

Pattern : Boy hat by Elizabeth Heath-Heckman

Needle : 4.5mm

All knit up last Friday went fast but 2 x2 ribbing is really boring, fortunately I had great movies to watch !!! ;)

Weapon is now in the mail to my target... BANG BANG !

Thursday night knitting

Oh yes it's finally week end for me !!! I had a big week and a very great week end before but I am so glad that it's over and well behind me now... I recently booked my vacation for Riviera Maya and we are leaving in only 3 weeks from now.... I am so excited and I did not even start to think about knitting for the vacation... Really have to take note about that I can't go to a vacation resort for 2 weeks without yarn and needles ;)

Here is a little picture of me playing on the "Muse" statue in Carre D'Youville in Vieux Quebec...


On the knitting side I put the sock on the side for another project that I just bought at the new LYS next door to my place : Thrum mitten kit by Fleece Artist. I really enjoy the project and I knit the first mitten straight in one day and I had almost no time to knit on the second one this week and I am almost done now. That how quick those mittens are !

Here is how the kit look like when I first brought it home. I paid 29$ for the kit, including yarn, roving and the pattern. It's ok since I will use pattern again for sure.

Then I did not stop to take any picture until earlier today. You can see the first mitten all done in the back, the roving left to put in thrums in the second mitten and my wip on the second mitten.

You can see the needle holding live stitches for the thumb placement later but I kept on knitting before coming here to talk about it. I already told you but it's really addictive when you are knitting thrums !! :)

Winter be ready, 'coz I am now !

One down, one more to go...

First sock is done as you can see, I've finished it on Tuesday night and I already cast on for the second one since I was watching TV and didn't want to find my yarn and notions to begin a Christmas project. I enjoyed the feeling of one feet in a warm wool sock and yes it's close now the moment where I will wear them and appreciate them as well. I always wonder why I do not knit them two at once, but I love dpn too much for sock knitting to abandon that practice... or maybe I could try at least the circular needle Robyn sent me in previous swap to knit socks soon.

I love love love love the colors and the yarn is heaven ! Kangaroo Dyer is one of the best yarn for sock I ever used, it's soft, smoochy and feel like a charm while knitting. Aren't it's lovely ?

My sock number 2 is on the way already, first chart done and I'm still going and going. It's always faster on the second one because I do not have to read the pattern again, I know it by heart.

So for now I will enjoy my 4 days week end and hopefully, I'll have plenty of time to knit and continue my sock...

Oh, almost forgetting... there is a new LYS right next to my condo in St-Augustin, will talk about it soon and get some pictures for your eye pleasure... with lot of fiber to please your mind! It opened yesterday and yes I am already a customer..... ;)

Sock on the go

What was I doing in the past 2 week on the knitting side ? Since we had temperature over 40 Celsius for many and many days I thought about knitting wool socks was just the perfect thing to do. After all, when it's so hot outside I can only think about frilly night and a good pair of knitted socks while watching a movie with a hot chocolate...

So I wound my Kangaroo dyer yarn in the color Mango Reprise that I bought last summer(right one skein on the picture), I found my 2.5mm dpn and I searched my queue on Ravelry to find a pattern to please my mind, my hands and later on...my feet. And looking to my work so far, I must say happy feet!

I choose the pattern Shur'tugal by Alice Yu to begin my first pair of sock since a very long time, actually if you remember my last one were my Bellatrix socks in mid-January. Just before I change all my life ... so I was kind of worried to knit socks again but everything is alright fortunately for me !

I cast on for those little one on August 13Th and I don't knit a lot these days so my progress aren't the one I am used to. But on August 15Th I went to my nephew birthday to Boisbriand and came back in the same day so a lot of road knitting was done on that day. My BF was more than happy to drive my car on the way back anyway !!

Those socks are kind of slow knitting and I love seeing the hand painted colors swirl around the sock, some may call it bad pooling but I love it and since they are for me anyway it doesn't matter !!! So far I am almost done with the feet and I will toes soon now on my first one... the last picture was taken a few days ago.

The best story about me knitting this pair of sock happens yesterday after work. I was at my head office for the afternoon and I went out of my meeting at 4:30 just on time to hit the traffic and with all the workers coming out of office plus the work on the roads of Quebec, it took me one hour to make a simple 12-15 minutes trip back at home... So at some point I was completely stopped for 2 or 3 traffic lights and I don't my car these day (yes again BF is driving my car but that's another story) and the one I am renting is automatic so I pulled my knitting and I had time to knit 5 rows of my sock before being able to move again !!! The man in the car probably thought that I am a bit crazy but at least I didn't spent 15 minutes of life in a negative feeling about traffic but I enjoyed a good moment of car knitting... ;)

I must now begin Christmas knitting also so I will finish sock #1 and then I will knit a Christmas gift and then I will be allowed to finish my pair of sock. I think I will have a lot of Christmas knitting this year.... the best moment to start is probably as soon as possible.

Last FO, non knitting but still crafty !!

My last FO is absolutely non knitting but I wanted to share because maybe it can help someone that want to transform old furniture from "bof" to "vavavoum!!"

I bought those old furniture because I had not enough storage in my bedroom but I did not wanted to send too much money on it. I also wish to have something unique and special in my bedroom. It also have the second usage of decoration now, I will tell you how I made my way through this weird idea I had of using wallpaper to cover old furnitures and gave them a second life...

First here the before pictures of the small one, pretty ugly uh ?

The bigger one was as ugly but just bigger and ugliest in the same time... lol...fortunately I had them for a cheap price from a coworker ;). I bought a roll of pre-glued wallpaper and spray paint in a silver color for place I do not want to cover with wallpaper. I begun to check on the smaller one the size of paper needed and I cutted and glued the first section as I would have done on a wall. I also make sure there was no air under the paper and cutted excess paper with a cutter.


Here you can see that I choose a paper very forgetful so I don't have to match perfectly to make the project look gorgeous, which is good because I would still be there trying to match and glue the whole thing...Halfway done on the little one and I gain experience and also discovered that I need to had more glue to solidify my work. So I went out to buy "No more nails" glue and I lifted the corners and had glue under them.

It is very important to let the paper dry fully before to glue with the second glue or that makes a weird look under the paper and you have to redo the whole thing anyway.



I was pretty exhausted at the end of my project, I spent almost 8 hours on and off of it to make myself a very cool product of which I am very proud ! It was worth the work and for sure if I ever do something like that again I will know how to this time and spend less time thinking about how to and more time doing it !!

Almost done, only the door still drying.

Small one all completed

The bigger one finally complete with doors on

It's important to work on your ideas and now, I am so proud of my work, that I will maybe transform my next TV table too..... to be continued....