Saturday, December 12, 2009

My business cards

I finally got around to taking a picture of my business cards, I have a fourth style since I just ordered again from Vista Print this week. I love all the free stuff you can get and Priority shipping was free as well.

Things are working very well with the Etsy shop and I intend to make it work. I just love all the knitting I get to do and I really don't see myself running out of ideas. I look at yarn and all kinds of different creations come to mind. It's the same thing when I look at Ravelry and all the wonderful projects people have knitted. Right now what's missing is the time to knit all the ideas I have.

Friday, December 4, 2009

21 Sales in my shop

Today I had my 20th and 21st sale in my Etsy shop. Youppi! for moi! The cable and lace slim scarf has been my best seller so far; I have knitted new colours and some with added fringe.

I must one day knit these adorable mice I found on Fuzzy Thoughts http://blog.fuzzymitten.com/2009/11/holiday-mice.html They are absolutely cute. They look like an incredibly easy and quick knit! I just wish I could find time with all the knitting I have to do for my Etsy shop not that I am complaining things are going so well.


Thursday, November 26, 2009

Black scarves

Lately I have had orders to knit scarves in black; one cabled and the other lace. The cabled one was a nice and quick knit although I did have a hard time finding a nice yarn I wanted to work with. It is now enjoying its new home in New York City.


For the lace scarf I knew exactly what yarn I wanted to use from La Bobineuse and it turned out gorgeous. It is a nice simple lace pattern but knitting in the black and with the 3-ply yarn was a bit of a challenge. This one is enjoying its new home in the vicinity of Québec City.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Business cards

I ordered business cards from Vista Print over the weekend and my order has already arrived. I did pay for the 7-day delivery since I wanted them as fast as possible to give out in my orders and people at work had been asking for some. The business now seems a bit more serious with cards to hand out to people. I will post a pic of them later during the week.

On November 22 will be the Big Veggie Gathering at the HEC Montreal at the l'Oréal room. It is a vegan potluck and some different associations will be represented as well. Viva Granola, my favorite online vegan store, will be there. It should be an interesting afternoon.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Mom's macaroni and cheese


Last week I received my order of cheeses from Viva Granola and mostly made poutines over the weekend. They were okay but none had the squishy taste of cheese curds. This weekend I decided to make my mother's macaroni and cheese with the cheddar Daiya. It tastes great although a bit sweet, something I find with most vegan chesses. They all have a sweet taste to them that regular cheese doesn't have or so I remember. It's a pretty simple recipe of macaroni, a can of diced tomatoes with herbs, chopped onion and the cheese. Cook for 15-20 minutes than broil until top is browned a bit.
I have finished knitting the shell pattern with ruffles scarf in off-white. It is just gorgeous, looks so chic. I have another busy week of custom orders to knit so new creations in my Etsy shop will be few this week.



Monday, November 2, 2009

Car cozy




The boyfriend has been asking me the last couple of weeks to knit him something for the arm rest in between the front seats and I finally did Friday night. At first I wanted to knit the Yankees' logo but I couldn't come up with something I really liked. Since I love knitting cables I went for a celtic knot I found in one of my cable books. I finished it Saturday and he has been raving about it ever since!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Scarves shipping today

Three of the four scarves are finished and have been handed over to Canada Post to go to their respective lucky owners. As usual, I forgot to take the picture for one of the scarves but I did manage a pic of the burgundy scarves. The colour is a bit darker in real life but it really is gorgeous. I hope Isa, Richard and Staci will love their scarves.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Busy knitting

I have been so very busy knitting 4 custom order scarves this week. They should be ready to ship in the next couple of days. I also just need to sew the doggie sweater and it will be ready to bring to work. I hope the doggie sweater fits this time with the modifications I made.

Last week I did have time though to go to an amazing yarn store here in Montreal : La Bobineuse de laine
http://www.labobineuse.com/ (the website is only in French). I am in love with this store. They can create any cone of yarn you desire; you chose the ply, the colours, the textures and the materials. I got these 4 cones already mixed and I am really looking forward to creating my own mixes.
I had to get out of the store quickly or else I would have bought a lot more cones.




Friday, October 2, 2009

The first cable and lace scarf that started it all.

This is the first cable and lace scarf that started my desire to find even more fun cables and lace patterns to create wonderful scarves. I love knitting cables and ever since I found a way to knit without a cable needle it is even better. Thanks Amy from KnittingHelp.com It makes knitting on my commute so much easier. I wouldn't see myself with a cable needle trying to knit cables with commuters bumping into me and all. The cable needle would be on the floor more than in my hands.


I even had a custom order from Elise ( The Dark Faerie ) and now that she received it I can show the final result. I even added a nice fringe to it.




Monday, September 28, 2009

Orange cables and lace scarf

After Saturday's ramblings I put up this scarf in my Etsy shop and bookmarked it on my Facebook page.



It sold in 8 minutes! I even had 3 three people who liked it as well. One has put in an order for the same colour and I am already more than halfway finished. I should be able to ship it out Thursday the latest.


This scarf originally started with my love of the lace pattern and then finding a cable that would look nice with it in the middle. I'm glad so many people liked it as well, enough even to buy it. The loop edge goes well with it; I didn't want an ordinary fringe. I found it on Lion Brand's website, they have great edges and such in their Learning Center.





Saturday, September 26, 2009

Saturday night ramblings

The doggie sweater ended up being a bit too small for Mike's dog but was just perfect for Andrew's. I will be knitting one for Mike since he loves it so much. I actually have quite a few people who want me to knit it for their dog.

One of my coworkers asked me some weeks back to knit a scarf for her friend in the New York Rangers colours. It turned out quite nice.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Skull doggie sweater

I finally finished assembling the skull doggie sweater and it looks great if I must say so. It was my first time knitting with two colours besides making Phentex slippers! It was a lot simpler than I thought and I can't believe I avoided colour knitting all these years.

I took pictures of Lola and Balou wearing it so friends could see it. Lola even tried to bite my hand when I was putting her paw back inside the sweater. I must say Balou's pic is the best.



I have already sold it at work. I was showing it to the receptionist when one of my supervisors saw it and told me he was buying it for his dog. I just hope it fits.


Saturday, September 19, 2009

Knitting on my commute

The last three weeks I have been knitting on my commute ever since I read somewhere that knitting 4-5 rows here and there add up after a while. It is so true. One evening I was able to knit 24 rows just waiting for the bus driver to finish smoking his cigarette and the 6-7 stops to get home. It helps make the commute go by faster as well.

I must say I was a bit self-conscious in the beginning but people just smile. One lady struck up a conversation about how long I had been knitting and stuff. Yesterday I met my first knitter sitting across from me; we nodded at each other and smiled.

I love working with circulars even though I am knitting scarves. This way the needles are not getting in people's way and if I drop one it stays with me, not on the floor.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Back from vacation

Just a quick post to say I have been away on vacation in Wildwood, met some freaks in Philly and have started knitting scarves for the fall. I will write some more over the weekend and put up pics of the scarves I'm knitting.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Pics of the Jazz Festival

We did go back last night to hear some more great jazz music and I got a few pics before the batteries died. This is on Ste.Catherine street between the Festival stage and the Rio Tinto Alcan one.

I also love seeing these metal gates with the cat and notes. These could be seen mostly at the various entry points for the site. As usual they searched my purse; I even had a circular needle in there since I'm hoping some yarn comes in at work and I can start the scarf Ida ordered from me.

Patrick Watson was performing on the big GM stage and we got there just as Lhasa de Sela was singing. She was one of his special guests as was Guy Nadon. I really love Lhasa and was thrilled to see her even if it was only on the giant screens they had put up everywhere around the stage. Even the Loto-Québec stage's giant screens were showing Patrick's show.

Elann yarn

The yarn I ordered from Elann last week has arrived at work. The Lara yarn in burgundy is just gorgeous. It will make a very nice scarf. I can't wait to start knitting tonight.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Montreal International Jazz Festival

The Jazz Festival is going on full swing since June 30th when Stevie Wonder opened up with a big free outdoor concert. I heard it was amazing despite the rain. Last night Claude and I went downtown to walk on the site and ended up catching Chocolate Thunder's show on the Loto Québec stage at 23:00. It was really great even though the weather was a bit cold. As usual I did not have my camera so no pics. I'm hoping we go back tonight and will make sure to bring my camera this time around.

It's a great place to be if you're a jazz music lover since there are so many free concerts happening on several stages at different times. We passed by the Rio Tinto Alcan stage and Lily Frost and the Debonairs was on stage.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Knitting projects I have on needles

Someone at work told me that it is natural for a knitter to have many different projects on needles at the same time. Well, natural or not I have quite a couple right now!

I just finished knitting this scarf with novelty yarn and a cotton yarn. I really like the way it looks with denim. It was a quick and easy knit in garter stitch although the novelty yarn would tangle up at times.

I'm also working on this scarflette in aqua, gold and burgundy tones. I just have a few rows to knit and it will be finished. I need to go hunting for the perfect buttons to add on, will probably do that over the weekend. I'm thinking of going to Rix Rax, a store that has all kinds of wonderful buttons, ribbons, lace trimmings and more.

Another project I have is a jacket with added cables to the original plain jersey pattern. The yarn I bought for this is in one huge kilo ball. I know I will never see Lola run away with that ball!



I have a capelet on needles as well. I was testing a certain stitch to knit a scarf but found it would be great yarn to knit a capelet with instead. It is a nice simple lace stitch which I love the way it looks puffed up. I will need to find a gorgeous ribbon to tie the capelet.



Poncho ramblings

While I worked on the yellow poncho I also had a blue one and a pink one on needles. It's funny but I started the blue one a few months before the yellow one but it's still not finished. I need to assemble the hood and attach to the poncho. The pink one I have been knitting while watching television at my boyfriend's house. It is about halfway done as you can see in this pic. Also, I knit a different cable pattern with this one as I like to give myself a challenge when knitting.



Sunday, June 28, 2009

Sold my first and second scarf

Yesterday I sold my first scarf on Etsy. This one :


I even have a custom order to knit it in red. Just ordered the yarn for it from elann and hoping it gets here fast enough to knit before I leave on vacation.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Baby yellow poncho

I finally decided to assemble the hood to this yellow poncho I have been knitting for the last couple of weeks. These plastic clothespins came in very handy in holding the hood together with the body.



Here you see the finished product. Isn't it just gorgeous?


I used Bernat's Super Value 100% acrylic yarn and I love how soft it is.

I knit my first poncho about 15 years ago when my friend got pregnant and I have knitted variations on it for 2 other friends and my niece's daughter. Here you can see the one I knit for my niece's daughter.









Sunday, June 21, 2009

50th anniversary of Crescent Street

This weekend Crescent Street has been celebrating it's 50th anniversary and last night Michel Pagliaro, Honeymoon Suite and Glass Tiger were giving a free concert. It was amazing! It reminded me of my clubbing years when I used to go on Crescent and they were the music we heard in clubs. The atmosphere was so much fun, I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures.


Here's Lola helping me with some of the dishcloths I'm knitting for my Etsy shop and just below is the final result. Dishcloths are so easy and quick to knit. I'm also thinking of knitting yoga mat bags with some of the Handicrafter yarn.




Thursday, June 18, 2009

Handicrafter yarn on sale

Last night I went shopping for 8mm needles and came back with lots of Handicrafter cotton yarn as well. They were $2.00 off a ball.


I will be knitting quite a lot of dishcloths especially the blue, white and yellow for myself. They are the perfect colour for my kitchen.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Raglan sleeve shrug

I have just finished knitting a raglan sleeve shrug and it is now for sale in my Etsy shop.It was a fast and easy knit project that I liked knitting. I used size 6.5mm needles and a wonderful acrylic yarn. It was just stockinette stitch with some yarn overs to create the raglan styling. It was only the second time I knitted a sweater from the neck down, the first time it ended up way too small. I will probably give it my niece's daughter.

While I knit Lola loves to sleep either on my lap or on the desk and she looked so cute here. Luckily I was still able to get to my yarn.




Monday, June 8, 2009

Tour de L'ile

Yesterday was the 25th edition of the Tour de L'ile. It is a biking event where the streets are closed off to car circulation for 50 km. Here we see the departure which was held at Jeanne Mance park.

The sun was out with a few clouds as we see in the picture above. It did get totally covered over the course but luckily we did not get any rain. I ended up getting a flat and waited a bit for mechanics to show up; they were very busy this year contrary to the first aid personnel. I had two holes in my inner tube so they patched those up and I was on my way; only to flat out again. We hailed down other mechanics and 6 of them stopped to help me. The inner tube had to be changed since the valve was broken. It took a 7th guy to stop by to have the right size inner tube. We did have lots of great laughs while they changed my tube.

The Cirque du Soleil is also celebrating their 25th anniversary and participated in their own unique ways.





We saw parts of Montreal we don't usually bike to and all in all it was a great afternoon with lots of laughs with the other riders. The news mention we were around 35 000 participants.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

My first post

I have now joined the world of bloggers. This blog will be about knitting but also about my life in Montreal and as a vegan. Be prepared to read a lot about my two lovely cats Lola and Balou.


Bowling and biking will be discussed here at length as well as they are two passions of mine. Some food pics may show up here and there as well.