Friday, December 28, 2012

Record Snowstorm in Montreal

Yesterday, we beat the March 4th, 1971 record of 43,2cm by getting 45cm of snow in one day.  I remember the 1971 storm mostly because of the home movies my mother made at the time.  I was almost 4 and loved playing in the snow.  Actually, my favorite activity then was eating the snow.

The weather was so bad we ended up leaving work at 15:00 and I made it home for 16:15.  Taking the subway helped a lot to make my commute home so short.

This morning on the way to work I brought my camera and took some pictures of the wonderful snow.

This is the entrance to my building which hadn't been cleared out at all.  I made those imprints when I arrived the night before.  For some reason most of the tenants prefer to use the back staircase.  When I got home tonight it had been cleared.


This is the street and what should be a sidewalk.  Normally the bus stop has been cleared a bit but not this morning.



This is the back of my apartment where some people have their cars parked.  It's all nice and clean but there's a slight problem to getting out.



The clean entrance leads to this : a huge snowbank.  It almost reaches my waist in height.  So, you can forget using your car to get to work. 



This was the sidewalk for the entire length of the street I usually walk to get to the subway.  It was nothing but huge snowbanks and a lot of them were created by people trying to get their cars out from under the snow.  I ended up taking the bus instead, a lot safer than walking in the street. 



The last two photos show how the snow really piled up on the balconies on one side of the street but not the other.


On the way to work I saw a few people helping each other out digging up cars and such.  Thankfully there are still some good neighbors around.

Did you witness such acts of helping or where you even someone who helped another?

Monday, November 26, 2012

Cyber Monday Free Shipping in my Etsy shop

I am having a Cyber Monday Sale by giving Free Shipping everywhere for all my items.

One of the new items in my shop are headbands.  I have them in a few colours and they make amazing stocking stuffers.  I'm sure you have a friend out there who's always complaining about freezing ears.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Don't Know How to Knit

Today's video is about people who tell me they don't know how to knit or tried it but can't.  In my roundabout way I just want you to go out, buy yarn and needles and just start knitting.  You can learn from videos on YouTube, using books or attending a class in a yarn shop.

Hope you enjoy the video.



I would love to hear about the yarn you bought and the knitting you have done.  So, please leave a comment below or come on my Facebook page and post a pic of what you've done so far.

Like I said, if you have any questions, ask them!  It will be my pleasure to answer them.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Last Weekend for World Wide Knit in Public Day

It's the last weekend for the World Wide Knit in Public Day.  You can find a local event by going to the website : World Wide Knit in Public Day

There is one happening in NDG Park this Saturday, June 16th at 1 PM.  I don't think I will be going since St.Laurent is having their sidewalk sale and I want to go there instead.  Maybe I could bring some knitting and sit on a bench while there.  I knit in public everyday on my way to work so not participating for me is not that big of a deal.


Have you participated in your local event?  Or do you intend to participate if it is happening this weekend?

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Walking Through the Montreal Botanical Garden

Today I enjoyed an amazing afternoon with my niece and her 5 year old daughter.  She asked me to join them for a visit to the Montreal Botanical Garden.  I hadn't been there in over 30 years.

It was a hot summer day but thankfully there are a lot of places in the shade to sit and the breeze also helped a lot. After 3 hours of walking we called it quits.  The little one kept wanting to swim in the waterfalls to cool herself down or at least walk in water.  Five minutes after we got into the car she was already sound asleep.

Here are some pictures of the lovely gardens we walked through.

Coral and Yellow Rose

Red Poppy

Pink Flowers

105 Years Old Bonsai

Small Chinese Pavillon


You can see the rest of my pictures at my Flickr account here : Nature

It's funny how the city you live in can have such amazing places to see but we often don't take the time to visit them.  It's making me think about my summer vacation which will mostly be spent in Montreal this year.  The boyfriend has a torn meniscus which he could go in for surgery anytime now.  He's also concerned if something happens while we are vactioning in Wildwood as we usually do.

So, I have been thinking of playing tourist in Montreal, seeing places I have yet to visit ( yes, there are some ) and others that I have not been to in a long time.  It should make for an amazing time since Montreal does have so many wonderful places to visit.

Is there a place in your town, your city that you have yet to visit?  Will you decide to visit it soon?  Let me know about it in the comments.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Working Out of Home

I still don't have access to my apartment since the ceiling is taking longer than expected to be repaired.  They found that pigeons were able to nest in the roof and when they opened the ceiling eveything fell in my living room.  I can just imagine them trying to get the pigeons onto the front balcony; it must have been hilarious.

The boyfriend leaves early for work so I thought I would do some updating to my Etsy shop from the McDonald's near work.  He has no Internet, so grabbing a cup of coffee and using their wifi seemed like a good idea. It's been two mornings in a row and I must tell you I prefer working from home.

First, I get to choose the choice of music or even that I don't want to listen to music.  Which is one thing I have noticed, I don't knit much with music in the background.  I much prefer watching episodes of M*A*S*H or watching a game of baseball or hockey than listening to music.

Second, at home I don't have to listen to people's one-sided conversations on their cell phones. This is one BIG pet peeve of mine and it's worse when trying to work.

I know lots of people love to work in coffee shops and such but give me my apartment any day.  Hopefully I should be able to return to it tonight.

So, do many of you actually enjoy working away from home in coffee shops and so on?  Can you please explain to me why?

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Knits By Nat Etsy Shop is Three Years Old!

My shop is three years old today.  To celebrate you can enjoy 30% OFF every item in the shop by using the coupon code : THIRTYOFF.

I also have this video for you, hopefully you will enjoy it.




Sunday, May 6, 2012

End of the Year Bowling Party

It's official bowling season is over.  Tuesday, May 1st was the last night we played but today was our end of the year party for the Tuesday night league.  It's a very small league with only 40 players and we have so much fun during the year!  We did sadly have one of our players die during the season.  She was such a lively person and is still dearly missed by us all.

The party was lots of fun with great music and good food.

As usual I came away with an individual prize and this year it was for the best game with my 2 perfect games of 300.  Here's the trophy acknowledging my feat. 





We also have an award given every year to the two top people male and female who play the most 69-169-269 over the season.  Every single time we play such a score anywhere during the game we pay 50 cents.  I have been known to play 69 and 169 in the same game and having to pay $1.00 then.  This year I really expected not to be anywhere near the top but I beat my own teammate.  She played 15 of them and I played 16.  Thankfully there is no "69" trophy for this award but I did win some money!

It's funny how much I enjoy playing bowling and it was after all the place I met my current boyfriend.

Is there a sport or hobby you now like to do which you never would have expected to like?

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Simple Way to Store My Felt Flowers

A while back I ordered some non-wool eco friendly felt flowers from this shop on Etsy : ifeltsprightly http://www.etsy.com/shop/ifeltsprightly .  I just love them but still had them in their original plastic bags not knowing what to put them in.


Finally I thought of my button container :


So, I found another one and here's how my collection looks :



Now if I could only find something to put these bigger flowers in.  I haven't found a container yet big enough to fit them in.  The divisions are too small.



What are some neat ways you store your craft supplies?

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Working on the Little Arrowhead Shawl

I have been wanting to knit shawls for a while now but somehow the construction of how they are knit was puzzling me, especially when it comes to lace patterns.  I have knit one which was basically rows of purl/knit and some eyelets but it wasn't a lace pattern per se.

So looking through Ravelry I found this basic Arrowhead pattern shawl and decided to knit it.  I have already knit a few scarves with this very lace pattern and realise how simple a lace pattern it is.  It's a pattern by Pam Allen and available at Interweave Knits : http://www.knittingdaily.com/free-lace-knitting-patterns-collection/


Here are some shots of my progress with the shawl.  Here's a few pictures of it in progress.







I am really enjoying knitting this shawl and already thinking of some wonderful lace patterns I can knit.  I am using Bernat Satin yarn and looking forward to see how it will block.

Friday, March 30, 2012

One of My Photos Used for a Yarn Sale Invitation

My photo of some cones of yarn I bought from La bobineuse de laine is being used for this yarn sale invitation.  It's happening today and tomorrow in Bruxelles.  If it was on this side of the ocean I would be there in a heartbeat.  So, if I have any readers in Belgium go for me and tell me all about it.

It's great having someone ask to use one of your photos.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Another Computer Crash and New Cowl

Yes, I have had my computer crash yet again.  This time I decided I needed a new one and bought one last Friday.  I love the new computer but still hope to be able to fix the old one.  I miss my big monitor and sadly I had not backed up my photos from 2011.  The rest were all copied on USB drives.  So, sadly all the new coffee cup cozies and the new cowl photos are not available; I had erased them from the camera memory card as well.

So, here is the new cowl pattern. The pictures I wanted to show you of it in progress are not available but here are the photos of the finished cowl.

The first one is knit with 100% acrylic yarn from La Bobineuse in colours of royal blue, green, grey, brown and taupe.



This second cowl is knit with 100% acrylic yarn in a blue-green colour.


The last one is knit with a mushroom coloured 100% acrylic yarn.  The stitch pattern used to knit these cowls is very lovely I find.  I like the fact it looks the same on both sides.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

I Want to Knit All Day

This morning I almost didn't get off at my stop to go to work.  I am knitting a cowl inspired by the stitch of this cup cozy and I just wanted to continue knitting all the way to the end of the line. I was just in a great knitting mood, my needles were just clicking away easily.  I will get some pictures of the cowl in progress for you to see what it looks like; it should be just lovely.


Do you have days like that when creating just goes so well you could continue for hours without stopping?  I know I could have done this today.




Monday, February 13, 2012

Fun Bowling Tournament

Saturday night I participated in a best box bowling tournament. A team consists of two players and they play 2 boxes at a time; the better score of the two players is used to calculate the points. Four games are played and the one with the most pins win.

It's the fourth year that I participate in it; I ended up winning it the first time.

This year the competition was extremely good.  Teams played a minimum of 10 perfect games!  Two of them were played on the same lanes I was playing.  Normally it's both teammates that help each other out but one of them was by a single player.  His teammate just sat and encouraged him through the entire game.  It was great to see him play. They ended up playing another perfect game together.

The winning team played 4 perfect games!  Now that is extremely amazing!  The coordinator of the tournament had never seen this happen in over 25 years of tournament.  He also hadn't seen so many perfect games played by so many teams.

As usual there were murmurs of how the teams weren't matched up properly and so on.  But come on! Who would ever think a team could play perfectly for four games in a row?  That's 48 strikes! I have played a few perfect games and they are not that easy to play.  I have also seen top players play together and not even play a perfect game.

I really don't understand how people cannot see the exploit for what it is. Simply amazing!