A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns

I have found a copy of "A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns" SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Yes, I am acting totally giddy ever since I found it.  My boyfriend found my reaction "cute and hilarious".  He just doesn't understand how much I wanted a copy of this book.  I love intricate patterns and had heard there were some amazing ones to be found in here.

Where did I find it you ask?
At an old books store in downtown Plattsburgh.


What was I doing in Plattsburgh?
Supposed to be enjoying the beach but since the same rainy weather was happening here as well we ended up in Ausable Chasm and then went on to Port Kent.  The weather did clear up late afternoon so we went walking in downtown Plattsburgh.  As soon as I spotted the old books store I knew I had to see if they had any knitting books and boy I hit the jackpot!


I  have already charted a lace pattern and will soon be knitting wonderful scarves and more inspired by the lovely intricate patterns in this book.

Here are some pictures from Ausable Chasm.  The first one is a a little chipmunk who kept coming onto to the porch whenever someone left to see if he could find some crumbs.  The second one is of the falls.  We spent an enjoyable time looking around a bit and chatting on the porch while it rained.

Inspiration for the garter stitch lace scarves

The inspiration for the garter stitch lace scarves was from Baktus which I saw once on Ravelry and can be found here on Flickr :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/norwayneedles/2963651011/

I liked the idea of creating a scarf that started slim, went wider in the middle on one side and back to slim.  Although her's looks really more like a shawl with a deeper V in the back. I found the lace edgings browsing through the Harmony Guide book :

I will really enjoy knitting more of these scarves since I love the look of them.  The yarn I used comes from La Bobineuse de Laine and I am knitting another one in orange tones as well.  They should all be up soon in my shop.

Heat wave the last few days

We have been having hot and humid weather for the last couple of days.  I love the heat, hate the humidity.

What this means?

No biking home on a BIXI since I don't feel like collapsing somewhere on the side of the road.

I have still been knitting but this morning the yarn and needles kept sticking to my fingers how humid it was.

If all goes according to plan I should have some scarves to add in my Etsy shop over the weekend.

Canada Day, or should I say moving day!

Yesterday was Canada Day.

You know what it means here in Québec?  It's moving day.  Most leases finish June 30th and I don't know why but Montrealers have a passion for moving.

I spent most of my bike ride home last night biking around trucks that were blocking the bike lanes.

So for for the next couple of weeks lots of junk will find it's way on the street curbs waiting to be picked up by the garbage truck; things like mattresses, couches and lots of computers.  I even saw one guy taking the computers apart to get the parts that may still be good and useful.

It also means new people in the neighborhood; new dogs to see being walked by their parents.  This morning I saw the most adorable little pug enjoying his walk.  I wonder if I'll see him often.

Unfortunately it will also mean lots of abandoned animals because the new place they are moving into doesn't accept animals.  I hope there won't be that many this year but I'm not optimistic.

Festival International de Jazz de Montréal 2010

The Festival is back in town for the next 2 weeks.  This is my favorite festival of all time.  I love jazz and I thank my father for exposing me to jazz as a kid.

I was born in 1967, the year Montreal held the International and Universal Exposition or as we called it EXPO 67.  My mother spent every Saturday there alone while my father babysat me at home.  He would play jazz music all day inside and outside since we had speakers in the backyard.  We were the cool kids since we could blare music outside while playing in the pool. (Boom boxes only became the way to play music outside in the 80s.) 

Actually all weekends my father basically played jazz until we were old enough to want to listen to our music instead.

As usual there will be great free concerts all over the downtown core.  You can get further info here on the website : http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx

Last night we were able to listen to the end of James Hunter's concert happening on the big TD stage.

At 22:00 on the Rio Tinto Alcan stage we listened to Crystal Monee Hall.  She's a singer/songwriter who will be launching her first album early July in New York.  She has an amazing voice; you can hear her album on her website : http://www.crystalmoneehall.com/

On our way to the Festival I was able to get a pic of this wonderful man on his way to ... Your guess is as good as mine.

My BIXI adventures

Last night I had quite the adventure with a BIXI bike.

It wouldn't lock into any bike dock.  I tired the NINE empty ones and no go.

Luckily, I wasn't far from my boyfriend's so I went to his place to call the BIXI hotline.  Yes, I don't have a cell phone; that's another story.

Spoke with Jonathan who assured me everything would be fine.  He contacted a technician who arrived at the BIXI station 5 minutes later.  He wasn't able to work his magic to get the bike locked so he hauled it into his truck.

I checked my BIXI account and all is fine.

What's a BIXI bike? 

It's a bike that's part of a public system that allows you to travel in parts of Montreal from one BIXI station to another.  You can learn more here : http://montreal.bixi.com/rolling-with-bixi/how-it-works.

I have the 1-year subscription since I wanted to use it to get to my boyfriend's place after work.  I often had to wait 10-15 minutes for the bus and realized I could probably bike down to his place faster.  This year they haven't set up a BIXI station at the métro stop I get off though.  So, I get off one stop earlier and bike it down.

I am even thinking of using the bike in the morning, great easy way to get some exercise in.

White chocolate from Sweet William

I love white chocolate but have always found it to be much too sweet.  Some weeks ago I ordered the Sweet William brand from Viva Granola.

It is amazing, really not sweet and "smooth" as they write on the package.  They are an Australian company that make various chocolate products; blocks, candy bars, baking chocolate etc.  They even have a No Nut-"nut" bar, the roasted soy beans make it nutty.

Sadly, Viva Granola does not have any right now and going to Australia to get some more is not in the budget right now.