I love Montréal - J'aime ma ville....

Je ne pense pas que j'habiterais ailleurs. Même si maintenant je demeure à Laval, je suis montréalaise dans mon coeur. J'aime avoir une montagne en plein coeur de la ville et la quitter pour me retrouver sur Ste-Catherine et voir ces maisons si typiques de Montréal....

Il faudra que je prenne des photos sur la rue St-Hubert très bientôt. Je suis allée chez Effiloché vendredi soir et si ça n'avait pas été si froid, je pense que je m'y serais balladée pour un petit temps car les lumières avaient quelque chose de magique. Je devrai aller en prendre également dans le vieux Montréal. C'est bien de montrer un peu de notre quartier, notre ville à nos lecteurs qui ne sont pas d'ici.

J'aime également où je demeure à Laval car en quelques minutes de marche, au bout de ma rue, j'ai un grand parc où je peux faire courir mes chiens et si je marche au bout de ce parc, j'arrive à la rivière, si je marche dans l'autre direction, j'arrive au centre d'achats où j'ai de tout! Même la bibliothèque publique! Non, je n'irais nulle part ailleurs. Je m'ennuierais de mes saisons même du mois de novembre ! eh oui....

I love the city I live in. I always think that I have the best of both worlds. If I walk down our street, we have a large park where my dogs can run freely and we arrive to a large river if I walk the other way I get to a shopping centre where I can find everything... Even the public library! In the winter, we can see skiers and snowmobiles. What more can I ask for?

I would miss our seasons, even the month of November....

What am I working on these days? Well, the fairy theater for Anne-Marie... pics coming soon I promise and this:

I had varigated mohair that I really liked so I made a headband but was left with a small amount so I decided to get some mohair to match. I really like what it looks like. It's so subtle that you hardly see the stripes. But better yet, I had a GOOD reason to make a trip to my favorite yarn store..... Ah! life's hard sometimes!

Soon on a computer near you....

Fairies in a shadow box!!!

I'm making something special for my daughter! You'll see in a few days... In the meantime, I'm taking some time off to take care of Mamie who's not feeling very well and needs to be up and going by next week so she can have a visit from my sis in law from Nova Scotia...

Hope to talk to you soon and in the mean time here is some projects that I saw on the blogosphere and that give me some food for my imagination...

The picture that started the shadow box idea:

For this girl:An apron as a gift? OH YEAH....

And this under our tree? Of course!
Next time, I will post my own projects done I hope anyway...

Hedgehog

I love hedgehogs!! Because I can't have one because of our two dogs, I made one....


To make yours you'll need:

1 small piece of felt or fleece

small amount of yarn in two tones (I used a multicolored cotton)

2 beads for eyes

1 big bead or button for nose

matching embroidery floss for felt

fiberfill

Hot glue gun

Cut pattern (2 times) (save and print, it will be original size)

Sew around with floss.

I left a small opening for nose and inserted a black shank button and glued but you can sew a big bead if you prefer.

Fill tightly with fiberfill

Make a pompom

measuring 5 1/2" (14cm) around

Flatten a side of the pompom and fix the face to the pompom with hot glue. Sew the eyes.

Voilà!!

On my to do list

1. Throw my camera out the window

2. Do some research on how to download, scan, work with blogger. My self esteem is being very much affected when I look at other blogs being so well presented, clear pictures, clear tutorials and all. I guess I have a lot to learn!

Si une copie francophone est capable de m'aider à trouver un site expliquant comment se servir de Blogger, flickr et tout le tralala en français, svp faites-moi signe. Je suis vraiment désespérée quand je vois l'allure de mon blog. Je veux bien partager mais le faire de façon originale et de look plus expert serait vraiment extra!

A plus, Marguerite

One of my favorite knitting book

is an old book my mom used to have at home. I loved looking at the pictures. They're so well done with scenery and all. I have an idea for january after the holidays. I could post a tutorial for an animal every day. I needs to be translated as this is a swiss book and written in french and german. It could be Farm animal of the day! We could all have a small farm at home with fake grass and all. I love miniatures and I think it would be great. What do you think? I would personnaly change a few things like colors, eyes...

Here is some example:

OK, let's work on this little hedgehog I talked about yesterday. I'll post a little tutorial as soon as I'm finished! Bye le monde... à plus tard!

My first tutorial so please bear with me!

I'd like to share this little christmas tree. It is crocheted in the amigurumi way.
I've done my best translating from french to english, so if you're a good crocheter and you find errors please tell me and I'll correct it.
You'll need about 50gr of worsted wool and a size 3mm crochet or whatever size you feel comfortable with but it has to be tight. This is worked all around so mark your first st. (I used a safety pin) and move it up with your rows.

1st step, the base or the floor if you prefer.

chain 2 st.
1- 5 single crochet (sc) in second stitch
2- (1 sc, inc. 2 sc in next st.) repeat all around
3- same as above
4- inc. 2 in all st.
5- (1 sc, inc. 2 sc in next st.) repeat all around
6- same as above
7- (2 sc inc. 2 in next st.)repeat all around

You should have a circle of 56 st.

Now the tree. From this point on, you can work in fur st. but if you're not comfortable with it you can work in sc and when the tree is finished you can embroider the needles with yarn and a wool needle. That's what I did. You just work from the base to the top and work loops around every sc. If you want to give a try with the fur st. and don't know how to do it, here's a link to a nice tutorial.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4562824_fur-stitch-crochet.html

1- work all around in sc. and anywhere around the row, make 4 st. in chain st. and re-attach 4 st. away. this will form a slit at the base for stuffing or putting a weight if you wish. The circle in this picture is made with much bigger yarn to make it more visible.


2- Work in rounds, decreasing 4 stitches (1 at a time) across the row as evenly as possible every 2 rows - 9 times (18 rows total and 36 decreases)

3- Decrease 2 stitches every 2 rows - twice

4- Decrease every row 2 st. until you have only 2 left. With a wool needle pass yarn through loops and pull the yarn inside the tree.

Stuff tightly and place a weight at the base if you want.

Decorate with beads or whatever you please.

I'd love to see yours but I have no idea how to post your pictures on my blog. I've seen links to flickr groups so people can show their done projects. If you have the time or the patience to tell me how to do this with blogger, you'd be an angel. I'm not the techno type but if you want to help a stupid blogger, please tell me in my comments or ask for my e-mail.

Bye bye for now!

Time out until tomorrow night?

I'll take a blog break until tomorrow night. Got a phone call yesterday. Mom in law's not feeling good at all. She might have to go to the hospital so, I want her with me at home. No time to blog so I'll post friday. Oups! get a phone call this morning and our secretary is sick. Will she be able to come in tomorrow so that I can have my friday off as usual? Don't know yet .... So in the meantime, I'll share with you pics of another library book I got. Love it. Included are full size pattern sheets! YEAHHHH.....

This frog will be added to my ''to do list''

In the meantime, let's take care of Mamie...

Procrastination........and more....

A big problem or let's say two big problems in my life are: not finishing when I should and not doing when I should... Should I crochet or should I work?
Too tired, let's crochet while watching Project Runway....

Shouldn't have (sigh). Should have done what has not been done and will have to be done anyway, anytime isn't it?

Max, what do you think? I don't care just come to bed....



I am being honest here! I tend to let go of things I don't like to do and not finishing my projects if I need to go downstairs to look for that missing button, piece of ribbon or whatever is not on hand... OH NO! that's means lazyness .... A third one! Better stop right here before I find a fourth one. OK, let's make a deal with myself. I will finish the following before I start something else and will post the picture of the finished project just to prove my good will. Is that a deal Max? Just shut up mom and come to bed. PLEASE..........................................(dog sigh)

Things I should have done

Like I wrote in my previous post.... Didn't get dressed, should have cleaned the house but instead I created two friends...

May I introduce Mr. Hérisson

My friend came over with her camera and being a photographer she told me the problem is my camera. I took pictures with hers and there was a huge difference. My birthday is coming up so let's hope! Looks likethe picture above was taken in black and white.

In this one, the color is better but the image is blurry. Same settings...
I guess I'll start shopping or better yet, put a camera on my wish list.

I also made Mr. l'Écureuil


Too bad I made those after Brigitte left. The pictures would have been very different. But they're cute anyway.
The patterns come from Planet June, easy to follow and well explained. I had fun! Thanks June

I'm going shopping tomorrow (no, not for a camera) but if I have time, I'll start her fuzzy lamb.

Salut tout le monde! J'ai eu tellement de plaisir avec ces petites bibittes. Je vais tenter de les photographier à l'extérieur aussitôt que le soleil tente de se pointer le bout du nez. A plus,

Kitchen Poetry no. 6

Saturday morning, pj's not matching, kitchen table full of scrapbook material, not getting dressed at all today, cup of coffee, raining outside, my kids around, and whisteling ''feeling groovy" I feel sooooo gooooooddddd

kitchen poetry no. 5

A really small, tiny ceramic chicken keeping me company on top of my stove while cooking spaghetti.

I can hear Anne-Marie singing in her room down the hall and Paul cheering while watching hockey in the living room.

I feel good. Plain, simple , friday night.

New book, new ideas?

We have the most fantastic public library system! I saw a book advertise the other day on a french website and thought... I WANT THAT BOOK! Open our library website, check it out, nope! Send an e-mail from my library customer account, ask for the book, and two weeks later, get a phone call from the lady of the library front desk that never learned to smile....VOILÀ!!!!

There's 22 patterns in this book all beautifully illustrated with pictured tutorials and patterns all in color and easy to follow. I don't know if it's available in english but you can check it out with ISBN #10: 2-215-07802-2 and ISBN #13: 978-2-215-07802-2
Published by Fleurus Paris 2006. The authors are Marie Enderlen-Debuisson and Caroline Laisné.

The felt one on the cover is very nice. They use all kind of materials from ordinary cotton to plastic tubing used for aquarium filters!

Here is some of my favourites

I told you they were cute! I think that most of you can follow the directions even in french because it's so well explained with drawings and pictures.

In the meantime, I'll be at the cottage this week-end working on the two cute patterns I received from Panet June and hope to be finished so I can post some pictures next week. I will receive some nice wool from Martha's vineyard fiber farm soon so I'll be looking at patterns too.

BTW Have you visited MVFF web site and blog? These sheep can melt your heart with one glance. Check it out, Susan is a very nice person and she has a beautiful adventure to share with all of us knitters and crafters. So I'll post all comments and read e-mails on sunday night when I'm back from paradise!

PS Feel free to comment or ask for some more pictures from the book. There's more!

Salut les filles! Avez-vous vu ce fantastique livre? Les images parlent d'elles-mêmes n'est-ce-pas? Chose certaine, je vais tenter de faire celui en feutre gris c'est certain! Il s'agit maintenant de trouver le feutre. Je pense que je pourrai trouver ça chez CM Textiles ou peut-être chez Club Tissus. Si jamais vous en trouvez, SVP envoyer moi un courriel personnel!!! En attendant, je vais au chalet en fin de semaine. Lantier, here I come. Youppi...........

Some more projects to come?

I have to finish this sweater.....

See. I told you it was the right side.....

I was going through books in my craft room and I saw this one I had forgotten all about....

HUMMMMM Lets look inside... I have loads of cheap and a little bit of very very good yarn. I could use some cheap one and knit this one for Lulu:

And this one for Mr. Max:

OK! Let's finish that white sweater for me.....

And then for my four legged friends......

ELECTION DAY !

I forgot to wish our American neighbors a good Election Day! Let's hope that there will be changes that bring peace and happiness.... No matter who you vote for, I wish you the best!

See what happens....

See what happens when you dress up your dog in a Halloween costume? Now she thinks she's a kid! With a little coaxing and she did it!!!! Maybe small but full of gutts!

Now what do I do with this sweater? Everybody that saw it think that the wrong side is the right side. What do you think? Personally, I prefer the right side. I love that ribbing, its large and very stretchy. I'll scan the picture of the pattern tonight and post it tomorrow.

right side

wrong side

I KNOW!!! I'm a lousy photographer! I'll have to do something about this.

the ribbing

Oh boy... Brigitte tu dois m'aider à prendre de jolies photos... This yarn is acrylic and I hate acrylic yarn. My mom had a yarn store a few years ago and sold it. We ended up with boxes of yarn and I decided to knit it all before buying new yarns. So next time I walked in front of my favourite LYS, I'll have to close my eyes and think about something else! (sigh)

We said allo to Mr Pumkin potato head

walking down the street with a dog dressed in a tutu. I never imagined that a dog wearing a costume would make kids so happy! I had a bag of chips in my pocket and and Lulu made little dances for the kids! Prima ballerina with the Canadian Ballet euhhh make that Canine Ballet. It was so much fun that next year we'll go with both dogs. That's if I can have Max wear a costume but we'll have a year to practice. Look at these dirty paws....


Thanks to Leslie from a friend to knit with for her suggetions, I could finish Lulu (on my banner) and Pepito

I needled felted the eyes and nose on this one. Mr. rabbit will be done tomorrow when I decide which colors to use.

Then I'll be able to start Max, thanks to June of Planet june for her Jack Russell pattern.

Nice to get all these projects finally finished. Then I'll finished the white sweater, then my granny square blanket, then my red and blue blanket.... ouf I'm getting tired now. Ok, where's my crochet now?

Little Riding Hood went to school

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!

JOYEUSE HALLOWEEN À MES POTES FRANçAIS...

Anne-Marie or should I say, tall riding hood ? she's taller than I am.... went to school all dressed up this morning. I just love these wood earrings I got in Québec City about 10 years ago.

Thought it would go well with the theme. I'm just wondering if riding hood is the right name. In french it is Le petit chaperon rouge but I don't think it's in my french/english dictionnary... But anyways...

Isn't she cute?

Those pictures are blurry! I don't know what's wrong with my camera ... maybe the problem is the photographer. I'll have to ask my friend Brigitte for a course in digital photography 101.

In the meantime, I could dress this little one as the big bad wolf? He looks so innocent not knowing what coming.... hihi NO! I'm kidding....

It would be fun if you could all take pics of kids tonight and post them. T