Happy Easter

"Mommy to Bee" Party

This weekend we celebrated the impending arrival of my sister's second baby. It was a wonderful celebration, the house filled with friends, happy to see each other and  to be able to catch up. 

We had good food, good humor and good company.

I have written before about my uncle's beekeeping hobby, and what a big part of my childhood it was. My sister was my uncle's biggest helper, she was always by his side, asking to understand what he was doing and to help. Needless to say that just like me she has a soft-spot for honey and bees.

So of course, our theme for this party was....you guesses it! Bees!! As in "Mother to Bee" or "Baby to Bee". 

I had a lot of fun putting together decorations and researching ideas for the party. I chose a happy, yellow theme, with flowers and happily buzzing bees (not real ones of course). I set up an improvised photo-booth, for us to make silly faces, we had outfits for my sister, her daughter and the new baby, created by a very talented friend of hers, an adorable diaper cake and tons of gifts. Since this is an incredibly talented bunch of ladies, another friend made this incredible bee-hive cake which tasted as good as it looked.

In my house , no celebration is complete without a hand-knit gift, so I made this for the new baby.

Next post I have to tell you about our activity, it was the most fun thing I have done in a long time.

Everyone is a little Irish today

A little late in the day, I agree, but I did acknowledge St. Patrick's day today, by finishing the third piece of my Inversion Cardigan. This has been a work in progress since October!

So, for St. Patty's ... little green from me. Hope your celebrations were fun!

Happiness is...

sometimes... 
a cup of steaming coffee...
or a delicious piece of chocolate...
the smell of the air after a fresh summer rain...
or sunlight streaming in the windows...
today, happiness is a pile of lovingly hand-knit items...

I guess I am in spring cleaning mode, I have been going through our closets, sorting, evaluating, making piles. I feel a little invigorated by the warmer temperatures, I am back to making lists and plans.

In the process, I pulled out all of my hand-knits to, honestly, simply admire them. They make me happy. Is that funny? I guess it is, but knowing how much time and work has gone to making them, they feel like quite the accomplishment. It is rare that your accomplishments are this tangible.

The hat on top is for a friend, she asked me to make her, she was looking for a slouchy type hat, and after looking through countless options on Ravelry she chose Norie , another lovely pattern by Gudrun Johnston. I used Malabrigo Rastita in black. It is a very easy knit, a very straightforward pattern, and the hat looks adorable!

Anyone else feeling the spring-cleaning bug? Or at least a little less like hibernating? Tell me about your own projects.

Knit-night

Something wonderful happened this week. I made some new friends! And not just any kind of friends, but knit and yarn obsessed friends!

Let me tell you how this came about. A friend of mine, a non-knitter that patiently listens to me prattle on and on about my projects, noticed a group of knitters sitting at Starbucks. She decided that they looked friendly enough to approach, so she went up to them and inquired about the possibility of adding a new member to their group. As knitters are indeed a very friendly bunch, they of course said the more the merrier and gave my friend their contact details.

After being embarrassed at first, I had to admit that I was thrilled at the idea of having my own knitting posse! So I sent out a message and went to my first knit-night yesterday!

I had a blast. They are the most welcoming group of people. We had coffee, and chatted knits, kids and obsessions, I could have stayed for hours!

I cannot wait for the next meeting.

Kite Winter Festival

What do you do, as a parent, when you have been stuck indoors for weeks, due to the fact that it has been disturbingly cold outside, and your 5 year old is in dire need of releasing some pent-up energy?

You search and search and search for outdoor activities that you can enjoy as soon as the temperatures climb to the single digits, even if they are still hovering at around -7 Celsius. To be honest with you, growing up, I never thought that it would be possible to feel happy that it is "only" -7 outside, but, there is a forst time for everything.

So I research constantly, and keep a running list of possible outings and activities to try. This weekend, the good weather coincided with the Kite Festival being held about an hour from here, in Saint-Placide. We bundled up, hopped into the car and took off in the morning. 

The festival is held in front of the town church of Saint-Placide, which was built facing the Deux-Montagnes lake. Once the water freezes over, which with average temperatures of -30 degrees should be no problem, the frozen surface becomes a playground. You can fly home-made kites, you can watch the professionals put on a show, there are even Paraski competitions....think surfing on ice with the help of a kite. There were slides for the kids to try, bouncy castles and of course warm fare to enjoy. To our delight we discovered a little stand where we could get maple taffy.

With sticky fingers we climbed back into the car and drove back home, happy to feel our toes slowly thawing out and lazily dozing in the sunshine we have missed so much.

I am off to research our next outing....quite possibly a Sugar Shack visit!

Imogen Cowl- a finished project

Only a few days ago I blogged about a wonderful Knit-along organized and hosted by the lovely Shannon of the luvinthemommyhood blog. This is the 5th of her KAL's that I have signed up for. Why so many? I simply can't get enough of the fun conversations all the participants have, of the inspirational stories some of these ladies share, of the helpful advice and the encouraging words. The more I get involved, the more I realize what a wonderful, warm and kind community the knitting community is. And yes, I am also aware that I have said this many times before.

But enough with the mushy stuff. Let me introduce you to my finished project. As I mentioned last time, it is called the Imogen Cowl and to me it was the perfect Downton Abbey inspired knit. I did not expect to finish it on time, and the only reason I did, is because I decided to shorten it, to forgo the loop. I don't think it takes away from the beauty of the lacework though, and I am happy with the result.

After days of being stuck in the deep-freeze and suffering through gray skies, we had a beautiful sunny weekend that allowed my to properly photograph it. Once again, I have to thank my husband who patiently followed instructions and took tons of photos until I declared, "Ok, I think we're done". 

I also have to mention the yarn. It is the first time I used Quince & Co and I simply adored knitting with it. It is wonderful to work with, it's wonderfully soft, and once blocked it really makes the pattern pop. I cannot wait to choose more patterns to try this yarn with.