What It Do, Baby?

I want to post about the stuff I've been working on, I do. But, I'm trying to borrow a camera so that I can get some adequate pictures. I've gotten the approval, but the delivery is taking some time. He'd better just bring the damn camera, LOL. Hmmm, could my attitude be why he's taking so long with it?

In the mean time, we've still been living it up. Yesterday we went to a birthday party at a dirt bike race track. It was a little nippy, but not cold enough to cancel and definitely not too cold for the actual racers. They loved it! Teddy Bear was too little to ride the track, but she has no problem entertaining herself. She spent her time rocking the mic on their intercom system. The owners of the place for some reason didn't want to ask me, "Can you please get your child?", so they just ended up turning the mic off on her after a couple of hours.

Later in the evening someone emailed me a picture of her gettin' gangsta. If you've looked at her pictures before and said to yourself, "hmmm, this child must be nuts." You'd be right. She'd probably give the Dimbled One a run for his money. I try to make the best of it. But I have a feeling that one day I'm going to be interviewed by some reality show host with dumb ass questions like, "Did you know that one day she would be on stage." Well, duhhhhhh! I'm just hoping that before then she can learn some self control.

She does not get this personality from me or from TV. I swear, she just comes up with this stuff. Getting her to model my knits is a trip.

Craving Filth

My Name is Nicole, and I'm an emotional eater. Have I mentioned this before? Well, admitting it wasn't enough to change my ways. When I get stressed out a chocolate strawberry square from the Nugget will do the trick. Why don't we just wash that down with some champagne. When I get nervous, no problem, lets whip up some salmon fettuccine with that creamy, garlicky, fragrant, flavorful sauce, and a nice green salad. When I get lonely, soul food, any kind, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens, black eyed peas, etc. Depending upon how lonely I am (chic-a-bow-wow), we can follow all that with any kind of decadent dessert and wash it down with at least two mimosas. This describes my self soothing in a nutshell. I justify the behavior by telling myself that I have the right to be satisfied every once in a while and that since the world seems adamant on keeping me struggling I'm not going to hold MYSELF back from having what I want need and deserve. Visits with my 200 lb plus cousins don't even seem slow me down.

No, I'm not trying to catch up with them, and I know I need to slow down and exercise more. Knowing this doesn't change the fact that I am still an emotional eater. But what I don't understand is why I'm craving chilin's.

Chitlins or chitterlings are pig intestines, poop chutes people! Preparing them can be tricky, and it takes a lot of patience and work. My cousin and I used to have to stand in front of the sink for half the day separating the final membrane from the fleshy part that we would later be scooping onto our plates. African Americans first started eating chitterlings because as slaves we were given what was left over from the hog (i.e. cheeks (hog mog/maw?), feet (pickled pigs feet)). I'm a firm believer in African Americans shedding behaviors instilled by slavery, mentally and physically. So, why is it then that I am still craving chittlins which I am sure have no nutritional value. I haven't had them for years .

Could it be something emotional, or something still engraved in me from slavery. If it is emotion, which emotion am I trying to soothe? Why am I craving filth?!?!

I will buy 10 pounds this evening and bring them to our Easter feast.

Summer Fit No. 1

I so very much want my camera to be functioning. Using my cell is just not working out. I don't know about you, but I have to speak with photos.

The Monica top is big, a size 6. Nothing in size 4 in her closet fits her anymore so I didn't want to risk it. This is a frustrating size. When she starts wearing it I think I'm going to cris cross the straps in the back to make it fit better. I have her pinned up in the back to take the photo.


The tutu was really easy. You can not tell but the colors of the tulle are light pink and champage. I wish I could have found some brown. I am going to figure out how to use that sewing machine so help me. I think I like the look of a more finished tutu as seen here. This one will have to do for now and besides it fits perfectly. I got the tutorial for the tutu from here.

Yes, she does wear this kind of stuff out of the house. You'll never be 4 y.o. again so we like to do it big. I think it will go well with some Crocs or bling-bling flip flops.

Thank You Hat

Ok, I've finished my co-worker's thank you gift. He said that he wanted something yellow and gray. The dark color is actually a very dark gray, or off-black. I saw this dude once with a lace hat on. I chuckled because he probably had no idea that he was wearing lace. I pictured him buying the had and saying "ah, man, this one with the holes is tiiiight", or something like that. It wasn't fancy lace, just the YO K2tog kind. Anyway since it's almost spring, and I know this co-worker is a regular on the golf course, I thought it might be wise to incorporate some holes into this wool hat. It's also soft enough and thin enough so that he can ball it up and stuff it into one of his pockets if it gets too hot.

I used Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. This fingering weight yarn comes in a 175 yard skein and I still have a huge hand full left. I used the Visor Beanie pattern by Suzanne Steiger. It's very easy but I think some of the numbers are off a little. I'll have to make another to be sure, it could just be me. I added 3 more rounds and one round of sc around the whole beanie after adding the visor. The fact that the pattern called for worsted weight yarn and I used a fingering weight with a hook 2 mm larger than what was recommended led to this net like fabric. I like it. If the recipient isn't feeling it, I'll re-do it. This visor only took a day.

There was a little neighborhood event yesterday called Second Saturdays. It was held next door to this coffee shop in a big room about the same size as the coffee shop. All it was basically is some folk like you and I getting together to show off their stuff, and hopefully sell it. Where are my Sacramento Ebony Elite sistahs at? We need to organize to do what these ladies were doing. It's here where they invited some Alpacas for some reason. I say for some reason because it really was a tiny venue. Teddy bear liked them and I did too. They are very gentle and of course very soft.


Also, I found a breeder for Angora bunnies (they were there too). I could have sworn I took a picture of my bunny's daddy, dang. They've never bred before and my order will probably be their first batch. Time to start looking for my bunny supplies. Then I'll call them. They said you don't even have to shear the bunnies and proceeded to just pluck old boy's fur out. He didn't even flinch. I also got a little lesson from a spinner that was there. I don't know why I thought a lesson was going to make my progress any quicker. I just have to keep practicing. I reminded Little Man that George Washington Carver spun and dyed his own yarn and that if he learned to do this, he would just be following the footsteps of a great African American man. This is all true, but I'm just really trying to get me some yarn out of those bunnies and I might need some extra hands for that.

I Won, I Won!

I entered a little blog contest and won! Yay! I was gifted this Lorna's Lace yarn by Kamika, along with this neat patterns book. Thank you, Kamika for blessing me! This book in really empowering. By this, I mean that each and every one of us ought to have our own patterns book by now. I wonder what the hold up is?


Anyway, I'm going to try to make Teddy Bear a shrug with this. Maybe I'll be able to get this bell sleeve shrug from it if I shorten the sleeves. I love variegated yarns but rarely use ones with neutral colors and am very excited about what the outcome will be. Yep, I'm think I'm gonna do this pattern. If you have any other suggestions for a similar item, I'm open to them.

Aaaaah, don't they look cute when they're asleep.
Now, factor in the fact that this is MY pillow that she wants to share with me every night. This is crazy, yo. I normally am one to try to hide my gross imperfections, but maybe if I let the cat out of the bag I can get some ideas that will work. Let's start with the fact that I know that this is my fault. I have never been good at getting up for night time feedings. This is why breast feeding is so cool. She'd be on there all night while we were both asleep.

No, I don't breast feed her anymore, come on! Also, she started walking when she was 9 months old and was and still is an excellent climber. I put her in the crib every night just to wake in the morning to a brown nursing ball of fat. And my bed is as high as they come. All last week me and Little Man camped out in her room with sleeping bags. So, she CAN get a full night's sleep in her own bed. "Teddy Bear, you need to sleep in your own room, in your own bed." "I can't, I'm too little, I just can't do it", she says in the winiest voice she can muster.

It wasn't that bad when she used to look like this...

...but she's grown some. I've locked my door, she'll stand on the other side of it all night. Oh yes, she can stay up all night. She only needs 30 minute naps in between. I've let her sleep on the hallway floor before and she woke up with a runny nose (it gets cold out there). I'm stumped. If I can ever get past my issues with finding a quality man, I don't want to have to tell him that we'll be having a guest in our bed.

Several family members have suggested that I just give up and let her sleep with me forever like they did with their moms. Huh!

What to Say

Well, last week I endured a somewhat major crises that I quickly recovered from, with a splendid ending I might add. By that I mean the weekend was great. A weekend that was wrapped up by a nice long visit to my favorite Oakland LYS. Then yesterday I had a long conversation with a potential new male friend that ended horribly so very quickly. Then today, a cursing kid, so I had to break him off a lil sumthin', sumthin'.

Hmmmmm, which story to tell? This is a crochet/knit site, so there will be fiber content, I promise. What the hey, you know ya'll want to hear about the conversation with the man. I'll think about it.

In the mean time, I'm anxious for Spring time weather. Summer used to be my favorite season but once I moved to the Sacramento area Summer time became Hell time. Just too hot. Last summer it was like over 110 degrees for like two weeks in a row. Gee wiz. So, in order to call the change of seasons hither, I'm whipping up another Monica Top. This top is very cute and very quick and I know that it is now a tradition in this house. I've found an easy tutorial for a tu-tu, so as long as I can find tulle in the appropriate coordinating colors, we'll always have one of those too. I could not find brown tulle, so this champage color I found will have to do for now. My camera is dead so I'm using the celly. Not that bad, huh? I ran out of brown and only need about 4 inches of pink, so that pink strip you see will be hidden under the ruffle. My point, if you make this, don't buy two of the same color, you won't need it.

This is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.


Now, on to this convo that went bad. I met this guy who seemed nice. He claims he's interested in finding a wife, cool. He's a computer programer, cool. Only one child, cool. I'm not ready to give him my phone number, so, I took his and used *67. We seemed to really be making a connection. I mean, we talked a little bit about everything. Work, diet, excercise, cooking, past realationships, kids, money, so on and so on. This conversation went on for about an hour and a half. Finally, I try to wrap it up cause I have to cook. Then, he tries to make a date with me. I let him and we agree to meet for lunch on Tuesday. How come within 30 seconds, it all goes terribly wrong?

"It's something about you. I don't know what it is. I'm getting this real sexy vibe." I don't think nothin' of it, I mean, I am sexy. Although we never entered into any lude conversation, I thought that he was just very intriged by my phone convo. "I mean I really am feeling you. My dick is hard as hell right now. My shit is big."

I'm like, "Whaaaaat?! How you gone turn this into something pornographic like that? I can't believe this." He had the nerve to square up our date day and time and I'm just like "uh-huh, yeah" so that I can get off the phone. Then I get grossed out thinking about what he's doing right at that very moment. I hope I did that *67 right, because there will be no having of a lunch tomorrow or anything else! This man is 39 years old acting like a teenager. I'm not a prude, I just need something more. This was our FIRST conversation.