I'm still, as my son would say, "Yarning." I just had to incorporate a little bit of living life into my yarn experience. Me and HP had to make a quick stop by the surgery center. Nothing major, and she was a champ. Note about HP: She wouldnt' have been a good first baby. She's always been too independent and is pretty much down for whatever (that's anything that something that doesn't have to do with animals). So, I guess the whole process went down as smoothly as it possibly could have. They kicked us out immediately after she woke from anesthesia. And I mean immediately!

Although I was working on it in the hospital, I paused on the sweater to make myself an office scarf. I started a new job, and although most offices tend to be on the chilly side, these folks like it hot, which is alright with me. It's quite comfy in there, but I still like to keep my decolletage covered. This is the Ruffles scarf from the Scarf style book in Ella rae, Amity.

And, although it doesn't look like it in the book, the coils are quite "grabby." So, I thought that it would be a good idea to make a smaller version for HP. Just twist the ends and it stays snug. I did hers in Paton's SWP. It's a 70/30 soy-wool blend. I've wanted to try this yarn for some time. I think it worked out nicely. It feels pretty soft to me but she complains sometimes that it's "ouwee". I think that means itchy. But she likes it cause the style makes her feel a little grown up. He-he-he.

Ok, what the heck am I doing? Why am I torturing myself? See, I started this sweater for HP. It calls for a yarn that I think has been discontinued. I mean, I got the pattern directly from the yarn manufacturer, and I can't even find details about the yarn on their website. This is why I've made the assumption. So, I looked the yarn up on other online yarn retailers and found what I think Rowan is calling for. They call it Handknit Cotton. And from what I can find it's about 90 yards per 50 g ball, also at about $5-6 per ball. Nope too expensive. So, I have the nerve to try this stuff I got at the local yarn store. Only $2.75 per 50 grams, but also only 70 yards. Can you say chunky. But I was determined this time to get the correct gauge of 20 stiches per 10 cm and 28 rows. How come, with yarn this chunky, I could only achieve this gauge with some size US 4 needles?! OMG. And I think I'm going to keep going too. At least until somebody stops me.

The results so far...

Also, a note. I know that the pictures that I post are of very poor quality, and I'm working on providing better ones. I'm studying my camera's manual today.

I think it's soooo cute. I wore it out of the house to Walmart as soon as I pulled it off of the needles. I can definately visualize this little ditty in other colors.

My new project...

The Turtleneck Shrug from the book Scarf Style.

I've had to learn this magic loop knitting method. It was tricky at first cause I was concerned about a gap my work seemed to have developed. And this is all after I figured out how to join in the round withouth twisting the stitch.

Anyway, I kept at it and the gap seems to have disappeared. I guess that's where the magic lies. I have a long way to go, but I'll keep you posted.

Happy New Year! I hope that in 2007 finally realize some of the desires in your hearts. Whatever those may be. Whew! I can't believe I've let a whole month get by without any new posts. Well, that doesn't mean that the yarn hasn't been between my fingers. I've finished that cable sweater for DJ.

It's interesting though. The kid in this picture from The Yarn Girl's Guide to Knits for Older Kids has a sweater on with boxy shoulders. But on DJ, the shoulders look way too broad. I think that I oversize him too much. Let's wait and see how it look on him in a couple of months. For now, I'd probably have to beat him to get him to wear it.

I made HP another cardigan to wear on Xmas. It came together really quickly. I swear, as soon as we locate the other 3 dragonflies, we're going to put them to work keeping this sweater closed. It still looked cute with just 3 buttons, and she enjoyed choosing them herself.

And for me, this is my adaptation of the Bell Sleeve Tunic featureed in the December issue of Better Home's and Garden's Simply Creative Crochet. I added length and width (in a maternity like way - I'm NOT pregnant). Also, I added the trim to the bottom to make this sweater, which on the model is loose fitting, hug me the way it does. I hate to admit when I don't get a pattern, but after a while, I just started doing my own thing. I have a lot of yarn left over. This picture is of the unblocked version. I'll be calling upon the magic of immersion blocking to lenghthen, flatten, and straigten.

The scarf is finally finished. Hope you like it, Brother. Yarn used, Knit Picks Merino Style in Moss and Leaf. Knitted on size 6 needles for a tighter weave, but this left me without enough yarn for my plan. I worked out a fix that will provide a more acceptable length (the required 61"). I hope the color blocking pattern is acceptable to you. If you find that you aren't wearing this very soft, warm scarf in L.A., please send it back cause it's freezing up here. Love, Nicole.

Out of all the things I do around this house, I'm glad that something very important has finally gotten done (with the help of a professional). In one day, my front door went from this, YUCK! The results of a bothced paint job from someone who claimed they knew what they were doing, NOT!

To this. Aaaah. Me and the kids made up a little song. Like to hear, it? Here it go... Who has the best door in the neigh-bor-hooooood? We, do, weeeee dooooo!

And, all though I've learned how to hold back the tears when I feel overwhelmed with all the responsibilities I have around here, I still appreciate any help that I can get. For example, HP, just 3, without complaining, folded these dish towels up for me. Yes, I put them in the linen closet just like that.

You go, girl!!!

Well, I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. We went up to Sparks, Nevada with my parents. They don't celebrate the holiday, so we didn't do anything special. That doesn't really matter since we ate the food I brought up there and we just really wanted to be together anyway. They live in the Bay Area and picked us up on the way. Great! I didn't have to drive and I got a lot of knitting done. From my house, the drive was lovely. We were traveling on 80 East. Snow on one side of the car, and beatiful greenery on the other, all with clear blue skies. I'm almost finished with the back of DJ's Down Under sweater. The pattern works up pretty quickly

on size 10 needles, and I've only got 2 1/2 more balls to go with the Forbes Forrest scarf. Did you notice the major error I made with it in it's last post? I'd never knitted a chart before and instead of going from right to left from left to right I was only going from left to right. So, although I was doing the stiches correctly, they weren't looking right. I know now and I'm pleased with the outcome. I can't wait to block it so that I can get rid of that nasty curl. For DJs sweater I used Bernat Softee in Grey Heather. I'll have to go get more yarn since, while knitting, I decided to make it about 4 1/2 inches longer than the pattern called for. The instructions stated to start shaping the armhole after 12 1/2 inches and I knew that this just would not do. We prefer longer tops. I knitted a lot of the sweater on the long ride home. What should have taken 1 1/2 hours took about 6 becuse of the snow. We even had to get chains. This is the main reason I rarely go up there even though I live so close.

Today, we'll be making a pine cone candle holder. You can see HP doing what she did all weekend long, look for pine cones. To my knowledge, she'd never seen one before Thursday, and was quite facinated that someone would leave something so cool lying around. The kids seem happy when we're on our way home, but things get a little testy from being in the car for so long. We're going to South Lake Tahoe next month, and I think we'll catch the bus.

Sometimes you just have to step back.

I had to take a break from my on-the-side sweater. I took too long of a break the last time and when I came back, I made the sleeves too big. I've been having a problem with the sleeves since day one since they never have really worked up according to the pattern. The pattern says increase on each side of each row 10 times and then on each side of every other row 8 times. To me, this says that I should be finished increasing after 26 rows. The end result should leave you with 86 stiches. Problem is, I get to 86 stiches after about 15 rows. So, I decided to try to work this issue into the pattern. It might have worked if I'd tried to make the size small sleeve and not the large. For now, I just have sweater body that fits great and two sleeves that leave room for about 3 times as much floddle as I actually have. I'll get you a pic later.

But for now, in order to cool myself off from this small disaster, I started on a gift for my brother that I've been meaning to do for a long time. I finally found a pattern that was suitable for him in the book Scarf Style. It's the pattern Forbes Forrest. Since I'm trying to bust some of my stash too, I have to make it in two different colors. My brother chose moss green and leaf green (I spoke to my mom and she said green is all he can think of nowadays, so it makes sence that he would choose these colors), with the darker green on each end of the 61" scarf. It's coming out good so far, but my knitting inexperience left out the fact that it's not so cool to mix colors for any project who's right side is the purl side. Oh well, this error should only be noticed slightly to the very nosy individual who examines the piece close enought to notice these two rows. Hope you like it so far big bro!

I didn't have any pictures with my last entry, but there are lots today. First, let me assure you that I have been doing what my kids call "yarning." First, I want to start off by showing you the toddler sweater that I adapted from an adult pattern. It wasn't such a smart thing to do since it was one of my first knitting projects, however, I'm very adventurous. What went wrong? The head hole is too small, I think. HP's head is in the 75th percentile, so I am going to make sure to try the sweater on a narrow headed kid before throwing it in the reject pile. I've also kept up with the On-The-Side Cardigan from the Hip To Crochet book. I think it will be cool for kicking around the house or running errands. It looks so cozy to me. I've slipped stich the side seams together and am pinning in the sleeves now. I even saw the shell buttons at Wal-mart, and the acrylic yarn I've used worked well. The stiches are a little more plump, but I think it's working out. Outside of yarn world, like I told you last post, I baked HP a teddy bear cake. She loved it, and that makes me happy. The indentations came out a little better than they did for the car cake because the pan instructions required a one hour baking time. Unfortunately, this doesn't make decorating the darn thing any easier. You need pure skill for that. Also, the extra 15-20 minutes baking time made for a dry cake. Once again, I was supposed to blot stars on, but that didn't work out so I just spread the icing on there. At least you could tell what kind of bear it was supposed to be. Poor thing. It doesn't know what's coming to him. When I asked her what piece she wanted, she request that I cut off his head and later bit off his toes, elbow, and left paw. I also made some cheesecake cupcakes for the daycare. For her gift I got her a trunk full of dress up clothes, which she also loved, and they came with these "bling-bling" plastic pumps which she can't get enough of. I got the trunk from Costco for $29.99. The clothes seem like good quality, but unfortunately her favorite outfit has enough glitter in it to make our house look like a disco. Her birthday was a week and a half ago and we still have glitter in our hair. Ta-ta! Decorations complete! Cheesecake cupcakes.
Your wish is granted!

Well, my youngest child is 3 today. Happy Birthday, HP! I made her some cheesecake cupcakes and a teddy bear cake. I used marble fudge icing since against the cake pan manufacturer's suggestion. It called for a mixture of regular consistency cake with pound cake. I guess I could have done that, but decorating this cake was too much effort and I didn't want to have to worry about making a toping to go with that pound cake too. And with the icing, that would have been too much. So, I just used white and chocolate for this panda bear (my 9-yr old tells me pandas are not really bears). Baking the cake is the easy part. Decorating them is a whole other thing. I gotta start hooking up with my cuz in Oakland again, whos made wedding cakes.

It's been a very long time, I know. But thanks for sticking with me. Yeah, right. I know hardly anyone looks at this blog. Although I've been away, I have been crafting. I need to, especially since I've been going through some crazy times, not having a permanent full-time job and all. I made a travel bag, which I think is pretty cool, cause if you stretch it out, just through it in the wash and it will shrink back up. I'm gonna have to since I chose to make mine white. I still haven't finished HP's sweater. Her head is too big for the head hole, I'm going to just make it in the stockinette stitch. I started a sweater for myself. One I've been wanting to make for a long time. Of course, I used a less expensive yarn as usual. The acrylic seems to be working out fine so far. Now, I'm trying to learn how to make socks on two sticks. I'm improvising as I go along because I didn't want to make them for myself. HP has this orange corduroy dress she needs some to go with. I know this is probably not the greatest idea since I've never knitted socks before, but oh well, I'm going for it. I know, I know, I've really got to commit to one project and finish it. My abandonment rate has increased for some reason. I think it's time for a nice safe blanket or scarf. I mean after all, this is supposed to be relaxing, isn't it. I've also been taking an online class. Business with an entrepreneur's emphasis.

I like it so far, the book is really insightful. It's my first online class though, and I hope I'm doing everything right. We're required to
take quizzes and post to the discussion board, but the only thing that I can see my grades for are the quizzes. Of course there are some offline assignments due closer toward the end of the term that weigh pretty heavily on our grades. I also read this good book about black folks and their skin tone. It's set in a time period a few decades back, but I think it's still relevant for us today. Ya'll ought to check it out. It's called Something Deep In My Bones by Eboni Snoe. Man, I wanted to kill that granny myself!


My son turned the big 9.0. Whew! This sure is hard for me to deal with. But, for the first time I baked him a cake instead of buying it at the store. It was supposed to look like a NASCAR. It didn't, but he totally loved it, and that's good. I'll do it for HP next month too. I'm planning on making a butterfly, but we'll see. I was sooo stressed out and nervous about the car. I used super moist boxed cake and so any indentations that were supposed to be baked on for me to follow were too moist to see. I even put whipped cream filling with strawberries, bananas and peaches. It was a success. All of the day care kids had seconds. I'll have to pat my own self on the back. The kids are doing great, but Lord, I'll be glad when HP grows out of those terrible twos. The tantrums get really fierce sometimes. Sometimes, I'm so tired I just let her go in her room to rant and rave till she passes out. Exibit A... Can you find the quiet in this storm? I wouldn't call this one a diva in training. I trully do think that she has already arrived. I'd like to begin referring to myself as the diva tamer. I know what you're thinking, but I sware she came out like this. Since it was just me and her during those first months, I don't have any witnesses. We were watching the movie "Take the Lead," and the kids started dressing up in the evening attire. When the that actress "Ya-ya" began to put her dress on, HP walks up to the television and shouts, "You're not the princess!" We just had to shake our heads on that one because we really weren't that surprised.

Well, I'm almost done with the cable sweater for HP. I just have to assemble the pieces and do the neck edging. I'm on pins and needles because the pattern is originally for an adult. I made it a toddler size by using fingering/DK weight yarn and smaller needles. I'm trying to wet block, but I feel as if I'm doing something wrong. I've completely submerged the pieces, but the edges are still kinda curly. Thank God they're at least the same size. It took so long for me to get this far because I was working on a tank for a friend. I hope she likes it, but I'm glad to be getting back to my own projects. While waiting for the blocked pieces to dry, I've started on a pair of great fingerless gloves that I got from the knitty.com website. These are perfect for someone like me with ice cold hands in whatever kind of weather. Since I'm new at knitting, I'm being challenged in several different ways. 1. Knitting in the round, 2. Knitting with double pointed needles, and 3. Knitting cable after cable after cable. I think I've overcome all of them nicely, but I'm a little worried about adding the thumb. I've read ahead and I don't understand the instructions . Oh well, wish me luck! Next I'm going to start a cute shrug made from ribbon yarn. The project looks like it will work up quickly. It seems perfect for the office AC. I swear, I have to coordinate every outfit with a jacket, and I get tired of wearing the same ones over and over again. After that, I'm finally going to get started on my Green Gable Sweater. I had to learn how to knit first. And low and behold, by 2:00, Monday 7/31/06, the left hand. Great stash buster. It was the last ball of yarn left over from the Zig Zag skirt.

The organization project is coming along. And, I'm sure ya'll can even picture the vision that I described in the previous post about my plans for this area of my room. This shelf has been lying on the floor in the hallway since February. Oooh, that's probably something that I should have kept secret. Oh well, time to move forward now. I am still going to put a curtain behind it so that the division of the two areas can be very distinct. I know that the positioning of the shelf seems questionable, but I have thought of safety, due in part to the insistence of my paranoid dad. No, I am not in denial. I know that my toddler is bad as h-e-double hockey sticks. But, we love her and don't want a giant shelf to fall on top of her when she tries to climb it. She's already made it about half way up. I swear, mine is going to be the first black family on Nanny 911. Daddy, the following images will prove to you that this shelf ain't going no where. First, I countersunk two heavy duty dry wall anchors; Second, I procured myself an L bracket and attached it to the wall; Third, I bolted the L bracket to the shelf at the joint. Ta-da! Instant safety. In the world of crochet.... I've been trying to work on this tank for the friend of my aunt. She loved HP's so much, she asked me to design one for her. I've been trying, but I haven't been able to focus and I keep messing up. The stitches are very tiny, which is ok for a tiny tank, by not one for a plus size, like us. So, I for now I have to give up. She'll still have a tank, but It's going to have to be her second choice, which already has a pattern. She became so impressed when HP and I wore our tanks on the same day. Her second choice comes from the same book that I got this one from. In the mean time, I've been knitting away at the Crystal Palace cable sweater which I've converted to toddler size by using sock yarn and size 3 circulars. It's coming out great so far, and I can't wait to finish. After these projects, I'm going to try to knit the Green Gable. Most of it looks easy, but the new stitch does offer a challenge for me. Come back to see the results. Also, DJ has been gone to his dad's since the first week of June. I've missed him sometimes, but I really think I needed the break. I've been slacking off majorly when it comes to things like cooking and laundry. Interesting how having one less child in the house makes this possible. However, my dinners have been healthy, although not conventional. Breakfast for dinner was not my invention, but it works well often.

I'm knittin' ya'll!

And I am so proud of myself. My tutor at work kept going on about how difficult doing a cable sweater is. Well, it may be but when it comes to yarn, I am up for the challenge. And I must say so myself that I've been doing pretty well. I learned to knit so that I could make a project for my son who feels excluded when he always sees me working on things for me or his sister. The boy had the nerve enough to complain about the color of yarn that I'd been reserving just for him. Huh! But ya know, when I started working the project I kinda felt the same way. This variegated color scheme wasn't what I thought it would be. That's cool, I'm converting this adult pattern into a toddler size by using smaller needles and yarn, and the toddler is exited about getting yet another sweater. I'll find some other color for the boy, cause I have a feeling I'm gonna be making this sweater over and over again until I get a little more adventurous, or more money to buy more yarn. Ta ta.