Home Stretch and Finally, Success?

The Coachella is almost done, just a few more inches. However, I must admit that it's hard to stay interested in the knit stitch for long periods of time.

So, in order to cope, I cast on for Flower Petal shawl.


I didn't even want to mention that I was thinking about it cause I didn't want to jinx it. I've been struggling so much with lace, and I really think this will be my first successful project. It's going smoothly so far, although this is the second time that I cast on. It's the placement of the four stitch markers that are so helpful. I'm counting every stitch, and the markers make it so I never have to count past ten. This was a problem with some of my other projects. I just couldn't figure out what I had done. Common since should have told me to place my own markers. Now I know.
I think I'll be finished with both projects by the end of the week!

Get Your Crochet On!

Have you guys heard of Afya Ibomu? I'm sure you all have as I am commonly last in the loop of what's "in." Well, if you haven't, she crochets urban style fashions for much loved hip hop artists, such as Eryka Badu and Common, to name a few. Her hats pattern book has been out since November 2006, I think. I just got it and I am having great fun.

Mellow Moods

While searching the LYS' for some size 4 circulars suitable for my recycled yarn I crocheted 3 of her hats! They work up FAST. I mean, one may say, "Hmmm, I think this hat will look cute with my outfit tomorrow." And then be able to successfully whip up one of these bad boys in a few hours with crocheting/knitting energy to go. Who knows, maybe it's just me. After all, I do say that my yarn fetish is "in Crochet."

The MC

After having been converted to a somewhat purist by cyberworld, and LYS', I still couldn't bring it to myself to just give away my acrylics. I knew they'd serve their purpose one day (i.e., children's wear that needs frequent washing). I'm going to be using the rest of it on hats. Afya Ibomu's hats to be exact.

Soldier

I'm also excited about having her book because it's the first time that I've ever owned a fiber book with brown hands providing instructions. As a matter of fact, I'm starting a CAL just for your interpretations of her works. If there's already one out there, please let me know. Otherwise, GetYourCrochetOnCAL will be chugging right along until further notice. If you want to join, please email me at nicole5249(at)sbcblobal(dot)com.

Well, my Coachella seems to be coming along fine. The pattern says I should try it on to ensure desired drape has been achieved in the bust area. It really doesn't advise what to do if it hasn't. But, that's cool, because I think what I've done so far is ok. Because I've used the exact opposite yarn weight that the pattern has called for I've had to knit more rows to achieve the desired length for the front, and add about 5 more increases in the back, not including the additional rows worked before rejoining the front and back. I'm going to leave out the last decrease because of that back fat you see in the bottom right corner and just go for the finish. I'll definitely have to trim the arm openings with a row of single crochet because there is an unsightly gap and the neck line. Otherwise, I love the look of the raw edges and am going to leave the rest as is.

Going Green and Teddy Bear's Skirt

I've been wanting to knit a skirt for her for a while now. Since it's such a small project, I don't see the sense of buying a pattern, especially since it's time for me to get my design mojo going again. However, I don't know if Girl Power is the way to go. Yes, I plan to make it longer than this (to the knee). I'm testing pattern swatches now. For some reason I was dead set on Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece, but I'm not anymore. Stay tuned.

I done really gone green now, ya'll. I've tried to unravel sweaters before, but unsuccessfully. This is a vest that I've had for about 7 years now. Purchased from Banana Republic back when I tried to acquire only classic clothing. That method worked cause I've actually literally worn out a lot of the clothes from that era. This sweater however is hanging on strong, but I just can't make it look cute any longer cause now I need the next size up.

It turned from this....
To this...The smaller balls are from the neck and arm trim, the large from the body. I think I have just the tank in mind, it's supposed to be a quick knit too. Like I said, stay tuned.

I Love You, But I'm Not In Love With You

Oh stockinette why do you torment me so with your mundaneness and your beauty? I never understood how someone could hurt someone so much while claiming to love them at the same time. After making this tunic, I do however understand how you could want to be with someone (or something in this case) strongly, even after they've (it's) caused you so much pain. I mean, I just mended the holes, and pressed on. Stockinette is not mindless. It knows it's driving you crazy because you can't/won't stop until you've reached your goal.

Here are just a few phrases and circumstances that I experience right after I've worked about 1/2 row of any project. I experience at least one of these right after sitting down to crochet/knit or whatever, every single time. Sometimes I think they hate me.

1. I'm finiiiiished.
2. I can't find it.
3. It's not working.
4. NO!!! Shut up you booda head!
5. I'm telling.
6. Five minutes after dinner time is all wrapped up, "I'm thirsty."
7. The sound of running water in the background that goes on and on and on when there are no fountains in the house.
8. Utter silence.
9. oooooOOOOO....

Being Careful Not to Twist Stitches

OK, enough of the learning new things for now. Remember that silk yarn that I bragged about and picked up from the stitches convention in February? Well, it has a new purpose. Many of you have probably seen this tank from interweave knits. This pattern is free on the interweave website! Well, it's about to be mine in a minute.

I had to start over once I realized that I had NOT been careful not to twist the stitches.

My "100% premium quality silk" could have been knit up on size 4 needles to meet the gauge, but I decided to change to the 3 just because of the smoother join that my Boye and Knit Picks Options needles offered over the Plymouth. The snagging was killing me and was in part why I didn't take care NOT to twist the stitches. This means more knitting, but I think it will be worth it.

So, I finally have something to get excited about because this pattern has given very few problems. That waist border is one by one ribbing, and it seems I've casted on one more stitch than I needed to. Fuey! I'm not turning back now. That's not even my biggest problem. I was only able to wind half of my silk skein into a ball. The other half looks like this. It makes me sick to think of the precious knitting time untangling this mess will take.


I think it'll be worth it. The yarn label didn't list a color. I think I'll call it African Sunset. For some reason, it kind of takes me to a place I've never been when I gaze at it. If you make this tank, can you let me know?

Food Instead?

I wonder what everyone else eats for dinner during the week. Are most people on some kind of food plan, or is dinner time a really important time for expression and bonding. I've tried this week to mix it up enough to distract myself from the tragic parts of my life. The crab quiche worked the first night. On the second night it wasn't as effective.
Tonight I tried to grill some pork ribs. I'll have to finish the ribs in the oven tomorrow.

They were meatier than I thought, so in order to finish with dinner before bedtime, we ended up with spaghetti.

It was tasty but not what we had our mouths ready for, and it didn't mask my....but I digress.

I've tried to create a variegated skein out of strawberry kool-aid. It was supposed to be kool-aid version of the dip-dye method seen here. But it turned out like this. Notice how I tried to steep the last piece (at the top) for a shorter amount of time in a last stitch effort to achieve something close to what it was intended to be. I don't even mind the orange instead of pink (I still can't understand how this happened). It should work fine on my little coco brown.

I'm not too concerned, because I've seen even the most jacked up looking skeins turn into beatiful works of art. Let's hope this once does justice to the Baby Surprise Jacket it's intended for.

I can DO this.

I CAN do this.

I can do this.

I can do THIS.

Ok, so the truth is that by the third pattern repeat, I was able to figure out how to work in my mistakes. Can you tell? Well, even if you can, I moving on.

Regarding the spinning. The lady at the LYS said that my first strands would be clumpy. Boy was she ever right. I'm using the Park and Draft method, as suggested by Harlem Purls, which when incorporated with the spindle instructions yields progress. Still very challenging though. My wool is not very slippery, but I'm getting the hang of it. This is what I have so far.


I'm not getting how to rid the strand of these spots that are too coiled but at the same time rid the strand of spots that aren't coiled enough. Truthfully, I'm surprised I have a strand at all.

I'm having to mix these new things with some extremely simple projects like this just to keep my confidence. Ciao for now.

Something New!

No, I'm not marrying a white man. But, oh man! I've been wanting to blog so much lately. I've been so inspired when cruising through the blogs of my fellow needle crafters. Only thing is, if I don't knit/crochet, there will be nothing to blog about.

I promised myself that after my last project I would learn something new.

Here's my failed attempt at learning lace. I think that if I can do this shawl, I can really call myself a knitter.


I stuck with it, and started a successful swatch at the LYS. I really didn't need them, it was just the moral support that made my 30th try a success. No really, about 5 minutes after I sat down, I realized that I had read the instructions for one of the stitches incorrectly. After this realization, everything went smoothly. Well, if you don't consider the conversation that was forced on me by this hired home-schooler. She thought it important that I not be too graphic when discussing the birds and the bees with my son. She's researched just how damaging this could be. This was only after her teenage son became a teenage parent. I didn't think it at all necessary to tell her that I myself have 2 BD's. I mean, did I want the conversation to go any further?


The swatches are done in sizes 2, 4, and 6. I think I'll do my shawl in the 6, even though the knitting is harder to handle (for lack of a better term). I think the results will end in a lacier finish. The pattern called for some thread like stuff, but this is the laciest that knit pick gets. It'll do.

I also called myself learning how to spin with a drop spindle. I'm not gonna rush this. but I do want to learn.

Both of these failures caused me to cry out for stockinette therapy. I started this Long Line Jacket from Louisa Harding's Modern Classics. Ahhhh.

And finally, it is with great regret that I must inform you all that the toddler locs were unraveled. The sand was just getting to be too much. After washing it 3 times, when retwisting, grains of sand were still coming out onto my fingers. Yuck! I couldn't stand the thought of knowing that stuff was still in there. The sand was down to the core and would not be moved. Even after combing all her locs out, and washing twice more, she still went to school the next day with sand levitating at the tips of every puff ball. We will try again, but when?

Happy Mother's Day

This one especially goes out to the single mother, the mother who just lost a child, the heartbroken, the mother who has to plan her own mother's day celebration (cause God loves a cheerful giver and so do you) or has no celebration at all, and the mother who won't stop giving even though that child could care less. Happy mother's day, ya'll. I feel ya.

I let this heffa at my not so LYS calculate the amount of yarn I would need for my Sloppy Joe sweater. I was like wow, what customer service! I should have known. I ended up with two more skeins than I needed. I mean, I could understand one, but two? Well, now my stash has grown by one skein of lavender Cotton Fleece. That's right, I said one. I took this opportunity to make me and HP a matching set. Oh yeah, I sewed up the side seams completely.

HP went for her "first" retouch this weekend. I quote first because I had to do something before our next appointment. Her new school has this sand box that she just loves. I'm a germaphobe and am extremely concerned about ring worm and the baldness that it could ensue. She's been rolling around in the sand like an animal and the staff seems to think it's soooo cute. Ew, gross. I've threatened to withhold her after-school snack if I find her dirty from head to toe one mo gin. This and putting skirts on her seems to have worked. She doesn't like the sensation of the sand directly on her skin for some reason but doesn't mind getting her pants and new locs encrusted with this sand that doesn't exactly look brand new.

Anyway, I've tried to wipe the sand out but just had to scrub her head on Monday. I tightened the locs the best I could, but she doesn't like to wear a scarf either. So, this is what it looked like by Friday night.


Shannon put it back together on Saturday, and she slept with a scarf for most of the night. A long night it was with two pee-pee accidents and all. Pray for me ya'll, and I'll pray for you.

Now that there are two loc'ed heads in the house, I'm going to have to perfect my self-maintenance techniques. I've done it myself before, but you know how that goes. This time it wasn't too bad. I got pretty much all of them tightened. I thought I'd try to give myself some braid crinkles. Wrong idea. What could have been a good thing, ended up being a display of disorganized frizziness. That's why you see me with the up do in the above pic.

Big Catch Up

A lot has transpired since my last blog. First off, I've finished Sloppy Joe. I think that I've done a pretty good job. The only mod I made was to the sleeve increases. For my size I began to to increase every 5th row after 68 stitches. The other way would have produced sleeves way to long. I have to also give a hand slap to the designer, Louisa Harding that the width of the sweater be 44 inches. What a typo!

The design does include these split sides, but looking at the picture I don't think this suits me. I may consider sewing them up.

I mean, I like the way the sweater fits and all. It's very comfy and I love the yarn, but it's not as sloppy looking as it was on the model. I studied the picture of her and noticed that she wasn't very blessed in the boobs area. Although the sweater does not fit me tightly at all, I definitely think that it's not as loose as it was supposed to be. However, going up one size would have been a mistake. I guess I'm just not that into sloppy. The rib pattern is very cool.

I am also performing a major experiment. I mean, after the post before last you probably new this was coming. So, here's the beginning of my journal on Locking Tots. Hmmm, is this a good idea? Well, here are some pics on how it started out. Here's HP sitting on the couch. She felt very cute on this day and asked me to take a picture with her rocking the fro.

About a week later, she's sitting in the chair of my stylist, Shannon. Every day debris was stored up in the fro.

Here's HP Getting her neck and head massage,

Please take note of the glamorous-ness of Shannon. These perfectly groomed back length locs are exactly what we're going for, so HP is in good hands.

She's just been shampooed.

She didn't fidget or anything the entire time (about 1 1/2 hours).

Here she is half way clipped.

And now almost completely clipped (the reason I pay to have my hair maintained, Shannon is very meticulous and never neglects a single hair.)

Getting her under the dryer was a different thing, we eventually got the 4 pillows to stop slipping.

And, voila. HP loves it, and so do I. She's feeling it.

I must admit though, that after one week, she looks quite scruffy. But she's still just a beautiful.

She started pre-school. Where we live, pre-school is not free. You have to shop around for it like a daycare. She flipped out when I didn't let her out at the same school her brother went to. He-he-he.


Here she is with her new principal. You can tell the locs have shrunken back and stuck to her head a little. I tried to dress them up with barrettes.

She's already made a friend.And, believe it or not, she's sitting in circle time (in this case square time). She asks me everyday, if she's going to school. I'm so happy she loves it!