good news, bad news

i'll save the bad news for tomorrow. for now, please be aware that i am currently selling breast cancer awareness scarves to benefit our friend X Factor and her avon breast cancer walk. they come in a rainbow of colors, so cop yern, mk? theyre only $15. so help the sistas out! for more info go here and check the links too. and repost if you can! smoochies!!!!

i get it from my mama!

yeah these are a tad old but i wanted to share. arent they nice? she pretty much sticks to baby blankets but she's bad a--. i wont curse cuz she doesnt like that.

a few announcements

firstly, my youngest brother turned 20 saturday. we saw cadillac records, which was great. i admit i had low expectations, but it was a well done movie. anyway here's a pic of us at a party we went to a few weeks ago. its weird that we ahare friends and go to parties together when there was a time i couldnt get rid of his behind. i know im making a weird face but, yeah.

this is a video i took when kesi and i were out for his birthday fun. lmao!


lastly, i have a few new things up at my crochet site. check em out

its saturday

and im off. just cruising the net, as i am wont to do. posted some new pix on my crochet site. updated my blogroll, in case you were looking for something new to read. check out spritestitch.com, where i am getting some great ideas... i think that's it!!! oh yeah, i love the postal service (mailed stuff out thursday and shani-o and my other recipient got it today!!!) and i hate the oil barons( 45 minute wait WITH traffic cops just to get gas? wtf?).

you know you want one!!!!

after 2 years, i finally did it! i started my crochet blog! ok its not really a blog, more of a display of things thiat ive made and information on how i can make something FOR YOU!!!! if that is your wish. there is no pricing info, cuz i feel like that should be between the person i make it for and myself. also, the items are named after the people i made them for, if they are originals (unless i made 2 or more for them, then i have to be creative). yes my friends have strange names.

so check it out!!!
http://annalula.blogspot.com/

Don't call it a comeback

I been doing it... I just haven't been taking pix. But I really like this one. Its for a work friend. A gift for her new baby. I "started" it about a week ago, after taking apart what I had worked on for a few days because I didn't like it. That VERY same night I'm on fb and I see another work friend's status "congrats to [redacted] on your new baby girl!!!" damn it! The baby was a month or 2 early. But she was big, so...

If you can't tell, cuz camera phones aren't the best, its lavender, yellow and baby blue. La, the grey didn't look right. I didn't wanna do overly girly colors cuz I know how much that annoyed me as a child. But Walter Lee's having a girl and his chick's fave color is red so I'm gonna do various shades of red.

Am I boring you? I'm going all stream of consciousness about yarn colors, lol. Anyway my next plan is to be in the national black arts fest (or some other annual Atlanta fests) next year. Gotta get that business license though. 2009 is mine!
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on a roll here

people were really feeling the monochromatic thing lately. thats fine. they came out kinda nice eh?
this was made for a chick i used to work for. she wanted "all different shades of pink." i think its nice but i think its a bit immature for her. its the same pattern as the brown, green and pink one, even down to the way i did the hat.

this one was for mo's sister. its actually purple but it photo'd blue. i really liked making this one.

crafty!

my newest scarf!!! isnt it cute?






the baby blanket i made in pretty much 2 days. my hand was killing me!!! despite the fact that the feft hand is the active one, the right hand is in a "writing' position so it ends up in the worst pain...

also, im on craigslist!!! woo! i posted in the baby section, and the accessories section. i havent got any responses yet, but we hopes for the best.

Busy hands

I'm taking a break. Whew! Since I woke up this afternoon (that's right. I woke up at about 1230) I have been doing 2 things: watching TV and crocheting. I like to use my days off to catch up on the things people are requesting.

There's the 2nd Cowboys blanket, which I am honestly not feeling at all. I'm bored with it and I'm considering giving dude back his deposit and saying eff it. I'm not even half done because even when I was active on it, I was just not inspired! Ugh. Not to mention the bad experience I had with the first one. It took forever and I should have never agreed to the 2nd one, despite the fact that I have a better grip on the technique. I'm even tired of talking about it.

This girl I went to hs with saw my scarf on facebook. The one with the pink, green and brown "patches." And she loved it and wanted me to make her one just like it (I refused to sell her mine. It is one of the few things I made for me, so...). While I was trying to get Mo to feel my pain about having to copy my scarf, she sees the pic and decides she wants one too! "ooh and a hat to match! And put pockets on it... And tassels!" so now I have to make two scarves that are identical to the one I made for myself. I'm thinking it'll be my signature pattern now, and I might bust them out in different colors. Yea!

I made my cousin a "snood." I had never heard the word until she asked me for it, lol. Its one of those kinda floppy hats. Its so cute! I'm glad I know how to make it cuz it looks cuter on girls than skully hats. I told her I'd rename it the "Alyse" hat when people ask for them. I think I'll name my scarves with names in them "Aster," and so on... I just don't remember who I made what for first. Its cool though, cuz all my friends have unique names.

My aunt called me yesterday and asked me to make her a blanket for a baby shower. When's the shower? Oh... Next Sunday! I'm cool though. I can make it. She's giving me free reign. I just have to put her name in it. I'm taking the time while I work on the other projects to brainstorm. I have pink and yellow so far but I think I want one more color and a pattern? Sigh.

Back to work. I'm gonna rack up by the end of the week.
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photo time!

so i'm at my boo's house uploading my new mp3 playah(!!!) and i decided to give yall a taste of my new stuff...

this is the louis inspired baby blanket i made for my girl DD's friend. even i'm impressed with how it came out.

my hat that i made yesterday whilst at the salon for 11 hours getting these tight assed braids... yes they are blonde-ish, and i loves them!

front view- am i muggin or what? it was early! so i made this hat for a dude but i dont think its really masculine. mainly cuz i really like it, and its thicker than the average skully. opinions?

me and my booski before we left the house the other night. feel free to tell us how cute we are.

shalom in the home.

1. my mom just called. our roommate moved out. didnt know we had one? 3, actually. she has kids too. but i dont much talk about my family so i dont much talk about the others in the house either.

my mom's been kind of annoyed on this woman, who she worked with and saw hard on her luck 4 months ago. she'd make comments about my dad being around as if my mom still wanted to be with him. they've been apart for years but are still friends. and, hello, they have two great kids! case you didnt know i will always need my daddy and he'll always be around, no matter how grown i am. not only that, but roommate and her kids are a bit sensitive. my fam is one which doesnt tolerate whining and says what we mean. but her kids cry over nothing and it drives me nuts. it also wakes me up when i'd rather be sleeping.

top of the list: not very hygienic either. and that's where the drama began. last couple of weeks my mom had been asking about our face towels. where are they? joy do you have any with your stuff? (i do my laundry separate) she even purchased a cute lil set. they disappeared too. so today my mom wrote her a letter before church- they dont go; my mom is a youth minister- asking if they could take the towels out of their room so she can wash them and open the windows to air out the room. she also wrote out the money she'd given us the past few months and stated that she was writing to keep the records straight. i kid you not there was a basket and a half of just towels. ew! this is probably every towel they ever used while staying with us. i'm not gonna make this a laundry list, no pun intended- cuz there's more i could say.

so apparently the letter offended roommate and i was awakened by them once more, packing. no skin off my back. i'm still pissed about buying food i never get to eat. she and my mom got into an argument where she once again brought up my dad and how her kids dont have that support. not to be mean, but that's not our fault. she also listed "all she's done for us" and my mom said that it was never discussed that those things were to replace the money she owed because all we needed from her was money. i'm sure she cried, and i'm sure my mom was unphased. except that she called me to tell me what's up. she was really trying to help this woman get ahead. but you cant help someone who doesnt want it. i felt like i couldnt move freely in my own house sometimes. and mikey got blamed for the fruit flies. i didnt like that.

2. Speaking of mikey, i noticed the cutest thing today: sprouts. i dont know what they are, some kind of berry- he eats them once a week at least, but i know how they got there. the tank is pretty warm, and i tend to spray water daily. and seeds dont digest... i dont know how to take care of plants. i'm hoping he'll eat them before i have to find out. he'll need a bigger tank soon.

3. this star is driving me up the wall. i want to be done with it already. i'm almost to the tips of the star, but then i have to do the background til its 6ft long. i have another project lined up after that which i'm excited about, which is making the current one more of a pain. i'm gonna keep going though. gotta get that dough.

joy's blanket statements

is that a good name? let me know...i plan on creating a new site just for the crocheting.

ok, here are my prices. the dimensions are in parenthesis.

child's scarf (5in x 4ft)- $10
adult scarf (6in x 5.5ft)- $15
baby blanket (3.5x3.5ft)- $40
throw blanket (5x5ft or 6x4ft)- $75

there will be a $5 flat fee for shipping.

remember- these are custom made, quality items that will last a lifetime. whatever colors or designs you want, i'm sure i can make it happen. for some patterns i can add lettering and even shapes. we'll discuss it so you'll get just what you want.

the items will have a two to six week turnaround. right now i'm working on my paypal account- i had one but i cant get them to send me my password. for now you can email me at kaorijoy2002@yahoo.com and while we discuss the details of your design i'll be getting that straightened out.

merry christmas kids! thanks for waiting so patiently! be sure to check out "playing catch up" and "photo post" for images.

photo post!

here are a few pics i mentioned over the past month. got on the boy's high speed net and uploaded them. yay!
mikey. this picture was from when he was barely a month in my care. he was actually eating at the time. cutie.

this is my friend mary's scarf. its black if you cant tell. my first profit!

mary's scarf with lettering. since then i found a different way to do lettering. in actuality she wanted hers all black and so i had to figure it out as i went along.

kesi and i at the christmas party. arent we the cutest? he and his hats. its fuzzy cuz this is actually a photo i took of the polaroid they gave me.

me and mom on thanksgiving. i love this picture because i look so much like her! its scary!

enjoy! merry christmas! i'll probably say that on a few posts cuz this wont be the last one before the holiday.

little things

1. our annual holiday party is tomorrow. i finally get to wear my dress! probably about tuesday i'll have a recap which i'm sure will amuse. my drunk friend, who i'm sure i will give a new nickname, will be riding with us.

2. my car has been out of commission for about 3 weeks. kesi has been spending like crazy on it and we still are car-less. my dad is gonna take a look at it sometime this week, but we might just sell it soon. my buddy B is driving us to the party. he offered before that we should all ride together but we figured the car would be fixed by now. damn car.

3. i made my first sale. my coworker wanted a scarf and i jazzed it up by adding her initials to the stitches. it was not easy but it wasnt that hard. now everyone wants one. i have to make two more this week. one for an infant, aw! so i should have my pricing done by the end of the week. the real problem is calculating wait times. scarves take a matter of hours but a larger blanket could take months. especially if i have other things in life to take care of.

4. i am, as of january 1, insured! oh it feels so good! i'm getting everything checked out by jan 15. i havent been to a doctor, besides my yearly exam, in a long time. i'm gonna try to get that shot too. the anti-papiloma one. i've had quite a few family members with cancer, and i want to live long and healthy as possible.

playing catch up.

there are lots of thisgs i am working on, so let me give a breeze through of them:

1: i been talking to my favorite cousin lately, online and on the phone. we pretty much grew up together. she really hit the nail on the head for me as far as motivation and things pertaining to life and happiness. will go in depth for sure.

2: i missed my bloggiversary. it was nov 10. i posted that day, but i wanted to post about the things i learned over the past year... it'll still be on the way, but not when i had planned.

3: i was looking on my yahoo photos page to find pics of the things i have made (as mentioned in the Commissioned post. why was there only one? boo!!! so i went home and snapped pics of the things that were crocheted in the house. i even took a picture of a picture... here they are:

kesi in his big ol blankie.













the blanket my mom made for me while she was waiting for me to come out. as she finished right as she was going into labor.















my cape verde flag. its folded in half and, of course, the stars are missing.















my mom's throw that she made for herself.















cracking up right now... blurry photo of my friend holding the baby blankie i made for her...
















more to come soon... i'm working on lauren's blanket. i should be done by christmas.

commissioned

so firstly, its my kesi's birthday weekend. and my lauren is in town. but we're all in the midst of that so i wont blog about it til like tuesday. on with the post:

i crochet. not knit. knitting involves two straight needles. i use one hooked one. and i'm damn good at it.

i started when i was 9. my grandma lula taught my mom and she taught me. back in the day i'd make something then unravel it and make something else.

lately i've been making stuff for friends and family. but you gotta understand that since it takes so long to make, lately has been some years. i first made kesi a king size blanket, black and blue double stitch. with a crazy patern. hot patern. took me four months. labor of love.

i made a scarf for lauren her first winter at howard simple, red, cozy. her blanket is coming up. maybe a throw?

i made a baby blankie for my friend sheria. big enough to swaddle her cute lil daughter in. granny square grouped stitch. pink and lavender. how darling.

for me, another labor of love. a cape verdean flag. not so hard to do, just blue, white and red, then yellow stars. stars are hard man. i havent really finished because of that. my mom's supposed to show me how.

so my friend calls me last week to ask me to make her a baby blankie for her friend. she saw the other one i made and wanted to know how much i charged. wha? i got a hustle! i told her $25 because she's my girl and she talks. she'll get me some business. and then my other friend asked me about the king blanket i made and when i told him it'd be $150, he was like yeah? hell yeah! if people wanna give me money for doing something i'm damn good at, shoot... pay me!