Last Post of 2009 - Year/Decade in Review

Significant events in my life during the past decade:
1999 - bought a 1996 Land Rover Discovery
2000 - read poetry at the now defunct Troy's On The Park (in STL)
2001 - nothing memorable
2002 - no journal entries
2003 - nothing significant
2004 - went to Jamaica alone
2005 - got a hysterectomy (poof poof be gone ugly periods!); traded the Land Rover for a 2005 Mini Cooper
2006 - started working on "The Saint of Truth"
2007 - found myself (through "A New Earth" by Ekhart Tolle")
2008 - read "The Power of Now" by Ekhart Tolle and met the love of my life (Amgib!); witnessed the swearing in of our first black President of the United States; Colbi graduated from TSU.
2009 - moved to California, and on the way, saw the Grand Canyon on a heliocopter tour; went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; got my last haircut on April 19th; blog and YouTube channel were successful; my twin brother finally got married.

The past decade proves that my life is pretty boring (according to my journals). I did meet some great people, and have cultivated some great friendships. As the decade rolled along, I've learned to stand on what I believe, regardless of if people think I'm selfish. A lot of my life depended on that I cared what other people thought. Going forward, I will be considerate of others, but my priority is ME. If I'm not well, mentally, physically, and emotionally, nothing else around me will be. My relationship with my daughter is not where I want it to be, but I can't be responsible for how she feels about me. All I can be is me. Hopefully, she will come around, because I love her with all my heart, but I have to do me, as I'm letting her be herself.

Looking forward to 2010, I'm excited about my hair journey. I took the last application of 2009 off today. I'm curly with unruly roots, which I love:



I see where I'm going to need a textlax touch up, but I don't dare do it until February, March, or April... trying to hold out until April. The white around my hairline is from A&D ointment. No word from Rex about the progress of my custom. I may have to tone my haircolor down to the honey brown rinse to blend better with the custom. I still don't know how I'm going to sew it on. Hopefully no more glue or tape in 2010, but I may get a hankering to wear a straight unit... not too soon I hope!

As for knitting, I've learned that the style I'm using for Colbi's scarf is called "domino knitting". There are books, of course. So far, it's what I wanted:




Now that I've got that started, I've resumed the brown "monster" (aka Jeri's scarf):



I'm going to repeat the process and make myself one in a lovely lilac color to go with my Lime green peacoat that's on backorder.

So, out with the old and in with the new. I hope to get back to STL more than once in 2010, I hope to get much further in my book, and I hope to get a job. I have hope for 2010, and that's really all I can hope for.

Happy New Year everyone, and thanks for reading my blog.

Back to the drawing board!

Okay, I kept staring at the Entrelac pattern.... it's too puffy and I don't like it. Maybe it would look better with the same color. I've decided to do Colbi's scarf as such:


still in the grey/pink colors. I've already made one diamond:

Now I'm working on the grey ones. For this scarf, I have to make all the diamonds first, then knit them together. Oh well, such is the life of a writer who knits, and is supposed to be writing, but is knitting for now!

Winding down/Winding Up for the New Year

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. This was the first year I've ever spent away from my family. It was very hard.
This is for Peasandcornbread:

Finally, the cake was cut last night. There was some confusion as to if I was going to save it. My sister (who's birthday is today) says I was channeling my Gingerbread house from last year.

Photographic evidence of everyone enjoying their socks:


Colbi's Entrelac scarf in progress:

which is going pretty fast. I put Jeri's scarf down so as to not be bored, but I will pick it up again. Notice the pink yarn at the bottom, which is the provisional cast on. I will pull that back, and reveal live stitches to finish off the diamonds.

On the Lace front (lol), I posted 5 new videos showing the coban self adhering bandage method. I'm still wearing the unit, but I've popped the back up because it was too low on my neck and itchy. This is the LAST adhesive/tape application for awhile. I'm still mentalizing (my new word that I made up) how I'm going to do my sew on method. I haven't received the custom yet. Still waiting patiently.

It's Christmas night...

and I'm thinking about knitting. I'm still happy with the lace wig application that I'm sporting. I'm rocking a tight ponytail:

It dawned on me that I didn't report on the wig change from the last application. It was driving me crazy. Itchy nape. I did slow, small cornrows in the front, and my standard four in the back. My hair is really growing. I experimented with my makeup/foundation method and the coban bandage wrap method. So far, so good. I made a video of the application of the bandage wrap, but I haven't gotten around to editing it down to the standard YouTube time of 10:00. I'm loving this application. Very natural. I'm patiently waiting for the new custom. Stay tuned.

Everyone loved their socks! Colbi (my niece) loved her complicated convertible gloves/mittens. I'm a happy knitter. I'm still working on Jeri's scarf. I am super excited about Colbi's matching scarf (decided by her at the last minute). I've decided to tackle the intricate Entrelac technique, in gray and pink. I was trying to figure out how to make the half triangles whole, and it dawned on me to do a provisional cast on, so I can pick up the stitches of the triangles and make them diamonds. I'm still working on it in my mind. I will definitely post pictures.

I'm exhausted from this holiday. I'm about to go to bed, and I haven't knitted in 2 days... not by choice either. I made a cute Christmas tree cake, which wasn't eaten, and the Christmas cookies... don't ask. Hopefully, the knitting will resume tomorrow. I hope everyone had a joyous holiday.

Blog in progress...

http://www.youtube.com/user/Katelynylyn#p/u/3/zbORr6VrPWk

Celebrating my last app of the year.

Last Saturday, one of my BHM sisters came over to glean my lace wig tips and tricks. It was interesting, because other than Robin and Demetria (my friends back home), I've never sat with anyone else doing lace wig stuff (other than my boyfriend who's kind of forced to hear about it). In my opinion, we rushed through the process because she wanted to get back home before it was too late. I can't believe the great app I got out of the process. This app is much better than the last couple of apps I've done. I'm so glad to be going out with a bang, because it lets me know that I have developed lace wig skills.

I'm wearing my Rex Malaysian Loose Curly/CLW Amina hybrid (Sheddie, as I call her, because I'm surprised I still have hair on the lace, with as much shedding as she's doing):






I'm going to try to wear this unit through Christmas. I'll take a small break, and I should have the custom by the first week of January, ready to wear for our trip to LA the week of the 20th. Going forward, and I'm hoping that this will work, I'm going to sew the new unit onto a braid around my head. I'll still braid up my hair, and use a tan wigcap to cover my braids, but I'm going to leave my perimeter out, and the braid will be behind that. I'm trying to work out how I'm going to either cut the lace or fold it back. I think I'm going to fold it back, and pull that folded hair forward to blend into my own hair. It's going to work. My stuff always works sometimes.

I'm still knitting Jeri's scarf. It's coming out really pretty. Now Colbi wants a scarf - I still have some grey left over from her gloves, and I'll combine it with the yarn I initally bought for her. I still have to embroider Andrew's apron, and I have to crochet the Christmas tree skirt. Not enough time.

Jeri's scarf in progress

I had no idea what this pattern was saying when I read it, but I started working it up, and it's turning out well. I think my yarn was a poor choice, but it's hard to find taupe yarn:


I wish I could retain the repeats in my mind, but I need my row counter.

Colbi's Convertible Gloves Completed.

I just completed Colbi's Convertible Gloves:


I just like this picture (yesterday):

They knitted up really fast. I'm still not going to say that it was easy... I'll say that it was "challenging". Once I got the hang of it, and understood what to do when it came time to knit the fingers, then it was less challenging. The challenging part was handling all of the needles. I had to make my own pattern for the mitten part, and it was hard to pick up the stitches from the stitches below the knuckles. I used the sock/toe method to close the mitten part (k to the last 3, k2tog; k1, s2, k1, psso, etc.) I'm really proud of them, because they're my first pair of gloves. I hope she likes them.
Now on the Jeri's scarf.

Today is my sister's birthday...

I miss my sister. She died 12 years ago. Today is her birthday. I wish she was still alive.

That's all I have to say about that.

My Texture Today

I can't help it, I love my texture. I love the color. I didn't necessarily rinse out the Mega-Tek, but I did put my head under the faucet to get my hair wet, then I combed it out, then put Aussie Moist in it, and used my Denman brush to see what it would do. Then I used my wide tooth comb, and left it to air dry. I'm loving it.

I sent the info to Rex, and now I have to play the waiting game. I hope that #4 isn't off looking.

Going to go knit...

Not Enough Time in the Day/ Mega-Tek application

I don't know why I'm feeling like I don't have enough time during the day... it's not like I have a job or anything. I think it's that December/Xmas time space continuum thingy. I've got the knitting, now the Lace Wig Clearance Sale in progress (2 sold and shipped - I'm very efficient with my bid'ness), I still have to finish Colbi's left glove, Jeri's scarf, the embroidery on Andrew's apron, and the Xmas tree skirt (that I'm going to crochet). I'm so tired...

I posted pictures of how I apply the Mega-Tek Cell Rebuilder, oh miraculous elixir of growing hair! I put the Mega-Tek in a applicator bottle with a spout top (from Sally's). I part my hair down the center, and apply it to the part. Then I part my hair in pie shaped sections, and apply to my scalp. Then I apply it all along my hairline, all the way around. I pull my hair up (not quite long enough for a little itty bitty pigtail) and put a headband on. I leave it on, I do not wash it out. I try to do this at least once a week, but I do put Mega-Tek on my hair every other day. I do not wash it out. You have to be careful for protein overload, as Mega-Tek is protein. If my hair starts to feel dry, I immediately put one of my many moisturizing conditioners on.
Remember this: too much protein = dry hair
too much moisture = mushy hair

Tomorrow, the lace wig clearance sale will have not have been in vain (chasing all over town, trying to find a MoneyGram servicer/the 2nd lady at Lucky's claimed the machine was broken, but I think she didn't know how to work it, I could tell). I will place my order for my new Rex custom lace wig, the one that I will, going forward, SEW on! No more glue starting in January 2010. I will treat the lace wig as a "weave" of sorts. It will be a 14", virgin malaysian curly, colored T1B/4, light density. I hope it looks like what I have imagined. I also hope my own hairline doesn't get jacked up, meaning, I hope I don't get "weave edges". My new baby (courtesy of www.junpengwigs.com):

Rex says she'll take at least 28 days, which will put me at receiving her around the week of January 4-9. I hope it ships before the Chinese New Year. I remember how up in arms folks was when production/shipping stopped this year.

It's 9:44pm, and I haven't even started knitting. I still need to tend to my farm on Farmville... not enough time!

... 12:09am, and I still haven't picked up a needle. Damn! ;-(

Yes Virginia, we have a silver Christmas tree! I have wanted a silver Christmas tree since 1972. My mom's friend had one with the color wheel. I thought it was the most awesome thing. I've been on the hunt ever since then. I love our tree. It's very sparkly, very twinkly.

My haircolor update:






I may have to stock up on the Clairon Honey Brown rinse, since it only lasts one shampoo. Go figure. I stocked up on the Organix Vanilla Silk conditioner tonight (2 bottles). Andrew loves the smell of it.

The selling of the lacefronts is CRAZY. I had 11 emails inquiring about them. Everyone says they want them, but no one's sent me any money yet. I've even offered to ship FREE (me paying for the Priority shipping, of course). I hope sewing my new one on works like I'm hoping it will. It will be no different than a net weave, with my hair braided underneath, and my tan stocking cap. Just NO GLUE and TAPE! I'm going to have to bleach some of the strands like I did the other one, but not as much. Just here and there. Maybe not though. I asked for it to be 1B in the roots, and a 4 on the strands. We'll see. I probably won't get it until January.

I'm supposed to "teach" my lace wig tips and tricks to a young lady that's coming over on Saturday. She's a member of BHM. She lives about an hour away. It should be interesting.

I'm selling my babies (lace wigs)!

I'm downsizing! I've posted on Black Hair Media, and posted a fotki. I'm selling my beloved 22" Malaysian Wavy (that I wore to Mexico), CLW Diamond, the 16" IR Loose Curly, and the beloved Virgin Mongolian. Another hair colleague wants to buy the Hair Fairy Pretty Girl unit. I'm keeping my Frankenlace, and the Virgin Malaysian Natural Straight. I'm selling my units so I can buy my 14" Virgin Malaysian Curly. That's the one I'm going to sew on and wear my edges out.
More on this developing story tomorrow...

Finally, a marriage made in commerce heaven!!!

I don't know how I found it... I think I saw links on another blog. Then I thought, since I'm always adding Amazon.com links to the products I recommend, why not join their Amazon Associates program! It makes it so much easier! I love Amazon.com (they didn't pay me to say that), and when I had a full time job, half my check went to Amazon.com. I have a wishlist a mile long (posted). I just love the convenience of everything being there. I love my different little widgets, for my books and music. Hopefully the people that read my blog will enjoy the links, especially if they're asking me about the products I use, which can be found at Amazon.com.

The Days Are Flying By Fast!

I still haven't taken my December length check pictures. Not lazy... I will do it before the month is over. I figure, the less I mess with my hair, the better off it is. Right now, I have SE Luxury Moisturizing Conditioner slathered on my head, with a "curl bag" (aka plastic shower cap) over it, with my new microfiber hair turban wrapped over that. I found the hair turban at CVS for $5.99. I like it because it has a button on the back of it, and it stays put. The lovely dark honey brown has washed out (in a matter of 2 weeks) and my hair is a dark copper blonde on the ends. Oh well...

I saw that the people from Dr. Miracle's left a comment on the last post. How cool is that! That's what I love about blogs, when you think they're personal, they're actually seen by a LOT of people. I love that serum, and now they know it. In that same vein, I am not paid by any of the brands that I endorse. I endorse them because I love using them. I pay for them myself and give my honest opinion.

On the knitting front, I'm knitting some convertible mittens for my niece Colbi. I found a picture on the internet of what I want them to look like:


The pattern is actually a hybrid of the glove pattern in my Big Book of Knitting bible by Katharina Buss, and the convertible glove pattern on the DROPS website. I love the knitting book. I've had it for quite some time (at least 2004 or 2005). I definitely recommend it for the beginning knitter. I've never made gloves before, just mittens. I'm not going to lie, the ish is not easy. It's very complicated, maneuvering with 5 working double pointed needles. I usually do 3 (plus 1). It's working out though, once I read through the pattern. I had no idea what a "fourchette" was (the area between the fingers). I just had to plow through the pattern, and it worked itself out. Sometimes they read more complicated than they are. I'm glad the glove is working up so quickly though. Here's the progress so far:



I'm going to put a pink button on the top of the cuff. Pink and grey go good together.

My rants for today: I hate the celebrity culture that we now live in. It's not breaking news. So what that Tiger got caught (although his wife whupping that ass with a 9 iron is hilarious to me; I knew something was amiss when it was first reported that he had an accident outside of his home at 2:30 in the morning. Shouldn't his married ass been at home in the bed at that time?), so what about the Twilight bs (yeah, I said it, although the author's process fascinates me), so what about the Kardashians... ENOUGH ALREADY!!! I even hate Facebook (although I really like Farmville). I definitely hate Twitter! Who cares what people are doing every minute? I don't want to be THAT plugged in, to anything. I don't even update this blog like that, and I think I'm doing more interesting things, than Twittering. I hate the newscasters (knowitall sonsafucks), especially Brian Williams. He acts like he's curing cancer... all he's doing is reading a teleprompter. My boyfriend told me that I'm a bit on edge and I need to get my "A New Earth" book off the shelf and re-read it. LOL. This time of year does make me more at my wits end, which is why I knit so much. It de-stresses me.

I'm also working on my ultimate Christmas homemade dvd. This is the line-up I'm thinking about:
A Charlie Brown Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Boris Karloff/Chuck Jones version)
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
The Wizard of Oz
A Christmas Story (Andrew turned me on to it the other night)
A Christmas Carol (1938 version)
It's A Wonderful Life
The Year Without Santa Claus

I purposely didn't put Frosty the Snowman on the list, because I've never liked it. I'm seeing that it might be a 2 DVD set, one with the movies, and one with the TV shows. I would really like to put the Christmas episode from The Brady Bunch (where Carol lost her voice), and the Christmas episode from The Thunderbirds but I can't re-record prerecorded dvds. I'm such a nerd!

Off to finish the gloves...

Coasting into Christmas

I'm still knitting up a storm. It's so relaxing, 2 more projects, then I'll be back to knitting the Carrie/Episode 88 sweater. I have to knit my baby a sweater also.

I think I may be done with the lacefronts. This application has driven me crazy. I'm in the process of removing it. I'm either done, or I have to invent a way to keep it on my head without the glue/tape combo. The whole time has felt like my head has been in a vice. I think I'm going to go back to clips and maybe velcro. Yes, I said it, VELCRO! My hair is also at the Michael Jackson Thriller video length (unstretched, of course)... what can I say???

Thanksgiving dinner was great. It was my first time cooking! The cooking bags + turkey = greatness. I'm so surprised at how easy that was. The dressing was perfection (I used Jiffy instead of regular cornmeal), there weren't enough chitlins, and the jury's still out on the greenbean casserole (the cheese and onions were good). Andrew made a luscious pumpkin souffle pie, but we forgot to eat the cranberry sauce. We played Monopoly until we decided to quit. I missed my family something terrible, but Andrew and I had fun.

I'll be back...

I'm back. I had to remove the app and shower. My head feels so good. I always follow up a wash and condition with Dr. Miracle's Intensive Spot Serum around the perimeter. I'm really not keen on putting another lacefront on, until I either sew some clips in it, or invent my velcro method.

The Soul Train Awards
I just watched it on the dvr. Everything was too extra, that it made me sick. They knew it too, because they put the Chaka Khan tribute at the end of the show. I had to put that on a dvd because Erykah Badu kicked it off by singing... SANGING! She sang her version of "Stay" and she HIT the high notes. I love her... she fell off a bit with the Worldwide Underground cd, but she's still my favorite of the R&B singers... her, Maxwell, and Sade (who's coming back on 2/8/2010 with Soldier of Love. No auto tune (death to the auto tune). Modern R&B is in a sad state. Even Beyonce is getting on my nerves. I want her to go away for at least 2 years, and have a baby with Jay-Z. All of them diva bitches need to read a page out of Sade's How-To guide.

I love Wendy Williams and Mo'Nique's talk shows. I love Wendy's wigs.

Tomorrow, December length check!

November's Almost Gone - Thanksgiving Eve

I'm feeling really festive today. I'm watching The Wizard of Oz, I just finished making the cornbread for the dressing (aka stuffing, in certain areas of the country), and I'm starting on Andrew's dad's socks. I've never associated TWOZ with Christmas, but the powers that be are trying to make it so. Anyway, I started the chitlins yesterday. It's only 5 lbs this time around. We're also doing a turkey breast, macaroni & cheese, Andrew's making a pumpkin pie, and he's on greenbean casserole duty. It should be a bountiful Thanksgiving. It will also be the first Thanksgiving I've spent away from my family. I'm really sad about that, but I'm trying to stay positive.

I put my Rex Virgin Malaysian Straight on yesterday. It was really frustrating to braid my hair. I thought it would be easier because it's longer, but it was harder, because it's gotten so thick, from the Mega-Tek I'm guessing. I have a perimeter braid, and I sewed a tan wigcap onto it. I'm not doing the scalp spray anymore. I was so scatterbrained, that I put the Vapon on my skin first. I usually put the tape on first. I also went back to the Hair Direct White Adhesive instead of using Ms. Lola's Cream Adhesive. I don't like the clump that MLCA has turned into. The app feels tight as ever. I normally did maybe 3 apps a month, so I'm surprised to see that this is the first app of November. I really enjoyed wearing my own hair out, and I can tell I'll be doing it more and more since my hair is growing out.



I finished Andrew's mother's slippers yesterday. They knitted up so quickly. I want to make them for all my friends. I still have to make my niece some convertible mittens, and my sister wants a taupe scarf, then I'll resume knitting my Carrie/Episode 88 sweater.



Ah, a return to good music. Sade will be releasing a new album on February 8, 2010, called Soldier of Love:

Ah, a return to REAL music.