Nandia Cashmere

If you're thinking of buying from Nandia Cashmere, DON'T. Heed my advice. The yarn price might be tempting but the aggravation is not worth it. I bought from then on their Ebay store before a whole load of negatives were posted. I thought it wouldn't happen to me but it did. I paid promptly on 2/21; she shipped on 3/19. In the meantime, I sent a lot of emails, made a phone call, notified Ebay and Paypal, even emailed the designer, Jackie E-S. I got NO response from Nandia at all. Won't reply to emails. I think the Paypal dispute and emailing Jackie helped.

I received my package but, as part of the kit, the shawl pattern was a black and white photocopy of the original. I notified Jackie E-S immediately and she's now taking steps. Definitely illegal on Nandia's part.

Alison gave me a very good advice. Be careful when I leave my feedback. Nandia retaliates by giving you a negative feedback if you give them a negative one. One of their feedbacks read: "I will withdraw my negative if you withdraw yours!" What the heck?!

I doesn't matter if you paid on time. Nandia will call you impatient if you can't wait 5-8 weeks for your package to arrive. One buyer comment states that they also cheat on the yardage, stating 800 yards but only gives you 600 yards. What the heck?!

I have 100% positive rating. Do I want to jeopardize that by leaving Nandia another measly negative when they have so many already? I know I will get one even though I don't deserve it. But I have to let others know. AHA! That's why I'm doing it on my blog.

Here you go: READ Nandia's feedback rating on Ebay HERE. You be the judge. Buyer beware!

Kids Knitting

My 4 yo daughter,Emily, saw her friend, Gracie, knitting. A few days later, while at Joann's Fabrics, she saw the same 2 color bunny needles (Lion Brand) and commented that those are Gracie's needles! A few more days later, Emily says that she wants the same needles and she wants to learn to knit too, like Gracie (who's about 5 or 6, I think?).

Of course, I had to buy 2 pairs, the other for Matthew, my 8 yo son, who has also shown some interest. He's more of a spinner, who likes to experiment with my wheel. Plus, I don't want a fight on my hands over a pair of needles--lol!

With the short attention span that most kids have, Emily preferred to just hold on and admire these cute bunny needles. Matthew, however, caught on really fast! Being a continental knitter, it took me a while to teach him the English way. By the way, he's also left-handed, he, he.

One night, Emily sat on my lap and said,"Mom, I want to knit!". Well, so, now, she's done a small 3x3 garter stitch square. Matthew is on his way to a garter stitch scarf. Simply amazing!

Next time we see Gracie, I'll bring my camera and take a picture of the 3 of them knitting. And maybe, she'll teach us her little knitting poem as well.

Sunday, March 6th was my birthday. The day before, Saturday, turned out warm and sunny. We spent the whole day in Berkeley. Joel and I love the ocean and we love to eat at Emeryville's Market place. It's like a food square from all nations. Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Jamaican and American Cuisine. Ahh, I can stay there the whole day.

I planned it all, so we can get a chance to visit some yarn stores while we're there. Kill 2 birds.... you know the saying.

Well, this is going to turn out like a yarn store review but just my own opinion based on my likes and dislikes.

The first one we visited was SKEIN LANE in El Cerrito. Smallish store, rustic looking on the outside, hard to find parking, lots of yarn, with NO PRICE TAGS. This makes a whole lot of difference to me. I don't have time to ask for prices. Apparently, they have lists posted on each shelf but you have to hunt down the name and find the price. Also a little bit disorganized, yarns spilling from shelves and baskets. Patterns were in binders (that's good) but if you see one you like, need to ask for help finding it.

But, to be surrounded by yarn... heavenly. Came out empty handed. Surprising indeed!

Second store, DEEP COLORS, in Kensington. Not really a yarn store even though they had some yarns, but geared towards spinners and felters and fiber lovers, like me.

Small store, easy to miss, but my hubby saw the sign immediately. Rustic looking as well, located in a semi-residential area, very shady, lots of trees. Parking might be hard but we found one immediately.

They had 2 sessions going on, a spindling class and a wet felting class. I felt very welcome. The owners and helpers were very friendly and I ended up with some merino/silk roving in 2 colors and a handpainted cotton roving. I loved this store!

The last one was LACIS. Second time I've been there and bought some tatting needles and a book. Lacis is lacis- museum quality display and a ton of books on every craft and hobby invented by man. The ladies were wonderful and helpful. Parking was hard to come by but my husband was resourceful.

A wonderful birthday it was. I got presents that I really wanted.

Freebie pattern and Spring Colors!

Big Net Lace Pattern

This is a freebie pattern that I will put up on my website but it's not there yet. However, if you're like me, can't wait, gotta have it now, send me an email and I will send it to you in MS Word format.
Email me

This pattern used one 100 gm skein of Chunky Misti alpaca yarn. I believe it has 110 yards (lost the skein band) and is more than enough to make a long scarf. You can substitute any chunky or bulky weight yarn. It is very easy and based on BW's Treasury of Knitting Patterns.




I have been playing with colors. These are Spring-bright! The wool is a superwash nylon/wool blend, fingering weight. The yarn took the dye really fast. That's what I have noticed with superwash yarns. Regular wool yarns sometimes turn out muted in color but not the superwash ones.