Finally I had time to save the last Great Lakes Folk Festival images on Flickr for you. I have three new photosets set up for you to view as a slideshow, and I am officially done with the festivities which happened two lovely weeks ago. (The first time I posted this entry, I did not include my Friday Night photoset. Whoops!)

Friday night we danced to the Louisiana group. They know how to keep people hopping on their feet!

There were a lot of folks we knew in the tent with us that night. While I was taking photos of others, someone I did not know offered to take a photo of us dancing. It’s a nice shot. It was a fun time, believe me.

There is one set of photos showing Saturday night’s dance tent (a Mexican band of a style I’d not heard before, complete with foot stomping as a percussion instrument at times).

That night, the festival saw the best dressed dance audience of the weekend, at least the ones I saw. Check out the photos of the footwear on the audience/dancers. And of the beautiful musician/dancer who was the foot-percussionist.

Note photo below which is my talented young knitting student, A., dancing with our mutual friend Mike. They really were cutting up the rug, dancing up a storm, and having a great time.

My second new photo set is Sunday’s crowd dancing to the polka band (two photos are the chicken dance, a just-folks, silly but fun sort of party entertainment). I had the luck of running into Rae there for a half hour or so and we did the polka together until she had to go back to work.

The first two photos show the chicken dance and the third is a shot of feet: Rae and I doing the polka together. It was much fun! That day was a bit chilly and rainy. Dancing was just the antidote.

Later on Sunday I also spent time with the boy photographer whose excellent candid photos I already showed you. That was during another musical set by the band from New Orleans who we had also heard on Friday night.

Between the two bands on Sunday, there were a LOT of children dancing. I love watching the kids at the festival.

Now, here is a closeup of the percussionist-dancer’s feet. I must say I was as interested in her dress/costume as I was the music and dancing. I *so* love embroidery.

Rae and I both had classes cancel for Saturday. We have made the decision to drive down to the Chicago Area for one day, to Stitches Midwest (knitting/fiber-related conference). We made no plans ahead of time so we will go to the market (no time for classes). Our friend/colleague Sarah Peasley is teaching there, we may or may not see her but will look out for her.

A busload of folks planned ahead to go from Lansing, and I think it may be the same day we go (but we are not early birds so they are going first). Of course both Rae and I have been in the knitting business long enough to have friends from all over the country. We will be able to see a few folks we don’t see anywhere else but trade shows.

I hope to get some Indian food somewhere in/near Chicago. I know where to find Devon Avenue which is a sure bet, but it’s not near where the show is. I hope someone will give me a lead on something good that is closer.

The drive is a long haul, somewhere between 4 to 5 hours to that particular location. When I think Chicago, I think less than 4 but this is more. I do love to drive, and I really love Rae’s company. We will take turns driving and knitting, and it will be very good. I am good driving in city traffic so I’ll do that part, and the rest we will play by ear.

I’m excited. Time to sleep, or at least try to sleep. It will be very soon when the alarm goes off!

Rae and I took Sunday last week and spent the day together at Michigan Fiberfest, in Allegan Michigan. It is no surprise that we had a good time, and no surprise that when I bought things they were the color Turquoise. Well, except for the wood item, that is. (Photo below is a garden outside the fence at Allegan County Fairgrounds, visible from the parking lot. Yes, gardens are an artform!)

Here you see what I came home with. At the left of the photo is roving/combed loose wool fibers. I swore I wouldn’t buy more this year, since I havent been spinning much this year. However, Rae is encouraging me to bring my spinning wheel to her shop for slow times and knit-in times. This fiber was so perfect (I love turquoise with just a hint of green in it), and so soft yet shiny, I gave in.
It’s a blend of alpaca, merino and tussah silk. I would love wristwarmers of this, but will have much more fiber than that requires. It’s from Yarn Hollow. That’s my friend Rita from the Grand Rapids area, we met face to face last year at Allegan but she knew me from this blog. Since then we have connected quite a few times.

The two matching skeins are fingering/sockweight yarn from Ellen’s Half-Pint Farm. I love her stuff, I make a point each year to collect something from her. Ellen and her sisters are wonderful folks and the products are consistently lovely.

This particular yarn is 50% wool and 50% bamboo fiber, which is fluffy and shiny and baby-soft. I am dreaming of a tank top or short tee. At 475 yards per 4oz skein, I can probably get any number of styles out of these. I love knitted garments made of thinner yarns, and this will be wonderful next to the skin.

The last item is a hand-turned walnut darning egg by Knitting Notions. It is interesting to me that I did not set out to do this, but the three people I bought from this year I also bought from last year. Last year I was not as stuck on Turquoise and I got wild multicolored sockyarn from Rita and a purplish-magenta handpainted sockyarn from Knitting Notions. And sockyarn (including turquoise) from Ellen.

It was a more relaxed fiberfest than I’ve had in previous years. I had no appointments with anyone, no classes to teach, no obligations. We got there when we got there, we wandered around and said hello to the folks we knew, and then we left when it was good and done.

After we left, we decided to try and find food in Allegan before heading home. Rae and I tend to eat very different foods at home, but I remembered a restaurant from the three years I taught at this festival where I thought we both could find something we would like.

Allegan has rivers and bridges and hills, and the streets meander rather than sit in a grid as in Lansing. That is a bit of a challenge for a citygrrl behind the wheel! Amazingly, I was able to find my way to the place and it was still in business.

The Village Inn reminds me of places I went as a kid, maybe around 1970 or so. It has a very clear small town friendly flavor. A young man probably in high school was our very capable waiter.

The salad bar had pretty good choices for toppings on the iceberg lettuce salad mix. I had hard boiled egg and onion and black olives and carrots, which was a really satisfying meal for someone who normally has to pick and choose because of food sensitivities.

As a side story… I somehow dropped my cell phone (which I did not use all day) in the parking lot of the Village Inn. I realized it was missing that night when I got home. On Monday I started looking at replacement phones, and in the late afternoon I got a phone call from the restaurant. A customer had found it but the inside screen was broken.

The man I talked to at Village Inn sent me my phone back in the mail, and I proceeded to order a new phone. The old phone and the new one arrived on the same day (Thursday). Verizon was able to transfer over my phone list even though it was impossible to see the menus, and I was off and running around 5:30pm on Thursday after having lost the phone around the same time of day on Sunday. It could have been much worse. Thanks to Village Inn!!!

I have the great fortune to interact with creative kids quite often. Allow me to wax poetic about the kids right now.

Not long ago I was at Rae’s Yarn Boutique just hanging out knitting before riding my bike home again. A few ladies came in and they brought with them a boy of elementary age. He was visiting from Minnesota and his name was Max. (Since I’m not showing his face I’m speaking his name out loud, I usually will not do both.)

We got talking about felted animals, knitted animals, crocheted (amugurimi) animals. Max was into it. He volunteered that he liked to crochet and that he’d made a hedgehog. I expressed an interest and he bolted for the door. His mom figured out that he was going to get the hedgehog so he could “show and tell” at the shop.

I’m so glad he warmed up that fast. Do you see what he did? It is just wonderful, just look at that face!!! Go, Max.

But I’m not done telling of the wonders of kids… in this case, working with yarn. My summerkidz at Rae’s have been doing a great job.

First, notice them working intently last week, and the girl in front (M.) is holding the bottom of what will be a variation of my BabyZig (from the ZigBagZ Mini collection pattern). The bottom of the bag is a checkerboard in two-color stranded knitting, done flat. This means every other row (not very many of them) is purled in 2 colors. She is 12 years old. No sweat, Ms. Lynn!

The next photo is A. with a mini sock. You saw M. holding her mini sock much earlier this summer in a group photo. These tiny sock blockers come with a keychain attached. Rae got a bunch more of them a few weeks ago and they are going fast. In fact, I bought one for my Mom’s birthday gift this year.

The kids are making full-sized socks for themselves, but typically they use fatter yarn (worsted weight) for those. These tiny socks? They are using normal sockyarn and double pointed needles for these. Size 0 or 1 needles (2-2.25mm) are the tool of choice. It is a fussy project and they work in fits and starts, but two of my kidz have done these in the last 6 weeks or so. I told you so… kids are amazing sometimes, if you give them good materials and allow them to follow their inspiration.

I have a good life. Teaching kids to work with yarn is about as much fun as a person can have.

Oh, for the record, A. did not knit the lace shawl she is wearing. Rae knit it, as a store sample. A. wears it every chance she can. It’s in that new Mooi yarn by Louet, of bison, bamboo and cashmere fiber. Incredible stuff. This girl does know the good yarn, for sure!

I had a class Saturday at Rae’s which covered a bit of history, a bit of show and tell, and a lot of knitting in color. The class is called Create Your Own Turkish-Style Sock.

In reality, Turkish socks have many styles. I own four pairs of socks from Turkey and they include 3 types of heels and four types of toes, never mind the color patterning and the finish at the top!

So in this class we learn one type of Turkish toe (four-part swirl with c-wrap) and one type of heel (flap/band without gusset), and we look at and discuss other types. We do a little bit of colorwork to get a feel for that, and we do one sort of top of the sock which does not roll and would allow a tassel if wanted.

Look at what they made! This was a mother/daughter team and they were just delightful.

I find this photo a really good display of personal gauge/tension (how big the stitches are when knit). These ladies used yarns that were very similar in structure and weight. However, the woman who ended up with the smaller sock actually used larger needles than the woman with the larger sock.

In commercial patterns, they specify how many stitches per inch you should get when you knit. They suggest a yarn and a size of needles, and you need to match that to get the size you wish. Clearly, though, the needle size specifications are merely a guideline. You may need to go up or down as many as 3 sizes to hit that gauge. Or clearly it may not fit!

Gauge is less important for things that do not fit snugly. Blankets/afghans do not need to be an exact size, though if you are way larger than specified, you might require more yarn. However, for things one wears it is important to get this right.

And that is enough of a teaching experience for me right now. Just spend a moment enjoying the little bits, the features, the colors of their socklets. Nice job, ladies!

(Notice the socks here at right… they have the same toe, heel and top edge as the mini-socks. They are made in smaller yarn, and to sizes that an adult could wear.)

Rae and I will be going to Michigan Fiber Festival (AKA Allegan) Sunday all day. It should be fun and social and sensory overload. I am looking forward to it.

If you see me, do say hello!

This is part one of a two-part story. I danced at New Aladdin’s restaurant in Lansing last Friday with another Habibi Dancer. My friend April came to the show and brought toddler Isabel, for whom I invented the Chippy Socks knitting pattern.

Isabel has one set of six Chippy Socks (each one unique but in the same 3 colors) in purple/ fuschia/ turquoise. These were the first ones I made and are a little small for her but very stretchy. She also has a pair (merely two rather than a full set of 6) in yellow/ green/ turquoise. These are made of a slightly larger yarn so they are a little bigger than the first set. This pair is not a true pair, again, because they are made of the same 3 yarns but patterns and colors do not match.

So Isabel dresses herself whenever possible… and she spent some time picking out her socks this day. She picked one from set 1 and one from set 2. What is fascinating to me is that she chose the ones which match in patterning… both have a 2 stitch by 2 row checkerboard size, and a 2 row evenly spaced foot stripe. The toes/heels happen to also both be turquoise (though slightly different, being very different yarns).

I was just as pleased as punch to see Isabel, no matter what she wore on her feet. But wearing these socks? Sigh… no wonder I’m so crazy about this spectacular child. She’s as in love with color as I am.

Kate came to me with a little bit of memory about knitting a long time ago, if I remember right. She has been working on this baby blanket for many months, but she kept at it. This is a big project for a new knitter, even for an adult. She did such a great job!

She made a version of my Cushy Blankie pattern, adjusted slightly because she chose a worsted-weight yarn rather than the DK weight (thinner) yarn I specified originally. This pattern requires some paying attention, and she learned to come in when she got stuck and get some help from Rae or myself.

Today we met so that she could learn how to finish off ends… and how to bind off (her first time ever). She also needed to get a refresher on how to cast on, because she had only done it once. Go, Kate!!!

And do you know what she said today? She’s ready to start another one of these, in order to secure the lessons in her mind and hands. I think she’s going to be with us for a while now. I’m delighted.

Gloria knit a tiny pair of my Fast Florida Footies and put a photo on her blog. Adorable! She used a bamboo blend yarn in beautiful cool colors. This child will be stylin’ for sure!

Gloria, thanks for letting me know. I’m delighted to link to your photo, and to make your acquaintance.

Anyone else out there not saying hello? Any other photos? If you don’t have a blog I’d be delighted to post a photo here… whether you knit from my handpainted yarns or any of my patterns, I’m quite happy to show the world what you are doing.

Or not. Your choice. Meanwhile, thanks again to Gloria for making my day.

(Photo here is my own version of the footies in a baby size. I don’t remember the yarn, it was a DK weight wool rather than the specified Cascade Fixation in the pattern.)

Summer is in full swing. This means that potential students are on vacation and my classes are thinning out. I started summer with five kid knitters but for the last two weeks I have been down to two loyal and dedicated young ladies.

Last week, I was sitting on the couch between these lovely ladies and Carol (another instructor at Rae’s) noticed that it might be a nice photograph to get the three of us sitting like that. So thanks to Carol, here is a shot of us, the two girls with knitting in their hands.

This has been a wonderful summer thus far. Thanks to the kids and their families for making it so.

We still have August to go, and I am looking forward to it. These girls are not just good knitters, but they are good company as well.

Brian and I sang for a private luncheon a few weeks ago. We dressed up and forgot to ask anyone to photograph us. So we sat down and held the camera and took a photo of ourselves. It was a giggly sort of fun. Here we are.

For the record, I’m wearing the white alpaca circular Peace Shawl that Alison Hyde knit for me as a gift. The pattern is available in her book, Wrapped in Comfort.

You all thought my young knitter A. was talented when I showed you her bag last week. Prepare to be delighted and amazed. She has finished her first pair of socks.

Not only did she do a pair of socks, she was creative in solving the design problem of not having enough yarn to make them as thick as she wanted given the yarn available in our classroom. She chose to hold two yarns together as one, and used one color in both socks for a bit of unity. Then for the second strand, she used different colors of yarn for variety and interest.

Not only that! A good long time ago, when Kim still owned the Yarn Garden shop in Charlotte, she gave me a stack of Interweave Knits magazines. At the time my kids in the program were interested in the pictures but none were ready to tackle actual patterns.

So I still had a few of that issue left this year when A. hit my classroom. She and a few other adventurous ones took the magazines home and were inspired. In this particular issue, there was a pair of socks by Ann Budd which used a feather and fan lace as a short cuff design. A. was delighted.

So she made her first lace, on her first socks. Why not? And I’d say she made a lovely choice. Chunky and warm, but definitely feminine as well. And artful! Good job, A.!!!

A. is one of my knitting kidz at Rae’s this summer. She has been knitting in my programs for most of a year now. This is the first batch of kids I have ever had (I think I’ve been doing this for 6 years, maybe 5) who actually are reading patterns on their own.

I started the kids with learning how to read patterns, on the Mochimochiland Hearts. These kids hang out together when they are not with me, and they helped each other figure out that pattern.

After the hearts, a few of them tried Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer’s bunny. I heard they did finish some but I never saw them, I believe they were made into gifts.

We have tried a few other patterns, some with more independence than others. And two of them are making my First-Time Toe-Up Socks. A’s mother is knitting along with a pair of her own, which has the extra benefit of another adult to help out when I’m not around and the pattern is unclear to a new pattern-reading child.

When I did the Schuler Books event with Rae a few weeks ago and I wrote the pattern for the Quick-Gift Bags, “My Kidz” wanted the pattern (if you click this link you will get a free PDF of the bag pattern in 2 sizes). I complied quickly. A. made one in less than a week. Go, A.!

Hers is made with two strands of yarn held together, one solid white (I think it’s alpaca) and one multicolor (wool). The bag is nice and dense, it will hold things in without worry.

Today A. started (are you ready?) a Baby ZigBag (small purse) from my ZigBagZ Mini Collection. She learned a new way to cast on, and is currently working with two colors of yarn, stranded knitting. . She can really picture this bag finished, and thus I have no question that she will finish it.

Oh… and also today A. learned to knit feather-and-fan lace for the cuff of her First-Time Toe-Up socks. She was inspired by a pair of lace footies in an Interweave Knits magazine which was donated to my program. Her goal is to finish the socks this week and wear them on her vacation next week. Her vacation knitting will be the BabyZig.

And that is merely the story of one kid in my program (I think she is 12 years old). One really determined, very skilled, and persistent child. She is not the only special one… but special, she is!

Katie is learning to knit, and waiting for her first child to arrive. She is knitting a lovely pink Wee Welcome Set for the occasion, and learning at the same time.

She finished this hat on our third lesson, about a week after she started with me. She has also started on a bootie but it is not ready for photos at this time.

She’s doing a fine job of catching on, I’d say! Go Katie!