It is fully winter now in Lansing. We awoke Monday to several inches of wet, heavy snow. One tree near our house lost a branch because of the weight. It was white on the ground and the sky was white from corner to corner.

In the morning it did not snow much, but things got pretty nasty just as people were going home from work. I had a list of errands to run and only accomplished two. Just stopping at a red light and then trying to start again without sliding sideways, was a big effort. Home was the reasonable choice.

Of course, kids were building snowmen and throwing snowballs in our neighborhood. I did not get any photos of that, unfortunately. It was great that someone could enjoy the weather!

Monday morning I knit with the 3rd graders, again. They are so excited to knit! At this point every child has learned, each child has his/her own needles and yarn, and they are very happy about it. Some of the kids are truly amazing. I have two girls and a boy who picked it up so quickly, even faster than some adults catch on.

The personalities are so fun in this room. One boy loves the idea of knitting and can do it properly when I watch, but he is doing all sorts of creative things on that needle when I walk away. He started with 9 stitches and now he probably has 30, even with much help. He likes asking for help, so this is no problem, at least not to the child.

Another couple of the kids are in a big hurry as if it is a race. Some are so strong they pull their hands apart when working, which makes huge loops and see-through fabric. It’s still knitting, so I’m good with it. All are delighted to be part of the magic of making fabric with yarn and “sticks.”

Since this classroom is quite international, some of the kids have not seen snow like this before. They are enjoying that part, too.

So here I present to you, two photos I took this morning from the front yard of the school. Make special notice of the bright colors of ordinary things, really popping out. In one there are red fire hydrants, the other yellow gates. The yellow is a bit hard to see in this small version. (You can click on these snow photos today, and it will take you to a larger version on my Flickr page.)

You should have seen how bright the orange construction signs looked on the way home! All color becomes bigger than life when the sky and ground are fully white. Of course, a photo cannot capture the immediate surprise and color of these things in real life. Even a street sign can appear electric green on a snowy day, where we might never notice it in midsummer.

I am prepared to take it one moment at a time… I will make a point of noticing small colorful bits and other small comforts (such as the hot water bottle currently warming my feet). If I need a blue sky, I will need to wait another week. Check out our weather as predicted through Friday Night:

I get the hint. Looking for small delightful things will be the order of the day, and the next day, and the next!

Where do you find surprises, color or otherwise, in your life? Is it a garnish on a restaurant plate? Berries on a bush covered with snow? A child’s laugh in the next room? Remember, any comment this week is one more entry in my Blogiversary contest, so don’t be shy!

In keeping with my one-way conversation about what the lifestyle/idea of ColorJoy is to me, I will tell you about my birthday at Rae’s Yarn Boutique. It was all about relationship and community. I made cake and offered it to everyone who came in. Some folks were new to me, some were old friends. We all had a lovely time.

I have said often that raising a happy child is an artform, and creating a space for people to connect is similarly an artform. Rae was jus t awarded an honor from the Ingham County Women’s Commission for creating a place where artful community thrives. Here is the content of the press release:

Ingham County Women’s Commission
Honors “Everyday Heroine”
November 24, 2008
Contact: Macie Schriner (517) 803-7779
LANSING -

The Ingham County Women’s Commission is pleased to announce that Rachel Blackledge of Lansing has been honored with the Everyday Heroine Award. Blackledge was nominated for her role nurturing a community of artists as owner of Rae’s Yarn Boutique.

“When she’s not dying (sic) yarn, spinning yarn, or knitting she teaches people how to do all three. She empowers people to create and her store provides a place for people of different skill levels to share ideas and socialize with other fellow artists,” said Commission member Jennie Gies, who nominated Blackledge for the award. “She is nurturing a community of artists one stitch at a time,” continued Gies.

Blackledge will receive the award at the Ingham County Board of Commissioners meeting on November 25, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. at the Ingham County Courthouse, 341 South Jefferson Street, Mason.

The Ingham County Women’s Commission (ICWC) created the award to help recognize women from the county who do extraordinary things. Women strengthen our community every day in a various ways and go unnoticed. This award creates an opportunity to shine a spotlight on those who have had a positive impact in the county.
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Of course, Rae is quiet when discussing this. I am delighted for her, being noticed.

I’m also happy because this award is honoring the very thing I’ve been saying for a while: making a creative space or a comfortable, safe environment where people feel at home, is one very special artform.

Creating a community space is not visual, it is not a performance. Because of that, the skill involved is often undervalued. This does not make the accomplishment any less artful or creative.

The Unveiling of the Space Cadet Tunic

I also had much fun in the costuming arena on my birthday. I had finished my “ballet tee” which turned out to be a Judy Jetson-like top that I sort of like calling my Space Cadet Tunic.

For those who missed out on the beginning of this journey, I started knitting the project because I read on Ravelry that at least two people knit the Ballet Tee (a cropped top at 2.5 stitches per inch) in 7 hours or less. I was ready for a quick success, so I swatched and dove in.

I did finish it in something like 28 hours including sleeping and working. However, it was not my style enough to wear it much that way. I looked fine in it, but not good enough. (photo below)

I had enough of the four yarns (I held four strands together to get the blanket-like gauge) to knit another whole cropped top. So I determined to knit the top into a tunic. I wear tunic-length sweaters all winter. I was not sure how I would deal with the no-sleeve part, but I own many shawls and shrugs, so I dove in.

After a few fits and starts, a little ripping and re-doing (remember I was making this up… the skirt part of the tunic was not in the pattern instructions), I like it. It did need blocking to get some funny lumps and bumps out where they were not flattering, but now I think it’s cute.

I found an early-80’s Memphis-esque pin I bought that looks like a cartoon version of a military medal, and added it to the ensemble. I also found some polymer clay earrings I bought in 1991 in Baltimore, that look a little like shooting stars.

With black leggings and a leotard-like 3/4 sleeve top underneath, and some turquoise legwarmers with short black boots, I thought I looked somewhere between Judy Jetson and a 1985 Jazzercise instructor. Just what I wanted!

For the record, anything that is as thick as a wool blanket wrapped tightly around the bodice is warm. Warm enough to not need full length sleeves, even for chilly me. I was fine all day at the shop, though I needed a shawl at home.

(Oh, the hat is a vintage velveteen “beret” which probably once had a veil attached. The inside label said Paris and New York, but that label fell out recently. It was a gift and I enjoy wearing it.)

The flowers introducing this post were from my beloved Brian, for my birthday. It seems the only flowers I can bring inside without feeling allergic, are carnations. And these are magenta, one of my favorite colors. He’s sweet, I tell you.

Big, Huge Thanks!

So thank you to everyone who was part of my birthday, and thanks to Rae for giving us a space in which to gather and connect and thrive. I tell you, between Rae and Altu I don’t know what I would do… self-employed women friends are what a self-employed woman needs, to get by.

I am grateful for such abundance, the Greater Lansing knitting community (our guild often has 30 people at meetings), the shops I work for, the friends I have not only in knitting but dance, music, art, poetry, community involvement and more. Perhaps noticing and appreciating these luxuries in my life is part of the ColorJoy experience.

Where do you see community as ColorJoyful in your own life? Where are your comfortable spots? Is the Internet one part of that community for you? (It surely is for me.)

I will be doing a Talk and Demo about Polymer Clay at Haslett Public Library (5670 School St, Haslett, MI 517/339-2324), tonight, Tuesday, November 25 at 7pm. The talk is free to the public.

Polymer clay is frequently used to make beads and jewelry, and knitters can use it for making custom buttons for their work as well. However, the medium goes into sculpture, practical items and wall pieces as well.

I would love to see you there!

(Photo: Sculptural vase I made by covering glass vessel with sheets of polymer clay.)

The kids across the street were contemplating a snowman today. The snow sticks well but it is not really deep. It’s just above freezing, and this morning the snow came down so quickly you could barely see.

When I came home, the main streets were fine and so was the one in front of our house. However, the side street that our driveway faces, is only 2 blocks long and does not get any traffic or attention. I slid right past the driveway and had to back up to get in properly! Whoops.

It’s not a good day for postal mail carriers (in my area they walk from house to house) or bicycle commuters. The kids maybe make up for that a bit. They are so pleased!

I am working with a 3rd grade teacher in East Lansing’s Red Cedar School (I love that she has a significantly international class, being near MSU family housing). I am slowly working through all her kids, an hour at a time twice a week, until they all get to learn knitting from me.

I’m fortunate that I have a friend who knits who is also going to this school with me. She helps the kids with their “hiccups” while I teach new kids. If I were alone, the new kids would have to wait a longer time before seeing me.

A 3rd grader typically learns knitting one-on-one. They don’t watch and then copy when it comes to fine motor skills. I sit them in a chair, I stand behind them, I put my hands on their hands and we knit together while saying a poem which reminds them of the order of movements. Then I keep saying the poem, let go of their hands, point while they move, then I stop pointing and ask them to say the poem alone.

At that point, I start with another child and they go practice alone. Some kids go on well, and some forget and we start over.

But this age is totally clear about the magic of taking two “sticks” and making fabric with “string.” They love it, they are excited to make very imperfect pieces with me.

I tried a new project with this group. I gave them nine stitches and they knit for a while, then taught them to decrease at the beginning of each row until they had a sort of “house” shape. Then we sew up the edges and they have a small pouch of sorts. their needles are made of dowels which are relatively large in comparison to the yarn, so the pouches are full of holes and not good for much more than maybe a penny. They don’t mind, they just like finishing things.

Here are the first two photos I have of finished projects. One little girl, whose mother knits at home, brought a bow to sew on her project. It looks so nice!

I think I still have 5 kids left to teach, I will hope to get 3 more on Monday. We lose a day together because of Thanksgiving, so some will have to wait until the following week.

I’m sad about that, but what can I do? There is one of me, and they each need one-on-one time, so it will take a while. The teacher and my friend are able to help the kids once they get going. They will keep it running after I am out of the picture.

For the record, just as I was losing faith that I would ever get all the kids knitting, I came into the room and a little boy in the back (who has a hard time staying focused, it seems) saw me come in and exclaimed, “Knitting!”

Then when I was getting ready to go, the kids were in the hallway putting on their coats for recess. And what did I hear, but multiple voices jubilantly reciting the knitting poem out in the hallway!

UP through the Front Door,
Dance AROUND the back,
DOWN through the window,
And OFF Jumps Jack!

I’ll be dancing tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 2pm at Riverwalk Theatre in downtown Lansing. Habibi Dancers and Riverwalk are doing a joint fundraiser show, with experimental pieces and a few invited guest dance troupes.

This time of year is really busy for me so I’m only in 2 troupe numbers. It will be a full 2 hour show, with many excellent pieces.

The cost is $20, no reservation necessary.

(I’m in purple, kneeling in front row.)

Friend/ Musician/ Instrument Builder Doug Berch writes:

I’ll be giving an in-store performance at Elderly Instruments this Saturday at 12:00 PM. I’ll be playing music on mountain and hammered dulcimer from my two new CDs.

The performance will be 30-45 minutes or so.

Elderly Instruments
1100 North Washington
Lansing, MI, 48906 USA
517-372-7880

After the performance I’m offering a workshop called “Everything You Wanted To Know About Hammered Dulcimer But Didn’t Know Who To Ask.”

Doug is an excellent musician and just a wonderful person besides. I have both of his new CDs and found myself singing his music for days after listening… If you are in the Lansing area, this is a real opportunity to hear a pro.

It has turned nasty here, with temps hovering right at freezing and mean winds. It’s damp and the wind blows right through anything you might wear. Never mind that my body takes at least a month of cold before it gets used to revving up the heating response.

My feet are cold all the time, unless (as right now) they are on/under a hot water bottle. What did I do without hot water bottles? Electric heating pads are just plain too hot, and you aren’t to use them if you might fall asleep with them on. The hot water bottles are just the right sort of warm (with just hot tap water) to keep the feet happier.

Last year I got my first hot water bottle. My feet were SO much happier! Then last week I gave in to the dream of two… one for feet, one for my lap.

I used to have a cat for 17 years, and he sat on my lap and it was just a luxury to have him heat me up while he purred. Now I have Brian (who is allergic to cats) so no cat, and the second heating pad is on my lap right now. Aaaah. No purr, but otherwise excellent.

It requires an adjustment to remember that scraping the car windows is necessary before getting out to work, after a lovely summer of no such thing. I’m not a great planner-aheader but I do get used to it.

I do agree that snow is pretty, and the light does reflect on the white snow. Also, the neighborhood is so much quieter under a blanket of the soft stuff. It’s good sound insulation… this is an active neighborhood no matter what the weather (dogs and kids). That part is good.

But we’re definitely into the longjohns-every-day part of the year. Till March or April, I’m guessing. At least there is knitting… with wool, and alpaca, and mohair, and other yummy fibers. These things make it all better. Lots better!!! What would I do without wool to make me smile?

Hmm, makes me dream once more about knitting wool leggings/pants or wool longjohns. That would be the ULTIMATE luxury!!! Well, that or alpaca, or cashmere blend. Anything warm would make me smile.

The photos are hats knit by my students. The pattern is my very new Topper-Down hat. So new, that the pattern was just loaded on my website (link above) and is in only 2 shops to date, more soon. The pattern assumes you will stripe two colors, but isn’t the Noro Kureyon one-yarn/many-colors version delightful? It’s for a young child, and I’m sure that will go over well!

Tonight, Saturday November 15, Brian and I will be singing at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine in East Lansing, MI (map on website). This is a high-quality casual restaurant, the best Ethiopian food I’ve ever had (and I spent over 3 weeks in Ethiopia, eating in good restaurants and friends’ homes). It is a family-friendly place, kids can dance a bit if they like.

If you have never been here before, there is a good variety of food. You can eat mild or spicy, vegetarian or meat. The standard is to eat family style, and use the spongy flat bread (it’s a bit like a sourdough taste) to pick up the thick stew-like main dishes rather than a fork. However, if you do not want sourdough or just prefer an alternative, you can get the stews on a bed of rice, on your own plate with silverware.

My friend Altu, the owner/founder, loves food and she loves her customers. This love and attention to quality are quite apparent in her food. The servings are generous, as well. I often choose to eat half for a lighter meal, and take home half for another meal at home. I love it when Altu cooks for me!

Now, this is not an unbiased review… Altu is one of my very best friends. She is the one who took me to Ethiopia. But we met because I was a loyal customer. Her food was so good I kept coming back. I happened to come in at slow times because of my unusual schedule, and we could talk for a while.

We decided to travel to Chicago together at first, and then in 2004-05 we spent 38 days as sisters/roommates while we toured Eastern Africa. We came back closer friends than when we left.

I maintain Altu’s website and I book her musical acts. I’m very much a part of the restaurant. But it all started because I loved the food and kept coming back. Perhaps you’d like to check it out tonight, if you are in the Lansing area.

Out of town? I’ll enjoy the food on your behalf. You can go listen to our music on our website, at least!

Photos: 1) Brian and I as The Fabulous Heftones singing at Altu’s in a previous summer, wearing African clothes I got when Altu and I traveled there. 2) Altu and I in Alexandria, Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt is fascinating… it is African, it is Mideastern, and it is Mediterranean. It is like nowhere else.

In Lansing, Michigan, USA, we had a gorgeous, perfect summer. It seemed to only rain at night, and the days were lovely and seemed to last forever. I loved every minute.

I am not a cold-weather grrl. However, the colors of autumn placate me as the temperatures drop. We had beautiful colors this year, and since we have not yet had a very hard frost, some of the trees are still full of crimson or burgundy leaves.

Last Tuesday (election day, to jog your mind about the weather in your area), it was really quite beautiful here in spite of the month being November. I went out in the yard and took photos of two myrtle flowers, two violets, one dandelion, two impatiens plants and several petunias (which were drooping but still showed color).

Last Sunday, we got snow. It was wet and warm as snow goes, but we got enough that it stuck overnight. What a change in less than a week!

Right now we do not have snow, it is above freezing during the day, but we are not going back to violets until March, I’d bet. Here are some photos to give you a smile. Notice the brown leaves in the grass next to the flowers… it is definitely autumn here in spite of the flowers’ insistence otherwise!

A few weeks ago we had frost. I had to cut the herbs in the garden, though I was not really ready for them. Then I pulled the smallest tomato plant inside and picked all the rest of the tomatoes, green, from the larger tomato plants outside. (The photo at right shows parsley at top, sad little basil bottom left, sage bottom right.)

I had spent several nights before that time, covering the tomato plants each night with a sheet. Brian would take it off in the morning on the way to work. this was fine when there was slight chance of patchy frost (the plants are up 4 steps on a landing, which is good for avoiding frost). At some point, though, it will frost solidly and one must give in to reality.

Here are the results of my harvest. There are still maybe 6 fruits on the indoor plant. I think it has decided to stop growing, anyway… it must know that November has arrived even though it’s indoors and warm enough.

Previous to this harvest moment, we got merely three red tomatoes all summer. We just got no fruit! So to have this many fruits at the same time, was crazy luck.

I really think that the tomatoes sense a chill in early Septmber and instantly put out as many flowers as they can. I have noticed this now, for several years in a row. It must be a survival instinct for them to do that, make seeds to procreate before it’s too late. Or so goes my theory…

For the record, the tomatoes on the windowsill have been slowly turning red one at a time. We have had about 5 turn red so far, and we have eaten 3 of them. A few look like they may still turn, I may share a few photos later with those. (And the indoor plant? One almost-red large fruit and a bunch of green ones not doing anything.)

I took some photos of my beloved toddler-friend, Isabel (and her mom, April) one day when we went to Old Town for lunch. There is a tiny park on the corner with simple but wonderful sculptures: metal plates painted fun colors. Each has a hole of a different shape… square, triangle, circle. They are such fun, even adults play peek-a-boo there.

I wish I could post ten photos but I will restrain myself to one. Here’s one of my favorites (Isabel is wearing a Button Hat I knit for her):

I will be doing a Talk and Demo about Polymer Clay at Haslett Public Library (5670 School St, Haslett, MI -339-2324), on Tuesday, November 25 at 7pm. The talk is free to the public.

Polymer clay is frequently used to make beads and jewelry, and knitters can use it for making custom buttons for their work as well. However, the medium goes into sculpture, practical items and wall pieces as well.

People make musical instruments with it as one part of the whole, and they use it as inlay for wood items such as drums and even a staircase. Book artists sometimes use it for book covers. I’ve used it as a practical thing, to replace a missing or broken piece of something I am not ready to toss in the trash yet.

I have a lovely collection of Polymer Clay pieces by many artists throughout the USA and will bring some of those pieces with me to the event. I think it is important for a teacher to share many styles with their audience, so that the listeners can take in the possibilities and make things in their own signature style rather than echoing the style of the teacher.

I have worked for the Haslett Library twice before and had a wonderful time. It’s a great, friendly, intimate space for such an event. Local folks, do consider joining me that night!

Wow. The “Meet the Artist” yarn sale I had at Rae’s Yarn Boutique on Sunday was a great success. It felt a bit like a party… Rae made brownies from scratch and brought some apple cider in, which made it festive. I saw so many people I really enjoy having in my life. The shop was hopping, with three of us working the shop we still sometimes had folks waiting for assistance.

The cashmere blend sockyarn I dyed, Lynn’s Luxe, sold very well. The eight remaining skeins are now in stock at Rae’s shop. I don’t know which colors remain, but all that I started with are pictured in the previous blog post. Email Rae if you want to buy some and have it mailed out to you.

I also offered a new feltable wool yarn. I’ve had a few skeins of it on my site but it has never been carried by a yarn shop before. I can’t really supply a store dependably, but Rae understands that I dye when I can and she gets what I can supply when I can supply it… so this is the only brick and mortar shop where you can get my yarns.

When I have other yarns besides those she purchases, I will put those few on my shop. Right now the shop is carrying my patterns, but not yarns until I can photo what stock I still have in my own stock. This will take another week, as I’m dealing with an incredibly full to-do list with deadlines that affect others, at this time.

Unfortunately, it was so busy that I didn’t get any photos of the table piled with yarn… or me with friends. I did get photos of a little 4 yr old friend in her flower fairy costume, and will have to share those at some point.

Right now I’m doing what I can to do the minimum necessary tasks before I go teach tonight.

But thank you to everyone who came, everyone who sent supportive notes, all of you who participated by purchasing or just coming by to say hello. I really appreciate the support.

On days like this, I remember why I have chosen this bumpy road (self-employed artist/teacher). It is because of you that I can make this happen. Thank you.

Hugs.