Hi, Honey, I’m home!

I made it back from Montreal in the wee hours last night. It took about 15 hours from leaving my room in Montreal to opening the door in Lansing. I had  a good trip home, though. Other than the length of travel, it was not a particularly tiring day.

The Benefits of Change

My mind is spinning. There are so many things I learned about myself, so many passions returning to my heart, so many ideas and sparks in me because I got out of my home routine and went toward something new.

I’m sorting through the zillion photos I took. It’s a challenge to group them in any kind of logical way.

The first and easiest thing I could do to get you a bit of eye candy quickly, was a Door Collection. I pulled out shots of about 30 doors I photographed during my travels, by foot, in Montreal.

Wearing Out My Shoe Leather

One of the joys of a vibrant large city, is public transit. Montreal has a metro (subway) system which is excellent. They also have trains and numerous taxis, plus rent-a-bicycle systems and lots of things which are accessible by foot.

I took advantage of the metro and walking. I love to walk.

Surprises and Beauty Everywhere

I explored many parts of the island city. I walked in business areas, neighborhoods, museums and churches, parks and gardens. The doors really spoke to me. What a history they can tell, and what personalities they have!

In some cases it is clear that the actual door is new, while the frame around it is very old carved stone. I was sort of amazed, too, at how many doors downtown did not have doorknobs on the outside.

Oh, Yes! These are Art!

The premise of ColorJoy is that many things are artful, many more than just paintings hung on walls in museums. These doors fit here  perfectly, even those which are not colorful in the rainbow sense.

I’m offering a few photos as a teaser, on this page. If you are intrigued, please-

(The above link takes you to the Flickr website.)
(In order… door/gate in what I think was a Presbyterian School; 60’s-ish Turquoise doors on multi-unit home, beautiful door on very old residence; embellished fire door on what I think was a water utility company building; door to art supply store on St. Catherines in what I believe is called “Latin Quarter.” All of this is some guesswork, since I don’t read French signs very accurately.)

My Sis-in-Love Diana/Otterwise sent me a link to a site indexing street art… images which show up on Google Street View. (Click link above for site, click images below for their locations on that site.)

Ironically, Diana sent the link to me the day after I took my own photos of this, in Montreal (photo below by Google Street View):

And here is an image of one of my favorite art projects in Michigan… the Heidelberg Project in Detroit:

The Heidelberg Project is huge, not a single house but a neighborhood. Making art from junk discarded on the street has made this neighborhood a tourist destination with no violent crime in something like 25 years.

You may not love the aesthetic, but you’d be inhuman to dislike the impact it’s had… not only safety but pride of place.

Saying Goodbye/ Bon Voyage to Montreal

I’m on my last day in Montreal. I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’ve *LIVED* in the city, rather than being a tourist. I found groceries and markets on my own. I traveled by foot and by metro (subway).

This is how many folks live here. They have excellent public transit. My suite-mate rides her bike to work and back. It’s a very accessible city, even without a car, even out far from downtown (subway trains run until 1am). I had some lovely experiences.

The Africa Collection

I got much project work done… the Africa project now has a plan, an outline, a good start, and knitting charts/graphs for all 3 colorwork socks are made. The photos I took in Africa and temporarily lost, are found (on a backup drive… backups are my friends.

Photo of me feeding a Giraffe in Kenya:

One Major Surprise: a Change

I read my journals from the time I was on the Africa trip. Unfortunately, I found them full of dry facts rather than storytelling for the most part. Still, they jogged my memory.

I’ve been telling stories of the trip since I got back. Ironically most of those stories did not make it into my journals. I don’t know why, but those are the stories I want to include in the collection.

Thanks to some insight from Barbara Sher (writer of Wishcraft and Refuse to Choose), I’m going to get those stories a new way for me.

I’m going to find friends who want to hear the stories, and tell them verbally while I have a recorder going. THEN I will transcribe the verbal stories. I tried to write one and it wasn’t as dynamic as the actual story as I tell it.

There is so much to tell you, but it’s 3:30pm on my last day here. I can go to a yarn shop or a museum before it’s closing time. First step, go to subway station. Decide on train. Aaah, the tension of choosing between two good options!

Photo of the side of a building in Montreal, featuring Giraffe images:

It has been a great week! I hope that my enthusiasm pours out of this screen and into your life. Things inside me are happy right now.

The African Collection (and Travel Stories)…

When I went to Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya and Egypt) in 2004-05, I promised myself I could knit whatever I wanted to knit for that 38-day stretch. A windfall had funded the trip. Therefore, I could take it as a true vacation from my business and just knit for the pure joy of it.

Usually I knit with a mind toward what is easy to explain, or what is a good teaching project. Often I find a yarn that “tells me” what it wants to be.

I rarely just get to knit whatever is in my heart. For 5 weeks, I did just that.

I didn’t worry if it was hard to explain, or if someone might run away from it because it looked complicated. I just made beautiful things, the way I wanted them to look. (Actually, I also knit a bunch of simple socks for the joy of moving my fingers… but today I want to talk about the stars of the trip.)

Knitting Purely from My Heart

Perhaps you’ve seen these two socks before?

Kenya: Nairobi and Mombasa

The green sock at left, was inspired by gardens in Kenya. The garden I spent the most time in had many beautiful ironwork gates and walls. (It also had a 2nd floor balcony, ironically, just as the house where I’m staying in Montreal does.)

Flowers grow incredibly well  in Kenya (they grow carnations commercially in open fields, without greenhouses). This sock contains my memories of that lushness.

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa, Gondar, Bahar Dar and Lalibela

The white sock at right, was inspired by many things Ethiopian. It’s in the colors of the Ethiopian flag. At the top and on the heel, the texture reminds me of shepherd’s hats I saw in northern Ethiopia. The middle of the leg was inspired by Ethiopian baskets traditionally used as dinner tables. There was a small basket of this sort in my bedroom in Ethiopia. I referred to that basket as I worked.

When I was in Ethiopia, I made “friends” with many people who didn’t speak English, because of this pair of socks. Just by a glance, they could see that I loved their country and traditions. It was heartwarming to meet people this way.

Egypt: Cairo and Alexandria

When we were in Egypt, I took notes on possible sock design motifs. I scribbled a chart/graph and tucked it into my journals. This week I got out those journals and started transcribing the notes, changing a bit as the size restrictions of a sock leg required. And started knitting a sample.

The Actual Work

The goal is a collection of patterns and corresponding travel stories. I intend to package the patterns separately, for those who want only one or two. I’m also planning a full-project e-book of all projects and stories.

(Starting this project is why I came to Montreal, to write without normal obligations. A friend of a friend had a room to rent, and I jumped at the opportunity.)

I’ve graphed the Ethiopian Basket and Kenyan Garden sock leg patterns. I also knit a sample from the first draft of my Egyptian-inspired graph.

The colorwork is reminiscent of netted beadwork. I saw a bit of this in the jewelry collection at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This is also where King Tut’s treasures reside.

Sketching on the Needles

I’m doing a child-sized sock to test out the ideas on that one. I usually design by knitting and adjusting as I work. I’m liking how it looks, though I’ll tweak a bit in the final design.

A Potpourri of Techniques

Above are the three fanciest of the designs which will be in the Africa collection when I’m done. There are also some non-colorwork socks, in groupings. I knit a total of 10 sock designs on the trip, and also some wristwarmers. I’m thinking that this will end up being 7 designs, at least 2 of them with 2-3 variations.

The collection includes variety in structures: top down, with differing leg treatments, no-purl flap heel and wedge toe; toe-up footies with stripes and a Crystal Heel; and a thicker-yarn toe-up sock with wrapped cast on and heel flap.

The Ethiopian and Kenyan socks are top down with heel flap and turn (one is a Dutch Heel Turn, one is a standard half-handkerchief turn). The Egyptian sock is toe up with my “start with a square” Bosnian toe and a Crystal Heel.

It’s a big project. I’m excited about it. One day at a time, it’s coming together more in my mind. When I get a full picture I’ll let you know how the patterns will be released.

I currently plan to write them as individual patterns, as well as a series with travelogue stories/ photos to go with the collection. Once I get writing more, we’ll see how it plays out.

Catch you soon!

LynnH

Oh, I love Montreal! It’s summer and people get outside (unlike home, where so many hole up inside with air conditioning).

The windows are open in the houses around here (including where I’m staying) and people use their balconies regularly. One man across from our back balcony has his meals outside.

I have been sitting out there to write and to knit. There is a squirrel with a red/brown nose but his tail has a grayish halo to it, I’ve never seen this coloring before on a squirrel. I’m sure it’s normal here, but I’m a Michigan grrl.

There are a lot of parks nearby. When I walk to the grocery store (which is one end of a smallish enclosed mall) I can walk through a park most of the way. Today I tried the “dollar” store and found 3 grocery items, including oatmeal which I was craving.

I wanted to buy the rice noodles… but when I read the label, the ingredients were “Rice flour, corn starch.” Bah! Corn in everything, even safe Asian noodles. Sigh.

This city could distract me night and day. There are ethnic restaurants on every business street, it seems. There is a Thai and a Vietnamese and an Indian place near here, (plus a 24-hour Tim Horton’s with WIFI, a McDonald’s and Burger King.

Ironically, it’s really a quiet neighborhood and from where I stay you can’t see any businesses at all. This is a work trip, not a vacation, so I’m cooking at “home” most of the time to save on funds.

Wednesday night will be exciting. Many of the Montreal museums have free admission on Wednesdays after 5. In addition, the metro (subway) has a pass which is good for unlimited uses from 6pm to 5am, for only $4. I’m going to take myself out on the town this Wednesday, for sure!

It’s so wonderful to hear from you. Getting those comments makes it feel as though we’re on retreat here together! Thanks for taking the time to write.

Now… more knitting and typing… while making plans for which restaurant to try on my Museum-date night!!!

Hugs,

LynnH

Montreal. It’s wonderful. I am here to write a travelogue/ series of patterns about my African trip, while sort of living a 2nd travelogue. I sure am taking a lot of photos!

Photos can be a full-time job, at least the way my brain goes about it. I may upload  some Flickr collections once I see what categories there may logically be.

Meanwhile… there is a lot more purple paint in Montreal per square kilometer, than there is in Lansing, Michigan. Here’s the first photo. I found it not far from a subway stop.

Balconies are everywhere. The duplex where I’m staying has 3 balconies and a deck, two for each unit. It’s a wonderful way to live. People are out on balconies wherever you go, and that makes for more inadvertent “neighborhood watch” potential. Very liveable.

This city is also incredibly walkable and bikeable. Everywhere you go, there are folks walking… even at midnight. There are also bike lanes wherever I go, and bike-share/rentals available.

I love this. It feels so much more safe than being a solitary walker when in unfamiliar territory.

I ate Persian/ Iranian food last night. It was wonderful. I had tea in glass cups as in Egypt… and two dishes made of eggplant. The one cut into a wedge was eggs and eggplant, and it was magnificent. I must look into possible recipes.

I’d love to eat at a different restaurant every day (even a different world cuisine), but since I’m here for 2 weeks that would break the bank. Food is more costly here than at home, at least at first glance. I did find a shopping center which is walking distance, and will see what their grocery store has to offer.

Restaurant foods have been pricier than home, even at restaurants rated by Urban Spoon as inexpensive. The Canadian dollar is worth $0.99 USD so the exchange is not bad, but their sales taxes are much higher than ours in Michigan.

I’ve heard at least 5 languages in a few days here. I LOVE this. The world is a wonderful place, full of wonderful people in all sorts of cultures. They get along pretty well here, and I’m digging that.

And as for speaking English… if I’m polite and apologize for not speaking French, I’m experiencing politeness. One ticket-seller at the metro/subway did have a different response (with a smile). I said “I’m sorry, I don’t speak French.” He said “Why?” followed by a laugh. He said he was from the Former Yugoslavia. Then we did business… in English.

French pronunciation is hard for me, still. I’m starting to do OK with translating some signs, and did pretty well with a menu at the Persian eatery before being brought one in English.

Oh, I could talk forever! However, it’s time to return to my task at hand. See you soon!

Well… that’s a little extreme for a title. Paradise for me, anyway. Here’s my new bedroom. For 2 weeks, anyway.

The Scoop

Um… I didn’t say anything about this here, before? Whoops! This shouldn’t have been a surprise to you. I dropped the ball.

However, I’ve been super busy working on a computer-consulting project out of the blue. (Yippee for work in August!) That was my “day job” at the same time I was preparing to go to Montreal for 2 weeks. Yes, Montreal!

Why?

I’ve long wished to live in another country. Not necessarily forever, but long enough to get a feel for the life there. Not be a tourist, but find my own grocery stores and poke around to see what it’s like.

Cities are heaven to me. If a city has tall buildings, a subway, art museums and ethnic food, I can’t be happier! I “collect” cities. So far, Montreal is my favorite. This is my 3rd visit.

Why now? Well, there’s relatively little work for freelance folks in August, no matter what business one might be in. When customers go on vacation, it’s quieter than quiet. I scheduled 8 private knitting sessions during one 2-week period in late July/early August, and 6 got canceled.

This time of year I can feel lonely like the “Maytag Man.” December is similar but holiday gatherings fill in the schedule then.

Parallel to that, I’ve got a lot of knitting designs that I’ve knit up but which need to be transcribed into “real” patterns. So August is the perfect month for writing. Yes?

Add this all together, and I’m on a pattern-writing retreat. Not just any patterns, but the socks I knit while on my 5 week trip to Africa in 2004-05. And a travelogue to go with them all. (Photo below was taken in northern Ethiopia, December 2004.)

An Opportunity Out of the Blue

I accidentally found out that a friend of a friend had a room to rent here for a reasonable price, in August. So here I am. It’s surreal, but it’s also true.

With a Little Help from My Friends

My friend Jane, born and raised in Ontario but a longtime resident of Michigan, took me from Lansing across the border to Sarnia, Ontario.  (Sarnia is across the water from Port Huron, Michigan… east of Flint and north of Detroit).

I stayed the night with Hedda, a music friend who lives in Sarnia. (Photos later.) She took me to the VIA rail station at 6am (ouch) and I got on a train. For about 11 hours I was on a series of passenger trains and metro/subway trains. I was dizzy all night, as though I’d been on a boat!

Getting Situated

Two photos above show my “student apartment,” my home away from home in Montreal. And a “Self-Portrait with Shadows” I took on my first walk from the subway to this house.

I’ll stay here for 2 weeks. I’m calling it a “writing retreat” but it is a bit bigger than that to my heart.

First Steps

I’ll have more details later. I’m off to find a grocery store or market by foot.

I also will take a little excursion back to the Central train station. It seems I left a shawl and small pillow on the train? And someone found it and turned it in? And a woman named Ana says she’s holding them until I come to get them?

She’s happy I got these items back. So am I. There are good people everywhere. Some are anonymous. They don’t make the news.

I will stay in touch. My job is to write, that’s my focus. You will benefit from some of that writing right here. Stay tuned?

Snowbird is a long-time, loyal reader here. She writes:

I could not resist sending you this purple house in Navarre Beach, Florida.

My husband and I took a road trip to Florida… and went to Santa Rosa Island just South of Pensacola, Florida. On the far East end is Navarre Beach and this beautiful house.

Please add this to your collection of purple houses.

Thank you for your contribution, Snowbird. You are appreciated.

Portland, Oregon has some unique features I haven’t seen in other cities. It appears to be a rather liveable place, and very friendly.

It appears a place open to artful living. Total strangers tell me how much they enjoy the bright colors of my clothing, for example. This happens rather frequently in Portland (both visits) and incredibly rarely in Lansing, Michigan (where I live).

One great feature is bicycle hooks inside public transit trains. Pedal your bike to the subway stop… roll the bike into the train, lift it up onto the hooks provided. Ride to your destination stop, take bike down, pedal away. Very cool.

Then again, I’m just in love with public transit trains. Lansing has a bus system with courteous drivers and on-time stops… and bike racks on the front of many buses. I may be just in love with the big city, but I’ve not seen the hooks in other cities’ train systems.

In the above photo, two bicycles are shown, one is in the background (look under the seated person). In this case, the riders had room enough to disregard the hooks.

It is a very bicycle-friendly city, all over. When I arrived at the airport, I noticed first the number of bicycle racks at the airport, along with a bicycle-repair rack (and a sign that one could borrow bike-repair tools inside the building).

Benson Bubblers

Also, Portland has some storied water drinking fountains. Here are a few photos of a four-bowl water fountain, both of which I took from inside a transit train while at a stop.  First a solo person walking past:

Then, a family really using the fountain well:

I loved finding these drinking fountains in Portland last time I visited. I was told by someone that they were put in around the time of Prohibition. I decided to look into the details.

Apparently a lumber businessman, Simon Benson, did not want his workers to frequent saloons in town. He donated a hefty sum of money to the city in 1912, to install 20 drinking fountains throughout the Portland downtown district.

According to this article, there are now 52 of the four-bowl Benson Bubblers in Portland. There are also single-bowl fountains but those were just put in by the city, not by Mr. Benson.

The first time I saw one of these fountains, it was a bit out of the blue and I was delighted. I was just walking to the subway through a neighborhood, and there it was on a corner.

It’s a lot like having a beautiful sculpture, but one which has a function, in the middle of where people actually live. I love it!

As many of you know, I collect photos of Purple Houses. On a trip up to the very northwest corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula, I spotted this purple mailbox. It wanted to belong with the houses on my blog. I agreed.

Isn’t it just lovely? It sure made me smile.

Sunday I started my day early and happily, ready for four sessions in one day. I tried to send a single morning tweet to the Twitter crowd. Something clearly went wrong on the Twitter end of that deal! The system complained that I’d already posted 1,000 updates that day. At 7:58am? Not likely.

My username on Twitter is @ColorJoy . If you are interested in seeing what I post on Twitter, but don’t want to have an account of your own, you can read my posts. (I’m fond of retweeting others’ inspiring tweets, quotations and links to interesting art/ food web pages.) Find me right here:

http://Twitter.com/ColorJoy

Crystal Heels (Afterthoughts that Fit)

The morning classes were quick and fun. I taught “Crystal Heels” three times in three hours. (For Knitters – Basically, a Crystal Heel is an afterthought heel with “facets” from decreasing in different ways. It’s a wider and deeper heel than most afterthought heels, and fits rather well even though it does not have a gusset.)

An afterthought heel is just that. You knit a tube with a toe, either top down or toe up, and then you go back and add a heel in the middle. They are great for striping yarns and for folks who have a tendency to wear out heels a lot, because they are easy to replace.

Here is a photo of a “normal” afterthought heel, a sock from Turkey with a modified shape/depth, and my Crystal Heel. Note that the center sock is for a larger foot than the other two, with proportionally larger heel.

Notice that my heel stays fairly wide for about 2/3 of the length of itself, to make room for the shape a human heel typically has. You can see that the first one is neither deep enough, nor wide enough. The knit fabric depends on its stretchy nature to make up for the improper fit.

I am getting letters from folks who took this class, already. Folks are finding it fits them well, and it’s a real thrill to hear from them.

Since the class was about a heel technique that one could use on socks already in progress, these students were able to use the information from class very quickly in a real project. How exciting!

Mini-Turkish Socks

It was great to finish the Summit with perhaps my favorite class (if I am allowed to have favorites). I taught a tiny Turkish sock design, based on a sock from Turkey I own. It has a very different structure from those which I see in most publications, so is a fun and different class.

I believe I had 21 people in the class. Out of that, 16 stuck around to put finished sock projects in this photo. It makes me smile! (This one is clickable, where the image gets much larger so you can see the stitch detail if you click on it. I thought you’d enjoy the close up.)

We had such a grand time together, that the class wanted a group photo. Here they are (also clickable):

I met Ilisha Helfman at Sock Summit 2009. We literally met in the lobby outside the marketplace after everything had sort of wound down for that day, and I commented on her knitting. She was wearing a knitted ginkgo leaf  piece around her neck, and I had to meet her.

That year, we ended up chatting a long time, and then went out to dinner another day with her family.  This year we made sure to connect again.

This year Saturday, we had dinner together… at the same Indian restaurant where we’d gone in 2009. I had looked forward to going back, the food was just great.

When we got there, I emptied the contents of my Teacher goodie bag. Gifts, every single one of these items, from Sock Summit vendors. Luxury! Absolute generosity!

Somehow my Signature needles (DPNs, 2.5mm, magenta with stiletto points) are not in this photo. You also can’t see the knitting light (hangs from one’s neck). Can you see at top left, a copy of Anna Zilboorg’s Mitten book which had socks added to it in this new version? A gift from XRX (Knitters Magazine). Top right is a comic book, too. More cool.

Ilisha took a photo of me holding some of my goodies, with my Teacher badge also visible, Yes, I’m extremely proud that I taught at this fine event.

Ilisha just released a new book called JazzKnitting. It’s wonderful. She uses handpainted yarns, by responding to their color sequences. Included are the gingko leaves I noticed two years ago (see cover), as well as peacocks and a number of other concepts.

Her willingness to not only bend to, but celebrate, the idiosyncrasies of the handpainted yarns, makes her a true artist. She “draws using a thread that has already been painted.” (My paraphrase.) Wonderful stuff.

Ilisha spent the Sock Summit doing demonstrations and discussions of Jazzknitting at the Blue Moon Fiberarts (Socks that Rock) booth in the marketplace. She discussed looking at the way a yarn is dyed to work toward an artpiece. A lot of this is in her book, as well. I’d love to explore her book and techniques more, enough to discuss them in their own book-review post at a later date.

Bonus Photo

This final photo? It only fits because it was after the marketplace closed on Saturday. I took it while standing with Ilisha on the way out to dinner.

This is a yoga moment, folks from Sock Summit teams ST-1 and ST-2 and perhaps a few friends and/or volunteers. I thought it was a rather fine photo to carry the spirit of the moment.

Class First

Saturday morning I taught a class on “Pool-Repellant” socks. Pooling is when a multicolored yarn is knit so that one (or more) particular color shows together in visible areas.

Pooling in its extreme form is shown at top right here. In the case of that sample, it’s a yarn created specifically for those who LOVE pooling on socks. Â

Some people do amazing things, like plaids, by pooling with intent. However, that was not the subject of this class.

The pooling-on-purpose yarn is from Schoppel-Wolle, the company who also produces Zauberball. I don’t know the yarn’s name. Thanks to Suzanne, who knit the swatch.

Every knitter has an opinion on whether colors are capable of pooling in pleasant ways. One knitter will love the same sock that another can not tolerate. However, for some folks it is a real problem, and there are a number of methods used to manipulate pooling to a situation that is acceptable to the one doing all the knitting.

I had three hours with a lovely group of women. We talked, reviewed a number of my knitted samples, looked at each others’ unsatisfying projects, and schemed for future projects (or in at least one person’s case, two re-do projects).

The class got a good chunk of time for experimental knitting with yarns they brought along (some which had not behaved well in previous projects). I very much enjoyed my time with this group.

At left is a yarn that pools easily, but here was knit up in my Breeze Blocker project. The colors look pleasant in this particular stitch pattern and project.

I got a lovely note from student Katrina V., who was in the pooling class. She gave me permission to quote her message for you. She says:

I was in your Pool Repellant class on Saturday morning and just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed every minute of it. Your energy and enthusiasm were contagious and much appreciated.

I brought two “unfortunate” socks to the class, and you suggested that I knit from both ends of the ball for one and do an afterthought heel on the other…I will be sure to send you before and after pictures.

Thank you again for the great class!!

Lunch with Kids

After that class ended, I met a friend, Rebekah,  from Twitter (@SeamlessKnits) who came in for the event. We ended up going out for lunch… not only the two of us, but her three kids and husband as well. If you know how much I adore kids in the 2-5 year old age range, you know I loved having a 3 yr old, M., holding one hand… and a 5 yr old, S., on the other. You can see S. waiting patiently at right.

Kids fill up my happy inner space better than anything else. I loved every second. (The 1yr old was in a stroller or carrier the whole time, but Mommy and Daddy could take turns with him while I had the girls part of the time.)

We went off on the MAX public transit train (photo above of a train stop and a lonely coffee cup) to find what they call a “Pod” of food trucks. There are areas in Portland where they purposely congregate food trucks, to attract good traffic for all. You can buy many different ethnic foods, barbecue, fish and chips, vegetarian/healthy foods, the works.

Above is a “Purple House” image for my purple houses photo collection… a food truck painted in purple, which was closed when we visited.

I ended up with a Greek pita with falafel in it. The bread was out of this world, and I ate more of it than I would if I had been at home. Yum. I guess I’m used to Michigan’s Lebanese falafel which I like better, but it was a healthy, affordable, fresh-off-the-grill meal. I had heard there was a Turkish food truck, but it turned out to be at a different Pod location.

Marketplace

After lunch we returned to the convention center. This was my big chance to go in to the marketplace and thank all the amazing vendors who gifted we teachers with so many fine presents.

The place was so big, the only way I could really say thanks to all of those vendors, was to mark my map ahead of time with who was where, and methodically make my way through to thank those folks before I did anything else.

The good part was that I met some very cool people. I thanked all but a few vendors who were not available when I passed by their booth. The down side was that I did not feel the luxury to look at the amazing merchandise which was available just plain everywhere!!!

I purchased only two items at the market. My dinner chat partner at Wednesday’s teacher dinner had been Jill Draper of Jill Draper Makes Stuff. I got one skein of bright green sockyarn from her.

I was distracted by every version of turquoise yarn I passed. The one I finally purchased was from Kitchen Sink  Dyeworks (it’s greener in real life than it seems here).

At one point I put those two skeins next to a skein which was in the vendor-gift goodie bag from a breast cancer project, in hot pink. I think they need to be made into a project together, in some way. Yes?

(More soon, I promise…)

(View of Convention Center from the parking ramp of the hotel where I stayed.)

After dinner Friday, I headed over to the convention center to join the Sock Hop. I entered a dark room with a disco mirror ball and loud ’80’s music. It was hard to see who was there. I sort of danced around the room by myself and took a bunch of photographs while I waited for my eyes to adjust better.

It turned out that dear friend Irene, who made Sock Summit a stop on her move from Michigan to the Pacific Northwest, was there with her friend Lisa. I sat with them a while in between taking photographs.

I sure enjoyed the playlist of the music at that party. I was a young adult during the 80’s and in the middle of a group of young men, in particular, who adored the new sounds. They loved Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, 10cc and a lot of other bands I don’t remember names of.

In recent years I’ve been loving The Cars more and more, and an assortment of other bands which first came out in those heady years of early MTV. That night they also played a bunch of Madonna and of course, Michael Jackson.

Socknitters are fun. I dare say the folks are just as fun at Sock Summit as at Ukulele Festivals, except that there were a lot more people at the Summit than I’ve ever seen at any individual Ukulele Festival.

There was a group of women who wore tiaras and tutus/crinoline skirts most or all of the weekend (see above). There were the folks wearing the pseudo-viking hats with socks instead of horns (seen in this post).

I took two videos I’ll share with you, at this party. Both are stored at Flickr.com so if you click here, you will end up on my Flickr pages. Click the “back” button to come on back and view the second video.

The first one is the group practicing for Saturday’s “Flash Mob” dance. It’s only 40 seconds here, but you can see how much fun a little dancing with a skein of yarn can really be. That is, if you’re a socknitter at the Sock Summit Sock Hop, anyway!

The second video is a MUST-SEE. This woman and a few of her friends were dancing to the end of Thriller (Michael Jackson) where Vincent Price is reciting scary poetry. I wish I could give credit to the amazing dancer here, but I don’t know who she is.

WOW. The video is barely over a minute, but long enough to really appreciate her total immersion into the spirit of the dance. Incredible.

A Walk to Dinner

Friday after the Folk Knitting Fanatic show and tell (previous post), I looked up restaurants on the internet (travel is so much easier these days). I found an Ethiopian Restaurant walking distance from the hotel.

On the walk there, I found some chuckle-inspiring graffiti:

I must confess, I’ve had Ethiopian food in Ethiopia. I became friends with Altu (of Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine) because of her Ethiopian Restaurant in East Lansing. She puts so much love into her food that I love hers best… I haven’t found better anywhere… but it was a treat to eat one dish they had which Altu doesn’t offer (spinach), and just be there.

Embroidery – ColorJoy

I got a vegetarian combo plate. I loved the embroidered tablecloth so much, I gave it equal billing with the food in this photo. (The tablecloth is handwoven and mostly handspun, and the embroidery is all done by hand.)

From top, clockwise: Spinach, spicy lentils, split yellow peas, kale, cabbage. It was just what I needed, and there was so much food I had leftovers for a breakfast later in the week.

Forgive My Gushing for a Moment

I *LOVE* cities. For me, cities are rated on a 4-point scale:

1. Public Transit which includes light-rail trains (above or below ground)
2. Variety and Quality in Ethnic Food
3. Tall Buildings
4. Art Museums (at least one, preferably too many to visit in a weekend)

Portland has all of the above, though their buildings are not as tall where I stayed as in many other great cities.

Lansing (Michigan), where I live, has: 1) a good bus system without trains, 2) a no-longer-embarrassing Ethnic Food selection, 3) one building over 20 floors, and finally 4) a very fine, large enough art museum in construction at Michigan State University. We are getting there, but I escape to Chicago or Toronto as often as I can to get my tall-building/ public-transit fix.

Hang tight… photos coming next of the Sock Hop which happened Friday Evening. Tiaras and Tutus, disco lights, 80’s music and some serious dancing (including 2 videos) are coming up very soon.