Whoops! I scheduled myself to teach a class and didn’t tell anyone about it. Thank goodness JoAnn’s told a few people or it wouldn’t be happening.

OK, so Joann.com has the yarn I wanted to have for my sock class. But the local JoAnn store doesn’t have any of that. So we are going to make toe-up footies with fat yarn, really nice 50% wool, 50% acrylic yarn called Kool Wool. It’s really decent stuff, surprisingly springy yet dense, many tiny plys (plies?) making it very smooth.

Another plus with this yarn: I made one footie, start to finish, in less than 24 hours from this yarn… and that 24 hours included things like working several hours and a decent night’s sleep. Gotta love that! So you can learn a new technique (toe up socks) and perhaps knitting on double-pointed needles. And it won’t take forever.

The cuff is just 7 rounds of stockinette that roll outward, and I put some eyelash yarn in my sample sock for the store. I gave them the sock before I took a picture so I can’t even show you, but trust me, it’s a good slipper sock.

The toe up means we can learn a new technique, perhaps, and not have to do a gauge swatch ahead of time. I don’t do toe up socks very often but that is just habit, because there are many reasons it is a good technique. Binding off loosely is the biggest challenge, which isn’t a big deal at all, really.

This class is at the Frandor JoAnn Fabrics, Friday August 1 (and August 8), 1:00pm to 2:30pm. Cost $25 plus materials. If you have double pointed needles, bring some in size 3 or 4, and yarn will run less than $15 or so (I’ll bring along some eyelash to share for those who want some, since it takes such a small amount per sock cuff).

OK, so this is too late for real results, but I might as well ask. I have two people in the class and I am delighted that a Working Women Artists Guild buddy, Maureen O. Ryan, is one of the two. I don’t know who the other person is.

Want to join us? It should be great fun with that small number. Lots of personal attention!

Hope to see you there.

Tracy (also known as Sweatergirl) is having a gathering this Sunday. Knitting and food, on a summer weekend, what else could a person want?

If you are in town, please join us. It would be nice to let Tracy know you are planning to come. Of course, I am willing to bet that folks dropping in unexpectedly would probably also be fine. However, she’s trying to plan for how many hamburgers and hot dogs to bring, I think.

Come on, join us, and have a good time!

I got to be in my hammock on my porch today for a little while. I love this porch, we built it a few years ago and it’s even better than the porch on my house that I had before I married Brian.

I had a hammock there, too. It was a different one, but I got both past and present hammocks in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. They make very fine hand-braided/woven hammocks there, just the best.

My first hammock (spelled hamaca in Spanish, pronounced ahh-MOCK-ah) was a tourist one, not too wide and not very long, in purple cotton. I got it in Playa del Carmen, around 1994 or so, on a trip from my then-boss.

The hammock we have now, we got with the assistance of my brother-in-law Pedro’s parents, when we stayed with them in February of 1996. It’s nice and wide, quite long, and some sort of synthetic or rayon shiny aqua. It’s a very fine item, indeed! In really hot weather in Mexico, they sleep in hammocks because it is the most comfortable way to deal with the temperature. Actually, some people sleep in a hammock every day. Pedro’s parents have a home that looks a lot like a home in Florida, but there are hammock hooks embedded into the cement walls above the built-in bed, for hot weather.

Here’s a poem I wrote while in my first hammock, on my last porch:

The Porch on Francis Avenue
By Lynn D. Troldahl Hershberger

Summer Day.

Cool iced tea.
Salty damp skin, yellow dandelions,
Bees buzzing,
Body baked by sunshine.
Sharp shadows, blue sky, white clouds.
Singing out loud,
Neighbors waving hellos.

Sunset.

Hammock, porch, children’s voices.
Warm sun on my skin,
Sleepy eyelids drooping,
A dog barking, birds scolding, the blast of a car horn.
Long shadows, a still breeze, the coolness of the evening.

Home.

Here is a picture of Mom wearing her new stole. I made it from five yarns I got at JoAnn Fabrics. She looks fabulous, doesn’t she? (Smaller picture is a detail of stole fabric up close.)

I stopped by Mom’s house late Monday night. One of her dear friends from the circle of women she’s hung out with since Daddy died, died this week of complications from melanoma. So sad. So I wanted to go and give mom a hug, and then give her the stole which can hug her when I’m not there.

I’m so glad I still have my Mom. She went through her own battle with cancer seven years ago, and now she has no sign of it. Knock on wood, we may still have many years together.

When your family is only you, Mom and brother Eric (and now our partners, makes six in the whole state of Michigan), you really know the value of one another.

And doesn’t she look just great? Go, Mom!!!

Finally, the headache has lifted and we have pictures. Too many pictures, maybe… but they turned out so well I’m posting them all. I am hoping I saved them small enough for those (like me) who still have a slow modem connection to the internet.

The first picture is Brian and I as the Fabulous Heftones, at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine (East Lansing, Michigan, USA). This was Saturday, July 26.

Notice that I am wearing the blue and green JoAnn Stole. I have since given the stole to its rightful owner, my mother. She loves it, as I knew she would. It matches at least half of her dressy outfits, and will go with the rest as an accent color, I’m sure. She’s very fond of blues and greens together.

The next shot is Brian’s parents, Larry and Marilyn Hefferan. Larry invented and hand-built my instrument, the Heftone (that is where our band got its name).

This was their first experience with Ethiopian food. It was also the first time they had seen us perform on stage. We play music in their living room when we visit, of course, but this was a pretty special trip for them. We sometimes forget to tell them when we are playing out, but especially since this time Larry’s name was in the paper associated with the performance, we had to be sure they knew we were going to be playing. They had to drive about an hour to the restaurant.

Next is my mother’s table at Altu’s. Left to right: Fred, Barb, Barb’s friend (whose name is either Mary or Ann, I can’t remember for sure), and my Mom, Liz Troldahl. (Isn’t she pretty?)

Missing from the picture is Mom’s friend, Fai, who took the photo. She is an enthusiastic amateur photographer. I’m grateful for all the excellent photos that Fai has taken and sent to me, in the last several years. She does a great job.

Next is a picture of Brian with his parents. OK, you already saw his folks, but this picture of Brian is so nice I just had to show you!

(Oh, by the way: the basketweave pattern painted as a stripe on the wall, I did for Altu. I painted it mostly freehand, to make it look more authentic. We are pleased with how it turned out.)

This photo is all the family members that night: Brian, Larry, Marilyn, Mom and me. I know it is hard to get everyone in a group picture to love their own image, but I do love this picture even though it looks as though we were talking to one another (we were). The camera ran out of batteries right after this shot so we couldn’t take any more “insurance” exposures just in case.

Can you tell where I got my love for turquoise? Mom and I are wearing almost the same color!

The last photo is Brian and I as The Fabulous Heftones, at the Elderly Instruments employee picnic on Sunday, July 27.

The picnic was held at a city-owned park, Grant Woods park. The parks are run by the same city department which also runs the Foster Community Center. This one has a nice space for performing. Not all local parks allow amplified music, but this one is just perfect for an event like this. Can you see why I think Lansing is a wonderful place to live in the summertime? It is a wonderfully green place.

I wish you all could have joined us!

Here is a late-breaking photo of Marie and Corey wearing my LynnH JoAnn stoles. Aren’t they quite the Glamour Grrls? Marie and I dance together, so she was one of those who really encouraged me to start working with JoAnn’s. Corey is the education assistant at the store, which means when my supervisor is out, I get to talk to her instead. You know we get along fine, because her hair is my favorite color!

I think they are excellent models. We had such fun yesterday, Corey was wearing the purple stole as if it were a feather boa. They do feel that glamorous, and they drape well. Interesting point: one of the yarns in the stole is called “Boa.”

The headache is still haunting me but I took a long hot bath around noon today to encourage it to leave. We may go to a party for Elderly Instruments employees this afternoon if I feel up to it, otherwise I’ll lounge on the porch in the hammock.

More Goodies to Come
Mom’s friend Fai (who gave me the best flamingos in my garden as a gift) took some pictures of the Altus scene last night. Fai really loves taking pictures, so some of them just are fabulous. I’ll show you those as I get them edited.

I have a rough headache so will not post pictures today. Hope that works for you folks.

This morning Tony and I had another of our road trips, to the store In Sheeps Clothing, in Marshall, MI. Sue, who works there on Saturdays, is becoming a friend (she is in at least one of my guilds and we have spent a bit of time together, such as lunch at the Lucy Neatby workshop last spring). It’s always great to see her.

I didn’t buy much, just some turquoise acrylic/wool yarn at 50% off ($4.95 a ball, two balls, meant it cost less than $5, not bad) and a magazine, and one small ball of wild pink eyelash. It’s Tony’s company and the visit with Sue that makes it a good trip… not the yarn. The yarn is whipped cream on the already-great dessert!

I got back in time to go to JoAnn Fabrics to do a demo in order to create demand for my classes. The only real interest was in my stole class, because I had both a black/purple/aqua version and a blues and greens version on display. These are fabulous items to see and touch, and it’s no surprise they caught attention. I had one person register for sock class but I think three or four for the stole class, and that is being offered in late September and early October.

I got a major headache after 4 hours in that store, for whatever reason (could be my lack of sleep, could be the humid/mildewy weather caught up with me, could be the store where there are perfumed things that don’t agree with me). Went home and rested for a few minutes and got ready to be Lynn Heftone at Altus.

For the concert, my mom came and brought friends, she had a table of five. Brian’s parents came in from Grand Rapids (an hour’s drive). They all beamed with pride. Brian’s dad took pictures and video, and grinned the whole time. We had him sit in with us on one piece. We also made sure to announce that he was the creator/inventor of my instrument. He got a nice round of applause.

Sarah Stollak, the knitter/musician/writer who put our interview in the State Journal, came to see us as well, with a friend. They seemed to have a good time.

Another knitter, Charlotte, was there with her husband Bob, her daughter and daughter’s beau (or husband, can’t remember). We had a chance to talk after the music, and Charlotte and I finally figured out that we probably first met in about 1992 when I was teaching polymer clay classes. Small world.

We ended with great food from Altu and went home to rest the headache. Except we forgot that it was Abbott Brothers rehearsal/jam tonight. So I rested again for about 15 minutes and we went over to play tunes for a while. THEN we came home. I’m wiped out.

Pictures of the stoles and Altu’s tomorrow. I need to sleep this headache off.

Well, yesterday I bicycled along about half of the River Trail. I enjoyed every minute and today I feel stronger for it. I thought my legs were already strong from dancing but they feel a different sort of strong after bicycling. How nice.

On the way to work I was in a big hurry, which is typical for me. On the way home, though, I had time to stop and smell the flowers, in so many words. I took pictures and I’m pleased with them.

The first picture was taken from the very top of the Kalamazoo Street Bridge, near the intersection of Cedar Street, facing South. I was just ready to hop back on the River Trail (commonly called “Riverwalk”). I had detoured through downtown for a meal at Byblos, a mideast eatery that I rarely frequent because of its location.

This bridge was rebuilt a few years back and it does have a wonderful view, of the river to the south, and on the other side, a view of the skyline (such as it is) of Lansing. Some other time I’ll try to get a picture from that side for you to see.

The second picture here I took a while after jumping back on the trail. It is in an area that was built up I think around the turn of the last century. My friend Ulyana lives not terribly far from this picture. I get tempted to jump off at this point and go visit her, every time I travel this part of the trail.

Lansing is a very green city, for which I’m grateful. It isn’t as big of a city as I would prefer, but then the cost of living is significantly lower than most places this big. In the summer, this is a pretty wonderful place to live, as you can see.

Stephanie writes:

I finally got around to making your coconut tapioca pudding on Friday. It was soooo good. DH loved it. I did make it with organic milk because he doesn’t like soymilk. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Thanks for writing, Stephanie! For those who were not with me in February, the recipe is called LynnH’s Sinful Coconut/Vanilla Tapioca Pudding and I made it in late February as a treat for myself. I can’t have regular milk so I used soy milk and coconut milk. Hey, let’s face it: adding fat to sweets makes them taste better! Coconut milk has fat (some say it’s a bad fat, some say it’s good) and it tastes wonderful. It’s so rich I can’t make pudding with just coconut milk, so I either add soy milk or rice milk to thin it down some… usually soy, for an added small bit of protein.

I should make some tomorrow. I rode my bike to Foster and then home the long way today, and my tummy hurts. I think I just rode too hard and was not used to it, but who knows what it really is. Tapioca pudding would taste great, as long as it doesn’t get too hot here to enjoy it.

I took some photos of Lansing’s beautiful River Trail today when bicycling. However, I am going to rest this tummy for now and show you the pictures some other day.

In knitting news, I am blocking the sox for my friend right now, they may get mailed tomorrow. After she gets them and has seen them, I will post a picture of those as well. I’m only about 7 rows from finishing the blues and greens stole, too. I’ll have it to show off at the demo day at JoAnn’s on Saturday, from 1pm to 3pm (I think I said 4pm earlier but I was wrong).

Music news for local folks: Please do come see Brian and I play as The Fabulous Heftones at Altu’s restaurant this Saturday. Time is 6:30-8:30.

We are excited that for the Altu’s gig, I was interviewed for the Lansing State Journal‘s What’s On section which was published today (Thursday). If you didn’t get one today, it can be picked up for free all week at State Journal Headquarters, downtown on Lenawee street one block east of Washington.

THANK YOU to Sarah Stollak, What’s On columnist, who interviewed me last Friday. She did a good job of distilling what I said into three paragraphs or so, and put our picture in as well! (Sarah is a knitter and musician, as well as a writer.) Her column (minus our picture, but you have already seen that) is on the http://lsj.com website (I searched for “Heftone”).

Today was a day for crossing things off lists. I went to a computer client in the morning, where we’ve been working on an issue for over a month. Went to another client in the afternoon and made a plan for installing a database product I made for them months ago but was delayed for several complicated reasons. Then went back to client #1 and finished that project. Whew. And I’m so very close to finishing all the ends on the sox for my friend!

I ended up getting to Habibi Dancers practice late but it was a very good practice. We are learning a dance I really like and have watched many times but never totally learned. I think I am going to really get it this time!

We are getting ready, also, for several performances at the Renaissance festival this summer. We will perform four different dates but I will be there only once.

I’m so booked on summer weekends it seems amazing to me. It’s usually good stuff, anyway. This Saturday afternoon I do the demo at JoAnn Fabrics, and Saturday night 6:30-8:30, The Fabulous Heftones (Brian and I) will play at Altu’s restaurant. Sunday looks peaceful, thank goodness. There may be a picnic with Brian’s co-workers, I’m not sure, but that is low-stress and very enjoyable.

Since I finished up my adult classes at Foster last night until October, I’m sort of finishing a lot of other things as well. I think I’m preparing for a marathon several weeks in the studio, we’ll see how that goes. It is definitely time for change in many ways. My life is so different than it was two and a half years ago, when I picked up those knitting needles again after over a decade. It is sort of dizzying to think of it, but I have no regrets and I’m not going back!

Last night when I finally sat down to knit before I went to bed, I didn’t even finish two rows on the stole before I fell asleep right in the middle of the row. Crashed all night on the couch in the living room (I actually love the luxury of sleeping on the couch sometimes, for some reason it is a comforting place for me). I slept like a baby.

Tonight I am going to get going on the knitting earlier so I get a little done. I do hope to sleep earlier tonight, both because I’m exhausted and because I want to get up a little earlier tomorrow in case I can ride my bike to my lab at Foster Center. Right now the weather forecast looks promising for that, I’m crossing my fingers!

(Pictures are of the Ann Arbor Art Fair. First is my friend Deborah/Scarlet Zebra and her husband Jack, who surprised me with a hello. Next is the crowd. Last is the Ann Arbor FiberArt Guild, breaking down the booth at the end of a very fine show.)

Off to knit…

Well, I wrote this on Tuesday night but then I couldn’t connect with my web space so here it is a day late…

It was an almost impossibly busy day, but it ended at 9pm instead of midnight so that was helpful.

I had a short appointment in the morning, then went to JoAnn Fabrics to check in with supervisor there. We have a demo day for instructors this Saturday, from 1-4 at Frandor. I will be at the demo day, put pretty things on a table and chat up potential students.

It should be fun, I love demos. Knitting isn’t as easy to demo but I have some specialized classes coming up including a stole class and socknitting. I will want to intrigue as many folks as I possibly can.

Anyone local want to take my simple rectangular stole class? Eyelash yarn and fun colors? It’s gorgeous, and it knits up really fast. I need to have Brian take a pic of me wearing one so I can put it up on this blog.

At Foster, I had 4 knitters, all repeaters. It was peaceful. Nobody finished anything but all of them are close. That was lovely. I had finished the two sox for my friend finally, but they had a lot of colorwork so I had dozens of ends to work in. I’ve finished the ends on one sock and am about halfway with the second pair.

Then I ran to Altu’s restaurant for the quickest dinner I could manage. I had her artful lima beans, and she shared some green beans she had made with a spicy garlicky sauce, from beans given to her from someone’s garden. Yum.

Then back to Foster Center. I can’t believe it, I was gone less than 25 minutes but that was when Luann stopped by to see me. Drat. She dropped off some wool yarn for me (not the kids, how sweet is that) and left a little note. I need to corner her for a cup of coffee/tea someday, and we can talk forever.

I then had a “Let’s Talk about the Internet” class for two students, two retired sisters who have taken other classes from me last term. We had a great time! I don’t have an internet connection but it is amazing how much you can teach with a handout and a whiteboard.

Then I’ve been fussing with my emails today. I promised myself a half hour of knitting on my second JoAnn’s Stole (blues and greens). I had better go do that right away, don’t you think?

Today at Foster Center, I had two groups of CityKidz Knit! The first group is with the summer Kids Kamp program (the kids are with us until 3:30pm and get two meals, so knitting is just a small part of the program). In that group, four out of nine today were brand new.

Beginners usually do OK after a while, but with all the activity in the room, it was a very distracting time. If I stand there and say the poem we use to remember how to knit, they do fine. If they don’t have me standing there reciting the poem, they have trouble staying on the project.

The kids who end up coming back a few times do better, though I am powerless over making that happen. I did have one girl today finally “Get it” and she was delighted. She got to take her project home to practice. You should have seen her smile!

However, my second group (pictured with “shades”) is going to town finishing things. Some of these kids I’ve had since fall, some since January, and a few started this summer. All of these kids were registered specifically for the knitting program by a parent or guardian, so there is typically more support at home for knitting as well. Some of these kids do a lot of knitting at home. (I have a third group on Tuesdays, and that group is more like my second group today.)

Today we had several finished projects. My youngest, age seven, knit a ring (he just had to make a ring, so he did). The oldest, age 17, bound off a “baby scarf” (she was going to make a blanket but ran out of patience). One girl didn’t finish but made incredible progress on her first backpack and brought it in to show me (and to get more yarn).

The wristbands today are at far right in middle row, and second to right in front. Ring is second to right in middle row. The tall girl in the back made the baby scarf, and the girl dead center with arms brimming with yarn, is my new backpack knitter. The girl second from left, seated, has knit somewhere between three and five backpacks to date, and is helping others get started. The girl seated on the floor wearing turquoise (second from left), finished two small squares today and is ready to sew her next wristband (she bound off but we didn’t have time to sew it before the picture). The girl seated on the floor, front right, has knit several small purses. She loves eyelash yarn as an accent on her work. Two sisters who have been regular attendees did not make it today, and I’m sorry you could not see their work. They like purses with eyelash, as well.

I’m pretty proud of “my” Kidz! They are doing really well this summer.

My friend Vince and his family stayed the night, last night. I can not even explain how wonderful it was to have them all here, and to spend hours talking with my dear friend. He had many pictures of China which he shared with us. It was fascinating.

I could have talked all day, but the kids were definitely ready to get going to the cottage where they will be spending a week. I had to let my friend go, boo hoo. It was so great to have even a few hours with him. At least I got to give him a nice big hug (OK, I hugged the rest of the family as well, but I probably hugged Vince longer). He has never lived near us so it’s wonderful that we’ve been able to get together at least 5 times now, in 4 different states. What a world we live in, to be able to do that!

(Picture is, left to right, Max, Vince, Lynn, Carol, Asa… I know Vince doesn’t like having his picture taken, so am very pleased to have this picture.)

I got a new digital camera this week and Vince was experimenting with it. He took a few really great photos. They make my house look much cooler than in real life, or at least they let me see my space with new eyes. So here are two photos of the inside of our house, taken by Vince Budnick.

After Vince’s family left, Brian and I spent a lazy and relaxed afternoon together. I took a nap, even. I took a little ride on my bicycle because it looks like we are going to have rain for about 4 days straight. (I can hear thunder as I type this. Yes, I know I should shut off the computer but it *is* plugged into a UPS which is some protection.)

I knit a bit again tonight on those swap sox for my friend. I can not tell you how many times I’ve ripped out those toes! They just don’t look right or feel right yet. This time, I decided the foot was too narrow so I ripped back to the gusset decreases. That way, I could increase by 4 stitches.

I think I’m on a roll, now. I have one more inch on one sock to go before I do the toes yet again. I’m pretty sure what will look/feel right after all those false starts. We’ll see…

I did get some photos taken at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Perhaps I’ll put those up tomorrow, we’ll see what my muse tells me then.

Well, I guess I don’t get home alone much. I sure had a long list of things to do and I’m not close to getting them done. I did get to see my friend Altu today. She fed me Swiss chard, a vegetable something like spinach. I love it, my mom used to cook it, too. Altu had harvested hers fresh from a friend’s garden. Yum.

Today I am preparing for Vince, Carol, Max and Asa to visit tomorrow. Or that is, I should be preparing. Instead I ran around town. I visited Ozel Computer to see if I could get a used modem and instead talked with the three guys there for a long while… very good company. Went to La Perla and got some tortillas and black beans, and talked to the man who owns the store, had a nice short chat.

And *then* I went and bought myself a digital camera that was on a super-duper-deal at an office store chain. There are three locations of this chain in Lansing and there was only one (of this sale camera) left in the whole city. I had to drive all the way to the west side which took a lot of time. But:

When I got there, unbelieveably there was a funny tiny car, an Isetta, sitting right out front. And not only that, but the owner was getting ready to get in it and drive away. Fortunately he had his window rolled down and I ran over and said:

“My friend used to have one of those!” (Actually the “friend” was Vince, and I think the truth is that his dad had one when he was young.) Vince has a webpage called “Vince’s Favorite Cars” which talks about this and other cars.

We talked for a minute. I told the driver that my friend has a cut-fold-and-paste Isetta on the web. He said, Oh yeah, Vince… the pictures he used for the cut-fold-and-paste Isetta are actually of this very car! He knows Vince! Turns out the guy is Bob Nelson who has a great page on his own Isetta. Bob knows my dear friend, Vince!

I mean, Vince… who I met online when he lived in New Jersey. Who moved to North Carolina. Then moved to China. And who is going to be at my house in about 24 hours! This guy knows my friend. It is such a small world.

The moral of the story is: Sometimes it is definitely worth it to talk to strangers.

I won’t be posting tomorrow. I get to stay up too late talking to Vince and Carol while we hope the kids sleep. I can’t wait!

Meanwhile, here’s a picture I took with my new camera. It’s our house, with purple steps/porch and salmon pink trim. I need to paint the window trim someday but this is how it looks right now. When I hang my hammock on the porch, it hangs below the porch wall so nobody can see me. You can see our lot is small, not even 40 feet wide (a city bus is 40 feet long) but it is just the right size to mow with what Brian calls his “acoustic” mower. And it is just the right size that I can plant a few flowers without spending my entire summer in service to the goddess Flora, as a friend jokes she does.

Seeya Sunday night!