I’m writing this after we got home from Ukefest, and I have so many photos to post here and so many things to say that I can not get them all up on my site before I need to sleep. I’m giving you a few photos I took at different times during our trip.

Unfortunately, I had no luck with photos of performers on Friday night but I do have some other shots of Indianapolis I thought I’d share. I had not been into the city before and it was a beautiful and proud city to view.

The first photo I just could not resist (I did get permission from the parent to post it). It was halloween, and everywhere we drove we saw folks in costume… from walking down a sidewalk in Indianapolis, to taking payments at the gas station. And when we stopped to rest and get a drink one of the times we stopped… a daddy brought in his son, who told everyone he was Bob the Builder. He had a very fine costume which had plastic tools including a hammer, cellphone, and sound effects. He wanted to fix all sorts of things, including Brian’s laptop. Brian convinced him to fix his shoes instead. Here’s a shot of the tyke hammering Brian’s foot. Isn’t this just as cute as it gets?

OK… back to Ukefest and Indianapolis. The concert (I’ll get back to the performances later) was held at an auditorium in the Veterans War Memorial building, shown here from the outside… and then a hallway inside. The architecture is just wonderful in every way, and the building is immaculately well-kept. I was amazed at how new the structure seemed, when it is about a generation old already.

Next is a photo of the street at Monument Circle. On the far left you see just the base of a large monument. We walked up there briefly and there was an inscription about the Civil War, so it must also be another war memorial of some sort. The whole circle (a sort of small park in the center of a traffic circle/roundabout) is well-kept and well-designed. The base of the light fixtures had brass bears holding up the pole if I remember right. Like Chicago, only perhaps more… more something, I can’t find the right word. And again, the level of upkeep that they undertake to keep things in good shape, is really apparent.

Oh, in the traffic photo on the circle, you will notice most of all a building where the lighting creates a yellow heart. That is the building housing the electrical utility company. You sure can not miss it!

The final shot here is Michelle Kiba doing a hula dance with the Kupa’a-Pacific Island Resources ukulele group. I can not tell you how this woman glows when she dances! She is so beautiful I could not keep my eyes off from her dancing. She smiles, but it is not just a smile, it is more like she glows. I’m confident her technique is excellent, though I don’t know the dance enough to have appreciated that fully. It did not matter, though… she smiles and glows and moves to the beautiful music. It was perhaps the highlight of my whole weekend, other than being able to perform onstage.

I talked with Michelle briefly after the hula workshop on Friday. She teaches Hula (in California) and used to also do Middle-Eastern dance. I wish I could have talked with her more about that, but we both had so many folks to touch base with, that we did not chat long.

Have I mentioned how much I love cities? This one does not disappoint in the least. Aaaahhh…

There is more to post, but it’s bedtime. Catch you soon!

What a jam-packed day it was. We did wake up slowly which was a lovely luxury. We got to the Ukefest and did a workshop. Actually, it was mostly Brian’s workshop… he did the planning and he made handouts, and conducted it for the most part. I got to sing, over and over, for an appreciative group. The workshop was on accompanying a voice with ukulele.

We used the song For Me and My Gal” as the song we worked with. The folks seemed to really like that (it is still pretty well known, and well-loved).

I was honored to see a few of the other performers of the weekend, in our workshop. That was special to me.

We let the attendees know (maybe those who read my blog because they love ukuleles, didn’t know this either) that Brian has put up a whole bunch of songs on our Fabulous Heftones website… lyrics, chords, photo of sheet music cover when available, and link to our version of the song. And when at all possible, he even links to other versions of the song out there in downloadable form, usually the original recording where we learned the song.

This is possible for us to do… that is, post this information on the songs, because so far all our albums (four for Brian as a soloist, and our joint Moon June Spoon project) are all songs we found to be the right dates to be in the public domain. The new “In the Garden” CD that we are working on now, is mostly music 1923 and later, so we will perhaps only be able to post information on one song when that comes out.

So… anyway, the workshop ended and we went on to other things. I went down and took the hula class as I had done last year. We have been lucky, both last year and this were so warm we could hula outdoors. Today it stayed 73-75 degrees F from noon until 7pm. After wearing my winter coat a good handful of times in the last week or so, this seems almost surreal to be so warm. I loved it! I danced barefoot outside and was very comfortable, in very late October. Maybe Indianapolis is more south of Lansing than I imagined!

After that, I spent time talking to a few vendors, listening to part of the open mic, playing jam tunes with friends in the lobby and planning dinner. We ended up agreeing to meet at 5pm at Bucci di Beppo (it’s an Italian food chain, and Sara and I had a good experience there in Chicago last August). In the end we had ten folks at dinner, and since this restaurant specializes in family-style meals, we all had a chance to taste several different dishes if we chose. I’m in love with the garlic escarole (greens) which is *really* garlicky. I liked that more than anything else. And the company was just great.

After dinner we walked the five blocks to the Veterans Memorial building where the evening concerts are being held this year. The building is very imposing outside, it sort of looks like maybe you could not even go indoors… but inside it was a highly-ornamented government building similar to those I have seen in Chicago. The theatre was incredibly decorated including marble at the front of the room, with a HUGE photo of a World War I general (drat, I’m going blank on his name right now) as the backdrop of the stage. It was really imposing, actually… even one of the performers mentioned it. It reminded me of those huge photos of Chairman Mao (maybe the fact that this one was black and white helped that association) or something… otherworldly to me, a woman with very little exposure to military things.

But it was definitely a great theatre, just the right size, excellent sound, and intimate enough even for a larger crowd than they had last year (last year’s auditorium held 240 if I recall properly).

After the concert, I went back to the room to sleep. Brian went to the Irish pub where they planned to jam into the early hours of the morning. The group will go there again tomorrow night, and I figure I’ll go then. Tomorrow we’ll have finished our concert performance and I’ll not have as many things to worry about/take care of, and I can truly enjoy being there.

Well, we made it to Midwest Ukefest in Indianapolis. We got here maybe an hour or two before we needed to go to the Thursday evening gathering, and so we settled in at the hotel and rested just a bit.

For some reason my laptop won’t surf on the hotel’s fast internet connection, so I am very glad that Brian’s is acting fine. I got a whole lot of photos at the Thursday evening event but since I’m editing the photos on Brian’s machine (which has Linux, not Windows, so I’m not as comfortable or quick at it) I’m only showing you a few.

The event was an intimate party for the performers and a few other guests, at a fabulous 1920’s house which is still a time capsule of the 20’s (the kitchen is not modernized, it was amazing in its authenticity but I didn’t take any photos in there). The place is called Tuckaway and it’s in a beautiful downtown neighborhood. This must have been quite the neighborhood to live in, when it was built!

First, we had a beautiful feast of finger foods and wrapped sandwiches (including some gorgeous cookies that looked handmade). Then we chatted and a few folks jammed a little. Then the Keystrummers did a little concert for us, and following that, Geoff asked those of us who are performing this weekend to do a couple pieces, a sort of impromptu living room concert. It reminded me of when I was a kid, and we would go to my uncle’s cabin, and we’d all take turns standing in front of the fireplace singing and telling jokes and otherwise entertaining one another. It was fun to sing for our friends we’d met last year.

Theresa from Dearborn took this photo of Brian and I singing. I also got a shot of the passionate and talented Fred Fallin. Fred is from Chicago and arrived dressed totally Chicago, with long coat and hat… it was as if this house was made just for him. Fred also gave me a very generous gift… but that will need to wait for another entry. And the last photo here shows just a touch of how the house looked… every inch of the home was covered with 1920s original decor. I really loved the base of this lamp.

OK, here are some pictures about Tuesday (now that it is Wednesday). First I must confess that I’m easily amused. I love to look at patterns of numbers. I remember when my last car, Martha, turned over 123,456 miles (it was in the driveway of my old house, actually). And I love the number 8, I always have. So yesterday just north of Ann Arbor, when my car, Joy, hit 88,888 miles, I pulled off on the side of the road and took a picture. (I told you I was easily amused!)

When I found myself with my friends at Eastern Accents, we had a little show and tell. Many of us were in the middle of projects, but Jackie had just finished a vest she made from yarns she got from Joslyn’s Fiber Farm. Isn’t it great? She was very pleased, and rightly so.

What I have been knitting the last few days (since I finished the rug sample for the Yarn Garden Class), is a pillow for Threadbear. I figure pillows are a great gift and we are heading into gift season. (Class is Friday, November 5, mid-day, for just 2.5 hours.)

I still have some pillows that my friend Sigrid (the one who lives in Oregon who I saw recently) made for me around 1992 or so (she used fabric from the 1950s because it was my colors). I love those pillows… they are getting worn out but I will not give them up because my friend made them for me.

So I’m knitting a pillow. I’m knitting it from this Lorna’s Laces yarn, called Fisherman. The pattern I’m using is a Michelle Wyman pattern where you knit on the diagonal, either garter or seed stitch, either one yarn or several in stripes. It is going fast enough, I guess, but the yarn swears it’s worsted weight but I would call it a DK weight. I’m knitting on size 6 needles, which is in between the sizes I usually knit. I’m either on size 0 (2mm) double points for socks, or size 13 (9mm) for stoles or rugs.

The colorway is called Yellowstone, and is cream with lilac, pale yellow and soft warm green. I like it fine I guess, but it is not really bright enough to keep my attention. I’m close to finishing the first piece, and the thought of doing another one exactly the same is not appealing right now. I must say, though, that this garter stitch on a bias is really mixing the Lorna’s Laces yarn very well. I think garter stitch is very beautiful with many handpainted or variegated yarns.

I *am* glad to be doing garter stitch after all that basketweave, but on these relatively small needles it takes a lot of stitches. I think I will add some eyelash yarn in stripes on the next piece. Just for fun. I have some purple Fizz… it’s a little more vibrant than the yarn’s lilac but they go well together, and fizz will be just some little lashes so it’s not like we have two solids that must match. They just need to “go” as I tell the preteens I work with. That could be more fun for the second pillow side. I think I’ll probably go for that. It’s not in Michelle’s pattern, but it will make my time go faster as I knit! And I think pillows are a wonderful place to use eyelash!

OK, so I started out Tuesday with a dentist appointment, really early for me. But after that things got better. The dentist was in Jackson (30 minutes straight south) so I went looking for Dropped Stitch, a shop in that town that had moved in the last 2 years since I was there last.

She had some alpaca at great prices. This is good because I am on a misison to knit an alpaca stole for a friend who really needs a hug, yet who lives too far away for me to hug her. This stole will be different than others I’ve done because it will be knit specifically to be warm and very very soft. The others were a combination of texture and color. This stole needs to be mostly alpaca, and thank goodness for the good prices I found so that I could do it “right.” It really needs alpaca to fit what I have in mind.

I came home, took a tiny nap to make up for the early alarm, then listened to the Flying Ukulele Radio Hour. Uke Jackson, the DJ, played Brian singing “Ghost of the St. Louis Blues” for his Halloween theme. It really is a good cut, not on any of our CDs yet. Brian recorded it thinking of Halloween/Midwest Ukefest this weekend. I think it’s a very good vocal performance for Brian as well as his typically wonderful instrumentals. Very bluesy, not like most of his other work.

Then I drove to Ann Arbor to meet my Brother, Eric, and his wife Diana, at the Exotic Bakery (Syrian deli). Yum! We sat for two hours. First we talked, then we ate, then Eric and I talked in between me answering Diana’s questions about making toe up socks. She’s doing her first pair after she does a little trial toe for practice.

THEN I went to Eastern Accents on 4th Street downtown Ann Arbor, and met with several friends I met originally at the Borders knit-ins at Arborland. They only meet the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, and only January through mid-November. Except we like each other too much to meet that infrequently… so we meet elsewhere on other Tuesday nights. I was very happy to be there.

When I got home, Brian and I rehearsed (our normal time for beginning rehearsal, actually, is somewhere between 10:30pm and midnight). That was fun, though I didn’t sing much since I’m still babying a little bit of a cold.

Off to bed… no pictures right now, although I have a bunch of photos to process and then share. Have a great Wednesday.

It’s really pretty here, and the leaves are almost all yellow and gold. There are relatively few green or red trees, but when they are near the golden tones, it’s pretty spectacular.

Unfortunately, there was almost no sunshine for at least three days, so the colors in these photos are a little drab onscreen. Thank goodness, we have had some sun today. Seeing the sun shine through leaves is just beautiful.

I took this first picture on Saturday, at a produce market that is bicycle distance from my house. The pumpkins against the mums called at me as I drove by, and when I returned on the same route I parked and took these photos.

The other two photos are in the neighborhood of East Lansing, just behind Altu’s restaurant. I took these photos on Friday late afternoon. ColorJoy, for sure!

Today (Monday), Tony and I drove to Yarn Garden down in Charlotte (it’s a 30 minute drive one way) and back again. It was a great excuse to chat, and I had to deliver some samples to the shop.

The drive was beautiful and we had a good time, as usual. After we got back to Lansing, we went to New Aladdin’s restaurant for eggplant/tabbouli/hummous pita sandwiches, which is my current craving of choice. Yum!!!

Wowie, my dear friend Altu finally has a website as of right now. It took us forever to go ahead with it (a prototype site has been on my own personal computer for about a year) because we could not decide what the web domain name should be. Altus.com was taken, and who wants to make customers type out AltusEthiopianCuisine.com??? Assuming that they found the words spellable, of course!

So here it is, easy to remember and easy to spell, and we hope somewhat easy to read:

http://www.EatAtAltus.com

Yes, on the internet you typically have to worry about upper and lower case, but the part before .com can be upper or lower and it doesn’t matter… it’s what comes after .com that is case-sensitive. And it’s a little easier to read EatAtAltus than eatataltus.

Whatever the case, it’s easy to remember, and that is the key. So here we go… please visit. Eventually she will probably add the menu and catering information. for now we have an introductory home page, an explanation of the food with some pictures, a list of musical performers through the end of November, a map and driving directions, and other contact information.

Now all of you in Michigan, do make plans to go see Altu in the next week (her weekend is Sun/Mon, so wait a few days) and then tell her you saw the website! Right now I’m checking the email for the restaurant until we get her set up properly, so sending her an email will create a delay at best… but do go say hello in person if you can.

Kim at Yarn Garden in Charlotte (MI) is doing a special event the day before Deer Hunting Season. It’s sort of a “guys going hunting, gals going knitting” event, although your partner (if you have one, male or female) need not be a hunter for you to be welcome. We are doing my rug knitting class, but it will be more of a party environment in addition to the class.

It’s amazing to me how fast this class is filling up! We only decided on a date less than a week ago and we have nearly filled it already.

The pattern is perfect for those who have been doing scarves and want to learn a few things to take them into something else for variety (there’s nothing wrong with scarves but we all want a change of pace sometimes). It’s also perfect for someone who just enjoys the yummy, cushy fat yarns but doesn’t want to wear them. It is a basketweave pattern so there is a little variety there, for those who get bored with straight knitting. And it’s something you can finish quickly.

(Note that we will be using Cascade Magnum for this class rather than the Brown Sheep Burly Spun shown above… Magnum comes in a lot of beautiful solid colors but no handpaints. I’m doing another sample without stripes right now in a beautiful aqua, in a smaller size for a bathmat. You can see a part of that project here.)

Here is what Kim wrote in her email newsletter:

NEW CLASS—FILLING FAST!!!

DEER HUNTING vs. KNITTING

On Sunday, November 14, the men will be leaving to go hunting. So, push them out the door and come to The Yarn Garden to knit a beautiful wool rug. Lynn Hershberger will be teaching this class from 1 pm until 3:30 pm. The cost of the class is $20.00, plus materials.

There is a picture of this rug on Lynn’s website, http://colorjoy.com/patterns. If you are interested in this class, which is filling fast, please call The Yarn Garden at 517-541-9323, or send an email to kim@yarngardencharlotte.com.

We will be ordering the yarn soon and will need to know what colors you would like. I will be offering the yarn at a discount price for this class only.

There will be snacks provided, but your favorite snacks are always
welcome. If there is one thing, we knitters love to eat!

Please bring a beverage of your choice.

There are 4 spaces left in the class, so contact me, soon!

Thursdays are very long for me. I start teaching at Foster Center at 1pm. I have a two-hour computer class for adults (this week I had eight students for word processing, very exciting). Then I have CityKidz Knit! for one hour, followed by two hours of open computer lab (where sometimes kids knit… this week I had one boy working intently on his first wristband). Following computer lab, I have another computer class for adults.

This week I finished my Hidden Tips and Tricks in Word class, which is such fun for me. I don’t often get to teach advanced computer skills anymore, and these three women were so ready to learn new techniques it was really rewarding.

But my day does not end at 9pm when I leave Foster Center. I go home and make sure we get some dinner somehow, and then we work on our music business. Brian is in the process of editing about fifteen songs for a new album which has a working title of “In the Garden.” So our job is to listen to the prototype CD, over and over, listening for anything that needs fixing, whether it be a note that is a little off or a word that can’t be understood, a bass line that is too loud.

With our last album, Moon June Spoon, I re-recorded vocal tracks for two songs at this stage in the game. I knew the songs better by that point, and I just could sing with a more free feel. It was worth the effort to do it. But this album is going together much more easily than the last album. A big part of that is that we knew all of the songs, at least casually, before we started the project. Some of them we have been singing on stage for a few years now, so that went really well. I’m thoroughly enjoying the listening process. Well, except for the half a percent where I hear something that needs fixing. But the fixing is minimal, and Brian is getting so much better at editing that the process is not as difficult for him as it was when we did the last album.

Oh, and then of course after discussing and listening to the CD, we have our nightly Fabulous Heftones practice. Last night Brian had a dress rehearsal, because he just got a new tux with tails and tried it on, cumberbund and all, to get the feel of playing standing up in those clothes. He looked so nice!!!

We practice standing up for the last week or so before a big show. We found out yesterday that we are playing at Midwest Ukefest on Saturday night, for those who were asking. This is in Indianapolis, and the show is 7-11pm on Saturday, October 30.

I’m getting really excited for the Ukefest show. Our rehearsals are just becoming more and more fun. The only challenge is that we have so many great songs we love to perform, and we need to choose 20 minutes from all that material! Thank goodness they will also have more casual performances in the museum lobby where we will also perform (no date or time yet on that), so we can do different songs there.

Woohoo!! Midwest Ukefest can get me through my very long day, with a smile on my face!

When I am lucky, folks who read this weblog write to me. I love hearing from you all. Many of you get my email address from this web page, which states my address at the domain name of colorjoy.com.

However, for many years I have used an email address at purpletree.com for my groups and private mail. As of today, I’m totally switching over to ColorJoy.com for everything.

Purpletree was the name of my computer consulting business, which I started in 1999. It was really fun, yet I was pretty clear that the Y2K work would end someday. I’m still teaching computer classes in community education, and doing a few house calls (mostly for students and friends) when I can fit it in to my schedule. However, I have only one business client still active from the days of Y2K, and they sometimes don’t call for a few months at a time.

My new life, as you know, is sort of being a renaissance grrl. I am teaching classes in knitting, polymer clay, color. I am writing patterns and publishing them, sometimes in Heels and Toes Gazette and sometimes as single patterns I publish myself. I handpaint yarns and sell them to cool folks like some of those who read this weblog. I sing with my husband in The Fabulous Heftones and Abbott Brothers bands. I dance when I am lucky.

But I dance more than I do computer consulting these days. (I guess my integrity is intact, because I trained my clients well enough that they don’t need me much anymore.) I did love every second of my consulting. It was exciting, it was intellectually interesting, and my clients were genuinely wonderful, both personally and professionally. Some of my computer clients do stay in touch, work or no… one special client and I still exchange Christmas and birthday gifts.

Yet I love my new life, perhaps even more. It is all about ColorJoy! And so, as of right now I am using colorjoy.com for everything. For those of you who have my address in your email system, please start sending mail to Lynn (at) Colorjoy.com starting today.

Woohoo, another giant step for womankind… or at least this woman. On to the artful life. May I not look back.

Well, you all know how much I love teaching. You also know how much I love color, so it is no surprise that I would rather teach my ColorJoy Stole (where half the class is about color and yarn and how to put things together harmoniously) than anything else!

Sunday I lucked out and got to teach four students the ColorJoy Stole. I’ve taught the class twice before, once in my home to friends (when I was testing out the pattern and piloting how I taught/timed che class), and once at Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, Michigan. I’ve had a few shops around Michigan offer the class, but this was the first one that filled. I was delighted!!!

The stole is a pattern where we mix at least 5 yarns into a new fabric, that nobody ever made before nor probably will do again. It is very exciting to process how we figure out what works. For example, in this first pile of yarn, Dawn started with the lumpy-bumpy cream/blue/green yarn you see in the middle of the pile. She really loved that yarn. Since she loves blue, she saw the cream and the blue but did not even notice that one reason the yarn had such depth, was that there was some green in there as well.

She started out going around the store looking for other yarns to go with it, and they all matched… they all were soft blues with some cream. When I pointed out the green to her, we started looking for yarns with blue and green in them as well. It just livened up the mix a great deal, even though it was still soft and subtle, which is her style. In the end, she even found this magnificent mohair with all her colors plus a soft purple. That gave it even more depth, and she was just thrilled. When she left she had just a small bit of fabric on her needles, but we could see already that the stole promised deep beauty, all in colors that will make her look wonderful!

The second group of yarn here is Betsy’s colorway, in earthy warm tones that make her look wonderful. She will be able to wear this with her jeans and on some special occasions as well. What really made this group sing, was when we added the railroad ribbon yarn in copper. Beautiful.

Next is Marti’s yarn. She loved every color, every yarn in the shop, it seemed. It was hard for her to narrow it all down. She started with the Manos de Uruguay teal yarn in the center. This photo is losing some of the intermediate colors in a few of the yarns (purple doesn’t play well with other colors on screen)but it gives you some idea of the breadth of color that can be mixed into one fabric successfully.

The secret in this group is the ribbon at bottom right. It has gold and a deeper purple than the rest of the yarns, and some warm green. It just pulled the others together. She also has three types of eyelash yarn (the pattern calls for two, or one and a brushed mohair) and that will make a wonderful lush texture for her. It will be a warm stole.

Last is Sharan’s stole choice. She came in wearing all black with a gorgeous skinny diagonal-knit scarf she had knit with some Great Adirondack yarn in similar colors to these. Sharan brought in the black eyelash from her home stash (actually she brought a good number of stash yarns, but this was the one she settled upon). The eyelash is actually two yarns spun together, and the other yarn is a railroad in rainbow colors. You should have seen the start of this stole, it was spectacular, and very ColorJoy indeed! I sure hope I get to see it when it is complete.

While I was at Threadbear (I was there for six hours) I saw a lot of folks I knew. Sarah Peasley of handknitter said a quick hello on her way out, and then I saw Sharon P of Knitknacks. It was a good thing she was there, too… because I still had her stole that she had loaned me in August as a show-and-tell for the ColorJoy Stole class in Allegan. She was celebrating her birthday by sharing halloween cookies (and chocolate chip cookies) and had a wonderful smile on her face. I was happy to get her stole back to her, finally.

And last but definitely not least: Petra, who took my rug class only two Fridays ago… and who finished a large rug more than twice the size of mine in only three or four days… stopped in. I asked if she had brought her rug, but she had not. Nevermind all that, she went home and brought it back to the shop so I could see it. This rug is soooo perfect for her. The yarns are in the same colors she was actually wearing to class. Isn’t this just beautiful? Go, Petra! She is already knitting another rug, and I understand she is planning rugs for many of her holiday gifts this year. I think she has the knack for combining color (my pattern calls for only two colors but she took off and ran, and did a wonderful job). Wonderful!

While I was teaching (and then sleeping), Kathy P of Minxknits finished the beret we talked about earlier this week.

Go Kathy! She had to do some figuring to do this, and actually knit one hat and frogged it before knitting the hat she is so pleased with. Everyone has a picture in their head of what something should look like, and I’m happy for her that this last beret matched what she intended.

It’s really cold here, and it is serious warmth-garment weather. I’d love to knit a beret (or two or three) but I am not sure if that will work out for me. The problem is that berets, the way I like them best (short rows, purl side out, lightweight yarn fulled slightly) would take some fussing, I’ve not figured out how to do it yet. And that means it’s not brainless knitting like most of the knitting I do, in public.

I have a nice collection of berets, but five of them are black. It seems the ones made these days are so stiff that they are more like a fedora than a beret, and I like them soft and floppy. I can’t find a soft one in purple or other bright colors. I had a wonderful purple one but I left it in New York City in February 2001, when I saw my Godson Michael sing with his choir in Carnegie Hall. I haven’t found a good beret since then, other than black.

Luckily, last week I found a fuzzy angora purple beret in a store… OK, so I left it at the Allergist’s office last Thursday, but it was so wonderful to have a really nice purple hat again after about three and a half years without one. Now just need to get back to the allergist and hope they figured out it was mine.

Today is business-errands and oomputer-teaching day. May you have a relaxing-at-home-and-knitting day!

I taught a ColorJoy Stole class at Threadbear Sunday from 12-6pm. I had four students. One of them, Betsy, had been one of my computer students at Foster Center maybe six years ago. It was great to see her again.

We had a wonderful time. I got photos but I’m very tired and will post them later. I was far too tired to cook dinner, so I decided to take Brian to Emil’s Italian restaurant. After our meal, we went home and did more recording for our upcoming CD (which is coming along nicely).

It’s almost midnight and I’m going to take the rest of my night easy. Tomorrow I spend some time with Altu, which will be wonderful. I have not been easy to slow down lately, and she deserves better from me.

I’ll hope to get photos up tomorrow. You know, I think teaching is the best thing that a person can do and make a living. What a wonderful experience it can be!

Tonight I will sleep like a baby. I have had several extremely short nights this week and it’s my turn to rest. See you tomorrow.

OK, finally… finally I got my web pages up for selling the ColorSport Yarns I dyed on Labor Day. The good news is I’m also having a pattern sale.

On my Patterns Page, you will find three new patterns… my ColorJoy Stole, the Basketweave Rug, and the Turkish-Style Toe-Up Sox that were first published in Dawn Brocco’s Heels and Toes Gazette.

If you buy 2 patterns, I pay shipping. If you buy three patterns, take $3 additional off the total price. Or, buy the Turkish-Style Toe-Up pattern and at least one 100gm skein of ColorSport yarn, and take $3 off (it’s a make-your-own-sock-kit sale).

Oh, and there are a limited number (five 100gm skeins) of a traditional fingering-weight sockyarn with 85% wool and 15% nylon. These are found at the middle and bottom of the page that I usually reserve for my ColorSox yarn (which is totally sold out right now).

Some of you have written me to say you were waiting for the new colorways. Well, here your waiting is rewarded. Thank you for your patience.

Drat! I answered a question on the Knitlist about tams versus berets, and got into an offline chat about hats. Kathy from Minxknits had knit one hat already from Jacquie Erickson-Schweitzer’s very nice (and free) felted beret pattern and had a few questions (she wanted it to drape more than felted fabric does, for example).

Well, now I’m all hyped to maybe make a hat or two. The problem with a beret is that you can not tell if it fits well until you are all done. The good part is that they take very little time to knit. Except I’m more into trying to do some hats in smaller gauges of yarn, which will take longer to knit but drape better.

I have some Diamante which is a one-ply thinnish worsted weight yarn with long color repeats (color something like Noro Kureyon but the yarn is much more refined and smooth) which I got at Yarn for Ewe with my last yarn card. That yarn is interested in being a hat. I also have some sportweight yarn which is hiding somewhere, in multicolors (maybe the same manufacturer as diamante but it’s plied with each ply a different changing color) that I got at Threadbear. That one is also screaming “beret” to me. And I’d love to try knitting fingering yarn and felting it just a little, so that it still drapes well. Someday.

But I have other things to do. I’m not even knitting much these days, and the last 2 days I somehow left my sock box at home, the one containing my current socks-in-progress, that belongs in my bag to take on the road.

Therefore, when I was at Foster the last two days, when I had time to knit (not much) I knit on a beautiful thing someone donated to CityKidz Knit, half-knit. I think it was supposed to be a baby sweater but it’s pretty scratchy. It’s in fairisle patterning in wonderful colors, knit from what looks to be warp ends from a weaving project. It fits my head like a hat, so I’m pretending that is what it was all along and knitting away. I love colorwork and don’t do it near enough, so that is fun but it sure doesn’t make a dent on my current projects.

Thursday two of my adult knitting students (one from Foster, one from Threadbear) popped by during my time in the computer lab. I have a public computer lab open from 4-6 every Thursday, and the kids from the neighborhood play computer games while I knit. Sometimes I have a few kids who also knit, and I have let my adult knitting students know that if they need to come by with any questions on their project outside of knitting class, they can come by and see me.

It seemed Thursday that all the parts of my life all came together in that one room. I taught an adult computer class, then I taught kids to knit, then I had computer lab where some kids knit and some kids did somputers, and I had two adult knitting students there from two different places where I teach. After that, I taught another computer class. Although I didn’t sing or dance, I played our CD for a short while in computer lab, and I ran into my dance teacher on the way out of the building.

Actually, Thursday’s schedule sort of over-emphasizes my computer realm, because that part is slowing down for me this last couple of years. I still do it, because I’m good at it and my students are really appreciative, but I used to fill 5 classes with beginning adult students at Foster and now I don’t even fill one (although this term I’m teaching a second one at Haslett Community Ed.). It’s still great fun and they are so grateful for someone who can teach computers in English rather than Computerese (I call it Martian, because that’s how different computer language is from English).

Back to my administrative work. I can’t knit a hat right now. However, I can sing the song… “…but I can dream, can’t I?” (Does anyone know that song? I know it from that phrase to the end, but can’t remember the beginning and would love to find a record somewhere. I don’t remember where I learned it. It’s a torch song, perhaps from the 1940’s? Any help is appreciated.)

At least while I pound away at my schedule for January through April, and do boring financial paperwork, I am listening to Brian working on our new CD. It’s coming together very nicely, I must say. I am getting used to recording and Brian is really getting good at editing, so this one is going much faster than our first CD.

Now when will I ever get time to work on the cover art? I told Brian I wanted to do that this time (he has done the cover art for his first 5 CDs and our joint CD), but if I can’t catch up on my work I may have to let him do it. I am really enjoying listening to this CD while it’s being built… the last one was painful for me so I’m encouraged that this one will go over well.

OK, back to work. At least today I get to work at home by this nice window looking out at autumn color, and I can wear my comfy clothes today. It could be much worse. Cup O’Tea, anyone?

Photos are fall in Lansing, Michigan. I took the photos in the last week. Park not far from my home, between Pennsylvania and Cedar near where Holmes ends; Foster center with autumn color near front entrance; neighborhood behind Foster Center (street view and closeup of one of the trees there)… actually if you drove straight down that street and kept going through 2 yards where the street ends, you would be almost in the back yard of the house I owned when I was single, before I married Brian. It’s a great neighborhood (this part of the neighborhood was built in the 1940’s and later, the next street over where I lived was built in the early 1920’s, and is mostly bungalows with very narrow yards… I loved that ‘hood).

What is more beautiful, more fully artful, than a happy child? I am still trying to stay on non-computer tasks and so this post will be brief. However, I did go to Habibi Dancers’ practice on Wednesday. Who was there? April and Isabel! Isabel is wearing the hat I knit for her when it was too big and the weather not yet chilly. Now both the size and the warmth-factor are perfect.

And isn’t this child a prize? April is just beautiful, as the mommy of a content and healthy baby. What a gift these two are to me, and to this world. I think the good karma of a happy child spreads for miles around. I know that there is a lot of effort put into helping a child feel secure, and I know that parents of newborns get very tired. But at least in this photo you can tell that the rewards are there, as well.

Little Isabel is clearly recognizing me lately. It makes me feel good. She knows my voice, if not my face yet. I sure have fun cooing at her when I can, telling her how pretty she is! It’s good for us all.

I’m still plugging along on my not-very-interesting projects. Therefore, I will offer you three photographs I took last week.

We had a frost in the middle of last week. We were warned ahead of time… I got home late, past dark, and realized that I did not want to lose the remaining produce in my garden. So I put my flashlight on my head (it looks a bit like a miner’s hat) and my raincoat (it was cold) and went out in the garden, in the dark.

There I was in the dark, on my knees, harvesting what was left… which was not much. I had a little bit of good leaf lettuce in the one small container I’d grown it in… most of the leaves were tiny but it added up to about half a salad.

Then I went to the next bed, where the swiss chard never did much of anything because it was shaded by the giant parsley! I harvested what was left of the chard. It sure is pretty… the seeds I got had three different varieties, each a different color stem.

I got a little of the parsley, and then I dug out a few of the carrots that also did not do very well. I had never grown carrots and I just did it all wrong, not thinning them until too late, and not watering them much at the end of the summer. But I got a few that were almost as big around as my thumb… but much, much shorter.

Honestly, the carrots were not very tasty but I cut them into little slices and put them in a blackeyed pea salad for lunch last week. The lettuce was fine. The chard, when it is young leaves, is a good addition to a lettuce salad. I tried that now, and the chard was very tough and should have been cooked like spinach. That was a pretty unsatisfying salad, but I did grow it myself.

The last tomato looked so beautiful, on a very sad and yellowed plant. I picked it and Brian ate it (I don’t like fresh tomatoes) and he said it was delicious. We really had good luck with my first try at tomatoes! I got ten tomatoes from the one plant, and it started fruiting early. Altu got two whole, fresh, fruits she ate unadorned. Brian got two, and the rest I used for cooking and salads. I enjoyed having the plant on the landing, just because it was so pretty. I will definitely do a tomato container again next year.

A week ago I taught the last session of my New-or-Returning Knitter Class for adults, at Foster Center. I never showed you the photo I took of Karen’s project.

She chose to make the body of her pouch in garter stitch rather than stockinette, and since her yarn was very thick-and-thin I think it really looks good that way. She felted it just barely, by hand, but liked the size and texture of it not long after starting so she stopped before the fabric was too rigid. I think it turned out well. She picked a very beautiful mother-of-pearl button for the project, which really makes the pouch look special. Good job, Karen! The other three students wanted to work a little more on their projects at home before felting (or not) so I just got one photo in that class.

They all got to try felting by hand, as I brought little swatches for them to try. This is a lot of fun! I’m glad we ended the class with these lovely shrunken swatches. We had a good time.

I didn’t get any photos of my rug knitting class (last Friday at Threadbear), and it is a shame because they all chose such different yet beautiful colorways. Petra chose three different variations on brown… a dark, almost chocolate brown, a reddish-rust color, and a vanilla with bits of darker fibers in it. Rob told me that she decided to make a bigger rug than originilly planned, because she is so pleased with the project. She was in Threadbear showing folks her rug. Too bad I wasn’t there to see it!!!

No more photos of beautiful trees. It seems every time I go out, I forget my camera or the sky is dark. I’ll keep trying.

However, I’m distracted by some time-consuming tasks that are not related to knitting or art or business. For now, I’m sorry to give you a short post…

At least I’m knitting, on socks and that crazy grass skirt, both for me for a change. Most of the knitting I’m doing is while I am in line at the Post Office or the bank, or a doctor’s office. Today I’ve been to two post offices and now I realize I forgot to take a package I must mail, so I need to go yet again. And since yesterday was a postal holiday, the lines were really long at lunchtime. I’ll hope I catch it at a slower time this last visit!

Photographing Trees
Well, I tried to get to some parks Sunday to take photos of colorful trees here. I did get to Moores’ Park but the colors did not show up well on my photos.

I went to Reutter Park and was disappointed… one year about a decade ago, I went there this time of year and they had filled the fountain with potted mums… it was absolutely gorgeous. Well, today it was Sunday night in downtown Lansing, in a park not kept up quite enough (no flowers to be seen anywhere, I’m sure this is related to the city’s cash crunch), and there were a bunch of men (perhaps they stay at the YMCA which is on that block) hanging out, sitting on park benches. With nothing to really photograph, I didn’t even get out of my car. Sigh…

I didn’t get to Frances Park. This park is truly gorgeous all year. They have a formal rose garden where many weddings take place. In fact, the photograph Brian and I use for publicity for The Fabulous Heftones, we took at Frances Park, in the garden. I just plain ran out of time today so I’ll hope the colors are just as beautiful when I can get there.

I tried the grounds of the State Capitol building, but none of those trees have turned colors yet. The square is surrounded with pretty tall buildings, so maybe there is a protected weather area there, or maybe those types of trees don’t turn yellow or orange. In any case, that was also a bust.

The tree photographed here is about three blocks from my house. I like it when one tree has many colors on it, and sometimes the sugar maples do that. We have a lot of different types of maple trees in our neighborhood, so there is much color right now.

A True Day Off
How did my Sunday go? Great. I had a late breakfast with Brian at the Fleetwood Diner about 5 blocks from our house (we walked there and home). Then I came home, read some email, wrote my blog entry, had cups of tea, and eventually went to Threadbear to see Sharon P.

At Threadbear I ran into so many people I knew! It was hopping as usual. Lots of folks from the local knitting guild, and a woman I met through Kim at Yarn Garden in Charlotte. A young lady I met online who now goes to guild. Emily, who was in my pilot ColorJoy Stole class and who said she gave her first stole to a grand-neice who just absolutely loved it and is planning to wear it to a wedding this coming weekend.

Tea with Sharon P
Sharon said she had never been to Fleetwood Diner and maybe we could go there for our cup of tea. So back I went, a few hours after I left there with Brian, and we knitted and chatted and sipped our tea. She is knitting a scarf as a gift and I was knitting (again) on my “grass skirt.”

I’m getting less confident in the skirt the longer I knit. It is a beautiful fabric but may be too large. It is the size I planned for, but now I wonder if I don’t really want any ease in a knit skirt. It seems loose at the bottom edge. If I must, I will steek and cut/sew this skirt so it fits right. My friend Marie said she is willing to support me in the cutting/sewing if I need her, bless her heart. So I’m knitting away. I finished another skein of eyelash on it so that is good! Midwest Ukefest is October 28-31 and I really would love to wear this there, since I didn’t finish it for Uke Expo in the Pocanos last month.

WWA Show and Tell
Oh, and the Working Women Artists meeting was just wonderful. There were no new faces, unfortunately… but we aren’t giving up on that yet. However, the folks who came brought very different artworks to show and tell. Margabeth just painted her house two shades of purple, and was working on a glass and wire hanging piece for a church meditation garden.

My mother, Liz, brought her handmade envelopes and read us some very funny passages from her almost-weekly letters that she sends out to family, friends and shut-ins. Regina brought in two paintings (acrylic figure paintings) that she has done fairly recently, and told us about her process and how she came to change the look of her work since we all met her.

Maureen, who makes a good portion of her income selling handmade pottery, brought in two watercolors. I just love her two-dimensional works (she has done collage before as well, and I really thought the collage was extrordinary). Marian brought some digital photography she has been working with, and told us of a new body of work she is planning to pursue with her camera. I brought my series of three turkish-inspired sock patterns for Heels and Toes Gazette. Everybody learned something, everybody taught something, and we laughed and we were inspired and we enjoyed one another’s company. And enjoyed the food, too! (For one thing, Mom brought deviled eggs, which are such a treat!)

Photos are: tree in my neighborhood; and view of downtown (can you see the capitol dome straight ahead?) from the riverwalk at Adado Riverfront Park. I took the first picture Sunday, and the skyline I took last Tuesday when Brian and I took a walk after our lunch date. I’m just amazed at how many autumn colors came out between Wednesday and Saturday, it’s like a new city sprung up overnight!

Time to Rest
Wow… It is Sunday and I have no work, no classes scheduled, no appointments related to my business. No real deadlines, although I still don’t have the pictures of my new yarns (which I dyed on Labor day) up for sale, and that needs doing.

Yet today I have given myself permission to do no work for an income. It will be a day of rest, at least of rest from my business.

Today I slept in, I had a cup of tea, checked emails, even allowed myself to read some of the posts to my favorite email lists and even post a few replies. I haven’t read my lists for a week at least, I have been so focused on work activities. It was lovely to be part of the online community again.

I *just* got a spur-of-the-moment note from Sharon P of Knitknacks and she wants to meet me this afternoon at Threadbear and then go out for a cup of tea. I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon. I’m planning to take a few photos of the gorgeous trees and the amazing blue sky today, if I can, on the way over to see her. I am really looking forward to quiet time with one friend. I had time with Tony in the car yesterday, which was a breath of fresh air, and now time with Sharon, a first since school started. Aaaahhh…

*Then* at 6pm I have Working Women Artists (WWA, pronounced WAAH-waah, like the mute on a trumpet). I missed last month because we were at Wheatland Music Festival. This month at WWA we are hoping to get some new folks there. We are encouraging people to bring a friend, or two or three. I’ve been asking a lot at my knitting circles, and I hope that at least Helen from Threadbear will come, maybe also others. I left a pile of notices about the meeting at the cash register at Threadbear at Helen’s suggestion, so maybe we’ll have some new blood infused this year.

Calling Ourselves Artists
I realize that many folks stay away from the group because of its name. They think that they need to work full time as an artist to be in the group, which as far as I know has never been true.

Also, I find that in this society we have a hard time calling ourselves artists. Part of that is the idea that artists paint and draw, and perhaps not much else. If we can’t draw well, we believe we are not the gifted, the blessed, the artist. Nonsense! If you are artful, you are an artist. Perhaps not a full-time artist, but an artist nonetheless!

It took me until I was in my mid-30s before I realized that I was an artist. I’d always been artful. I always cared about how I dressed (costuming is definitely an art), I had handpainted motifs in my bathroom on the walls, rather than buying wallpaper that wasn’t what I wanted. I chose items for my home artfully, I made good meals with an artful eye, I cared about my yard (though I didn’t do gardening until just recently).

I usually worked in three dimensions, and mostly in practical ways. I sewed… first for the home and then for my wardrobe. I “decorated” my house (what a word we use, it sounds so frivolous… decorated indeed, as if we hang tinsel on the walls).

I then learned polymer clay and “eraser carving” which also can be called soft-block printing. And yet I didn’t think I was an artist until I had a beau insist on calling me Artist as often as he possibly could. I really thought I had to draw and paint to be a “real artist.”

Everyday Artforms
This is why on this weblog I specifically focus on artforms that are not usually drawing or painting. Yes, two-dimensional expressions are art, but they get enough press without me. I say: “Art as an everyday attitude.” That is how I experience being an artist. Not as someone with a gift that landed on me at birth, but as someone who explores the artfulness available in ordinary life on ordinary days… every day. Yes, it’s magic, but it does not come from the outside in some magical way, without effort. It comes from the inside, from our heart and our mind, and the action steps we choose to take each day.

I hope that you folks who read this locally, will feel that you might like to come to the group. It’s inclusive… all artful expressions welcome, all ages. Honestly, we have had honorary dudes attend the WWA group at times… though of course the group started because women for some reason find little support for being an artist, in any but the most frivolous ways.

SO: Details are this…

Working Women Artists
(October Meeting is Show and Tell 1 or 2 items you created, be they poetry, cookies, a scarf or a sculpture)
6pm - 8pm Second Sunday each month
Bare Bone Studios for Women’s Art
1236 Turner Street (about a block North of North Grand River)
Lansing, MI 48906
Enter through Right-Hand door, go to back of building.

If you want to be on the mailing list, please email me privately at Lynn@ColorJoy.com and I’ll make sure you get notices of future meetings.

Even if you are not in Lansing… I challenge you to start trying on the word “Artist” as it belongs to you. Most of those who read this blog are knitters. Knitters must make choices as to what to make, what fiber to use, what changes or not to make to the original plan/pattern. Knitters are forced to make creative choices because almost never can we get exactly the supplies specified in any pattern, and often the pattern will not fit us (or please us) properly, as it is written. This forces us to be creative make choices that may be more suited to us anyway. So I dare you: call yourself “Artist,” and see how it feels. It might surprise you, when it fits. If it doesn’t feel right yet, keep trying it on… one day I bet it will.

Photos are April 2004 meeting of WWA, and the casual WWA Holiday event (we decorated cookies) in 2004. You will find three generations of creative women in both of these pictures. Please, come and join us!

Saturday was jam-packed and fun. I really enjoyed myself.

Tony came over at 9am and we had a cup of tea on our way to Spinners Flock guild. There are so many people there that it is hard to say hello to everyone whose company I enjoy. I did wave at Sue from Marshall, and briefly said hi to Mary S and Patty from Ann Arbor. I ended up sitting with a group of women I met when I taught at Heritage Spinning, and we had a great talk about domino knitting techniques and patterns. I’ve not done it yet but there are so many ways to do modular knitting, some so colorful and some so sophisticated, that I am definitely intrigued.

Tony found a book or two, and I didn’t buy anything. That was just fine, actually… I have enough fiber stuff at home to keep me occupied for a long while.

Tony had to work in the afternoon, so we drove home and got him to work. I was tired so I took a lovely leisurely nap for an hour and a half (luxury!) until my friend Ulyana called and we chatted for a while. I haven’t seen her in far too long, and it was great to finally connect. I forgot to tell her how much we are enjoying the Morning Glories she gave me this year. Even at 51 degrees F we will have 5 or 6 flowers just beaming color all the way to the street! That was a wonderful gift, indeed.

Around 5:30 Brian came home from work. It was time to load the car with instruments and a microphone system, and run over to Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine for our Abbott Brothers band gig. What fun we had!!!

Mom, as usual, had an overflowing table of music fans with her. Thanks to Mom, all our shows are well-attended! Then Dave Talsma (ukulele maker from Swartz Creek near Flint, who we met at Uke Expo in Pennsylvania a few weeks back) and his wife (she told me her name twice, I can see her face but I can’t remember her name) came in, and Randy and Gail who are from Hartland (just under an hour away) who we also met at Uke Expo. And later, Regina came in (from Working Women Artists) and later yet, Bonnie and Hanno who we know from the contradancing community came as well. Barbara Abbott had a few visitors, too. It was a great crowd!!!

One of the ladies at Mom’s table, Marilyn, brought me a small pile of old sheet music that belonged to her parents, as a gift. You know, there is a lot of sheet music out there, and we are interested in just a small sliver of what is available. However, for some wonderful reason, that music was just right for our style. In fact, there were two songs in the pile that Brian has recorded already (Peggy O’Neil and Aloha Oe) and a good group more that we knew but hadn’t recorded yet. We are going to enjoy exploring this small but generous gift of music in more depth.

I was having so much fun that I forgot to give my camera to someone. No photos of the show, boo hoo! But trust me on it, this was a grand way to end the day… tunes and great food from Altu when the music ended. Wonderful.

Since I don’t have photos of Spinners Flock or Abbott Brothers at Altus, here is a beautiful Thunderbird I found in a parking lot near Frandor shopping center in Lansing, last week some time. This car is definitely art!!!

I was busy Thursday, at Foster Center for 8 hours straight… then home to finish knitting my sample rug and complete the pattern, for Friday’s class. Then Friday I got up (early for me) and taught the class, which was really great fun… then I had a series of other tasks and appointments which kept me from going home until about 10:30pm. I’m really wiped out!

It sure is hard to write a weblog entry when I’m not even at home! However, I always *do* have something to say.

I’ve really been yarnstore-hopping recently. I spent some time talking to Linda at Little Red Schoolhouse a few weeks ago, and it looks like I will be teaching some things for her in 2005. I also went to Heritage Spinning last week to connect with my friend Deb of Scarlet Zebra. I’ve been in and out of Threadbear preparing for classes, including today’s rug class (which was seriously fun, I loved every second of it).

I was in Yarn for Ewe today again (I’m a night person, Marlene who owns the shop is a morning person, and we have a hard time connecting sometimes when she needs me to do web work for her) She has some seriously lovely new yarns for stoles as well as the elegant Adrienne Vittadini yarns that make me want to take home some charcoal and navy, for some reason.

And I’ve been in Charlotte, Michigan a few times in the last few weeks helping Kim of Yarn Garden create her first website. She will be doing most of her own updating, but I got her going, found her some space on the web and did a bunch of photo editing for the first edition of the site. Her website, http://yarngardencharlotte.com, just went public this last Monday. You might want to check it out.

Photo is a beautiful house I found in Charlotte on the way home when I took a wrong turn. I was quite happy with that wrong turn… not only did I get this photo, but I found a garage sale where I got easter egg dye for $0.25 that I can play with, dyeing wool. I am excited to try that out!

I’m teaching a one-session rug-knitting class this Friday, from 11am - 1:30pm. It will be at Threadbear Fiberarts.

I have been knitting and ripping and knitting again on this sample rug. Ripping not because it is difficult, but because I’m designing it on the needles as is my typical style, and I keep changing my mind. (You are actually seeing just half a rug, because it’s not done and is still on the needles. I’ll finish it tonight, this is a very quick knit at about 2.5 stitches to the inch.)

I knit a rug similar to this one before, but do you think I can find it anywhere? Not a chance! This one is better, anyway… It’s Brown Sheep Burly Spun, which I am totally enjoying. I stood on this rug today in bare feet and it is absolutely delicious. The yarn is partly felted already so it’s toughened for rug use, but it still has that spring we expect from wool. And these colors… aaaahhhh.

There will be a one-color rug available, and a rug knit in multiple strands of Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted. I am pretty excited about this, and enough others are also intrigued that the class is definitely a “go.”

If you are interested, email Rob@threadbearfiberarts.com

Today is the eighth anniversary of our marriage. What a wonderful thing to reflect upon as I start my day, and work through it.

My life is so different now. I had many unhappy times in my early life, and when I got divorced at age 32 I had to figure out who I was. I spent several years driving all over the country alone when I could (I figured out one thing about me is that I love big cities, and particularly art museums/galleries)… adventuring, exploring, and finding out that I didn’t need anyone else to make me happy with myself.

Then Brian found me, when I was pretty much looking the other way (I was 38 when we married, he was 36). I’d known of him since about 1989 when I worked with Edna, another musician in the local scene. She’d invite me to this or that concert, and often Brian would be playing. I loved his music, and I would go to any concert I saw advertised with “that ukulele player.”

So here I was… single and independent, with my own house I bought for my own self, content to go it alone if need be. Yet being with Brian has taken my life to a level of contentment I didn’t know I could find. Yes, I’m still moody, I still go up and down like a roller coaster. But Brian is always there, watching me go up and down and waiting for me to get off the ride so we can be together. Lucky me.

And since we have been performing together, especially since we have been recording CDs together, I feel another layer of unity that I did not feel before. We are creating as a team, and it makes me feel more married than ever.

I would have been fine without Brian, but I can’t imagine life without him now. That sort of love is not found every day. What a lucky woman I am!

Wednesday this week, I have my first session of CityKidz Knit! at Foster Community Center for this school year.

I teach kids from about age 7 to 11 (one or two have been as old as 17 and a handful as young as 5). The center has them register to participate, but it is free to the kids.

They start by making a garter-stitch wristband. I cast on for them, they knit until they have the right length, then I teach them to bind off (a knit-two-together bind off, because it’s familiar to them) and sew it together. Once they have finished one, I teach them a knit-on cast on and they continue with wristbands until I determine they are competent to go on to other things. They prefer small pouches/purses for the most part, and a few bean bags and other very small projects. Most of the kids don’t have any interest in “big projects” which includes things adults would classify as a small project (hats or wristwarmers, for example).

The first day I sometimes end up with 16 kids who have never knit a stitch before. This causes some of the kids to wait a long time. I have learned to teach the older ones first, because they are more likely to have good fine-motor skills, but you can’t be sure of anything when you teach.

I can really use volunteers this week. It is Wednesday (two days from now) and it’s only one hour, from 4pm to 5pm. I also have a session Thursday from 3 to 4pm, but that one doesn’t fill because so many kids can’t get to Foster in time for that timeslot. I end up with walk-in’s from the neighborhood on Thursdays, usually… and a smaller group.

You can send me an email at Lynn@ColorJoy.com and let me know you are coming… or you can just come by. It’s at 200 N. Foster Street, about 4 blocks west of Frandor and one block North of Michigan Avenue (just behind the Blimpies). I’m in the very center of the first floor, in room 111. I’d love to have any assistance I can get. Even if you can’t come back again this year, just the first day I get the kids is really a challenge and one hour would make me a big difference.

Thanks to anyone who might consider this (assuming you might actually be reading this in the Lansing, Michigan area). Truly, the coolest thing I’ve ever done in years, is teaching children to knit. They are quite aware of how magical it is to turn a floppy strand of acrylic into a wristband. Very very cool. I adore these children. Perhaps you’d like to learn to know them, too.

First Photograph is CityKidz Knit! in January of this year. Just look at those kids! Aren’t they great? Second photo is Foster Center. It’s a glorious old 1920’s red brick school, with a wonderful soul.

I’m just checking in here this morning to tell you about several upcoming events. Perhaps some of you folks out there would like to join me.

This Friday, October 8, from 11am to 1:30pm , I will be teaching a knitted rug class at Threadbear Fiberarts. It’s a fun, quick knit on 50 stitches, using the very bulky Brown Sheep Burly Spun yarn (a yarn I really enjoy using). There is only one session, so it won’t take much time away from your busy life. Contact Rob@threadbearfiberarts.com for details.

Saturday, October 9, from 6:30 to 8:30pm, our band Abbott Brothers will be performing at Altus Ethiopian Cuisine, 1312 Michigan Avenue in East Lansing (just east of the Silver Dollar). It’s always a good time with Abbott Brothers, and the food is out of this world. (See photo of us performing at Altus last June… that’s me on the bass banjo, with hair in a bun.)

Sunday, October 10, from 6pm to about 8-9pm, is Working Women Artists’ first meeting of the year. If you are a woman of any age, and you work (at life, art, job, parenting), and do artful things (knitting included, but also other traditional and nontraditional creative outlets), then you will fit right in.

This meeting will be a show-and-tell session, so bring one or two items you created and get to know others when they tell about theirs. Also consider bringing a simple finger food if you desire. Location is Bare Bone Studios on Turner Street in Old Town (a red brick building on the east side of the street, on the far north end of the main business block). The right hand front door will be open and go all the way back to the far studion on the right. We are actively encouraging folks who have never come before, to join us. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a note at Lynn@ColorJoy.com

It has turned chilly here, both day and night. Yesterday (Saturday) the sun shone much of the beautiful afternoon. However, the breeze blew right through my full-length wool knit coat (purchased, it’s like a thick wool jersey fabruc rather than a sweater). I wore my hat, my legwarmers, and my handwarmers, and I still had to pull my hat over my ears on the way back to my car.

A Day at the Sewing Expo
I did actually do some reasonable work Saturday. My Heritage Heirloom Sock class at Heritage Spinning didn’t “go,” so I changed plans. My friend, Deb (Scarlet Zebra) had a booth at the sewing/quilting expo at the Novi Convention Center, just over an hour from Lansing. I went down there and worked 5 hours in her booth so she could get restroom breaks and a lunch break. She was selling a few kits I made up of my yarns and sock patterns, and they did well enough I wished I’d brought a few more down. That’s life, I guess.

I did enjoy the people I met at the center. I saw Dr. Maggie, who is a friend of my Sis-in-Law, Diana… and who is on several of my online lists. I saw a friend of my mom’s, and Jane S, former president of my Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild. I saw a woman I’ve known for years socially (her husband works with Brian) who works for Country Stitches, a quilting shop in Lansing. And a computer student of mine (from Foster Center) who is also a knitter and quilter, happened by the Scarlet Zebra booth and we had a nice chat.

I also met a few folks when walking around the center, especially Karen of City Knits (Fisher Building, downtown Detroit), who I’d met online but never met in person. And at the City Knits booth was Liz C., who I know from the Spinners Flock guild (which meets in Chelsea on the 2nd Saturday each month). I was wearing my ColorJoy stole, and that did receive a good bit of attention. Sometimes people were talking to me and I didn’t realize they were! It was fun to talk about it.

The Arrival of Hibernation Season
The real change for me right now, is that I am just overwhelmed with the need to nap since it turned cold. I had that 40 minute nap a few days ago on the hammock, but that day I only needed a good sweater and one comforter.

Well, yesterday on the way home from Novi, I was so tired I was worried I would fall asleep at the wheel. As soon as I got home, I put on layer after layer of wool, then wrapped myself up in two wool blankets and a comforter, and slept on the porch. And even though it was something like 58 degrees F outdoors, I slept for nearly two hours without waking up from the cold. Wool is my friend!

It’s ironic that I spent almost no time on the porch this summer. Hammocks are perfect for weather over 85F, they have their own air conditioning because the wind blows over you as well as under you. It makes a lot of sense that many cultures sleep in these rather than beds, in tropical climates.

My hammock is my comfort spot when the weather is good. My huge heatvent on the floor is my comfort spot in the winter. I prefer the porch every time, though, as I am not a cold-weather girl. In typical years, I’ll eat lunch and dinner on the porch for months at a time.

This year, I didn’t get any time on the porch during our incredibly rainy spring, because for once we had hordes of mosquitos (we usually don’t get any until the sun goes down). Then when it dried out and got warmer, I had one or two days where I got out there for 15 minutes or so. And then I didn’t get out there again until it has turned so cold I need blankets.

I’m not complaining. I finally am getting some down time. It may be only an hour or two here and there, but I have pushed myself very hard lately. I’m working as a computer teacher, knitting teacher, singer, dancer, web page author and hand-dyer. I’ve had concerts to promote, a CD to record, samples to knit for stores, and students to teach.

I overschedule the teaching part of my life, because some classes don’t “go,” but sometimes they all happen and I have a very hectic week or two.

But yesterday I got a 2 hour nap. And this morning I got to sleep in until about 11am. I am so grateful. I’m going to spend some time with my friend Anne, and then some time with my sweetheart, Brian.

I *am* doing a little work today. I’m doing a sample for my rug class which will be this Friday at Threadbear. This class already has enough folks in it for me to go ahead and teach it, so the sample is more important than ever (I’m writing the class pattern from the sample, since the last rug I did was from different yarn).

I’m using Brown Sheep Burly Spun, a really fat yarn that feels partly felted. It’s so fat, the rug takes very few stitches. Although I swore I was going to take a whole day off, the knitting is so pleasant I don’t mind.

Here’s for hibernation season! Long live naps! I can’t believe how much more sleep I seem to take at this time of year, but I suspect it is because the things I’m allergic to in the air change when the furnace goes on and leaves start turning to mildew in the yarrd. Whatever the cause, I’m determined to enjoy the extra sleep I’m getting. It’s such a luxury.

Images are actually to illustrate my post of September 25, about my Gramma Illa’s quilt. Here is a picture of Gramma Illa as a young woman, and a photo of the farm in 1955. (My grandfather built the buildings, with the help of his two oldest children.)

I tell you, I’ve had so much going I’m behind here telling you all the things I want to say! I guess that is a high-class problem, being so passionate about life that I’m busy doing things I love. It could be much worse, certainly.

I made a scarf for my friend Altu, and gave it to her in honor of her Birthday (she did get it late). I used Crystal Palace Fizz in purple and Crystal Palace Squiggle, in my favorite colorway which includes purple, hot green, aqua and a blue that is a little dark and a little on the turquoise side. I have used this wonderful colorway in the yarn called Splash, in the stole I wear every day (I call it my Yarn for Ewe stole since I got all but one of the yarns at that shop).

I love Squiggle. I’ve bought it 4 different times (at three different shops). Yet I don’t have any in my stash right now. For some reason I never seem to get to keep it and knit with it for myself. I’m putting that on the list of things to do for myself once my to-do list gets shorter. (As if that will ever happen… I’m an optimist, I guess.)

Meanwhile, Altu loved her scarf. I was sure she would.

I also gave her another one of my tomatoes that I grew on the one small bush in a container on my step. I loved having that plant this year. It yielded 10 tomatoes if I counted right. I gave two of them to Altu and she really savored every bite.

I don’t really like raw tomatoes much so I’d rather give them to someone who really appreciates a home-grown fresh tomato. I just liked having the plant on the top landing where I enter the house every day. I watched it bloom, and grow tomatoes from small green globes to medium-sized red fruit. I watered it and enjoyed the shape of the plant in the pot on my steps. I didn’t need to eat the fruit to enjoy the plant (though I did use the first one in a fava bean salad, and that was good).

Photos: Scarf I made for Altu, ball of Squiggle in blue/green colorway (different than in the scarf), tomato just before I gave it to Altu.

Tonight Najmah and I danced at New Aladdin’s. It was a great time. There was a nice full table of Habibi members, friends, and family members, as well as a great crowd of folks we didn’t know yet. It was reasonably busy for this dance show (after a slower summer season) and that was refreshing.

I had folks at the table passing my camera around so I’m not sure who took which photographs here, but there are so many nice ones I hope you don’t mind. More photos than words tonight, I’m afraid. I am still really overbooked, but next week looks a little better.

Sunday I am taking some personal time that is totally not fiber-business related, and will go to the book/antiquarian papers show with my friend Anne. I’ve never gone and it sounds like a great time, just to be with my friend a while. They advertise sheet music, so there is the off chance I’ll find some good music to perform as well, but mostly I just want to rest from always working, finally. It was a week that was so jam-packed I didn’t have enough time to sleep properly. I am used to getting enough sleep, and it really threw me off.

I did get 40 minutes of rest Friday. I was getting a headache and I knew I was going to need all my energy to dance. So I took a nap on the porch in my hammock. I’ve only been out there two or three times all summer, so that was a wonderful treat. The headache is still here but it is manageable anyway. My headaches always seem to come from allergies and they almost always last two days no matter what I do, but I know a nap is a good move. No sense going on about my aches and pains, but I did want to talk about the lovely nap in the hammock.

Meanwhile, check out the great photos. A very nice shot of my face, as Eudora, up close. Najmah being beautiful as she always is. Mom (with the most gorgeous hair in Lansing) tipping Najma by tucking a dollar bill in her coin belt. Mom’s friend, Fai (who loves taking photographs), taking a photograph of me while I dance. Najmah holding Beatrice, the newest Habibi baby (she was born in July, but not to Najmah).