Emily was in my pilot class when I tested the ColorJoy Stole pattern. She came to me with some yarns in colors she normally would not wear. She had a stretch to get a combination of yarns that looked great together. It’s hard for all of us to work with colors that aren’t our most flattering, that is just how it works. We know “our” colors best.

Fortunately, this class is a group experience. The others in the group encouraged her and helped her find the right combination.

I’ve shown this stole before, but not being worn. Emily decided to give the stole to a young relative who was going to a wedding. And here is the lovely young lady in her gift! Isn’t it just as perfect as it could be? I’m so happy that Emily found a way to use those yarns from her stash that were not her standard colors… and in such style, too!

These stoles feel like magic, somehow. When I wear mine, I get to meet people because they must tell me how they like it… and often they tell stories about knitting or crocheting while they are at it (it happened at the grocery store today… a lady showed me her project that she had with her, a crocheted multi-yarn scarf in project with some eyelash in it). It clearly was magic for this young lady, as well.

By the way, my friend got her “hug” mostly-alpaca stole last night and she called me. It’s warm and pretty and it pleased her. And she definitely understood it was a hug. I was so happy to have the opportunity to talk with her before I left on my trip. And I’m so glad my work can bring colorful comfort to her during the cold months.

My Brother, Eric, came up from Ypsilanti for Thanksgiving. We had heard that the new Armenian restaurant (House of Kabobs) was going to be open until 4pm and we figured we’d check that out.

Well, we got there at 3pm and they were just closing up for lack of business. You know, when I was in college I worked at fancy restaurants, and I always had to work on Thanksgiving. And the places were always packed. However, that was in the days before all the chain restaurants. I wonder if that has something to do with it.

So… we were all set on Armenian food and we had to go “hunting nuts and berries” as Brian sometimes puts it. We drove to all the places in town where we know that smaller restaurants (often ethnic food) would be… Michigan Avenue on the East side, Frandor, Trowbridge Road, Downtown East Lansing, Hannah Plaza. We found that there were two sushi places, both on Grand River Ave. in downtown East Lansing, that had “OPEN” signs lit up in the window.

We found ourselves at 541 E. Grand River, at a place that appears to be called “Sushi and Deli.” They had Korean and Japanese food. Brian had a bowl of noodles and eel in Korean style (it looked good but didn’t sound like something I wanted). Eric had a Korean chicken dish, and I had asparagus rolls and avocado rolls, with steamed edamame (green soybeans steamed in the shell, you peel the shell and eat the center… I really like these).

The food was beautifully presented, and everyone loved what they got. I shared my rolls with the guys. Sushi for Thanksgiving! I was truly thankful.

I heard today on the radio that over 92% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving day. Personally, I was really happy to have this food. I like it much better than what I make, and I have never been fond of fussing in the kitchen. It was a perfect Thanksgiving. A meal with my favorite guys, and no cooking, and great food. Sigh…

Hi, Friends. I’m doing as much as I can to prepare for a trip that I can’t really prepare for. I have promised pictures if at all possible…

I will be in Africa with a digital camera, and using someone else’s computer (perhaps a different place each time I connect). I don’t know if they will have photo editing software on their machines.

Does anyone know of a service where I can upload images and resize them on that website, for web use, while I’m away from my own machine? I would even pay a small fee for this service if there are no free spots out there, but free would be grand! If you have used the service personally, I’d especially love input… but anything folks out there know, I’d love to hear.

My comments are turned off for now. Therefore, if you have input, please send an email with ColorJoy in the subject line (I may not recognize your email address and I would hate to delete your note thinking it is spam), to: Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com

Thanks to anyone who might be able to help.

It’s Thanksgiving Day in the USA. I have much to be thankful for. The most important of them all, is the quality of my relationships right now. My husband, my family, my friends, are all top notch people who give at least as much as they receive from me. I am an equal, a member of a mutual-admiration society. What else could a person really want?

Brian took this photo of the snow that came on Wednesday. It has been very warm, and when the cold hit, the humidity dumped all this on us in a very short time. I went out in the morning without gloves! How things can change, and so fast!

Well, I am getting over 100 junk spam comments per day on this weblog. Considering I get not even one true comment per day, on average, from you cool folks out there, I have chosen to turn off the comment feature. I will not be able to go in and delete hundreds of unwanted junk comments per day (as I do now), when I am on the road.

I expect that perhaps I will take the time to do research when I get back (at least I hope so). Maybe I can figure out other ways to tame the spam comments yet still allow you folks to write me by clicking on a link. For now, though, you will have to go through a little work to send me a hello. I will be disappointed at the additional slowdown that will cause my comments, but I really need to do this while I am gone.

For now, you will have to use your email program to send me a comment. Make SURE to put the word ColorJoy in the subject line so I don’t accidentally delete it (I throw away up to 400 messages a day in my email program, too). Send notes to Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com

Thanks!

I taught polymer clay buttons and beads at Threadbear this last Sunday. We had a fabulous time. I had seven participants, and we all did things just enough differently to make things very interesting.

Here are two of the three trays we baked during class. They also took a bunch of work home to bake as well. Didn’t they do a nice job? I sure had a great time.

Oh, and also take a good look at Bev’s sweater. She made it up, bless her heart. Looks like a Nikki Epstein book come to life, in technicolor. It would even stand out in my very colorful closet!

The closures in front are buttons, which are covered up by leaves that have slits in the underside as buttonholes. Very clever indeed. The truth is, she wouldn’t need the buttons and beads class if she did all her sweaters this way! I’m glad she makes all sorts of sweaters, so I could have her attend my class.

Bev likes the back of the sweater a lot, so I made her turn around and let me get a photo of that. I told her to flirt with the camera. I think she followed instructions well!!!

Oh, there is so much wrapping-up to do these days, before my big trip. Here are a few random photos from my last week or so.

The first photo is a few of my CityKidz Knit! participants, from last week. This week was the last session until January. I started with 16 kids and it filtered down to less than 10 who kept coming back… today I had four total, three of whom were actually signed up.

However, one little girl has been asking me to knit since summer. She is officially too young, because she is 6 and the program requires age 7 or older. However, today I had such a small group (I’m sure it was because of the holiday) that I let her join us. She took to it very well, really. She didn’t last the whole hour because the friend she came with, left the room for another distraction and she had to go find her friend. I’m encouraged, though. I think she will be back. She is a regular at the center, and always comes to computer lab on Thursdays. I will hope for her to return in January.

The next photo is the “portable hug” I made for my dear friend who lives out of my state. I wish I could go visit with her, but it is just too far to make that feasible. Therefore, I did the next best thing. This stole has more animal fiber in it than any other I have knit. It has several alpaca yarns, a llama/wool blend, a silk/wool blend, some soft wools and three different eyelash yarns (all synthetic) for a little glamour and color. I’m very happy with the end result. I sent it to her Tuesday. I hope she is home for the Thanksgiving weekend, to receive it! I can’t seem to catch her by phone.

By the way, two of the yarns I used in this stole were sent to me by Cyndy, a regular reader of this blog. The Dazzlelash added a little gold spark to the stole, with it’s long, sweepy lashes. And the Crystal Palace Fizz in cobalt blue really rounded out the colors very well, and kept the stole as warm as an eyelash can.

The last photo is something I rarely do anymore… rubber stamping. A friend did me a very, very large favor. I spent far too long trying to think what I could possibly say in a thank you card that would mean anything close to what I wanted to say. Some things don’t have words, you know?

So I got out the rubber stamps. A picture paints a thousand words, right? I found a dancing girl looking pensive, and a teapot in the shape of an aladdin’s lamp. Some waves that could double as steam, and two palm tree stamps.

Most times if I stamp these days, I use stamps I carved myself. So working with commercial stamps was oddly freeing this time. The only stamp here that I did myself is the waves/steam stamp. Everything else is commercial. Most of the stamps I actually got from Susan Hensel when she moved to Minnesota from Michigan.

So I made the dancing girl look like she was coming out of the lamp, like a genie. And I said something like “you created magic for me” inside. Dorky but at least I got the card done that way, and to my friend who really deserved acknowledgement of his help that I appreciated so much.

I’m glad I did this. It freed me from the stuck place I had been in, needing the perfect card. I just grabbed some stamps, most of which I’d never used before, and stamped away as freely as I could. On the envelope I also tried out a flamingo stamp from Sue that I had not tried yet. And then I used clear embossing powder to make a raised surface where I’d stamped color. It turned out pretty well for a free-form job, I think. And now my friend has been officially thanked for a good job.

My family always does an early holiday event. We combine my birthday (November 28), Thanksgiving and Christmas. We call it Thanks-Christmas. I get a pumpkin birthday pie and we do presents. We did this last week and really enjoyed ourselves.

I have a very small family. We have Mom, Eric, and I, plus our respective partners/spouses… Fred, Diana, and Brian. That’s it for Michigan in our family! I really enjoy the peacefulness of a small family gathering (hey, six people is a lot to me sometimes). We take turns opening presents, we get to see everyone open what we got them, we get to relax as we go around the room. I have been to larger family gatherings, and it is just plain impossible to take turns with twenty people… you would never get your dinner that way! But I really enjoy the leisurely pace of our events, in an otherwise crazy life that I live.

Last year, Diana could not come up for our holiday gathering, but this year she was there. I really was glad to have her company. Eric and Diana definitely had the best gift of the year. They made up shirts that show Brian’s “Heftone Banjo Orchestra” which is really a composite of about seventeen photos of Brian holding different banjos… some of the photos with long hair, some with short. I took all the photos and then Brian composed the image on his computer. A smaller version of this is the front cover to Brian’s “Music Box Rag” CD, and it sure gets a lot of comments when folks see it.

Here is a photo Fred took of the rest of us wearing our Heftone Banjo Orchestra t-shirts. Now, don’t we look cool? We’re the best, I’m just sure of it. OK, pretty geeky but still very cool with our exclusive shirts!!!

Speaking of holidays, this is the week of my Goddaughter Sara’s birthday. She is away at college now but I did get to see her on Saturday. Back last summer she requested another pair of footie socks from me (she has the original socks for my Sherbet Socks, and she is wearing them so much she really wanted another pair).

Considering that when I did laundry today, a “turquoise” (and blue and green) load, I had 17 pair of handknit socks in it between Brian and I, I figured I could make Sara one more pair.

Yet I had to restart this pair SIX times. I just could not get my gauge and the number of stitches to make it the right size. Even doing the math and swatching does not make up for the fact that my gauge changes by the hour. It was very frustrating.

The good news was that I did finish a new pair for her. I got this yarn at Yarn for Ewe, I think in July. Finally I finished these, and about 45 minutes before I met Sara to give her the sox as her birthday gift. I’ve been so busy knitting store samples for classes that I’m going to teach, that I had a hard time finishing Sara’s sox. (The last pair I finished were in mid-August, for my Mother’s birthday. The first year I knit socks, I averaged one pair every 10 days… you can see I’m living a different life now.)

But they are done and she absolutely squealed out loud in delight. She put them on right away. Gotta love it. Makes you want to repeat that action, you know?

Here are pics of the sox up close, and “My Sara” wearing them. I’m glad she likes them so well.

Oh… and since I’m going on this trip, they gave me my birthday/Christmas gifts while I was there (the family did). Sara knit me this wonderful scarf, all by herself. I taught her to knit a few years back and she really was good at figuring it out but didn’t seem too interested, other than doing something with me. I figured she gave it up. But this year she’s making scarves.

This one is very warm, and it’s a really great combination of turquoise, blue and hot green. It’s loopy and textured, and I couldn’t tell at first through the texture if it was knit or crocheted (I would have bet on single crochet). It’s garter stitch but you can’t see the characteristic ridges because of the yarn’s texture.

She’s also working on a scarf right now in rainbow worsted weight yarn, in a K1P1 rib knit. And she says she has one scarf done except for fringe, back at the dorm. I’m glad I showed her a bit of knitting when I did. I sure do treasure this scarf! There have been very few times in my life when someone knit for me, and this is especially sweet because it’s a hug from Sara every time I wear it.

And what about these cool boots? More gifts from my Godchildren (Sara and her big brother, Michael) and their family. They know how much I love color. They said they walked by in the store and then turned around and decided I’d love ‘em and they would get them for me. What a very cool present! I would never have splurged on something like this but they are just wonderful and as colorful as ever. Cool, huh?

In the last week, I have been delighted on the knitlist and socknitters email list (and at the Mid-Michigan Knitters Guild), that folks are talking about my patterns and my classes. I’ve worked pretty hard to get out there and teach, and to do as great a job as I can for my students when I teach. It does my heart good to hear folks talking enthusiastically about my classes.

Particularly, talking about my ColorJoy Stole class, which is not merely a class about knitting from a pre-written pattern. It’s about color and texture and how to put yarns together, and how to fix mistakes when they happen. I put my heart and soul into that class, and it takes a full six hours for me to fit it all into one workshop.

Well, it is also a delight to see folks talking about my Fast Florida Footies on socknitters. I have had a steady stream of folks write me over the almost-two years it has been up as a free pattern on the internet (in one small size, but many socknitters adjust for size well). From searching my archives, I’ve shown many different versions of this footie here on the ColorJoy! blog. They are:

Stephanie
Larry
Paula
Kadri
Alison
Ilene
Susan

And now, Sandra adds her pair to the list. Hers are yet again different from all the rest, with two contrasting solid colors, and with the no-purl heel but not the purled sole (although it looks like she might have kept knitting the no-purl heel stitch underneath the wearer’s heel, perhaps). Don’t they look minty and refreshing on a blah and gray late fall day?

Well, those of you who read this often probably have noticed a good deal of distraction on my part, over the last many weeks. I have a goal of 28 posts a month, and I missed a good handful in a row, though I made up some of them after the fact. Some months I don’t miss any days. Sometimes I even have multiple posts in one day.

So what could be distracting me so much? A sort of miracle has happened. I am going to be traveling with my dear friend Altu to three countries in Africa. We leave in less than two weeks. I’ll be gone five weeks.

Altu was born and raised in Ethiopia, although she has been here in the US a long time and has been a US citizen longer than I have known her. Her parents and a sister still live in Ethiopia (I have met them all when they have visited here). We are going back “home” to visit her family for about three weeks. We will also visit a friend of hers who lives in Nairobi, Kenya. And last, we will visit Egypt for a week as tourists… we will be staying in Cairo but expect to do a day-trip to Alexandria, which is about a two-hour drive from what we have been told by our Egyptian friends in Lansing.

I love the world, I hunger to know more of it. And for the most part, I have chosen a life that has not allowed me to pursue that hunger. Well, this time a miracle has happened, and my friend and I will be leaving for places I can not even imagine in my mind. Very soon.

Brian will stay home, as will Altu’s family. She has kids who need to stay in school. (Her restaurant will be in the competent hands of her Brother-in-Law, Charles.) Brian was a competent bachelor until we married in our mid-to-late 30’s. He will be fine. Oh, yes, we’ll miss each other, but we’ll do fine separated for a while. We have traveled separately before.

This is the longest trip I have ever taken. I’ve never been gone from home more than 10 days in a row. I have never needed a passport, either. I have been to Mexico, Jamaica and the Bahamas, as well as Canada… none of which has required a passport. Most of those trips were because of a job I once held, where the boss would take us on great weekend trips if we made sales goals she set. (I loved that benefit, let me tell you!)

Most of my independent travel has been within driving distance of my home. I put 250,000 miles on my last car and I’m up to nearly 90,000 on the current one. Most of those trips I made alone, and I would not have had it any other way. But for international travel it will be wonderful to be with a comrade and most of the time stay with her friends and family. I think I will get a better sense of life there, by doing it this way. (Altu’s husband suggests that I will need to learn how to slow down when I am there. I hope I can learn that, I think I am ready for the lesson.)

I realize that saying “I’m going to Africa” doesn’t have real meaning to me at this time. I don’t even know what that really means. I think it may take me some time after I return to process all I have taken in. While I am there, I will no doubt be living in the moment.

I’m taking my camera but not a computer. I understand that there are cyber-cafes in all the big cities we will visit, and we will do our best to post photos and commentary when we can. But I have no idea how regularly that will happen.

I’ve been distracted with doctor’s appointments, passport photos, all sorts of things that must be done before a trip of this sort. I’ve had a series of immunizations and I’m not done with those yet.

And for those who must tell me to be careful, I really do hear you. All travel is a risk, and perhaps more risk than being in familiar territory. However, something could happen to me in my own home and staying home is not a guarantee of safety.

In the end, we are all mortal and fragile. We must embrace the love of life and the world, and do what we can do to feel alive while we are here. Since I’ve lost loved ones very young, I think I have an urgency to experience things even more intensely than others. Every day is a gift, and I am aware of that as I live my life.

I have traveled alone by car to New York City, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Baltimore, Montreal, Minneapolis, and other cities whose names escape me right now. Most people would not do that, yet I would do it again in a heartbeat. At no time did any harm come to me in any of those trips. (More trouble has happened to me in my own “safe” hometown than anywhere on the road.) This time, my trip is by airplane and I will not be alone.

OK, back to the unbelievable list of tasks I must complete before my trip. Yes, it is a high-class problem to be this kind of busy! I’m not complaining, I assure you.

Tuesday night I went to the monthly meeting of the Mid-Michigan Knitters’ Guild in East Lansing. I tell you, that group is getting BIG!!! We had about 50 people. It was a wonderful time.

The program this month was geared toward gift knitting, and so people were asked to bring in any variation on a scarf, shawl, stole or poncho that they might have made, and talk about it a bit. We had all sorts of things I’d never imagined before, beautiful scarves in particular that were really innovative. I am not much of a scarf wearer (they aren’t big enough or warm enough for this woman who always has cold hands and feet even when wearing a hat) but I was very impressed with the variety.

Before the program starts, we always have show-and-tell time, where folks bring what they have completed since last meeting. I brought the stole I finally finished for my friend who needs a hug (still no pictures, darn it), and finally remembered to bring the three pair socks I did in series for Dawn Brocco’s Heels and Toes Gazette in the last year.

Sarah Peasley and friends made “hallowig” variations from a pattern in Knitty.com and brought them in for show and tell. Sarah had the right idea, using the squiggle yarn. I LOVE that yarn, would love any excuse to knit with it. Well, almost any, because I’m not going to knit a wig… out of that yarn or any other. But I just know the ladies had fun making theirs and wearing them!!!

And look at this prize photo of Irene wearing her finished ColorJoy Stole! She completed it in a matter of a few days (remember in the photo I took at our class just over a week ago, she had already knit about five inches on it). It looks wonderful on her, just perfect with what she was wearing. Good job, Irene!

On Sunday, after I taught my rug class, I stopped by the last part of the Working Women Artists meeting. They were finishing up their second of two meetings, making art books from found objects (including the books).

Some folks just embellished a pre-existing book complete with text in it, some used a journal/book that had blank pages. Regina had a child’s book with cardboard pages, and she had sanded the pages and was putting gesso on them when I got there. We noted that the pages looked great with a little shadow of the former page showing through.

A lot of what folks did was collage, with tissue papers, fancy papers/handmade papers, and photos taken from magazines. Some folks brought press-on letters to embellish with words as well. My friend Marlene was even drawing with colored pencils. I am not describing this well, but it was a very creative and freeing process for those who were doing it.

I got there too late to participate fully (and I didn’t start with the process last month) so I knit my pillow while chatting, in between taking photos and taking a look at folks’ work.

We had a great bunch this time, including a couple of new people. One young person was around 10 years old, and there were a couple of grandmothers, and a bunch of us in the middle. I love it when that happens!

Sunday I taught a Basketweave Rug class at Yarn Garden in Charlotte, Michigan. It was more than a class, though. It was a party. Kim and Pat of Yarn Garden made it sort of a “Men go hunting, women go knitting” sort of party (though we all know that it’s not as simple as that gender generalization, it turned out that only women knitters came to my class).

What a great time! It was me, and 15 other women, knitting with very yummy yarn (Cascade Magnum, a super-bulky that knits up at 2.5 st/in on size 13 needles). And nibbling, and knitting, and nibbling. Great fun for all!

I loved seeing how each person’s choice of yarn was different than the others at their table (it calls for stripes in a contrasting color). Every rug was great in its own special way.

Here are photos of the folks who came. Don’t they look content knitting away on their rugs?

Last Saturday, Brian and I performed at Altu’s Restaurant for a pretty packed house. It was delightful, because as usual the crowd was mostly friends and family.

Brian’s folks came in from Grand Rapids, and his dad sang one song with us. My Mom also brought a full table as usual, which was great fun. A few of them hadn’t been to Altu’s to see us play before and I’m always thrilled to have new folks come out.

Our friends (not in pictures) included folks I’ve mentioned here before: Regina, Ulyana, Cynthia and Bonnie, and Wally Pleasant came with his family which was really special, we don’t see them enough.

Also, Rob and Matt from Threadbear came with Matt’s mom, who was visiting from Georgia. It’s always fun singing to them.

Regina did us the favor of taking some photos while we were performing. This one shows us in true Moon June Spoon style… crooning our best! Thanks for taking over the camera, Regina! The photo of Mom’s friends I took. Left to right, you see Fred, Mom (Liz), Lillian, Lee, Esther and Barbara.

Just over a week ago (November 7) I taught a ColorJoy Stole class at Threadbear. I think there can’t be a more wonderful class to teach! Folks learn about color, yarn texture/structure, how to put dissimilar yarns together in pleasing ways, and how to fix mistakes in their knitting (an inevitable thing when you are working with “froofy” yarns).

I was honored and delighted that five students drove 4 hours (one way) to come to my class, and they were driving home that night. A one-day marathon from Ohio to Michigan and Back! I was so pleased to have them with me.

There were also two local folks in the class… Pat, who reads this blog but who I had not met before (now I realize she knows my dance friend Donna/Maya and my mother’s friend Lillian); and Irene who I’ve known ever since I picked up my knitting again almost 4 years ago.

Irene is a very accomplished sweater knitter, and it was extra-great to have her in my class. This was a sort of knitting she hadn’t done much of but she had some funky yarns and wanted to use them. We found a way to use them and her stole really took shape quickly. Hers is the first photo, in teal/turquoise/purple, which shows that she got an amazing amount of knitting done considering how much non-knitting content there is in this class. Isn’t her combination glorious?

I seem to have only six photographs of folks’ yarn choices. I know one woman did a second stole in mostly blacks, grays and whites, for her daughter, and I did not get a photo of that. But either I miscounted my students or I missed taking a photograph that I should have taken. Pooh! I get so wrapped up in explaining that I miss obvious things.

Yesterday (November 14), I taught a Basketweave Rug class at Yarn Garden. I did get photos but have not downloaded them from my camera. I’m catching up, though… slowly but steadily. I’ll get those up as well, when I can spare more time for photo editing.

I just can’t fill you in on all the great things that have happened to me in the time since I have been back from Midwest Ukefest. I have taught a Pillow class and a ColorJoy Stole class (at Threadbear), and a Basketweave Rug class (at Yarn Garden). I have taught CityKidz Knit! I have taught a few computer classes to adults, and had two singing performances with Brian as The Fabulous Heftones.

I also have spent time with my friend Tony, two different days… one day having lunch and then going yarn shopping, and one day going to Spinners Flock guild in Chelsea an hour away. I just finished the mostly-alpaca stole for my friend who needs a hug, and am nearly finished with my own pillow that I get to keep. I haven’t knit a stitch on any sock in weeks, but I have promised my Goddaughter Sara that she will get some footies for her birthday which gives me about a week to get those going (I have started her pair three times but this third time looks promising).

I have spent a lot of time with my friend Altu in the last two weeks as well, which is wonderful for me. Just this weekend Brian and I performed at her restaurant, and we filled the restaurant, mostly with friends and family (Sharon P of Knitknacks, and Regina from Working Women Artists, were both there, as were my Mom and Brian’s parents). I love playing there!

Sunday I went to Working Women Artists, and there was a nice crowd there, all ages and a few new faces. That was great.

I have taken a ton of photographs since Halloween but I haven’t had time to sit and process them properly. I’m hoping I will at least get to show you pics of my knitting classes when I get a minute. For now, at least, you are a little bit updated.

We had three days in a row when it was almost impossible to stay connected to the Internet. We connect with a modem (dial-up) and we were lucky to stay online for more than 3 minutes before disconnecting. For some reason, last night it fixed itself. I suspect the phone lines, since we have two internet providers that both were acting this way. We even had two different computers trying to connect, and we had two different phone lines, all acting grumpy. I’m happy to have my connection back, for now anyway.

I’m happy, really… just very busy away from my desk. It is a high-class problem to be busy with work and other tasks I love. I’m not complaining, just explaining my relative absence. Pictures soon, I hope.

Those of you who have followed this weblog for a while, know that during the school year I teach children to knit at Foster Community Center. This term has been sort of disappointing because it started pretty late in the fall. The kids just are not getting as many weeks with me as they will next term. I’m doing my best with what time I do have.

Here are two photos taken of the children with their projects, in the last two weeks. Whenever I wonder if I’m doing something that makes any difference… trying to work with kids a mere one hour a week (I have one group on Wednesday and another smaller group on Thursday, but both groups get only an hour… I just have to look at these photos to know the answer. Aren’t they beautiful? Just look at them smile! Look at them glow with pride!

We had many finished wristbands in the last few weeks. I wish I were sure the kids could knit without me, but in more than half of the cases this is not true. Yet a few of them take off and run with it. In the first photo here, the girl in front left with the variegated yarn, had just started that project when she got to class that day. In one hour, she knit the wristband and sewed it into a tube, and took it home. I am very happy when this sort of thing happens, as I can not expect it.

I learned to knit when I was in 5th grade. Most of these kids are younger than that. I did not do much with knitting until I was over 40. You never know what seeds you are planting, and how they will come to fruition. I do know that even if they don’t choose to knit again, I have treated them well and they got a little piece of my loving attention. I think that works, don’t you? (Just look at those faces!)

I had a pleasant pillow class at Threadbear. We had a very small class, just two students and me, but I am very glad I decided to go ahead with it. One student, Petra, has taken my rug class and we have chatted a good deal. I love her company and she loves mine… a sort of mutual-admiration society.

The second student, Mary, I had not met before. However, she reads this weblog (hi, Mary!) and wanted to meet me. I’m so glad she signed up.

The pattern I chose for this class was a Michelle Wyman pattern, knit in either garter or seed stitch from the corner, knit on the diagonal. It’s a really nice design, where you can add stripes or not, do one yarn or several, and you don’t need to know your gauge before you start. Gotta love that!!!

My sample was done in Lorna’s Laces fisherman wool, handpainted in sort of garden colors. Mary chose the same yarn but in beautiful variations of blues and related colors.

I did the back of my pillow first, and did it only in the wool yarn. I found it slightly boring because the colors were not quite as bright as I would prefer for myself (this pillow will become the property of Threadbear, so I chose colors others would like rather than my signature colors).

So… for the front of the pillow, I used Crystal Palace Fizz with the base yarn for the stripes as indicated by Michelle Wyman. She had something like 10 garter ridges in one yarn and then 3 ridges a second yarn, but I just added the Fizz to make it look like another yarn. Mary liked the look of texture, so she also chose a Fizz that was multicolored and it really worked great with her base yarn. Love it.

Now I’m knitting a pillow that is just for me, to keep. It’s Cascade Quattro (like 220 but the four plies are each a different color). It is in a sort of dark bluish-green with a taupe and soft green and gray. This yarn is absolutely gorgeous in garter stitch. (The prominent color in my yarn is the same as the dark green here in the pillow underneath Mary’s project.)

The yarn calls for a sweater-sized needle for a sort of drapey gauge (I think size but I went down to a size 5 to get a nice firm, resilient fabric. I’m covering this green rectangular travel pillow, in preparation for an upcoming trip. It looks good so far. I finished the front piece and part of the back. I try to knit it in public but it requires increasing on every other row and so I often mess up and have to rip out. I am enjoying it, anyway. I’ll show you a photo when I have it finished.

Well, I’m back… with my last post about Midwest Ukefest. When I wrote about our first night in Indianapolis, at the gorgeous house called Tuckaway (still delightfully stuck in the decor of the 1920s), I wrote that Fred Fallin, amazing ukeplayer from Chicago, had given me a gift.

Well, Fred has long collected fine items that reflect his favorite period in history, the same general timeframe as our music. Fred is one who understands that costuming can be an art, and he knows well the styles of the early 1900’s.

I’m honored to say that Fred has often spoken his admiration for our act… the music we perform and how we perform it. (We perform the music much as it was done originally, rather than embellishing and modernizing it. This is a preference, though not the only way to honor this music. However, Fred also has the same preference and so we sort of click stylewise.)

So at the Uke Expo in the Pocanos last September, Fred told me he had a spectacular raccoon coat that was original and in great condition, from the early 1930’s. He wanted the coat to go to a good home, to a place where folks would understand it as a reflection of the styles during this period of time we celebrate musically. He did not want to sell it to someone who might see it as a fashion purchase, and who might go on to other fickle fashion choices soon thereafter.

Now, this is an unusual thing to happen to me. I choose not to eat mammals, as long as I am living in such an abundant society that I can choose the foods I do eat. I might feel differently if I were hungry and that were all I could eat. But since I have the luxury of this abundant lifestyle, I choose to decline red meat.

Yet I also believe that once an animal is killed, whether for food or otherwise, we should honor that animal as best we can. And this coat is made of pelts that are about 70 years old, certainly not something that is a recent thing.

So I choose to accept the loving gift and wear the coat so that I can honor my friend Fred, the styles of this era we love, and the animals who have been gone a very long time. Others might choose differently. I think I will find it hard to choose this coat to wear out on the town, but it certainly will be a fine costume choice for some of our performance-related events.

I made sure to wear the coat all around the Tuckaway event to make sure I showed off properly and gave Fred his deserved “warm fuzzies” for sharing this prize with me. I felt a bit like a beautiful model for a little while.

The coat fits very well and it is very warm (I can see why you see furs everywhere in Toronto, a cold and windy city). The lining needs a little repair but the fur is in what appears to be perfect condition. I will take it to the local furrier to make sure it is treated properly and cleaned/stored properly.

By the way, notice that the stripes on the sleeves make a corner. There is a triangle where the pelt was turned horizontally, at the bottom of the sleeve. Fred says that this is the mark of an Art Deco coat. (I notice, too, that in this photo I am wearing the collar down. Fred had me turn it up, a stand-up collar that framed my face very nicely when I wore it at Tuckaway. I was a bit distracted when we did this photoshoot and didn’t get situated as beautifully as I could have.)

Fred showed me on Sunday at Ukefest, a raccoon coat that was on display at the Indiana State Museum where Ukefest was held. It was a shorter coat with much less fine detail. The coat that is now mine, is clearly a showstopper and a prize. Fred, if you are reading this, I thank you for your vote of high regard and trust in me, giving me this museum-quality garment. I’m honored. I will wear it with flair, and think of you!

I haven’t forgotten you. I have had some very difficult days with my computer and the Internet. It started just before we left for Ukefest, and then starting before noon yesterday I could not get email for 36 hours. We still can not figure out why (the best guess is that there may have been static on the phone line, since it has been raining, but that doesn’t explain why I couldn’t download mail at a wireless connecting spot last night).

Today it unexpectedly just started working fine again, as if nothing had gone wrong in the first place. I’m very clear that I am not in charge, not in this life! At least not in charge of the Internet.

I’ve had some very busy days since we returned from Midwest Ukefest… many classes, many students, several locations. It’s a lot of fun, but it can keep me from my computer and desk. I have photos on my camera, and no time to process them.

It’s funny how I asked at 4 different shops last year, looking for places to teach knitting. Nobody wanted my time. Now I am so busy, I pray for classes to cancel sometimes. It is a high-class problem.

It is bedtime. I’ll write again soon, I promise.

(Photos are two shots I took over a week ago in downtown Lansing. One is Reutter park, which once had a glorious fountain but still has beautiful trees. The other is a shot of the Capitol building from several blocks south. I used to live 8 blocks north, and had the mirror view of this photo if I stood on the sidewalk in front of my house. By the way, we have had a lot of rain so most of the pretty leaves are on the ground today. It was beautiful while it lasted.)

After the Saturday show, we talked with many wonderful people at the theatre until we had to leave. We then found our way to the pub to have a grand jam session(photographs for that were posted a few days ago). It was great fun and we stayed until they kicked us out at closing time.

Some folks went to a church in the morning and played Ukulele for the service. I thought that sounded cool, but we opted to sleep instead. We then connected with a good-sized group at Shapiro’s deli for brunch, around 12:30.

Shapiro’s is clearly an institution in Indy. We knew the name of the place but not where it was… and so when we went downtown to the main traffic circle to find a bank machine, the family we asked had some teenaged girls who got very excited indeed when we said where we were going. The mom gave us good directions on how to get there, and we found it in no time.

This place is big by Lansing standards, and was pretty full when we got there. It actually reminded me of a place I ate in the Boston area years ago, and a little bit like a place in Chicago I went to 20 years ago, but nothing like anything even remotely near Lansing. We have Zingerman’s deli (which is a top-notch establishment in all ways) but it is not in the same genre as these sort of cafeteria-style delis. They are strong on their food offerings and the number of choices, but sort of bare-bones on decor. And people come back because of the food, which is the right reason to return.

We got to sit near the other two folks from Lansing, from Elderly Instruments where Brian works. We also sat near Elyse (sp?) and Kip, who were great fun and who told us how to get around Indy and in particular how to find an internet cafe with free access. We talked a good long time, and then some music just had to happen. Some of the kids in the Key Strummers requested that Brian play “I Love Me,” one of his most popular novelty numbers (he has two solo vocal CD’s which are heavy on the novelty tunes, but this weekend we stuck for the most part to more romantic numbers). They swarmed around him to hear every word.

Then Geoff got out his ukulele and a few others joined him over at our table for a short while before we all needed to call it a show. It was hard to let go of it all, it was such great fun.

But even though we were done with Midwest Ukefest, we were not done with Indianapolis. We found our way to Corner Coffee at 11th and Alabama, as recommended by Kip. We really loved it. We both sat down and I was able to download my email for the first time all weekend (the ethernet connection in the hotel had not worked with my computer but the wireless connection worked just fine at the cafe). We got talking to some of the folks there, who were talking Halloween a bit and they asked us where we were from. We told them we were there for Ukefest and they asked if we could play a tune. Brian had his uke with him (my bass was buried under a lot of luggage in the car at that point) and so we sang harmony together on “What Do We Do on a Dew, Dew, Dewy Day?” It was great fun and they enjoyed it, plus it gave us more to chat about while we were waiting for more emails to download.

At that point we were on our way home. We did make some stops here and there on the way home but our big journey to Midwest Ukefest 2004 was over. It was a grand journey, indeed!

Photos: The line at Shapiro’s Deli; our table at the deli; food we got… Brian’s reuben and my boiled cabbage, fresh pineapple and tea; Brian singing I Love Me to the kids; Corner Coffee; architecturally interesting housing across from Corner Coffee.

Saturday during the day, Brian did a fingerpicking workshop, in part using Maple Leaf Rag to illustrate a few of the points. I went with him to play bass with him, a few times when he wanted it to sort of fit into the performing big picture. I did take my new Fluke with me and followed along reasonably well, considering how little I play uke. Thank goodness I have that decade of guitar-playing memory in my fingers. It helped a lot with the fingerpicking, though I have a long way to go.

Before we left the Museum, Brian found some folks to play music with, and I went up to the 3rd floor and took a too-quick look at the Japanese Quilt exhibit. It was wonderful. I probably spent 20 minutes on it, and that was a bit disrespectful to the wonderful quality. Brian’s mother, a quilter, also saw the exhibit, but she did it right. She read every word on every sign, and it took her two hours to do it properly. We both were surprised at how many circles were used in the quilts, in many different ways. Also, one particularly wonderful quilt used buttons as a patterning technique. It was brilliant. I could have spent 2 hours if I had the time, but I had to be glad to have the few minutes I could spare.

Saturday Night at Midwest Ukefest was our time to perform. We were very excited to be part of this fine lineup of performers, all weekend.

The published lineup Saturday was this:

The Key Strummers
Lyle Ritz
Local Yokels Jugband
Joel Eckhaus
The Third Satchel Novelty Jazz Orchestra
Fred Fallin
The Fabulous Heftones (that’s us)
Michelle Kiba

We had another fabulous performance from the unstoppable Key Strummers, led by Geoff Davis. Talented kids, who are quite accustomed to performing… but surely not often at as large a venue as this.

Lyle Ritz was next. This man is without compare. He made a living as a studio backup musician, often playing bass (and he played the actual ukulele sound track in The Jerk, we learned from the Beloffs). His playing is just ethereal in its floating musicality. I was honored to be sharing the same stage with someone who is this fine and refined. He’s also a humble and quiet guy. It’s refreshing to find a humble ego and a brilliant musician in the same person. The world is right, you know?

I was worried about who would have to follow Mr. Ritz. Luckily, the Local Yokels Jugband played, and their musical styles were so different that it worked fine. Local Yokels includes our friend Steve Kobe who had played the torch songs the night before… but the rest of the players were all different. The absolutely best part of this band is the amazing jug player. There are many who play jug as mostly a rhythm instrument, like a drum. This man plays notes accurately from beginning to end (he must have lungs of superhuman capacity). He also has an amazing rolling cart full of jugband rhythm instruments, from a bicycle bell to washboard, kazoo, spoons, you name it. The cart is almost as tall as me and has very serious wheels for getting around.

What was interesting was how many of us play from the same pool of music. Even Local Yokels did three songs we know… Shine on Harvest Moon, Goofus, and Kansas City Star (a Roger Miller song which we play when we are at jam sessions). Three acts shared playlists back stage… The Fabulous Heftones, Joel Eckhaus and Fred Fallin. (It is true that we all would do the songs very differently, but when we all know so many songs we might as well give the audience more variety if possible.) In fact, one of the songs Fred did on stage is one that Joel has recorded. I really love this overlap… it means that we are not the only ones who truly adore this genre of wonderful songwriting.

Joel Eckhaus followed Local Yokels. He has such a relaxed voice, I love to hear him. He did a few songs alone and then he had a bass player and clarinet player join him for a few numbers. He ended with a variation on the Sound of Music song, So Long, Farewell which was altered to have meaning to intermission time. I know he enjoyed that! He likes to do a bit of novelty and humor and it definitely worked.

After intermission, we heard Geoff Davis’ own band, the Third Satchel Novelty Jazz Orchestra. By this time I had to stay backstage, so I did not get the full flavor of their sound… the monitors backstage were useful to know who was next but not to get the whole experience. However, I’ve heard Geoff’s band before and they are very entertaining and very musical. They often choose music that others don’t do, but fits them perfectly. Geoff plays trombone and uses it in this band, which adds a lot to the mix.

Next came Fred Fallin. How can one describe Fred? His business card says “Chicago Speakeasy Style” and that helps a bit. But Fred is a guy who is just bigger than his physical presence. He is so full of history and knows more Tin Pan Alley songs (the genre we play for the msot part) than anyone I know. He knows dates and times, and who played what song when. In a jam session he can go a mile a minute, never stopping for a breath, from one song to another, and almost always one song connected to the next with some theme or another. For his set on this stage, he did songs related to the war memorial. Again, I could not hear as well as I would have liked but he was totally on topic for that performance space.

And watching Fred is a delight. He learned ukulele all by himself, with nobody to teach him. His right hand is beautiful to watch, really like a dance of sorts. He has long curved fingers and approaches the strings in such a way that you could watch for hours.

Then we got our turn. It went so fast! We started with a favorite of ours… What Do We Do on a Dew, Dew, Dewy Day? We very often start our sets with this number. Then I did my version of Tiptoe through the Tulips. I love that song, and almost nobody has heard the intro, nevermind all the words (bless his heart, Tiny Tim made this song famous but he never did all the words as I learned them). I avoided this song for a long time because I believed that in a way, Mr. Tim, may he rest in peace, “owned” the song. However, it is such a sweet and lovely piece of inviting one’s loved one into the garden at dusk, that I gave in when I knew I wanted to pursue the “In the Garden” album. I hope that since I have a female voice and I do it straight as a love song, I do it differently enough that it is not even comparing apples to apples. I was determined to bring that song to this concert, and I thoroughly enjoyed singing it to the audience, who did seem to enjoy it, too.

I won’t bore you with the full set list, but Brian did perform his Maple Leaf Rag which also got many kind comments afterward. (If you click this link, scroll down and on the left hand side you will find a link to download Brian’s recording of this piece.)

Following our set, came Michelle Kiba. Wow, what a lady… what a class act in every way. This woman glows while she is on stage. I snuck into the back of the auditorium so I could hear her play, and I loved every minute I saw. She was joined by a local bass player from the Kupa’a-Pacific Island Resources ukulele group (I posted a photo a few days ago of Michelle doing the hula with this group), and for some of the numbers she was also joined by Lyle Ritz. I tell you, Michelle’s set was refined and musical and lovely in every sense.

All the appropriate and enthusiastic applause came, that you might expect for such a great act! And then Geoff got on stage and announced a surprise. We were joined by none other than Jake Shimabukuro

Jake is a dynamic young man who is unlike any other. He struts around the stage while he plays his electric uke, and really keeps your visual attention as well as keeping your ears engaged. He does his own music sometimes, but one piece that I recognized (and enjoyed fully) was George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

I tell you what… I was very tired by that point but the young man woke us all. The kids from the Keystrummers were just wild with excitement (and I know it was definitely past their bedtimes). They clearly knew who he was, and they knew his repertoire… yelling out requests on at least one occasion. Jake probably got writers’ cramp writing out all the autographs after the show!

Photos today are: Lyle Ritz, Fabulous Heftones (under the watchful eye of General Pershing), Michelle Kiba, and Jake Shimabukuro with the Key Strummers and Geoff Davis (Jake kneeling toward front left, Geoff at top right).

Do whatever you can today to get out and vote if you are eligible to do so. It has never been more clear that one voice can make a difference.

And of course, your vote is a license to complain if things do not go as you had hoped. If you don’t vote, you need to keep your thoughts to yourself. Please, please exercise your voice today in the voting booth.

Of course, the best part about a Ukulele gathering, is the music. I usually have many words in me, but when I try to describe the music I come up short of ways to say what it is like for me. There is so much talent, and there are such great people playing the music! There are few egos and lots of fun. I believe that the instrument, by its looks, creates a mood of enjoyment and relaxation. You just would not find the same feeling between performers at another type of gathering, in my opinion. All groups have fun and have merit, but I’m glad I’m in the ukulele camp (by my association with Brian, as I haven’t played much ukulele… I have merely one song I can perform on uke, and I only do it very occasionally with the Abbott Brothers band).

But here I will do my best to honor those who fully entertained us this weekend. Understand that music has no words to describe it…

Friday night the lineup was this:

The Key Strummers
Joyce Flaugher and Bev Gagliardi
Steve Kobe and Karen Harkins
Lil’ Rev
Pat Monteleone
Deb Porter
Pops Bayless (Shorty Long)
Jim and Liz Beloff

Wow, just from the list of names I get inspired. The Key Strummers are a school group, led by Geoff Davis, the organizer of Midwest Ukefest. The school is called Key Learning Center so that gave them their name. These kids put on an amazing show. They play out and earn money doing gigs in town, to support the Ukefest event. They play music that is truly fun… a couple of songs about chickens and “I like bananas because they have no bones.” Yet the fun is presented hand in hand with musicianship. The kids are fabulous!

Joyce Flaugher and Bev Gagliardi are sisters who live in Texas. They tend to do Hawaiian and Hawaiian-inspired music. Joyce is a hula instructor (she is the one who taught my workshop on Friday) and a woman who clearly has her personal act together and focused. (We were honored when she came to both of our workshops this weekend.) I love their gentle, focused energy and easy connection with the audience.

Next was our friend Steve Kobe (Brian has known Steve for several years) and Karen Harkins. They are from the Indy area. Steve is in several bands and told me he often plays bass, a sort of low-key position… nobody tends to watch those of us who play bass. But he also plays ukulele. Last year he and his jug band played the stage and did great. This was an inspiration for him to spend a year working on a repertoire of songs he played on uke, where Karen sang.

These songs I adore, they are a bit later than those I sing on stage but they are the ones I often play at home…. 1930s to late 40s for the most point… Nat King Cole, Cole Porter, George Gershwin… some of the songs I learned from the Linda Ronstadt/Nelson Riddle albums she put out a good number of years ago, or Carly Simon’s “Torch” of the late 1970s, which is still my favorite CD of that genre. One of the songs I learned as a child from Barbra Streisand’s “My Name is Barbra” LP.

Karen has just a perfect voice for these tunes. It was just three of them on stage, Steve and Karen and a young bass player whose name escapes me right now. They were playing “my music” and I loved every note.

Following Steve and Karen was the irrepressable Lil’ Rev. He always amazes me with how well he commands an audience, no matter how large, sitting in a chair in the middle of a stage alone. The guy is a pro… knowing when to fill the empty spaces and when to leave them alone. Yet even though he can be very big on stage, offstage he is low key and very approachable. Love the guy. Love his act.

Then came Pat Monteleone, from Pennsylvania. I had lucked out and sat next to him at dinner at Buca di Beppo that night, so I had even more fun listening since I knew him. He’s mellow and relaxed, and plays music we do, want to do, should do, wish we did. This is someone we should hang out with and play tunes with… if we didn’t live ten hours away from one another. Class act. No surprise, the night is full of class acts…

Next was Deb Porter from Texas. She picks all the right songs. Her voice is relaxed and melodious… and she can croon or yodel with equal ease, to my delight. She did a few pieces alone and then a few folks joined her on stage in different combinations… I didn’t take notes but I seem to remember Pops Bayless, Lil’ Rev and Lyle Ritz. I could be missing someone here, and I’m very sorry if I am. On Saturday I bought Deb’s new CD and will enjoy listening to it as I work at home.

Next was Pops Bayless and Mysterious John, also known as Shorty Long. Their songs Flaming Ukulele in the Sky, and Egyptian Ella, get much play on the Flaming Ukulele Radio Hour these days, and for good reason. They were joined by another Texas musician whose name is Bob Guz (who we talked to a while after the concert on Saturday night). Bob also played uke and did a solo song which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The final act on Friday was the incomparable Jim and Liz Beloff. In fact, I’m listening to one of Jim’s albums (The Finer Things, the songs of Herb Ohta and Jim Beloff)while I type this. What can I say? Refined, musical, together, entertaining, with great harmonies… a perfect finale to a wonderful concert.

Both Friday and Saturday, after the show, people went to the Golden Ace Inn (Indy’s oldest Irish pub) to jam until the wee hours of the morning. Brian went Friday night, and I went to the hotel room to rest and get good sleep. However, Saturday night we both went. Since my photos of the show on Friday did not turn out well, I’m showing the Saturday jam photos here. I took the photos by holding my camera as far over my head as I could, to get as much in the shot as possible. That means we have some odd angles here, but I sort of like how the shots turned out… crowded just as the pub was.

And that first photo? It’s my new instrument. I bought a turquoise swimming-pool Fluke from Jim and Liz Beloff. How could I resist? It sounds good, plays easily, and is turquoise. I believe, other than some kazoos and a cheap harmonica, that it is the first time I have purchased a musical instrument for myself. My parents bought me a clarinet or two, my father got me a couple of guitars (the first one cost $13 in about 1971, it was plywood but when I played it for a full year I was rewarded with a “real” one). Once I got a flute which I believe was with money I got from my mother for my birthday and Christmas, my bass is from my father-in-law, and I have played several of Brian’s ukuleles.

But this instrument is mine, bought with my own income and chosen entirely by myself. Doesn’t it look like me? More ColorJoy!!! I’ve been playing it a little today, singing from a Hollywood songbook I got from Fleamarket Music, Jim and Liz’s business. I’m doing OK with When You Wish Upon a Star… well, if I’m looking at the music, that is.