I’m in the middle of four different design projects right now. My test knitters cranked out beautiful versions of my Fast Florida Footies for my new 8-size printed pattern soon to be available for sale. I’m collecting suggestions from the testers and hope to be finalizing that pattern this week.

I also finished that prototype tea cosy about a week ago, and have notes written but no formal pattern yet. I need that finalized and a second sample knit. The first “lives” at Threadbear for the time being, and the second will “live” at Little Red Schoolhouse (LRSH) when I finish it. I just finalized a few classes at LRSH and am finalizing a few more this week, so will post those here as soon as everything comes together more firmly

I am test knitting a second sample of my Heritage Heirloom socks and will make a few tweaks to the pattern text when that sample is done. The first was done in a cabled yarn in earth tones. This second is done in Magic Garden Buttons, a colorful kids’ yarn with little bits of color throughout. The look is so very different, with the same pattern specs. It’s sort of amazing how that works! I love that magic in the knitting process, the way yarn choice totally changes a project.

And… ta dah! I finished my Glitzy/Dressy Wrap (it turned out to be more of a capelet than a stole) today and it is just beautiful! It’s three different yarns, garter stitch, fringed in a rectangle, with a tie at the neck. And it’s shiny red with purple, one of my favorite color schemes (you would never know it, I don’t wear red, but I love these colors together).

I worked at making a simple project that has some depth, some interest to the flavor of the fabric. This one is Berroco Quest, Sari ribbon and a mercerized cotton, in garter stitch with fringe. I have two more planned versions. One is in pale spring greens (matte cotton, Sari ribbon and brushed mohair) for me, whenever I get to knit for myself. The other is in multicolors with a very fascinating ribbon, shiny cotton and I can’t remember the third yarns. That last one is for LRSH as a sample so that needs to be done yesterday. That is, as soon as my other projects are finished? The sock projects and the tea cosy, that is?

I think it’s really beautiful. First I took pictures of myself wearing it (using my new camera’s delay feature, very fun), but then when I took it to Threadbear, they put it on the front mannequin by the cash register. It looked so pretty there, I took more pictures while I could. They have the best lighting in the planet, so the colors just turned out great. It doesn’t look like a beginner project does it? I love that about this piece… It’s a quick knnit for an experienced knitter, and a rewarding but not frustrating project for a brand-new knitter. This type of success really makes me happy.

Pictures today: 1) Glitzy Wrap for Beginners and Friends as displayed at the cash register, Threadbear Fiberarts. 2) Infant size 0-1 sock knit by Rachel, in Cascade Fixation yarn. Isn’t it just as cute as a button?3) Infant size 2-3 sock knit by Julia, I’m not sure what yarn she used but it’s very effective. Isn’t it interesting how changing yarns really changes patterns?

I spent the whole day at my computer. Tuesday is supposed to be my day off, and I did get to go to Knitting Guild for an hour and a half, but otherwise I worked from the time I woke up until now, bedtime. However, I sure did get a lot done! I’m always wishing to do more in less time, but I think it was a productive day.

My website is set up now, with new pages to show you my New Yarns! That is what took the most time today. I had to photograph, process the photos so they look as close to the real-life colors as possible, write web pages, plunk the pictures into the web pages, copy the pages out to the web. I like the work, but it just takes a long time.

I hope you enjoy my new works of art. One thing to notice now… I am offering “short skeins,” some of them in semi-solid colors, to go with the full sized skeins I typically offer (225 yards, which is enough for one pair of stockinette small womens’ socks).

The small skeins happen when I encounter a knot in the yarn, or if the cone has more yarn on it than promised. I can’t guarantee I find all of them, but all the knots I find, I stop winding the skein right there and start over. Since my yarn usually comes in 1/2 lb cones (2 skeins), that means a lot of short skeins.

This new development (short skeins) can help those who need just a bit more yarn (I figure for heels/toes/possible rib at top of cuff) to make a pair, without forcing them to buy a second full skein. The possibility of a mini skein also invites stripe options, minisox, baby slippers, you name it.

So… keep going when the link at the bottom of a page says “Next,” and you will see the short skeins. Assuming you go there to peek at my new lovelies, that is.

Well, it’s time to show off a ColorJoy Stole that Esther made. Esther is in my life in many ways. She’s a friend of my Mom, she was a computer student of mine at Foster Center, and then a knitting student at Threadbear. Just look at her! Didn’t she pick the perfect color scheme for herself? She just glows.

In other news, I’m teaching knitting to a young woman, in private lessons. She started with me in January, the lessons an inspired gift from her mom who also knits. Mom thought she’d enjoy it. Mom was right.

My student is taking to knitting very well. I inadvertently gave her permission to make things up on the needles (while talking about how I was creating something, if I remember right), and a week later she had a headband finished. It didn’t take much permission to get her going, even though she is a very new knitter.

And now, she has recently started a knitting blog called Officially a Knitter. Go grrl!

Right now she’s discussing her two current projects, a diagonal-knit blanket for herself (on the order of a dishcloth but in variegated sweater yarn) and a pair of wristwarmers/handwarmers (my basic design, the garter-stitch ones, in Lamb’s Pride Worsted weight). I think the wristwarmers sound like they are nearly done, she probably will be wearing them shortly! And it’s a good thing, because her hands are often colder than mine, and that’s saying something!!! She is also planning at least one more project that I’m aware of, so she surely is one of us! Anyone with multiple projects going so they don’t need to wait for the teacher, is a real knitter indeed.

I also got an email today from one of my friends at the Bloomiefest. She bought my Handwarmer/Wristwarmer pattern and has already jumped in and started a pair. I am eager to see what they will look like, as she told me she has a plan for blending a whole bunch of oddments of leftover but related yarns in her warmers. I bet they will be great!

Happy me. I love it when I can inspire others to do wonderful work. They do the work… yet I get to be the fan club, the cheerleader, and if I’m lucky, the muse. It makes me very happy.

It was great fun! Just the same, I’m ready to be back and get a little sleep for a while now.

I did sell a lot of my work, which pleased me. I sold out of my wristwarmer pattern, and Bubbielove has already emailed to say she has cast on and started her first pair.

Since I made a “Make your own sock kit” special, I sold a bunch of Barberpole Socks patterns and a small handful of the Toe-Up Turkish Sox patterns. I was surprised that I sold all but 2 skeins of the solid yarns I dyed at the last minute, I’m very glad I did that, as it worked well for those interested in sock kits. The long hours with little sleep, in preparation, were worth it!

Thanks to everyone who purchased my merchandise, you really made it worthwhile. (For those who were not there, I’m taking the remaining yarns to Knitting Guild on Tuesday night this week, and what remains after that will go on my yarn sales web page as soon as I can get photos edited.)

I saw friends I met last year, and met people in person I’d only met online previously. I knit and knit and knit, and taught and taught. I finished some bulky Lamb’s Pride slipper footies, my 109th pair of socks thus far, almost finished my dressy (prom) wrap for displaying at Threadbear, knit a lot on my handpainted Opal toe up socks that I started in January but haven’t touched in maybe a month. I finished a zillion ends on pieces for a striped child’s sweater (I made it on the knitting machine a year ago, and Anne’s baby is going to grow too big for it if I don’t finish it soon).

I taught afterthought heels to a small group and I showed the non-figure-eight wrapped toe up method to one person individually. I taught a woman, Vernita, who stopped by to ask what we were doing, how to knit. She was with the group across the hall but was very excited to pick this up. She learned a cast on, knit stitch and bind off. She’s from Chicago so I encouraged her to find a yarn shop that feels like home and hang out there. I hope she does. She sure was smiling ear to ear after learning a bit, and she even stopped by the next day to say hello and emphasize how much she enjoyed knitting with us. How cool was that???

And on Sunday, we did Kool-Aid Dyeing. Actually, we did “flavored drink mix” dyeing because we used several brand names. In fact, Anne (who lives in Canada) brought us some Canadian red and purple colors since those dyes are different than those available in the USA.

Photos: 1) Group in conference room during a quiet time (from left to right, Sue C., Kathy from Cleveland, hiding behind Kathy is Anita…totally hidden, Karen, Cathy, Chappy, Fran… and yes, five out of six are wearing sequin “tiaras” which were the unofficial dress code of the weekend… got us a few odd looks and we didn’t mind at all), 2) Auction in action (seated are Fran, Bubbielove, Yarnfairy, Yvonne wearing shirt she made; and standing in back is D2 the auctioneer), 3) View of room with the two other booths…Sherry’s scented lovelies and Toni’s The Fold booth (at left should be Kimberly although that photo doesn’t look like her, then seated are Diane, Faith, Sherry of the lotions/soaps, and facing away with glass of water I believe is Rachel… standing in back is Sue),

4) Kathy from Cleveland wearing her Entrelac vest from Noro Yarn, with her entrelac socks from Lorna’s Laces yarn, 5) My new friend Vernita learning to knit (this woman has the best smile I’ve seen in a long time, she was very happy to learn knitting), 6) Group of us with finished dyed yarns (left to right is Faith not looking exactly like herself but wearing a cool Harley flames shirt I think she made, me, Diane, and Karen).

Well, I’ve been dyeing, skeining, labeling, pricing, you name it. I haven’t even thought about packing clothes, silly me!

But now the merchandise is ready and it’s time to grab some clothes and some food pile things into the car, and get on the road. I will probably get home very late Sunday. I’m not sure if I’ll be posting while I’m gone, or not.

Bloomiefest is a casual fiber retreat, no absolute schedules but everyone shows everyone else what they know how to do. I’ve promised to cover toe-up socks and Kool-Aid dyeing. Some folks are going to an alpaca farm on Saturday, and taking a field trip to a local yarn shop on Sunday.

The event is Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday, at Jumer’s Chateau, in Bloomington/Normal Illinois (I understand the Chateau is right on the border between the twin cities). Day-visitors are encouraged, so feel free to stop by if you are in the area.

I hope you all have a wonderful and warm weekend. I’m sure I will.

Photos: 1) Skeins ready for labels, and pile of patterns ready to go, on kitchen table. 2) Drying rack with mostly solid contrast yarns, resting and drying while I skeined the multicolored yarns.

My friend Regina, who first introduced me to the Working Women Artists guild (and who also is a regular reader of this blog), just won a special award. Here’s what I just read:

Regina Fry was honored on Sunday with the Zimmerman Purchase Award for her figure painting, which will become part of the permanent art collection for public display at Lansing Community College. The painting is included in the current LCC show at the Lansing Art Gallery, 113 S. Washington Square, through March.

You go, Grrrl!!!

Regina is a very, very talented artist. When I met her, she mostly did oil paintings. I remember mostly portraits, and they were pretty dark. Very well executed, excellent paintings, better than most people are capable of painting.

But: this grrl never stops learning, she takes art classes all over town, often from LCC or from Margaret Meade-Turnbull (a local artist who does the most luminescent watercolors of female models that I’ve ever seen).

Regina just keeps expanding into new artistic realms, all with a quality many of us can never achieve. She got an award for some printmaking work of hers a few years back. She now does sculpture as well, and I think she got an award for that, too. And even her paintings look really different than when I first met her, she has added a lot of light to the mix. She is growing and learning and stretching in many ways as an artist. It’s very impressive.

Mind you, she’s a very quiet and humble person. It is no surprise that I heard this through the grapevine rather than from Regina herself. She is one of those folks, that when she speaks, you should listen. She doesn’t waste words.

Yet on the other hand, Regina is very passionate about life and art. If you want to know about any art museum/gallery within reasonable traveling distance from Lansing, she knows all about it. She can tell you who is exhibiting there this year and where to stay near the museum if you want to do a frugal trip.

Congratulations, Regina.

It appears that I have seven test-knitters. Thanks to everyone! Right now it looks like Luann, Cyndy, Melissa, Rachel, Julia, Selena and Chris will be helping me out. Lucky me!

The good news is that the yarn I’m dyeing is looking lovely. I’m sure that what’s left after Bloomiefest will include many wonderful colorways that the testers will enjoy knitting. Now, back to the dyepot.

Well, I estimate I dyed about six pounds of yarn on Tuesday. In addition, I packaged up my ColorJoy Stole Kits so that they can be displayed properly in a booth. I also printed out what seems like a zillion patterns and put them in their sleeves.

I did have to go out once, to practice a short while with Habibi Dancers at Foster Center. When I was out, I ran to Staples because I had run out of paper, turquoise toner and page protectors. Nothing like not having the basics! Fortunately, Staples is only maybe four blocks from Foster Center so it was really convenient to go there.

I finished my proofing copy of the Fast Florida Footies in 8 sizes, and sent it to 4 test knitters. I figure I’ll get a few more stragglers as I go along. If not, I’ll probably test knit the rest of the sizes myself. That would delay the release of the pattern, and I have some samples for shops I really need to finish, so I’m still crossing fingers for three more testers.

I have about a dozen skeins of yarn drying and about two dozen still wrapped in towels after steaming (that basement studio is so cold right now, the yarn wouldn’t stay warm long enough to set properly without “blankets” to keep it warm). Tomorrow I rinse and spin the slowly-cooling yarns, and no doubt start another batch. One day at a time, one hour at a time, sometimes one minute at a time, things happen.

I’m tired, and I’m going to sleep now. It’s officially Wednesday already but I’m stealing from Wednesday to make Tuesday long. Time to end that!!!

Photo here is a wooden catamaran on the beach at Mombasa, Kenya. It looks like a postcard, doesn’t it?

Thanks to Luann, Cyndy, Melissa and Rachel, I have four of my 7 knitters lined up. I still have one infant size (wouldn’t take long to knit up and then you’d have my pattern from which to knit other sizes later), one child’s size (10-11 US, foot circumference 6.75″) and Ladies’ Large (10-11 US foot, measuring 9.25″ circumference).

Remember, it’s a footie and it’s in fat/DK yarn. Therefore, even one large footie (56 stitches around) shouldn’t take too long. The rolled cuff (leg) is only 9 rounds!

Thanks to those who already offered, you really made my day! And even if you can’t help out this time (or would rather not), I appreciate all of you who come by and visit.

Hello, friends. (OK, I lied, I am actually posting fibery text on a day I swore I would not. Please tune in to see why I broke my vow…)

I am preparing for Bloomiefest and printing out patterns both for that event and my yarn shops. I have had three different shops request to purchase my Mom’s Fast Florida Footies Pattern, which they know is already available free on the Internet.

Since the one on the Internet is only in an extra small ladies’ size (My Mom has little feet), I figure if I make up the pattern with specific stitch counts for several sizes, and purchasers get a nice, printed out copy with a page protector, then it would be a value-added situation to purchase a pattern that can also be found for free. My yarn shops seem to think so, at any rate.

So…. I am wishing for seven test knitters (I am working up 8 sizes but one has already been tested). I would love to have one tester for each size.

Mind you, I need you to REALLY test, check every single number I put in there and make sure it’s right. For this sort of thing, I can not have folks who can figure things out easily, and therefore don’t check the text. You only have to knit one sock, and you don’t have to make it in Cascade Fixation, but you do have to use the number of stitches I assign to you. I have sizes from infant size 0/1 to Ladies’ size L. You get to keep the test sock, but I need a good, clear digital photo or scan of it (blocked). If you don’t have a way to get me a digital image, you can send me your sock and I’ll return it with your reward.

Not only that, I am imposing a deadline. OK, I can knit a pair of the footies in size XS, in one day of focused knitting. But I know most of you have real lives besides knitting for me. Nevertheless, I need to have a photograph/scan from you by a week from today, Tuesday, March 15.

What I am offering in exchange is a skein of LynnH ColorSport handpainted yarn, in your choice of whatever colorways I should have left after I return from Bloomiefest… plus one LynnH Pattern of your choice. I know this is not much, considering how long it takes to knit by hand. However, it’s what I’ve got to offer, today.

If you like, I’ll put up a photo of your sample sock (with or without your face in the photo) and tell the world who you are, thanking you publicly for your work. Maybe you can consider 15 minutes of fame as part of your payment?

I’m not sure how much email I’ll be checking on Fri/Sat/Sun this week because of my road trip, but I’ll get back to folks as fast as I can, until I have all sizes spoken for. I’m hoping I can have folks assigned before I go to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois on Friday morning, but that may be over-optimistic.

I know this is pretty bold. After all, I’ve been writing this blog for over 2 years and I have always averaged not even one comment per day, even when I had comments turned on. However, my stats say that my LynnH.com/ColorJoy.com site gets 1,400 unique page views a day, on average. So there must be seven folks out there reading this, who would like 15 minutes of fame, some yarn and a pattern, in exchange for knitting a single footie sock with extra-vigilant eyes??? I sure hope so.

Write me at Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com, if you are interested.

I have a lot of work to do today, and the computer is very distracting. I’ll be turning off the computer as much as humanly possible Tuesday so I can do hands-on fiber stuff, preparing for Bloomiefest.

Send good vibes my way, I’m already pretty tired and do not “feel like” doing what must be done. Thank goodness I am fairly good at pushing forward when I’m not in the mood to do so. I probably don’t go at my full speed in that situation, but I do keep on pushing forward.

I already have a lot of yarn made up into skeins to soak and then dye, and so that will start first thing in the morning. While the first batch soaks, I’ll make up my ColorJoy Stole Kits into pretty packages, and print patterns until I run out of toner (probably literally, since we’re low on turquoise).

While I’m gone, here’s a photo from Africa. I took it at the resort in Mombasa, Kenya (just south of the equator on the Indian Ocean). This is the view from the outdoor seating area of the restaurant, looking up toward the second story piano bar. In Kenya, every plant/flower seems to grow like a weed, and these flowers were no exception. Plants seem totally happy in that environment. Isn’t it artful?

Oh, My! I had such a fun time on Sunday, teaching Handwarmers/Wristwarmers at Little Red Schoolhouse. I love teaching more than anything else in the world, and we had such a good time!

I had just two students, so it was small and cozy, and they were the absolute right two people to be together. Bonnie did a soft worsted-weight yarn, multi-ply soft merino yarn in cream and soft blues (each ply a different color) that suited her perfectly. Christie used Noro Silk Garden in earthy tones, also a worsted weight (but single-ply) yarn. It was fascinating to see them make the same item, in the same gauge, even the same number of stitches, but have such different results.

Both ladies chose to make the ribbed version, in the round on Double Pointed Needles (DPNs). Bonnie had already made socks before, so she had used DPNs but she tried out a few different types and ended up with short birch Brittany, as did Christie (who had never knit in the round before).

Christie had taught herself to knit as a teen, but had never had a knitting class. Now, she makes a living using a sewing machine and embroidery machines (she has been a tailor/dressmaker for years and now does classes/demos of computerized embroidery sewing machines for Country Stitches). She is really good with her hands, to say the least, and her mind can really understand things once she has a little demo. So she took to the DPNs like a fish to water, learning how to identify and repair her mistakes as she went along.

They both learned how to pick up dropped stitches with a crochet hook, which was a big hit since both of them dropped at least one stitch each. We learned so many things besides just how to make a handwarmer! And we had a wonderful time. A wonderful time! Thanks to Bonnie and Christie for making my weekend so fine!

After class, I first did some grocery shopping (oh, my, can you spend a lot of money on food at Meijer if you have felt hungry for two days due to empty cupboards at home). Then I went home to put all that food away, and rather than cooking any of it, I called Tony. (Brian was playing banjo with his friend Dorsey and I realized I hadn’t seen Tony in so long I’d love his company for dinner.) We went to Taj, a local Indian restaurant, and had a WONDERFUL vegetarian meal. We really enjoyed that. How does the song go? “Food, glorious food…”

I’m in frantic-production mode here, trying to prepare for some upcoming classes *and* dye yarn for Bloomiefest which starts this coming Friday. After I had dinner with Tony, I finished my prototype tea cosy for the class I have scheduled at Threadbear on March 23 and 30. It will be tweaked a bit in the writing of the pattern, but I’m generally more than pleased with the result thus far. It fits my largest teapot that holds 6-8 cups, and it fits a smaller pot that holds 4-6 cups as well, but it looks very different on the different sized pots. I am thinking about perhaps two different sizes in the final pattern, we’ll see.

Off to make a living, as Brian says. I’m creating a publicity brochure for a computer student who has a business. Then I teach computer classes in Haslett until 8pm. No doubt I’ll be winding yarns when I get home again tonight.

Photos: 1) Christie’s wristwarmer in Silk Garden. Not bad for a first-time DPN user, huh? 2) Prototype tea cosy in large pot I bought in Montreal a few years ago.

Well, one more time my students have made my day! Linda took my Heritage Heirloom Sox class at Heritage Spinning in January. She says:

My mom and I have our socks done from class, and finally got together to take the shots! They came out really cute and we are getting ready to play around with the pattern for a new pair.

Wowie! These ladies took the pattern and made it their own. Notice that Linda’s version has a different color for heel and toe, a nice touch. (I’m pretty bummed, because I am going blank on Mom’s name… I remember she had a name the same as someone important in my life but I just can’t remember right now.)

Mom (Diane) added an extra geometric band of squares at the bottom of the cuff. She also created a double-colored stripe at the toe. That extra stripe is really wonderful.

I just love how creative knitters are. They almost always refuse to call themselves artists, and it baffles me. When I worked with rooms full of polymer clay artists, they kept asking me exactly what green they should use, and they did their best to duplicate my project as I had designed it. I wonder if they were afraid to do things “wrong” or if they really thought they were not capable of doing a beautiful version of my concept in a different way?

Knitters instinctively change at least the color of their project, very often. And since yarns are not available universally (or they get discontinued), knitters have to learn to substitute yarns often enough that they learn they can change things.

And then when people keep going with their creativity, when they add two stripes at the toe for example, well… that makes it even more art. So why are we not calling ourselves artists more often? I don’t get it.

Ladies, you did a fabulous job! Keep up the excellent work, and please stay in touch.

Photos: 1) Linda and mom Diane, modeling their new creations. 2) My version of the sock as pictured on the pattern these ladies used. 3) Same ladies, same socks, up close.

Friday worked out very well considering I had to set my alarm clock before 8am! When I knocked on the door at the home where the workshop was being held, the person who answered the door was Beth Brown-Reinsel herself. What a kind soul she is. I was very happy to be in an environment where the lead was from someone as grounded and gentle, yet passionate, as Beth. She is so knowledgeable and so humble. It was a wonderful experience.

   Beth has been a champion of traditional knitting forms for a long time. She has taken two trips to Scandinavia, studying their folk knitting, and is planning a trip to Estonia as well. She clearly has a great love for these knitted artforms, as do I. I enjoyed the brief moments I had where I could talk with her. There were so many folks there that I didn’t want to wear out my welcome by chatting long, as I would have loved to do.

The mitten design we knit together is very much like the one that my Great-Aunt Ingeborg knit for me when I was a child. (Or is that Great-Great Aunt? I’m not sure what her relationship to me was.) She knit hers in navy and cream wool, a very traditional Norwegian color scheme. I seem to remember she made my mittens in a finer wool, the mittens did not seem bulky to me as a child.

The mitten I made yesterday was worsted weight feltable wool. The main color was dark purple (nearly eggplant) by Babbajoes, and contrast was a pale almost-white four-ply where two plies are a light natural heathered grey and two plies are a very light cream (it’s Cascade 220, maybe what they call Quattro but I’m not sure). It turned out very nicely, with a bit of depth and yet you can still read the two-color patterning. Honestly, I was just knitting from whatever yarn I had in the stash, but it turned out very well.

I knit two-color stranded knitting pretty loosely, and I have a smallish hand. The pattern we followed in class was a one-size pattern, and even though I chose the smaller size needle option, my mitten turned out about the size Brian would need. it is abut an inch too long in the hand, 3/4″ too long in the thumb for me to wear. The gauge is certainly dense enough for worsted-weight yarn, and Brian noticed how warm these would be because of the double-thick stranded knitting. I am not sure if I’ll make another so he can wear them, or just keep this single one for posterity. Maybe some year I’ll make myself a pair out of sportweight yarn. That is, when I can finally knit for myself without planning to teach a class about the thing I’m knitting.

It took a full day of sitting and knitting by staring at a chart, to make one mitten. I don’t know when I could put aside two days to make a pair of mittens for myself, considering that I wouldn’t wear them much and that I couldn’t make them into a class somehow.

This is the nature of being a knitting professional. You can knit a lot of the time, but you have to keep in mind whether it would be something that would serve the business or not. Things that are truly for self, need to wait for days off… and sometimes days off can be far apart. I notice when I say I have a “day off,” it means I didn’t schedule any classes. It doesn’t seem to mean I don’t work at my business. Days off, instead of being a teacher, I’m a secretary/bookkeeper/publicist. It could be much worse, trust me.

This life is still much better than waking up at 6am to drive in the snow to a factory in Detroit, to teach a roomfull of folks how to use Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, Excel or Access. That is what I did for 6 years. It was interesting work but I did not enjoy the schedule. Therefore, I’m not complaining very loud… but I do wonder if I’ll ever wear a pair of these Norwegian mittens!

Oh, a very cool thing I learned in class… I learned how to do stranded two-color knitting holding both colors of yarn in the left hand. I usually knit continental style, and I knew that in Norway they hold both colors in the left hand to do stranded colorwork. However, I tried it once and the yarn got really tangled. I gave up that plan and started holding one yarn in the left hand and one in the right (I had learned to knit as a child, holding my yarn in my right hand, so I already knew how to knit with either hand). Well, it turns out that there is a trick where the two colors feed through different sides of the middle finger of your left hand, and it keeps them from getting tangled. It was wonderful! I did the whole mitten with this technique and it sure was faster than throwing half my stitches with my right hand, at least for me. Loved it!

It was worth the whole thing, just to sit in that room with all those folks who also love knitting as I do, and who understand this passion for all things knitted, particularly knitted folk artforms. I had a wonderful time.

Photos: 1) Beth talking to participants in the workshop, 2&3) my mitten, palm and back of hand, 4) Margaret and Sharon, talking and sharing during a slow moment, 5) Beth’s Mittens, one of many pairs she brought with her.