Summertime

Aaah. Today it finally felt like summer. It was a full day, but a gentle day. I started with my modern dance class, followed by a performance at a 100th birthday party with two other Habibis.

You know, things like this don’t get me nervous any more. I love this sort of performance. I do get some adrenaline rush just from the need to stay on top of my dancing itself, but stage fright is not part of the process any longer. I’m grateful for having had so many opportunities to perform (be they music, theatre or dance) in my life, that I can put those days behind me. Don’t get me wrong, I still make mistakes. They just don’t immobilize me… and the prospect of the next one doesn’t keep me from going back on stage. I need to be on stage much more than I need to be perfect, I guess.

100th Birthday Party Show

We danced for a gentleman who, although in a wheelchair, was 100 years spry and chipper. In fact partway through one dance, he exclaimed “yeah!” out loud. That is the right kind of audience, you know? His party was a very fine event indeed, with friends and family and folks who live in the same building as he does joining in the fun.

I got the loveliest compliment after the show. Mrs. Anderson, who regularly comes to our Aladdin’s performances, is also a dancer. She told me today that I always look like I’m happy to be dancing. What a fine thing to hear! I’m delighted. After all, it is about entertaining. And isn’t it comfortable to watch a performer who looks happy? I hope so, I think so.

More City Gardening
After the performance, I had time to run a few errands. I picked up a tomato plant for my back landing. I did that last year for the first time. Tomato plants are so pretty in a city garden! I have room for only one large bush. This one already has a handful of tomatoes growing and several bunches of flowers blooming. I look forward to a good year in tomato growing!

I then looked around at quite a few places for a large ceramic pot to put it in. I just do not like those plastic lightweight pots. But boy! Some of the pots big enough for what I wanted were pricey! I found them priced anywhere between $30 to $100 at most of the places I looked.

Fortunately, I was at the Frandor Shopping Center. After checking out JoAnn Fabric Superstore (which has a lot of beautiful pots 50% off but those still ended up higher than I wanted to pay), and World Market, and Michaels, I walked past Kroger grocery and they had a little outdoor gardening area. I found a 14″ pot glazed blue for $9.99. You gotta love that!

I collected some food for dinner and headed home. Because it is my beloved Brian’s birthday today!

My Man’s Birthday, Too!

I did finish one full ball of yarn on the first sock for Brian yesterday. If he wanted a shortish sock leg it could be done now. However, he’d really like the thicker socks to have a higher leg since he’d wear them most in cooler weather. I need to go visit the boyz at Threadbear again soon and collect one more ball. Meanwhile, I started the toe of the second sock (these are toe-up with afterthought heel, my current favorite structure).

I made a stir fry for Brian’s birthday dinner. Red and yellow bell peppers, onions, and seitan (a Japanese vegetarian protein source that is remarkably close to the texture of meat). Flavored with tandoori spice (as in that red-colored chicken found at so many Indian restaurants) and orange juice. It was pretty good, though I should have been a little more daring with the seasoning… it was a bit mild.

Birthday Pie
Then I went back out in the garden and picked some rhubarb for Brian’s birthday “pie.” It’s really rhubarb crisp, a fruit dessert with oatmeal crumbly topping. Rhubarb, for those not in areas that grow it, is a plant that has huge leaves and stalks that look a little like red celery but without the strings. The leaves are poisonous. However, if you cut the stalks into small bits and add LOTS of sugar (it’s powerfully tart stuff) and other ingredients, you get a tart dessert. One that folks either adore or despise.

There seems no in-between opinion on rhubarb. I think it tastes closest to cranberries/lingonberries or very tart lemon. We love it at our house. Mom loves it, too. She grows rhubarb plants in the beds around her house instead of small bushes. It’s quite decorative, and tasty!!! I could eat rhubarb every week, but it’s good I don’t like to bake that often or I’d look a lot plumper in my dance costumes!!!

More to Come

I do want to tell you about Brian’s socks but I’m going to put that off for another day. And soon enough, you will get more photos than you asked for, of my plants. Today you get photos of our birthday party performance.

1)Me as Eudora in front, Yasmina Amal (my teacher and our Troupe Director) behind me. 2)Maya playing finger cymbals. 3)Eudora again, showing off the new Egyptian dress. 4)Yasmina Amal at her glowing best. Isn’t she beautiful?

Knitting Ho-Hums
I taught Basketweave Rugs at Threadbear on Sunday. That meant I got to be in the middle of a hub of a whole lot of knitters during a big sale. Add the fact that this is a holiday weekend, where folks just came to the shop to knit for entertainment, and it was a rollicking good time. I met one woman from Arizona, and one from Cincinnatti, Ohio, and one from Muskegon, MI which is a hike even though in this state. On a holiday, people will travel for yarn!

I got talking to Sarah Peasley and another local knitter whose name escapes me now. We all three had found ourselves on Saturday night, bored of our current knitting projects. Now, it is my experience that knitters do not generally get bored. We may flit from one passion to the other, we may be undecided which passion to pursue today, but bored is not a commonly used word in our lives.

Yet all three of us sitting there agreed that on Saturday night, we surveyed the possible knitting projects, noted that nothing sounded particularly good, and considered just going to bed early. We were actually bored. We figured maybe it was the way the planets were aligned or something… it was just too odd for it to happen just that way without some reason!

What I ended up doing Saturday, was that I pulled out a wrap I started when it was still snowing. I was trying to knit spring into existance! The wrap is mostly spring green with some turquoise and blue. I’m making it just for me, without a pattern in mind, just randomly knitting 5 yarns as I go. It is about 100 stitches or so, knit the long way, and I maybe did 5 rows before I fell asleep a bit early.

A Race to the Finish
However, Sunday brought new purpose. I knew this was coming… Brian’s birthday is Tuesday. Now, I could have started him a pair of socks on Saturday night. But I wanted to make his sox in sportweight yarn and I only had purple or turquoise or purple jacquard in sportweight.

I knew I’d be at Threadbear, that they were having a 20% off everything sale, and that I’d been itching to knit again with some wonderful washable sport/DK weight yarn I’d knit with on the airplane on my trip to Ethiopia. (Yes, on the airplane. On bamboo 6″ size 1US needles given to me by my friend Luann, just for the trip. I finished the whole pair on the one long plane ride.) It knit fast the first try… I figured the yarn was fat enough for me to speed-knit Brian a pair this weekend.

This would have worked if I had done nothing but knit from the time I left Threadbear until Brian’s birthday. As it is, I’m very close to finishing the first sock. But Tuesday I have a dance class at Happendance. Immediately after that I have a mini-rehearsal followed by a performance with two other Habibi Dancers, for a 100th birthday party. We should get out of there about 4pm.

That pretty much guarantees that I won’t finish a whole pair by Brian’s birthday dinner. Thank goodness, he’s not much for expectations. He won’t expect any present at all, and if I show him the one finished sock, he’ll be very happy to wait a few days until I can complete the second. I did, indeed, marry the right guy!

Confessions
I did buy yarn at the Threadbear sale. There is some Colinette handpainted wool ribbon called Tagliatelli which I adore. It’s intense turquoise with bits of purple and green (Colorway: Neptune). It’s “Squooshy” which I know is not an official English word, but that word says it all. I just love everything about this yarn!

I have been visiting it every single time I went to Threadbear, for months. I pick it up, hug it, then put it back on the shelf. Sometimes I take it to a friend in the store so I can share my delight in its perfection, before I put it back. The stuff is just too darned pricey for an impulse purchase. I hear that Colinette is not expensive in Australia and the UK, but the import fees make it pretty much out of reach for this self-employed grrl in the USA.

To justify buying this lovely stuff, first I had to figure out what the heck would be a good thing to make with it… especially since two skeins was really at the upper reaches of my yarn budget. I finally realized that a tight-fitting shrug, basically two sleeves connected at the back, for dancing, was a perfect answer. I have a cheap, purchased acrylic/nylon shrug I wear a LOT. I dance at least 4 hours a week and most of that time I wear this shrug (dance rooms are nearly always too cold for me). So wearing the wool sleeves instead would be a step up (both in beauty and comfort) and it would not be a frivolous purchase, since I’d wear it a good deal.

Having solved that mystery, I then had to figure out how to justify the purchase. Usually I buy yarn that is for work projects, this or that sock I’m designing or this or that class I’m teaching. Right now I don’t see a shrug pattern in my future, though stranger things have happened.

I fantasized about a gift certificate in my future, but my birthday is in November. Ugh. And let’s face it, summer is a slow time for knitting teachers. I’m probably not heading into a new prosperity in the next month or two.

But then the boyz of Threadbear throw a 20% off sale at me. And Colinette almost never, ever goes on sale. Jump now, or regret later. The boyz make it hard on me sometimes… though they really do treat me as though they love me, so I can not complain too much.

In the end, I bought on sale two skeins of Lana Grossa Merino 2000 Cool Wool (unshrinkable merino, gorgeous stuff) in loden green for Brian’s socks (a pre-planned purchase I would have made with or without a sale), and two skeins of my beloved Tagliatelli. Ouch! Thank goodness I earned some money teaching there the same day, so the total seemed do-able. I can’t do this every day, but I will really love working with these yarns, and wearing my shrug when it’s done.

Memorial Day Turned Sunny
For the record, Monday turned out beautiful here. It was supposed to rain but it did not. I slept in a little, went with Brian to the neighborhood diner where he had breakfast and I had tea and knit his sock.

Then we came home and had a lazy day (I even took a nap) until dinnertime. We drove to the Grass Garden at MSU, then the Perennial Garden and the Annual Garden (those are right next to one another), then we walked into East Lansing (parked on campus) and found that an Indian restaurant was open.

We enjoyed our meals… his was spicy eggplant and chai tea, mine was medium okra and black tea. While we ate, we watched clips from movies all by the same very good looking actor/singer (who sings in Hindi language).

Indian musicals are amazing! Some of the scenes had easily 75 people all dancing at once. I found the dancing styles very fascinating… saw some Michael-Jacksonesque moves (especially arm gestures, lots of them) and some moves (head slides, shoulder moves, gentle hand movements) that reminded me of things we do in Mideastern dance… And the costumes! Indian women just have the best clothing (for making a woman look beautiful) of all women in the world, in my opinion.

We went home and sat on the porch till the sun went down. Brian worked on a website on his laptop and I did some spinning. I am still working on some electric purple mohair roving I bought at Michigan Fiber Fest last year. I seem to spin forever and the “bump” of mohair stays big. The bobbin is almost full, so I probably spun about a half a large bobbin today. It felt like I spun forever and got little done. It was very relaxing, though.

Tomorrow I’ll probably post some garden photos and perhaps the story of how I “designed” Brian’s socks. Until then, have a wonderful evening!

Saturday I had my big “dirt day” of the year. My hands were black and my fingernails were packed with soil. I know others enjoy that process, but for me it’s just something I have to force myself through.

Fortunately, it takes less than 2 hours to plant the 5 containers I have worked myself up to over the years. (I started by buying 2 geranium plants, already potted, for each side of my front stairs. That was about 10 years and one house ago.) I actually also plan to plant some food: lettuce seeds and dill seeds, parsley if I can find some, and maybe one bush tomato in a container. However, that will wait for one more, less messy day.

This year I have two pots at our most-used entrance at the side/back of the house, with geraniums, petunias, a few foliage plants and a cream pansy or something (that one is new to me). I have two pots at the front of the house, with three colors of impatiens, some purple flowers I still can’t remember the name of, a big spiky plant and a two-color vine.

Then my newest addition to the yard (started last year) is a larger pot at the other front corner of the house, with a geranium and petunias, a spike plant and a vine. We’ll see how that goes, it’s in an area that gets different amounts of sun during different parts of the year, but I’ve found that geraniums forgive me when things are imperfect.

The picture here is a pot I planted (back entrance) last year. I’ll show you this year’s pots when they recover from the shock of repotting.

We had a lot of fun Friday with Wally Pleasant at the Harmonium House Concert in Charlotte. Of course, it was a holiday weekend so folks had many things they could do that night, but we literally filled the space by the end of the concert, with folks filtering in a little at a time as they finished with other obligations.

Folks keep asking what a house concert is. It’s literally a concert in someone’s home. This is our second one so far. We also did the Music in the Pines concert in Haslett, last September. The concerts allow a casual atmosphere where musicians can keep more of the profit (unlike most commercial venues) and thus can afford to have a smaller and more intimate show. It works well for us, since we’re just two folks who don’t need much amplification. Bands with a drum set don’t do well at house concerts!

Therefore, it was an intimate space (we estimated capacity at 40 seats). The seating was more dense than at the restaurant, with no tables and all chairs (and comfy couches in the back row, where most early concertgoers preferred to sit).

I was delighted to see some folks I knew, but who had not made it to our concerts before. Since Wally also performed, there were also a good number of folks we had not met before and that made it extra fun.

Mom came with her friend Fai. My friend Donna (who I dance with) brought 3 friends. Then some women I know from Working Women Artists and my church came. That was an extra-special surprise. Some of our regulars could not come, so we had a new mix but that made it fresh and exciting.

Bless her, my dear friend Donna did her best to take photos with my camera, but unknown to us the camera was on a last gasp with its batteries. She is always willing to be my photographer, and I am truly grateful.

Photos earlier in the show turned out best. She got this nice photo of Wally on guitar and Alisa on viola before things got shaky. The photo of Brian and I did shape up enough to post once I went over it with PhotoShop. And I just had to include this last shot, it’s so artsy… showing the space early in the set, before all the seats were filled. Love the pizza boxes and the tiki lights for a true sense of the environment. That photo looked nearly black except for one corner, until I did heavy levels adjustment in PhotoShop. I think it turned out pretty fun in the end!

We had a wonderful time. Thanks, Wally, for inviting us!

Thursday was wonderful. I started my day with my friend Altu. We sat together for an hour or two, outside in the rare sunshine (it lasted only a few hours but we had great timing), at a table at the Beaners Cafe’ in Okemos. We talked and laughed and listened and sipped and talked again. We have not had nearly enough time together since we got back from Africa. It was wonderful to have that time together again.

After that, I delivered some patterns and samples to Rae’s Yarn Boutique near Frandor. This is the first she has carried my patterns, and I’m delighted. I have scheduled a few day classes at her shop this summer and we are hoping they will go well. It is literally a bicycle ride away from my house… not all of 4 miles from home and only about 6 blocks from Foster Center, where I spend two afternoons a week. I owned a house in that neighborhood for 5 years. It’s my home territory. (As Brian would say, it is my stomping grounds.)

I also had CityKidz Knit!, followed by a computer lab. Such fun. The kids are getting creative. One boy started a pouch for his game boy. A girl started a set of wristwarmers yesterday and since she has super bulky yarn and size 15 needles, she is making good progress with not much time invested. One of my regular girls figured out that a cotton garter-stitch swatch that came in some yarn donated yesterday by the famous and generous Sarah Peasley, would make a wonderful washcloth (if small). She worked the ends in and took it home knitted as is! She’s got the fanciest, nicest, handmade washcloth I’ve ever seen.

Between Altu and Foster Center, I ran to Lansing Gardens and bought a whole lot of lovely flowers for my gardens. I do not enjoy digging in dirt at all, but I absolutely love having flowers in my yard. I water plants happily, and I don’t mind picking off the wilted flower blossoms, but I just don’t like the feel of any stuff stuck to my hands. Especially gritty stuff!

Once a year I dive in, and then I get all that dirt stuff over with in one fell swoop. Then I enjoy the watering ritual for a few months. Later in the year, the sun goes down before I get home (this would be around August) and the gardens had better be full of well-established plants by then, plants that can take a little ignoring. I get home after 9pm at least 3 times a week, and so just as the weather gets hotter, I am less able to do my watering routine.

I have found that geraniums do well in full sun on the west side, even with my personal style of “water early in the season, then ignore later.” I also found last year that petunias worked well in that environment. On the shady east side of the house, I have done very well with impatiens and I always give a try for some tiny dark purple flowers whose names escape me right now. They don’t like being ignored but in the shade they do well through the end of July anyway.

Every year I try at least one new thing in the garden. Last year I tried carrots, and they did not do well at all. I also tried leaf lettuce and one bush tomato which I kept in a decorative pot by our back door, and it was wonderful. This year I bought some multicolored coleus that are supposed to get bushy and tall, and I’ll try them in the back of my hosta garden where a few of the hosta plants didn’t make it from last year.

I love adding color to my yard. Last year I waited to buy my plants, and ended up with orange flowers. This year I found my flamingo-salmon-pink geraniums and three related colors of impatiens. I found some gorgeous velvety-purple petunias, too. I’m very happy with what I found.

Oh, and I got a few seeds. I love dill, and it grows well in my garden by the garage. I can’t seem to find plants anymore so I got seeds and we’ll see how I do there. I also got several packets of leaf lettuce seeds to put in containers on the north side. Last year I wished I’d planted ten times as much lettuce as I’d planted. Well, this year it will be 3 times more.

Last year Ulyana gave me small seedlings of morning glories and they were wonderful by the door, I hope they re-seeded themselves so I can have them again this year.

It is such fun to plan for the beauty of my tiny piece of land. Our lot is about 30 to 35 feet wide (a city bus is 40 ft long), which is just about right for how much time we want to spend on keeping it nice. I spend hours in the spring pulling tree seedlings out of the grass, and Brian is big on digging out the dandelions (we do not use chemicals on the lawn). But we like doing other things with spare time in the summer (like play music on the porch, or nap in the hammock, or get out the spinning wheel on the porch on a nice day).

We both are geeky so we also spend a lot of time indoors (although Brian rides his bike to work on non-rainy days when it’s warm enough). We do not intend to be, as my friends Sue says, slaves to the goddes Flora. This yard is just right, as Goldilocks would say.

Photos: 1)The flowers I got for this year’s garden project. 2)Lansing Gardens, a Lansing institution started in 1920 when Jolly Rd. and Pennsylvania Ave. were waaaay out in the remote edges of the city. Now there is a 7-11 not far away, and a car stereo place, and all sorts of other city things, surrounding their farmland. The place is up for sale so I never know which year will be my last time, buying there. Notice the sky… this is a typical Lansing/Mid-Michigan sky… clouds as far as the eye can see. When sun peeks through even for a few seconds, we really appreciate it.

“Don’t just ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and then go and do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
     – Howard Thurman

This Friday Brian and I (as The Fabulous Heftones) are doing a concert with Wally Pleasant, in Charlotte (just over a half hour southwest of Lansing). It will be a cozy space with a fireplace, another house concert.

Wally will do one set and we will do another. If you do not know Wally’s work yet, it’s a treat. He’s a thoughtful, funny, songsmith/wordsmith. He is a poet as well as a musical performer. He’s also just a fine person to know.

Brian has played for occasional performances as Wally’s backup “band” for years. In fact, on one of Wally’s albums, you can find Brian in the credits for playing cardboard box. My husband may be the only professional cardboard box player I have ever met!

The concert is at 8pm, and the cost is $7 at the door. Since the event is in a private residence I will not post the address here, but please feel free to email me at Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com and I will send you directions and a map. It’s a pleasant drive.

I’d love to have you join us if you are free and in the area that night. Being that it’s the first evening of a long weekend, we know that some of our regular folks will be away from home (there is a Traditional Arts Weekend, for example, that will take away many contradance friends). Please come out and join us for the fun.

Today I had a brief moment while sitting in the car waiting for the light to change… where I was just sure that my life was perfect. I didn’t need to be on the beach in Mexico or Kenya, it was perfect in the middle of 5:00 traffic in Lansing.

I was eating a soy “ice cream” bar and some 70s song by the Eagles was on the radio. The sun was trying to shine through all the cloudcover, the grass was green on the side of the elevated highway, my car was washed and just had been repaired properly, I started my day with dance class, I had no pressing deadlines, I was clear that my husband loves me, and all was well with the world for that moment.

Life is full of small moments, ya know? If you wait for big things, you will just be unhappy. I worry about money most of the time, and my allergies some of the time, but I have nothing to really complain about. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Two women doing crochet like I’ve never seen before:

Renie Breskin Adams (Check out speckled coffeepot and walking houndstooth)
Ming (See the appx. 6 foot tall outdoor fish sculpture)

You must check it out. This stuff is truly creative. Not merely original, because some truly original creations do not please the eye. However, this is originality of the best sort. These are original, creative, and well-designed in many ways. You will not want to miss these.

We had an efficient trip home, with little sleep beforehand. We left Minnesota at 7:30am their time, 8:30am our time. We got home somewhere around 11pm.

Happily, I got a few short naps in the car! I got to knit a little, chat a little, laugh a little. And I’m finally home with my sweetheart. This is the life.

Here is a photo I took of my teacher/dance troupe director, Yasmina Amal. This was at the end of her solo on Saturday. Gorgeous, huh?

Back tomorrow with more photos. For now, I’d have to say that this one photo is more than enough.

Saturday was lovely. We had a good dance seminar during the day, which ended at 3pm.

Then I met Rita, a knitting friend from online, and we went to a lookout/museum which overlooks the former open mines which are now like pretty lakes, full of water (this is iron mine country). After that, we found a locally owned restaurant and chatted over a meal and tea. It was a very good time. Rita drove about an hour one way and she’s really busy right now, so I really appreciated that she took the time to come and see me.

Then at night, we had the dance concert. Our troupe had five numbers… four group numbers and one solo for our teacher, Yasmina Amal. I was in three of the numbers personally. The show went very well indeed, and we all had a wonderful time.

I got pictures at the workshop, from the overlook/museum, a pic of Rita and I together, and some shots of the concert from backstage. I don’t know which will turn out well as illustrations, but we need to wait on that anyway. My camera is locked into someone else’s car right now.

It’s 2am Michigan time, 1am Minnesota time. We are leaving Minnesota around 7:15am tomorrow. I need to go to bed, don’t you think?

We’re on the road for the entire day of Sunday. We took a leisurely trip up, in two days, but we are trying to do the trip home in one very long day. With seven drivers in two cars, we should be able to switch and keep us all fresh even if it’s a long day.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. I’ll catch you when I arrive home.

While I was in Michigami at the gorgeous resort, I finished this pair of socks. That makes 114 pair to date.

This pair is made of Kroy 4, a purchase from Rae’s Yarn Boutique near Frandor Shopping Center. It feels a little thicker than some other yarns I use for socks (Regia, Blauband, Opal and the like), or at least more coarse. I have the impression they will be in my sock drawer a long time before getting holes worn in them. I used size 1 US metal needles, because that is what I happened to have available when I started them.

These were knit toe up using the same technique I use in my Turkish Toe-Up Socks pattern. However, I used an afterthought heel rather than the one used in that pattern. Both heels would be culturally accurate, as both are used in Turkey.

However, I used my favorite rolled sock cuff, and that is pure LynnH. I personally have never seen anything similar in actual socks from Turkey.

These fit me really, really well. I am finding that the socks I make myself in solid colors, I wear a lot more often than those with self-striping yarns. These will get worn a lot, I’m sure.

I’ve been on the road with the Habibi Dancers now for two days. We left Lansing around 9am on Thursday, had lunch right around the Mackinac Bridge (which connects the lower peninsula of Michigan to the upper peninsula), visited a wonderful park in Marquette (a place I really had wanted to see in a previous trip up there) and had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ishpeming.

The day ended with an amazing relaxation at a resort in Michigami (where my friend Marie grew up), on a lake, with lots of beds and a sauna, the whole big deal. It was a great place to stay. When we stay in a hotel, the eight of us have to split two or three hotel rooms between us and there is no really comfortable place to hang out and enjoy one another’s company.

However on Thursday we took turns in the sauna, and about six of us played cards, and a couple of us took turns reading, sewing costume parts (there is always one more bead to add to any costume no matter how long you have had it), and I knit and did a little crochet.

When I’m on the road, I pay for internet service by the minute, so I’ll leave you with two photos. The first is Lake Superior, the coldest lake you ever could imagine. The girls who dipped their toes in it, said their feet went numb. (Once in high school my brother and I had fun splashing in this lake, in our street clothes… it’s a fond memory but I had no desire to go in again.)

The second photo is a view from the back deck of the resort house. The deck is just outside the fully-windowed back wall of the living room. It was pretty fantastic, wouldn’t you say?

I am off. Eight Habibi Dancers are going to Virginia, Minnesota, about 1 hour North of Duluth.

My mom was born about six miles east of Virginia, in a tiny town called Gilbert. When mom was young it was an iron mining town. Her father was the principal of the school, and her mother was the teacher until she married. In those days, married women were not allowed to teach. They did not want children to see a pregnant woman, apparently. Times have sure changed! Grandma finally was allowed to teach again during the labor shortages of World War II.

We perform on Saturday at a college in Virginia. I’m hoping to meet an online knitting friend sometime… but she’s far enough away from where I’ll be, and she’s enough busy, that it may not happen.

While I’m gone I won’t be shipping yarn or patterns, as you might expect. We will be back either very late Sunday or sometime on Monday. A few of us may choose to dawdle on the way home.

While I’m gone, check out my sister in law, Diana’s, new weblog. She is called OtterRomp. She’s a talented quilter, writer, photographer, gardener, cook, you name it. She also loves my brother, Eric. (Me, too.) Check her out!

Well, I didn’t go to the final Knitting Guild event Tuesday night. I just am still holding on to my energy level, and I need to feel better Saturday so I can dance (in Virginia, MN, about an hour north of Duluth).

I hear there was a good time without me at guild. OfficiallyAKnitter wrote her version of the event. As did Handknitter (Sarah). So far no news on Knitknacks but I bet it’s coming.

I just stayed home and rested on the couch and balanced my checkbook. Really. You can tell how bored I am from sitting on the couch for most of a week, right?

But I need all my energy soon. Because eight of the Habibi Dancers (including me) are leaving Thursday morning for Virginia, Minnesota (an hour north of Duluth, and about 20 minutes from where my mother was born, a town called Gilbert). And this weekend I need to dance my heart out for 3 numbers at a concert. And I will get back on Monday.

The nurse I saw yesterday says I’m not contagious and I’m doing all the right things to heal, but it’s a virus. Viruses do whatever they want, they heal slowly, and I need to be good to myself. So I am. If I need to rest this whole trip, at least I’ll be in a car sitting down rather than walking or standing or teaching. Right now I feel more like the end of a cold than a big deal. I’ll be fine.

I’m not sure if I will be able to post while I’m gone. I’m going to pre-post at least one entry for when I’m away, but you may not hear from me again until Monday.

But if you don’t hear from me for a while, it isn’t because I’m sicker. It’s because I’m on vacation! A grrrl party on wheels. Look out, Minnesota!

Photo: Taahira and Eudora (me) at Renaissance Festival in 2004. We are two of the women going to Minnesota.

This post is especially for my mom! May 17 is Syttende Mai, or Norwegian Independence Day/Constitution Day. Norway only became independent in 1905, so that would mean they are at 100 years this week. Congratulations to residents of Norway and all of us outside Norway with ties to the motherland.

(Note of clarification: Norway wrote and declared their constitution in 1814, to free them from Denmark, which had “given” Norway to Sweden… but Sweden did not finally grant independence until 1905. What a long struggle that must have been. My explanation is too brief, click the above link to get more details.)

My parents grew up in Hanska, Minnesota. I like to say they are from “Lake Wobegon” since the culture of this real town is so much like the “imaginary” one in the stories of Garrison Keillor. Actually, Mr. Keillor is from Anoka which is about 2 hours from Mom’s hometown.

My mom once wrote a small web page about Hanska (I helped her make it as a Mother’s Day gift almost 10 years ago, but it has not been updated in too long, my fault and not hers). The links on that page are no longer good, but her description of the town is still accurate.

Hanska, as my dad would say, was home to 435 Norwegians and 2 Germans. (Many in town still spoke Norwegian at that time, at least at home.) Actually, I found census data lately and Hanska is impressive in its ethnic diversity now (probably because of cars allowing long commutes to work). But the town continues to be very proud of its heritage and has an annual Syttende Mai celebration that brings in visitors into the thousands. Mom usually attends, making a long drive just to be with family and friends.

When I was in Middle School, Mom sewed me a Norwegian ethnic outfit and I wore it to school on May 17. I was so proud I didn’t care if people teased me (believe me, they did). It had a long black skirt (to the floor) with three colors of ribbon trim near the hem. A white apron with lace went on top of the skirt.

I had a white blouse and a red vest with an inset closing the front. Then I got to wear my precious sterling silver pin, that had been my Great Aunt Ingeborg’s. It is a heart with the crown of Norway on top, and many shiny concave teardrop-shaped dangles. Shiny. Pretty. I have seen other pins of this type, but all modern. Mine is probably several decades older than my Mother’s pin, and more ornate and more beautiful (and larger) than any I’ve seen. Mine is perhaps 4″ tall, but with the fine workmanship it weighs almost nothing. Not everyone likes these old pins, there is a lot to polishing them well before you can wear them, but I just love mine.

I also had a hat, I remember it in black but it could have been red, with ribbon trim. Shaped a lot like a cadet girl scout/army hat but worn with the points toward the ears rather than front/back if I recall right. If you click this link and scroll down the middle section of the page, you will see an outfit much like the one I describe, on a young girl on the right side.

I loved feeling special in my beautiful costume. I think I only wore it once, but that was precious stuff. Middle school is such an awkward time. Kids are trying to figure out who they are. One thing I knew, was that my roots were mostly Norwegian.

By the way, we made the costume by copying a small doll’s costume, a doll with historically accurate clothing handmade for me by Ingeborg. She was born and raised in Norway, and moved to the USA when she was 16. She never had any children, so I was her special one… the closest child relative to her home in Flint, Michigan. It makes me feel good to know I could be that for her, now that I have my Goddaughter Sara in my own life… the situation repeats itself, quite happily.

I have written about Ingeborg at least twice before. She is the only one I remember ever knitting for me. Photo is the lovely pin she gave me when I was still very young.

This was posted on one of my lists. A car cozy.

Unfortunately it’s for a New Beetle, my car exactly. It’s cool enough for me to even look at the pattern.

I can see why Lion Brand yarn is behind this. It takes 125 balls of yarn. The pattern starts: Cast on 864 stitches… And that is on size 17 (12mm?) needles!

Well, I sat on the couch with my ribbed tank and I did a single crochet scoop neck I can live with. Thanks to Linda of Little Red Schoolhouse for taking a lot of time one day and showing me some hints on how to crochet an edge on a knit item.

It is still imperfect, but good enough for me to live with it. I’m glad it was just for me rather than a class. I can just call it good, and move on.

Here’s a picture. It looks shaped, but the shaping is just because of the stretchiness of ribbing, there are no decreases/increases at the sides.

The tank will be quite wearable. I wish the front neckline were a little deeper (it was designed for young things whose curves are a few inches higher than mine, I believe). Yet I think this is something I can wear a lot this summer.

It is from Kelly yarn, cotton/acrylic knitted tube I got at Threadbear. I like how irregular the color repeats are, though that was a major pain when I wanted both straps to look about the same!

I don’t usually like cotton but this is very springy with the acrylic and the construction of the yarn. I tested a swatch for how it would machine wash/dry and it is just perfect, really (it gets a softer finish after washing). My other summer sweater (that is, the other one I knit myself) is a dressy “T” which fits perfectly. However, it needs hand washing and blocking, and thus I almost never wear it (only for weddings in dead-hot summer). This one is far less perfect, but I think I’ll wear it out. I’m definitely pleased with that.

Remind me again how ribs are fussier at the edges, before I try that again. I need to plan better the next time I do a ribbed garment. I followed this pattern fairly closely (other than redesigning the back neckline by making it significantly more modest). Tne pattern had me binding off edges in rib, to create the neck/arm shaping. The armholes and neck just did not look symmetrical when I had to pick up stitches from the edge. I knew there were better ways to do it, but I didn’t know how to apply that to rib and so I just went with the pattern. It cost me time at the end.

Anyway… one finished item while resting on the couch… a very good thing.

And here is another set of finished objects, this time from OfficiallyAKnitter, my private knitting student. She’s learning how to invent things on the needles- I’m proud of her. She has made two headbands, two sets of wristwarmers, and these two bottle/can insulators without any patterns, just some guidance from me at times. Go Grrrl!!! She has hiccups as we all do, with or without a pattern. But she finishes.

These bottle/can insulators were her first projects on double-pointed needles (DPN’s). It took a while for me to convince her she might like using them (they look much harder to use than they are).

She originally thought she wanted to only knit flat, but she didn’t like sewing seams. I taught her how to do a three-needle bindoff and she wasn’t too thrilled about that either. So I let her know that there was much less work with sewing if she worked in the round. She figured she would try. I gave her monster yarn… Burly Spun by Brown Sheep, leftovers from my first Basketweave Rug. Nice stuff. Really fat, springy, slightly-felted single-ply wool. Yum.

I loaned her some pretty large double pointed needles I had for some felted slippers I made a while ago. And off she went, with the bottle first! Second she did the can holder. She added a few rounds of doubled-up Lamb’s Pride worsted in green for interest. Looks nice, and with just a few rows here and there it didn’t mess with the gauge enough to make a difference. It fits the can just fine.

I’d say this was a very fine job of off-the-cuff designing and DPN learning all in one. Don’t you agree?

(So sorry this post isn’t quite as UP as usual, but I need to make you folks informed before you get disappointed.)

Comment Woes
Wowie, I’m frustrated with my blogging software. I want to get comments from you folks, but not from spammers. I was getting about 200 spam comments a day before I went to Africa so I turned off comments while I was gone.

I tried to turn on comments for you guys’ sake last week. Well, I started getting spam comments but the comment link for my readers never showed up at the bottom of my posts.

So today I see that the Altu’s post from Saturday has a comment link under it. I tried to comment using the link. After typing in my name, and a bunch of other stuff, I hit “post” and it says no comments are allowed! So why do I have a link showing if I can’t use it? I’ve gone in and changed all sorts of settings but I can’t comment.

Now, this is positively the worst option… to let people spend time typing a comment and then have them get a rejection notice *after* they comment. Aaargh (as my friend Charlie would say)!

I’m looking into other options for my blog software. Brian, my sweetie and resident geek, has installed 2 possible options for me to play around with. WordPress is looking pretty good, and it imported all my old archives from Moveable Type with no hassle. WordPress has several built-in features to discourage spam comments. We’ll see what happens.

Meanwhile, even if you see a comment link here, don’t bother trying. I’d hate to see folks disappointed. You still need to just send me an email through your email software or skip it. Sigh…

Babying Myself with Tea and Rest
I’m back resting on the couch like a good girl. I’m drinking lots of tea with slices of ginger root, the healing elixr. Altu is always giving me advice to eat ginger when I have a cold or allergies and this time I’m really taking her advice to heart.

Altu’s mom always made sure I had a thermos full of tea the whole time I was at her house (in Ethiopia), and it nearly always was flavored with something, be it ginger, cloves or another spice or herb. The photo here is a cup o’tea at Altu’s mom’s house with a green herb (on the right of the saucer) that grows in their garden. It had a very strong oil in it, very good in moderation.

Knitting Update
In knitting news, I’m still plodding along on the pink Kroy toe-up/afterthought-heel socks for me. I’m using metal needles and they keep falling out of the sock whenever it’s in my bag for more than 5 minutes, a real time waster. I’m not at all pleased with the Cascade Fixation top so I’m setting that aside for when I have more optimism. And I think I’m going to take another look at the ribbed tank top, see if I feel like doing another stab at the crocheted scoop neck edge again.

I’m also dreaming of something really complicated in multicolored stranded yarns (like fairisle). I started plotting out an Egyptian sock when I was in Africa, so I may continue my work on that one.

I started that thought process when I realized I was half inclined to knit the second Norwegian Mitten from Beth Brown-Reinsel’s class. The first mitten took a full day of knitting, and it is the wrong size for me to wear in the end, anyway. Either I knit the second and Brian can wear them, or I knit 2 in a smaller gauge for me. I think my time would be better used on Egyptian sock designing, perhaps. It’s the same process, that colorwork I adore.

OK, finally my pictures. The first has been explained. The second and third are AnneMarie and Michelle’s test knitted Cozy Corner Teapot Warmers. Both of them had hiccups just where I did, so I am still working on that one frustrating part of the pattern. Once I get that so it makes sense to the world, the pattern will go live. Thanks again to AnneMarie and Michelle, for jumping in with little notice and helping me out. Didn’t they do a good job?

Well, I’ve been really good. I stayed on the couch almost the whole time from 8pm Thursday till 2pm Saturday, with just two small errands in there. I drank liquids, took Vitamin C and my antihistamine. I felt sort of crummy Thurs/Fri but it was OK on the couch. Saturday I started to feel better. Except I’m coughing a lot, and that messed up my voice.

So we went to Altu’s and Brian sang all the songs. I smiled and played, and I felt fine standing up for 2 hours, but I could not sing. I could not talk very loud, either.

It used to be I’d get like this every fall and every spring. The last time I got sick was fall of 2003 and it was a virus, not allergies. I’ve lost my voice to unrelated causes in December 2003 but I’ve been doing pretty well. Till now. I guess it’s my turn!

But we had such a fun time at Altu’s. Mom and Fred came, and Mom’s friend Esther who is also a knitting student of mine (check out her ColorJoy Stole). And Esther’s hubby and daughter. And Mom’s friend Fai, and Fai’s friend.

And at another long table we had a large collection of Brian’s family members… aunt, uncle, cousins, spouses, friends. And Brian’s folks came late in the game, after a wedding they had attended in a town not terribly far from here.

And people we’re not related to, several tables, of people who come out to hear us sing. Dare I call them fans? It was great to have them all there.

I didn’t get any photos this time, so I’ll repeat one from another performance we had there.

Oh, Yes! Knitting.

So what knitting have I done?

Fixation Dance Top: I’m still doing the Cascade Fixation top. I dunno, I realize it will shrink when I wash it but I’m a little nervous about how baggy it seems right now. I can always frog or give it away if I don’t like it. I’m far enough into it now that I think I’m committed to the project.

Ribbed Tank: And I never did get the courage yet to redo that single-crochet on the front scoop of the ribbed tank. Ugh. The edge is uneven by nature, and trying to make an even crochet is a daunting task. I figure when it’s warmer outside I’ll be more inspired to finish, since it’s so very close to done.

I think I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight!

Friends, good food is an artform. And the best food is often “peasant food” as I reconfirmed in Africa. (Our best meals in Egypt were described as peasant fare, and although the people I stayed with in Ethiopia and Kenya were far from peasants, some of the food they had me taste included national favorites enjoyed by all people, regardless of financial standing.)

Food closest to the earth, mostly unprocessed, is tastiest many times, and surely best for us. Fresh is better than frozen, and frozen is better than canned. Whole is typically better than processed (although I do confess a weakness for certain sweets).

So I felt crummy this morning. I couldn’t sleep in cuz we had a guy come to make an estimate on a new furnace. He came too early for my tastes (I’m sure he’d been up for hours and hours but I woke up when he knocked on the door at 9am), but if Brian is handling the whole furnace thing, he can do it whenever he wants!!!

To make it all better, I made a great bowl of oatmeal for breakfast! It could only have been better if peaches were in season.

You know, my favorite cookbook is out of print but it’s The Grains Cookbook by Bert Greene. He has one chapter on each of the common grains and then a few unusual grains all in one chapter at the end.

What a wonderful cookbook! (It appears that you can get some used copies through Amazon.com.) Not only are there incredible recipes (coleslaw with wild rice and tuna, pumpkin cornbread, cranberry buckwheat muffins, just for starters), but great stories. Each chapter is a story about that grain in his life. I love the one about how his grandmother tried to fatten him up with oatmeal (I think with butter or thick cream and lots of sugar). It worked, he was never scrawny again… for better or worse.

It’s one of those large paperbacks, and I’ve folded down a third of the pages, I think. But he has plain “how to cook” recipes for every kind of rice, and oats, for when we want to eat the grain pretty much alone.

Inspired by this man who really understood flavor, I offer you my favorite oatmeal breakfast:

Lynn’s Flavor-Filled Oatmeal (One Small Serving)

1/2C Rolled Old-Fashioned Oats (not instant or minute)
1C Water (room temperature)
1tsp Good Mexican Vanilla
Large Dash Cinnamon
Small Dash Ground Ginger
Dark Brown Sugar (as topping)
Fresh Peach, if in season

Combine oats, water, vanilla and spices in small saucepan. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes. Bring to a boil slowly. Allow to come to a full boil so that the entire mixture is very hot all the way through.

Warm a bowl with hot tap water, then put cooked oats into bowl (this keeps your glaze from cracking in the bowl). Slice peaches very thin and arrange on top of oats, if available. Sprinkle liberally with the darkest brown sugar you can find.

Allow to cool and set in the bowl. Eat, enjoy (preferably with a purring cat on your lap).

Sometimes a batch of things just sort of go funky all at the same time. The good news is that I have such great people in my life that the “things” don’t seem so big.

First, thanks to those who wrote to me about the porch post. I guess many folks can really “get” what I was trying to say. Thanks for writing, you always make my day.

The post was about noticing the magic and the good in ordinary things, the small stuff. If we wait for the Big Deal, we’ll spend most of life waiting for happiness. But oatmeal, tea, a porch and a cat are very close to heaven, if we allow ourselves to see it… in the middle of ordinary life. Those mornings were in a time when I had very little work, things were simple by necessity, but life was good anyway.

So… three days ago, the computer we use to print at our house, had a broken power supply. No printing! Brian fixed it the next morning without a complaint. I swear, with Brian, nothing is ever a disaster… we just figure out how to do what we need to do, and proceed. Business, not drama. I love that man!

Next day even with the fixed power supply, we had printer problems. I could print but Brian couldn’t. One day later, I couldn’t print. Ugh. Brian’s still working on that.

Then this morning we woke up to a broken furnace (and it was 42F outside). Got it fixed in record time, really. Lucky us, not everyone else had the same issue today. Then tonight, Brian’s car battery needed a jump to start… but he was merely 3 miles away and the weather was fine for it, really… a raincoat was all we needed to block cold and wind, and the rain hadn’t started yet.

On top of the gizmo failures, yesterday I ate something I was very allergic to and felt horrible all night. (Remind me again how Chinese food usually is bad for me… can you say “cornstarch?” Can you say “severely allergic?” I ask for no cornstarch but sometimes there is a language barrier and I know it… and there is always the possibility of unknown ingredients as well.)

Now today (Thursday), apparently, my body got its immunity to regular “bugs” wiped out fighting the food issue. Therefore, now I am feeling punk, more like breathing allergy stuff or a cold… a little achy.

But I have Fridays off, so I’ll just rest on the couch for a good 36 hours. Saturday we have a gig at Altu’s as The Fabulous Heftones and I am planning to do that, so I need to rest well for a while.

It sort of is our week for “hiccups,” I guess!!! But really, every challenge has come with an easy fix and I’m not inclined to complain about my life. And somehow when I needed to be very focused in dance rehearsal/class, I was able to do that. We’re preparing for a show in less than 2 weeks, and it’s important for me to really push to learn now.

So the silver lining about feeling punk, is that I’ll mostly sit on the couch and knit for 24 hours or so. I have half a neckline to single-crochet (again) on my ribbed tank top and I can try that once more.

I also am more than halfway through my Cascade Fixation cropped tank. It probably will be more of a fashion tank than a dance garment but I think I’ll like it anyway. The gauge on the yarn changes so much after washing that I’m going on faith here. Even on size 2US/2.75mm needles, it is really progressing very quickly. It helps that I’m pretty small, lucky me!!! One more “up” to remember.

Gratitude is everything. I’m going to be grateful for a full day of knitting on the couch. Could be much worse! I could have classes to cancel and I don’t. Whew!!!

Off to knit.

Photo is a detail of a table runner I got my Mom in Ethiopia, and earrings I got her in Cairo, Egypt. Another Mom’s day gift.

I love my porch! The first time I had a porch was in my old house, the one I had before I met Brian. The house I bought for my own, very own self, with my own signature and nobody else’s. The pride of my financial life at least up to that point, I think. The house only one block from Foster Community Center, in the very wonderful, culturally-mixed, racially-mixed, age-mixed area called the East Side Neighborhood. That house was an ugly little harvest-gold-painted bungalow from the outside, but I loved it.

That house was homely outside, and it had a shared driveway, shared garage and a wet basement. However, I had virtually no repair bills while I was there (only a few bouts with the roof). It had a dishwasher and a washer/dryer on the first floor, real extras for that neighborhood. The attic had been converted into an art studio before I moved in, so half was for sewing and half for polymer clay (this was before I dove back into wool and knitting). And the porch was my haven in the summer.

My cat, Muffett, was still with me those years. (I have had only one pet in my life, that one cat who I got from the Humane Society when he was not yet 6 weeks old… and I had him 17 years.) We both liked that porch. A lot.

Muffett was excellent company. I would make oatmeal and fresh fruit and a cup o’tea for breakfast. I’d hang up my small purple hammock I’d bought on my first trip to Mexico, and he’d sit on my lap as I ate my breakfast. By then his eyes were not very good and he couldn’t see the floor of the porch so he never was tempted to jump down. He’d purr and I’d eat my breakfast and there just never was a morning as good as that!

When I moved to Brian’s house (now our house), he had a porch that was on its way out. I really missed my old, ugly porch. Well, about 3 years ago Brian had another porch put on the house. Oh, my! What a difference a porch can make! Our house is on a somewhat busy residential street because we live between two campuses of a hospital, and folks shuttle through the ‘hood all day between those two hospital locations.

Not to worry! Our new porch has walls rather than a railing. We were not sure we’d like them, because the old porch had low railings affording a nice view. The building code now requires three feet (a meter) minimum now, for any rail or wall on a porch. What that did for us, was make a pretty darned private space where we can see a little bit out but it’s hard for people going by to see us.

When I hang my big hammock (a new aqua one I got on my 2nd trip to Mexico) on this porch, I can actually take a nap out of sight of the passers-by if I choose. I count my blessings this town is safe enough that this is not at all a concern… an afternoon nap is something I splurge on a few times every summer.

Well, Tuesday we had wonderful weather. We had dinner on our porch as we often do this time of year. Then we decided to play music out there for a while.

I decided to call my friend April, and my CityKidz knitting student, Anna (both neighbors), and invite them to pop by to our impromptu music night. I actually had something of Anna’s I was trying to get to her so that was a good excuse to call her again. April… well, any day I can see April is a good day. And she brought her daughter Isabel (age 1 year), who enjoyed the music quite a lot. Anna came over later with her father and we chatted a while, and played them a few tunes. It was fun.

What fun we had on that porch! I’m a lucky girl again. You know, I don’t know how people stay sane who don’t have a porch. It’s my sanity place. I love to put my spinning wheel out there in the summer sometimes. I love to nap or knit or read in the hammock. Somehow, in the hammock on the porch, watching the sun’s rays go through the leaves of the trees in April’s yard, I can not be more contented. This is the life!!!

Here’s a poem I wrote about the porch at my old house… the one I shared with my beloved cat. I wrote it initially in 1995, but today I changed the order of the phrases and some formatting here. However, the words remain intact.

The Porch on Francis Avenue

©1995 by Lynn D. Troldahl Hershberger

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

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

Home.

Images today: My beloved late cat, Muffett. My view from my current porch, on a very good day. The view of the house with new porch, from the corner.

Tuesday was Mother’s day for my family. I picked up my Mom and we drove to Ann Arbor, to meet my brother (Eric) and his wife, Diana. We had a late lunch/early dinner at Zingerman’s Deli, a favorite of the three of us in my generation. Mom had not eaten there before, but enjoyed her visit.

I like it for the top quality food and service. It’s not a sit-down place, you order at a counter and they come calling your name till you wave your hand and they bring you the food. But wow, do they have superior food!!! And when you are the first person in line at that deli counter, it’s as if you are the only one in the building. You get as much time as you need, to ask questions, and even to sample as many of the offerings as you wish, until you’re sure you know what you want to eat.

We ate outdoors in the garden area under a canopy. This is the life! It was 76 degrees F when we left Lansing, a perfect summery day. Flowers are blooming everywhere (Achoo!!!), and the maple pollen is bad right now, too, but it’s really beautiful. It was a gorgeous day for a drive.

Wednesday will be knitting class day again. I have my private knitting student and then my CityKidz Knit! program.

My private student made a water-bottle cozy the other day (smart for hot days where the water warms up and the bottle sweats) and started another, I will be interested to see how she has done with that. She wanted to try double-pointed needles (DPNs), and doing these with fat wool yarn on fat DPNs has worked well for her.

She also made a second headband with two colors of alpaca held together… made up how to do it on her own. She has been wearing her first one a lot, so the second one I’m sure will get a lot of use as well. I am pleased with how she’s taking initiative and inventing things without a pattern. Many long-time knitters don’t have the courage to try that!

Some of the CityKidz wanted me to take pictures of them last week and I have not posted the pictures yet. Also, my cousin Karen sent a bursting envelope full of goodies for the kidz and I need to thank her for that. I wish I lived closer to Karen (she’s in Texas, I’m in Michigan… more than a one-day drive), we’d hang out a lot.

I did some knitting on my cropped tank top today. I finished the first ball of yarn (that always feels like a big deal, for this socknitter) and am plowing along on the second one.

I am trying to follow a pattern generated for me by a knitting software program that seems pretty darned excellent… but I’m not sure it understood exactly what I wanted. I told it I wanted a cropped length, skin tight tank top with square neck front and back. I asked for a hem at the bottom (hoping it will cling to me better with two layers of the cotton/elastic-lycra yarn) and ribbed knit on armholes and neck.

The little drawings look about right, as far as proportion goes. I can’t know if the program is good at what it does if I tweak it much, right? I am a compulsive tweaker when it comes to knitting patterns. I’ve already changed it into a knit-in-the-round design (and removed 4 stitches which would have been on the “wrong” side of the fabric after seaming). I did the hem differently than they said.

Now I’m second-guessing how long they think a cropped tank would be. About six inches not counting the 3/4″ hem, before armhole shaping? Does that sound right? I want it like those dance/aerobics/jogging tops, with a good bit of support in them. This one will have “light” support with the lycra but that’s the idea I want. It seems this pattern is specifying a too-long body/bodice, at least for my short self. But maybe I’ll like what it specifies? I don’t know if I should tweak or not.

I do like how the Cascade Fixation in this colorway looks. It has 3 colors, only one very bright, but the bright stands out. Very good. As I increase, the color “pooling” is not as nice as how it started out, unfortunately, but maybe I’ll like the changes when it’s done. I can’t know if I don’t try.

Oh… and since I seem to be asking for input here, I need to thank Kristen C, and Sarah Peasley, and Faith TH for writing to me in the last many weeks. I also want to thank Michelle who tested my Tea Cozy pattern on her spring weekend and wrote me with input today. Her input was exactly perfectly what I needed. I tell you, this pattern is more complex to explain than it is to just knit!!!

I tried to enable comments in Movable Type (my blog-creating program) a few days ago. I still seem to not have a comments link below my posts (I may have tweaked the code for the index template, if you know what that is, when getting ready for my trip to Africa). However, the spammers are doing a great job slamming my email inbox with junk mail comments. They don’t even need a link to mess with me!!! So you can’t click and write but they don’t need to click, to bother me plenty. Pout!

Photos… 1)CityKidz posing with their works in progress. 2)One boy I’ve had for years, who always crocheted (his grandma taught him), finally wearing his first wristband. 3)Yarn from my cousin, Karen. And one pair of precious, precious needles. By the way, all you out there, I take unmatched needles. If you have a size 8 that is 12 inches long I bet I have another one here waiting for yours to make a set.

I had a good Sunday. Brian had a performance with Scarlet Runner String Band at Woldumar Nature Center that morning. I went, and Mom and Fred met us there. I love this gig (they do it every year, once for spring pancake supper and once in the fall). The guys usually play for contra dances, all instrumentals. I’m extremely partial to songs, that is music with words sung along. This gig is more songs than tunes (tunes have no words) and I really enjoy it!

While Mom was there, I gave her a new pair of Fast Florida Footies, in blues, turquoise, aqua, and spring yellow-green. Really beautiful, very much her colors. I hope she enjoys wearing them. They sure were pretty, they made me happy to be knitting them.

After Brian’s band played, a clogging group performed. We left, so that we could get it together and go to Grand Rapids to visit Brian’s family. I was planning a big knitting day (it’s 2 hours in the car round trip) and was ready to start a new project. Do you think I had the right needles at home? Do you think I could find them the first place I went? Nope… took a bit of a search before I got it right.

Knitted Dance Top

OK, I must confess here, I’m knitting in the round for a cropped tank top, very fitted in Cascade Fixation, to wear while dancing (at rehearsals). And I knit Fixation yarn on size 2.75mm needles. Well, we were at Frandor so we stopped in at Rae’s Yarn Boutique, but her smallest circulars were size 2 US but 3mm. I called Threadbear (not too far out of the way going out of town), and they had one set of 2.75mm which are also called size 2. That mm size difference is so frustrating! I just really don’t like US needle sizes at all.

We stopped by and got the circs on the way. I started knitting… 192 stitches in the round on size 2 needles. I don’t want to think about that too much. This top will probably take as many stitches as five pair of Fast Florida Footies. I’m used to fast projects. This one might not be fast at all.

I couldn’t knit this project much of the time we were at Brian’s parents (I knit my Kroy toe-up sox instead), but I did knit for 2 hours in the car. Then Monday I had a little time between computer jobs where I could knit a little, and after teaching as well.

I think I’m just past halfway through the first ball of yarn. I started with a folded hem, so it looks now like I have knit about 2.25 inches but I’ve actually knit about 3 inches deep and about 30.75 (according to the pattern) inches in circumference. No, that’s not my chest measurement… it has negative ease (it’s smaller than me and will stretch to fit) and that’s the bottom edge. I’m small but not that small.

This project may take me a while. However, I’m getting more faith in myself that I will actually finish larger projects. I realize that a pair of ladies’ socks in fingering weight yarn can take 20,000 stitches to complete. If I figure out this very small top, it will take around that number of stitches. This is something I’ve done over and over again, stitch count anyway. I do like the fabric and I’m sure I picked the right needles, despite the tiny stitches.

Yarn Buying Entertainment

Oh… going backward in time… Saturday I got to the sale at Yarn Garden in Charlotte for the last 40 minutes or so. I did leave on time, so Kim could have a life! Of course, I bought yarn. I got some solid fuschia/magenta Regia sockyarn (socks for me) and some Noro Kujaku yarn again. Three skeins, two colorways. I can’t help myself mixing up colors like that.

I got three skeins of this beautiful yarn in late March at Yarn for Ewe. I had thought then that I might make a felted bag. my advice pouring in was not to try it. So then I needed a new project. Now I think I might do the Lucy Neatby Equilateral Vest. I tried her sample on when she was here, and it’s very nice on me. I usually don’t wear vests, that’s the only down side (I get very cold so I’d have to find a wool turtleneck to wear underneath this for much of the year). The yarn is gorgeous. After the dance tank, though.

Ribbed Tank Progress…. So Close

By the way, that ribbed tank I made is about 98% done. I have knit it, sewed together, crocheted armholes and even crocheted a good bit of the neckhole. The back is beautiful, the front not at all. I keep thinking I’ll have quiet time at home to rip out that half a neck and keep trying until it looks good. So far, no dice. I’ll finish before it’s tank top weather, though, I’m sure.

I’m a “Fairy Godmother.” Cool.

By the way, my friend April did the kindest thing. She wrote me a lovely handwritten note on Mother’s day saying I’ve been a Fairy Godmother and happy Fairy Godmothers’ Day. She’s at least the second mom to call me that. I’m honored and touched.

Photos: Scarlet Runner String Band in RE Olds Barn at Woldumar Nature Center (left to right: Dave, Larry, Brian, Mike). Mom’s gift, some Fast Florida Footies. Back garden at Yarn Garden in Charlotte, Michigan.

This week we (Brian and I) were played on a new radio station. It is always a kick to hear myself singing on the radio, it just really makes me pleased… I dreamed of this as a little girl. I’m not famous, but at least our music is getting out there. I’m not sure how famous I’d want to get, really… but it’s lovely these days singing where we can.

Mark Sahlgren is a DJ on WMUK in Kalamazoo (a public radio station), on the show called Grassroots. According to the station’s website, the show is aired first on Sunday at 10am and again on Saturday at 8pm. We listened to it as streaming audio on the internet, after receiving a kind email from Mark letting us know we would be on.

I’m starting to really love the accessibility of far-away radio shows through the Internet. How cool it is!

So… He played Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine, from The Fabulous Heftones’ album, Moon June Spoon. Then he played a relatively new item, one that is not actually released commercially yet (but you can hear it on the internet). The tune is Raspberry Rag, on a CD to be released this year, also called Raspberry Rag and it was written and performed by Brian (Hefferan). Perhaps you’d like a little preview, by clicking the above links.

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!! That’s how my Friday night went. It couldn’t have been better.

I got a beautiful dance dress in Cairo, the week of Christmas 2004. I’ve danced two concerts since then, but both required specific costuming that did not allow me to wear the dress. I’ve been a little bummed about it. I love clothes, just as a sparkly-girl who loves shiny things would be expected to… and not being able to wear something new for over 4 months was difficult.

Yes, I’m spoiled. Yes, I’m a diva at times. I like to dress up and look pretty. I like to transform myself from just-plain-Lynn to Diva-Eudora. It’s really a rush to do the Theatre thing and become someone else for a while. Especially, as you can guess, if it involves really pretty, shiny, turquoise dress-up clothes.

I’m really still about 3 years old inside, but don’t tell anyone. I’m doing the same thing as the dress-up we did on Grandma Illa’s farm. (Karen, my cousin, reads this blog sometimes… Karen, do you remember the long gloves and hats, too? Somewhere there are great photos of us dressing up at the farm.)

Check out the photos here with children in them. The little girl in pink followed me wherever I went, far enough to not even see her mommy anymore. At one point she reached out and almost touched my beads, she was so entranced. After the show was over I went over and let her touch the beads. The little boy came over and was waving his arms in the air dancing with me at one point. And the little girl who appears to be in white (it was light blue but that’s digital photography), came over, I let her hold my hands, and then she would NOT let go.

She was strong! She had not one of my hands but both of them, and she would not let me twirl her around. She just wanted to look at me and my dress and she did not want to stop. The other customers seemed to appreciate it, but it sure did limit my ability to dance, to a few moves that involved hips and footwork. She was a doll.

I figure if I’m going to pelt you with a lot of photos of this dress (and Najmah, and the children), I might as well tell you the story of how I got the dress.

We went to Cairo the week of Christmas. We met our driver, Nabil, the next morning. Both Altu and I knew I wouldn’t rest until I had my new costume (I had been very careful with my money until that point, to be sure I’d have enough to afford a dress… they can cost $1,200 USD in the USA but I’d figured I’d find one around $400 in Egypt). Once I had my costume, we could just relax and enjoy being tourists.

The first day with Nabil, we went to Fishawi Coffeehouse for tea early in the morning. When we finished, the stores were not yet open at Khan el Khalili (I hope I spelled that well), which is the main market where dance clothing can be found. We went to the beautiful mosque across the street for a while, then went back to the market.

I tried on dozens of costumes that day. It was exhausting! Although Nabil was not great at English (we knew virtually no Arabic… just hello and thank you), I got across the colors and styles I liked best over the course of the day. We went from little tiny booth in a basement to little tiny booth in a loft, back behind shops in twisted corridors, all sorts of tiny holes in the wall. We would tell them what I liked, and they would disappear, sometimes for a long while, and then reappear with goodies for me to try.

It became apparent after a while, that folks in the market help each other out. I would ask for hot pink (or turquoise or purple) costumes, they would disappear. They would come to me with a tiny pink costume, about 30″ around if that. I couldn’t get it around one leg, I think! I’d decline, and we’d go to the next shop, where I’d be presented with the same too-small costume! I am guessing that shopkeepers share the sale profit if they help each other that way… one person finds the customer and the other provides the merchandise. I never did fit into that pink thing!

After what seemed like hours and hours, I was getting pretty tired of trying on costumes, none of which fit me well enough to spend $25, much less hundreds. I found myself in a nicer-than-most loft shop, basically a hallway with shelves on both sides, the stairway on one end and a window at the other. One wall had three costumes actually hanging there on display. The center one was a turquoise dress. It was beautiful, but I’d learned at least in the US, that those dresses were soooo long, both in length and waist, that I could not wear them. There is beaded trim on the hem so it is nearly impossible to alter these dresses.

However, I was so tired of trying on that I decided to give the beautiful turquoise dress a shot. I tried it on over my clothes. It was beautiful! They found me a kitchen on the third-level floor where they were doing construction, where I could change without being disturbed.

I came back to the shop dressed properly, they even put on some dance music, and I danced around the shop. The dress was perfect. Those in the room all agreed that it looked as though it were made for me. Nabil exclaimed “You dance like an Egyptian!” This is a very high compliment, indeed. I let him know that I was lucky to have a very good teacher at home who teaches us to dance the Egyptian style. She has studied dance in Egypt and from Egyptian teachers in the US. We all agreed that the dress was perfect, and I looked great dancing in it.

I was changing out of the dress, Nabil’s voice came around the corner. He said: “My lady, you can not have that dress.” I asked why. He said it was too expensive. We had to translate from Egyptian Pounds to US Dollars, but it came out significantly less than the $400 I had budgeted. I tried to tell him that it was OK. He would not budge.

Poor man, probably the cost of that dress would feed his four children for months. It no doubt seemed impossible that I could spend that much. In fact, if I had not received the financial windfall that allowed my trip to Africa, I would not have been able to afford it even at the lower price. But Nabil would not allow me to get the dress right then. He insisted I go try on other things.

It was useless. I had no heart in any of the other things I tried on after that. But Nabil kept us shopping until the stores closed. We had to buy the dress another day.

We had already planned a trip to Giza and the Pyramids for the next day. We spent morning and part of the afternoon on that trip. When we got back to Cairo, we insisted… “Nabil, The Dress!!! Take us to the Dress!” We knew that we could not find it without his help. Thank goodness for me that he was clear that his job was to make us happy and take us where we wanted to go.

He obediently did what we asked. He argued with the shopkeepers because they would not bargain any on the price. He was angry because the dress seemed so expensive to him. Finally he told them that if they would not bargain on the price of the dress, they needed to give me a gift. They gave me some finger cymbals in silver, which matches some of the beads on my dress. That made Nabil feel a little better, I think.

On Christmas day I modeled the dress for Altu in our hotel room. She was very sweet, telling me how pretty I looked. It helped me to have her input… we both agreed it was the only thing I had tried on that was worth buying. I did wear it for my Habibi friends when I got home. But it was only last night when I actually got to wear it for dancing. And dance I did!!!

Photos: Me as Eudora dancing with a sparkly scarf I also got in Egypt. Dancing for Elizabeth Anderson, herself a busy dancer in the Lansing area. Two photos of me dancing for the children, aren’t they adorable? Mom and Fred watching the show. Full length photo of me dancing with scarf. Two photos of Najmah entertaining the crowd. Don’t you wish you had joined us???

All photos by my beloved, Brian Hefferan.

Nice Weather Today
As I type this, the sun is mostly shining and I can hear three different lawn mowers going at once. On a Friday Afternoon, no less, when lots of folks are still at work. It is 73F/23C, amazing as that seems. It snowed just Tuesday.