I’m back. We spent a few days with Brian’s family, camping at Ludington State Park. The family as a whole usually goes for 10 days straight. Even the three kids from out of state come in for the event, it’s a really important thing for this clan.

I grew up in a non-camping family, though I would go to church camp for one week each summer (in cabins, not tents) each year during my adolescence. I didn’t camp at all for maybe a dozen or more years, and that suited me just fine. However, I love this man so much I do my best to not be totally a grump when he goes to be together with his family.

Usually I go with Brian for one overnight, this time I went for two. I was worried, I usually get a headache when I go into the “Great Outdoors,” but this year went better than any other camping trip I’ve had, I think. No headache. Minimal allergies. No mosquito swarms. And Sunday’s weather was about perfect.

We had no rain this year, I was very grateful for that. I had cold hands the first night, but in the morning we found a yarn shop (open, on a Sunday, soooo cool) and I got some warm yarn and quickly knitted up some handwarmers for Sunday night. Aaah. Much better.

On the way up, I knit an Ann Norling Fruit Cap as a sample for my upcoming class at Little Red Schoolhouse (this Sunday, June 26, at 1pm). Also finished a Cozy Corner Teapot Warmer, AKA Tea Cosy in preparation for my class this Saturday morning at Threadbear.

I knit a swatch for the Lucy Neatby Equilateral Vest and I came out dead-on with gauge, at least before blocking. That was a lucky break, as I am using slightly different yarn than specified. I could tell that 21 stitches per triangle was too large for my yarn/needle combination so I guessed that 15 would work and I am right on! Woohoo! As if I have time to knit the whole thing? But it’s a triangle at a time, so I believe I can do this in between other more pressing knitting projects.

I did more knitting, some music-playing, lots of talking. I’m soooo tired I’m falling asleep at the keyboard… three hours before my regular bedtime.

OK, Post updated 6/21.
Photos: 1)Sky on the back roads on the way to Ludington. Look at that sky! We had several days of this but it cleared on Sunday. We have this a lot during winter but it’s not as common this time of year. 2)Brian’s Aunt turning a smoldering excuse of a fire into something special. 3)Evening result of that excellent fire-building. 3)Nautical Yarn, the shop where I bought supplies for wristwarmers. 4)Fruit Cap. 5)Swatch for Equilateral Vest.

I’m going to be too busy to post on this blog for a few days. Please check out these links while I’m ignoring you…

NY Ukefest

April 27-30, 2006 will be more ukuelele fun than ever, in NYC. In the Village, if I heard right. And The Fabulous Heftones (that would be me and my beloved hubby, Brian) will be there. Go see the lovely poster yourself!

Blurb from site: Featuring the (sic) Shorty Long, Bliss Blood and the Moonlighters, Greg Hawkes, Jim Beloff, Mad Tea Party, Sonic Uke, Songs from a Random House, Hoppin’ Haole Brothers, Paul Moore, The Fabulous Heftones, Craig Robertson and the Ukulele Noir Cabaret, and MANY MORE ACTS TO BE ANNOUNCED.

American Novelty by Pops Bayless of Shorty Long fame, and Ukulele 2087 by Greg Hawkes and Uke Jackson.

Howlin’ Hobbit

My online friend Hobbit who plays Ukulele, has a website and a CD in the last year. (The band is called Snake Suspenderz and the CD is Preliminary Slither, doesn’t that make you want to check it out?) A few tunes can be listened to online.

Blurb from his website: Snake Suspenderz plays hot jass — mainly from the 1920’s through the 1940’s — as well as hokum, novelty and original tunes in those styles.

1930’s Knit Hats

I just discovered this one. When I get more time, I’m going to bury myself deeply in it. I’m looking for some retro costuming for the Fab Heftones act, and a hat would be the crowning touch.

Blurb from this site: While the title is 1930s knit hats, I’m equally passionate about other chapeaux from that era whether they’re crafted with machine-made fabric or crocheted by hand. While my chief goal is to show vintage pictures of hats and patterns from that era, I also want to recreate these lovely toppers using contemporary yarns and textiles.

Hyphen Boy Designs – Modular Felted Backpack

Oh, my! What a beautiful piece of knitting design. I sure would love to carry one. I’m not sure when I’ll take the time to knit this lovely, but do please look. A work of art!

Swatch Crazy
I’ve been swatching like crazy lately. I am swatching for Arial, the 40’s-inspired short-sleeved sweater by Joan McGowan-Michael. I like the fabric I’m getting as far as texture but didn’t like the color of the yarn once I knit it up. Last night I pulled a few yards out and overdyed it, one with purple and one with magenta. The jury is still out. I thought I’d like the magenta best but I’m leaning toward the purple now. I’ll have to try another purple with more dye in the bath and see how that works.

I also did a swatch of my precious Colinette Tagliatelli. I plan to make the simplest of shrugs, just two tight-fitting sleeves and nothing else. I tried k1p1 rib, garter fabric and stockinette fabric. I like them all! That’s a high-class problem, I think. Garter takes more yarn, so that’s a strike against it. Stockinette makes more blobby color areas, and rib is a little more stretchy but the yarn is so stretchy that doesn’t matter much. This yarn is like knitting with a spring! I love this yarn, I’m really glad I splurged.

Unfinished Objects
I’m also working away on my crocheted bikini top. The straps in the pattern make no sense so now I’m on my own as to how the heck to attatch the main fabric to my torso. I have a tie around my middle already and will probably just give in for this first try and make two ties for around my neck. I’ll plan to get more fancy once I see what the possibilities are.

I’m also trying to finish up other projects. The Opal Handpaint Rob of Threadbear gave me in January, is more than half done (toe up, peasant heels, once again) so maybe I’ll finish this weekend (lots of talking time with in-laws will give me knitting time as well).

Dabbling in Dyes
I dyed a half pound of yarn last night intending to make a pattern for a baby blanket. The yarn is promising, I hope the knitting proves me right. It looks very, very different from the sockyarns I’ve been dyeing. In fact, I think I would not like this method of dyeing for socks nearly as well as what I’ve been doing all along. But this is really pretty for a larger project. I’ve been mulling this idea around in my mind for a long time so we’ll see what we’ll see.

Geek Geek Geek
Last night I went to Gone Wired Cybercafe’ with Brian. There is a Linux Users Group that meets there every Thursday. I’ve gone about 3 times now. I don’t use Linux, I use Windows, but I’ve been in the computer realm since my first job in 1981 and was online before I met Brian, so about 9-10 years. When I didn’t have a mouse, or Windows, and most of the people online were men. Like 95% or more. So I do OK with this mostly-male group of geeks even though I don’t use the operating system they prefer.

Last night they had two door prizes to give away. Brian won a shirt printed all over with penguins. It’s really great! Lucky Brian, he’ll wear it a lot.

Here’s a picture of a bunch of the Linux folks looking at a monitor where they are doing something new and fun together. Notice there was actually another woman in the crowd last night. I had never met her before and we had a nice but short talk. Please forgive the bad quality of the photo, my camera was out of batteries and didn’t tell me!

I finished my 117th pair of socks on Wednesday. They are very nice, very cushy. The yarn is called Naturally 10ply. I love the color, and the yarn is really really soft. I think it’s a DK weight. I sort of thought while I was knitting this last week in the extra-hot weather, that I wouldn’t wear these until fall. Wrong! It was 95F last week and right now it’s 58F. I closed the windows, it was so chilly. If it cools down inside we’ll need the furnace again. That’s Michigan for you!

Anyway, I got this yarn at Rae’s Yarn Boutique, the shop that is so close to Foster Center I can go there on a half hour lunch and still be back on time for my next class. Waaaay too convenient, huh? I went there today on a half hour dinner break. Rae crazily showed me some yarns she picked out at TNNA last weekend, and I showed her these socks. She also told me she finished her Turkish Toe-Up socks and had already worn them (last I saw her she was partway through one foot). Cool.

Anyway, this pictured pair were knit toe up, using the C-wrapped toe that I used in my Turkish Toe-up Socks pattern. I used an afterthought heel with grafting/kitchener to finish it up (sometimes I use other closures on the heel… three-needle bindoff or work till I have 8 sts and run a sewing needle through the last stitches in a circle… depends on my mood, where I am when I need to close them, and what the yarn seems to want).

I realized with this pair, that when I knit top down I make slouch socks (on purpose, I love them). When I’ve been knitting toe up lately, I’ve made snug stockinette legs for the most part. Maybe I’ll play with toe-up slouch socks one of these days.

I finished this pair after the Lucy Neatby workshop, where she waxed poetic about garter stitch for a while. So I decided to try a garter stitch edging on this pair rather than rib, which I’m not particularly fond of anyway. I think it turned out rather well.

I knit 9 rows/5 ridges of garter, purling the bind-off row. When I let the sock scrunch down at the bottom of my leggings, it almost looks like a rolled edge. Pulled up properly like a “real” sock (I like slouchy/scrunched sox better) it looks as you see it in this photo.

WooHoo. I’m trying to finish old projects right now. While I’m also dreaming up new possibilities, and knowing I’m going to be away from my work for a few days. Maybe those days I can do some serious knitting, we’ll see. Often in a social situation I can merely knit sox in stockinette tubes, and no real serious knitting gets accomplished. One hour at a time on that one!

But 3 pair finished in a week is very good! I’m happy.

What a great day I had! I first went to help my private student, OfficiallyAKnitter, with her first socknitting experience.

She has really amazed me at how fast she learns, and especially how willing she has been to fix her own mistakes. She had about 2 inches of knitting inside out during the week between our lessons, and she frogged it and picked up the loose stitches, knitting again successfully to the heel flap. Many less experienced knitters would not have tried that, and she did a great job. She’s now working on the end of this sock and hopefully toward starting her second.

Then I went to Foster Center for CityKidz Knit! program. I have fewer kids this month because most of the walk-in kids come during the day to Kids Kamp and leave before knitting starts. However, the ones I’m getting are my regular, loyal kids where the parents really encourage them in the program. It’s great to work with these kids every single week for months. They do make progress and it’s rewarding to me.

Today I was just overwhelmed with gratitude. I had three really excellent and substantial donations today for CityKidz. Cyndy and Rachel sent really excellent boxes just chock full of totally appropriate stuff for the kids… and a local anonymous knitter also left me several plastic bags full… between the three donations, I got yarn, needles, tote bags, pattern booklets, crochet hooks. You name it, all just what I needed.

Take a look at this new stash (still on table before being put away), and it’s not the whole thing! Notice my silly girl who stuck her head in the picture at the last second. Somehow the shadow makes it look like I cut her face out of another photo and placed it on top of the yarn photo, but that’s really her, live.

I had one other older child today also. (8th grade? Most of my kidz are about 4th grade.) Her auntie started her knitting on Fun Fur, poor thing. She’s pretty talented but had dropped a stitch and she could not even see the stitches, much less know what to do to fix it. I knit a smooth wool swatch and had her fix a dropped stitch in stockinette, then garter, then the garter stitch fabric of her fun fur scarf. She really caught on well. Go grrrl!

We dyed wool yarn today with Kool-Aid, thanks to a wool donation last week from the estate of a knitter. That wool donation was such a blessing! I rarely get solid, light-colored wool in my donations. Most of what I get is acrylic, and some wools I do get are dark enough to not work well for this project. Cyndy donated the wool last time I did it, bless her heart… this time it’s from the stash of a knitter who died recently (her friend, also a knitter, sent me some of the knitter’s stash, for which we are very grateful). Somehow that seems so right! I’m sure the knitter who has passed on would love to know what we did with her wool.

My younger knitter today wanted to use the camera. I let her take a photo of the new stash and she took a photo of me. Then I took a few of her from over her head, and she clowned happily as I snapped the shutter. We did forget to take pics of the Kool-Aid dyed yarns, but the kid pix are better anyway.

What a lovely day we had!

Retirement

My friend, Sharon P of Knitknacks, retired yesterday. You can read about her take on that, on her blog.

I was honored to be her first after-retirement lunch date. We went to Shulers Books, which has food and a nice outdoor sitting area. We knit and talked and met someone sitting at the next table (it turns out I know her parents, her mom plays banjo and both her parents know my Mom). We tried to figure out knitting. Figure out how to make things succeed, how to know if they won’t before finishing them and trying them on. We talked about yarn we have bought or wanted to buy. We talked about traveling and all sorts of things I can’t even remember. We drank a lot of tea. We ate good salads. We spent about 2.5 hours and it felt like that just flew by.

Here Comes the Sun
Funny, we both wore our Ethiopian wraps (I bought them on my trip and gave one to Sharon as a gift). They are very fine white cotton gauze, handspun and handwoven, with beautiful colored edgings. These are worn in hot weather to deflect hot sun off the head, and in cool winds they are often worn instead of a windbreaker to keep warm. I wear mine a lot and it’s perfect against too-cold air conditioning.

Mine is a double layer, Sharon’s is one. This time, hers was the better choice as it was humid enough (major storms came through later in the day) that my wrap felt a little too warm and I tossed it aside. Wrong move! I got a sunburn.

I spent time today making sure Sharon wouldn’t be in the sun so she wouldn’t burn. I didn’t even realize I was in the sun myself. I don’t burn much, but that is because my favorite outdoor experience is sitting on the porch, preferably in the hammock. I haven’t done that recently, which is a shame… but I just don’t typically get out in the sun. So this little girl of Norwegian Extraction sure got herself some red shoulders today! It’s sort of amusing if it didn’t itch so much. Worse things can happen and I’ll feel better soon, but that’s the drama-queen moment of the day.

Sharon’s camera ran out of batteries and we forgot to use mine, so you’ll have to believe us that we had a nice visit. Such fun!

Socks #117 Mostly Completed
Oh, I finished the knitting part of my sock pair #117 yesterday. I have a lot of ends to finish, but the knitting is complete. I thought I’d work ends in when talking to Sharon but I opted instead to knit a gauge swatch.

Plans for New Project
I’m dreaming of knitting Arial, a T-shirt adapted from a vintage 1940’s pattern, adaptation by Joan McGowan-Michael of White Lies Designs. She’s the one who designed the Shapely Tee/Shapely Tank (both free patterns on the internet, sized for larger women for the most part, and shaped at the bust and waist. Very flattering).

This pattern (Arial, that is) was in the Spring 2003 Cast On magazine (and is also available for a fee on Joan’s site). I didn’t notice it when I got that magazine, because it’s lace and I just do not like to wear lace. However, I joined the PatternsOfThePast email list on Yahoo, and folks are talking about a knit-along for this one. It is a well-shaped short-sleeved top. Something I could wear reasonably often.

I surprised myself last night by actually finding this old magazine fairly easily. I’m not very organized in general but I found that mag pretty quickly. The pattern for Arial follows an article on reworking vintage patterns for modern fit standards. Very interesting stuff, and since I have many vintage patterns (mostly 1940-1969) I am surprised I didn’t read it then. I think I was still only doing socks at that time.

Truthfully, I’m not much on knitting other people’s patterns, and I’m not much for knit alongs. But I have this DK weight wool that is variegated, that I got at the Guild “garage sale” in May 2004. I have enough for a short sleeved top. The yarn would look really good in a wide rib. The lace pattern for Arial is a stitch pattern with 4 purls followed by 7 stitches of lace. Basically a textured rib. So I asked Joan if she thought wool would work on this pattern and if she thought it would convert well to just a rib. She thought it would.

I pulled out the yarn (it’s an ironstone “sock” yarn, wool/nylon DK weight in plum, magenta, dark tealish-blue and a soft blue). I knit a swatch. I’m really close to gauge, to where I’d like the fit as it stands. But now I can see that the yarn is far too blue for me. I like most colors, but I do not like blue, especially soft blues. I can live with dark greenish-teal or hot cobalt. This is powdery, like the color of a chambray workshirt. A color that makes my skin turn yellowish when I wear it. That’s probably why I don’t like that color… who could love a color that made them look jaundiced?

Soooo… I’ll have to skein up the yarn and overdye it (probably with magenta to make the whole thing multiple purples). It’s only three large balls, that won’t take too much time. And “in my spare time” knitting, I’ll plan to dive in and knit Arial. In rib and in wool, both changes from the original (which was lace and cotton).

New Dyeing Plans
I’m also preparing to dye some wool for sale again. Finally. I don’t dye yarn when I’m busy teaching, but my classes are not filling now that the weather is so hot. The basement studio is nice and cool in hot weather, so the timing is good.

I will be doing a family camping trip for a few days sometime soon but other than that I am going to plan on some new yarns in the next few weeks. I wish I had full days free to do it, but I don’t, so I’ll have to fit in little bits in half days when I have them.

Keep eyes peeled. I hope to have a surprise for you. Haven’t tried my cool new idea yet but I’m partway to the first prototype. I’ll clue you in more if it actually works.

Meanwhile, congratulations once more to my friend Sharon! Happy very long summer vacation!

Photos today: 1)My friend Dick’s garden (he has a fence to keep critters out, it’s mostly a food garden, photo taken around midnight in pitch black); 2)Purple Victorian house in Lake Orion, Michigan, about 2 blocks from Heritage Spinning, which sponsored the Lucy Neatby workshop.

Aaaaah, I had a breath of fresh air in this stifling heat wave we’ve had in Michigan. The Lucy Neatby workshop (advanced socknitting techniques day #2) was everything I could have wanted it to be. (I took this class, but just day #1, several years ago in Marshall, MI. Therefore, this time I just went to Lake Orion for one day.)

Lucy is a good teacher, patient with those who struggle and aware of the needs of knitters out of the norm. She is clear, she can draw a picture on the board to explain nearly anything you might question, she is peaceful and calm in my crazed artful world. She is smart, sharp as a tack. She’s both artful and mathematical in her approach to designing. Some of her solutions are absolutely brilliant.

We actually started the day with a lesson in grafting/kitchener stitch. She has this really good solution to grafting sock toes, called the “toe chimney.” I read about it, then 2 years ago or so I took a class from her and we did it in class. It is an easy answer to a maneuver that should not be hard. Because of the placement of the stitches on the needles, it just happens to be dicey for many of us.

I can graft two pieces of knit fabric flat on a table, easily, by eye (without a cheat sheet). Somehow when it’s a sock toe where fabric is not flat but going down from the needles front and back, well, it doesn’t look the same and I have trouble without notes. I do it and do it well, but I don’t do it without a cheat sheet. Unless I use the sock chimney. Piece of cake. I love it.

Lucy comes up with solutions to problems in a way that could pigeonhole her only as a scientific mind and perhaps miss her other attributes. The picture here of her in the lattice vest with many holes (she calls it “The Emperor’s New Vest” was her answer to having a very small amount of incredible lightweight wool/angora yarn and wanting to find the best way to make something of it.

Her bicycle socks continue to impress me… the area between the decreases on either side of the sock toe includes a colorwork pattern that is a bicycle chain… and that pattern goes clear up the sock all the way to the cuff. It’s so simply executed that at first you do not realize how much thinking needed to be done to make it work. Wonderful work.

But you can not call her merely a technician and tell the whole truth. She is also an artist in every way. When you meet Lucy, you notice immediately that she dyes her hair brilliant colors. This time it was mostly hot magenta with bits of blue-purple. The first time I met her it was a more subtle purple. Really pretty, but not normally seen on a mother of 3 who has a job and family. (I have friends with a stripe of color but Lucy is 100% colorized.)

And Sunday she was wearing two different unmatched Birkenstock sandals, a different style on each foot. Each toenail was painted a different color. She knits wallhangings of tropical fish, she designed a totally amazing vest inspired by a peruvian hat where the pattern is more of a method than a pattern. She’s an artist through and through.

When I grow up, I want to be more like Lucy! Yes, I realize that is impossible, and I need to be more like me… but imagine that mind and that creativity all in one package. I can be geeky (I have done my share of computer programming though I don’t like it much unless it’s hand-coding web pages). However I’m clearly balanced a little further toward the artsy side than I think is good for a businesswoman. I work on balance every day, but sometimes I’m better at it than others.

I learned sooo much, I hope I can remember half of the things we discussed in class. I am bursting with possibilities. I loved the tubular cast-ons we learned. I loved her “flying sparrow” colorwork pattern (as used in her Fiesta Feet sock pattern among others).

Anyway… my swatches from the workshop are less than exciting and I will spare you photos of them. For example, I have a length of 5″x1 “2×2 rib which has a tubular cast on that is not obvious in photos. Boring. Not boring to do, not boring in a design, but the sample itself has nothing to offer you.

The photo of Lucy demonstrating not only shows her method of holding her right needle (more like a pencil with the needle resting between thumb and forefinger) but shows my circular swatch for the flying sparrows colorwork stitch pattern. She was demonstrating on my fuschia and turquoise piece, and it looked like it might have been hers. We’re on the same wavelength with color, it appears.

So I offer you three photos from the workshop. First is Lucy helping and explaining, one on one. Next is Lucy wearing her lattice vest made of amazing luxurious angora blend yarn. Like a cloud, I tell you! Last is Lucy demonstrating a sewn/grafted tubular bind off. Ick. I didn’t enjoy that particular technique much at all but maybe I’d like it with a little practice.

Sunday I will spend 9-4 studying advanced socknitting techniques with the incomparable Lucy Neatby. This is worth doing without sleep for!

Lucy is the only national teacher I’ve studied with three times. (I have studied dyeing with Merike Saarniit twice, and two half-days with Melissa Leapman, one on knitting and one crochet.) I have limited funds for this sort of thing, especially in the slow season… so I need to choose classes carefully at times. I have never been to a Stitches event, for example… the hotel bill on top of class fees makes it less than appealing.

However, when I can drive to a class and not stay overnight, I tend to dive in and learn, learn learn! This one is sponsored by Heritage Spinning in Lake Orion, an hour and a half from home. Starting at 9am. I usually go to bed after 1am, often past 2am. This means a short night, but I don’t care.

I’m really looking forward to this workshop. See you when I return!

Today my photo is Hershberger Art Kazoo(tm) number 183, entitled Sweet Dream. I have not made a single kazoo in 3 years (June ‘02 to be exact). This is for a woman graduating from med school, from her mother. I couldn’t say no!

A friend writes that June 10, Friday, was the 70th anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous. I’m grateful.

AA started the concept of the 12 steps of recovery. Those steps can bring stability to a person’s life when there has been none. It’s not for everyone, it’s not needed by the whole world. However, those it helps typically have lives falling apart, have tried other methods to make their life function, and those previous methods didn’t help. It’s not easy, but it can help some folks who couldn’t find help elsewhere.

Clearly alcohol, or food, or relationships, or “drugs,” or credit cards, or gambling, or any number of other things that become the object of obsession/addiction in a few folks’ lives, are not problems for the vast majority of people. AA and similar programs are there for those few outside the majority… those who feel pretty alone looking for help, among those who don’t understand.

I’m not in AA, but I have been deeply helped by the 12 steps. I won’t tell my own story or the stories of those around me who have turned around their lives. I will just say that my gratitude is immeasurable.

It was a hard row to hoe for those founders who started it all. Yet the group goes on, with a life of its own. The founders were wise, very wise. And willing to give up many things to make it work. The book called “The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA” is one of the wisest books I’ve read. I could not be called devout in any tradition, but I’ve read that small book numerous times. I always gain something when I do.

There is a principle in the 12 steps, which often helps me in my everyday life. In my words, the point is to not dilute what we have in common, by bringing in our outside passions (which might be religion or politics) which could pull us apart. The concept of “outside issues” helps keep me focused when working with other folks.

When I rehearse with my dance troupe, I focus on dance. When I teach computers, that is what I focus upon. I don’t try to get someone to my church and I don’t say how I voted. This focus brings unity where there could be conflict. It’s a wise way to live life. (Or at least it is for someone like me who doesn’t do conflict well!)

I guess you could say that AA is an outside issue to the ColorJoy Blog. Where my theme is “Art as an Everyday Attitude.” Except, my friends, I could not find art in my life at all before I found myself. The “old Lynn” was a sad girl with almost no art in her life. I wore black nearly every day (really) and I didn’t know myself for a long time (ask my mother). I could not call myself Artist until maybe 10 years ago, though I clearly always was the same person on the inside. So really, for me, this is a pertinent subject.

Thanks, Dr. Bob and Bill W! You changed a corner of the world, by starting just to change your own lives.

Photo: One of the 5 flowerpots I planted a week ago. Look at those purple lobelia! I used 3 colors of impatiens this year, and that brought a lot of depth to the arrangement. I’m pleased.

Mark Sahlgren, DJ in Kalamazoo writes:

Just want to let you both know that I placed a couple more of your tunes on Grassroots which will air this Sunday at 10 am til noon; then repeat the following Saturday 8 til 10 pm. WMUK.org

Mark, thank you so much. You made my day! You’ll make it again on Sunday and the Saturday following. Much appreciated.

Well, friends, I love to embellish things. I love to do decorative painting, etc., on the gizmos in my life. I have showed you my previous cell phone here, I’ve shown you my thermos. You have seen the colored trim inside this house. I’ve talked about the purple and salmon colored trim on the outside of the house but not given you a very good photo yet. I have not shown you the several laptops I’ve “improved” over the years, or other already-forgotten projects of this sort.

Often I do this thing, embellishing boring gizmos particularly, during cold gray weather. I started the indoor painting of the kitchen the day after Christmas one year. I did my most recent cellphone in January just over a year ago. The thermos was another December project.

This one is slightly different. Altu was very interested in my palm device (I use it as my calendar and my address book), when I took it to Africa. Actually, I have two of them. I bought one (it was a cobalt blue Handspring Visor NEO) several years ago and then dropped it less than a year later, and broke the glass. I then bought another, exactly the same model/color on Ebay. That means I had two of every attachment, but one working device.

Just before we went to Africa, my friend Ben offered me his old NEO (it was transparent golden yellow). He didn’t have a synchronization cradle, a cover or battery cover, but he had a working gizmo. That worked perfectly for me! I’m sure to break the current one sometime, and it’s great to have a backup at hand.

I took it home, put the cobalt cover and battery door on it, and could synch it in my existing cradle. In fact, I took that one to Africa, thinking that if I lost it I would not be as bummed with the loss.

When I got home I went back to my cobalt blue device (which I’d decorated with fingernail polish). Altu continued to be interested in my gizmo. So I told her I’d give her my spare.

Except the spare was really looking raggedy. The blue cover had Teletubby stickers on it (I figured it was less likely to be stolen at a community center if it looked like it were cool to a 2-yr-old). The back of the device had velcro on it from when Ben used it. The lid and battery cover were vastly different in color than the main device. It needed some help to look as pretty as my friend Altu deserves. I told her I’d decorate it for her, and she agreed.

So I worked like crazy to get the adhesive off it… on the front from the stickers and the back from the velcro. Then I got out my huge collection of nail polish colors. I tested all the colors on dark plastic (the bottom of the synchronization cradle, which is black) to see if they would actually show up on the cobalt blue. And then I dove in.

Altu loves purple and bright green a lot (although she truly does love all colors). I used those colors plus some blue and some golden yellow, so that I could pull the colors of the pieces together some. I’m very happy with the results. See? Before/After pictures should tell the story. I’m sure she will enjoy using this lovely artpiece now! I’m delighted with it.

Two years ago, I asked Brian to move a peony bush. It was not in the sunshine and was not thriving. I thought a move about 4 feet west, to a sunnier spot, would be good for it.

Well, I really regretted my decision. That plant nearly did not survive the move. One by one, each stalk wilted and the leaves shriveled and died. I watered it as much as I possibly could, and I cut back each dead leaf so it wouldn’t strain any remaining life in the plant. It got down to one stalk with just a few leaves. I was sure it was a goner. I’d get home from work and the one stalk would have drooped onto the ground. I’d water it, the leaf would stand up just a little, and the next day it was on the ground again. I was heartbroken.

Then last year I was thrilled and astounded to have it come back with healthy greenery. It did not bloom, but it was strong and tall and appeared happy. As if I had never hurt it.

And this year? It is blooming! We have four smallish (for a peony, that is) flowers blooming right now. I am absolutely delighted. Take a look! (The pink flower is a geranium in a pot, in front of the peony.)

Wowie. I really love finishing knitting projects. Sometimes it seems I start and things are not right, I stop as I should until I can figure out how to fix the problem (or rip it out) and start something else. Sometimes I have several false starts in a row and it gets old.

But this week is a good week. I finished Brian’s birthday socks, my pair #116, on Tuesday. Lovely dress socks in fat sportweight yarn, washable merino that was a delight to knit with. The socks have their own story to tell, as far as how I ended up designing them just this way, and I hope I’ll take the time to tell it soon. For now, check out the final product. I’m pleased and so is Brian.

The next photo is not my project but that of a friend at the Ann Arbor Borders knit in. She bought some of my ColorSport yarn a good while back (I think last August). She decided to make this sweater, which I believe is a take off on Kyoto from Knitty. The blue portion is a double-strand of my ColorSport yarn, I believe in my best-seller colorway (the only one I regularly attempt to repeat), Seaside.

The sweater is really pretty in person. I only got one shot of her holding it before she put it down so trust me, this woman is more beautiful than this photo shows. I’m vain enough to show you the shot so that you can see my pretty yarn knit up!

But that is not the last finished project! I found these sad, nearly-finished socks when I was cleaning. I started them for Brian before I went to Africa, and put them away so they would not be in his space while I was gone. You could perhaps call these Brian’s Christmas socks, if I were to be honest! Six-month-delay socks! I finished them today.

In this photo you can see them as I found them in my storage box. The needles were still in the toe. You can see on one, that I used yarn from Sara’s Christmas socks to mark the spot for the heel. The other pair I just used some yarn from the same skein so you can’t see the spot well.

I started the heels yesterday/Tuesday, and finished them today/Wednesday. And now Brian has two new pairs of socks in two days. Woohoo!

Today I also tried an experiment that is looking reasonably successful. I found a pattern for a crocheted bikini in an old Family Circle Easy Knitting magazine. It called for Cotton-Ease, and I happened to have most of a skein of that yarn somehow. I had the hook sizes it called for. I gave it a try.

Now some of you in Lansing know that I’ve been trying to crochet another bikini top, out of skinny/sportweight cotton yarn. That pattern is so impossibly complex for no reason I can figure out, that I have been really confused by it and stuck with perhaps 25% of one side of the top completed.

This Cotton Ease yarn is much fatter and I don’t like that as well, but the pattern made so much sense that I finished one side and most of a second, since my CityKidz Knit program ended today at 5pm. And somewhere in there I had a two-hour dance rehearsal as well. This is the life! If it really actually fits, I may do my best to try to adapt it to smaller yarn, rip out the first too-complex project and try again, a different pattern with the lovely fine cotton. We’ll see how it goes.

I must say, that Melissa Leapman crochet workshop was the ticket for me. I finally understand printed crochet patterns. That is, when they are written clearly, anyway!

Earlier today I posted a grumpy message here. Later I changed my mind and deleted it… if you remember it try to get amnesia on that one, OK?

I’m not going to do photos today, I’m a tired girl. It’s very hot here and I am not at all complaining. I adore hot weather. I do feel hot sometimes (although not as soon as others do) but even when I do, I appreciate it for not being winter. Love this time of year. The steam assures me that I won’t be freezing in a winter coat for months. I love knowing that! But sleeping in heat is not as restful as sleeping in a cool room, and this is making me tired and grumpy, like a toddler, at least for the first several hours I’m awake. It’s not the best side of me. I’m working on that.

The good, un-grumpy news: Today I finished Brian’s birthday socks. I took photos and will post one tomorrow if all goes well. He likes them, they fit well, and that yarn is so wonderful! I’m glad to have finished because it’s a week after his birthday, but not glad since the yarn was so delightful to work with. Someday I’ll do it again. There is a purple I haven’t knit with yet!

Then, last night I was cleaning house. Well, I was trying desperately to organize my knitting/yarn storage area (which is essentially half of our living room, the only large room in the house). In the process, I found a pair of sox I’d been working on before I left for Africa. They are a Regia Jacquard if I remember right (ball bands are missing, darn it) in grays and taupe. For Brian.

They were top down, with afterthought heel. And they were done other than the heels and the working in of ends. I’m working on them now. The first heel is done and I’m just starting heel #2. It would be very cool to finish two pair in one day, but it’s clear to me that I’m tired and need to sleep more than I need to finish a second pair of sox for Brian today.

Brian is pretty pleased by this development, I’m sure you can imagine. Two pair in two days (after a pretty long absence of new socks for him) is a pretty nice thing, indeed. Actually, I keep a log of socks I’ve knit and I wonder if this can be right? The last pair I see I knit for him were his Halloween Sox on 10/31/03? That pair has been a favorite of his ever since I made them. Can it be I’ve knit for Ulyana (friend) and Sara (goddaughter) and Mom and me, me, me, and missed out on poor Brian? I’m really glad, in that case, that he is getting more than one pair this week.

Hmmm, I must confess that knitting Brian’s sox just are not as exciting for me. I usually knit him neutral colors. Maybe I’ll have to figure out a new plan. He likes red and orange shirts, and wears plenty of turquoise and green. He does not work a boring/conservative job. He can wear what he wants and he likes the green/orange/navy pair (that yarn was a gift from the Boyz at Threadbear) as much or more than any other pair he has. I’m going to have to go look for some fun yarn for Brian so I can actually enjoy knitting for him a little better. He’s definitely worth it.

I never apologize for being a selfish knitter… after all, I buy the yarn and I spend all the time knitting. I started knitting again because I wanted wool sox in size 6US shoe size, in bright colors. I can not purchase anything in that description in any store I’ve found. So now I’m making what I really love to wear, best of all. But my beloved is a very fine partner and I am really bummed to find I ignored him for over a year, in the socknitting “department.”

Oh, in other news: I went to Ann Arbor Borders for a knit in again today. Love those people! Before that, dinner at Zingermans with my brother Eric and his wife, Diana. Had a grand time. No wonder I’m in a better mood now than this morning!

Nighty night. Pictures tomorrow.