Well, folks, it was wonderful. Prepare for too many photos. Twenty-six photos, to be exact (I promise, I worked at making them small enough to load fast). How can I dare leave anything out???

After we got our CD shipment on Thursday, we went to lunch and then left for Indianapolis, Indiana. We got there just in time to check in to our hotel and run over to the Indiana State Museum for the “American Novelty” preview concert.

American Novelty is a project by the act “Shorty Long” from Austin, Texas, made up of Pops Bayless, Mysterious John and “Just Plain Bob” Guz. It details a fictitious history of American Novelty music. It’s downright hilarious, with great songs and better musicianship. (They did a short version this weekend but will be doing the full script in New York City this spring if I heard correctly… it’s a must-see.)

I adore this band. They are musical, tight, and entertaining. Of course, I could be even more biased than a friend might be, because John is an amazing kazoo player. Besides his voice, kazoo is his primary instrument, and he plays it well. I love kazoos, and I love John. (Photo #1, from left to right, Bob, Pops and John.)

We got there just as the concert started, so after the show was the first time we had to say hello to these folks we know and hold dear, and see only at Ukefests. This was our third year at Indianapolis, our fourth Ukefest (including the Pocanos last year). Folks are friends now, and it’s a warm and welcoming community.

Thursday night we went out to Action Duckpin Bowl for a preview party. Some folks bowled but we just said hello to more friends. Each main stage act that was there, performed one song for the crowd. Here Brian and I are after our song (photo #2 by Jude), and here (photo #3) is Howie, volunteer extraordinaire, and Geoff Davis, creator of the Midwest Ukefest (I bow to his willingness to work).

Check out the photos of a kid bowling, the outside of the building with all its neon, and especially the “Diner” neon sign (Photos #4, 5 & 6). Frequent readers will remember that I am very fond of old neon signs. I took other photos at this same location, the building is just covered in old neon. Unfortunately I was feeling rushed as others waited on me, and the photos are blurry (in a non-artful way).

But the end of the duckpin bowling alley experience was not the end of the evening. We went back to our hotel, and had a jam session in the lobby until waaay past midnight (Photos #7 &
Morning came far too soon, as you can imagine! We presented a workshop at 9am on Friday. Mind you, it takes a seriously dedicated ukulele player to be at a workshop on a Friday morning. Not only does it require night-owl musicians to wake up early, but even early birds had to probably get a day off work to be there.

We were very pleased to have a couple of dozen folks there to listen to Brian’s presentation on fingerpicking (Photo #9). Me? I was there, but I can’t say I wasn’t tired. It took a few good strong cups of tea to get me going that day!

My favorite workshop is always the hula class. This year we had hula both Friday and Saturday, with Joyce Flaugher from San Antonio, Texas. She’s a great teacher, who imparts not just the moves but the intent behind them.

The first day of hula class it was really cold, the rumor was that it was in the upper 40’s F (around 8.5C). There we were, outdoors by the canal, in the wind without a lick of sun to warm us (Photo #10). I wore my coat, my wristwarmers, ColorJoy Stole, legwarmers, and hat… and was still chilled. Yet we dedicated ones stuck it out and learned a wonderful song that Joyce wrote herself. (The previous two years, we danced outdoors barefoot comfortably, see hula class pictures from my weblog of 2004.)

Fortunately, on Saturday they found us a warm spot in a small school cafeteria room at the Museum, and we danced indoors. The space was not fancy but it was easier to hear Joyce and it was just enough more intimate that I think we really did get a better sense of the spirit of hula as well as the specific dance. I loved it.

That night was the first main stage concert. The acts were all spectacular in their own styles. That night we heard:

The Key Strummers (sponsors of the event, a fine kid’s band), Indianapolis, Indiana
Bryan Tolentino and the Side Order Band, Honolulu, Hawai’i
Gerald Ross, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Joyce Flaugher and Bev Gagliardi, San Antonio, Texas
Mark “Spanky” Gutierrez, Omaha Nebraska
Kimo Hussey, Honolulu, Hawai’i
Pops, Mysterious John and Just Plain Bob (Shorty Long), Austin, Texas

The photos (#11, 12 & 13) here are of Mark/Spanky, Gerald Ross, and Joyce (singing) with Bev (dancing). I regret I did not get a good shot of our friend Kathy Gravlin (of Katseye) when she was playing ukulele to back up Gerald on lap steel guitar.

On Friday night, Brian went to the late-night jam session at the Golden Ace Irish pub. I went directly to bed and slept like a baby! No regrets here. Sleep is holy sometimes, and the night before a big show it seems the only answer.

Saturday was another day of workshops, plus concerts in the main hall of the Indiana State Museum and late in the afternoon an Open Mic. I’m particularly fond of Open Mic, since we were sort of “discovered” at the open mic two years ago at this very location.

We literally got to the festival on Friday that year, about 10 minutes to 3:00pm, and they were still soliciting performers for the 3:00 Open Mic show. We signed up, ran and changed into our formalwear, and darned if we weren’t a bit of a hit!

The next day they asked us to play again at Open Mic (which we tried to decline so that others could get a shot playing… but there ended up being room for all). Well, Geoff Davis (head honcho of Midwest Ukefest) went in there to hear us and afterward asked us to play the main stage. And the rest, they say, is history… (or something like that).

This year was less dramatic at Open Mic, but Joyce’s students performed their one hula dance. I was one of the dancers and delighted to be! Here are two photos graciously taken by David Smith of Dearborn… the feet of the dancers lined up and waiting for their turn, and we students on stage at the beginning of our dance. That would be me in the front row, second from left in the hot pink turtleneck. (Photos #14 & 15)

Saturday night we had dinner with friends from Michigan at Buca di Beppo, an amazing Italian restaurant (it’s a chain, but they use real ingredients, no fillers, no corn syrup or corn oil which means I am not allergic to their food). Sara, my Goddaughter, and I discovered this chain in Chicago a few summers ago, and now I really look forward to it in Indy when we’re there.

At the table were Brian and I, Kathy Gravlin, Gerald Ross, and our friend (and amazing upright bass player) Steve S., whose last name I do not have any idea how to spell, but who seems to be in nearly every band in Lansing. It was wonderfully relaxing to have this great meal before our performance. (The night before, we’d enjoyed a meal at India Garden with Kathy, her friend Bryan and his wife Meg, who is a knitter, and we had a great time then as well.)

The show was another wonderful set of talented folks. I just shake my head some nights, as I see who we are sharing a stage with once more. How lucky we are. Two of the acts before us, Joel Eckhaus and Pat Monteleone, are folks whose music overlaps ours. That is, we have to trade notes before a show to make sure we are not all planning to sing the same thing!!! Our styles of presenting a song are very different but our love of the genre means we dig out the same gems at times. This is a good problem, for sure. The lineup on Saturday was:

The Key Strummers, Indianapolis, Indiana
Byron Yasui, Honolulu, Hawai’i
The Windy City Islanders, Chicago, Illinois
Steve Kobe and Friends Arcadia, Indiana
Joel Eckhaus, Portland, Maine
Pat Monteleone, Hollicong, Pennsylvania
The Fabulous Heftones (Brian & I), Lansing, Michigan
James Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Because we were backstage most of the time, I gave my camera to trusty ukulele friend Theresa Smith of Dearborn, Michigan who took some great photos of that show for me. The photo here of the Keystrummers I actually took on Friday (they played both nights) and the photo of Brian and I as The Fabulous Heftones was taken by Theresa. (Photos #16 & 17) Check out in the Keystrummers photo, at far right. David the amazing musician/dancer and veteran Keystrummer, is playing a washboard contraption with vigor. He’s a talented young man.

We performed six numbers: Hum Your Troubles Away, Tellin’ it to the Daisies, Shy Little Violets, Ukulele Cha, Valley of the Moon and I Love Me. Two are flower songs from our new CD, In the Garden. Valley of the Moon (download free) is from our first CD, Moon June Spoon. Ukulele Cha is a number Brian composed and which will be released on a CD called Raspberry Rag. The other two numbers we do perform regularly but have not yet recorded.

The audience, as always, was great. I was delighted because even though October is a crummy allergy month, this year I had my full voice with me up there. From the comments I received after the show, other folks noticed as well.

It is the ultimate compliment to a singer, to have a musician say that her performance made him aware of how much can be done with the instrument that is the human voice. Dang! I lived my whole life not anticipating that sentiment. I was humbled and honored. And truly, it did feel as “right” a performance as we have ever given. I didn’t get nervous at all, and I felt the audience out there loving me. It was wonderful.

Oh, in knitting content, perhaps you can slightly see that I was wearing the purple and turquoise version of my Garden Capelet during our set. I designed this pattern when I found that the ColorJoy Stoles I usually wear would not stay on me while playing bass (with my left arm raised) on stage. Since I tend to knit the first several versions of a pattern as yarn shop samples, I had never worn it before. This one was at Little Red Schoolhouse yarn shop for about 6 months.

It worked perfectly on stage, stayed in place for a 20 minute set with me moving around a lot. It’s a little sparkly and a lot colorful, and it works great under the lights with my turquoise silk dress (which was my wedding dress 9 years ago).

But just because the concert was over, did not mean we were done! Back to the Golden Ace (I went this time) for a “WADSY” (We Ain’t Done Strummin’ Yet) jam session. (Photos #18-23) The tunes were hot and the styles were varied. We had swing, blues, jug band, tin pan alley, original tunes, fake Hawaiian tunes, fake Irish tunes, banjo tunes, and music I do not know how to categorize. There were bands and clubs and individuals all playing what they could, playing along, leading, whatever they could do. It was a scene in the best sense of the word.

Please notice the third Golden Ace photo here with George on guitar and Wendy (from Connecticut) on uke. I took a photo of Wendy in the Pocanos last year! It’s the last photo on this blog page. I was thrilled to recognize her (and, gasp, actually remember her name… sometimes I get it right).

I must confess, I am not fond of crowds. Last year this event was overwhelming. But last year I was not feeling 100%, recovering from a sinus bug, and this year I was happy and healthy and high from a great show. I had a wonderful time!!! We closed the place after 3am. And we had to check out of the hotel in the morning! We got almost enough sleep.

Sunday brunch is a really special part of the weekend. We go to Shapiro’s Deli and have lunch, whoever is still in town. The Keystrummers and their families tend to populate this gathering well, and it gives us a chance to get to know them. They are so busy working on our behalf from Thursday to Saturday that they don’t have much chatting time. I am a big sucker for relationship, I love talking and getting to know people, especially clearly good people such as these.

Brian was right when he said something like this event gives you hope for the future of mankind. These families are working as a team to support their kids and this worthy Ukefest. Each year the kids in the band are getting older and more accustomed to the event, and therefore are taking on more and more of the actual work responsibilities of running the festival. They do a great job. It was really obvious this year how much they do, and how well.

And the parents are so fine! I talked to several parents and they all really seemed to have a clear sense of who their children really were, what the kids’ passions and talents were. It is hard enough to just run a household, but on top of that to really know and understand your child’s assets and challenges is such a gift, not only to your child but to the universe. Hard stuff, and these families are doing a bang-up job of it.

Here I end with three photos of only a few of the folks who ate lunch at Shapiro’s (we took up this entire room you see). First a large table shot (photo #24)… notice Carol at front left, who saw my Fabulous Heftones brochure at the “Mass Ave Yarn Shop” (which is on Virginia Avenue, not Massachusetts) and was delighted to see it! (If you ever make it to Indianapolis, go visit Susan there and tell her I sent you. It was a quite spacious shop with a big table for sit-and-knit activity. She had lots of yarn variety, particularly an amazing number of artful handpainted yarn lines.)

Then some photos of young folks. First a jam session, just my Brian and Cole (Photo #25). They played for maybe 45 minutes, just the two of them, and it was just plain wonderful. Cole is Dan’s kid, Dan had a vendor booth this weekend. He knew about the Knitlist, so we hit it off right away! I hope we see this family again.

And the last photo? A young lady in the Keystrummers asked me during the weekend if I’d teach her to knit. She reminded me of this promise late in the lunch event, so we dove in. (Photo #26)

I pulled two needles out of the hat I was knitting, and broke off a few yards of wonderful green alpaca. I taught her the simplest cast on, how to knit, and the simplest bind off I could. She made something like a 1″ square of garter fabric and was teasing that it might work as a nosewarmer! It’s a start, though.

I encouraged her that there are yarn shops in town with classes. In fact, now that I think back, she said that the duckpin bowling was in her neighborhood… which is only a few blocks from Susan’s Mass Ave. Yarn Shop. I’m crossing my fingers for this young lady that she’ll keep it up.

And that is my (much abbreviated, believe it or not) story of Midwest Ukefest 2005. We’ll be back in another year. I can’t wait!

We’re still in Indianapolis for the Ukefest. There has been little time to sleep, much less turn on a computer. We just checked out of the hotel but they let me use their guest computer in the lobby to post this, after our checkout. Of course, that means that there is no way to show you photos on my own computer right now.

We are of course having the time of our lives. This is our third Ukefest in Indianapolis, plus we went to the Pocanos last year, so we are now surrounded with folks we know and love. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend!

I took a lot of photos, and friends consented to take photos of us the two times we performed for crowds. I promise a good handful of those photos when I can get to my own laptop!

Meanwhile, rest assured that Indianapolis is the best of cities. I love cities, I collect them. The roughest part of Indy is driving, because there are many one-way streets and huge buildings that take up many city blocks which means the logical through-street detours you around and it’s easy to get lost. Add that to several diagonal roads which are hard to find until you are nearly past them, and driving is a challenge. But the people are friendly, the weather has been rain-free, we have found great food for dinner each night, the locals have gone out of their way to make us happy and welcomed.

Of course, we are here for music. And that has also been wonderful. We’ve had many grand jam sessions, we’ve watched some amazing performaces, we were allowed to perform on the same stage with those great performers, and we found our way to a few smaller stages including open mic where we were “discovered” two years ago ourselves. Our friends from the Detroit-area Uke club played, and some excellent individual musicians.

And hula! Joyce Flaugher is a great hula teacher who can get a lot of information across in a short time. I studied with her one hour each day, on Fri/Sat. On Saturday afternoon we performed at the Open Mic and it went pretty well. It was well-received by the audience, which was a nice plus.

Off to eat breakfast with the group. The Keystrummers and their families have been the best hosts, they made the whole thing happen and very smoothly at that! Now we go to breakfast at Shapiro’s Deli, where we can chat and not worry about deadlines and tasks. It is the best of ways to end a weekend.

Photos as soon as I return to the laptop. I hope you all also have a good weekend.

At 10:00am, there was a knock at the door. It was the UPS man, with a box of 100 CD’s. Not any CD, but The Fabulous Heftones, In the Garden!

We leave soon for Midwest Ukefest and now we’ll have a box of our CDs with us. I’m very excited!

This CD was my dream for several years. I’ve been collecting songs about flowers and gardents, rainbows and birds, ever since I realized there actually were a good number of them to collect. The 1920s didn’t sing much about their angst, they seemed instead to try to sing it away in silly and fluffy little songs with a cheerful lilt. I love that!

Brian has put together a preliminary web page for the CD if you would like a peek. If you scroll down, under “Notes from Lynn” you can read the liner notes (or at least most of them).

This is our first CD that uses music that is still under copyright protection. In fact, only April Showers is from 1921 and thus not under copyright jurisdiction in the USA. Therefore we can not put up lyrics and full downloads for the full CD as we have with our previous works.

However, Brian has put up a full downloadable audio version of April Showers in MP3 or OGG formats, and also made a page for the song, which shows a scan of the sheet music (complete with photo of Al Jolson, one of the biggest stars of the era). He includes words and chords for this song, as well. Go, Brian!

Well, now I think I have to actually go pack the car so we can get ourselves to Indianapolis for a 6pm concert. Pops Bayless and Mysterious John, also known as “Shorty Long,” are doing a concert at the Indiana State Museum, which will be followed by a social event at a vintage 1920s bowling alley called Action Duckpin Bowl.

From there it just gets more fun. Friday and Saturday there are workshops to attend (Brian teaches one on fingerpicking on Saturday morning, I’ll be there as well) plus open mic shows and vendors. As always, there will be jamming, musicians playing anywhere they can stop. There will be hula class, one of my favorite things each year.

(I had to give up on the knitted grass skirt, and I’m bummed about that… it was looking great but I just did not have enough time to do personal knitting and it’s 3/4 done, which is a too-short micro-mini to be decent for wear. It will have to wait for another Ukefest.)

But I’d rather give up on the skirt and have the CD!!! Indianapolis, here we come!

Rosa Parks is gone. Right now I can find no words. Just big, wet tears and sobs…
yet perhaps that is the highest tribute I can pay.

What a woman. She’s not really gone, is she? She truly lives on…
but I’m still sad.

This weekend, I’m going to Midwest Ukefest in Indianapolis. If I were not going there, I’d be spending my time at Threadbear Fiberarts in Lansing, Michigan (my home town). This is what Rob wrote last Wednesday:

…next weekend (some are calling it “Hallowe’en weekend) we’re gonna have a little fun!

We’ll have a weekend of events and special goings-on next Friday (October 28th) through Sunday (the 30th), including a special market area on Saturday. The market area will include outside folks with ancillary goods. What that means is we’ll have fiber-related and fun-filled items available through the actual artist folks….everything from hand-made soaps (from Xscentrics), as well as alpaca related goods and finished items (from a local grower). More details next will be in next week’s note, but plan to come by all next weekend and expecially next Saturday for a day (or three) of fun and fall!

I was invited to come and sell my handpainted yarns and buttons. I’ll be singing instead. But it sounds like great fun. I expect another notice with more details but I may not have time to post it. If you want your very own weekly newsletter from Rob, send him an email requesting it, at Rob AT Threadbearfiberarts.com

It is sure to be a good time. Anything at Threadbear turns into a party, a happening! Don’t miss it. Call a friend or three, fill up the minivan, and spend a weekend with other fiber fanatics… OK?

No, he didn’t pay me for this advertisement. But I told you before, I adore all my yarn shops and today is Threadbear’s turn for some press time.

A few weekends ago I was downtown Lansing at the LCC (Lansing Community College) campus on a sunny Saturday. I took a few larger-than-usual photos that day.

These photos are on Capitol Avenue, literally a block or two from the State Capitol of Michigan. The building was built in 1891, a very old building for this part of the country. It was renovated by LCC sometime after they purchased it, in the last half of the 1900s.
This building is only part of the beautiful proof of the fine design work of architect Darius Moon, who was perhaps the most prominent Lansing-area architect of that time (at least he is the only one that keeps coming up when I pay attention to local buildings). When I lived in Williamston, there was a wonderful Darius Moon house near the railroad tracks, with the best porch railing I’ve ever seen.

Here is a side view of the house and its historical marker, and a detail of the fine woodwork above the front door.

Saturday I taught three ladies how to knit toe-up socks at Yarn Garden in Charlotte, Michigan. Charlotte is a beautiful, old small city and the folks are friendly and warm. The shop used to be a tiny hallway but several years ago they moved down the street, right across from the historical courthouse, into a gorgeous old building. The front room is mostly yarn, the back room is yarn and a pleasant table for classes, and the “back yard” includes a wonderful garden where Kim (the owner) and I sat one sunny spring day knitting together.

The students I had were fun folks! Minda came from Lansing, Joyce came from Charlotte and Annette from another lovely small old city nearby. We had a great time. Experience level went from Joyce’s many top down pairs including argyles, to Annette’s first experience with double-pointed needled (DPNs). They all did well.

After class got out, I went for a little walk in the downtown Charlotte area. I took the photo of the old courthouse from the sidewalk just in front of Kim’s shop. This town makes Autumn look as good as it gets!

And I made sure to stop at Sharon’s Cafe’. I love that place… it was hopping for Saturday Dinnertime, folks of all ages ordering old fashioned goods. And pie. I got Brian some apple pie. He loves pie and I love getting it for him… and at Sharon’s they make it from scratch. I love to support businesses who go the extra mile to do things well!

And the hat? It’s the prototype for my “Simple Fairisle Hat” that I’m teaching (at Yarn Garden again) on Wednesdays, 11-2pm November 9 and 23. It is related in motif to my Heritage Heirloom socks. This hat has merely 6 rows of two-color knitting, but a lot of “Pow” for the small bit of effort. I’m very pleased with this one! It will be a pattern for sale someday, but I want to run it through the class first. I learn about how to word things better, when I work with students.

Photos: 1) Class after Joyce left. Me, Annette, and Minda’s ear and sock; 2) Charlotte Historical Courthouse; 3) Hat sample for November class.

On Thursday, one of my new knitters brought me her project. It had started out as a wristband but when she had knit a while she decided she did not want to stop. She thought maybe she’d like a headband. OK, go for it, I said!

So the next day here she was with her project, she had knit until her smallish ball of yarn had no more left to give her. It was too long even for a headband. It looked to me like a very short belt. It’s a pastel rainbow, just beautiful in garter fabric (5 stitches wide).

So I taught her how to bind off and she learned how to make fringe (with yarn I happened to still have in the room, which matched her knitting yarn perfectly). The fringe made it just long enough to truly work great as a belt.

And doesn’t she look beautiful and happy? I’m sure you can see why I love teaching these kids!!!

My sister-in-law, Diana, wrote with a quotation today:

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the wind longs to play with your hair.
         - Kahlil Gibran

Learning to go barefoot again was a big part of shedding my “old” life and becoming LynnH the artist (the person I am now, a significantly more authentic self). I had a wonderful boss/friend in the early 1990s, during my divorce, who believed strongly that connecting our bare feet with the earth could help us balance out our energy. I was very unbalanced and uptight after years of trying to make significant others and “the neighbors” happy.

I was trying to learn who I was. He really encouraged me to go barefoot and reconnect with things outside myself that were nature-based rather than social/culture-based. It helped me. I needed to see myself as part of the earth and not just an unacceptable square peg around round folks who fit round holes.

I remember the first day I noticed a breeze on my skin. I was sitting on a curb somewhere and it was peaceful, and I felt the breeze push my hair a little, brush my cheek a little. I realized that I’d been missing that part of the world around me for years.

Waking up took me a long time, but this quotation Diana sent reminded me of that part of the journey. I’ll never be a really big nature fan, I get sick (allergies) when I’ve been outside too long. Yet I do love walking, and in my neighborhood sometimes an early afternoon walk around the block can be quiet and peaceful. It can help me recharge my batteries for many more hours being a social butterfly. It’s all about balance, isn’t it?

Photo: Clouds late September this year. The clouds have been magnificent lately. During winter, we often get total cloudcover for days on end… I tend to dismiss all clouds because of that. Not this fall! Breathtaking! Notice all the colors… the top cloud has plum-red shadows, the bottom one blue-purple. Fabulous.

There is much locally to talk about today. Last Saturday we went to Altu’s for music and dinner, and the fabulous Jen Sygit and Laura Bates (known together as the act “Calamity Jane”) played great music and sang gorgeous harmonies. It was wonderful.

Speaking of Altu’s, she has a coupon in the City Pulse local free newspaper this week (Wednesday to Wednesday). It’s inside the back cover, at the bottom. Cut it out and get a deal while joining the best scene in town and eating food as good as it gets.

And speaking of City Pulse, they have a nice article on Jen Sygit in the current issue as well. She’s such a talented young singer/songwriter, and a cool person, I’m delighted she’s getting all this press! Go, Jen!

Doug Berch is playing at Altu’s this coming Saturday, from 6:30-8:30. He plays originals on the Hammered Dulcimer and traditional tunes on other fascinating instruments if we’re lucky as well. He’s a dear friend and a wonderful musician. There is sure to be a loyal group of our own friends there this Saturday for that.

On Friday (today, perhaps, depending on when you are reading this), my friend Nyla is dancing at the Aladdin’s restaurant in Target Plaza (between Marshalls and Pier One) near the Meridian Mall. Shows at 6:30 and 8:00 for about 20-30 minutes.

On Saturday, I’m teaching a mini-toe-up-sock class at Yarn Garden in Charlotte. It is definitely a “go” so you can even just show up and join in the fun, though I’d love an email letting me know you’re coming if you have time.

Included in the toe-up Saturday class is a copy of my First-Time Toe-Up Socks pattern. In order to do this design in one session, we will work in small numbers of stitches. You can either make a cute little ornamental sock in sockyarn or you can start a bulky yarn slipper version for yourself. The class is 10am to 4:30pm.

Photos: Calamity Jane last weekend at Altu’s (Jen and Laura), Doug Berch, Nyla in a previous performance at Aladdin’s, First-Time Toe-Up Sock in a bulky slipper style.

I took good care of my inner 13 year old yesterday and I feel much more like my normal adult self today. It was wonderful seeing my family again. We’re small but we’ve been through much together and it has made us well-connected.

It’s still chilly, with a frost warning tonight. I am still feeling cold, but a bit less grumpy about it, anyway. My tomato plant has over 20 tomatoes on it, many of them about full-sized. They are all green but I really want to give them as much of a chance to grow as possible. I put the plant on the landing in a protected corner (two walls of our house protect it) and I covered it with a plastic garbage bag for the night.

I tell you what, I’m almost willing to bring that plant inside under my natural lights in the dye studio, and let the fruit happen slowly where the frost won’t ruin it. I have not had an indoor plant in at least a dozen years… the mildew that grows in the soil is a problem for me. But I am sad to be so close to a second harvest and lose the fruit. For now, the plant is covered for the night.

Today I also tried out sitting on the heat vent, with our new furnace. It is not ***hot*** like the old one was, so it took me longer to warm up my feet, but once I had been there a while I did not bake and perspire, I just was pleasantly warm. This probably will work out, after all. And an efficient furnace will be a very good thing this winter, with the rising fuel costs.

The cold snap in the last few days has brought a few more colors to the trees. I notice it most when driving the highway to the west side (where Threadbear and Little Red Schoolhouse are), so the scenery is not optimal but the colors seem to be. Very nice.

Wednesdays I often meet with OfficiallyaKnitter and I finally got a photo of the rovings she dyed with Kool Aid about a month ago. We’re working on her vest at 3.25 st/in. Rae and I played around with possibilities, and Max wrote with some suggestions (so did someone else whose email I can not find right now). She likes to do without a lot of pattern-following so lots of “at the same time” was not where we wanted to go. She is getting gorgeous garter fabric when she swatches.

So we’re considering knitting the bodice of the Sally Melville Einstein Jacket, with a little band at the bottom rather than a knee-length coat section. Maybe we’d make bands around the armholes rather than sleeves, and maybe she could knit a collar. She’s considering contrasting yarn for the arm and neck bands if we are short yarn.

So I’m not sure how to figure this out. You helpful souls out there… I have her gauge swatch. I figure I can figure out how many square inches the swatch is, then rip it out and measure how many yards of fabric it took to make the swatch? Or shall I figure it by how many stitches, and figure out how many inches of yarn per stitch?

How would ***you*** figure out whether she has enough yarn for this project? I will have enough challenge figuring out how many inches it will be with the little band versus the lower body panels. She is willing to get a contrast yarn if necessary, but I am not sure if she needs any. Any advice would be more than welcome.

Last but not least, I had a good day with CityKidz Knit! There were about a half dozen kids with me today (most left before I took the photo). The best story, though, is that I had a girl two weeks ago who cried because she didn’t learn to knit easily. (She tried one stitch and said it was too hard, poor thing, she was over-trying and it made things worse.) Last week, she came back and left with a smile on her face. Today she finished her wristband and took a new one home to practice upon. I’m so glad her parents kept her coming back long enough to catch on.

Photos: 1) My Family at our early Thanksgiving… I’m very thankful for them (and for Fred, who took the photo), 2)) Photo of beautiful color on side of Interstate Highway 496 in downtown Lansing, 3) Kool-Aid Dyed rovings, 4) Two girls from Wednesday’s CityKidz Knit! program with their completed wristbands.

Ever since the weather turned chilly, I’ve been in a funk. It is not terminal, and I do pop out of it here and there, but late October is perhaps my worst time allergy-wise, and on top of that, my body does not deal with cold well at all. I start to dread snow, and we have not even had a hard frost.

I have been like a toddler who needs a nap, and I’m not liking myself much in this state. At least as an adult, I can see the mood and take a few actions toward turning the mood around.

Yesterday, I had the best of attitude adjustments when I met the lovely and talented Sharon P of KnitKnacks, for tea at the wonderful Gone Wired Cybercafe. We knit and talked and smiled and laughed, and petted each others’ knitting. She is a sunbeam in my life!

Today I had a small gift of a morning off. I had a class which cancelled at last minute. This meant I got to sleep longer, at least theoretically. And that meant that I didn’t have to stay up significantly past midnight making a pumpkin pie.

You see, my family is having Thanksgiving today. Eric and I both usually have Tuesdays off, and Mom travels a lot, and this just ended up being the best time for us to get together. So now I can start my day making pie. I’m not really alert for several hours after I wake up, in general, but I’ve made enough of this particular pie that I can do it in a half-zombie state, I’m sure.

Then my plan is to go for a walk. While I’m home working I decided to play some James Taylor. He always makes me feel calmer inside when I’m feeling rough. And then a walk will be good, since it’s sunny and the colors are starting to show. I think we won’t have much real color this year. There are huge areas where everything is still green, and yet some trees are losing leaves before they even turn. Yet a walk in sunshine, even with just a bit of color, will be just the ticket to make me smile again.

I went out several days ago and took photos a few blocks away behind our house, and took some photos. The first one here is facing west, lots of color. The second is from the same general vantage point, but looking mostly east. No color at all! Same day, same spot. And more areas look like the second photo this year, than the first.

But a walk in the sun will be good for me. I can take my knitting with me and I’ll be happier, for sure. I’m knitting on another sample mitten for my “Design Your Own Colorful Mittens” class at Threadbear starting tomorrow, 11-1:30 for 2 (or 3, optionally if the students want more time) weeks. Anyone else want to join us? I’m excited about the class. I have not done enough with colorful knitting lately, mostly I’ve knit with one color or at best stripes. This one is colorwork in the “stranded” or “fairisle” technique. It’s really relaxing and so satisfying!

Off to make pie, listen to Sweet Baby James (who is no longer a baby but a calming adult presence) and then walk. Then a long bubble bath and I think I’ll be in a reasonable mood for seeing my precious family for Thanksgiving Dinner. I will end the day with Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild, as well. It’s bound to turn around, don’t you think?

Photos: 1) View West with color, 2) View east with green only, 3) autumn leaf on someone else’s groomed green lawn, 4) our house with maple tree in front turning color. This tree is usually one of the most electric-orange trees in the neighborhood. I took a photo 2 years ago of the same tree, same week of the month, and you can see it was much more orange that year.

I was listening to the streaming audio for the Flaming Ukulele Radio Hour, and reading the Naked Uke newsletter (it’s a Yahoo group run by DJ Uke Jackson), and I read about this:

http://www.gravestmor.com/wp/archives/2005/10/09/ukulele-isation/

The artist goes to homes/buildings that are ready to be demolished, finds building materials/wood from the home, and makes ukuleles from the resulting materials. They are really beautiful, as well as touching mementos.

The ukes go to the former occupants of the building that has been taken down. In one case, it was a demolished school and he used the music room blackboard as the body of the Uke. Wonderful.

By the way, I loved the Flaming Ukulele Radio Hour so much this time that I listened to the whole thing twice. So fun! Consider it as good entertainment while dealing with your emails today!

Saturday I went to visit Altu at her restaurant before it opened. We sat outdoors in the sun (we were protected from wind so it felt lovely and warm) and chatted.

Next to the parking lot is an apple tree. It was clearly planted as a decoration, and the owners have no interest in the fruit. it’s an old fashioned fruit, smaller apples and mostly green even when ripe. They taste wonderful, they are crisp and not too tart, not too sweet.

While we were talking, we would occasionally hear an apple hit the pavement. Finally we could not stand to see the good food go to waste any longer. She got out her ladder and steadied it, and I climbed up and picked as many apples as I could reach. They were so ripe that I’d reach out to pick one, and two would just fall before I could even get to them.

I ended up with a small bucket, partly full, of homely little organic apples. And I went home, supposedly to work. I did do some work. And I also baked two apple crisps, one for me and one for Altu. I started with a recipe my family has enjoyed for years, but I changed almost every ingredient except the apples.

It was really good.

I’ve got a fuzzy lump in my purse and it reminds me of the tribbles I heard were in a very early Star Trek TV show. Mind you, I’ve seen one episode of Star Trek in total, and not the whole show at that… I’m not big on TV or movies anyway. Since space-related stories make my nerves on end, I never was interested in Star Trek, believe it or not. But tribbles, lumpy fuzzy beings that reproduce faster than rabbits, well, that idea repeats itself in my mind regarding many things in life.

Now I have a green tribble in my purse, or so it seems. It will someday, I hope, be a “grass skirt.” This time around, my skirt fabric is promising, anyway. The fabric feels the right texture/thickness for the purpose, as long as it will fit me (or be coerced into fitting). I just finished my second skein before I took this photo, so I’m really sure I like how the fabric feels and looks, anyway.

Isn’t it charming? I really hope it doesn’t grow too large to be lugged around in my bag. I’ve knit this piece mostly waiting in this or that line, waiting for food in restaurants, and biding my time between events at Foster Center. I need to wear it in less than 2 weeks, so I need to really stay on it or the cause is lost.

You know, I was thinking while knitting this, that my other project I’m knitting on the same days (just at home because it needs more attention) is a historically-inspired multicolored, stranded fuzzy wool mitten. There is so much talk on the email lists about people who knit with “froofy” yarns, versus those who knit wooly, more likely historically-inspired items. As if they were totally conflicting interests!!!

Here I am sitting on the fence of this discussion, it seems. I bet there are more like me than the chat lets on. I like being creative. I like color. I like texture. I like all my options, depending on the circumstances.

We are going to Midwest Ukefest on October 27. I’ll be delighted to wear my grass skirt that weekend, if I can just make it work!!!

Donna Druchunas is on one of my email lists. I don’t know her at all other than on this list, but I do know her name from her writings.

Donna wrote a book called “The Knitted Rug,” which somehow I don’t have yet. I have knitted several rugs and designed one pattern for my Basketweave Rug, but I guess I am typically more excited about making up my own designs on the needles than following someone else’s patterns.

I think I’ll end up buying the book someday because I believe it has some historical information in it. I am always interested in historical background about our arts of knitting/fiberwork.

But I digress. Donna has a book in the works about knitting with the fiber called qiviut (musk ox wool), and she went to Alaska to do some research. She wrote a blog during her trip and you may find it interesting.

Photo is one version of my Basketweave Rug pattern.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week I had my CityKidz Knit! program. I love these children!!! They all are as different as can be. They all want to be knitting, and I am thrilled to help them with the process.

On Wednesday one of my older girls was interested in a little skill-building. She came in last week already very good at the knit stitch, so she learned the purl stitch (from another more experienced child… while I was working with the absolute beginners). This week I told her that I had a few purse kits donated to the program (last year, actually)… one is a goldfish and one a frog, both with mouth as the opening for the purse. Was she interested? Yes she was.

She chose the goldfish. I found her some DPNs in size 10.5 that had been donated to the program a good while ago. She learned to work in the round on the double pointed needles and off she went! Her mother was properly impressed when she came at the end of class to take the student home. As she should be.

This student has not followed patterns before, but she said she has a book at home to help her with instructions. She’ll surely get stuck at some point but I’ll help her when that happens.

It’s a delight to find someone so ready to learn! This program is normally younger kids who are happy with 5-stitch wristbands, over and over again (and this is just fine with me… I knit garter stitch only for 20 years and that made me happy).

However, when I do get someone outside the standard, I really enjoy watching them soar. You saw last week the photo of one of my other advanced students (she who had made up her own design for knitted tulips). That tulip-knitter just completed a backpack of her own design from feltable yarns donated this summer by Mare Smith (thanks, Mare!!!). I can’t wait to see how it comes out of the washing machine, I’m sure I’ll see it on Wednesday. Mind you, I gave her the yarn a week ago, she finished the knitting and sewing in eight days. I am not sure if she has completed straps yet but the rest is ready for the washer. If you don’t tell kids things are too hard, they dive in and go. Even if it is imperfect, they learn from that imperfection. Kids do better with imperfection, for the most part, than do my adult students.

Thursday as I was teaching my adult beginning knit class, someone knocked at the classroom door. I was curious, as the room was unlocked. It was one of my older CityKidz leaving the community center for the day. She came to say goodbye, and hugged me before I knew what was happening. I think these kids can tell how highly I regard them. This particular child I’ve had with me for over 2 years now, and we did not knit at Foster Center this summer. I guess she missed me. I’m touched.

Here’s a photo of some of my Thursday bunch. My tulip/backpack knitter is at back in dark blue t-shirt.

I have finished constructing my pair 120, in Bazic bulky wool superwash from Classic Elite. I’m really happy they are done. It has been nearly 3 months since I finished a pair of socks. Compared to my “pair every 10 days” pace I kept up for over 2 years, I have been knitting out of my comfort zone (lots of sample items, especially hats and wristwarmers). I need a pair of sox every once in a while to feel like I am still me.

These socks were knit top down with afterthought heels and slightly slouchy cuffs. They fit great!

This yarn can only be described as “bouncy.” It is a tight little springy tube of dense wool. The ball band calls for 4 st/inch on size 9US (5.5mm) needles. I don’t even remember any longer what size needle I used but I think it was my favorite 2-1/2US (2.75mm) plastic DPNs. I got about 5.25 st/in. These should wear like iron, I hope. If they don’t, the heels and toes can easily be re-knit on this style of sock.

I woke up at 5:45am (you know how odd that is, me the night owl) from a vivid dream. I was still tired, but unable to go back to bed right away.

So I sat at my desk, unpicked the errant stitches in my 10 stitch graft on the heel, and re-grafted. I do have ends to work in, but I’ll be at Foster Community Center watching the computer lab for a few hours today, and I should have time to work in ends there between questions about computers and knitting.

Now I’m going back to bed. I sure am tired, and maybe my mind has settled from the dream enough to sleep again. It wasn’t a bad dream, but it was intense. I think the sock was the right buffer for me to go back and sleep for another couple of hours (I work at 10am).

(Late addition: Photo of socks posted just after midnight.)

Grass Skirt Progress
Well, in two days I finished knitting one 50gm/88yd ball of froofy yarn for a grass skirt. So far, so good. It’s not really easy since it has little loops that get caught in the tips of the needles, but the yarn is very soft and pretty. I do very much like the fabric I am getting.

I have knit 3.5″ of fabric, 144 stitches around. The yoke of the skirt will be from a purchased hawaiian-print skirt I found at a resale shop, upon which I’ll sew the tube of knitted fabric. I’m guessing this woven-fabric skirt will account for at least 3″ of the length of the skirt when it is all done.

I have seven balls of yarn to knit from. If the first one created 3.5″ of fabric, this means I do have plenty of yarn to make an above-the-knee skirt. I’m happy about that.

Class News
Oh… (catching up yet again) I enjoyed my toe up sock class with Linda, at Little Red Schoolhouse this Tuesday. We had fun, the two of us. I’m finishing a pair of fat alpaca socks I started in a previous toe up sock class (one bulky footie per class gets things finished eventually, and keeps my feet warm).

Linda is working with Lamb’s Pride worsted, a great cold-weather sockyarn. In hot green. My kind o’girl, Linda is! (Actually the shop owner is a Linda, so is my student… The word “linda” in Spanish means beautiful, and both ladies qualify.)

Cool Autumn Weather
I tell you, I’m grumpy and cold lately. This time of year is always hard for me… my body doesn’t know how to turn on the furnace, so to speak, for about a month after it turns chilly outside, and I just shiver my way around the house for what seems like forever.

Right now I’m wearing two pair wool socks, wool legwarmers, a cotton turtleneck, an alpaca/mohair sweater, alpaca wristwarmers, and an angora/wool hat. And my nose is still cold!!! It is not yet freezing outdoors here. Even the indoor temperature is not bad, about 70F/21C, but I just can not feel warm. I’m very happy to have my 4-layer handspun/handwoven cotton Ethiopian blanket (gahbi) to wrap up in. When I’m looking like a cocoon in my gahbi, I actually feel warm enough to not be so grumpy.

I’ll be more comfy around Thanksgiving (late November for those outside the US), when I finally get my personal inner pilot light working. I must say that it’s beautiful outdoors anyway, thank goodness. The colors are finally turning in the last day or two, and I am definitely enjoying that part of the chilly autumn.

Dreams of Finishing
So, in more happy news… I have more unfinished projects than ever but I found my last almost-done pair of socks from early August. I finished the afterthought heels on these with grafting/kitchener stitch but I did it differently on each sock. I will have to pick out the yarn one stitch at a time on one of the heels, not a whole dozen stitches, then re-sew, and finish a few ends. Then they will be done.

I’m sitting them on my desk here to remind me to finish that one heel properly. I will feel better if I can finish something. Especially if I can finish some socks! And these are nice fat/warm yarn (Bazic Wool from Classic Elite, a sweater yarn) so the timing would be excellent! Warm feet are a lovely thing.

Hi, friends! I’m looking for some help finding a pattern. My student, OfficiallyaKnitter, got some great yarn (textured, in teals and neutrals) at the guild garage sale months ago. She’s ready to start working with this yarn, as her fanciest project so far.

The yarn came in without a suggested gauge on the ball band. We went to Threadbear and picked out a pattern for her, a kimono-style vest in garter stitch that comes with a great recommendation from someone (Sue) who knit it herself. It’s well-written, calls for almost no sewing which is really good for my student, and looks flattering. It specifies 5 stitches an inch in garter stitch fabric.

I had her swatch up the yarn, though, and she’s getting 3.25st/inch in garter! We thought this was DK or worsted weight but it’s acting bulky even on size 6 needles. I did write Irene, the woman who she got the yarn from, and Irene also says it’s a bulky yarn.

So drat! We got a really good pattern, but it won’t work with this yarn.

So I’m here asking you folks… does anyone have any great ideas for a vest pattern in a bulky gauge such as this? We’re at 3.25st/in in garter. She would like something with as little sewing as possible, so either a stockinette pullover in the round or something in garter stitch that perhaps has picked up stitches rather than seams. She keeps the heat down in the winter so will really appreciate a vest for warmth, soon!

We are talking about a ladies’ Medium depending on how much wiggle room there is in the pattern. She has at least 800 yards of yarn (I think 8 full 50gm balls and 3 partial balls). Any suggestions?

Please send me mail at Lynn@ColorJoy.com if you have any ideas. I’m off to check if my sweater-creation software (Knitware Sweaters) has any vest options, in the meantime.

Last Wednesday started my fall program for CityKidz Knit! It was fun to knit with children again. My big happy surprise was one of my girls who was a regular two years ago, came back. She and two other kids from her family, that is. I was really happy to see her!!!

Also a few of my regulars from last year came on Thursday. More happy feelings there, for sure.

They all make a wristband at first, five stitches, garter fabric. This way they can tell if they have the wrong number of stitches, if they are watching at all… and it is reasonable to finish within one to three weeks for most kids.

Here is a picture of my long-lost-and-now found knitter with a tulip she knit/made up herself (complete with increases and decreases), a picture of several of my girls on Thursday (one is crocheting a chain rather than knitting), and a photo of a little boy’s project (he finished and wore it as an ankle bracelet on Thursday). It’s interesting… he does end up with a lot of stitches (I decrease occasionally for him), but it really is fabric and it’s hard to figure out how he got the extras. I think he stabs the tip of the needle into the fabric rather than sliding up the needle into a previous row’s stitch. When I stand next to him, of course, he does it just fine. This is the work of a distracted boy!

It is quiet in the house. I have no immediate deadlines. I thought I’d be sitting all day waiting for the UPS man but now it appears he’ll come tomorrow (of course, when I’ll be gone most of the day).

I spent the morning drinking oolong tea and knitting in the silence. I wake up slowly so this was great. What a lovely way to wake up!

I finally cast on last night for my 2nd grass skirt (the first one did not work out at all and was never completed). The knitting is not too bad, I enjoy knitting stockinette tubes while I read, but this one is two strands, one of them loopy boucle’, and it requires more looking than standard yarns. I’m still making decent progress on both the skirt and the reading.

The yarn is a bugaboo, though. It’s ONline Linie 43 Punta. Two very different yarns have been loosely plied together into one yarn, which does make the right texture/thickness for this skirt. One is a synthetic boucle with loops in grass green. The other is a sort of synthetic mohair-substitute in a celery green with fur about 3/4″ long. Very very soft. The ball band says the yarn is 45% rayon, 45% nylon, and 10% acrylic. I’m betting the furry stuff is all nylon and the rest is the boucle, or something close to that.

I think this will knit up fast. I hope so, anyway! I’m on size 9 needles with only 144 stitches per round. Assuming I figured out the right amount of ease (crossing fingers, this is a total crapshoot on my part) I think I can finish the skirt in time for Midwest Ukefest. If I figured wrong, it will take a long time to know. If it’s too big I’m OK with sewing a seam up the back to adjust, but if it’s too small I start over. I hope not!

What took forever on this was winding the yarn. It came in those little 50 gram pretty decorator balls, sort of squished pincushion shape. Well, they were in a bag together too long and they tried to merge into one big ball of furry spaghetti-like mess. I re-wound each ball on my center-pull ballwinder and then tied a band around each ball before taking it off the winder. Rae does this with yarns of this type, and says she has good luck (she uses a rubber band around the ball but I somehow had none when I needed them).

So now I just found out the UPS guy is coming tomorrow instead of today. Decisions, decisions! I don’t work till 6pm when I teach toe-up socks at Little Red Schoolhouse. Should I stay home anyway and keep knitting? Should I run a few errands? Should I work making buttons or dyeing yarn or writing patterns (even though it’s officially my day off)???

The skirt is calling pretty loudly, and I don’t feel too guilty knitting it on a day I’ve designated as my day off (especially since I’m teaching a class tonight already). Maybe I’ll just keep enjoying the silence and my “new” project.

Some of you already know that I really love knitting magazines. Well, Saturday when I was at Threadbear, I bought the Knitscene mini-magazine put out by Interweave and several yarn manufacturers. As always, I mostly got it for inspiration more than any real intent to knit something within the pages.

A beautiful, somewhat formal, double-breasted short jacket with lapels and 3/4 sleeves is on pages 14 & 15. You can see a “bonus photo” online. You can also get the pattern online as a .PDF file from their projects page.

But in the magazine it does indicate the yarn requirements. OK, are you ready? Two strands of alpaca plus one strand of mohair, knit together at one time! Oh, my! No wonder it has a v-neck and 3/4 sleeves! That would make *me* bake, and I’m legendary for being cold when nobody else is. And most brushed mohair makes me itch, though I love it with a turtleneck underneath. This one just won’t work with a turtleneck, or long sleeves for that matter.

And we won’t even talk about how much it would cost to buy 10 balls (50gm) of alpaca and 6 balls of mohair, for the smallest size (36.5″ finished bust circumference). It really is beautiful, but it makes no sense. Unless you are a yarn manufacturer, perhaps.

I guess I’ll just enjoy looking at the lovely pictures of this one! It’s very pretty, but neither wearable nor affordable to this grrl. What a shame. Well, I do have a few other projects in the wings to keep me busy…

For those who read here regularly, you’ll remember that I had a trunk show of my handpainted yarns at Threadbear very early in September. Well, Laurie found a skein of merino/silk laceweight yarn in turquoises and purple-blue, that she could not live without. It followed her home as many skeins do (see third photo, skein at far left named Waves at Twilight, there is one more skein in stock)…

Last week she sent me photos of her progress. She’s making a triangular shawl in just the loveliest of patterns, in my very biased opinion. (It’s a Fiber Trends pattern called Flower Basket Shawl.) Here is the first part of her shawl blocked out, using her grandmother’s very long double-pointed needles as blocking wires. (How cool is that?)

I’m absolutely delighted to see Laurie’s lace photos. I work very hard to keep the contrast in my laceweight yarns down to a point where the knit patterning will show up well (this can be done by limiting color choices or dark/light contrast). Here I have glorious proof that even with these two different colors she is definitely getting clear definition of the lace stitch pattern.

Since I don’t knit lace often (I knit a lace baby dress for a friend’s preemie girl a few years back but it’s not my own style), it’s a particularly big gift to see this yarn in action. I’m just thrilled.

Laurie, thank you SO much for taking the time to share your photos with me (and my blog readers). I think you are going to love this shawl!

OK, so what did I do to deal with my unfinished object problem? I started a totally new project and finished it in one day! It definitely made me feel better, but my UFO situation has not changed a bit. (Well, I did wind the yarn for my grass skirt into tamed center-pull bundles but didn’t cast on yet.)

Sometimes I think I’m really 13 years old! Instant gratification works every time. Or so it seems…

So now I have some beautiful, bulky purple alpaca wristwarmers. They are just the most luxurious thing I could make. I love them! I’m wearing them right now as I’m typing, and my hands are getting warmer already.

(The yarn I used is Alpaca with a Twist brand, Big Baby, color 2003. It is 82 yards in 100gm/3.5oz. For comparison, my DK-weight ColorSport has appx. 225yd in 100gm, and Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s pride bulky when adjusted for skein size, would be 109yd for 100gm. Considering how warm alpaca is by weight, this is seriously fat and dense yarn! I’m not complaining.)

Now I need to be extra-careful not to lose one. Maybe these will be my “keep them for cold days at home” pair. I tend to lose things during days when it’s cold in the morning and warm in the afternoon… I’m not the only one with this problem, but it’s worse when you made the item you lost.

Anyway… Somehow finishing something made me feel waaaay better.

Inner Adolescent: 1, Inner Adult: 0

It didn’t hurt anyone, though… And I have no remorse over my choice at all!

Class
Saturday I taught 5 people how to knit Fast Florida Footies, at Threadbear. It was fun but went too fast. I totally forgot to take pictures! Marti, Kim, Crystal, Dorothy and Cari were great fun and all had beautiful starts on their projects. (I also saw Jamie, who came in wearing her Watercolor Bag from a spring class at Little Red Schoolhouse, and I forgot to take that picture as well…)

The yarn (Cascade Fixation) comes in such great colorways, we had a hard time picking which ones we liked best. Partway through class I fell in love with Dorothy’s solid turquoise yarn… will consider that one for the next Fixation dance top. Yeah, that sounds great! This weekend I chose a sort of raspberry I’ll enjoy a lot.

Digression: I am of two minds on one-day classes. I guess from my years teaching computer seminars, this is how I usually offer my classes. It does allow more people to attend, but the nature of the beast is that folks can’t possibly finish the project that day.

The FFFooties I wear myself (as opposed to the almost-zillion I’ve knit as gifts and for yarn shop samples) are hot green. Reeeeally hot green. I love ‘em! They are actually the last pair I totally finished (pair 119), and that was mid-July.

Socknitting Slowdown
I am sad about that statistic (no socks finished in several months). I love knitting socks and for several years I averaged about a pair every 10 days or so. I knit 10 pair in 5 weeks when I went to Africa. And now my most current pair is one I mostly finished in August on our trip out east, waiting for kitchener stitch (on the afterthought heels, they were toe up). I probably have a zillion other pairs partly started… or so it seems.

I must say, though… this summer was a slow one for my business so I spent much of my knitting time, knitting samples for shops (to encourage pattern/class sales). I’ve knit a handful of single sample socks but they don’t make it to my sock-pair log. I’ve knit more hats than I’ve ever knit, I think (in preparation for a pattern to go in hat kits with my handpainted yarn and buttons). I knit a baby blanket for a pattern that is now being tested by another knitter.

It seems I’m knitting all the time, but sadly not much for me. And then I guess I’ve been experimenting some (as with the machine-knit tank top) where I have to rip out problems and start midway again. And that is the nature of experimenting. And artists do that. It is part of the territory.

I’ve also knit a bit on patterns written by other designers, though I seem to have finished nothing in that area. I have swatched all sorts of yarns. I am currently dreaming of wristwarmers and legwarmers now that we are having a cold snap, though I haven’t started the specific alpaca legwarmers I dream of.

I’ve dyed more yarn late this summer than I’ve ever dyed in one short timeframe. And I started making buttons (and that project is not really even started yet… I don’t have enough buttons to make a web page and sell them, after selling a few handsful to Rae at Rae’s and Linda at Little Red Schoolhouse… and the Boyz at Threadbear did say they wanted some but they want earthtones and I haven’t made any in earthtones yet). Hopefully I’ll get back on that this week now that the big push on our music CD is mostly over.

Time seems so ripe for a new pair of socks… I started a pair for my mom last spring, hoping to give them to her for her birthday in mid-August. They are still partly knit. And she has tiny feet and these have short cuffs! That’s life, I guess.

Looking Ahead
However, I do really need to make samples for upcoming classes. Right now I’m most excited about my upcoming “Design Your Own Colorful Mittens” class at Threadbear on October 19 (scheduled for 2 weeks but I have a 3rd in spare in case people want to continue) from 11a-1p. I know that not everyone is available during the day, but for some people (like me) daytime is actually better… and with 11-1, some people who have flexible work schedules may be able to work out long lunches. Or so I hope.

Musing
I guess I’m sort of rambling today. I know I often write a lot… but typically I do have something to say, and I think I can be relatively focused in print. Right now it’s Sunday morning, I’m sitting near a sunny window wrapped in wool (with chilly toes even so) and it’s my first day off in several weeks. I’m not very focused today!

I was so tired last night that I fell asleep on the couch at 11pm. Now, I almost never go to sleep before 12:30, usually more like 2am, so this tells you how tired I was! But that means I woke up early (for me) and that gives me a very long day off.

I’ve been reading other folks’ blogs for the first time in weeks, I caught up on my DyeHappy email list, my all-time favorite list (they never get into a snit over anything, have never had a flame war in 3 years, and I adore them for that), and I’m drinking black tea with ginger root, trying to focus a little.

I will have to go out sometime today to get my fuzzy purple beret back from Rae. I left it at her shop when I was trying on sample sweaters, one of my favorite hobbies. Have I mentioned how much I love clothes? Trying on sample sweaters is such a delight! I do it as often as possible.

Yarn Binge
Funny, I got a large payment from a computer client this week and so I determined to buy the yarn for projects I’ve been dreaming of in the last few months. I got some purple worsted weight silk (on sale, no less) from Little Red Schoolhouse for an Annie Modesitt knitted corset tank top.

Then I got some Noro Blossom yarn from Rae’s for Trish Bloom’s Bloom Shawl from Knitty (see photo above… yes, I do have her permission to use the photo). And I’m still waiting semi-patiently for the Jamieson Shetland yarn (approx. fingering weight, very wooly, almost like little springs) to come in to Threadbear in white or light gray for a Vivian Hoxbro Shadow Knitted shawl (I think it calls for 4 colors, but 3 of the ones I want are already in stock). As if I needed more things to knit???

UFO’s
Meanwhile, what am I knitting? Right now as I read blogs and email, I’m knitting a bulky alpaca pair of wristwarmers. They are sooo soft, and soooo warm, I’m very happy they are knitting up almost like magic. I’ll have a whole new pair in an hour or two. I’ve got another pair but these are longer and warmer than any I’ve made yet.

And I am planning to start today on my 2nd Surf & Turf “grass” skirt from yarn I got at Yarn Garden in Charlotte. (Yes, the first one is officially toast… it will make a nice “carpet” bag when I can stand to look at it again.)

I’m still dreaming of knitting the Cascade Fixation bikini top by KnitWhits that I bought at Yarn for Ewe. I also am halfway through two Lily Chin bras… cups finished but not straps.

My most-worked-on UFO is my Lucy Neatby Equilateral Vest. The back is maybe halfway done. For that one, I got the pattern from Threadbear, and the yarn partly from Yarn Garden and partly from Yarn for Ewe (they have a totally new website recently, you might want to check that out). And the socks that need kitchener stitch? Yarn from Nancy McRay’s shop, Woven Art, in East Lansing. I’m nothing if not an equal-opportunity yarn purchaser, I guess.

I am feeling for the first time that I might actually want an inventory of all my unfinished projects. Some of them I should just rip out. For example, when I teach classes, I start projects so the students can understand what I’m teaching. But of course I spend more time working with them on their projects than knitting mine. And some of those projects should just be ripped out so that my UFO (unfinished object) guilt can be slightly lessened.

…and so that I might actually set priorities on which to finish first? I’ve never had trouble with finishing things before, I’ve always had many irons in the fire and I’d eventually finish everything I cared about. But right now it’s bigger than ever, and I’m a little overwhelmed.

Maybe this day off will help in the overwhelm department. OK, one more cup o’tea for Lynnie…

Finally… finally I’m catching up on some promised photos!!!

Here’s my wristwarmer class from last Sunday at Little Red Schoolhouse. It’s Toni, Caroline (I hope I spelled that right) and darned if I have forgotten the beautiful feminine name of my student on the right. I hope she tunes in here and writes to correct my poor memory! They had a great time and I loved working with them!

In the second photo, you see Working Women Artists (WWA, a multi-media artist guild), from the Sunday night meeting at Bare Bone Studios in Old Town Lansing. I love this space. Look at the big back door that opens onto a green space. We seem to always open this door unless it is just too cold outside to make it realistic. I love open doors.

Next is another photo from the WWA meeting. On the bottom left is my friend Regina who I mention here often. Regina, I’ll do my best to start in on your 15 minutes of fame! Regina is a wonderful artist. When I met her, she was doing mostly oil paintings of people. She really has branched out and done all sorts of other artful expressions since then. I am sure she’s won awards for printmaking and sculpture in the last several years since I’ve known her.

Regina is so quiet, you need to ask her questions to get her started, but she knows so much about art! Once you ask she’s full of good information. If you ever want to visit an art gallery/museum anywhere in the midwest or northeast of the USA, she always knows where to stay, how to get there, restaurants nearby, the whole thing. She’s a great resource and a loyal friend.

(I took several shots of my CityKidz Knit program on Wednesday and Thursday but I’m going to leave that for its own post.)

Last, but not least, is Rae of Rae’s Yarn Boutique. This young and perky yarn shop owner just got her new copy of the Sally Melville Knitting Experience/Color book on Sunday. I talked to her on Wednesday and she had already finished this skirt from the book. Friday I came by and she had dressed up in the skirt and special argyle socks she got just to wear with it.

I told Rae to pose for the camera and she just looks as happy and funky as she was looking in person. Too bad you can not see the shoes and shoelaces up close. She was stylin’ from head to toe.

For the record, I have acquired several great books that are new to me lately. In the last 3 weeks or so I got my Nancy Bush Historical Socknitting book from Little Red Schoolhouse, my Sally Melville Color book at Threadbear, and a precious copy of Lizbeth Upitis’ Latvian Mittens book from a blogger friend. Oh, my! Drowning in happy pages, that’s me.

I want to knit the over-the-knee socks at the back of the Nancy Bush book! I want to knit at least 25% of the projects in the Sally Melville book, too… I always love her designs, she is very creative and her pieces often look great on more than one body type.

And the mittens? Well, I don’t wear mittens but they are an artform I adore. I now have the Folk Mittens book, Anna Zilboorg’s Magnificent Mittens, the Estonian kntting book by Nancy Bush, a book on Estonian mittens written in Estonian that I bought from Merike Saarniit, and the Latvian Mittens book. They all are inspiring alone, but taken together I’m in love with the artform that is the humble mitten.

I’m preparing to teach a “Design Your Own Colorful Mittens” class at Threadbear on October 19 (scheduled for 2 weeks but I have a 3rd in spare in case people want to continue) from 11a-1p. I’m very excited about this, there are so many things a person can do to make wonderful mittens. I’ll limit some structure/shape options so I can stay on top of the class but for patterning, the sky is the limit!

OK… off to bed. Saturday I have a good handful of students coming for Fast Florida Footies class at Threadbear, at 11am. Then at 6:30-8:30 is our Abbott Brothers Band performance at Altu’s restaurant. It will surely be a good day!

Our “jug” band, the Abbott Brothers, will be playing at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine in East Lansing, Michigan, this Saturday (tomorrow) from 6:30-8:30pm.

This band plays an incredible variety of styles, from swing to jug band to retro pop to Dylan, Elvis, Hank Williams and more. Many of the songs are recognizable to those listening (and we welcome singing along). It’s “good tim