This is the cutest baby blanket ever. Dawn Brocco has been designing a long time, and often she does traditionally inspired sweaters. This time, the cutest baby blanket I’ve ever seen.

Maybe Kristi of Red Dog Knits will want to knit three of them? Ouch. She is going to need a fairy knitmother to gift her with all that yarn, but how beautiful that would be.

Oh, my! You have already heard me complain of lost sleep because of a bird’s nest underneath the air conditioner… four feet from my pillow. The baby birds yell (chirp?) loudly, asking for food, and it starts much earlier than the time I normally would awake.

But this morning not long after waking up, I went upstairs (where the bedroom is) and I heard an odd sound. I worried it might be a bird. I did not see anything under the bed, and was relieved for a split second. Then I looked behind the headboard (the bed sits at an angle) and there was something that at first just looked like a “dust bunny” given that I was not wearing my eyeglasses.

I looked again. Guess what? A small brown bird was blending in with the brown wood floor and brown wood trim. He (she?) was so still and quiet I didn’t recognize him at first. Drat!

OK first things first… I called Brian and laughed a bit. I knew what to do, but I had to let off a little steam first. Then I went up there with an old shirt from the rag bag. I tossed the shirt in a soft crumpled pile on the poor, scared, unmoving bird, wrapped him up as best I could without hurting him, went down the stairs and outside, and released him on the ground in the shade just below where the air conditioner is.

He sort of flitted away, flying not too far above the ground, and hid under a rosebush. A decent plan, in any case. If he calls out enough, his mom will hear him. I hope he survives. There are very few cats in the neighborhood and he seemed very close to flight, so I’m guessing he’ll make it.

Dang! How can I work on my big knitting project with that sort of excitement? It was enough on my mind to distract me from choosing which of 11 colors of beige I should use to knit my next stitch…

OK, back to the knitting.

It’s up! The Coopers Glen Music Festival web page is now on the naturecenter.org web site! We (The Fabulous Heftones) are confirmed for Saturday, August 26, at 5:45pm.

We are really looking forward to this concert. It’s in Kalamazoo, a pleasant drive from Lansing, even easier from Grand Rapids, and a hop skip and jump from Battle Creek. This will be the biggest event we’ve played that has not been focused on Ukuleles. It’s going to be such fun!!!

My friends, I now bring you photos from our CD Release party. The photos of dancers I took during the jam session, the rest were taken by Mariam. Thanks bunches, Mariam!

First is a photo of Tinisha, one of the knitters who attended the pre-concert knit in. Other knitters in attendance attending were Mary, Mariam, Patty, Diana, Audrey, and Kristi. I sure hope I didn’t miss anyone but I think that’s right. I had special door prizes for my knitters, that was great fun!

Next are three photos of Brian and I performing our music. Knitters, notice that in the photo with me looking up, I’m wearing my new shawl where I spun the yarn from Bonkers fiber.

The third photo of Brian and I was during the “bouncing ball” sing-along of April Showers. We had such fun with that! I won’t tell you how long it took for me to make that sign (40 pieces of letter-sized paper, all taped together a zillion ways) but in the end it was worth the effort. See the sign on the wall behind us?

Last are two photos of dancers during the jam session. First shows how well kids fit in at Magdalena’s, and next shows Mom and Fred in front and Diane and George back left, dancing away in the aisle, as though there were really a dance floor or something!


There were people from all areas of our lives there. Music Friends from many places, a Dance friend, knitters, two computer students, family, CityKidz (older kids from my knitting program at Foster Center), even someone I know from the late 70’s/early 80’s when we volunteered at MSU for a young women’s group. It was the best, just the best!

Now that I got through my busy Monday work schedule, I’m starting to calm down a bit. Next is a pretty intense knitting project which I’ll unveil in due time. Eleven colors of yarn. Ack! And because of the CD party I left myself a very small timeframe in which to do it.

Brian notices that this is sort of how I do things, and he’s right. I tend to do things in sequence, one deadline at a time. So now that the CD party is over I can do the next thing. Even if it really needed me to do some of it before now.

(Actually, to be fair I worked on the plans for this project in 2005. I made a chart for it in December. I bought the yarn just recently. I’ll start knitting tonight after I click “save” on this post. Which actually is being written late on June 26 but I’m going to date it for the 27th since I already posted twice on Monday.)

I guess part of me needs to be a drama queen at times, or something. But somehow a little adrenaline rush gets me working better. I don’t focus too well without a deadline, I hate to admit… so here I go to wind a few of my yarns into center-pull balls.

Knit away! Hi ho, Silver! (…or something like that!)

Diana, my brother Eric Oscar’s wife, writes a blog called Otterwise. She put up a column and then several photos of our party last night. Scroll to the bottom of the entry to see the photos. For the record, the first photo is me waltzing with my Mother, Liz, during the jam session.

A quote that brought tears to my eyes: “I love music so much, and Brian and Lynn are Magic on stage and off.”

Thanks, Diana! It was great having you with us.

We had our CD party, it was a wonderful time. I have photos, thanks to Mariam.

However, I slept like a rock and today I have some work to do for my last day with my community ed class in Haslett, so photos will need to wait.

Thanks to everyone who made this party a success. Rod controlled the bouncing ball for our sing-along, Mariam took photographs, Mariam and Tinisha handled CD coupons, Martha distributed the door prize coupons to everyone for me at the break time so I could chat with folks. Thanks to the musicians who brought instruments for the jam, and the folks who danced while the jam session was rocking!

Thanks to Nancy who did two shifts at Magdalenas Sunday with a great attitude, and worked like crazy getting food to the appreciative crowd. Thanks to Miko for encouraging us to play there, and friends and family, students, knitters, dance friends, everyone. It was a room full of great friendship and music.

Especially big thanks to my friend Anne who decorated the stage for us almost single-handedly and then had to leave after maybe one or two songs because her 4 yr old needed a change of pace. As 4 year old children do, she wasn’t at all bad, just ready to go.

More later. Right now I need to be a computer instructor for a few hours…

I spent much of Saturday preparing for our CD release party Sunday. I’m getting excited. I have most of the things on my to-do list crossed off. Last night I went to bed several hours past my normal bedtime, and was awakened once more by the birds nesting under the air conditioner, about 4 feet from my sleepy head. They are quite an enthusiastic crowd, those birds!

I ran a zillion errands Saturday but did remember to enjoy summer. I spent about an hour on my porch in the hammock, reading and dozing a bit. It was wonderful! Then we saw Daniel Cook (Daniel the Minstrel) play at Altus, while we enjoyed the company of Teri and Chris and Deborah. In fact, when the restaurant closed we stood in the parking lot and talked longer. It was great weather for that, and the sun stays out so long right now we really enjoyed it.

I have accomplished all I can reasonably do tonight so I’ll go to bed at a normal hour for me. Tomorrow is a retirement event for a very special person (the minister who married us, who also was key in my adolescent life), and Mom and I will leave for that at noon.

As far as the CD Release party, I don’t do big deals easily and I’m just sure I forgot something. I think what I’ve forgotten is that I’m supposed to be enjoying all this. Actually, I am enjoying much of it but worried about my distractable self. I used to *be* a secretary but these days I wish I could hire one for myself!

I guess most things I worry over don’t matter given enough time, anyway… so I will go to bed, sleep like a baby, and enjoy Sunday as much as I possibly can.

After all, this is about friends and people who love what we do, coming together. To enjoy our music. How fun is that?

Photo: Brian and I performing at Magdalena’s last month as featured performers on a Thursday open mic night. It was hot that day and we wore our African clothing (my caftan is from Kenya, his shirt from Ghana). Sunday we’ll be in our customary formalwear, Brian in a tux and me in a floor-length dress. Costuming *is* an art, you know? And a fun one at that!

I got word today that I can hold a knit in from 6-7pm or so before our CD release party (which starts officially at 7pm) at Magdalenas this Sunday. Local knitting friends, please spread the word or at least bring your own knitting and join me. I will give a free Fabulous Heftones bumper sticker to each knitter.

Remember that Magdalena’s has a great new kitchen. They have really great frozen-fruit smoothies, baked goods, salads, quiche and what they call raw soup (think gazpacho but not always with tomato base) which gets rave reviews from those who try it. They buy organic produce from local farmers. They are worthy of supporting with our business, my friends!

The focus of the evening will be a concert, where Brian and I will perform the 14 songs on the CD in the order in which they were recorded. The rest of the evening is for fun, frolic, music and of course selling a few CDs to those who wish one. There is a $6 cover which will support Magdalena’s.

Also, we will hold a jam session after the formal part of our CD-Release concert, so bring instruments… guitars, ukuleles, kazoos or maracas or a quiet drum. If there is such a thing as a quiet drum, that is… There are neighbors living upstairs so we try to be respectful even as we make joyful noises!

If you are in town and looking for a fun time, come on down. We have fans from age 4 to retiree… the music is timeless/ageless. Bring a friend and join us, if you will.

Bring yarn, bring instruments, bring friends, bring knitting, bring a great big smile on your face. We’re really looking forward to this event.

Photos: 1) A knit-in at Foster Center (March 2006) during computer lab time… ten CityKidz and six adult knitters, one not even related to any of the kids… all ages and even a boy who attends regularly (someday I hope that’s not noteworthy). 2) Ukulele jam session at Evart Dulcimer Fest in July 2004. 3) Magdalena’s Teahouse for Phil Wintermute’s CD release party, April 2006 (Miko Fossum, Phil W, and Seth Bernard).

With this humidity, my handspun shawl almost did not dry overnight… but I wore it anyway (in the air conditioning, I need wool all year ’round). I love it. The blocking did it a world of good.

In fact I committed to write up the pattern, and as quickly as possible. I’m already knitting a second one in a Debbie Bliss wool thick/thin variegated yarn. It’s in pinks, oranges, and yellow. This one will be a sample at Rae’s shop. I’ll make another in the same Debbie Bliss yarn but in a different colorway, for Linda at Little Red Schoolhouse. Then we’ll see what fun stuff I can find at Threadbear… but who knows how long this all will take.

I *am* at about 5 inches knit (from neckline) on the new shawl already. I’m taking notes this time around, so that I can write the pattern faster. Usually I look at the final item and count stitches, sort of transcribing the knitting from the piece.

This is a really fast and fun knit, but I have SO much to do this month I don’t know how much I’ll be able to focus on this new design and how much I’ll be dealing with the new ideas.

Oh… meanwhile I’ve scheduled new classes, at least one each at Threadbear, Little Red Schoolhouse and Rae’s. I’ll be back here with details soon.

Meanwhile I”m falling asleep at the keyboard. Gotta sleep! Seeya soon.

I am spending most of my focused time on the music business right now… press releases, emails, postcard mailing, posting posters in appropriate businesses, getting to the (wonderful) radio station spot, rehearsing, planning.

I’ve never been one to enjoy or excel at big gatherings. In fact, I nearly got an ulcer worrying about the party that was our wedding. I was really clear about wanting to marry Brian, but the party nearly did me in. Too much to plan makes me woozy.

But here I am planning a CD release party. Truth be known, the CD has been out a while but has mostly been seen in other states as we have run the Ukulele circuit. Now it’s time for our local friends and family to help us celebrate. And I must confess, it takes a long time to really learn that many songs (fourteen on this album) well enough to perform them as a set. It’s one thing to record something, it’s another to perform it live.

I had a pipe dream that we could have our release party at Frances Park in Lansing, It’s a formal 1920s rose garden. But it’s a very popular wedding spot during prime garden season, and what if it rained?

So we’re very happy to have Magdalena’s. We’ll decorate a bit like a garden and be safe inside from the storms. Since today we had a tornado warning, I’m liking this option just fine… better than an outdoor event.

But believe it or not, during all this planning, I’m knitting a little. I’ve finished the knitting but not the sewing for a water bottle for Threadbear and didn’t have my sewing needle when I had time to sew. Probably tomorrow when I watch the computer lab at Foster center on that one.

But I did bind off the shawl I knit of the Bonkers! fiber I spun into yarn not too long ago. Well, I finished spinning it recently, anyway.

I made a sort of crescent-shaped shawl in mostly garter stitch and dropped garter. I am very happy with the shape, it sits on the shoulders well. And the stitch pattern I chose really works for the lumpy-bumpy handspun yarn. It’s lovely.

I tried it on as soon as I bound off, but this sort of thing really needs to be blocked (wet thoroughly and then laid flat to dry) before anyone can tell what the shape/texture of the item will be. When I got home tonight, I wet it, blotted it in a towel, and laid it out on two sweater dryers (nets on a frame) without pinning (lace usually is pinned but this is more casual than that).

Here are photos of some of the yarn, and then the shawl drying. While I wait, impatiently.

I’m pleased with the colors although they are very busy indeed. They remind me of a rose garden. Cherry/Berry red and deep purple with bright turquoise and hot greens. Roses, leaves and sky. Lovely. I may wear it to the CD release. After all, it’s called “In the Garden,” right?

I have a new camera as of today (woohoo) and am still figuring out how to adjust color for the new one. The yarn photo is closer to the color of the yarn as opposed to the colors shown in the shawl pic, at least on my monitor.

Well, finally (thanks to a kick in the behind from my friend Rob at Threadbear), my Bags to Go! pattern is finally ready. It’s not on my website yet but will be soon, and you can order it any time by sending me an email at Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com.

This pattern has two basic shapes (see photo at right) that you can knit to fit as far as size goes. There are exact stitch counts for the bags in the photographs but many instructions on how to alter to fit your favorite size. One pouch is flat, for sunglasses or Palm device or Ipod or wallet. The other pouch (the one which is getting all the attention) is actually a cylinder for carrying a water bottle. This one is sized for a relatively small bottle since that’s the size I prefer (they weigh less to cart around).

I actually had the pattern ready to go and then decided to add another option to the pattern. The originals were knit with one main solid color and bits of decorative yarns knit along in key spots.

However, I realized that not everyone likes to use novelty yarns. So I was chatting with Rae one day about some fun colorways of Karaoke wool/soy silk yarn she got in, and how to use the colors to their best advantage. I decided to try a bottle holder in just one rainbow-like colorway with no knit-alongs. It turned out cute as a button. (See photo at left.)

The little loops at the bottom were the suggestion of Cheanne, who was at the shop when I was pondering the too-long length of I-cord I’d made for the handle. They are optional, but I think really attractive.

So now I’m offering a class this Saturday 1-4pm ($25 includes a pattern) at Rae’s, to do the water bottle sans knit-alongs. You could use Karaoke, Noro Kureyon, or any fat worsted/aran weight yarn such as Lamb’s Pride worsted. Solids or multicolors will both work for different effects. It takes less than a ball of the fun Karaoke or Kureyon yarn, so is a very affordable and not-too-hot-to-knit project for summertime.

Will anyone join me? It should be fun, just a one day class covering lots of tips and tricks. We won’t finish but you will learn everything you need to finish it in the next day or so. If you haven’t made friends with Double Pointed Needles yet, this is a good starter project. The needles are nice and big (Size 7 DPNs, if you have some bring them along). The thicker yarn is easy to manage, if sockyarn and tiny needles put you off.

Call Rae at (517) 336-9276 to get details and sign up. Or buy the pattern at either Rae’s or Threadbear… or for those out of town, from me via email.

Thanks again for your support of my work. It’s a good time working for you!

Oh! Such fun we had!

Doug and Corrina were the best of hosts tonight at the Progressive Torch and Twang radio show. They asked great questions, they had us play 4 songs live (one from the CD) and they played six cuts (!) from our CD (which has 14 cuts total). Wowie. And they were fun as well. You can not ask for better hospitality than we had tonight. Thanks so much, you guys!

Now, I wonder if I’ll ever get to sleep. I’m on such an adrenaline rush I can barely sit still. It was supposedly a “day off” for me today but I spent time doing publicity for our Sunday show and this radio spot. I did get some good food at New Aladdin’s restaurant and stopped by briefly at Rae’s to do a little bit of business. But it was mostly Fabulous Heftones Day. I enjoyed it.

Now I will go sit on the couch and try to mellow out by knitting the yarn I spun from Bonkers! fiber, dyed by Tracy Bunkers. I’m making a chunky shawl, something on the order of a crescent or semi-circle shape. The yarn is so colorful it’s like knitting an old fashioned rose garden minus the thorns. Busy, but fabulous!

Let’s hope the knitting calms me down so I can actually get to sleep tonight. I need to breathe. Yeah, breathe!

I had it wrong… the station where we will be tonight calls itself 89 Impact and I thought it was at 89.1. It is really 88.9! Whoops. You might have found it anyway, but these days with digital tuners you may have missed out.

So, here’s the real scoop:

Progressive Torch and Twang
WDBM 89 Impact radio (tune 88.9)
(limited broadcast area, mostly East Lansing)
Show 8pm - 11pm, Fabulous Heftones start around 9pm.
Tonight. Tuesday, June 20, 2006

I have heard rumors that this show also airs on WKAR 90.1 but I can not find any information on it anywhere on the web, so it may just be a rumor.

Photo: Fabulous Heftones at Altus, Valentines Day 2005. Photo by Regina Fry.

Thanks as always for your support, local friends!

Funny, things happen to those who wait. I remember the time I made homemade shortbread. It came out a bit scorched on the edges and tasted like sand. I trimmed all the scorched pieces, threw them away, and saved just the middle part overnight. Thought I’d really screwed up.

But shortbread is basically sugar, flour and butter. And overnight the butter was able to slowly seep into the flour. And in the morning they were gorgeous and tasty. And I wished I could get back all the bits I’d tossed.

So it has been with the granola bars of last night. They were light and crumbly last night. This morning? crunchy, chewy, whole. Very few crumbs, no more than any other granola.

It still is a bit too molasses, not enough ginger for my expectations. Susan wrote that I could use applesauce. I think I’ll sub that for the egg next time. Somehow I forgot I used to use applesauce a lot, early in my food substitution days. Diana suggested substituting peanut butter for wheat germ (bulk and oil) but I just don’t like peanut butter very much. Maybe I’ll try that for a change of pace someday.

I’d still like to add some fruit. Worst case, there are some dates I can get at the American Bulk Food, the best dates I ever had in my life. They are a little more moist than other dates, and very tasty. But if I could add a fruit that was not dried, that would be even better. (Dried fruit is classified as a mold food, a mild allergy of mine, and it often has corn sweetener added which can make me very ill.)

I crave tart cherries or cranberries, for example. I’m thinking on that. Sounds too wet for this sort of project, but maybe not. After all, blueberry muffins are not a problem, are they? And if fresh fruit won’t work, maybe I can use some lingonberry preserves (from Sweden, all sugar/no corn sweetener) to sub for some of the moisture. The fruit in the preserves is not as wet as fresh, and it is quite tart enough to make me happy. Lingonberry preserves are sort of pricey for food, yet a very fine occasional treat.

But right now, for breakfast, a couple small molasses granola bars and Ethiopian black tea are just about perfect together. Strong and a tiny bit overpowering (like me I guess) but still very nice. Earth muffin food for sure (no, I have never ground my own flour) but satisfying. I think I’m closer to the final product. The texture makes me very happy.

Remember, I’m the grrl who figured out how to make pumpkin pie with no dairy products and no eggs. That took almost a dozen tries to get that recipe working right. I’ll figure *this* out even more quickly.

Well, food is an artform. Unfortunately, I’m not much of an artist in that realm. I do keep trying and eventually I get it, but I don’t guess well sometimes when substituting.

For example, I can’t eat corn syrup so honey is a good texture/moisture substitute. Except I don’t like the taste of honey. It works fine in brownies where you can’t taste much besides the cocoa, but I’m now trying to make granola bars. I did honey the first two times, today I tried molasses. I think next time I’ll do half and half, because the molasses is too strong even though I like the taste.

Actually, the recipe as it came to me is fine but a bit sweet and more like cookies than my idea of granola. So of course I made it once with minimal substitutions and then started in messing things up!

It calls for wheat germ. I’m allergic to wheat. Diana says that wheat germ has a lot of oil content. The first time I made the granola bars I substituted golden flax seeds and that worked pretty well. Second time I just increased the oats (thinking that the wheat germ was there for texture) and that dried things out. This time I put in dark flax seeds, but only half as much as the amount of wheat germ called for. That seems to work OK.

It calls for wheat flour. I substituted spelt flour (related to wheat but it does not give me trouble) and that worked OK. However, it’s boring and cookie-like. This time I subbed part buckwheat flour, part oat flour, part rice flour. I use that combination a lot in baked goods, so I knew it would work fine and add a bit of flavor.

I use a flax seed meal and boiling water combination to sub for eggs. This time I used less flax seed meal with the same amount of water. This batch is not holding together as well as previous batches but I don’t know if it’s the egg substitute, the flour sub or any other change I made.

Oh, and it called for brown sugar on top of the honey/molasses. I chatted with Peggy at my computer class tonight. She made these according to the recipe, mostly, and felt they didn’t need the brown sugar at all. So I used half the brown sugar it called for.

When I mixed up the dough, it seemed so wet I added more oats into the mix. I wonder what things I did to the recipe that made the dough so much more wet than the previous two batches. I wonder if the molasses is wetter than honey. I also wonder if the flour substitution is part of the issue.

Since I had molasses in these, I added ginger and allspice. I like the idea of these, and they did bake up well, they did remove from the pan well. They crumble when you look at them sideways, though. And even with the (smaller amount of) brown sugar they seem sort of rustic. I still will need to tweak and tweak and tweak. Food is definitely an artform, don’t you agree?

But hey… this is food I can eat. And it’s a bit of a treat. And I can put one or two in a baggie in my purse and have something to tide me over. This batch may turn into a million crumbs but it will still be fuel for me on the road.

When I finally get a batch I like, I will share the final recipe with you. Meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy these with tea, crumbs or not.

Touching base on many topics…

It’s hot here, or was Saturday anyway. I love this weather! The most perfect thing besides a hammock on the porch, is driving in the dark down the highway in over-80F weather. I got to do that Saturday night. I was really really happy.

We sang at a very special wedding Saturday, it was wonderful. The bride came down the aisle to “By the Light of the Silvery Moon.” At the reception we met some great folks who may come to our CD release next Sunday. It would be so cool if they did.

My brother Eric, who usually works on Sundays, somehow got the day off next week and he will come to the CD party. I’m really excited. He’s my best buddy in the world and he doesn’t get to Lansing much. He and Diana will both come. Woohoo!

Kathy S. writes that she finished her first pair of First-Time Toe-Up socks she started in a class at Rae’s. They look great. (Blue Trekking XXL.) Her son now wants a pair. Cool!

Kathy had suggested that to organize my yarn mess in the living room we buy those wire cubes that so many yarn shops have for display. Brian got several packages of them and put ‘em up. I filled those. I bought another package and he put that up too but I haven’t filled those yet. I have so many samples knit for classes or to sell patterns, on top of yarn to knit, that I was just overflowing. I think this will eliminate the “boxes on the floor” yarn problem in the living room. Maybe we can have a music party again… not this week, but maybe before it snows. I hope.

I got a thank you note from some of my knitters at the alternative High School. It means the world to get a note like that! One of the girls knit a necklace, added a charm, and wore it to her prom. Another girl knits to keep herself from smoking. I call these results success, my friends! I really am happy to sleep in on Mondays now that their school is out, but I’m glad I worked with them when I did.

On the way home from visiting my Father in Law for Fathers’ day, I started knitting up my Bonkers! fiber handspun into a shawl. I’m working on size 15 needles. The needles are not at all too big for this very chunky yarn. I love this thing. It’s like knitting a garden. Incredible.

Speaking of gardens, I have done no gardening at all this year. Well, Brian and I transplanted some rhubarb from Mom’s house. She has the most healthy rhubarb I’ve ever seen. It looked like it didn’t make it, but apparently the roots are fine. The clump we planted is now growing leaves like crazy. The two leaves that came with the plant did not make it but we seem to have three happy rhubarb plants. Happier than the plant that we’ve had for years, actually!

Other than that I’m very happy that we have plants that bloom without any attention at all. The climbing roses are great right now, the daylilies started this weekend, a few peonies are still blooming, the magenta spirea (sp) is blooming on the north side, and it sort of looks like we have a garden even though I have not done anything but pull tree seedlings (in a half-attempt to weed) this year. I need to get some pre-planted geraniums in pots if nothing else, for our back entry. And hopefully a ready-to-go potted tomato plant for the back step. They are so pretty in a city garden!

Photo today was actually taken last year. It’s the east side of our garage, plants that came with the house, though the lilies used to grow in a different area of the yard. These roses are in full bloom right now, and the lilies are starting to pop.

My sister in law, Diana, is great at many kinds of handwork. When I met her, she was mostly into quilting. I made her a pair of socks. She can’t wear store-bought socks but the ones I made her fit really well. I got her hooked pretty easily, then, on handknit socks without even realizing it was a big deal.

I knit her another pair of socks when my brother Eric requested I do so. Then I got busy with the business of knitting/designing and just didn’t have time to make her more of what she needed.

So she started knitting. She was already very good at crochet, but she wanted handknit socks. Well, guys… she’s converted. She told me Friday that she’d emptied a few drawers formerly used for quilt fabrics, and made them available to her new knitting obsession.

She has made at least one pair of my wristwarmers, one button hat, and other goodies I’m going blank on right now. She’s knitting socks for herself currently, from my First-Time Toe-Up sock pattern. And they fit, and she loves that. Power. Ability to make something exactly as needed. How cool is that?

Well, the grrl loves bright colors as much as I do, though she sometimes picks different ones than I might. She found herself at a store the other day and found contractor’s nylon mason twine, in hot hot hot hot pink. Eye-curdling pink. Electric pink.

And proceeded to make a phone caddy with the twine, which I show here for your viewing pleasure. She used something like a linen or woven stitch (with stitches slipped yarn in front) which made a great fabric. Then she decorated with paints and beads and what appears to be a button. I saw it in person but I can not remember what the heart was.

And then guess what? She gave the rest of the twine to me. I have about 100+ yards of twine, about DK or worsted weight from the looks of it. It really wants to be a shopping bag, I think. In my spare time…

Howlin’ Hobbit sends this link to a Knitted Ferrari in the UK. Dang.

Twelve miles of yarn in garter stitch. How did she fend off boredom? Amazing.

Brian and I just heard from from Doug Neal at The Impact radio, 89FM at Michigan State University. He has invited us as The Fabulous Heftones, to perform live on his show, Progressive Torch and Twang, this Tuesday night.

The show is 8pm to Midnight each Tuesday and has been a quality contribution to the Lansing music scene since it started. We are honored to be invited. It would be hard to imagine us categorized as twang, but we do a few numbers that definitely fit into the torch song genre.

It looks like we will be on the show starting around 9pm or so, I’m not sure exactly how it will go. We are happy to be flexible within the needs of the show. It sounds as though they may have us do a few pieces live in the studio and also play a few directly from our In the Garden CD.

We are quite pleased that Doug is supporting us in this way. We are doing what we can to get the word out about our CD release party (which will be on Sunday, June 25 at 7pm, at Magdalena’s Teahouse in Lansing).

I want the CD release party to be a wonderful, fun event. Therefore, I want as many great folks to join us in our celebration as possible. The more folks who know about it, the more potential friends we can have join us for our celebration. (We will perform most of the CD live that day, followed by less formal festivities.)

One of my goals as a performer of these wonderful early-1900’s songs, is to reach all age groups, particularly those who are not yet familiar with our music. At Magdalena’s we achieve that well. (Last time we played at Magdalena’s we had listeners of all ages including a 4 yr old, several teenagers, and several retirees.) The Progressive Torch and Twang show will also help us reach some new younger folks. I’m just delighted.

About Tuesday night: everyone in town, you can tune in on your radio. (I think it’s actually 89.1 but I can’t seem to find that information on their website.) Internet friends, you can listen by going to the 89 WDBM web page. That is, if you are so inclined. We are on Eastern Daylight Savings time, the same as New York City.

I’m still doing emotional “frequent flier miles” on adrenaline from getting this news. I just love doing live radio slots! Such fun fun fun fun…. (yes, I will finally sleep sometime tonight but it won’t be for a while… maybe it is time to clean house again and burn off this energy).

Cat Bordhi has the best summer knitting ever. Knit a Tree House!

I had a day at home today, except for dance rehearsal for 2 hours this evening. I had thought I’d dye yarn. However, the house is so overstuffed that I spent almost the whole day cleaning and putting away, reorganizing, and throwing things when possible.

Yesterday almost the whole day was spent with a new set of shelves Brian bought me and assembled while I was in Indianapolis. I had so many boxes of yarn on the floor that getting around the living room was getting impossible. Now I’ve emptied the equivalent of 5 boxes of yarn into the shelves. Impossible, it seems.

Actually, some of that is teaching stuff… a box with extra-thick yarn for Basketweave Rug classes, a bunch of stranded knitting samples for mitten/turkish sock classes, lots of samples knit from patterns I’ve written.

And some of the stuff is partly-knit projects… the super-fat Aspen yarn sweater with most of a back knit, My almost-finished Olympic asymmetrical vest from Purl Stitch/Melville, a handful of socks here and there, a purse I started to knit and discarded for a better idea in different yarn. Even two “grass skirts” abandoned more than halfway knit. And more yarn for samples yet to be knit. This yarn is really a supply of color for my work, like paint for an artist who makes images on canvas.

But those shelves are bursting, my friends. It’s scary.

So now Brian and I can tell I did something in the house, but nobody else would have a clue. I feel like I threw away a day today… except indeed I can function better when there is less stuff in the house and the stuff that is left is in some sort of order.

I resist housework, I think many creative people do. I understand that all humans have maintenance tasks that must be done… because I’m human I must clean myself and my environment regularly. That does not mean I have quite reached the zen thing where doing it is in the moment as a meditation. I can’t think anything about washing dishes other than wishing I was doing something else… but today I washed a lot of things and I survived.

The good stuff? I finally opened up the last box of Ethiopian tea I brought back from my trip and am thoroughly enjoying that. I ran out of plain “straight up” black tea which is my staple comfort food. I had to open that box of tea or go without, and my addiction to strong black tea overcame my resistance to losing this precious cargo. I have such strong hoarding instincts! This time I finally did the right thing, and I’m doing my best to really savor this lovely brew while I have it.

I also sat in the hammock today for the first time. This is sort of sad, since we’ve had a good number of beautiful days this year. I just get going with work and two rooms away I could be in the hammock, at least to answer phone calls or read or knit sample items. In any case, today was the magic day. I had to fill out some lengthy forms by hand, so I hung up the hammock, reclined a bit with the papers, a pen, a cup of tea and a pillow, and finished the forms. Could have been much worse!

Another good thing? Yesterday I rode my bicycle for the first time this year. In fact, I did not ride it at all last year. I did not feel well and it took me until December to figure out that it was a wheat allergy making me ache.

This year I feel so much better! I’m dancing harder than I have in a long time, and I really enjoyed the bike. Brian fixed it up for me, pumped up the tires and oiled the chain, even raised the seat when I said it was too low. It’s a bit dusty still, but it rides great and I love it very much.

I’d hoped to ride the bike to Foster Center for dance rehearsal tonight, but my appointment for 4:30 (at the house) finally showed up at 6pm (rehearsal is 6:30 and it takes 35 minutes to ride the Riverwalk to Foster Center). Another day, I guess.

Photos (all recycled from past years’ posts): 1) My old Schwinn 5-speed bike. 2) My Hammock I got in Yucatan Mexico in 1997, now on my purple-floored porch. 3) The River Trail (known as Riverwalk) in Lansing. This is the branch going from Potter Park Zoo to Downtown. I took this photo on a “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” day if I remember right.

Wowie! I just got an email, a blast from the past. Erica of Erksnerks said hi. How cool it is to reconnect!

Erica and I met I think around ‘96 or ‘97 when I was learning web design and doing a lot of mail art. I think we first connected through a WebGrrls group out of the Detroit area. (That was a time when there were very few women on the web.) Later I found her fonts that she designed.

I made her a hand-carved rubberstamp (from an eraser) using her NiaShani font. It’s a lovely, artful font that looks as though it was lettered with a brush rather than pen. Beautiful, and with a beautiful meaning.

Erica is in Ann Arbor these days, and knitting. I am pretty darned sure we’ll reconnect sometime this summer. How cool is that???

Now… go check out her site, OK?

I went to Indianapolis for the TNNA show. I was in that city for 23.5 hours total, including sleep. Talk about a whirlwind! (I love Indy, have I said that? I love cities and this one is doing fine right now. I saw a skyline… that feeds my inner self for a good long while each time it happens… I just love a skyline!)

I never did connect with Mary Moran of KnittingZone.com, which bums me out, but she was leaving just as I was getting there and many folks’ cell phones were not doing well in the big convention center. I also heard that my friend Jillian Moreno was there but I never ran into her.

However, I saw people both expected and unexpected. First Rae met me so she could help me navigate around the space. Then on our way in, the first folks I saw were Rob and Matt of Threadbear Fiberarts Yarn Shop! So there we stood, four Lansingites in Indy. Too funny!

We then proceeded to meet Rae’s mom and aunt (both of whom work in the shop nights/weekends). And basically had a one-day girls’ day/night out. Sort of a pajama party for grownups who knit.

They, of course, were there to do business. They ordered some very fun patterns (I remember Lucy Neatby and Chris Bylsma among others) and some great yarns. But between orders we had some fun social experiences.

This was the fourth time I have met Lucy Neatby. What a class act she is. She’s incredibly intelligent and wildly creative but she’s grounded. I aspire to her groundedness though I think I’d know by now if I could actually achieve that!

Lucy just released two DVDs so that you can actually see her move through her teaching. You can even play it over and over if need be, unlike in a classroom. She talks about “Happy and Contented Stitches” and shows you how to achieve many things keeping the stitches happy. There is a bit about repairing runs in your fabric, a sock chimney (brilliant) and lists of other great techniques. Of all the teachers I’ve studied with, I have sat in three full days with Lucy and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. She just plain hits it the way I need things explained… always calm, always focused and with good spirit.

The two videos are called “A Knitter’s Companion, Knitting Essentials series” and “A Knitter’s Companion, Sock Knitting Techniques.” I’ve taken two full days of socknitting techniques with Lucy. She’s incredible… for any of you out there who are socknitters, do check out this sock DVD. It is sure to please. No, I have no affiliation, make not a cent for this endorsement. I just know good training when I see it. And a workshop with Lucy costs more than a DVD… you get to meet her in class and ask questions, but with a DVD you can play it over and over if you wish. It’s a great deal at $29 Canadian dollars. (Shop owners…. upnorthfiberartsupply.com is where you can go to order in the US for your shop. For individuals, we still buy through local shops or Lucy online.)

I’d really recommend that anyone interested in video-type learning, to consider Lucy’s DVD’s. Assuming you are a knitter, that is. Do be sure your computer or other device can play DVDs, not all machines can, and some others require installing this or that software program.

Anyway…

I also saw Annie Modesitt who I’d not seen in a few years, it was good to see her. I saw Gina of Notions Marketing… we used to ride the same bus to High School if I remember right, I’ve known her just about forever and it was great to see her again. I ran into Shiela of One World Buttons, I met her years ago on a self-employed email list but had never met her in person. Turns out she lives in Manhattan’s East Village not far from the theater where we sing for NY Ukefest… we’ll go see her next April when we play there again!

I met Chris Bylsma who was on a knitting designer email list I am on but don’t read nearly enough. I tried to meet Jennifer of Stitch Diva but she was busy taking orders and I did not want to interrupt. Her crochet patterns are some of the most funky and wearable out there in my opinion, and she has some very fine knits as well.

I showed off my Gedifra legwarmers at their booth. I touched TONS of yarn. Yum. Saw beautiful colors. Yum. Tried to tell Rae what colors of Malabrigo hand-dyed merino to order… there’s a deep turquoise/teal I like a lot. It’s really soft. I have two hot pink skeins of this yarn I got at a sale at Threadbear last year, destined for legwarmers. Now I’ll have to make up a 2nd project for this ultra-soft single-ply yarn. That will be fun! (Late correction… my pink is Rio de la Plata, another single-ply handpaint. I am pretty sure the Malabrigo is even softer than the Rio.)

We waited in line to get books signed many times. I got a Happy Hooker crochet book from Debbie Stoller, Greetings from Knit Cafe by Suzan Mischer, Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan, and Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. All autographed.

I was particularly pleased to get the Melanie Falick book so that I could talk to her in person. I told her how much my CityKidz love her Kids Knitting book. They particularly love the backpack and the tassel hat, and I have one girl (2nd grader) really excited to make the striped hat in the round as her next project, which will be very soon. It will be her first project on Double-Pointed-Needles. She knows that after she makes the hat, I’ll allow her to start a pair of socks. That’s a very big deal for a 2nd grader. It’s a pretty big deal even for an adult, you know?

Melanie told me she also has a weaving book for kids and a crocheting book for kids. I’m particularly excited to see the crocheting book. Rae said she’ll order me a copy and I can buy it from her (Rae crochets a lot, in fact she got a signed crocheted lace book at the show this weekend which looks great). The crochet book must be very new, as the sample book at the show was a dummy with blank pages and just a cover. (I can’t find it on Amazon.com yet, either.)

I am not great at crochet but sometimes the CityKidz ask me about it and the more I can learn the better, so I can help them. I think a rug would be a great crochet project, or a backpack or bag. Anyway I’m looking forward to seeing that book. I had a great talk with the person minding Melanie’s booth while she was signing books.

There was a lot of walking and standing in line. I only got there about noon and my feet were thankful the show did not go till all hours of the evening. We got invited to a party by a book wholesaler but decided we were too tired to go looking for the party location and then stand on our feet even longer.

We walked the few blocks back to the hotel, and the others ordered pizza while I ate great food I’d brought along from New Aladdin’s restaurant. (The coat check person at the show gave them advice about what pizza to order, and that was really appreciated.)

For a while they ate pizza and watched TV, and I went down to the lobby trying to sew together the pieces of my Sally Melville Funnel Neck top. I finished knitting it around Thanksgiving. I just am having some trouble getting my proportions/ratios right, somehow not easing it in enough or something. I was trying to graft the seam from body to sleeve but it’s not working well. I’m ready to bind off the top of the sleeve and then sew in with a backstitch. That will give me more chance to ease it in gracefully. I’m very good with handsewing so that’s the next thing I’ll try. No wonder I enjoy knitting in the round so much! No seams. Not that I mind sewing but it doesn’t fit right after two tries. That is just tiring.

I went back up to the room… Rae and I sat in the bathroom with the lights on, talking and knitting while the other two slept in the darkness and quiet. Just like a slumber party! I finished another of my new purses, this one of pink/purple vat-dyed Naturewool. And felted it there right in the sink, by hand. It’s beautiful. Now I need to make a handle and button for it.

Rae finished an incredible lace shawl, alpaca on size 0 needles, fully 4 feet across I swear. It’s from Gathering of Lace, the one with unicorns. Incredible. And speedy given how many stitches that is, and stitches that take some thinking. She loves lace and it’s apparent with the level of challenge in this piece. She wore it Monday, slightly damp.

Monday morning I took a class from Cat Bordhi about knitting with kids. She booked the class as promoting your yarn shop but it was totally about teaching kids, which can indeed promote your yarn shop if you have one. I was so happy to be in a room with people who like the idea or practice of knitting with children.

Cat had this great idea for a small felting project I can do with my kidz (no washing machine involved), maybe this summer in our smaller group. I’m excited to try it. I’ll report back when I have experience with this project.

The class included 6 male students, too, and we had some talk about how nice it would be to make that not be an issue. Surely the kids knitting programs I’ve taught have had some very enthusiastic boys over several years. Enough to start turning things around, one person/family at a time. I tell you, my brother Eric is the best embroiderer and excellent technical sewer I know (he made a pair of jeans that looked storebought, including double-felled seams).

Anyway I had to hop out and back to Lansing right after the class with Cat. It was delightful to go, to meet folks from online, see new things, meet authors, talk to old friends. It was a great time. I talked too much, I always do. But Brian reminds me that’s a byproduct of my enthusiasm, and he’s right. And what a life I lead! It’s a great thing to have a life I can be this enthusiastic about.

Photos: 1) The baseball field which was across the street as I walked to the hotel from the convention center Monday. It was a glorious sunny day, the flowers were at peak. Indy sure makes sure visitors see some nice gardens! Even the parking lot had an incredible mix of flowers as we walked around the corner. Very nice. 2) The Great Wall of Yarn. This is outside the exhibit hall, and was where I met Rae on the way in. You see less than half of it in this photo. It can be overwhelming, really, the variety and color there. My favorite was a single ply wool/alpaca worsted weight in turquoise/fuschia/yellow. No surprise, really!

I guess I can’t leave you folks very long… I made sure my classes web page was updated on my site before leaving for TNNA/Indianapolis. I have ignored that page too often but right now it is ready to roll…

I’ve added a Polymer Clay Buttons & Beads class and Basketweave Rug, at Threadbear in July.

I have a First-Time Toe-Up socks class at Little Red Schoolhouse, and we are in the process of planning some July/August Monday night classes there, if anyone has a request.

At Rae’s I am offering Watercolor Bag next Thursday and the following week… and Bags to Go! (with a new twist, photo soon) at the end of this month. I’m sure to be adding Thursday classes at Rae’s for July/August… again, write if you have specific requests.

Please check out my Classes Page which has full information.

I’m preparing for a busy one. I’ll work for Rae’s shop until mid-afternoon, then go to a wedding of a dance friend. I will miss a computer student’s funeral, but I’ll take time to be quiet and remember her energy and love for living.

After the wedding I’ll go to Altu’s and sing with Brian, then eat wonderful food. I will try to go to bed really early for me, because I need to be on the road by 6:30am to go to Indianapolis for the TNNA show. You probably won’t hear from me until I return from Indy.

This is the right kind of busy. Good company, a little travel, some good food, some music… yeah, I can handle this sort of busy.

Seeya Monday.

Well, my friend Rae has a small yarn shop. Small enough that the employees are all relatives, although a good portion of her instructors (including me) are not. She needed to go to TNNA to order more yarn. With two of the three other folks who work the shop.

So I said I’d watch the shop for 2 days. Well, most of 2 days since I have a wedding to attend mid-afternoon on Saturday. It’s good to stretch a bit sometimes, and do things that are not in one’s comfort zone.

Now, I love working retail… at least, the part where people come in with questions or challenges and I get to help them. I have only done this twice in my life (both times as a second job) and really enjoyed it. But I have not worked a cash register in a long while. Thank goodness that cash registers are now basically computers. I can figure them out better that way.

So today I spent six-plus hours at the shop. It was good fun. I did have a little tug o’war with the bar code scanner at first, but it did finally decide to behave. I figure if that is the worst thing that happens while I’m working an unfamiliar job alone, then I am doing fine.

And I got to see so many people I knew! Kathy, Jacque, Lynnette and Suzanne all came in, and we got to chat a little. Other folks, too… but these I had time to chat with. That was a blast.

But I tell you, my feet hurt! I remember now why I don’t do this any more. I’m going to enjoy tomorrow again, and then I’ll be happy to be in the car 5 hours on my way to Indianapolis, resting my feet before I stand up again for a long stretch.

Thanks to my friends/students who came by. It made my day pass very quickly and happily. (Even if I had a few hiccups in the cash register department!) All’s well that ends well, and it did turn out just fine.

Oh, I have the best kids (in my CityKidz Knit! program) in the world. We had our last session at Foster Center today, until Fall. I had a dozen knitters (and 6 additional children playing on computers in the same room) today. it was crazy-busy but wonderful. We enjoy one another so much. I have kids from age 5 to age 18 and it works, somehow. It works really well, actually.

Let me tell you something… never underestimate a child. These kids can do so much! Today when I was busy getting the Kool-Aid dyeing project ready, several of the older knitters helped several of the newer/younger knitters fix “hiccups” in their work. With that many folks in one room I really did need the help and they were quite good at jumping to do what needed doing.

We dyed some yarn that had been donated by one of you wonderful blog readers in the last year. Often we don’t get wool donated, but this year we got a lot of it and we really have taken advantage of it. This cream colored standard worsted-weight yarn was perfect for our needs.

I made small loose center-pull balls on my ballwinder, maybe 5 yards each (enough to make a wristband), and we put them in my turkey roaster with soapy water and drink mix powder. We used red on one side, then turned over each ball and added orange. It turned out that we had so much dye that the amount of wool I started with did not use up the color so we added more yarn. The second batch became a pretty coral color.

After that batch was complete, one of my High Schoolers brought a skein of yarn she got after a wonderful donation from a Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild colleague, a gorgeous textured cream wool. So we dyed it with some Canadian grape (a sort of burgundy color not available in the USA) and some red, I think it was cherry. It’s the skein hanging up at the top of the photo. It turned out just beautifully, she was delighted.

This last photo is a sock by my 7th grader (front row center in top photo, with ball of yarn in hand). This is her 3rd sock and the 4th is all done except for the last few rows that are purple. Actually, I bet it’s done as I am typing this, she was so excited to finish. She left the purple skein at her house and was quite bummed about it. Personally, she is knitting socks faster than some adults and she’s doing it while school is in session. I’m eager to see what she does this summer. She’s already about a third through a Garden Capelet, as well.

I’m sort of sad… some of these kids I will not see again. Some I will not see until fall. I don’t know which they will be yet. I’m pretty sure my three oldest will come to summer program, they are able to bring themselves to the place and time where I’ll be knitting. But even then there are complications, plans made by parents and summer schools and staying with this or that relative or other parent this or that week. One day at a time, I guess. I already miss them.

Photos: 1) The group that was still in my room several hours after we started… and me at far right in tie dye shirt. 2) Toe Up sock made by CityKid knitter.

Brian and I, as The Fabulous Heftones, will be performing Saturday. The time is dinner hour, 6:30-8:30pm. The place? My friend Altu’s restaurant: Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine. It’s on Michigan Avenue in East Lansing, next to The Dollar. She has a nice map on her website if you need help finding it.

The food? You won’t be disappointed. Altu is the best cook I know. There’s a beef stew with vegetables on rice for those who like American-style food, and mild or spicy, veggie or meat, for those who like adventure. Traditional spongy sourdough bread or rice, your choice. At right pictured is the beef with veggies on bread and lima beans (absolutely fabulous and creamy, just trust me on that) on rice. That’s Brian’s hand… just before we dug in to the meals we ordered for ourselves one night.

Local friends, please join us. Singing is so much more pleasant with friends in the audience.

On Friday, Brian and I went to New Aladdin’s restaurant to see two of my dance colleagues perform, and also to have dinner. We had a great time.

I got there before any of the dancing started, and it was so packed that I found the one seat in the house, fortunately at a table populated by other dancers and their friends/family. I found a chair near the front desk and put it by our table, so that Brian could join us. And then we enjoyed the show.

I’m really missing my good camera that I lost (well, I know exactly where I left it, but it wasn’t there when I went back). However, I still got a few nice web photos for you.

Photos: 1) Ari with red silk fan. That is a difficult prop to master and she just looks wonderful with it! Go, Grrl! 2) Amirah near our table… you can not see it but there were two toddlers right there, really enjoying the show and dancing along.

My mom wrote regarding the photo today. She said:

That photo was taken when she was in San Diego visiting Aunt Lizzie. Aunt Lizzie had her have the photo taken where the movie stars were having their photos taken.

This would date the photo at 1922. It also means that her father did not take the picture, as I had guessed.

My mother was named after Aunt Lizzie, who was quite an amazing woman. Aunt Lizzie lived more than 100 years and died before penicillin was commonly available. She outlived 4 husbands and I’m told she was secretary to Susan B. Anthony. For how long, and at what time, I am not sure.

My grandmother was raised in Oxford, Wisconsin. Her mother died when she was around 7 years old, and so from a few years after that she was raised by her own grandmother (with another cousin) on a civil war pension.

In order to go to college, Grandma Illa found scholarships. At one point for about a year she studied public health at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. (That is only an hour from where I live now and merely 15 minutes from where my brother lives.)

Grandma caught a very serious flu, on the way back to the midwest from Aunt Lizzie’s. She was going to her first teaching job in Wisconsin, but she became so sick they took her off the train and she could not even tell them to call her impending employer. By the time she was recovered well enough to contact the school, they had replaced her as a no-show.

It was then that Grandma contacted a placement agency and found a public health teaching job in Gilbert, Minnesota. Grandpa was the principal. It was a very tough iron mining town, not like anywhere she had lived before, but it was there where they started a family together.

And that is enough family history for a while. I don’t know about you, but I find history more interesting when I know some of the players.

My mother writes that today is her parents’ anniversary. He was principal of the school, she was a teacher. This was in the days when married women were not allowed to teach. They lived in Gilbert, Minnesota, on the Iron Range about one hour north of Duluth by today’s standards. I know that Grandma’s dress was a bluish-gray satin dress with satin-covered buttons, not full length. She wore the dress until it was worn out, but I think my mother still has the buttons. Mom says:

Mom and Dad were married on this day in ‘25. It was the last day of school. Dad forgot to order flowers, so he woke up the florist to get some. They were yellow talmen roses. They thought they had pulled off a good one as they were married before school started, but when they left school, there were old shoes, tin cans and the cowbell tied to their car. For their 25th anniversary, Mom painted the cowbell silver. That is the one on my desk.

The photo here is one of my Grandma as a young lady. I’m not sure how old she was here. Her father was a professional photographer, so we are lucky to have even baby pictures of her.