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.

Last Wednesday Brian and I met at Magdalena’s Teahouse for dinner and entertainment. It was his birthday and we knew there would be good entertainment there at open mic while we ate.

It was a quiet crowd, maybe because it had been a lovely day… and at the end of the night all the acts had performed and there was still time to play. So Brian went out to the car, got his ukulele, and went up there to fingerpick a few tunes solo.

Here’s a photo I got of him while he was up there. For the knitters who tune in, those socks I knit him years ago from Regia ringel or mini-ringel. I think they are Pair #23 from my LynnH SockTour. That would date them at January of 2001. I tell you, Regia never seems to wear out.

I teach children to knit at Foster Community Center. It’s a walk-in program (free of charge, a great thing. This means I have a few kids who come as many as four hours a week. I also get a few kids who come for part of an hour to stave off boredom, never to return. Some kids walk to the center from their homes. Some are delivered by their parents, often from homes too far away for walking.

I’ve done this for about 4 years now. In previous years I’ve had a few students (usually one at a time) really blossom and knit complex things. One year I had a girl make several backpacks. Another younger girl in a later year made up some slippers on her own, and made a backpack and a few other larger items.

I’ve historically had kids come to me more for an activity to do with a caring adult, rather than an interest in knitting finished products. I’ve had months where basically everyone knit wristbands (or the related headbands and belts). And that is just fine to me when it happens.

However, this year has been extra-ordinarily different. Not only do I see more larger finished products than ever before, but they are being made by a larger pool of truly active and loyal attendees. And more of my kids actually walk to the center on their own, than ever before. Of the kids who have adults bring them, a lot more of the adults stick around and knit with the group than ever have before. It is a truly different and delightful year for me.

Take this first photo. The young lady is in 7th grade. She learned to knit from me a few summers ago, learned basically how to make the simplest of fabrics, and then mostly disappeared. So a handful of months ago she showed up again. And she had been knitting the whole time she had been away. She was ready to learn new things. She needed a teacher once more.

She made up a purse on her own. She’s knitting a second purse, again of her own design, from fancy yarns folks donated. And a few weeks ago she finished this project: a pair of toe-up footies. They are bulky wool/acrylic yarn donated by Kim at Yarn Garden of Charlotte. She made them on pretty darned large needles for socks, but she made them very close to the way I teach adults.

She turned Dutch heels instead of half-handkerchief heels (I love Dutch heels, they are a great choice and much easier to do). She increased the toe in four sections rather than a wedge. Other than that, she did it all pretty independently. She’s a very good knitter, even compared to adults. Check out the close-up. Great job, huh?

But did she stop here? Nope. She is already done with a third sock, and has cast on for the fourth. In red Lamb’s Pride Worsted yarn that was donated (thank you folks out there for donating such lovely yarns lately). With a bit of dark purple trim using some Cascade Pastaza I gave her. It’s a beautiful design she made up herself. I am kicking myself that I did not take a photo of her first red sock on Thursday, but I’ll get it when she brings the project back next week.

The second child shown here is a fourth grader who is just blowing away my ideas of what a person her age can do. She is modeling her lopi bag as a hat on her head before felting/shrinking it (again, excellent donated yarn… thank you SO much). Oh… and she’s showing off her first attempt at I-Cord, which then became the handle on that bag. (It is felted now, I’ll have to show you another photo soon.)

Now, never mind this child is in 4th grade. I am here to tell you that she also has finished her first toe-up footie. Yes, she turned a heel. I told her what to do but she did it herself. She did have a few hiccups. I did have to go back and fasten a dropped stitch I did not find earlier when she was short a stitch… but hey! She made a footie, and it fits, and she likes how it feels. I’m so proud of her, as she is of herself. See her work? It’s a little blurry but clearly it’s a sock with a proper turned heel. Go, Kid!

And then, here’s my third socknitter. She’s a high-schooler, and has finished one beautiful wool sock. In my favorite color, no less. (I think she’s showing off her yoga here so she can have her beautiful smile in the sock photo… clever girl.)

She knows she will have a challenge finishing the second one (boredom, it’s called Second Sock Syndrome) so is taking a breather by knitting a shrug. (She is making up her own design so as to avoid pattern reading, I really do understand.) I will be there to help her with the second sock as soon as she needs me again.

Another extra special knitter is in 2nd grade. She can recognize knitted garments while folks walk by in the hallway. She is now knitting a feltable bag in the same turquoise wool as the sock you see here. I don’t have an individual photo of her but she’s in the group photo wearing a light blue tank top, holding her turquoise bag in progress. (Note that in this photo there are Kidz from 2nd to 12th grade, and three adults, one whose hands are viewed bottom right, who knit with the child they brought.)

She is the first CityKid knitter to finish two wristwarmers. (When she heard nobody else had ever finished two, she became determined to be the first.) Not wristbands, which are 5 stitches wide and are the starting project in my program. Wrist*warmers*, which were in her case about two dozen stitches wide in garter fabric. The first one she sewed together with a darning needle, the second she learned how to do a three-needle bindoff to make the rectangle into a tube.

I tell my CityKidz how special they are. How they are doing things that many adult knitters will not try. I tell them: “You Rock!!!” It is such a joy to celebrate these youngsters who are actually completing projects, and pushing themselves to do challenging work.

It is worth noting that I did not suggest to any of the Kidz that they make socks. They just see me wearing socks I knit and ask if they can do it, too. Then I hustle to figure out how I can help them do it successfully. Sometimes I make them wait and do another skill-building project first (like a hat on double pointed needles before socks on double pointed needles). But look at them go!

I’m very lucky to work with these young folks. They really make my heart soar. I adore them. Aren’t they the best?

Oh, I’m so excited! I designed a new small purse/bag. It’s felted. It’s colorful. It is just the right size for when you want to take a wallet, cellphone, sunglasses, and keys on a quick jaunt to the beach or other summer destination.

No, the pattern is not ready yet. In fact, the yellow/green sample you see here is still not fully dried after felting. I’ve written one draft but the first version of this pattern will be ready for my class at Little Red Schoolhouse next Friday and the Friday after that. If you can only make one week, come anyway, my friends! We can catch up with one another by appointment if you have further questions.

The class is definitely a “go.” Caroline signed up today and assured me her friends were coming to sign up this weekend. Woohoo! And such fun we will have!

This is a quick knit. I knit it in a day and a half of focus. You could do it on a long weekend easily even with distractions. Felted bags are forgiving of hiccups, too. And you might even have a partial skein or two of the Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride worsted yarn it calls for, just waiting for a little stash-reducing project. It needs just over a half skein for one color, and about 3/4 of a skein for the main color.

Both of these samples pictured here, are on display at Little Red Schoolhouse. I also knit up a few other alternate stripe colors in little sample swatches, for those who prefer more options. They are with the bags at the shop.

Please join us. Call 517/321-6701 to register, or pop by the shop if that’s easier for you.

I made the decision… I am driving down to Indianapolis next week to the TNNA show for Sunday (June 11) only. I’m very excited. This will be my first TNNA show.

Yes, I’m nuts. It’s 5 hours to get there. We sing at Altu’s on Saturday night until 8:30pm. Maybe I’ll start the drive after the gig is over, and see how far I get before I need to find a room. Maybe I’ll try to go to sleep early (I usually crash between 1:30am and 3am, so that’s not very likely) and drive it in the am.

I work on Monday at 3:30pm in Lansing. That does mean I can sleep in Indy and then drive home on Monday like a sane person. This is good.

For non-knitters, TNNA is a trade organization for needlework including knitting… and this is a big yarn/pattern-buying show for yarn shops all over.

I’m already planning to catch up with Mary Moran of KnittingZone. She lives in Alabama! That’s 14 hours from Lansing. It will be a treat to meet her, we’ve known one another online for years.

I hear it’s absolute sensory overload at the show. I don’t really enjoy crowds (I love people but in smaller groups). But I love connecting with people I know from the Internet! I have been on the Socknitters email list since spring of 2001, and have made many friends. I want to meet some of them! And if I could meet one or two of you wonderful folks who read this blog, that would be just the icing on the cake.

So who is reading this, who will be in Indianapolis that day? I have music friends there, but may have a hard time connecting with them. I may try anyway. I think this is one place where playing it by ear would be very wise. (I do remember eating at a very good Indian restaurant in Indy last October, and may have to look that up before I return. Yum!)

It’s all up and official. The patterns section of KnittingZone.com has a page with all sixteen of my patterns downloadable for instant printing and use.

I must offer a big thank you to Mary Moran of KnittingZone, who encouraged me to jump in and test the water with this new technology. It is already proving an exciting option for me, Mary, and my customers. Preliminary sales look as though the time it took to get set up was worthwhile. Thanks, also, to those who have already purchased. I’m delighted with your votes of confidence.

Photo: Sherbet Socks… my Goddaughter Sara’s favorite pair. She owns the sock in the photo, actually! Lucky kid, because these days I save all my samples for display and they never get worn.