My friends, I did it! All of the yarns I have in stock are on my new shopping cart. I have 9 colors of Tip-Toe Sockyarn, 6 colors of my Cushy ColorSport DK weight washable merino, and three laceweight skeins in two different fiber contents. I also am offering three skeins as “oddballs,” either short skeins or one skein that does not match any other I’m currently offering. All nineteen of my patterns are up as well.

For all orders, no matter how large, I’m charging $1 shipping. The more you buy, the more you save.

And until December 20 I am offering a free pattern to anyone who buys $45 or more in yarn, patterns or both. If your order totals $45 or more, just write in the comments as you check out, which pattern you would like me to send. If you don’t write in the comments I’ll figure you found my site in another way besides this blog.
The site? It’s at:

http://ColorJoy.com/shop

My old yarn site is still up (though horribly outdated) and I’ll need to reroute links to the new pages this week. However, for you who know me and can get to the shop, this is where it’s at right now.

Tonight I’ll be adding Fabulous Heftones CDs to the offerings, and when I can find that jar of Chunky-Funky buttons I made and put aside for this project, I’ll be adding those as well. I have plans to photograph the tiger stripe socks after my Saturday show, and I have some garment “finds” to share soon, wonderful garments I’ve allowed to follow me home like puppies… and whenever I can start painting sweaters they will make it onto the site as well. I have one lonesome kazoo that might make it up there as well when I get time.

One step at a time, right? But most of you ask about the sockyarn. It’s up!!!

The photo is from Threadbear’s store sale in October, it shows off some of my colors well.

Brian bought me the Ladysmith Black Mambazo “Long Walk to Freedom” CD for my birthday. This one includes many songs I know from other CDs I have of this band. It’s different in that these are new recordings of those songs. They include guest musicians Zap Mama, Melissa Etheridge, Natalie Merchant, Sarah McLachlan, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, Joe McBride and more. I’m listening to it as I proceed through my morning. While baking breakfast, finishing up the shopping cart, checking email, choosing clothing…

I love this stuff. I’ve been indebted to Paul Simon since the Graceland album, for waking me up to South African music of that time (I love Mahotella Queens just as deeply as I love this band). African music changes and new bands start every day, and I’m not as familiar with newer acts, but this particular style of vocal harmonies continues to soothe my heart.

I keep getting choked up. The music is so heart-ful, so perfect for showing off my favorite instrument, the human voice. It is the most wonderful thing I can think of hearing at this moment.Sometimes we can be rich just by living fully in the moment. One CD and I’m as close to heaven as earth can provide…

Thanks to everyone for the birthday and blogiversary greetings. I feel so happy here in our online community! Home. I had a wonderful birthday, Brian took me out to dinner and then to Dagwoods for open mic. I got some photos which I’ll get to you but they may be after my Saturday sale, if I”m realistic.

Then I did so many things on Wednesday! I hit all three of the shops where I regularly teach, plus Foster center, plus dance rehearsal. Then I went home and worked on the shopping cart which is waiting for merely 9 photographs but not done yet. I have to do a mailing for my Art For the Soul, should have done it today but will have to do tomorrow morning.

But the only thing I did Wednesday that really really mattered, was to take a photo of this wonderful child:

Gerrit Nikolaas slept through all the fuss over him. Adorable. Totally sweet while sleeping, I assure you. We know he must have fussy times, but I can not imagine it from the short time we had together.

Here is a closeup, I know you want more than one shot :

If you want to read more about Kristi and Noel and the Dutchicans (Dutch/Mexican babies, they made up the term), click on over to Sarah Peasley’s Handknitter blog.

I don’t know who made up the word “blogiversary” but it stuck in my head when I read it once or twice. I realized very late in the day that my birthday is also my blogiversary. I’ve been blogging since November 28, 2002. Four years!

My system tells me that this is blog entry number 1729. I never really thought of myself as a writer much. I’ve always been one of many words, for sure, and many opinions. Sometimes I have more opinions than are really my share and occasionally that embarrasses me… but because of those opinions I’ve always wanted to write a column. Without a degree or job history in writing or journalism, it was not going to happen easily if at all… so a blog was an incredible opportunity. I could hire *myself* to write a column! Imagine that!

I realize that some others don’t think of a blog as a column. For me that expresses my approach. Perhaps that is why I write about so many topics. I have this opinion that many things in life can be classified as art… dance, cooking, gardening, even raising a child is perhaps the most difficult creative act anyone can execute.

I have so many people approach me as an artist with words to the effect that “I’m not creative, but you are.” (This can imply somehow that I’m superior in some way, which puts a barrier between me and the speaker and makes it hard for us to be real with one another.) Nonsense.

It took me until I was in my mid-thirties to realize that I was an artist. I bought into the idea that drawing and painting defined who was an artist. I do not draw or paint… at least not realistic “objective” artwork. I do decorative painting, for sure. But since I don’t feel comfortable making traditional art renderings on two-dimensional surfaces, I thought that meant I was not an artist. I had a long, confused, emotional process of discovering that I had not given myself credit for a long time.

I dance, I sing, I write (poetry mostly when I’m unhappy, this column since my life turned around), I adventure with food and I appreciate others’ gardens. I am relatively good at photographing, at least at snapshots. I use the computer to create artwork, in fact PhotoShop has helped me do several artpieces that I could not have created if I needed to draw instead of use a computer.

I enjoy costuming myself, be it for stage or every day. Yes, choosing clothing for the day can be an artform! Surely you know someone for whom self-costuming is a primary creative activity.

I love to embellish found objects. This can mean embroidery and beads on a purchased beret, or it can mean fabric paint on a cellphone or nail polish on a palm device. I always loved to work with textiles, mostly sewing until my divorce (my previous life before I met Brian) in about 1990-91 at the age of 32.

After that lifechanging event I started working with polymer clay and I still did not consider myself an artist. Eventually I called myself an artist of the “one song canary” type, where I used “only one artform.” Nonsense, I was sewing at the same time, and doing decorative painting in my home. But I did not see these “domestic” activities as art.

I guess you could say that “creative endeavors” and “art” are not exactly the same, but for my purposes at least for this column I don’t separate them. I think that when people say they are not creative, that I am, they do themselves a huge dis-favor. They are not honoring the artful things they do accomplish.

Nearly everyone is creative in some way. Just because I did not work in two dimensions, just because my artful output was not frameable for hanging on a wall, just because I was mostly working in three dimensions, and mostly within a “domestic” framework, I discounted my artfulness. I did not allow myself to see the artist that I was, that I’d been since childhood.

So ColorJoy! “Art as an everyday attitude” became my blog’s name/subtitle. I encourage you to allow the thought that your dinner that you made might be considered artful, to realize that planting flowers or choosing what clothes to wear, all might be artful activities. Consider that you might just be an artist yourself, if you don’t limit your mind to what might or might not be in the rigid category of “art.”

I’m very fortunate that at this point in my life I make a living as an artful person. I write, I design, I teach (also a creative activity), I sing, I dance, I dye yarn and garments. I make polymer clay buttons and kazoos. I do unusual one-time artpieces such as the knitted self portrait.

I occasionally do “soft block printmaking” which is also sometimes called “eraser carving” and is related to something called “mail art.”

But even when I was teaching full time as a computer software trainer, I found it extremely important to save time out for one creative act per day. Sometimes it was rubberstamping images on the envelope as I paid my bills, but I made sure to do something each day.

My life has come a long way, I can not even express how different I was fifteen years ago. I barely recognize my former inner self, and it’s a good change. And now I have this blog, and you friends out there. I’m very grateful.

Photos: 1) A Hershberger Art Kazoo tm, polymer clay on metal; 2) Embellished palm device, 3) Digital collage from 3 photos I took, 4) Me as Eudora, my dance persona, dancing at New Aladdin’s restaurant, 5) Soft block print of my friend Elizabeth’s cabin in Vermont (the image originated as a photo which I then scanned into Photoshop, transferred to a soft block, carved and printed). Of all these artforms, only the print fits my previous/traditional sense of what artists might do… now I see them all as different facets of the same gem, so to speak.

My Monday did not go as planned, though it went just fine (other than still no shopping cart). I did start by making teff muffins (teff is a grain grown widely in Ethiopia and I was commemorating my trip 2 years ago). They were *good!*

Then I opened the shop for Rae and stayed a number of hours there. She recently gave me a mini-sock-blocker keychain to put my store key on, and so when I was at the shop I knit a mini sock for the blocker.

Of course, I had to use my own First-Time Toe-Up toe and then I wanted to make an afterthought heel, and I wanted stripes on the foot and fairisle checkerboard patterns on the leg. I had to do it my way which meant at one point I had a LOT of needles in the piece at once.

Never mind you never knit with more than two points at a time, it sort of amused me how funny/difficult it could look to someone who was not in the middle of the project. Rae came in when it looked the most ridiculous and she made me take a photo of it. Trust me, the blockers come with a pattern that does not require this mess I had, I just wanted to do it my way. I’m 3 years old going on 48, I guess.

(The knitting did not take very long, not an hour, I’d say… but the working in of ends in a sock that was small enough to fit snugly on my index finger took almost as long as the knitting. I did a little duplicate stitch on it when I got home as well, because I wanted to change the balance of colors on the top of the sock, and I like to do any kind of embroidery so I enjoyed that.)

There were errands to run at the end of the day and I did not give myself enough time to do them, so I’ll have to do at least one tomorrow. However, I get to sleep in and then I plan on making some sort of pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. I have a little time alone so I’ll hope to get back to the shopping cart during that quiet time.

In the afternoon, my helper will come and we’ll wind yarn and label it for the show this Saturday. She’s not staying too long, because when Brian gets out of work we are going out on a date. There’s a Chinese restaurant where I can eat a few things, so we will go there.

After dinner we think we might go over to Dagwood’s pub and have fun with the open mic there (hosted by friend Jen Sygit). It will be a fun birthday date.

Today I wore clothes and jewelry I bought in Africa. I wanted to remember the richness of that trip I took 2 years ago today. It made me feel good to wear an outward sign of the trip. I’m a lot glad I went, I probably won’t go again but I can dream…

Photos: 1) Minisock on blocker/keyring in the middle of my most messy knitting moment, with many needles in the sock at once, 2) Finished minisock keyring, 3) Open mic at Dagwood’s last August, 4) Shirt I got in Nairobi, Kenya. This one I was prepared to do without and it’s the one I’ve worn the most. The vendor literally chased me down the sidewalk after we left the shop, and my hostess negotiated a price that was so low I could not say no. I’m glad they chased me!

I can’t resist. I have photos of dancers in all 3 countries I visited. Here is a dancer in a fancy Ethiopian restaurant in Addis Ababa:

Here are dancers doing traditional dances at a wedding on the beach in Mombasa, Kenya:

Dancers entertaining at the food court at a fancy mall in Nairobi, Kenya, the week before Christmas:

Dancer at the Marriott on the Nile in Cairo, a few days before Christmas, 2004:

I’ve shown all these photos here before in the last two years, but not together on the theme of dancing. I hope you enjoy them.

Old Friends

I spent about seven hours Sunday with my friend Susan. What a luxury! It was so heartwarming and comfortable to be with her, to finally see her home and meet her sons. When I got there, her mother was there. I met Susan and her mother (and sister Beth) I was in 3rd grade or earlier. Yes, really. That was a long time ago, since I’ll be all of 48 years old on Tuesday.

I also still stay in touch with one other friend from elementary school, Jo. Jo is the mom of my Godchildren, Michael and Sara (who I wrote about last Wednesday for her birthday). Jo and I met in either Kindergarten or 1st grade.

I realize that many people don’t stay connected with anyone as long as I’ve known these women. It is not as if they are in my every day life, but they remain a connection to my history. And these women knew me when my life was not this good. I’m glad they stuck it out with me. Having them in my life makes me richer.

Opposites Attract?

Susan and I are both creative souls, who can not ignore our creativity without losing ourselves in the process. However, Susan is as intense/focused as I am intense/distracted.

I get much accomplished by going in spirals, so to speak. I do part of task A, get distracted by B, get up to make tea and start C in the kitchen, go back to the desk and remember A again. Eventually A is completed and I might add a D or E to the rotation. As if it was really in order… It could be A, C, E, B, C, etc. It’s sort of chaos but because I stay focused on working and going forward, I keep on plugging and everything gets done.

Well, also I’ve learned to use my computer and palm device to keep me on track when I forget. I set a lot of alarm clock functions, to remind me to change gears at key times. I am determined to keep going forward, and the determination seems to be my best friend.

Teaching is Definitely “My Thing”Thank goodness that when I teach, I’m really focused and I know what to do, I have only one thing I’m there for and I am really very good at it. I am grateful every day I teach, that I finally found something that is so right for me.

I started working for pay in front of a classroom in 1994, teaching computer training classes. I’d been volunteering and also teaching informally at work (Hey, Lynn… how do you do X on the computer?) since 1978 when I did volunteer work for a young woman’s group at Central Michigan University. I didn’t realize for a long time that I could do this thing I loved after work, as my actual work. I’m really happy with how things have evolved that way for me.

Winding Down/Good Food

When I got home we had a wonderful meal by thawing something I’d made last week. Aaah, I’m starting to reap the bounty of cooking ahead of time! Make 2 meals, freeze one, and a meal next week becomes easier. I’m delighted. (It was cornish game hens, carrots and parsnips… very tasty, better than chicken. If I have to eat meat (right now my health depends on it, I can’t eat dairy, egg, nuts or soy without getting sick) I’m happy it can taste that good.

Back to the Shopping Cart

After dinner I got right down to business on the shopping cart. I loaded all six colorways I have in stock of the Cushy ColorSport DK-weight washable merino yarn I have offered since I first started dyeing yarn. This stuff is incredible! It makes good hats, scarves, baby blankets, socks, wristwarmers, and nice drapey sweaters and baby clothes.

I adore this particular DK yarn, it’s so springy that it can be knit from 7 stitches per inch for socks, to 4.5 stitches per inch in a baby blanket. All are good fabrics for that particular item (DK-weight yarn is typically knit at 5.5 stitches per inch for sweaters, I like it around 6.25 stitches per inch for socks).

Family can Also Be Friends

My brother Eric and his wife Diana have been incredible friends to me during this shopping cart development. Diana has tested the cart a zillion times (thank goodness Paypal has an easy feature for refunding purchase money), and Eric looked at it from a non-knitter perspective. He is the best one I know at asking questions without trying to skew the answer. I adore both of them.

Work Friends

Tomorrow I will be opening up Rae’s shop for her until she can get there a few hours later. There is another gratitude… the yarn shops where I teach are all run by incredible, wonderful people (Rob and Matt at Threadbear, Linda at Little Red Schoolhouse and Rae at Rae’s Yarn Boutique). I am lucky to count them as friends, and working for friends is the best.

Anyway, Monday I’ll be taking my computer with me to Rae’s so if we have any slow times I can edit the TipToe Sockyarn photographs. When I get home I’ll then be able to load my last yarn product and start the official opening day of my shopping cart this week.

Tuesday I have my helper coming to work with me mid-afternoon, but I think I won’t have her stay too long (I want a special dinner with Brian because it is my birthday that day)… I hope we can get a few more colorways of yarn skeined up for me to photograph and add to the photos.

My Partner is also My Friend

That’s another friend I’m grateful for. My husband, Brian. He has made this shopping cart experience so much easier for me. The product is a package deal and it came with some very ugly cartoon “icons” on many of the pages. He went in with his programming knowledge and one at a time removed them for me. No complaining, just work. He’s wonderful, and I know how lucky I am.

I’m getting excited about the shopping cart but it’s not quite ready yet. Patience… I’m going to learn it sooner or later.

Photos: More Africa, definitely more about friendship. Monday after Thanksgiving, two years ago, my beloved friend Altu took me home to Ethiopia.

We were 3 weeks total in Ethiopia (five different areas but mostly her parents’ home in Addis Ababa, the capitol city), one week in Kenya (two areas, a resort in Mombasa on the Indian Ocean and Nairobi, a very modern city with an incredible national park literally next door), and one week in Egypt (Cairo except one day in Alexandria).

If taking someone on a major trip like that is not proof of true friendship, I don’t know what is. We came away from that 38 days of togetherness with an even stronger friendship than we started out with. How lucky I am.

So the photos? One street scene from each country we visited. Homes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (laundry day), Mombasa, Kenya (notice boy with balloon), man delivering pita bread on a bicycle in Cairo. The first two I took from moving vehicles with a point-and-shoot low-end Kodak digital camera, using the sports setting.

The Cairo picture is actually a tiny little bit of a shot I got from a distance. He was going so fast that by the time I got out the camera and it turned on, he was a speck on my photo. He was not the only delivery guy doing this, but he was the only one I was fast enough to catch. Whew!

I think that I have my shopping cart in working order. All the patterns are entered in, and one lonely skein of yarn is also loaded. Sunday I am spending much time with my friend Susan Luks so I don’t know how much work time I’ll have but I plan to start in where I left off today, when I get back to this desk sometime Sunday.

Saturday turned out very well. I slept in, made a wonderful quick bread for breakfast, (rye flour flavored with maple syrup, it is so much like cornbread it is spooky), worked on the shopping cart, tested it witn Diana by phone/internet, had lunch, more shopping cart including Diana.

Then my friend April from across the street called. She was sent home early from work and could she come over? Sure! So I had a nice teatime break sharing my good baking with April (we haven’t talked in far too long). In the end she had to go, so I did more shopping cart, then took a hot bath, Brian came home and we had dinner including the nicest baked organic sweet potatoes I’ve ever had. We did a quick trip to the local grocery since I was trying to do laundry but had run out of detergent… then came home, more shopping cart, a little jam session, and yet more shopping cart.

Actually, this morning while I was waking up, eating bread and drinking tea, I was surfing a little and paying some bills, doing a few routine household things. After the grocery store we really cleaned out the refrigerator well, which was satisfying. And now even though we bought a lot of food, the refrigerator is more roomy than before! Woohoo!

I’ve already set out the ingredients I need for a special bread I’m making in the morning to take to Susan’s house. Very yummy… if you ask nicely I’ll post it this week when I get time (between shopping cart stuff). It’s pumpkin bread but with no spices, just vanilla, and a flour called Kamut (a relative of wheat but more nutty and less sticky). It’s really lovely… no milk or egg but it’s fluffy and moist and everything you might want from a sweet quick bread. Diana has asked for the recipe, so has April. It’s a winner. This week, I promise.

Meanwhile it’s time to put the clean sheets on the bed and call it a night. It’s 2am on the dot and I’m expected at Susan’s in the next town over, at noon. And the bread takes about an hour to bake… Goodnight.

The pictures? Well, Altu and I left two years ago this week, for our five-week trip to Africa. 1) Tea Altu’s mother served me in her home, with a special silver teaspoon decorated with an Ethiopian gazelle of sorts (with curly horns, only found in Ethiopia). 2) One of the first places we went was northern Ethiopia. We walked up an incline for 45 minutes to view the waterfall of the Blue Nile. Yes, I really did indeed take this photograph myself. It was that different from here. That gouge in the earth behind him? The Blue Nile at a place where it’s merely a creek of sorts. Ethiopia is hard to imagine even when you’ve been there. I’m so grateful I had the chance.

Hi. I just need to put this image up where I can see it on a web page. Thank you for humoring me one more time! (It’s my actual hand-lettered signature “LynnH” I wrote in a thick brush-type pen on paper, the shape of which I transferred to a plastic eraser, then carved the eraser as a handmade rubber stamp, stamped it on paper in black, scanned the signature into the computer, and then did an overlay of my colors in a pretty gradation-rainbow using PhotoShop. I did it years ago. No, you didn’t ask…)

Thanksgiving

Thursday was wonderful and Brian made a wonderful roast duck with roast rutabaga (incredibly satisfying) and roast jicama (just fine but I like it better stir-fried or fresh in salad).

I didn’t have to cook. Well, I made a butternut squash late in the day which I ate on Friday… and I made some wild rice in the rice cooker but I did it wrong and it didn’t get finished until after dinner was over. We had wild rice for an evening snack, and it was a wonderful treat.

A Bit O’Work

Thursday night we spent some time trying to get my new shopping cart working. You know, “New.” The one I started working on last spring? That one.

It’s much closer to ready thanks to Brian, but I’m still bewildered at how it works with Paypal. Paypal is my credit card processing company, their service is how I take credit cards even from folks who do not have a Paypal account. They are really not clear about telling my customers that (I can see it’s not in their best interest), and I can not figure out how to code that in. I’m working on that and a few other details.

My patterns are all entered into the shopping cart already. Very good. I have categories set up for adding yarns and buttons and kits, and will add handpainted garments (this week that would be tiger-dyed socks) when I can.

Family Meal

Friday we went to Grand Rapids, an hour away. There were 25 people for a turkey dinner with every possible side dish imaginable. It was beautiful. Everyone gets along very well, and the children are old enough to not make much noise. There is room for them to play downstairs while the adults chat upstairs, and it is a good setup.

The day was so gorgeous that the birds were going on this morning as if it was spring! After dinner about eight of us went for a long walk in the very pleasant, park-like neighborhood where my sister- and brother-in-law now live. I enjoyed that walk very much. (The photo here is actually Wednesday’s sunset but we have had clear skies since then.)

A Bit O’Knit

I did not knit a stitch on Thursday but I knit a lot on my ribbed legwarmers and my Louisa Harding socks on Friday. I finished one sock and started the toe of a second one. With the legwarmers, Diana used part of a ball for a few swatches so I started a second one to make sure they are the same length. I’ll have leftovers in any case, the one I stopped early on reaches over my knee right now if I wear it skintight over leggings with no bagging. I’ll really like these, I’m sure of it.

A Quick Shrimp-Pasta Recipe

When we got home I made myself a seond meal of the day, which was shrimp, green frozen peas, waterchestnuts and rotini pasta. Very nice. It was easy, I boiled everything in one pot. Here’s how I did it:

1. Boil water, and while waiting for the boil start thawing fully-cooked frozen shrimp under cool running water, removing tails.

2. Add frozen peas and waterchestnuts, bring to a boil again.

3. Add quick-cooking 5 minute pasta.

4. Just as the pasta is ready, turn off stove and put thawed shrimp in the boiling water for just long enough to heat through, not a whole minute if it’s totally thawed.

5. drain, place in nice wide soup/salad bowl, drizzle olive oil and herbs of your choice (dill is nice) over the mixture and dig in. One pot, and a happy tummy!

More Work

After dinner I went back to the shopping cart. I was able to buy something from myself, so things are progressing a bit. I’ll keep you posted.

Gratitude

I hope everyone found more than just one thing to be thankful for. Today I’m thankful for good food, nice weather, family/friends, wool to knit and Brian Brian Brian.

This Thanksgiving, I received the most beautiful letter from my friend, Susan Luks. Most of you know of her as a fiberartist, a creator of fabrics and garments. However, she is a most wonderful writer as well. She sent this letter to her friends, and I asked to share it with you here. Please visit her website and see her visual delights as well as these artful words: http://sdluks.com

Thanksgiving 2006

Thanksgiving eve… tonight I was thinking that when we say grace at my mother’s Thanksgiving table, we will say, “bless us, oh lord, for these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty…” and I will think for the 9 k’zillionth time in my life: who wrote these words? And then in an instant I will consider the value of ritual, but quickly veer off into the mind space of wanting to be the one who gets to write grace. My mind wander will carry me to a particular point of view, a neighborhood of my mind, where I understand that I am always in the midst of writing grace, always in the midst of witnessing grace, and always in the midst of receiving grace.

When I say that, I am thinking of all the varied and interesting people who populate my world. I am thinking of the incredible singularities of each of you. I am thinking of how many kindnesses I have been dealt over the year, over a decade, over a lifetime. I am thinking of how much I appreciate your time, your presence, and your indulgence of my idiosyncratic heart. I am thinking that this is grace.

What I want to say in thanks giving, in my version of grace, is singular to each of you. You, collectively, will have to believe me that it’s a long list, a collection of the smallest seemingly unrelated and meaningless items, but not unrelated and meaningless to me. I see that what I value most is just this: life lived in paragraphs, sometimes sentences, occasionally single words, and often wordless actions.

I will give you some examples: Nichol popped his head into my office, taking in my desk littered with paper, and said, “can I get you a cup of tea, Mom?” Grace. Mike bought Jacob a guitar so he could learn to play. Grace. My mom called after a trying day to allow me to rant. Grace. Jakes smiled at me as I said “goodnight, sweet dreams.” Grace. Josh joked. Grace. Winalee danced. Grace. Julie and I had breakfast. Grace. You sent me a letter. Grace. You came to dinner and sat and talked. Grace. You showed up at my art show. Grace. You showed my boys corners of the world I can’t bring to them, a baseball game, football game, D&D, how to camp, to fish, to be boys. Grace. You share your talents, your stories, your homes, and your time with me and mine. Grace. Grace. Grace.

On this Thanksgiving when I say grace with my family before the meal, “bless us, oh lord for these thy gifts…” the ritual for me will not be as small as the words, it will be as big as the collective actions of all of you and yours and me and mine. Spoken or not, it will be as big as the collective grace in the world. My wish for you is to find the same at your table.

With a bursting heart,

Susan

Susan, thank you for bestowing your own grace on us today. Friends, remember that Susan wrote this (and therefore owns the copyrights for its use) and if you wish to quote her it would be kind to ask first: Susan AT SDLuks DOT com

Sara is my Goddaughter. She’s a junior in college this year. Today is her birthday and I’m flooded with memories as I write this.

You know, you can wish for a good relationship with someone but you can not place an order for magic. Somehow Sara and I love one another with a magical connection. She’s in college now, which means I sometimes see her three times a week and then I don’t see her for months. It doesn’t make any difference to our connectedness, we know our relationship with or without visiting one another.

When Sara was young, she would stand in the door and laugh from her belly when she saw me coming. She was so happy to see me that it would just burst out in laughter. Every time she did it, I’d hang on to the moment and understand that it could be the last time. I think she did it until she was about 7 years old. There is nothing like being celebrated in that way!

Sara always called me “My Lynnie.” One day her mother, Jo, called me HER Lynnie. Oh, my… Sara corrected her mommy. “Not YOUR Lynnie, Mommy, MY Lynnie.” Apparently I could only belong to one person and it would be her!

Sara and I have taken two trips together, just the two of us. When she was 15 years old, I took her to Vermont, Montreal, and Toronto. I wrote a travelogue called Marvelous Montreal, if you are interested in that trip.

After her graduation from High School I took her to Chicago for several days. I wrote that as blog entries. The first of a series of posts on that trip starts here.

About a year ago Sara decided she wanted to knit socks. She had three pairs I had knit for her, but the more I am involved in my knitting career the less time I have for knitting items that are not for my work. She made a pair of purple footies in washable merino yarn. Very nice. They were imperfect which was frustrating to her but they fit and they were quite nice indeed. And *my* socks are imperfect as well, but that is hard for her to see.Here’s a photo of Sara wearing her third pair I made for her, then me with Sara starting her socks last November.

My sweet Sara-bara, Happy Happy Birthday to you!

Diana is a whiz at internet research. She also likes to cook (and she loves me). Therefore, she has taken a great interest in finding me websites to help with my new cooking adventures. Today she sent me the Alaska Seafood (and fish) Cook it Frozen website. Tons of recipes for cooking the fish straight out of the freezer.

I think I’m in love. This is my sort of thing. I bet my mom will be interested, too!

Long Night, Lots of Goodies

I stayed up until 3am dyeing more socks Monday night. I got up early, made breakfast, packed a lunch and put dinner in the crockpot (yup, that’s three meals in an hour or so). Went to Rae’s to help out, though she was there for most of the time so I got to do some knitting on a new sock.

At the end of the day Sue R. and Suzanne came in. They got first dibs on the socks I’d dyed (thanks, ladies, for your continuing enthusiasm… you are true friends and I thrive on your support). Then I went home to pack the car for the guild sale.

Yum

I was very happy to find a fully-cooked dinner in the crockpot when I got home, so I had dinner (well, I stood up at the counter in between doing other tasks but I ate good food) and packed the car. I got set up at the meeting just in time for the group to find its way to my table.

A Great Sale

Again, thanks to every one of you at the guild who supported me by your words and your purchases. Every little thing matters and I’m very grateful. It was a successful sale for me and worth the couple of 3am nights getting ready!

A True Friend

The traffic in East Lansing and on Lansing’s east side was really challenging because MSU was having a game. I did pop by Altu’s restaurant where she had a large crockpot waiting for me in her car, to borrow for Thanksgiving cooking. I’d say you know you’ve got a real friend when she loans you her huge crockpot without you even asking!

After that little stop, I had planned to go to the post office (where a package from Diana, things she’s knit for me that need felting, is waiting) but I was not eager to sit in backed-up traffic. I proceeded home. I’ll have to felt the bits on Wednesday night instead.

Planning for Tomorrow

Wednesday is busy but early in the day only. I have a private class at 11, then a fairisle sock class at Rae’s at 12:30, then nothing. Well, I’ll go to that post office after all!

Thanksgiving Weekend/Cooking Plans

Thursday I’m planning to cook a whole duck for us on Thanksgiving. (Sorry to the vegetarians tuning in, I really wish we could have Altu’s lima beans but for the first time in years I can’t eat her absolutely exquisite food for Thanksgiving.)

I’m really hoping this duck plan is not a mistake. After all, I am the one who swore she’d never cook a turkey, ever. Well, these days I do cook *pieces* of turkey. I’ve never successfully cooked duck, pieces or whole… well, I tried one once when I was maybe 22 yrs old and it was a disaster I’d rather not remember. Disaster in a fire-danger sense. Bad.

I’m an adult now, though. Do you think I can do this? It’s like a huge cornish hen, right? With more fat? (A lot more fat? That’s what went wrong 25 yrs ago.)

It looks like I have Saturday free. Thursday the two of us will be thankful at home together (the way I like it), Friday we’ll be thankful with Brian’s family (read: lots of people who get along well, including a handful of kids) for part of the day.

Possible Creative Adventures

Saturday I’ll be thankful alone at home. Hopefully with a knitting machine! Altu’s restaurant will be open Saturday so I’ll go visit her at some point but other than that I want to do a big focus day and knit something, anything on that knit machine. I’m dreaming of wool longjohns or leggings, but I have yarn for several sweaters and it would be cool to whip up something simple with that, perhaps.

Or I’ll handpaint sweaters. If I feel like that. If I do that, I’ll have more cool stuff to sell at the Art for the Soul. This would be good. After all, I have a pile of sweaters (several are cashmere) ready to recycle as handpainted artworks, and they are getting impatient at waiting so long for the new look.

There will be even more creative fun on Sunday, as I’m finally planning to go spend time with my friend Susan Luks at her home/studio. Tea and talk. I am very much looking forward to this. It has been far too long in the works.

Relaxing… just for me… right now

OK, I just drew a really hot, really full bathtub to almost overflowing. I think tonight it’s an epsom salts night! My feet are clear that I’ve spent two long nights on a bare, cold cement floor. I’m going to soak all my troubles away…

…and dream of knitting.I guess I’m doing Thanksgiving a few days early. I’m really feeling grateful for the good sale today. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me with kind words and/or purchases of my artful offerings. It’s always a challenge to “be an artist” as one’s job. Days like this make me know I’m still on the right path.

Photos? Go see Diana…

I have photos taken of various things, but they are still on the camera and my bath is calling. Photos tomorrow night, I guess… If you are wishing for photos right now, go visit Diana’s Otterwise blog. Pretty stuff!

I’m excited. Here is a photo of about 1/3 of the socks I’ve dyed for sale this holiday season. (Note: After initial post I later added 2 more photos showing all socks died thus far.) I hope I’ll find some more blank wool socks to dye but it’s just a fluke I found these. Clearly this will not be something I’ll offer over the course of time. It’s definitely a lucky holiday special offering. I will have 17 pair dry and ready to sell at the Mid-Michigan Knitters Guild sale and meeting Tuesday night.

What doesn’t sell Tuesday I’ll photo and put up here for you folks. Photo editing and putting up the web information is the most labor-intensive part of the whole process, sometimes it takes longer than the dyeing.

However, if you guys out there see something you want and send me an order via email ( Lynn at ColorJoy dot com) before I leave for the guild meeting (say 5pm Eastern time Tuesday) I’ll sell to you. That’s if you can handle me not presenting it in a lovely fashion on a proper sales page.

The socks that look more intensely colored (in photo #1, top left three and bottom kneesock) are thin washable merino wool/nylon/lycra blend, and they are larger (though rated for the same “average” foot all socks say they are for). The softer-looking socks (right top and bottom, and middle kneesock) are truly softer because they are angora blend (rayon, angora, wool, polyester, nylon, lycra).

The angora blend socks are noticeably smaller. My size 6 narrow feet (woman’s XS) would be much happier in the angora socks, though with that lycra they would stretch to fit many sizes. Some of both fiber blends are knee socks, some regular leg height (about 6-8″). Some of the angora socks are cabled or ribbed, the merino are flat stockinette in a very thin fabric reminiscent of the tights of my youth, but made of wool.

All styles are $19.50 plus a dollar shipping, no matter which style you choose. Considering that yarn to knit your own socks is more than that, I would say this is a good deal for a handmade artform.And I’m SO happy with how some of the socks look like tiger stripes! Lucky me to happen on that method so soon in the dyeing game!

OK: two more photos posted here (be aware that some places where it looks dark blue it’s actually a purple that is on the blue side)… I’m off to teach computers for the last time this calendar year but I’ll check my emails when I get home and see what you all think!

I’ve been grumpy lately. I won’t bore you with any possible excuse for that.

When I am grumpy I find that a gratitude list puts my mind back on the positive. So, today I’m grateful for (not necessarily in any order):

• I found these wool sox to dye/handpaint.
• The healthy arrival of Kristi’s two sons.
• People who love me, including my Brother, Eric; his wife Diana; my extra-ordinary mother, Liz; and my beloved hubby Brian.
• A day which did not require me to leave the house.
• A good dinner made by my sweetheart while I was doing other things.
• An excellent term with my Haslett computer students (Monday is our last day together).
• A basement dye studio, an attic polymer clay area, a wool area (actually several wool areas) in this little house.
• A city where the people are friendly, the creative friends are many, and the cost of living is low.
• My music: the voice I lost for a month a dozen years ago which has healed; the Heftone Bass given to me by my father in law Larry who invented/built it; and Brian whose incredible ukulele playing makes us an act worth hiring.
• Color.
• Good food, good recipes, a creative mind to make new recipes.
• My job. I get to work as a renaissance woman, so to speak… teaching, singing, dyeing, knitting, designing, dancing on occasion. Never bored, and somehow it works.
• Another day of living on this earth. That’s as basic as it gets, but it’s a profound thing.

(I have had requests for photos… I dyed 19 pair of commercial wool (or wool/angora) socks tonight and will get photos somehow. The knitting guild will probably see them first on Tuesday, but we’ll see what happens. I did also make a little more sockyarn in the flammegarn series, another couple of skeins in pink grapefruit and a few in very dark turquoise…)

Social Saturday Night

Saturday night I went to dinner at Altu’s restaurant (she was not there but I enjoyed listening to Jen Sygit and chatting with Phil Wintermute while eating dinner with Brian). After dinner I went to East Lansing High School to see Altu’s daughter in the play M*A*S*H.

I had planned to see the show sometime this weekend but did not know when I’d go. Imagine my surprise when Altu’s other daughter saw me and asked where her mother was. I didn’t know Altu was there. She had been holding a seat for her daughter but I got to move up and sit with her (daughter sat with a friend, I think we all enjoyed the end result).

We enjoyed the play and then we decided to go out for tea. Beaners is our closest hangout. However, it was packed… standing room only. We moved on to the Gone Wired Cybercafe where we could sit down and not feel rushed. We enjoyed our talk, as we had not been able to meet for our usual lunch this Thursday. What a delight it was to have time with her!

Lazy Sunday

Sunday I slept later than usual. My one scheduled class had cancelled. I was gifted with a full day at home! I love days at home, they are such a luxury. I don’t exactly snuggle down on the couch in a bathrobe but I wear sloppy clothes for working in, comfort over style, and it’s a nice break.

For breakfast I attempted to make a Boston Brown Bread (it’s “baked” with steam on the stove for 2 hours) which did not fully cook, probably because of a substitution I made. It smelled good, anyway! I then made some shrimp in tomato sauce over pasta, which was wonderful. Lunch for breakfast, sort of, but very satisfying.

Brian ran out and bought some great groceries and started some chicken with turnips and collard greens in the crockpot. It smells good. I did some tidying up in the kitchen before he got home and then switched gears.

Handpainting Garments

I’m in the Art for the Soul home art and gift sale on December 2. Since it’s an art sale rather than a fiber sale, I figure that some folks won’t be interested in handpainted yarn there. I am, therefore, handpainting some socks (some wool, some angora blend) and some sweaters. The socks are brand new, the sweaters are great finds I have harvested from various resale shops… two cashmere sweaters and a few angora blends, one silk blend, and a boiled wool jacket for starters. If I have time I will make polymer clay buttons for the sweaters which use buttons.
I’m not sure how much I will finish dyeing this week but I will plug away. The socks are pre-soaking right now, I’m sure those will be done today. Sweaters take as long as they take, they always surprise me how much labor they involve. (Dye wants to bleed through to other parts of the sweater as I work, there is a lot of effort involved keeping colors where I want them.)

We will see how far I get on the garments today. I will plan to take the socks to my guild sale on Tuesday, the sweaters may not be ready until the Dec. 2 sale (which makes sense anyway, since knitters are more likely to want yarn than a dye-painted sweater).

Live Music

Brian is experimenting with recording some ukulele music today on my little camera which does simple video functions. It’s nice to hear him make music in the background as I work.

Ahhh…

I *so* enjoy days where I don’t have to dress up and be in public. Sometimes it’s good just to stay home. I looked out once and it was snowing… big flakes falling straight down. The temperature is higher than freezing so that is not really turning into anything substantial, but it makes staying home even nicer.

And tonight, when the dyed items I’ve made today are steaming, I promised myself I can curl up on the heat vent like a cat. It’s my favorite place in the house and I don’t do that nearly often enough!

Kristi’s husband, Noel, has posted baby photos. Gerrit Nikolaas and Austin Noel are both 4 pounds and breathing on their own, just wonderful news. You might want to go and peek.

Diana and I had a fine day Friday. We are close to finalizing the wrap pattern and we worked on some challenging bits for some other patterns I have in the wings for someday. We ate good food, I pet the kitty, we laughed.

Saturday noonish I taught a class for a few hours. Now I need to run to the PO, and will drop off a sample wrap at Rae’s.

I’m planning on dinner at Altu’s restaurant so that I can hear (Jen Sygit and Laura Bates as the act Calamity Jane) play/sing for a while, then I will go see Altu’s daughter act in M*A*S*H at East Lansing High School.

After the play I’m planning to stuff two crockpots full of soup for overnight cooking, and tomorrow I’ll be handpainting sweaters for the Art for the Soul sale that will be December 2 in Williamston.

It is really gray here today but not raining or snowing, and not horribly cold. (Photo here is yesterday’s sky showing a little blue, today is not that nice.) I’m happy to be wearing a virtual rainbow today. People comment on my colors all the time. I can’t help but wonder why Lansing people don’t wear color more if they seem to like it so much?

Busy, busy…

Diana is my brother Eric’s wife (I don’t like the label “Sister in Law” because it can mean two things and focuses on law rather than relationship). She has become a good friend. Not only does she love my brother (who is my best friend in the world), she and I have many things in common. She’s a very creative woman.

Diana was the model in the Goddess version of my Perfect Hug Shawl pattern. Not only the model, but the test knitter for that very shawl, and the Sassy Summer Handbag. She’s testing my new wrap pattern this week. When she’s not testing patterns for me she’s often knitting samples of previous patterns, for the shops where I teach/sell patterns.

Diana is not only talented at handwork but she also knows a lot about cooking and edible plants. (She was quite the naturegirl at one time, doing wilderness camping with only a knife and a tarp as gear, as well as mountain climbing during the two years she lived in Japan.) She is my first source of information when I want to know about this or that herb. She once did a lot of gardening, and still takes a lot of beautiful photos of plants and flowers in her yard (see currants and vervain here).

She’s also a writer. She’s very helpful to me when I am struggling to find a good way to explain things in my patterns. I really appreciate her thoughtful attention to my questions on wording.

This week Diana sent Eric on a trip up north to be with her father. Eric has not had a vacation of any sort, for more than a few hours, in years. She knew it was time for him to get away and she made it possible. Eric and Diana’s dad get along really well, and last I heard her dad was already cooking for Eric’s arrival before Eric even left the house. They will have a good time! (This friendship/caring is cool enough, but since Eric and I lost our dad in 1973 it’s double-wonderful they can enjoy each other this way.)

So weeks ago I made a date to go see Diana today. It will be a girl’s day in, so to speak, but we’ll be working on this wrap pattern for at least part of the time. Since both of us tend to talk about knitting more than any other subject, we will find the work to be as pleasant as the play.

I’m trying to get my act together to get on the road as soon as possible. I want as much time as I can get with my friend. Diana loves Altu’s food so I’ll be stopping by the restaurant on the way out of town (they live 1.25hr from here) and getting her a special lunch.

I’m also taking her some pumpkin butter spread and a spelt biscuit or two from my breakfast, they turned out REALLY good. Gourmet, as Brian would say! (The soy-milk tapioca pudding, made without any coconut milk, never set up. That was a disappointing loss… but Brian had some anyway, bless his heart. Not sure what I’ll do with it other than pour it down the drain…)

All I want to do is knit legwarmers. Instead I’m going to save that for later and get on the road.

Off to see my friend…

Our friend Kristi (RedDogKnits) and her husband Noel are expecting their boys to be born today. I wish all good to envelop the family as they start their important journey together. Two boys will be in neonatal ICU at first, this is to be expected though all signs say they are doing very well for 32 weeks. The parents will sadly say goodbye to little Eli as well.

Whatever your belief system, do send good energy toward our friends in Lansing today. I imagine they will feel every emotion available to a human in the next 24 hours.

They are no doubt drowning in packages stuffed with handknits for the boys! All those stitches show love, and they really understand that.

Hugs and all best to the Dutchican (Dutch and Mexican, they made it up) family today.

I have been away from my computer a lot the last few days. There is so much to do I am working on crossing off “to do” items from my list. I’ve delivered patterns to two shops, am working on a new wrap pattern (will visit Diana Friday to try and finalize that one), had two days where I danced (one public and one rehearsal/class), taught starting at 11am and ending around 8:30pm on Thursday.

In addition, I am working on learning about new foods and cooking/baking alternatives to the foods which I’ve been eating a lot in the last few years. Yesterday we ate baked plantain, which I enjoyed. Today we tried a “salad” of thinly-sliced fennel bulb (related to celery but smoother texture and a bit of anise flavor). This morning I made yet another version of Teff muffins without eggs, and they were relatively good. I’ll get it better given a little time.

Tonight I made tapioca pudding to eat tomorrow, and I expect to make some drop biscuits with spelt flour tomorrow morning. I may make a cornbread-like pan bread for lunch, with either buckwheat or rye. It is quite an adventure. I guess some people do this all the time for entertainment. I do find it interesting but I wish I had someone else doing the cooking/baking and I could just taste it when it was finished!

As I told Rae today when we were chatting after class, it has been for me about growing up and doing what is good for me. Even if I don’t like it. I told a young lady just yesterday about how sometimes we just have to do things we don’t want to do… and as unwanted things go, interesting new foods are a really decent end result.

Knitting? Oh, man! I was doing so well there finishing things for a while. I’ll get back to that, I have so many fine items in my stash either started or not. I do have a wrap (a store sample for the almost-done new pattern) nearly finished and I hope to finish that tomorrow when I’m with Diana.

Yesterday I bought some fat yarn from Rae to make myself some fat socks (aran weight, 4.5st/in if it were for a sweater). Then I went to Threadbear and Rob had me try on a sweater in a reeeeeally soft merino yarn I liked. So I bought some balls of that and instantly cast on for legwarmers.

The yarn I got for socks is sitting helplessly in my purse waiting for me to notice. But the legwarmers! Yum. I’ve knit about 6″ on those, so far so good. The colorway is sort of grays to soft turquoise then back to gray. Slowly changing stripes, and since it’s meant for sweaters the stripes go a long while before changing color. Very nice so far.

Fortunately for me, I have had one class finish up today and another will finish next week. That often means I knit a sample pair to demo. In the case of tonight’s class (which finishes next week) I have a sock and a half done, and that will be great.

I also found a *run* in the ball of the foot of my handknit sock today. I forgot to take photos of it before I repaired it but I spent some happy time darning the sock. Now I have a pair back the day I lost them. Very good! I have a lot of socks to darn but they are in my bag to carry around in case I have some waiting time. Maybe I’ll fix a few more that way. If I can distract myself from the legwarmers, that is!

I let Brian use my camera the last few days so I don’t have the photo of Linda’s first (well-fitting, toe-up) sock. It’s really pretty and she did a great job. She was pleased as punch.

Last weekend, Susan finished her first sock in a First-Time Toe-Up sock class at Little Red Schoolhouse. She determined that she wanted her first to be a tiny socklet, an ornament or decoration. It’s knit in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, a wonderful yarn. Here is a photo of it before she did a short cuff and bind off.

Well, I’m falling asleep at the keyboard so I had better give it up for the night. You may not hear from me Friday, as I’ll be with Diana all day working on that pattern. We’ll have fun even though it is primarily a work day. See you soon!

It is funny… just when I think I’ll never have a day off again, I start hearing about days off in more than one place… and then I get an evening off unexpectedly.

Sharon P. told me recently that she thinks that a three day weekend would be perfect… one day for errands and housework, one for relaxing, and one for entertainment/socializing. She likes to go to dance weekends and has a great time but that’s not resting, for example. Her comment got me thinking…

So then I go to Chelle’s blog, “Hanging by a Thin Thread.” She says:

I have a personal theory that there are three types of weekends: 1) the kind where you relax and recharge; 2) the kind that are fun and stimulating but busy; 3) the kind where you work around the house doing serious cleaning or working on a household project.

Do I hear an echo in here?

No wonder when I get only one day off and I spend it cooking food for the rest of the week, I feel like I did not really have a day off. There is none of the resting or the socializing in a day like that.

Tuesday night I thought I would have help with my yarn business but my helper had to cancel. After the early alarm clock and performances, I was somewhat relieved to not be so over-scheduled for one day.

However, I instantly went into “errand running mode.” I got groceries and kitchen utensils at Meijer, a huge multi-merchandise store. Then I went and got some specialized produce at the health food store. I popped in to the Goodwill resale shop and found some nice wool items. I ran to the post office.

Then since I was on the east side near where we dance, I decided to get some good coffee and take it to Yasmina Amal. She was teaching (until 9pm) after getting up so early that she essentially did not get any sleep at all. The coffee was, predictably, appreciated. It was so easy to do it for her, it seemed the only thing to do. She’s even more of a night person than I am. I can not sleep before 1am no matter how I try, and she’s a few hours behind me. Yup, coffee was the ticket.

I keep promising myself I’ll crawl into bed under the covers with a book or knitting or even a telephone to call a friend. So far, I put away the groceries, started a dinner in the crockpot, checked email, and am looking through cookbooks trying to figure out what else I might make in the second crockpot on slow, overnight, and what I might bake so I can freeze it for later.

I like to make granola bars or other freezer-friendly snacks so that I can carry them with me in my purse. Sometimes that is the difference between eating nothing and at least getting a little fuel to get through for a few more hours. If I don’t bake things like this (barley brownies, oat granola bars, teff muffins, kamut pumpkin bread… all very tasty and not at all compromises from “normal” wheat versions) then I regret it later when there is no time for baking.

But it’s only 8:30, not even dinnertime for us on a regular day. There is still time to put in a crockpot meal, put one or two somethings in the oven, eat dinner and then actually rest.

I guess it’s time to go back to that kitchen. (Good thing that my normal life is pretty energetic and stimulating without needing a day off to accomplish it.)

Rest. Yeah, day of rest. It sounds soooo nice.

Tuesday, three of us from the Habibi Dancers started our day with performances at Mason Middle School (20 minutes outside of Lansing, the county seat and a lovely town with many Victorian homes). Our first show was 8:30am. My friends, none of the three of us who danced today are typically awake at 8:30am, but we did a very nice show in spite of that.

It was pretty wonderful to dance for a large room full of kids that age. We danced with canes balanced on our heads and I did a basket dance (more balancing, I just LOVE dancing with a basket). We taught them the beledi rhythm, they drummed it on their desks and tummies while Yasmina Amal drummed on her drum.

We discussed costumes and had a male teacher don an Egyptian man’s outfit which drew many giggles from the crowd (he was a great choice, did a wonderful job). We ended by teaching some of them a simple Greek line dance.

After the first show, we had a couple of hours to blow in Mason before we had to dance again at 12:45. We found our way to a restaurant for breakfast. One of our dancers can do these daytime shows only if she brings her toddler. Feeding the child pancakes after she was good during our performance, was a smart move. For me, it was all about a cup or two of tea!

Breakfast can not last several hours, so we decided to go downtown Mason and browse Keane’s five and dime.

Keane’s has been a Mason institution a long time, with wood floors, a fabric/crafts department (it was where I first bought polymer clay), and a candy counter. They just remodeled (very little wood floor left, I’m sad to report) and we were curious how it looked. And of course, the child was happy to go to a store with a very large toy department!

I could not help myself, I took a photo of the candy counter. Isn’t it beautiful? Mind you, this is only one side you see. It forms a sort of island in the middle of the store, with counters on four sides. Just like the five and dime we went to at Brookfield Plaza for Christmas “stocking presents” when I was a child in the mid-1960s. That’s a good memory. (Actually that is where I bought emerald green and turquoise Red Heart acrylic yarn in 1969 when I learned to knit from Mr. Johnson, but that is another story.)

After perusing the five and dime as long as we could, we each bought a little something and proceeded back to the school. One more set of kids. This group was more awake and had the energy of lunch under their belts! More fun, indeed… Again kids asking why a man would wear a dress. Again me explaining that if it is very hot, it makes no sense to wrap fabric around your legs… that wearing something that shades you and allows breezes to blow around your skin is a very wise way to dress, male or female. (Personally, I think shorts make no sense even in a Michigan summer, but I know I’m in a minority.)
I can’t say I enjoyed the alarm clock going off this morning when the sun was not yet up, but I did enjoy my day. Dancing for anyone, but perhaps particularly for kids, is a great way to spend half a day.

Photos: Yasmina Amal on drum (note kids in background drumming on desks and their tummies); Keane’s candy counter; male teacher modeling Egyptian man’s garb; kids doing Greek line dance.

First, I have to say I’m thrilled to see folks chatting with one another through my comments. After over a year without comments this is a sweet turn of events… if you commented before, you might want to go back and see if someone came back at’cha, as they say.

Upcoming events for me: three classes this weekend, one at each of the Lansing shops where I teach.

1. Perfect Hug Shawl class at Little Red Schoolhouse, 11-1 on Saturday.

2. Polymer Clay buttons/beads at Rae’s Yarn Boutique, 2-5pm on Saturday.

3. Wristwarmers at Threadbear Fiberarts, 1-4pm on Sunday.

I continue my gratitude that in Lansing everyone plays together so nicely. I love each of these shops, they have very different personalities, customer bases and yarns. Yes, there is a bit of overlap but I celebrate them all. The owners of each shop I’m proud to consider friends.

Please consider joining me for one of these classes. Any one would be a good thing for a not-too-pricey, not-too-time-consuiming gift or two or three. Once you know how to make one item, it’s not hard to repeat a second time, you know?

I hope to see some of you there.

Awareness

I woke up a little early this morning, having a vivid bad dream. I guess if ancient kings could learn from dreams, maybe I can too.

When I was a child my bad dreams included being chased. I had one recurring one, and as a young adult the dream returned. That time, I realized I was dreaming and turned around and told my pursuer that I knew it was a dream so I was going to do things differently this time. I never had that dream again.

This morning I woke up from a nighmare, the kind of my adulthood. This type of dream started for me when I was planning my first wedding at age 21. I would dream that the guests would come on the wrong day, the flowers went to the wrong church, the dress was wrong, things just never went all the way right.

With this sort of dream, the exact details never repeat but I keep having variations on a theme. It happens particularly when I get overbooked or am working toward a big deadline.

No Dress Rehearsal

In this morning’s dream, I was in a musical theatre production. I had a minor dancing part with a few lines (this reminds me of when I was one of the tap-dancing “angels” in Anything Goes).

I found myself at the first public show (thank goodness it was for children) not remembering what to do. I would forget if I had a line. I would forget where I was supposed to be for my entrance. I didn’t know what costume I was supposed to wear for the next entrance. I was so frustrated that I could not remember what to do next, until I realized that we had not had a dress rehearsal. At that point I got upset with the director that he(?) would have done a show thinking we could do a children’s performance instead of a dress rehearsal.

My Current Tools

Wow. No wonder I woke up. My life is full of things to do, and if I knew a good order in which to do them, things would work out better. As it is, my mind works like a tornado, going quickly in circles and touching on things just long enough to move them along a little bit, then on to the next thing. Eventually everything gets done because I’m determined to do my work, but it’s really inefficient.

I have a palm device (AKA palm pilot, but mine is not that brand) which coordinates with my calendar on my laptop. I don’t know what I would do without my palm. Those who know me best know that they should ask me to pull out the palm and write things on that, if they want me to remember an appointment.

I also organize with my email program. This works well for how my brain works… I never delete an email I might want to refer to again. Instead I have hundreds of folders by topic and I “file” messages in those.

If for some reason I filed in the wrong place, there is a good search function in the program which allows me to look up old messages. I’ve looked up messages that were 5 years old before. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to access that information when I want it! When friends/associates ask me if I can do this or that event or task, I ask them to send me an email. I lose sticky notes and other paper reminders… I can lose one in less than 5 minutes, have done it repeatedly. But an email is never gone.

The Essential Backup

Because of my absolute dependence on my gizmos to help me organize, I have very good “backup” procedures at my house. Every night while I’m sleeping (3am) my laptop wakes up and makes copies of everything I deem important, saving them to another computer in the next room.

I also occasionally make an extra copy of one of those backups in case the backup program goes funky. I learned in my years of computer consulting, that you often need the 3rd and last backup before you rescue your lost data. I make sure I have that. My calendar file is always in two places on my second machine, plus on my palm device and my laptop. I’m serious about how much this helps me. Rae learned it while my palm was not synchronizing and I was waiting for parts and finally a new device. I just could not function properly, and she even commented how I really needed that palm to arrive soon! I’m so glad I’ve found this tool.

But how do I give myself a “dress rehearsal?” I have so many little puzzle pieces to fit together every day now (until the weekend after Thanksgiving, when I’m in the “Art for the Soul” home show in Williamston).

Beginning a Learning Curve

I don’t really know what to do first, second, third. I do have my calendar program where I can fit tasks into timeslots. I try to do that as much as I can. However, sometimes I’m unreasonable about what I can really fit into that little square on the screen.

What I have not taken into consideration for months, is that there needs to be “wiggle space’ between my tasks/appointments. I’m human. I need lunch. I typically get lunch only about 3 or 4 times a week. I just do not make room for it in my schedule (I do get a good breakfast and a good evening meal every day). With my health already funky when it comes to the foods that nurture me, I need to make sure to nourish my body on a regular schedule!

I’m already cooking virtually all of my food, something I would have said even 6 months ago was an impossible idea. Now I need to plan enough to have foods ready to eat for lunch. I had made a lot of food and put it up in the freezer, but then I found that one of the ingredients I thought was working out for me (onions) seems to be making me feel crummy… therefore, much of the food I “put up” is now good for Brian to eat but not for me. Sigh. Start again.

Open Minds: New Foods

The cool thing is that we are trying new foods and it’s turning out well. The parsnip/sweet potato soup was incredibly satisfying, and I’m eager to add some new favorites to the rotation.

Last night we bought some unusual vegetables at Goodrich Shoprite (a place where many international students from MSU shop, so there are a lot of foods many “Americans” don’t recognize). It was sort of fun to open our minds to new foods.

I bought a fennel bulb and some plantains. Altu has told me how to fry plantain though I’m thinking of trying it in a soup. I don’t know much about fennel, found one recipe where you cook poultry with chopped fennel then throw away the vegetable, unacceptable to me. We bought an artichoke last night but neither of us has ever eaten one. I have some tomatillos, very good in salsa but I’m not sure what else.

Request for Recipes

If anyone out there has recipes (for these or other unusual veggies I haven’t mentioned here) I’d LOVE them. We are definitely groping around in the dark here with new vegetables. I can eat virtually any vegetable other than onions and mushrooms (or potatoes, which are not functionally a vegetable).

I don’t like to fuss. Some cookbooks say things like “if you don’t have a fish poacher, use a turkey roaster.” Some insist you use a blender or food processor. Ugh. I don’t have any of those (I do have a very small food chopper/processor) and don’t have room or the desire to add more “stuff” into my tiny kitchen storage space.

Help?

Off to deal with the squares/rectangles on my calendar…

Photos: Palm device I decorated for Altu, similar to mine. My calendar page from 2 weeks ago… this week is approximately the same.

I’m in trouble now. I found two interesting food/recipe blogs:

The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz
(includes great photographs of NYC)

Is it EDible
(try not to get hungry reading Chicken & Rice with Cilantro Pesto )

Altu’s was great! I have photos of that (thanks to Regina) and of my sock class at Little Red Schoolhouse, but no time to process them.

I’m off to Threadbear to teach Bags to Go! After that, a music party to celebrate Mike Ross’ (musician in Scarlet Runner Stringband) retirement. Will touch base again tonight when I return.

Friends, if you are looking for a diversion from the crummy weather; if you want great food and fun music; if you live in the Greater Lansing (Michigan) area, please consider this:

Brian and I are performing as The Fabulous Heftones, at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine today. Saturday, November 11. From 6:30pm-8:30pm. It’s a family-friendly place so do bring the kids if that works best for you.

If you would rather stay home, go for it… but if you’re looking for a little fun and food, this is some serious fun for not a lot of funds. If you’ve never had Ethiopian Food before, check out “What is Ethiopian food like?” from Altu’s website.

My mom and Regina both like a mild beef stew with veggies, on a bed of rice. It’s pretty close to a comfort food that we (who grew up in the midwest of the USA) would recognize.

I like the more adventurous foods (including the famous spongy sourdough-like flat bread that is traditional), and there are many excellent vegetarian meals that satisfy completely. If you like spicy food, this is something like hot Mexican, not quite as spicy as Thai can get. At least, not the way it’s served at the restaurant (it can get WAY spicy in Ethiopia, they have side sauces that can really turn up the heat). But it has other flavors like cardamom in small bits, filling in between the hot spices, and it really is satisfying. Yum!

We would love to have you come out. There is no cover, though we always have CDs to sell and tips are always welcome and appreciated.

A Family Celebration

We spent Friday on the road. We went to a 50th anniversary celebration in Grand Rapids, for Brian’s aunt and uncle. It took us a while to find the right church but we got there in time for several folks to feed Brian a heaping plate of hearty, homemade food. Then Uncle George asked us to bring out the instruments so we did maybe a half hour of music for the group that remained. I have never seen George smile so much, he really loved that!

While we were looking for the family gathering, we peeked into St. Alphonsus church and I tried to take a photo. It is a magnificent space, I think it would be called Romanesque but I had exactly 3 days of art history so I may have that wrong. I was very disappointed that my camera battery had somehow gone totally dead. This battery lasts days and days, so somehow I must have jammed it into my purse in a way that kept pressing the “on” button. Pout. Trust me