Have you seen For the Love of Yarn? I had not until today. Thanks to Damselfly/Louisa for the link in her blog.

I have too much time on my hands as I sit still healing. The cool thing is that today I’ve been surfing and finding amazing things.

During my surf experience. I found The Yarn Museum online. Their subtitle is “Honoring the Artistry and Beauty of Handspun Yarn.”

The Inaugural exhibit is called Anything Goes. And darned if the seventh photo (out of what I think is 60 photos on 3 pages), is glorious ColorJoyful yarn spun by my friend Riin of Happy Fuzzy Yarns. Go, Riin!

I was looking for information on washing a Nigerian batik dress I own. I ended up with links to African textiles… and then I found a gallery of sixteen photos taken in Guinea in the early 1900’s. What a worthy distraction!

The fabrics and costuming are fascinating and varied. Some of the men wear european-styled hats, though the women wear one to three pieces of woven fabrics (sometimes one just draped on the lap, sometimes one on a shoulder). Some of the blouses/tops on the women look like something you might find in a US store today, and one woman wears no blouse at all.

There are many photos where folks are holding their walking sticks, enough that I surmise the sticks had meaning beyond helping someone walk. I wonder what the importance was.

The photos were taken in a studio which looks of European influence although the owner of the site assumes it was an early African photographer. At the time these were taken, the country was called French Guinea. According to Wikipedia, the country became independent in 1958.

The site also has another page talking about old African photo/postcards, and more images. The essay about the images is enlightening. Check out Images of African Leadership if you crave more. The second series includes some embroidered capes from Dakar.

Most of the images in this series are West African, and I only was in 3 countries of East Africa… but in Ethiopia we saw some old capes from old kings, that looked similar in style (though as I recall, more embellished) to these capes.

The site where these two exhibits were found is a commercial website called Adire African Textiles. I’m grateful. What a great way to spend time!

And if you have the leisure to learn more, visit the online exhibit “In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa 1885-1960.” This is housed on the site for the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.

I still have something like a cold but I’m feeling much better today. Sleep is hard to get these days. However, although I awoke several times, I got a lot of ZZZs in overall and I feel significantly more like me. I even remembered to pull food out of the freezer for dinner and I put in two loads of laundry. That’s more like me.

In between, I still am lounging most of the time with my feet up on the couch. However, I don’t ache anymore. Huge progress! I’m now feeling optimistic that Saturday will work out fine. I have a four-hour class at Rae’s and a performance (2 hours) at Altu’s that day.

Meanwhile, I’ll play it as low-key as I can and build up those reserves. It is good to finally be an adult about some things. As in, each person (including me) has certain resources at any given time and trying to pretend I’m unlimited will not serve me in the long run. I have to learn that one over and over but this time I think I’ve been more reasonable than I might have been in the not-so-distant past.

Knitting? I’m still working on legwarmers. Yesterday I knit merely 4″ on a worsted-weight leg with merely 44 stitches. I just did not feel up to anything much, but it was progress. Today I have done more writing so not much knitting, but that’s also progress.

I am SO enjoying the socks of 2006 I knit for myself. Yesterday I wore the Opal shorties. I threw my Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran and Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky (the latter is seen here) pairs in the washer and dryer, and they came out even softer and more luscious than before. My feet are VERY happy.

Back to my Eden Foods Kukicha tea. This is my favorite Japanese tea and second favorite (next to Twinings English Breakfast) of all teas. It is roasted twigs, I know that sounds funny but it’s really rich-tasting and almost no caffeine (97% less than Black Tea if I remember right). Since I’ve felt ill, I have craved this tea rather than black and it is good for me to follow that instinct. Lovely stuff. It’s sometimes hard to find (Sencha and Genmaicha seem more prevalent) but some health food stores and food co-ops carry it. I ordered this batch from Eden’s website when I ordered the 100% Buckwheat Soba noodles on New Year’s Day.

Good tea can make any day luxurious… even with a box of tissues by its side.

Photos? The thermos and tea I got from Rae at Christmas time, and Debbie Bliss “fat yarn” comfy socks.

I did not sleep much last night, but I feel a bit better this afternoon than I did yesterday. That is, I can sit up in a chair rather than reclining on the couch. It’s like a really bad cold with a tiny raised temp, not bad enough to sleep all day, but enough that I can not (and should not) stand up for long or engage in my normal activity level.

Jan says (in a comment):

It’s amazing how our need to continue working is so strong that we think of ways to modify our usual work habits to fit our reduced energy and working brain cells, isn’t it?

Indeed it is. In my case it’s amplified by the fact of my self-employment. If I do not get work done, I do not get paid. Sometimes the pay is relatively immediate, sometimes it is long-term, but taking it easy is not part of the deal.

Anyone who tells you that you can “be your own boss” is trying to sell you something. That is not a complaint, just an observation. I love my life, but every single customer, every yarn shop, fiber festival, student, community ed director, music venue, every one of them is my boss. Being self employed means you spread the “boss” around, not that you do away with one.

I’ve had to cancel five hours of billable work so far. That is not bad for the length of time I’ve been able to recline because of it.

Yet my yarn-biz helper could have come for an extended time this Tuesday. I cancelled that, too. Her help would have been very useful as I have five pounds of yarn dyed (three are spoken for) and they need re-skeining. I haven’t had her here now for three weeks and I am noticing the loss. One day at a time, right?

Today I sat still at my desk longer than usual. I still do not feel much like typing and I was looking for a piece of paper that had last been seen in the pile on the left. A few hours later, the towering pile on the left was reduced to merely an inch tall. The piece of paper was still not found… but I was on a roll so I started in on piles on the right.

I finally did find my paper and now my small trash bin under the desk is nearly full (after being emptied by Brian just before I woke up). I recently had two paper-avalanche situations at my desk so this all is very good. I tired out before completing the pile-excavation but it’s not threatening disaster any more.

While I was sorting, I was calling companies who had sent me junk/postal mail. One by one I requested to be removed from their mailing lists. If they don’t waste time and money sending to me, I also get the benefit of not having to truck it home from the post office and decide whether I want to read it or not.

I even decided to go off a list for a volunteer theatre where I performed in two shows… before I met Brian. I don’t like to spectate so I don’t typically go to the theatre, the movies, or watch TV. As much as I am fond of the organization, I decided to let go of their mail and save them some money.

Now I’m back to yesterday’s location… propped on the couch with laptop (I love love love the new battery I splurged on at Christmas). I spent yesterday listening to back issues of Brenda Dayne’s Cast-On podcast. I find her refreshing and authentic, which is just right when you feel punk and want to “spectate” for once. I can listen and knit, and this is as good as it gets, really.

The sun shone today, that really made things nicer in this living room. One benefit of a relatively small house is that the living room can have windows on the north, east and south sides. I enjoyed that sunshine today!

I raided the freezer for some already-baked granola bars, and am drinking Japanese tea while enjoying those. Now I’ll go and start another Cast-On episode and knit a bit more.

I tell you, this would be a perfect vacation day if I didn’t need a box of facial tissue with me wherever I go…

Photos: Refrigerator poems. We had a set of music words and another set of computer words. I took them off the refrigerator recently and will be giving them to a creative young man I know, but I decided to photograph some of the better ones first.

I’m humbled by this virus that has haunted me for a few days. It makes my brain and my body work slower. I guess I got a vacation of sorts, but it’s the most boring and slow sort of vacation I can think of.

I’m not *very* sick but I need to recline most of the time. Thank goodness for knitting podcasts to talk to me while I’m feeling too inert to do much but listen and knit a tube, one knit stitch after another with no counting.

I remember other sick days where I actually did real knitting. I knit the most complicated cabled project (socks) I’ve ever done, on size 0 needles, during one resting period. I designed the Turkish-Style Toe-Up sock pattern one September when I got something that made me dizzy but otherwise together.

This time, though, I’m a bit in a fog. I tried to analyze where I could add triangles to my Lucy Neatby Equilateral Vest, a wonderful design that does fit me but that I want to be longer… too much thinking there, for me to do now. I tried to figure out the last 1/3 of the fronts of my unfinished Olympic Knitting project, the asymmetrical vest from Sally Melville’s Purl Stitch book. It’s not the sort of knitting I usually do and I could not figure out where I was in the pattern.

I got out a sweater I knit on the knitting machine last winter, that needs only to be sewn together. I love to sew but this is defying my ability to piece properly. I got out my Aspen (bulky) ribbed sweater, which has one piece knit to the armholes. I think I could actully knit that right now, it’s simple enough, but the pattern is not with the yarn and needles. Sigh.

So I’m back to legwarmers. Good old legwarmers. The knitting is for shop samples… I’m going to do a pattern one of these days. I seem to be the one who cares about legwarmers more than anyone else. After all, I wear them every day for 3/4 of the year. Really. I own at least 9 pair (pairs?) of legwarmers that I rotate, all wool or wool-blends, all but two I made up on the needles., one was remade from the arms of a purchased sweater, and the last was from a commercial pattern before I’d started designing on my own. I wore legwarmers when they were not cool and will continue to wear them if they go “out” again. I get cold. These are the perfect answer to my cold problem. Works for me!

Of course, knitting for myself is easy. I can try it on as I go. Knitting for everyone else is hard. And other patterns are no help… most patterns are for one size, maybe two, and they say things like “add elastic if it doesn’t fit” or something like that. I made two pair that are too big and elastic does not really do the job. I learned from them and I’ll wear them from time to time anyway, but I don’t want to design something that loosey-goosey.

So I’m knitting samples. I finished a pair in Malabrigo merino that is incredible, in stripes. Another solid-colored pair in Lamb’s Pride Worsted will follow and is looking great on the needles. Then I started a pair today in Noro Kureyon and it did not behave nicely. I finally got the right gauge in the stockinette leg portion but the ribbing is acting very different than the ribbing on the other two pairs. Never mind that all 3 yarns are single-ply yarns which will get 5 stitches to the inch. You would think they would knit into fabrics more like one another than they are. Frustrating.

As I said, humbled. At least I have lots of time to swatch! (And as I said, I’m not horribly sick, just slow… I don’t like slow very much but there are many worse things that could happen and I’m OK with taking time to heal.)

Off to take another hot bath. That’s the right answer when sneezing is a problem. Steam is my friend. Aaaahhhh….

Photo: Legwarmers I knit for myself a few years ago. The new pattern will fit approximately like this pair.

You Guys Rock!

Thanks to those who commented, wrote emails and/or called me to see how I was doing. This bug is working its way out… no more aching but more sneezing, that’s OK.

I slept very well last night and I’m grateful. There is nothing like good sleep, is there?

Actually, life could be worse. I get to do what I like to do on my days off… good breakfast, long hot bath, knitting on the couch.

I did OK reading the computer a bit Monday, but typing did not appeal… now that I feel more like me again I may get to my emails. It was actually pleasant to really go and read a lot of blogs yesterday with the laptop on my lap (using the new battery I got myself for Christmas, such a luxury after years without one… the laptop is 4 years old). So often I have to let reading blogs slide in order to do the rest of my life. It’s great to go ahead and catch up on folks, sometimes.

Yes, I’m Knitting

I’m knitting some legwarmers from Malabrigo yarn, this stuff is like whipped cream. When I finish that pair I’m making another out of Noro Kureyon (and I have a parallel pair going already in Lamb’s Pride Worsted). Legwarmers are about perfect for knitting without full focus. Around and around I go, in this case with very pleasant yarn. Lovely.

Taking it Easy

Right now I’m enjoying the first cup of tea of the day. I’m alternating large glasses of water with my tea… tea is comfort but water is health.

It is odd… my body has slowed down but the brain still is trying to zoom all over. It is probably very good for me to be forced to sit still for a few days! So far I have not had to cancel much, though I may cancel CityKidz Knit tomorrow so I don’t give this bug to the kids. My next big-deal day is Saturday, as Friday is currently my day off. Saturday I teach a class at Rae’s and I sing at Altu’s. I should be fine by then.

Socks, Socks, Socks

So what is the best news this last few days? Handknit wool socks. I’m working my way through my 2006 socks… I intend a full post about this soon but there were 8 pair I’d not worn yet last week. Eight! So I’m working through, have worn three pair so far, if you count the pair of footies I just put on before I typed this. And one pair of footies I’d worn only once… then they got separated, and miraculously I found them both during the photo sessions for the SockTour 2006. So I wore that pair again yesterday.

As Pablo Neruda wrote (in part):

beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.

I got a cold or something so I’m going to try to not use the computer much on Monday. Sleep is the best medicine… that and vitamin C and water and Japanese tea. It’s no big deal in the scheme of things, I felt great last night at bedtime and slept forever, followed by a wonderful day with loved ones… I’ll be back soon after a bit more rest.

It is another one of those days where the sky is white and you can not tell what time of day it is from looking up. Fortunately I have a day off somehow…

I slept till nearly noon after too many days of alarm clocks. Brian and I went on a bit of a walk after breakfast. I just drew a deep, hot bath in my claw-footed tub, and after I’m done enjoying that I am driving to Ann Arbor to have sushi for dinner with my brother Eric and his wife, my Sister-in-Love, Diana.

If it must be ugly outside, I will create color with relationships. This is as it should be.

Whew! I’ve been working for most of a week on a special project. Maybe some of you have visited my original LynnH SockTour, which was basically a slide show about the first 33 pairs of socks I ever knit.

Those socks were knit in 2001 and 2002. That was a time when I knew nobody with a digital camera. In fact, my mother had a scanner but not Internet access, and she was the only one I knew who had one.

At that point, I had to take photos with a conventional camera, fill the roll of film, and get them developed. Then I could go to Mom’s house, and scan in photos at a small enough size that they would fit on a floppy disk. After all that I still had to go home with a pile of floppy disks and turn those images into something that would work for the web. You can imagine that I missed documenting quite a few pairs of socks at that time!

Between the 34th pair and the 123rd pair, it was catch as catch can, though later in the process I had digital cameras which made it much easier. I started blogging in November 2002, so at that point I started being more diligent about posting the photos. I never stopped keeping a log of completed sock pairs, though. (Single socks do not count, and I do plenty of those for the yarn shops where I teach/sell patterns.)

I finally realized recently that I did not have to go back to pair number 34 to do another SockTour. I decided that I would just go back for the year 2006 and document that. And I have done just that.

Whew! It was a bit of a job, as some of the socks had missed being photographed, probably because I had never worked in their ends and therefore had never worn them.

Announcing: The LynnH SockTour 2006! Actually, the old SockTour is still out there and available, but the first page you see now is a menu of sorts, allowing you to choose which of the tours you would like to view. I hope you enjoy the visit!

Most people my age work 8 hours a day, five days a week, usually all in the same place. I am self employed. In my case, I work at home and three yarn shops and two community centers, a few libraries, and anywhere else I can. I work a *lot* of hours in a week, but I am not in the habit of sitting anywhere other than my desk at home, for longer than maybe 2 hours.

I just finished two weeks, where I worked 4 hour days in the computer lab with vacationing elementary-aged kids… the weeks were only Wed/Thurs/Fri and were only “half days” if you compare to folks with what are called real jobs.

I’m wiped out. When you work with kids you have to stay “on” all the time. You can not watch a child run down the hall without correcting them. You can not allow a preteen to bounce his basketball down the hall. You can not allow them to come in the computer lab with bagels or soda pop. It is a constant process of education and correction, then more of the same. The kids at the center are relatively good, normal kids… and even normal kids are a lot of work (especially for someone like me who usually has a few kids at a time who know me well… not a dozen or more kids who don’t know me at all.)

The good news? I spent a lot of time at the lab (between kids’ game requests and the above-mentioned corrections) working on knitted items. The first week I got out (UFO: UnFinished Object) socks that were almost finished and then set aside for whatever reason… I finished I think three pair of those while at the lab. Between the two weeks, I knit and finished six unmatched kids’ socklets in size 5T, all in three colors of yarn. I then worked in all the yarn ends for those while at the lab.

I also went back and looked up all the 21 pairs of socks I knit in 2006 and found far too many that I had never worn. All those pairs also now have all the ends worked in. That is pretty cool.

I even worked on a pair of legwarmers that will eventually become a pattern. I finished one, including the ends, and am already 52 rounds into the second one (that’s about 1/3 of the way on the second leg).

But I must say I am ready to start working with adults again. Saturday I will teach my first class of the year, a First-Time Toe-Up sock class at Rae’s. I love this class, this is how I knit about half of my socks for our household these days. And my pattern seems to work nicely for a lot of folks, whether they are new to socknitting or just new to the toe up direction. There are SO many ways to knit a sock but this variation hits a chord somehow.

For the record, I’m knitting socks for me again. This week I found a pair of Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran socks I’d knit for myself but never worn… and I wore them. They are SO soft that I bought more of the same yarn and I”m already halfway up the foot on the first one. Woohoo! Warm, fat, cushy socks for me! This is enough to make anyone smile!

Well, it rained again Thursday so I had to focus on the good things in my life. I spent 4 hours with a young knitter I enjoy and she started her first (toe-up) sock. Another child (who has made socks before) started one, too.

The best part of the whole day was when a young lady (Sophomore in High School) stopped in. She was one of my first really good knitters. I have not seen her since probably spring 2003. She moved and thus could not walk down to my knitting program any more.

I had a few things of hers in the knitting/computer room that she had left with me for display. Just yesterday I’d said how sad I was that I still had her books and mittens. Then today she came by and took them home. But just seeing her again, it was just wonderful. You can not help but love the kids when you do what I do. You can’t really say it out loud, but both parties know it. She says she is still knitting. Sigh… the best thing I could have had happen today happened.

I had a great time at Rae’s for knit in though it did not last long enough. Then I came home and I edited two photos in PhotoShop… and of course just as I was trying to save the program crashed (this is the second day in a row this has happened), it crashed and lost all my work.

So Brian cooked dinner (he’s a gem) and then I made some of my semi-famous Sinful Tapioca Pudding. It’s a rich treat I don’t make often (since I can’t have regular dairy products I make it with coconut milk and soy milk) but it will be the perfect treat for ending a rainy day.

I need to re-edit those photos… but for now I’m a girl who is satisfied with the small things. Now let me go play some music with my sweetie…

(Sorry, private note here.)

I have an order from V. Curtis and I would like to mail it. Unfortunately, I’m missing some information I need before I can do that. I’ve sent out an email and have not heard back. V. Curtis, if you are reading this, please email me at Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com.

Thank you.

The kazoo sold fast. I think it was not all of 14 hours on my site, and that included sleeping time for those in the USA. Thanks for all of your kind comments, and particularly thanks to the purchaser. If I make more, you readers here will hear about it first.

The sun shone Wednesday, a lot. There is nothing like even 5 minutes of sun to just turn my mood into pure happiness. It is still above freezing but not a lot. We have had a lot of rain lately… and that is not just gloomy but for me it brings on headaches. After a week of off and on headaches I had a perfect, wonderful, energized day. Yippee! And I wonder why I love summer so much?

Much of the time the sun and I were both up, I was at Foster Center supervising the computer lab. When I was there I opened up the blinds to let a little sun in, and even cracked open one window a little for fresh air. I count my blessings that when they renovated the building not long ago they still put in windows that open.

I also enjoyed peeking out the windows and watching all the kids on the playground equipment today. It was so beautiful out that there was scarcely room for one more child on that climbing gizmo out there. That was a glorious sight.

Time sure flies when you’ve got to stay in one place for 4 hours! I am not used to being pinned down that much! (I work significantly more hours than people with day jobs, but I rarely do anything more than a few hours in a row, except occasionally a marathon teaching session or a web page redesign.)

The good part was that I had a lot of kids, good company, to keep me from being bored at the computer lab. I had two knitters come by. One just said hello and went on her way, the other was with me for almost the full four hours. She is good company and really helped me pass the time more quickly.

Between taking care of kids’ requests for computer games, I worked in the ends on my unmatched potato-chip socklets, which now number six in total, still all different from one another. I thought I was done knitting them but I still have matching yarn left (I bought 3 balls and I have enough to make at least 7-8 pair of size 5 toddler socks this three-color method). I may keep going.

I also bought some other yarn, in turquoise/ green/ buttercup yellow, to do more. The first ones are from yarn Rae just got in (well, the colors are new though she’s had the yarn before) the second set I got the yarn from Threadbear. Should be some fun around here with knitting those (while writing a pattern… it’s already started but will take a while because I will need to do it in many sizes, a hassle).

That is, knitting and writing that pattern while I’m supposed to be doing other stuff, right? Except as I always say, you can not buy passion. Once you are really geared up to do something, you had better just follow the enthusiasm and do it. Waiting can reduce that energy and make the project less effective.

I’m working on a sort of New Year’s web project that I hope I will complete tomorrow if at all possible… that will depend on how much time I get at the computer Thursday (I’m writing this officially on Thursday but I haven’t slept yet, I’m still sort of working on Wednesday). I have another 4 hour computer lab tomorrow followed by an hour and a half at Rae’s. Not to worry, I’ll get it done when I get it done. Somehow I get other things done, right?

I somehow found time to dye some Cushy Colorsport yarn this New Year’s Eve and it’s finally steam set and dried and waiting to be skeined up. My helper is in Florida (bummer) so either I skein it up myself or it waits for her return. No huge hurry, really. It happens when it does, I can stress about it or not but it still gets done when it does.

Bedtime. I hope you had as nice of a day as I did today!

Photos? I took these in August of 2003, also a sunny day but that’s the only reason they belong here now. The frog and swallowtail, plus the grassy shot are from the MSU Grass Garden at the Turf Management Center. The last garden shot is the labyrinth garden behind the Sparrow Professional Building, literally in the middle of the city bustle (between a 6 story doctor’s office building and parking ramp).

And I can not resist sharing a picture given to me by a child, also summer of 2003. I taught her to knit at the age of 5. She did not make many stitches in a row before getting bored but she would come back and have another go at it later. She drew me more pictures about loving knitting than she made stitches, but we had a wonderful time together no matter what she chose to create.

Today (January 3) would have been my Daddio’s 74th birthday if I figure it right. Daddy taught me to sing harmony. He showed me the stars in the sky (I remember putting a blanket on the grass on the little slope some nights and flopping down on our backs, looking at stars.) The only constellations I can recognize these days are the big dipper and Orion, but I still think of my Dad when I identify these.

Daddy played trumpet (actually, a longhorn cornet, something between a trumpet and a cornet). He loved New Orleans Jazz. Today in the computer lab I was playing a Louis Armstrong CD and it played a tune my father would sometimes play. It was perfect timing and I enjoyed it very much.

It was a great day to remember Dad, beautiful in every way… warm for winter, sunny, social in all the right ways. Dad would have been tempted to find a golf course if possible… that was what he did, even in light snow, on sunny days.

Daddy died when I was 14. I take after his very-social personality, he loved to be “on stage.” We both take after his mother, Gramma Ruthie.

For years I tried to be sweet and quiet and petite and demure. I’m petite, that’s how I’m built, but the rest of me is big and bold (and loud) even when I’d rather not be. Actually, I’m a little less loud than I once was but that is only obvious to those who were in my life 20 years ago.

There are worse problems than “taking after” strong folks. Both Ruthie and Daddio were strong and passionate people. I’m honored to carry on their kind of spirit in this world.

Photos are dad’s high school photo and me in 4th grade. Check out the same ears, same perfect eyebrows, same creases from nose to lip when we smile.

Here are a few photos of our New Year’s Eve as The Fabulous Heftones, at the Aztec Room. The first photo was taken by Drew Howard (thanks, Drew… you always take the best shots of anyone). This was when we were actually on stage.

Next is me sitting at the table after our set, knitting the last socks of 2006. Notice my ever-present friend, the constant companion I call my cup o’tea.

For the record, that gift I got at the Habibi Dancers’ holiday gala? The one I promised you I’d photograph? Here it is, finally… the purple stole. Sally/Sara knit this for me out of
Christmas tree tinsel garland. On size 50 needles, wrapped 3 times for each stitch. Cool, huh? Even if you don’t knit you can see how shiny this is.
Drew got a shot with sparkles in it, what a guy!

The final shot is the band Defenestra, a “Free Jazz” band where two guys basically play computers as their instruments. The guy at front left was the main computer guy, next to him seated was a musician who played flute, pipes, and I think an electric bass though it could have been an electric guitar. Behind in the back was a guy I chatted with later, very nice dude… he played flute and trumpet. Back right corner was another computer guy who also played a few unusual instruments, one plugged in and one not. The guy back right is from Lansing and the other three are from Detroit.

It turned out that Marty came over to see us but did not play a set. We stayed for Defenestra and then left before The Chirps were going on. I had another of my “it’s raining” headaches and just wanted to go home. Later I realized we could have gone to the contra dance where a lot of friends were and where we normally would have spent the evening, but I just wanted to be home more than anything and we did just that.

My teaching schedule starts in a few days. For those of you who are local knitters, here is what I’ve got going in the next week or so:

Saturdays, January 6 & 13, First-Time Toe-Up Socks at Rae’s. You need know very little to make this sock class work for you. Know how to knit and purl and I can get you working in the round on Double Pointed Needles. If you already know all that, you can just learn the specifics of one way to make toe-up socks. The first week is 1-3pm, the second week is 1-5pm. More details on Rae’s site, under “Class Schedule” (she is good, even shows photos there).

Sunday, January 7, 1:30-3:30 (or so, we might go over if  desired and you have time to stay), Perfect Hug Shawl at Threadbear. This is a great project, from capelet to bear-hug shawl to Goddess wrap. The knitting is simple, top down with a few increases, knitting but no purling. Your yarn will determine ease of knitting and drape/final look.

Mondays, January 8 and 15, 6-8pm, Sassy Summer Handbag at Little Red Schoolhouse. This bag has been an incredible hit for me. It does not take a lot of yarn, is not expensive or time-consuming to knit, and has a really nice shape. You can knit it with or without stripes, with purchased or I-cord handles. Diana can knit one in an afternoon. It takes me a couple of days. Even if you can only knit a little each day, this bag is something you will not need to wait long to enjoy.

Craig Robertson of Ukulele Noir (Boston) is a contributor to the Ukulelia blog. He just created a post about Brian’s YouTube video (playing My Blue Heaven on his Joel Eckhaus/Earnest Instruments ukulele of the same name). I think it’s a very pleasing video, if I do say so myself. (And I’m decidedly not a video kind of grrl, though certainly I’m a Brian kind of grrl and then some…)

Thanks, Craig!

(By the way: while digging out links for this post, I found an interview of Joel Eckhaus on UkeTalk, for the ukulele fans out there.)

January 1, I finished another two toddler-sized socks. That makes my first pair of 2007! Here in the photo at top are the new 2 socks and at the bottom the ones from a few days ago.

I can not stop knitting these. I’m most of the way through knitting a fifth one right now. Fun!!!

Of course, I am supposed to be focusing on other things right now. I’m in the middle of dyeing some yarn, and I’m partway through writing two wrap patterns (one dressy and one comforting), but of course I’m knitting socks instead.

I did say I’d take the 1st of the year off, though. And I did… I ate and cooked and took a short walk, read emails and blogs, talked to my brother twice and my mother once, played music with Brian, and knit toddler sockies. Life is pretty good. This is a great way to start the year, I would say.

I have one Hershberger Art Kazoo ™ in stock. I decided tonight to go ahead and put it with my polymer clay buttons in my new online shop.

This kazoo is numbered #189 and is titled Secret Wish. I love naming them. This one I made right before we went to New York City for NY Ukefest 2006. I guess it had to do with my lifelong wish of singing in NYC. Or not, but it makes sense as I write this, anyway.

Some of you who read this are musicians rather than knitters or family (and oh, how I love you all, whatever reason brings you here). So who knows? Maybe someone out there would love to have this, yet did not know that it was available.

I think I made 4 kazoos in 2006. There was one year when I made only one. Now that I am mostly focused on knitting and singing, the polymer just does not get equal time in my schedule. I still love my kazoos but I do not get to the production of them often.

Did you know that Brian and I met, in part, because of the kazoos? I talked to him on the break of a Ten Pound Fiddle coffeehouse concert (we had a friend in common and I had always admired his music anyway, so was eager to chat with him). At the time I was so into making kazoos that I had three in my pocket for “show and tell.” He bought one from me on the spot. (That one is named Starry Eyes.) A year later we met again at a contra dance and started dating. Or that is the very short version of our courtship…

Brian played that same kazoo last night at the New Year’s Eve show, as a matter of fact! His has stars that glow in the dark, on a turquoise background. I’ll have to dig it out sometime. Maybe I’ll take photos of all the kazoos I’ve given to Brian over the years (I think that would be four in total). In my spare time, of course!!!

Chris Wardell’s article on The Fabulous Heftones did indeed make it into Sunday’s (weekly) Lansing Community Newspapers. Click the link (first sentence) to read it online.
Chris told me earlier this week that the article would be in the Towne Courier (East Lansing and Meridian Township/Haslett/Okemos), which I have not acquired yet. However, Brian found this version online, which says it was published in the Williamston Enterprise. That pleases me, as I lived in Williamston for 12 years as a young adult.

Thanks to Chris and the rest of the folks at Lansing Community Newspapers for the interest. The article is very nicely put together, and we appreciate it very much.

I love Eden Foods. They are a Michigan company that specializes in high-quality foods with pure ingredients, often organic. My favorite Japanese tea is Kukicha (roasted twig tea, dark and rich but almost no caffeine) and the best Kukicha I have ever found is from Eden. Not only that, but it is organic.

I was just searching the web for 100% Buckwheat noodles and found some on the Eden Foods website (my local health food store carries the brand but not that particular product). While I was perusing other items on the site I saw a photo of Hoppin’ John. I clicked. I found myself on a recipe site.

Eden Foods has a web page with 800 free healthy recipes. And healthy here means tasty. After all, real food without extra non-food ingredients means you taste the food more.

For instance, Eden has canned organic crushed tomatoes. Ingredient: Organic Roma Tomatoes. Period. I *love* things with one ingredient. I particularly love tomato products without added citric acid (which is a problem additive for many of us, even though it is a “natural” product).

Make today “read a label” day. Libby pumpkin has one ingredient: Pumpkin. Once upon a time you could get applesauce at a normal grocery that was merely apples and water; now they add “vitamin C” even to the “Natural Applesauce.” I never met a natural apple with vitamin C. They do it to control the color of the apples, I’m pretty sure of that, but it’s disturbing to me, very misleading.

I have a tube of Aloe Vera “100% Gel” which has seven ingredients listed on the back, and only one of them can I pronounce with confidence. Did you know that a “Slim Fast” bar has a good proportion of corn syrup (sugar) in it? Did you know that non-dairy creamer has a lot of corn syrup and various oils and/or gums to thicken your coffee?

Many good pastas are one ingredient: Semolina or Durum (hard wheat). Ryvita dark rye crackers are only Rye and salt, though similar-looking crackers sometimes have yeast in them. And don’t forget produce… an orange is an orange, period. How refreshing!

My favorite snack these days is sweet potatoes. I slice them and microwave them, and eat them with my fingers (and a napkin at hand). They even go into a plastic zip bag if I’m on my way to a party, and stay pretty whole with reasonable care. One ingredient, very filling and satisfying. Yum.

And with that I will go to my own kitchen cupboard. I will look for a can or two of blackeyed peas with which to make some Hoppin’ John for my New Year’s good luck meal. Luck or no, it’s surely tasty!

(Note to knitters… I’m in the process of more cute toddler socks. Note to musicians and fans… had a great gig Sunday night and got some photos, which I’ll post when I get to the photo editing.)