It snowed again last night. Depending on where you look it may be 1-3″ of snow. It’s not very cold out, and if I had energy and leisure I’d make another snowman. I’m really excited to be working, though, so I’m OK with all that.

The birds seem unaware that it looks like winter. They are singing like it is spring. I hope they are right. It is the last day of February, on a long-February month, and I know that my violets in the yard usually bloom in March. So maybe the birds remember things like that.

I am taking photos for my patterns today and my camera ran out of batteries. Luckily I live pretty close to a place where I can get them, but I’m still working with wobbly knees so I drove. I noticed that it seems half the neighborhood is out shoveling, even though it’s midday on a work day. It would be the perfect day to meet neighbors… but I’m working and can’t go out and socialize.

I saw a funny sight on the way to the store. This guy of retiree age was pushing his very fancy snowblower. First I noticed how he had to turn his head to not get snow in his face (that would really bug me). Then I looked at the machine he was pushing.

The blower was really big… most are about the width of a shovel but his was more like a lawnmower, with a blade over knee-high. And this guy was cleaning snow… off his street. His street. Wow. Maybe he likes snow, or maybe he likes his snowblower as much as my father did. Or maybe his car just doesn’t go when the snow is this deep. The guy’s driveway was only one lot away from a more-traveled street.

As for me, indoors is where I want to be when it is snowing outside. Unless it’s really warm snow and I can make a snowman. But not today.

Photo: Snowman Brian and I made on January 1 of this year. That was fun!

Nature is bigger than me. We’ve had one squirrel (or so it seemed) in the attic off and on for a few months. Yesterday the noise level increased, it seemed there was more runnng around. Then I heard chirruping sounds. That was new. I think we have a mating couple talking to one another. Great!

I am not in charge. Thursday is a busy day but on Friday we will go into the attic and make sure we get any boxes that are stored in there, out of there. We know where they are coming in, but with piles of snow on the roof we can not close it up until it’s warm. We need to know they have gone out for the warm afternoon to gather food, and then we can close the hole. That is, if there isn’t a nest of babies.

Guess we need to actually go into the attic every so often to make it feel less safe for them. Or something. Slamming doors and growling like an animal just makes them sit still for a while but they are not moving out. Eucalyptus oil did not deter them for even a few days.

OK, focus on the good stuff… Tonight is the Schuler Book event. And I’m assembling photos for you of the evolution of my ZigBagZ pattern. That story may take a few days.

I am looking forward to a Friday with no appointments. Have a great day today, and stay warm if you have snow… as I do.

I had a student last fall, at Rae’s yarn shop, who works for Schuler Books (a very fine Michigan-owned bookstore with a handful of shops in a few cities). She told me they needed a knitting person for a book promotion, and connected me with the proper person at the East Wood Towne Center store.

There has been good promotion out in the press, thanks to Schuler’s. However, I have been so distracted not feeling well and working on this pattern, that I didn’t do a lot of it myself this time.

The book is called 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. It is full of mostly-small projects, all which take one skein of yarn (some skeins hold more yardage than others, so the projects do vary a bit in size and complexity).

I am quite pleased with a number of the projects in the book, and its predecessor (One-Skein Wonders). As would be expected, other folks like some of the ones I like and some different. Imagine that!

In fact, I almost never want to knit scarves after knitting *only* scarves in the first 20 years I knew the knit stitch. I get so coldthat I prefer a stole or shawl. However, this book has a scarf I want to k

hope that those who normally go to knit-in at Rae’s will join us at Schuler’s Books tomorrow night. Here is the publicity blurb Schuler’s sent out:

The project is a relatively simple knit which will not be able to be completed in one session for most folks, but we will get participants on their way. If you have a friend who wants to learn to knit, this might be a fun event to go to, together. You can knit along with us or you can knit your own thing and be there just as part of the larger Lansing knitting community.

Schuler’s is providing free yarn and the publisher, Storey Publishing, is providing gifts for the first 10 attendees. Bring size 7 or 8 needles with you, only the first 10 people will get needles. I understand Rae will bring some supplies for folks to buy if they come without needles, but if you have the right thing that will make sure you are all set.

Please join us, if you are a knitter in Lansing. We can show Schulers how many of us there are in this fine city! Represent!

My husband is thoughtful and doesn’t push life where it can’t go. I am usually, on the other hand, frantic like the Energizer Bunny. I go a hundred miles an hour even when that may not be the best strategy. We may be the proverbial tortoise and the hare, except he’s not really slow… but he’s steady as April rain.

Today I have too much to do. How I deal with this, typically, is to sleep less. This does give me more hours in the day. However, I still feel pretty crummy and today I feel worse than yesterday. No surprise after two days of pushing pretty hard!

It’s deskwork I’m doing (writing patterns on a computer) rather than running a marathon, but it’s still very important to me that it be of high quality for my customers. I hold some emotional energy as I work toward getting things to a place that is clear and accurate for those who knit my work without my physical presence.

So when Brian left today he gave me some good advice. “Lynn, work with the current, do not try to go against the flow.”

I do not need a guru with a thoughtful man like that. He loves me, he sees what I need, he says what I need to hear in a loving way.

Off to get my work done… with the current.

Finally, a food/health website that focuses on the positive! I found myself yesterday at World’s Healthiest Foods. They have a List of over 100 Nutrient-Rich Foods, which I checked out for a while. Each food has so much information that it takes a long while to get through it all, so I did not get too far. However, I’m excited to add blackstrap molasses to my diet as one iron-rich food, not in a pill. I do not eat red meat/mammals so I need to pay attention to iron more than most.

There is also a recipe page. I did not even get to that page. However, I know you guys always appreciate links to recipe sites. So go to it!

I am really happy about the positive nature of this site. Yes, they do sell a book, so they can make some profit from it. But I’m telling you, the information this site holds is vast and you can use it without buying anything.

They have a page explaining who they are and how they got into this in the first place. I like what they say here (this is only one sentence from the middle of a long page):

Our Focus
Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine said, “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”

And with that, I’m off to teach and ship a few orders. The ZigBagZ patterns are coming right along… Wednesday is still the goal for shipping those out. It looks good, and I’m so glad to be on this portion of the journey!

The sun shone beautifully today. It was cold but not dead-frigid as it has been lately.

I swear I turned into a cat for an afternoon. I remember my cat Muffett was the ultimate pleasure-seeking being. He looked for comfort, and only moved when something else seemed more pleasurable than what he was currently doing. He loved sunshine and would move with the sunbeams all day to stay warm and happy.

I moved my laptop around the house and followed the sun today. I sat in my office in the chair until the sun was mostly hidden behind a tree. Then I moved to the living room floor (on a pillow to be nicer to my joints when I had to get up). Then the sun would move and I’d move the pillow. I wanted happy sun in my face, and vitamin D in my skin. It was a winning combination.

I’ve made a choice to put something in the ZigBagZ patterns which I had originally planned not to include. (Text description for the Zig Chart, for those who do not like working from charts.) I’ve included both charts and text in previous patterns and I”m thinking folks may expect it. This is a lot of detail work late in the game but I think it is worthwhle. This means pulling out some other explanatory text later in the pattern (to keep it to 8 pages, gasp) and I think this is a better balance overall.

I tell you what, when I’m done with this I will be craving a garter-stitch scarf, the most simple knitting ever. Something that takes no brain for a while. The brain cells are screaming for a vacation!

Luckily for me, my friend Cynthia is going to look over this latest inclusion as a proofreader. I’m too close tot he project at this point to trust myself with entirely new text.

And with that I’m back to converting a knitting chart to text…

Photo of my only pet ever, Muffett, 1979-1996. He was so friendly and special that my friends cried when he died.

I got word this week from Kerrie at MagKnits, somehow I didn’t get the original notice that the February issue has been delayed until March. It was an oversight, she sent out notice to thousands of people and somehow I was not on the list. Either that, or my spam filter ate her note.

For those of you asking about my upcoming MagKnits pattern (detail above), it is still coming but just not for another week or so. Thank you for asking, it makes me understand that you are reading this and that you are excited with me about the publication.

Second, I’m plugging away on the two ZigBagZ collections. There will be one pattern (Maxi Collection) of the two large carry-all patterns, the Biggie and the Burly.

There will be a different pattern (Mini Collection) with three smaller bags… one tube for a half-liter water bottle, one larger tube for a caribiner-style water bottle or a small Aladdin Stanley Thermos, and a small pocketbook so to speak, a little cute rectangular bag which can easily hold a cell phone, a wallet, sunglasses, the basics when you want to travel light.

In the above photo, you see “before” and “after.” I’m holding open the pre-felted Burly Bag that Diana knit as a sample for Rae’s shop (the checkerboard section is actually the base of the bag). Sitting next to me on the floor is the Burly Bag that cousin Karen knit and felted and shrunk and shrunk. It’s really wonderful fabric, really dense and durable.

I’ve been testing out this bag and the straps are strong enough to carry the weight in there even when it includes two knitting books, a camera, cell phone, palm pilot, wallet, bottle of water and the other zillion knitting supplies I always carry with me. I am very pleased with the useability of the bag.

I tend to under-felt things. My bag that I had knit for myself as a prototype (at right) is much more springy and soft-sided (and taller) than the one Karen made. Both are very useable and wonderful to wear and tote things in. I have determined to shrink mine just a little more after using Karen’s for a while.

Anyway I am now taking pre-orders for both collections on my website shop. Local folks, do hang tight because the local shops who carry my patterns will be carrying these. Please support your local shops when you can.

Out of town folks, I’m delighted to take orders or you can wait. Or even better, tell your local shop that I am accepting new shop orders out of my area. My goal is to ship to everyone (shops included) by Wednesday, February 27.

Thank you for your continued interest in my work. I have been so sick I have not been able to focus much on detailed text, really since the 4th of February. I’m much better but still fighting off a cough and tiredness.

Actually, this flu thing is going around so fast that the three main employees at Rae’s shop (including Rae), are all sick at the same time. I’m going to do my best to open/run the shop for Rae tomorrow while everyone else is working on their own healing. If you come by, please be nice to me while I do my best.

I’m not the most experienced shop employee. I am a teacher, primarily. I do pretty well with the computer part, anyway. And hey, I know what it’s like to be self-employed and have nobody to rescue you.

It’s my honor to help. People have been so good to me while I’ve been slowly coming back to almost-normal. It’s my turn to put out a little effort in thanks.

Now, back to that pattern…

It is 13F outdoors (-10.5C) and we are having a lunar eclipse as I type this. It started at 8:45 and was supposed to be most beautiful around 11. At about 10:30 I decided to brave the cold and go out to get a photo.

My night-landscape setting did allow me to get the photo. The moon is flanked by one planet and one star (I did not do my homework on what they are) which look here like little white scribbles. I had to prop the camera on the top of Brian’s car and try really hard not to wiggle or breathe for many, many seconds while the camera tried to drink in as much light as it possibly could.

So my moon and my planet and my star are all a little fuzzy here, but you can see how the left side was starting to become a sort of dark orange where the shadow of the earth was edging in sideways. So cool.

I think it is good to see how tiny we are. An eclipse *is* a big deal, a mini-miracle, and with the magic of modern science we know when it is coming and when to look. I think that is just wonderful.

May you have a wondrous and magical (but not too cold) day, night, week…

Thanks to blog reader Patch, I got referred to SaraJane Helms’ website where she and other polymer-clay-artist friends are making a miniature quilt store (scale works for 11.5″ dolls, I think that’s like a Barbie). It is truly wonderful. I have met some of the artists involved in this project, back when polymer clay was new and it was my only artform. They have continued with the clay as I have proceeded first to soft block printing and for the last 6 years, knitting.

SaraJane’s husband Bryan Helms also does some amazing collage work. He uses small polymer clay pieces and affixes them to found objects, often musical instruments which no longer are able to make proper music for whatever reason. He is a musician as well. I think he thinks something like I do, he made a wig head into a polymer and glass bead sculpture (I’ve made both mailart styrofoam heads and polymer clay-embellished glass heads).

If you are interested in where creativity can take an artist, checking out their site is worth your while. Have fun!

Can anyone help, please? I have a customer who bought my Fast Florida Footies pattern as a download from the KnittingZone website. The pattern was written for double-pointed needles (DPNs). She is working it on 2 circular needles rather than DPNs and I have not done this before. She writes:

As soon as it printed off I began my sock… However, I decided to knit them on two circular needles instead of double points.
Everything went along very well until it was time to do the gusset decrease.
Here is where I need help distributing the stitches and placing markers.
Could you help me with this part? I sure would appreciate it.

I inquired and she does not have a local guild or yarn shop to help her out. Does anyone out there have the time and knowledge to help this customer? We both would be appreciative.

If you are able to help, please either leave me a comment or send an email to Lynn AT ColorJoy DOT com and I’ll connect you to the person with the question. Thanks!

I’ve been grumpy today. The weather is crummy, the squirrel got back into the attic and my legs are like rubber bands so I can’t stand or walk long at all. When I try to do anything not sitting down I need a 2 hour nap very soon thereafter.

It is very easy to get into a funk in a Michigan February anyway, and I have work to do. I can not stay with the grumpy spot my brain is in right now if I want to get anything done at all. Therefore, it’s time for a gratitude list again. So here it is:

• Brian.
• Tapioca pudding.
• Sweet potatoes, baked with butter and nutmeg.
• Friends who call to see how I am doing.
• Friends online who write and make me feel better.
• Every single one of you who comes by this blog… especially when you take the time to comment, but that is not at all necessary.
• Brian.
• My wonderful 1998 VW New Beetle, Joy Bug. I love that car. I love her soooo much. She has 130,000 miles and needs some tender loving care sometimes but I am still in love like I was in 1999 when I got her. She doesn’t show her age at all, not a single rust spot.
• Wool, alpaca, mohair.
• Music.
• Brian.
• Health insurance, thanks to Brian and his workplace.
• Everybody I work for, every shop, every student.
• Ravelry… what an inspiring place this online fiber community has become.
• My family… the ones I was born to and the ones married in.
• The wonderful relationship I have with my Mom and my Brother after all these years… earned the hard way.
• Brian.
• This house. It’s quirky like me. Brian picked it before we met but it’s very like what I picked for myself, and with prettier wood trim (and much better parking).
• The porch on this house. Heaven.
• Lansing and all the creative people in it.
• All the travel I have done in my life… 250,000 miles on my former car, Martha G., and trips out of the country mostly as gifts or windfalls, each trip as magical as the one before.
• Good foods, especially “ethnic” foods.
• Fun clothes.
• Wonderful yarns in my house ready for me to knit with them.
• My career(s), both knitting/fiber/art and music.
• The sense that I am no longer an outsider in my own town. I belong.
• Brian.

Well, I read a lot about cooking. I don’t always do what I read but I find it fascinating. I’ve always found eggplant yummy at a restaurant but not in my kitchen. I just have not yet figured it out.

And then I found this. How to Fry Eggplants like a Sicilian Mama, at FXCuisine. It is interesting. I am not sure I want to fry anything in a lot of oil, but now I know some things I did not know before. You might find it interesting, too. There are many good photos and not a lot of extra talk. A very good food page.

The New York transit authority (whatever it may be called) has a web page listing public art in the subway system. It is fascinating, and seemingly never-ending. Good for New York!

Don’t worry about me… there is a lot of sleep going on between the little work I’m doing out of the house. We sang Friday and Saturday, and then went home and crashed.

I am working as much as I can on the ZigBagZ patterns. I have put up pages on my shopping cart under accessory patterns, where folks can pre-order. I am doing whatever I can to get a well-thought pattern printed for you.

Right now I am separating the two large bags from the three smaller ones, I will be calling them the Maxi and Mini collections, sort of like skirts in 1970 if you remember. (I was a huge fan of the maxi, especially for winter coats.)

It was just too long and hard to follow with all the information I was trying to cram in there. Fifteen pages with five bag designs just cannot work in one $6 pattern. It needed to be split or turned into a brochure/booklet, and I am not prepared to have two pattern formats at this time.

I’m fine, thank you for caring about me so much. I work 2 hours Sunday and no classes Monday. Pattern should develop quickly without any interruption… or so is my plan. It sure is nice to have my good brain engaged again after all that foggy time.

Well, I guess I’m mostly of the living again. I worked for 2 hours Thursday night. Yes, I went home and promptly passed out on the couch but it was SO good to be out again. Work is like “Cheers.” I go places where I work and I know my place, I just belong. It is wonderful.

I was lucky… with all that illness I was fighting, it never messed with my voice. My singing voice is just as clear and strong as ever, and I am grateful. My legs are a bit wobbly still, so playing bass standing up may need to alternate with sitting on a stool from time to time, but that’s OK.

I have not known for sure if I would be well enough for this weekend’s events but now it seems clear that it will work out fine. Therefore I am announcing two Fabulous Heftones concerts, late but with full enthusiasm:

Friday night, 6-8pm, Rae’s Yarn Boutique Grand Re-Opening Gala.

She moved her shop, actually opened the doors at this location on January 2 but it takes a while to get settled in. Tonight is the night. Normally she closes at 6 on Friday, and this week she stays open an extra 2 hours. Those on her email list got a little coupon for the celebration in their email boxes this morning. We’re playing as The Fabulous Heftones from 6-8. It should be a fun time. The new location is 2004 East Michigan Avenue, a few doors down from Emil’s Italian Restaurant and across the street from the Green Door Lounge. This is between the Michigan Avenue Exit of 496, and the Capitol building, about 5 blocks west of the highway/Frandor.

Saturday night, 6:30-8:30pm, Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine, Valentine’s Weekend Event.

This is our home venue and it will be our 6th Valentine’s Weekend show for Altu. She insists that we are the only right act for the event. I have to say that we truly are “The Most Romantic Act in Lansing.” I’m not sure there is anyone else vying for the title so it’s an easy one to win, but we love that little niche of ours. And why not? Is there nothing more realistic than falling in love? It doesn’t always work out as we planned, but who does not understand that feeling? It is as normal and realistic as rain in April, in the USA. There is no cover, but on Valentines weekend sometimes you have to wait for a table which is unusual at Altu’s as a rule. Bring a friend, your kid, come alone with a book. We would love to sing some schmaltzy romance your way, and a few funny tunes as well.

I have known about Black Purl magazine online for a little while. This online magazine is about handwork, not just knit and crochet, and looks quite a bit at what are sometimes called “ethnic” artforms. You may enjoy perusing the back issues of their newsletter, Essentia, when you get a minute.

There is an article in the current issue, about African Folklore Embroidery (South African, bright colors on black backgrounds, right up my alley). There are kits available and they are seeking out teachers to pass the artform forward. Do check out the African Folklore Embroidery website for a visual feast.

Wow… I gave myself the gift of a blog one day. It has changed my life and now I have you all. I am grateful.

Valentines Day is an odd thing. I think it benefits the Hallmark people, etc., if it becomes a time of obligation. I think it is sad because just because you have somebody doesn’t mean you are happy, and just because you are partner-free doesn’t mean you don’t feel a loving life around you.

I have Brian now, and he is the best thing in my life. I was happy before he found me… I would be happy if he were not here, but I’m delighted that I need not think of that today.

However, I spent 16 years in a commitment which sometimes had only the glue of many years to hold us together. Those were very bad years for Valentine’s Day. I would go to the Hallmark store. There was not a single card saying “here is to keeping our word when we said forever as teens.” “Here’s to a lot of years, by the skin of our teeth.” “Here’s to committment even on a bad day/week/year/decade.”

It would take hours and I would end up buying a card that was dishonest, which I found upsetting. I did not intend to lie when we knew the truth.

Mind you, it was both of our faults and neither’s fault, that we were unable to make it work. We believed the songs on the radio, that feelings were an indication of forever, and then we stayed true to our promises when they had been made. We were so young. He was 15, I was 16 when we promised forever. Crazy. And it continues to happen every day. Some folks realize that they need to let go, but I was one of the stubborn ones.

I do not mean to bring unhappiness to this post, I am just reporting facts at this point. I wish my ex all happiness, I have no hard feelings and I have gone on to an amazing, love-filled, art-filled, friendship-filled, wonderful life.

But I want to acknowledge those who are sitting alone, perhaps mostly happy or maybe just in one of those in-between life-learning times that happens in every adult life. Valentine’s Day can be for you as well. I, for one, deeply appreciate your presence in my life here, whether you comment or not.

I wish I could have spent a week knitting little hearts with cute eyes, and I’d carry them in my pocket and give them to everyone I encounter who is special in my life. It would be so fun to be able to be that frivolous. My friend Marie bought some kids valentines last year and gave them out and that was mighty fine. Small, inexpensive, but great fun and a sort of a thank you. I have been too ill to think that far ahead.

But today I get to go back to work for the first time in 10 days. I am SO ready for a social environment for a change. It will be such fun.

And Brian reeeeeeally wants to take me to dinner. Maybe I’ll see if we can get sushi and take it home where we can eat it with feet up. I tell you, my husband is even more married than I am… for which I am significantly grateful. And what a fine human being he is. Every day I give thanks. Every day, not just on holidays.

But I say that if we notice the relationships in our lives that work for us, even something little like a favorite cashier at Kroger… that is how to really reap the true joy of this not-quite-right-yet holiday. Yes, thank everyone in your world today if they make your life better. Even if they “should” already know. Thanking people is never out of style, appreciation is a good viewpoint on any day.

Some of you may remember that I had some fun making small holiday gifts by knitting and felting tiny 3-D hearts. First I made one with dreadlocks for Brian, then a more straightforward one for my Goddaughter, Sara, as a tree ornament.

I posted the projects to Ravelry and the designer, Anna Hrachovec, noticed. We have had a few very nice emails and she asked me if she could use my dreadlock heart on her blog. Of course I said yes… thank you.

Mind you, there are over 200 projects on Ravelry from this pattern alone. Anna had a good number of choices out there. She just spent a week on her blog showing all sorts of variations on the heart (which is a free pattern… I recommend it highly… have a finished heart in 45 minutes and smile for at least a week).

So Wednesday Anna finished her whirlwind tour of Ravelry hearts, with my dreadlock dude and a totally clever heart-as-potted-plant variation. I am honored by the company I get to keep on that blog entry. Woohoo!

After a week of emotional and physical blahs, illness and inertia, this is the perfect antidote. For the record, I cooked and I made myself eat more food than I thought I could eat… and I got more energy Wednesday night than I have had in a week. I should only wonder why that seems so surprising. It’s obvious, is it not?

But then I get this great note from Anna, and I go back and look at not only my hearts but a whole bunch of others’ interpretation of this very simple and fun pattern. And my week is transformed very quickly indeed.

Thanks, Anna!

If you like the heart, try it. If you like the idea of knitted toys, check out Anna’s site where she has all sorts of fun and amazing projects waiting for you… some free, some for pay, all worth time and money.

I need your help. You see, I have been in bed since two Mondays ago. I am tired of being tired. My fever is gone, I am officially not contagious, and yet I can hardly stay awake in the middle of the day. Every day is wake up, rest, nap, wake up, eat, sleep again.

I have no energy. Standing upright is a tippy prospect, I need to be where I can hold on to a wall. For those of you who know me, this is just not Lynn. And no, it’s not mono. been there already, thank goodness it can not repeat.

Brian was funny today. As a background note, I once knew a cat named Amanda who acted like she owned the world… Queen, not pet. She would sit there looking superior, and the family she lived with developed this funny joke (to them) where they would turn to Amanda and say: “Poof! You’re a cat!” And she’d look around like something unpleasant had happened, not liking the change in energy.

So I tend to say “Poof! You’re a cat!” Or “Poof, you’re a ________!” When I need a change in perspective. I find it quite amusing, in any case.

So today Brian sat in his chair and said, “Poof, you’re LynnH!” Because, boy oh boy have I not been my normal high-energy LynnH self lately. I wish his magic had worked. In time I am sure, but not as quickly as we might have hoped.

I realize that the first line of defense is good rest, and that I have done. I can’t take standard vitamins because of all the allergies I fight, though I have an iron pill I can take every couple of days if I have a tummy full of food to avoid a stomach ache from it. I know that the standard advice would be to eat beef or some sort of mammal product but that just does not work for me, though chicken remains in my arsenal for the time being.

So tonight I am planning to make some chicken broth into something or another. I will take “Emergen-C” powder to get a few vitamins in me. I ate something like a third of a cabbage (stir fried) which was tasty but not exactly an energy factory. It took me till dinnertime to get out of bed, to even make that. Thank goodness I had some soy tapioca pudding already made which I could eat until I got today’s energy together.

Any advice for me? What do you do when you need energy and it is not coming from within? Please pile that comment bin full of options. I will not be able to take all the suggestions because of my fussy food allergy situation, but if I do not use the advice, perhaps another commenter might learn from it.

I want to be LynnH again. This lump I have turned into is a boring gal. Please help.

(Oh… gratitude: my car started today after sitting still for more than a week of very cold weather. I did not go anywhere but that was gift enough.)

- I continue to be grateful for those who love me and call to see if I need anything.
- I feel lucky that I can cancel appointments without big consequences this week.
- I am more than grateful for a good night’s sleep.
- I have never been more grateful for the ability to eat two meals in 1 day (after food was the enemy)
- I am delighted that I packed the freezer with soup broth and frozen veggies when I felt fine last month.

The swan dive? I do not know what happened exactly. I got up to answer the phone, or something. I sat back down on the couch, went to take a sip of tea. My Palm Pilot was taking a soaking bath in the cup of tea. Submerged fully.

The good news? I had JUST synchronized it so I did not lose a single piece of data, nothing. I dutifully put it on the heat vent but I am telling you, half an hour later it still has more water inside than can be addressed. I am absolutely sure that I just “ate” a $99 piece of equipment in one unremembered moment of bad timing.

Equipment is easy to replace, though. Data would have been an awful mess to reconstruct. I can not function without my palm device, ask Rae. For now I will have to lug my laptop with me when I go to work events so I can schedule. I’ll hope to come up with the funds for a new one this week somehow. Thank goodness people keep buying from my website and my Etsy site, while I go nowhere.

Food and sleep all in one day means I have some energy. This is new and appreciated. I am about ready to take a nap but I think today I turned a good corner. And I think Brian is feeling a little better today, too. I think we’re going to make it after all.

I even knit. Alpaca socks (well, trying to match this one having not made notes when knitting the first). Perfect, don’t you think?

I slept till 3pm Sunday. What a surprise. It didn’t start out a restful night, but when I finally opened my eyes I thought I might be Lynn again. I’m still weak, but the emotional me is beyond pleased.

Ice Queen Weather

The view from our living room Sunday was surreal. There was so much light coming in from everywhere! The sun shone, and it bounced around to the point where it seemed light came beaming in from every window at the same time, all three sides of the room. The sky was so clear and the air so cold that even when snow got into the air, the snowflakes turned into pulverized particles of ice, like fairy dust.

Saturday night at 6pm it was just barely under the freezing mark, and then it plummeted south quickly. Right now (writing this draft after 9pm Sunday) it is -5F, with a predicted -6F low tonight (-21C for my international readers). It was another good day for staying in. I am very, very happy for our Mail Carriers on foot, that it was a non-mail-delivery day.

My Incredible Support Team

Sunday the phone kept ringing. Friends who knew I had been ill spent time leaving me to heal but figured they should make sure I was on the mend by now.

Altu, April, a music friend, all made brief calls to hear my voice. That is where I really count my blessings. All week I had offers from local blogging friends, dance friends, other friends… did I need anything they could bring over? What could they do? Since Brian is so good to me I needed nothing, but it was lovely to have offers.

I have created the nicest possible community of friends I could have possibly asked for. No, it’s not just me creating it, but the space must be clear and warm for people to feel comfy joining in. Of course, nobody can join my circle if they have never met me, if I have never reached out or gone socializing in any way. That bit was on my own shoulders long before this week.

Knowing the Difference

I remember when my father died, my mom really did not have confidantes or buddies. She had co-workers. She knew people at church. We knew a group of neighborhood families. Mom had not totally isolated herself, but she also had so much to juggle in her life that she did not really have strong friendships that supported her well. With a career and an unwell husband, it left no time for nurturing personal friendships. She had our family, and when Daddy died the three of us did our best. We still feel like a powerful and loving team.

For the record, Mom is a social butterfly now, with so many friends and activities that she will never be alone. She will never want for someone who cares. Mom has done a bang-up job of becoming herself and I wish to emulate her strengths myself. At this point, Mom is one of my support folks from afar.

I, too, had a time in my life where I was quite isolated and had little time for building personal support friendships. When I lived half an hour from work and depended on my then partner to drive me to and from work, lunch hours were the only time for socializing. I could go to lunch with others who also worked downtown, mostly co-workers.

At least I had the phone, and I did use it… and I found respite in the independently-owned Fabric Gallery store, a tiny but super-high-quality sewing heaven which thankfully was walking distance from my house. I spent time there every Saturday, and it was rejuvenating. You do what you can with what you have. I discovered wool jersey fabric during those years… even when I sewed as my creative outlet, it was knit wool that made me happiest.

Counting Every Blessing

In my current life, I have the music community, dance, knitting, the East Side (Foster Center was important to me before I taught kids to knit there). All the yarn shops where I teach are full of friends, particularly the shop owners. Then there is Altu and the community centered around her restaurant and the music I coordinate for her there. Many of my students I now count also as friends. I have the blogging community which is local as well as international in scope. And now I have Ravelry on top of that.

After a week where it was just difficult to breathe, I am so happy to see what blessings (if I may call them that without sounding church-y) I have in my life. I am so happy to take a moment to make this gratitude list, not only of the things and people I am happy to have in my life, but where I stand in my life’s journey, as well. It seems appropriate to take in “the landscape” this early in the calendar year, as we proceed forward.

For the record, Brian is first on the list. I was happy single, but my life is magnified in all good ways since we joined forces. He was so helpful to me when I was so very sick the first 4 days. Unfortunately, he came down with an awful cold Friday and so now we are sort of parallel-sick trying not to pass our germs across the room. This, too, shall pass.

Permission to Knit for No Good Reason

In more frivolous pursuits, I have been afraid to try to knit anything Sunday, though it has been the first time my hands had the inclination to pick up needles in nearly a week. I do not want to make any mistakes and it seems I feel guilty doing a sock with no reason attached to it when I have pattern deadlines looming heavily at my schedule’s door.

I think I’ll shed that guilt and let myself knit a sock for the pure joy of one knit stitch after another. The value of that is in the repetitive joy of the knitting and its relaxation. Joy and relaxation might equal healing, right?

Tomorrow I will see if the knitting-editor brain has returned along with the more normal temp. It would be good if I could do some work, at least get started in a gentle way. I won’t be teaching tomorrow but perhaps I can do something useful on the computer.

Now where did I put that sock?

My town is amazing for the arts, I say that here often. For those who have read my blog for a while, a year ago Brian and I did a workshop for the local Mid-Winter Singing Festival which just happened again this year the first weekend in February. Lansing has it made in this area, all music is well-represented and there are community sings every month even when there is not a full-blown festival.

So today in the New York Times arts section there is an article about community singing, and most of the content comes from my own community. I know almost everyone who was interviewed, it’s home and I am proud.

Sally Potter is the woman whose energy started this local movement and keeps it moving forward. However, the numbers are so large at this point she has created an energy far larger than one… and she has always been one to give credit to others doing work by her side.

I highly recommend reading the article if you just want to feel better about humanity. Whether you like the music they sing or not, the fact that folks can come together when life is not going all that well, and then they can sing and make it matter less, well… it makes my heart glad.

On the top left sidebar of the article, there is a video if you click. The video is really well done, just beautifully assembled and produced. They actually show the church where Brian and I were married, if you are that kind of curious… Folk music concerts are held in that church and that series of concerts is where I first heard Brian sing, where I first discovered “that ukulele guy.” I didn’t know his name for years but it started with the Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse, which is now presented in that church. It is a center for music, for the community as well as those who worship on Sunday mornings.

If you must live in the frigid cold of Lansing, in February, there is nothing like an article and video of this caliber to make you glad you are where you are.

Oh… a late add to the post… here is a Youtube video showing clips of many of the daytime workshops from the 2007 festival. Also well worth the view and enough to make you smile. My town is all right!

I’m still down for the count. I was able to eat today, more than soup, but still have a raised temp. That’s six days on my back, and I am allowed to feel grumpy about that. I’m doing all the right stuff, thank goodness I love tea. It can’t last much longer.

I opened the door a little today for a tiny bit more air, it’s supposed to get mean-cold tonight. Any fresh air is good at this point.

A Masterful Diversion

So, while my life is significantly boring… I suggest you go check out the work of Dave Cole. He is a man who can not be categorized and I love that sort of person. He did the project where construction equipment knit a huge American flag. He also knit a wedding dress by hand, with 1/8″ strips of dollar bills. It is spectacularly beautiful, many women would look gorgeous in that design.

He even knits lead teddy bears. I have seen the flag, the wedding dress and one of his teddy bears in person.

Cole does a lot of projects that are not knitting, but this is a knitting-focused blog so I’m highlighting things with more interest to my readers.

For the record, he also co-wrote a book, Learning Outside the Lines, about how to get through high school and college if you are ADHD and Learning Disabled… during the time he was getting his degree from Brown University. A personal-experience sort of book.

I had some time to burn so I really looked at a lot of Mr. Cole’s site today. He not only dreams of improbable creations but finds the resources (inner and outer) to get what he needs to make them come about. I admire that.

I feel luxurious today. I’m one who adores open windows, open doors. I even roll down the windows in my car, at least a little, most of the year.

So winter is really hard for me. I can’t hear the sounds of the outdoors, can’t feel the fresh air. Instead we have the hiss of a furnace, which for some reason is very distracting to me. (Am I the only one who counts one of the disadvantages of winter, as having a furnace blowing much of the time? The sound, not the warmth…)

Well, today it’s just around freezing, and there is no wind at all. In the areas of the house where heat rises through the roof, the snow is melting and there is a steady drip of water I can see through the window. There is the tiniest bit of snow coming down, and it is peaceful and beautiful.

The house just felt full of germs and stale air. So I turned down the thermostat, wrapped up in my Ethiopian blanket and opened the front door. Aaaahhh.

If it has to be winter, this is pretty good. OK, I can’t do it very long but I feel some relief.

Whenever I have an instinct to control something not in my power to control, my favorite saying is “I’m not in charge.” It has perhaps never been so true as this week.

I was a bit sick last week for a few days (small potatoes, as Gramma would say), but I recovered, danced at Aladdins, felt just great. Then Monday I got hit hard. It’s a mean flu, different symptoms every day. I spent a day and a half unable to keep anything down other than a little water. Even tea did not agree with me.

I do not get that sort of sick very often and I had forgotten. I am grateful for a few friends/family who were able to give me real advice on how to get through the nausea. Today I’m through that challenge, anyway.

So I’m not in charge. This was to be such a busy, exciting week. It has turned into a “sit on the couch and don’t move” week. Fortunately I was able to cancel or reschedule my events… but a few break my heart. The knitting guild retreat on Sunday, where I was to teach color combining for real garments, and Rae’s birthday yesterday… well, I’m sad.

Today I have my brain back and I’m able to eat again. I’m not yet well, but a corner has been turned. For two days I could only get on the internet to see if I’d sold anything that had to be shipped out, and my emails had no more than a sentence or two. I couldn’t read or knit, so I sat still like a good girl and stared at the ceiling. Yes, me.

It was not small potatoes this time, though even this will not hang on that long. However, I think it’s important to notice good stuff, and the view out of the front window is clean and snow-covered and white. If you do not have to go out, this is lovely weather. I hope I can knit some wool today and make it a winter lay-on-the-couch-and-heal day.

And as another favorite saying goes, “This, too, shall pass.” I should feel better next week and I’ll lay low this weekend. It’s sort of required.

I am repeating a snow photo from January today, please forgive. It looks like this today, only more. Much more snow.

It snowed and snowed today. Dance rehearsal was cancelled, something that almost never happens. It just stayed white all day.

I am sick (flu, ugh) but if I must be ill, might as well do it on a day when getting around would have been a hassle. I spent the day on the couch watching snow come down.

Tomorrow is my friend Rae’s 25th birthday. I wish I felt better, I’d get over to her shop and be part of celebrating. It’s convenient that her day is on the night when the shop is open late. I tell you, though, I won’t be leaving this couch.

Happy birthday, Rae!

Go figure. I was sick last Mon-Wed, and got well enough to dance Friday without feeling tired at all. Totally normal. Now I’m sick again. I am really going to lay low this time, I have a lot scheduled this week and I am already cancelling one thing at a time.

I will not sit up and write, but I’ll show you photos of Friday’s dancing event. In the middle photo, we were dancing together, you can see a bit of my arm in the background.

It was a lot of fun.

Some of you know that I teach Turkish-Inspired sock design. I have 4 pairs of socks which were purchased for me in Turkey by a Turkish family I befriended a number of years ago (and sadly have lost track of). Here is one of the socks:

I had written here about Turkish socks before I found this family, and when I got excited about his homeland (exclaiming how they have perhaps the most beautiful socks anywhere), he Googled about Turkish socks right there in front of me and found my writings.

At that point he offered to buy me some socks when he returned home for a vacation. I will ever be grateful, as it may be impossible for someone like me to get a pair without knowing the language. He had to ask around a lot to find the 4 pair.

Two of the pair they brought me I believe are museum-quality, and how this ordinary American got to have them I’ll never fully comprehend. I do not take them for granted.

I wrote an article plus three patterns for Dawn Brocco’s Heels & Toes Gazette (over 3 issues), based on some features I found in the socks. And more recently I’ve been teaching workshops based on the simplest of those three patterns (in yarn shops and also at Michigan Fiberfest and last April the Dallas-Ft. Worth Fiberfest). Photo of mini-socks above from Dallas students.

(Photo here is the third of three designs for Dawn. Pattern is still available in back issue #16 through her website.)

I wrote a long article here detailing the socks when I got them. I continue to mention Turkish socks on my blog occasionally, especially showing off the work of my students when I teach the workshop.

So now that we have Ravelry, I found a discussion group about Turkish knitting. I made friends with a Turkish knitting designer. We know very little language in common but we write anyway and it is a mutual-admiration society of sorts, just the two of us. Here is one of her blog posts, showing an amazing slipper she designed.

Then today, I got an email out of the blue. It was from a professor in Turkey, who teaches handicrafts and traditional arts at a University. The professor sent a few photographs and this link, to a website showing some exceptional, exciting socks.

http://www.turklacemuseum.org/bolum4/corap.html

I never would have found this by searching Google, as there is no English text on the page. I am overwhelmed, dumfounded, humbled and delighted.

The Internet is giving me chances to make friends with people I’ll maybe never meet. Who do not speak my language, but who speak the same visual language… color in wool. (Actually, there are amazing gloves on this page along with the socks.)

And I must say that perhaps the most wonderful thing of all, is knowing that these folks clearly understand my love and respect for their history and this artform.There is always a chance that someone would be unhappy for an outsider to be working in their own tradition. In this case it is clearly not true, well, at least for the three Turkish connections I’ve had thus far. Here is another one of the pairs I own:

Now I’m going to go back to that Turkish museum page and drink in every single photo, one at a time, until I feel I’ve soaked it all in. Sigh…

(Yes, I would love to teach your group. Yes, I travel.)

What I Haven’t Done Yet

I’m the first one to admit I could benefit from a little meditation or slowing down. It seems that everyone around me is finding some way to calm their inner selves with Yoga, some other Meditation, Chi Gong, Nia, Tai Chi, whatever. So far I just can not go there.

(Well, Brian is already calm, he needs none of this. He won’t understand why I needed to write a whole column about it… which is why he is so perfect for me. Not sure why I’m perfect for him, but I’m glad, anyway.)

I tried one yoga session one time, and I wanted to run away half way through the class. However, I’d come with a friend who was a regular attendee and I had to stick it out. That instructor was big into “feel your muscles” and I was not interested in that sort of awareness.

The closest thing I’ve ever found to yoga was adult ballet class, when I was lucky enough to take it from Diane Newman (Director of Happendance Troupe and School). I found that when I had inner conflict, I found it very hard to balance my physical body. I had immediate information about my psyche when I stepped away from that barre.

Luckily for me, Diane allowed for the adult class to be less strict than a normal ballet class, and when I’d fall over and laugh out loud, she didn’t flinch. In fact, she’d tell me how beautiful my foot was. She would find the one thing I had done right and make sure I knew about it. What a loving person she is, and it shone through in class.

What I Do

So in order to get in touch with my physical self, I now study mideastern dance (AKA belly dance) and rehearse with the girls. With lots of music and other women around me to distract me from the effort it takes.

I have never been strong physically and pushing my muscles hard is not pleasant, no matter how much others might like working out until they can’t push further. (Photo is me dancing as Eudora, at New Aladdins Restaurant just Friday. A blur, my camera does that, but it’s sort of wonderful to show the movement here.)

I do love to walk, but I admit that this is also an activity with distractions. I love the distractions. Especially when the grass is green and there are flowers of any sort, I walk the neighborhood and observe gardens as they change through the months.

I find it hard to walk when there is snow on the ground, though. I don’t like cold any more than feeling my muscles.

A Stitch/A Mantra?

Knitting has a repetition I adore and which makes it somewhat akin to some sorts of meditation. However, I am all about knitting in circles around and around, knit knit knit without any pattern or counting at all. And I can do that without looking at my hands.

So I read blogs while I knit socks in circles. It’s good for getting the fidgety nerves out of my fingers, so to speak, but it’s not about paying attention or anything.

The Real Practice in My Real Life

So Saturday night I made tapioca pudding. This is a real treat for me, something I truly enjoy as comfort food and have absolutely no allergy problems with. Currently, I make mine with soy milk, brown sugar, tapioca and a tiny bit of butter or ghee (there is nothing like dairy fat to satisfy, I must admit). Not even vanilla most of the time, just four ingredients. (I published a partial-coconut-milk tapioca recipe here once. It’s reeeeally good. Doc says no more coconut, so it’s your recipe now.)

But tapioca pudding requires stirring pretty much constantly until it boils, slowly. It is very hard for me to accomplish. In fact, I must admit that one day I burned two batches. Two. Sigh…

Striving for Serenity/Grasping Straws

Saturday I had to dive in and use Adobe InDesign. I worked on it one other long day, and that is it. I must say it is so unlike anything I have ever done before that I am really struggling. I cried at one point (drama queen that I am) but recovered and pressed on.

Maybe it is harder for me, because I am an expert at Microsoft Word, I’m very good at PowerPoint and Excel, I’ve done web page design since 1996, have done programming in dBase III+ and DOS and MS Access. I am used to being the expert. None of these programs are anything like a layout program. It’s start from scratch time.

I have tried to “grok” three different page layout programs over the years, even sat in on classes and it didn’t sink in. Others say how logical these programs are. So far they have not made much sense to me. Why they exist, I totally understand. how to use them, not so much.

I’m grateful for my friend Deb who uses this program a lot (to lay out whole books, not just patterns). She surely has discovered things about it the hard way, many things I will never need to know. Or so I think today. She at least explained a few things to me this weekend while I was whining and whimpering. I’d do drama queen, she’d do resource librarian. Just the facts, ma’am. Exactly what I needed.

I took a class in how to use the program, back in October. I remember a few things from that class, and I do have the book we used as a reference which has been quite helpful. Today I did something I learned in class, and my computer flipped out. It flashed and blinked and in the end went almost entirely gray with a few words still left on the screen.

Somehow I lucked out and it did not stop running. I gave it about 5 minutes, then waved my mouse across the gray screen, and as I did the words under the mouse started to appear. I clicked Cancel in a dialog box and got everything back. Whew. But as Brian says, I was sort of in a dangerous energy or something.

Stirring is a Mantra…Maybe?

I didn’t feed myself enough because I was focusing on other things. So I realized after dinner that a little comfort food dessert would be a very good thing. I wondered… do I dare to make tapioca pudding? The closest thing to focus, to meditation, to yoga that I ever accomplish? On a good day, anyway.

I took the challenge. And I stood there and stirred and stirred, and watched that pudding. I talked to it, told it “nice baby” and all those things you say to a child or a kitten, or an unsteady car. And I did it. I did a perfect job of tending to my comfort food. I did not burn it, I did not so much as turn my back on it for a minute.

It was good.

On January 31, NPR put up a web page (I’m reading into this that there was a radio spot on it also) about what they called Extreme Knitting. This includes so many ideas and expressions, there is no way to explain it without looking at individuals and their specific works. (In December 2005 on this blog I pointed to a Flickr photo of a tree encased in a multicolored “tree sweater,” for one example.)

It surely is beyond wearable garments, in any case. I watched the “Audio Slideshow” which is photos and narrative. I loved it.

Then I followed several links given on that page. I went to KnitKnit and from there clicked on the KnitKnit book that has only been out since September. I clicked on names of featured artists in the book, looked at photos of them and/or their work. And I am so in love, so inspired.

It took me to a good number of knitting names I already knew, and also new ones I had not known yet. Some of the names I have mentioned here before are Debbie New, Freddie Robins, Annie Modesitt and Althea Merback (of Bugknits, where she is called Althea Crome).

Oh, it makes me feel good to know that people are truly following their hearts. They are letting knitting be a method toward a message rather than the thing you do to get X product.

Mind you, I knit socks all the time for a product. But I also love it when folks are artful and follow their instinct. This is really inspiring to me. Perhaps you will enjoy it, also.

`

I’m delighted. The video Brian and I recorded with our friend Lil’ Rev, two weeks ago today, has hit over a thousand views as of this morning. Two weeks. How cool is that?

I can not get my blogging software to allow an embedded Youtube video, but if you click the photo above you will be taken to the page where you can click “Play.” Thanks to those who have already visited this video. You just plain warm my heart!