I have never been tidy. For many years, I have had many friends.

Tomorrow a beloved friend is coming to stay for a few days. This means I need to do a whirlwind in the house so our friend will be relatively comfy. There’s no time to post much.

However, I’ll share this photo. It was taken of me in a Knitting Rocks! class at Rae’s shop. This is my group of young knitters.

I put the camera down and invited the kids to take turns snapping photographs of the session. Someone, I don’t know who (A?) took this shot. (Edited later: Yes, A. took the photo.)

I like it. I’m knitting, chatting, fixing someone’s mistake, and wearing bright color. That’s me.

Kids are the best. I like them more every time I spend a few hours with them.

See you tomorrow.

This weekend I took four workshops from Melissa Leapman. The classes were sponsored by and held at Rae’s Yarn Boutique in Lansing, Michigan’s fun and funky east side.

Saturday am was about designing a sweater that fit. Saturday pm was edgings. Sunday am was Colorful Cables, and Sunday pm was Celtic Cables. I learned in every class. I especially adored Colorful Cables, but nobody will be surprised to hear that!

Here is a photo of Me, Melissa, and Melinda (who works at Rae’s shop).

I have several swatches I knit in the class, all tangled up in one big mess of yarn in my class projects bag. I think you would no doubt much rather see a larger swatch that Melissa brought with her. These illustrate some possible Colorful Cable stitch patterns. Woohoo! Love this.

You may guess, correctly, that I like the possibilities in swatch #2 (just below) very much. After all, it is a zigzag pattern. I love zigzags, triangles and diagonal lines. I also, ironically, really love circles.

In the final class Sunday, we learned how to knit textured circles on a background of purled stitches (reverse stockinette). It was really cool… but I could not help myself thinking how I’d like to then duplicate stitch a new color on the circle. I’m incurable…

I had such a great time learning for 2 days rather than teaching. It is also lovely to just meet someone else for whom knitting/designing/teaching is also their full-time work. Peers are precious in this business.

I do have good friends in Lansing who are also self-employed women. Some work full time or more, some work part time. Rae and Sarah Peasley are in the yarn biz, and I unfortunately don’t see Sarah often. I also have Altu (restaurant owner), and a massage therapist friend, another restaurant owner, several freelance artist friends… but getting to know one more person in my field, who teaches on the road, is wonderful.

I really enjoyed getting to know Melissa. We chatted over several meals this weekend and got to chat a bit. My life is now a bit richer for one more acquaintance/peer. Someone else who “gets it.” I’m delighted!

If you (knitters) ever get a chance to take a class from Melissa, see if you can make it work out. She does such a good job, and she has her own style that really works for her. I recommend the experience.