On Sunday, Brian and I attended his family holiday gathering. I will see my family Friday. We’re not done with holidays yet!

I did cast on a totally new project just for me Sunday. For my 50th Birthday in November, I was gifted with a gorgeous skein of Colinette Jitterbug (100% wool sockyarn) in the colorway Florentina: Purple, magenta, blue and a touch of green. It’s really gorgeous.

So now I have half a foot (toe up) of a sock, very fine yarn on size 0 needles for a very firm gauge. These will be just beautiful.

So I’m doing Selfish Knitting at least a little. I am really hoping to pull out a few old projects that are hibernating, too, and finish them. I’m particularly longing to finish my Lucy Neatby Equilateral Vest. One day at a time.

As much as I am supporting knitting for oneself this month, we all have things that must be done, including work. This is a busy time of year, and I’m grateful for the classes I’m teaching with multiple students in them. I like my work, even when it *does* get in the way of my personal knitting!!!

My father died in 1973, at the age of 40. I was 14. January 3 would be his birthday. I think of him nearly every day even after all these years. What a dynamo he was!

My favorite story about my father, I learned from my mom (who is a truly excellent storyteller). She explains that they both grew up in a small town, total population about 430 people. If you could run, you played sports or there may not be enough kids to put together a team.

My father was not all of 5 foot and 6 inches, but he had more energy than a half dozen other kids combined. He was good at whatever he chose to do.

Dad was one of those kids that others loved and followed. He was a natural teacher. He was a natural athlete, playing football and baseball, as well as playing cornet in the band. He loved music as much as he liked sports.

Dad was left handed. He taught all the other kids how to play sports. So: The entire baseball team in Hanska, Minnesota in perhaps 1948-1950, batted left handed.

Nobody even questioned what he said! He said “you hold a bat like this” and they did! Too funny. But that was the charismatic way of my father, and it does not surprise me at all.

I figure as long as I can tell stories about dad, he’s not truly gone yet.

The photos are my father’s senior portrait, and my 4th grade school photo. Same ears, same eyes, same nose, same upper lip. My eyes are brown like my mother’s, though, and my frame/height is all mom. I think I move like her, too.

I finished my Buttons and Beads Bowl pattern today. May I present them to you now?

It is a bit of an art photo, which was the third photo shoot before something clicked. I think they are lovely.

Many Options for Custom Looks

The shiny blue beads were a gift from an artful friend, and that was fun to use them in this way. The buttons came from a wonderful very old button box that my Brian found at a garage sale years ago. Every button is made of shell.

If you click on the above photo, you can see the buttons a bit better. Some were clearly taken from old garments, with the thread still through the holes. It was such a delight to touch history in that way.

I love hand sewing and find it very soothing. Sewing the buttons and beads on these bowls was a happy time for me. However, you could also make stripes to jazz them up, or you could use multicolored yarns. You could embroider, or you could needlefelt. You could even pin a brooch or silk flower to the side of a bowl.

But, There is a Catch! (A Good One)

This month, the bowl pattern can not be purchased alone. It is free if you buy anything at all from my website shop, or if you go to Rae’s Yarn Boutique and buy a class, pattern or yarn with my name on it. This is sort of LynnH-promo month at Rae’s, I guess. (The bowls will become a standard for-purchase pattern on February 1 or 2.)

This special offer has a purpose. This year, I intend to actively promote the teaching I do (which is my favorite work). If you are not in Lansing, you can still learn from me by experiencing my patterns. I write patterns much as I teach. (If you are curious, see what Deborah Robson of Nomad Press has to say about my Toe-Up Mitten pattern in this regard… and Deborah publishes knitting books, so her kind words mean something.)

My Goal: Teaching on the Road

I hope that more people will learn that I am good at this. In particular, perhaps I will be able to travel more and teach out of Michigan a bit. Teaching at Dallas-Ft. Worth Fiberfest was so much fun! I’m set up to teach at Michigan Fiber Fest again this summer, but more teaching for festivals, guilds and shops is what I seek.

The more folks who see my patterns, the more who might think of me when it is time to hire a teacher for a workshop or retreat. Right? That’s what I’m working toward.

So, buy one or more pattern on my site, and get this one free. It’s a pretty nice deal, really. Even if you just want to knit quietly in your own living room without a class. That is just fine, too.

(You will ask… The yarns used in the first photo are Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted for the tall one and the button bowl, and Nashua Creative Focus Worsted for the purple/beaded bowl. The pink/brown striped bowl in photo #2 used Patons Classic Merino, a standard worsted weight yarn like Cascade 220 or Ella Rae Classic. The back bowl used odds and ends of Noro Kureyon worsted-weight.

All but the tall one had the same number of stitches on the same size needles, and the same person knit them. All but the Kureyon bowl were run through my washer hot wash cold rinse, two times… the Kureyon took 3 trips and is still somewhat fluffy and softer than the rest. The size differences between the yarns were vast, but all are useable and have good proportions.)

Knitters (and other creative folks), you probably just finished a period of time where you made things for others more than yourself. If for some reason, you resisted that part, you still no doubt spent the last several weeks with more social obligations than usual, and less time for self-nurturing activities.

Well, my solution to this imbalance, for several years now, is to declare January my Selfish-Knitting Month. I have responses from you folks, including three countries, so this year I am decaring it International Selfish-Creating Month. I am inviting all creatives (knitters, cooks, musicians and more) to join me in a month of no-guilt making things we want to make. I highly encourage you to keep the item(s) you make for your own use.

In celebration of this first day of the new year, I have already spent some time spinning multicolored yarn on my spinning wheel. I did start this single bobbin of singles (one ply) before today, but I finished today. It is not much fiber on its own, I have no idea what it will be, but I was curious about how it would spin up.

It is much prettier than I expected, and that is great since the ball of fluffy wool roving was very lovely to start with. The yarn is more turquoise than I imagined. Darn! After all, turquoise remains my fave color. It also has hot green, hot pink, and some black in it, but the dominant impression is turquoise.

I will probably ply it (twist it together with another strand) but with something different, so that it will go further. I have never spun silk, but I have a solid turquoise “silk hankie” (flat bit of silk fiber for spinning) somewhere in this house.

Maybe I will see if I can figure that out. I am not sure how my wheel will like it, but since I am intent on learning spinning “by guess and by gosh,” I will look for that hankie and see if I can give it a try. Even if I do a good job, I have no idea how many yards I might get. I am OK with it not working out, but now is the time to try new things.

I am also working on a felted bowl pattern that I hope will be complete and ready to go tomorrow, January 2. I have a lot of bowls knit but not felted. The pattern is basically done but has no photos. Hey, even selfish knitting times need to be alternated with work!

I’ll get you a photo of the bowls as soooooooon as I can. For now, I’m offering you a photo of socks I knit for myself in January 2004, which I still wear every week.

So what about you guys? What new creative project are you starting this week? If you want to send me photos to: Lynn AT ColorJoy DOTcom I will post them here. Or just send me a link to your blog and I will tell folks here to go check it out.

I have much to be grateful for, as the year turns to 2009. We are on our way to a large gathering of friends, a quality potluck where the food is equal to the excellent company. We may not stay all night, I’m so ready for quiet, but we will touch base with loved ones on this last day of the year.

You all who read this blog, are among those I am grateful for. May your 2009 be as good as my 2008 was.

I’m in the midst of a big yarn-dyeing push and so won’t be too deep today…

Student Project Photo

I taught a class recently at Rae’s, a bulky cabled scarf class where both students were very new knitters. They were really happy to learn how to cable! Both had very soft yarns, which will be warm wrapped around the neck.

The blue yarn is alpaca, the reddish-rust yarn is an Araucania hand dyed fluffy cotton. I’m super happy with how well they learned this project! Congratulations, ladies.

My Christmas Gift

Brian and I keep Christmas at a dull roar at our house. With no kids and no relatives in Lansing, we get away with it, and I’m grateful.

We do get out to a lot of gatherings, but at home I am really in need of solitude and serenity when I can get it. Christmas is a pajama day if I can work it out!

Gifts are not a big deal; after all, we have each other. We met in our late 30’s so we understand how big a gift that really is. Early this year we got a brand new refrigerator and a stove. We also will be going on a vacation in February, so that is sort of our big gift to ourselves this season. I don’t need gifts to be on the “right” day, you know?

Other than that, we do small gifts, usually wrapped, and on Christmas morning. This year I didn’t wrap anything… I am making Brian a pair of mittens for bicycle riding (which are not done yet… but we are making them up as we go, so there is much ripping and re-trying).

He got me a very special treat. Lingonberry Preserves! If you have not tried them, they are a lot like cranberries but much smaller (maybe currant sized). They grow wild in Sweden.

I have a lot of allergies, and many jellies, jams and preserves have citric acid added to them. Most fruit has a lot of citric acid in it already! The citric acid added in production, is often not from a fruit source (and even if it was, I’m very allergic to some fruits), and I don’t tolerate it well. So when I find fruit anything with three ingredients: Fruit, sugar, pectin… well, you can imagine how pleased I am. When it’s lingonberries? Heaven.

I’m already halfway through the first jar and it’s only December 30. I have put it on breakfast as jam, and I have put it on ice cream as fruit topping. I did share a little…

The thoughtfulness was much appreciated, he looked a few places before he found these. Thanks, Brian!

Brian went on a bike ride Sunday, on a chilly and windy day. The weather was not bad enough for him to stay home.

He really misses his bicycle when the weather is bad; he has only missed one day commuting to work on the bike since spring. I’m all for it. I want to keep him a long time. Riding the bike is good for his heart and his mood (not that he’s ever really grumpy… that would be my job).

So Sunday he went out in spite of the wind, and got to the west side of town (we’re just slightly east). He came home with groceries, and yellow flowers for me.

I adore carnations. They are about the only flower I can keep inside and not feel allergic when in the same room. They last at least a week even if you ignore them, and they are not expensive. They come in a zillion colors, to boot.

This week a little sunshine indoors is a good thing. We had two days in a row where it looked like twilight even at noon. Well, Sunday I noticed some sun peeking in the window and moved my face to drink in the sunshine. I think I counted 38 seconds before it went away, but I totally appreciated that ray while it lasted!

We went from frigid (4F/ -15.5C) last Sunday, to blizzardy snow Friday and several days of snow on top of that. You could not step into the yard without snow coming up past your ankle! In places there were piles of snow as tall as my car, where they had plowed.

Then we got a record high temperature Saturday (60F/ 15.5C). It melted like crazy, lots of us had wet basements, and now the snow is mostly melted except in the piles left behind by snowplows and shoveling. This Sunday we had wind warnings with gusts, and it’s cooled off to about freezing again.

Crazy! That’s one week of weather in Lansing, Michigan… even more varied than usual.

Here you see a photo of the view from my front porch Sunday. Notice that the street signs are fully colorful but the sky is colorless in comparison. I really am going to enjoy these sunny flowers this week!

I helped out on the cash register at Rae’s Yarn Boutique before Christmas (because folks can’t always do their regular shifts on holiday weeks). This meant I was in the building from 10am to 5:45pm on Monday. Most of the time we were hopping-busy; I think I didn’t have quiet for over 3 hours once I opened the doors.

However, if one makes good use of short bursts of quiet time in a yarn shop, one can do some spinning in the late afternoon when things calm down a little. I was a little whirlwind and spun like crazy when I could sit down at all.

I bought the soft wool roving for this 8oz batch of yarn on one Sunday, and finished up plying the yarn on the following week’s Tuesday. I still need to soak it and set the twist, but otherwise the yarn is done. It is gorgeous.

For the spinners out there, I split the wool into two 4oz sections. I spun 4oz of singles on one bobbin and then repeated on the second. I plied from two ends of a center pull ball to try and have two skeins about the same. One has 120 yards, one has 108. I figured if I wanted socks, legwarmers or wristwarmers I’d be set with two nearly equal balls.

I had no plans for the yarn I was making. I was spinning purely for the joy of watching the colors pass through my fingers, and feeling the soft wool flow. Now just 10 days later I have some very wonderful yarn begging me to knit with it.

So I did a little selfish time at the wheel this week, in the midst of too much to do already. I’ll need to wait to do the knitting until January. But then the question remains, what do I knit?

The yarn would love to become a Bloom Shawl (designed by my friend, Trish Bloom). Unfortunately, I just do not have enough yarn to make one. The next choice was to check yardage requirements for a my own Perfect Hug design. The smallest size, which looks best on me, is a capelet which requires 320 yards. I have about 328 yards. Close, but I can make it work. Score!

So sometime in 2009, I think I’ll have a mostly-turquoise handspun Perfect Hug Capelet. I’m pretty sure I’ll get a lot of wear out of it. I don’t have a turquoise shawl right now (since I accidentally cut my turquoise mohair Bloom shawl with scissors). A woman whose trademark color is turquoise (me) can always use a turquoise shawl, I’d say!

The cool thing is that the Perfect Hug Shawls take very little time to knit. That will be very satisfying.

Now, back to the 2008 to-do list.

Photos: The new handspun, and the first version I knit of the capelet-sized Perfect Hug shawl (in Debbie Bliss SoHo, a thick-thin that looks handspun).

What pure pleasures have crept into your life lately, even when there wasn’t much time?

Brian and I (The Fabulous Heftones) are singing tonight at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine (East Lansing, MI). Showtime is 6:30 to 8:30, dinnertime. We sent a notice out about a week ago to our email list.

However, some of you are in town and not on the Heftone music list. Who knows, maybe you need a rest from cooking and/or eating leftovers? We would love to see some friends there!

Gratitude

My gratitude right now is overflowing. People around me are receiving good news, the sun shone on Christmas for hours and hours and it didn’t snow, my health is leaps and bounds better than it was a year ago, my business is clicking right along, my loved ones are happy, and I had a quiet day with Brian in our home for Christmas. All is well in LynnH-land.

Christmas morning I slept in (after a far-too-late bedtime). We had a lovely breakfast, took a nice walk, enjoyed some hot chocolate with real whipped cream to warm up, hung out, ate citrus from Florida (thanks, Mom and Fred), I knit and Brian played ukulele, then later Brian made a stir fry for dinner.

After dinner it was my turn in the kitchen. I made a favorite December dessert. I decided in my state of gratitude, that I should share the recipe with you!

Winter Delight

I love cranberries. The season does not last long enough for me, and though one can freeze the berries right in the bag they are sold in, my freezer is too small for as many as I might like. I need to just enjoy them when I can buy them fresh.

I found a cranberry recipe in Jane Brody’s Good Food Book long ago, which is my favorite of all the 350 recipes in that very good cookbook. Of course, I have enough allergies that I have to change/drop ingredients right away.

I’ve made this in many different variations over the years and finally realized that she was specifying tasty cooked fruit with a tiny sprinkling of oats on top. I wanted more oats.

She is very health/weight conscious. As for me, I’m in need of more fuel these days for a change. A little more oat topping is not bad for my personal health at this time.

I love oats, they are so chewy! So I have now taken a leap and really changed the proportions. The idea of cranberries, apples and oats remains a brainstorm of Ms. Brody, but the spices, specific ingredients and proportions are at this point probably more mine than what she started with. I bow to her for the brilliant pairing of these wonderful winter fruits.

If you do not have my ingredients, try any flour you have; white or dark brown sugar; margarine or vegetable oil. Note that this is a no-wheat, no egg/corn/yeast/nut/cinnamon recipe, but depending on the oats/flour you choose, it may not be gluten free.

Cranberry-Apple Crumble, Brody-Inspired a la LynnH

Filling Ingredients
1 12oz pkg (3c) cranberries (if your package is 8oz, use an extra cup of apples)
4 cups of sliced apple (2 large or 6 small is about right)
1/2c light brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1 Tbsp oat flour

Topping Ingredients
1/2c oat flour
1/4c light brown sugar
2c quick/1-minute rolled oats
6 Tbsp melted butter

Heat oven to 375F/190.5C.

In a large bowl, mix filling ingredients thoroughly. Place in greased glass baking pan, mine is about 12″ x 9″ x 2.5″ (30cm x 22.8cm x 6.5cm) and is barely big enough.

Mix topping ingredients (can use same bowl) until the butter/oil has been thoroughly worked into the mixture. Carefully distribute evenly over the fruit topping.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until fruit is boiling and the topping smells toasty and looks slightly browned (oats do not brown as obviously as wheat). Remove from oven, cool 15 minutes.

Serve alone or with excellent-quality vanilla ice cream. Make yummy noises.

I am a member of an email-based group called Socknitters, which you can join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Socknitters

They have an affilitated website called http://Socknitters.com This is where I found myself, out of the blue back in late winter of 2001, when I realized I could knit my own socks. (I knew my life would change, right then and there, but I could not have imagined how much!)

We discuss all things sock-related on the Socknitters email list. Subjects range from how to knit socks in any of a zillion ways, which needles/tools people like, what yarns are good for what, patterns, techniques and more. Today Diane asked for clarification on where to start knitting the heel if one is knitting socks toe up.

I have a pattern I wrote for teaching Toe-Up socks (it’s called First-Time Toe-Up Socks, which covers the toe, foot and heel, and allows you to make pretty much any leg you desire). This pattern uses a square of flat knitting to start the toe, which is different than a lot of other toe-up socks.

It also uses a typical top-down heel structure, called a heel-flap/turned heel. The difference is that the heel flap sits underneath the heel in my sock, and in a standard top-down Western-style sock the heel flap is on the back of the heel. From a knitter’s perspective, they are knit the same way.

You can really see it on this pair of striped socks I finished knitting in October. I knit the pair with one skein of Noro Kureyon Sockyarn and one skein of solid standard sockyarn, I think it was Blauband.

Diane is making a different sort of toe-up sock, using a different sort of needle setup than my pattern and I am guessing a different heel. However, the placement of where one might start the heel would be the same. I make toe-up socks with afterthought heels quite often, and I start the heel right here, as well:

Notice at left that you could not knit further without wrinkles in the foot, there is no way to pull them up any more. The sock ends under the heel just about directly beneath the ankle bone (picture the person standing up rather than foot out). This sock is ready to start any standard heel type (flap, short-row or afterthought).

You can see if you look at the first photo, that I started the striped heel at this location. Knitting is so forgiving that I do it this way every time for me *and* Brian no matter what heel I make. No matter what gauge, our socks fit just great.

For the record, the 2nd photo is Lamb’s Pride Worsted (aran/heavy worsted weight wool/mohair) in color Aztec Turquoise. Socks can be knit in any gauge yarn, and these I wore for several winters whenever my feet were especially chilly.

The photo was taken in 2005. The socks now have a few patches where I have darned them after heavy use, but they are still warm and cozy.

I figured that if Diane had this question, perhaps some of my other readers would be interested. Happy socknitting!

If you want to see a variety of socks knit using my toe up structure, you can visit my LynnH SockTour 2006. It’s a slideshow of sorts, showing photos of all the socks I knit in 2006. Many (not all) of them are knit in this way.

The 2006 SockTour shows the 124th to 144th pairs I ever knit. I’m up to 164; I guess I’ve slowed down a bit recently!

Puzzles and Crocheted Bags
When I was a child, one thing we always seemed to do over the few days off at Christmas, was to put together a jigsaw puzzle. At the time they cost less than a dollar (gasp) and we got a lot of time together for that small amount of change.

Annette Petavy, the skillful and artful French crochet designer I’ve mentioned here before, has a new pattern for crocheted bags using sockyarn. This is a very good use of sockyarn and equally a good use of crochet, if you ask me. The yarn is thin which makes a flexible fabric, but the nylon in sockyarn makes it very strong and resistant to wear. Crochet makes a more sturdy and thicker fabric than knitting using the same yarn. It’s great for bags and rugs because of this (with no need to felt to make it less stretchy).

Annette’s Christmas blog post is much fun. She has a photo of one of the versions of her bag, made into a web jigsaw puzzle. It took me just over 8 minutes to put the puzzle together. I highly recommend this diversion!

Let’s face it, a web puzzle is not the same as my memory of four family members enjoying one another around one card table. However, it can be done without making a mess or taking over part of the house with a table that is out of place. It can also be done in much less time. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thanks, Annette!

Snow and More Snow
The photo here is from last December, but it’s looking worse than this shot right now in Lansing. We’ve had snow on top of snow since last Friday, though Wednesday it melted enough that we got puddles on the roads. It’s a mess here and now it’s freezing again just in time for Christmas travelers to have a rough time.

Holiday Un-Plans
As for us, we’re staying home Thursday and having a no-expectation day. We will find food in the freezer and refrigerator that look tasty and cook those things. I don’t want “tradition” to make me feel obligations that are not really necessary!

We’re not big on gift-giving, either. I am really sincere when I say that Brian is my present for any holiday. A day with him is a gift enough. A gift of a sort I never thought I’d be privileged to experience, really.

Gatherings
We did go out for sushi Tuesday night and then we sang at Open Mic at Dagwoods together. It was a bit of a holiday date, perhaps.

I had holiday gatherings with the knitting guild last Tuesday, then Wednesday was Habibi Dancers and Sunday was a sort of holiday reunion of the Abbott Brothers band, just a jam session and small gifts. My family gathered in early November and I thought I’d see my brother and my sister-in-love on Friday but the weather made it impossible. We’ll see them in January, now.

I expect a gathering of my kid knitters probably next week and I’ll see my godchildren this week sometime for a low key get together. I think this time of year is really about reconnecting and celebrating the relationships we have with those we love. This is all good but it really makes for crazy schedules for a few weeks.

One Mellow Day
Thursday, though, Brian and I will just be alone and relax. If the weather is OK for it, we will go for a little walk. Otherwise we will just hang out and be mellow. My real goal is to give myself a cleared desk for the new year, so perhaps I’ll start in on clearing it off. Maybe I’ll even knit.

Please Be Smart if you Travel
Whatever you do, remember that balance/sanity is a good thing in the midst of too-full calendars. Don’t drive in bad weather if it’s truly not safe. Your loved ones would best be glad to have you safe, even if they miss you at a gathering.

Lynne in Oz (Australia) and Lisa in Toronto, Canada have spoken up to be part of the upcoming “Selfish Knitting Month.” This means that it is now *International* Selfish Knitting Month.

They are not the only ones who have piped up to say they want to be part of this, but the only who have identified themselves as outside the US (which is where I live). I like how international the internet is, that delights me to have us connected through the ether when we can’t be in one another’s physical presence.

There are no rules other than you knit for yourself during the month of January. I would hope you would knit more for yourself than others in January, maybe (ideally) *only* for yourself.

The good news is that there are no selfish-knitting Police, so you decide for yourself how it goes. It’s about NOT feeling pressure or stress. It’s about being good to ourselves and being clear that we choose to do so.

Please consider joining us!

The photo is a bulky cable scarf one of my “Knitting Study Hall” students knit for herself recently. She had never done cables so wanted to try them. She made this in less than 2 weeks. Nice job, don’t you think? She loves it, and it’s very warm just when we need it. Today I saw one sign say it was 1 degree F. I think it was more like 4F (-15.5C) but who is quibbling? Either number is just plain cooooold!

The Fabulous Heftones have been fielding calls this week, and we landed four new shows. Two are within the next 7 days, one is tomorrow!

Sunday (tomorrow), Dec. 21, we are at
Everybody Reads Bookstore,
2019 E. Michigan Avenue
from 2:30 pm to 4:00pm

This is on the same block as Rae’s Yarn Boutique, across from Emil’s Italian Restaurant and next door to Gone Wired Cafe (which once was Rupp Campfitters).

This delightful, locally-owned shop has unusual, quality reading materials and fair trade gifts from around the world and Michigan.They just recently opened a door in the wall directly into the Gone Wired Cafe’, which has excellent food, teas and coffee.

Next Saturday, Dec. 27 we will be singing at our home venue
Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine
from 6:30-8:30

We will sing you sweet tunes while you eat a relaxing dinner you don’t need to make yourself. This is a switch in our schedule (we will no longer be playing there on January 24, but are still scheduled for our annual Valentine’s day event).

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Coming up in 2009 will be these performances, as well:

Charlotte Community Library Spartan Room -
226 S. Bostwick, Charlotte, MI
Friday, January 23 6:30pm

MAMA’s Coffeehouse,
Opening for Juggernaut Jug Band (Bloomfield Hills, MI)
Saturday, January 24, 8:00pm

Valentine’s Day with The Fabulous Heftones
Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine
Saturday, February 14 6:30-8:30pm

Altu’s again March 28, same time/place.

Nor-Easter Music & Art Festival,
Mio, MI.
June 12 & 13 (Festival goes through Sunday)

Perhaps some of you can join us? It should be a lot of fun!