Sometimes you have an affection for an inanimate object far beyond what can be explained. Sometimes that thing has meaning and symbolism in it that you can not explain. Sometimes you pretend to yourself it doesn’t matter because it is just an inanimate object, and an imperfect one at that. Only you understand its value, nobody else notices.

Sometimes you lose the object. Sometimes you grieve. Big deep belly sobs, pacing the floor anguish. Obsessing the mind with its loss for days.

But it’s just an inanimate object. If only I could tell my heart and mind to shut up…

I have so much work to do. I don’t have time for this.

Today is the 12th anniversary of my marriage to Brian. I usually am full of words, but what can I say?

Marrying Brian is the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. At age 38 I was a bride, and my life just got better than I ever imagined it could be.

The “stuff” in our lives is modest. No matter, I’m rich. My husband lights up when I walk in the room. He is kind. He is interesting. We feel like this is yet the beginning.

What else could I want?

OK, this one is boring if you aren’t into problem solving or geeky stuff. Come on back tomorrow, if this is not your cup o’tea. OK? Yeah, the photo is a decoy and not about much in this column. (LynnH hugs you as you leave…)

Geek, Geek, Geek (again)

I spent much of 3 days trying to solve my problem saving Mom’s book #1 properly. I read the help files on the site I was planning to use to print her book, I read everything I could find on Google, asked a few friends who do similar work. No luck.

Then I wrote to an email group on Yahoogroups, where the members of that group do basically the same sort of work I do (writing/self-publishing patterns). I got several really helpful emails, some of which told me to do what I had already done.

The issue in particular, for those interested in details, was that I needed to create a .PDF file from Adobe InDesign, and it had to have the font fully embedded. The font I was using did not have restrictions on doing such a thing. Yet no matter what I did, I got the font embedded as a subset (not all the characters) rather than the full font. I must have tried to do it a dozen different times, with the same result.

When I tried to upload a PDF with a subsetted font (or no font embedded at all) just to see what happened, the site would error out and tell me I didn’t have proper embedding. Which was true, if I was to meet their specific requirements (and then be able to order copies of the book).

VISTA Woes… Again

With folks on my team (email list) who do this sort of thing every day, telling me I did it totally right, I took a bold sideways move. I installed the InDesign software on my old WindowsXP laptop which has been threatening to quit working for a year and a half.

I made the PDF according to the instructions I’d been following for 3 days on my VISTA machine. And I hate to say it, but it fully embedded my font the first time.

Apparently VISTA could/would not do what I told it to do, even when I ran the program “as administrator.” Even though the dialog boxes I had worked in, looked identical to those in Windows2000 where an internet tutorial said they would work properly.

Good News/Bad News

So the saving of the PDF properly is the good new piece of news. I was able to upload the inside of the book as specified. I uploaded a front and back cover. I clicked “Save and Finish.”

And then something happened and the site I’m working with for printing (lulu.com) would time out/freeze before saying I had “finished.” So I waited. For hours. No response, never a “finished” message.

I tried it with more than one browser, more than one operating system, two different computers. Still a time out.

So Saturday night I had Brian watch me and he could figure out nothing I did that would be wrong. And he found a “live support chat” link on the site. I mean, at 11:30pm on a Saturday. And we clicked, and I had a live chat with someone who confirmed I was on the right track but something was not working. So I now have a tracking number for the unusual website response.

They will contact me probably by Tuesday with a technician letting me know what is up there. So for now I can go forward on other things. Brian and I have our anniversary on Sunday, which is also his mother’s birthday, so we will go visit her and some of the family out of town for the day.

The Ones We Love

Brian and I had dinner together and a concert, on Saturday, for our time alone together. His family is pleasant company, and we will play music and chat and knit with them on our actual anniversary. I will enjoy the change of pace, will work in the car and relax when we are there. I usually work on Sundays so I will plug away on things when it is reasonable, and enjoy family when that is the focus.

Pair #163 and Hat Knitting

For the record, I have been knitting. I just bound off my 163rd pair of socks since Spring 2001. I’m also working very slowly on my chevron lace hat. It is ridiculously simple if you are a lace knitter, a 10-stitch, 4-row pattern where every other row is “knit all stitches.”

There are only 6 repeats, a total of 24 rounds with about 100 stitches per round. Yet I’m not much of a lace knitter and it is easy for me to mess up if I try to knit it while with other people. I am eager to wear the hat but I’m in the middle of repeat #5 and have a hiccup from a previous row to fix. That one is waiting for a quiet time with good lighting.

I guess I should be working on a pair for Brian if it’s our anniversary, huh? I do have a pair or two started for him, waiting for me to pay attention to a turned heel or some thing of that sort. Maybe I need to pay attention again, huh?

Oh, the photo? I spent several hours Saturday knitting and doing my best to mellow out with Kristi, mom of these two incredible almost-two-year-old boys. This photo was taken in May at East Lansing Art Fair, it’s my most recent photo of them even though I saw them when we sang at JazzFest in August.

The photo isn’t really much about this post other than seeing Kristi, though the boys are expert at crawling… quickly, not slowly!

One More Try, One More Time

My friend Deb Robson/The Independent Stitch has had computer problems for weeks and weeks. Her tech support has been able to confirm that there is a problem but no help fixing it.

One day as she posted about this situation, she talked about how she has been working around the issues in what seems to be a corrupt file (this is a complete book, a very complex document). In essence, when something does not work she asks herself what else she can do that she has not tried yet.

I am working on a much smaller book project, four small children’s learn-to-read books for my mother. I had the disadvantage of having to learn how to use the document layout program at the same time as creating the first book. Mom and I had to learn to speak the same language in order to make sure I was producing what she envisioned.

Now I have a book that prints perfectly from my production printer in my home. I “only” have to upload the document to a high-speed printing house and then she can have one proof copy printed to see if it translated properly. I can’t upload. It is complaining about something I did wrong.

I go look at the “how to do this right” pages that they provide, and do it exactly as they say, and it does not work the way they say it will. I have been going around on this for far too long, and Googling when the site in question could not give me any more hints.

Today I broke through. I did not get it exactly as they want it, but I did get a different result after dozens of tries that previously got the same result.

So I’m learning to use Deb’s “What else can I do?” method. I feel like I am crawling but I guess I am not sitting still.

The Autumn Blues: a Cure?

In other news, it is fully autumn in Michigan. I am totally a summer girl, I thrive when I can open doors and windows in my car and home. I do not move as fast when it is over 90F, but I enjoy the slower pace and stay in the shade, while drinking in the sunshine and the green landscape.

I actually get a bit of an adrenaline rush when I see the temperature has reached 84F (29C) or more. Love it! My health thrives on warmth and sunshine.

This summer, if you ask me, was perfect. I have been well since March and had a ton of energy. I rode my bike and got a lot of work done. After a bad year last year, where I was even tired during summer (too tired to ride the bike even once), I am letting go of this year’s summer with reluctance.

Yesterday it was cold and rainy and gray. I was so down in the blues that I could have kicked a dog if I had one. I was not just blue, I was angry like a toddler who can’t have another piece of candy.

It might be better if I did not get sick outdoors in the fall. Hay and wet leaves are horrible for my allergies, they really drain my energy. A sunny day on a porch will work, when the sun decides to shine. But I have really enjoyed walking and bicycling and porch-sitting this summer, and here comes 9 months of waiting for that joy again.

Now, I am generally an optimist and I tend to be in a good mood much of the time. When I complain it does not last long (unless the subject is cold weather), and I go on to other things. I don’t LIKE myself when I’m a grumpy grrl.

A Contest!

So now I need you to help me. The one thing I do to turn it around, is to play Kitty Donohoe’s song “Autumn Dance” on repeat, until I have the words memorized again for the season. It also helps to get out my favorite alpaca sweater which is far too big but extra-warm. Sort of a “boyfriend sweater” except I got it from a resale shop rather than from Brian.

But I’m going to start a contest. I don’t know what the prize(s) will be, but I will dive into my stash for knitting prizes that are lovely, and if you are not a knitter I will send you a Fabulous Heftones CD. OK? I will give at least two prizes, one for the submission that helps me the most and one picked at random.

Here is all it takes to be entered into my contest:

Comment (make sure you enter your proper email address so I can reply to you), with one more thing I can do to turn my end-of-summer blues around.

Oh… (added later)… The contest closes at midnight Eastern Time on Monday. I will pick winners Tuesday, October 7 and announce them here on my blog.

That’s all. Will you help me? Thanks.

Photo: 1) Sap bucket bouquet at Harvest Gathering, during the daytime. I showed it at night during Jen Sygit’s concert, here. Notice the peacock feather! 2) Autumn leaf from previous year. 3) Yarn I dyed in Seaside colorway, to represent yarn that might be a prize, though I don’t have any of this colorway right now.

At Harvest Gathering a few weekends ago, someone had set up a vertical warp (something like what I understand to be a Navajo weaving) and a basket full of fabric strips. There was a sign asking passers-by to weave, be sure to put only natural (not synthetic) items into it, and weave with positive intent.

There were flowers and even a bone woven in, by the time it was all done. I added a plum/magenta piece myself. Weaving with my fingers rather than a piece of wood, is satisfying to me.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Geek, Geek, Geek

My computer-database client (originally from Y2K) is happy. They have not needed to call me since November 2006, but something happened and their database corrupted. I was able to combine the structure of an older backup, with the current data in the corrupted database. (Luckily, the data was intact, though the forms and menus were toast.)

They are back in business, and they did not lose a single record. Yippee!

I guess anything you do 40-60 hours a week for a handful of years, will be in the cellular memory of your body. I had not seen this in about two years, but it all came back.

Hats, Hats, Hats

What am I doing to celebrate? I’m knitting. It’s hat month, I guess. I am putting together a top down hat pattern so have knit two of that design while writing up the pattern (see striped hat in gray/green here). It amazes me how different the same pattern can be when knit in different yarns.

Lace… yes, me.

Then I started a (gasp) lace chevron hat in turquoise angora, pattern by Louisa Harding (it has the look of a beret but is knit in rounds rather than short rows). I tried on a sample of this hat when Louisa was at Rae’s this summer, and it’s just right for me. (No photo yet on this one.)

I usually do not like lace… I don’t typically like skin peeking through a bodice, and I tend to be cold anyway. On top of that, most lace is feminine on the girly side. I favor geometrics: triangles, circles, squares and zigzags.

This hat is chevrons, a type of zigzag. No flowers or flounces, though the fabric is ultra-soft and feminine because of the fiber. I have a few angora berets already, and they drape so well and are so warm, that this design is not as far of a stretch as other lace items might be for me.

The angora hat is going pretty well, I am on the fourth repeat of six (four rows per repeat) in the lace pattern. I dropped some stitches while toting the hat in my purse so I’ll ask Rae if she can figure it out. If not, I’ll rip back 4 rows and I’ll be fine. I am pleased that I got this far without needing assistance, since I’m really not an experienced lace knitter.

Does anyone else out there find that the stitch manipulations required by lace just feel tense in the hands? It seems I’m always tugging and manipulating in a way the fabric does not want me to go. For some reason, I don’t like that feeling.

In the end, the fabric will be fine, but on the needles it feels strained and unnatural. Maybe experienced lace knitters get used to that, but I keep noticing it. I definitely wish I had sharper tips on my needles when I’m pushing the yarn around in this way. Usually sharper tips mean split yarn to me… but in this case, they sound like a good choice.

Flat Hat

I needed to cast on something else, until I could fix that. And then I had a “I wonder what would happen if…” moment when casting on a project intended to just keep my hands busy. I had one ball of slowly-color-changing yarn and needles to work with it, so I started a hat. It was also top down but with a very flat top, starting with a square.

If I did it again, I’d do it differently, with a smaller square, as the top did not transition well enough from square to round. However, the top is indeed flat and the sides look good.

Last night I realized that today was the deadline in my guild to donate to Afghans for Afghans, and maybe the hat would be a good contribution. Except they want as much animal fiber as possible (they do not have automatic clothing washers nor do they have furnaces to stay warm). This yarn is 55% wool and 45% acrylic, really not warm enough for that sort of environment.

Sharing Warmth

So I decided first to knit it as long as possible to cover chilled ears. Then I planned to line the hat with a loose knit of angora, which is really warm. I can do it on larger needles and thus finish in the available time. Angora is so warm, it does not need to be super densely knit if it’s the inner layer. I’m knitting the angora right now.

It is nice to work on something that does not need to be documented for a pattern or a class or anything. Maybe this idea will turn into something else that is more well-thought-out, but meanwhile someone cold in Afghanistan will be less cold wearing the hat. As someone who believes we’re all related no matter where we live, I’m happy to have time right now to do something for this charity. I’ve donated before but it has been a while since I had time to knit for charity.

One summer I taught CityKidz Knit! at Foster Center and I had two young Afghani immigrants in my class, very nice sisters who knit well. They were here with their mom and brother, and had not been here very long. They did not know what had happened to their father. I think of these girls when I knit for this charity.

Wet but not cold here, yet.

It’s sprinkling rain outside, though I did take a 10-block walk anyway to celebrate the computer repair. I’m glad to have a day without any appointments. I’ll knit a bit, make some food, and then get back to the project for my Mom that I was working on when the computer call came in…

Happy Tuesday!

Lose this day loitering, twill be the same story
Tomorrow, and the rest more dilatory;
Thus indecision brings its own delays
And days are lost lamenting over days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Courage has genius, power and magic in it;
Only engage and then the mind grows heated.
Begin it and the work will be completed.
–Johann Von Goethe

I took far too many photos at Harvest Gathering a few weekends ago. I am wading through them all as I can.

This photo was taken after breakfast Saturday morning. This youngster is the son of two of our musician friends. He was just stylin’ like a blues cat or something… notice he is in a stroller. They start young these days!

I visited Everybody Reads bookstore last week, across the street from Rae’s Yarn Boutique. They had a basket of small home-grown pears at the cash register, free for the eating. Someone, a neighbor and/or customer, had brought them by to share. I thought they were beautiful and took this photo.

This week, there was a basket of pears at Rae’s shop. I wonder if it might have been from the same neighbor. In any case, we are experiencing harvest-time abundance on the East Side right now.

I want you to take half a minute to really look at these pears. Look at all the colors, each is slightly different. One in the middle looks almost bronze or even plum in the shadows. The one closest to front has an area with a blush of orange. The colors of Autumn are not only in the maple leaves!

I love boundaries. They make things clear and safe for everyone. On this blog, I have had a boundary that I would not talk religion or politics, other than to remind my fellow citizens to vote their conscience.

Yesterday I went to an event that was by all accounts, political. I am including it here because I see it as also a historical event, and I was quite moved to be there.

My mother called Friday night to ask me if I wanted to go see Hillary Rodham Clinton in a nearby town. I had a class cancel so my day was up to me, and so I said yes.

I am a woman, and therefore it is understandable that I might be a feminist. I have benefitted by progress made by women before me. (My grandmothers were not able to vote when they first came of age, even though they were working women and had incomes of their own; my mother was not able to get a credit card in her own name when she was widowed in 1973 even though she had a full-time teaching job; yet I bought a house on my own signature alone in 1992, which was a victory not only for me but for all of us women, in my eyes).

Hillary Rodham Clinton was not the first woman to go after the presidency of the USA. Shirley Chisholm, congresswoman for New York in the 1960’s, went after the presidency in 1972. Wikipedia mentions other women, but Chisholm stood out in the days when I was not yet of age to vote.

However, Clinton was really the first woman who had a reasonable chance to make it. And for that reason, I consider her a historical figure. I got to go see this historical person, live. It was very exciting.

There were about a thousand of us in Grand Ledge’s Jaycee Park, with less than a full day’s notice of the event. It had the feeling of a party. There was a lot of waiting in line, but the weather was sunny and the temperature fine, and everyone was in a good mood.

We had the great luck of being in the very first row behind the rope which contained the special guests with green wristbands. We were very, very close and although it was hard to see all the time, I was able to hold my camera over my head and get good photos.

The actual event was totally predictable. We had the pledge of allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner. We had a prayer (which I don’t understand, if we are to have separation of church and state… another boundary I value although I do belong to a church).

Then we had speeches. One from a local activist, one from Mark Schauer who is running for Congress in Eaton County, one from Jennifer Granholm, Michigan’s Governor, and then from Hillary herself. All political, all relatively predictable (though the local woman really had some emotion in hers that seemed more personal than party line).

Politics or not, it was history. I was happy to have been there.

Please, please, let us not make a conflict here by discussing any politics (or religion) in the comments. Notice I am basically reporting here, though you can imagine that as a female who is therefore a feminist, I may agree or disagree with your own position.

I concede that every position has a point. We all can be correct and still disagree. I do not want to have to close comments on this, and I will go back to happy and more neutral territory tomorrow, returning to my normal boundaries. I just felt that I could not leave out this event in my life, without almost being dishonest… I report the big and not so big events in my life. This one felt very big.

As I learned from 12-step programs, it is good to focus on what we have in common and celebrate those things. We need not ignore that we have differences, but it is best to not focus on those. I do not intend to create conflict, today I intend to report history in my life.

Thank you.

For my local readers near Lansing, Michigan, I have two new classes coming up in the next several days. Please register at least by early afternoon on the day before the class, so I am sure to be there when you expect me.

Rainbow-Striped Socks Thursdays 6-8pm, Starts October 2 (three Thurs. nights in a row)

At Rae’s Yarn Boutique, I will be doing the first session, ever, of Rainbow Striped Socks. This uses the new sockyarn from Noro yarn company (I used Kureyon Sockyarn but you could use Silk Garden Sockyarn instead).

The leg is striped from both ends of the same skein (or two different colorways if you prefer). You could stripe the foot as well, if you were so inclined. With so many beautiful colorways, you could do this sock many times and have very different looks with not much effort.

The structure uses a Toe Up structure, what I think is an improved twist on the First-Time Toe Up sock. It has a heel flap and gusset, which fits quite well on my foot and probably yours as well. I use DPNs but you could just use them for the toe and heel if you know how to use a circular method and prefer that for the tube knitting on the foot and cuff.

Wet Felting, Friday October 3, 6-8pm (one session)

At Threadbear Fiberarts, I’m offering my popular wet felting class. We will start by making a small square which can be used as a “mug rug” as a way to understand the process. Then we will dive in to what interests the students.

We can make large felt balls (they make good pincushions), cover a beautifully-shaped glass or ceramic object, or cover soaps. I will bring basic supplies for that session, and more beautifully-colored wool rovings can be purchased at the store if you wish to continue past the class. If you know you want to make a specific thing, you can bring a base object for that.

Please, if you bring your own soap, choose ones scented as food rather than flowers… I am allergic to most perfume, but tolerate fruit, herb and spice scents well. Thank you for your consideration.

I hope that one of these classes might interest a few of you. Teaching is such joy for me, and I’m a lucky woman to make this my livelihood. You make it happen! Thanks.

Running in Circles

What a crazy time it is to start the school year. I do not have children and do not teach in a school classroom, but it still impacts my life. One night a week, I teach community ed Computer classes, but it seems other things in my life also revolve around the seasons, starting in autumn.

I have been doing without sleep trying to catch up on a backlog of computer/desk work. I’m still working on things I thought I’d finish long ago. Time to be living in the present! At least I’m never bored.

Change, and more Change

So much in my life is changing right now. As they say, there is nothing certain in life except change. I discontinued the very-very-beginner computer class, which I’ve been teaching since probably 1993 in one or more locations. It is puzzling to me how hard it was to let go of that.

I have continued with the “exploration” class which reviews basics and then proceeds forward, depending on the interests of the actual students that term. I punt a lot and go where their questions lead, and it works very well. I have sixteen students in that night class, and they take turns thanking me as they leave at the end of the night, waiting in line to say goodbye. I love it.

In Praise of Care

And I have found a wonderful new doctor. My health was very rough last year and I felt I had almost no support. Now I have a new allergist who turned things around for me early this year, and now a new GP.

May I sing the praises of caring health professionals? We hear so many complaints, and I have complained a bit myself, but I can make a list of healthcare people over the years who have changed my life and who have truly loved me with their actions. It is good to feel I’m in that situation again. I know it’s not a bed of roses in that field sometimes, and I really appreciate the caring folks I’ve had the joy to work with.

Don’t Faint

Also, the big news: I am no longer working for my beloved Foster Community Center. This is where I started teaching computers and then got into teaching knitting. I ran my CityKidz Knit! program there for I think six years.

They still love me, and I love them, but between extra paperwork to be re-hired again (I have been a temporary employee, rehired every year since 1993 or 1994), and other considerations, I decided now was the right time to bow out gently.

The yarns still at Foster center will be available to all the kids I’ve knit with thus far, my boss will take them into my old room and let them stock up on yarn and needles and bags. And my program that I’ve had at Rae’s Yarn Boutique this summer will continue at that location.

Sniff… Some Things Say Goodbye

I moved out of my classroom today, with the assistance of one of my knitters and two of her family members. Also I had three kids from CityKidz last spring, who came to collect yarn and needles in bags so they can knit on their own. I have photos of my last day at Foster, and stories to tell but it has been an exhausting day. I need to delay that for now. No photos…hence the title of this post.

…and Some Surprising Things Return

And speaking of change… I started my Friday back at a location where I used to do computer consulting (in 1999, for Y2K). I’ve discontinued my computer consulting (custom databases, corporate training and web design) for at least 4 years now. However, I designed a complex system in Microsoft Access 9 years ago, for them to run their business. It contains dozens of tables, forms and reports. Parts of the system have become corrupt overnight, but the data is still there safe and sound (sigh of relief here).

So I get a call out of the blue, for help. The good part is that I’m back temporarily working with people I really like and haven’t seen much in the last few years. The harder part is to make sure they are ready to go for their deadline October 1.

Whew. It is a little like going to Mexico years after your last Spanish class.`You know how to do it, but you need to think as you proceed for a while. I fixed the first big part but will spend some more time this week getting that healed and happy. Healthcare for the computer, I guess.

Color, Color, Color!

In ColorJoy news, Lansing has turned red and yellow and orange on the edges this week. I noticed my first electric-red tree on Thursday (across from Sansu sushi restaurant on Hagadorn in E. Lansing). Now color is everywhere. It’s still mostly green, but the colors really pop at this early part of the season. Lovely.

…and Eternal Hope on the Part of my Tomato Plants

I have maybe 2 dozen green tomatoes in the three pots on the back step. This happens every year. I have literally picked 3 tomatoes all year, and now one plant has 9 fruits at one time! They sort of crack me up, they are so optimistic! I keep watering them and will do my best to help them along while it is feasible.

Photos tomorrow… I have so many, but no time to develop them properly for the website.

At the festival last weekend, there were about 4 people who had some sort of fun lights which they could wave around in the dark. The effect was really striking.

It appeared that they changed color, and at least some of them flashed on and off so that they looked like pulses of light. I enjoyed watching this.

I’m not sure if the photos came out well enough for you to get the essence, but I had to try. What do you think?

We went to Lake City, Michigan this last weekend for a music gathering. On the way up, there were pockets of trees where the color was changing. I took a zillion photos out of the car window. These turned out the best of the bunch.

I do live in a beautiful state, whether the view includes colorful leaves or the expected green. I think that looking at photos like this could be theraputic… maybe even lower blood pressure or something profound like that. Lovely, don’t you agree?