Keeping Promises
WHEW! Tuesdays are typically our day off from
the shop, but they almost always start with either
Matt or myself having some sort of personal appointment (haircuts, me a pedicure once a month, or something for Connor or Tate). Today was no exception, as I had another visit with Laurie, the colorist par excellence. First a bit of back story.
Locals will remember last month's hair debacle, when I went for the third month/consecutive haircut from someone new (who really can cut men's hair quite well)--for the past 18 months I've been getting a light highlight on my head--and it was the new gal's turn to frost me.
I should have seen the foreshadowing when she wouldn't use foil on my head, because she can't do foil on short hair (I wear a 7 7/8 hat, so I have a big head--just ask my mother.....which precludes the rubber cap, too). She pulled out a weird curved comb thingie and the hair bleach and started in on me. It was looking kinda odd, and in the middle of it all it started to look VERY brassy orange (my hair has red undertones--thanks, Dad--and when bleached turns orange before heading towards blonde) and she went "Uh Oh". Short story is that three applications of product, four rounds of something they called "toner", and a marginal haircut later, I looked like big bird with tiger stripes (very brassy yellow with brown stripes). Not the look I was going for. Worst yet, she kinda quit there (with me looking like hell on a cracker) and called it a day. About an hour later, I called Laurie, admitted to "cheating on her" for three months, and booked an appointment two days later to be fixed.
Turns out that "new gal" most likely comes from a salon environment where you either cut or color, and I'll admit she's a damn good cutter. Color, however, would not be her forte. I was told by several people that what I was walking around with on my head was a classic "beauty school mistake" and that I should have never been sent out in public like that (trust me, I know!). So, to Faith, owner of
Bella Rio Salon in Old Town--it wasn't so much the accident on my head that turned me off to you and your establishment, it was how you handled it a few days later, when I showed up in person to return some product you gave me to use to tone things down and to cancel my October appointment with you well in advance so you could fill the spot; it really was how you mishandled our interaction and told me in a rather snotty tone "I figured you wouldn't be back" (almost a direct quote). Prior to that last interaction, I hadn't even told anyone who screwed up my hair, figuring it was just an accident. But you know what they say about dissatisfied customers--they talk. And this is my podium!
Back to the fun stuff--Laurie did a great job in pushing me back in the right direction last month (she excels in color correction, which she attributes to having worked across the street from Michigan State University for six years, and that means lots of work repairing bad home dye jobs, she says), after about three hours of work on my hair and turning it back to a solid color again (not quite the target, but still something to go out in public with). Today, however, we're almost 100% back to normal and looking great, in my opinion. When I went in today, we both decided that I was turning a weird green/muddy shade that was headed towards brassy, so she worked her color magic on me again and I feel somewhat normal (that's a good thing!). Up for a great cut and stellar color experience? See
Laurie at
Personal Image in East Lansing. She's awesome (and a new "g-mom" to some adorable pug pups).
Ok--somewhere above I mentioned keeping promises.......
The Heather Toe-Up Sock is coming along swimmingly. Check it out as of Sunday evening
As of that point, I had just laid in the waste yarn for the afterthought heel and headed up the leg. Since then, I've completed about three inches of leg, including a little bit of calf shaping (cuz I have fat legs). I'm trying something different on the shaping for these socks. If it works out well, you'll hear about it. If it tanks, mums the word!
Schaefer Heather is an awesome yarn that's a blend of 15% nylon (for duarability), 55% superwash merino (for great hand), and 30% silk (for absolute decadence). The fiber really takes the dye in a nice way, and the colors are beautiful (you saw the skein I'm working with in yesterday's post). How's about a view of some of the other skeins we have at the
shop
Those are some of the "one-of-a-kind" colourways that they do at Schaefer. They have no names, so they're just beauty in a skein. Here's a few more
For some reason, they're doing regular/repeatable/named colourways in Heather, as seen in this batch
The back row and center are still "various", but the front arc is "Toni Morrison", and you'll see "Renata Tebaldi" at about 10 o'clock (it looks like dusky purple, tan, and rich pink). And standing straight up at 12 noon is another hank like mine. We have even more
All of these were up for adoption to a good home for just $29 a hank, as of Monday evening. Speaking of Monday evening, I taught the middle class of my three-session "Intro To Socks" class last night,
which involved turning a heel, picking up stitches, and doing the gusset decreases. (yup, that's me in the right corner, and it appears that Jo is flashing gang hand signals or some such).
Matt took another candid shot
which shows off our shop orchid more than my class (though Leah seems to be drinking heavily--which is necessary in my classes). Too much fun ensued, as we were laughing and joking and having a very good time, all while being industrious. One participant (who will not be named here), was fussing about needing more order and structure to her sock knitting world, and then doubting her skills in turning the heel. A few minutes later, while we were all laughing and carrying on with the table next to us, she stops knitting and yells "I DID IT! I DID IT! I TURNED MY HEEL!!!!!". I love it when the light bulb goes off and people feel empowered! You want empowered? Wait until next session, in two weeks, when they graft their toes closed.
After the haircut this morning,
Matt and I spent the rest of the day goofing off, driving around, and taking in a beautiful autumn day in mid-Michigan, and just plain enjoying each other's company. After
Thai buffet with lots of delicious cold salads for lunch, we drove down to Eaton Rapids (just south of Lansing) to purchase a warping board at
Old Mill Yarn. We need a few of these to support a hand-dyeing class I'm teaching on Saturday (a couple seats are still available, it runs from 10-4 and includes a box lunch, and we'll be dyeing three different types of hand-painted sock-weight yarn). After picking up the warping board, we drove through the center of town up 127 and did something quintessentially Michigander--went to
Uncle John's Cider Mill north of St. Johns. We immediately got some fresh cider and a donut, did some looking around in the gift shop, and then hit the pie barn. I picked up two 1/2 peck bags of apples (Galas for eating and Northern Spies for baking), we got some homemade dill bread and apple bread, some apple fritters (to go), and a caramel-apple coffee cake to take to
the shop in the morning. Dinner was Thai again, this time at
Taste of Thai (yes, we like Thai food), which was one of the first places we ever ate toether in the Lansing area, so it holds a little sentimental spot for us and Mary is a damned good cook! Top off the evening with some ice cream later on in the living room, and you have the complete night (well, blogging too!).
My project of choice all day today was my
Charlotte's Web shawl, which looked like this on Sunday evening
but looks much different/larger now (pictures on Wednesday, I promise). I'm trying something with markers with this version to see if it helps (it does) and to use when I teach a class on this later this season. And speaking of markers, aren't these adorable
Those are hand-made markers from
one of our friends (now an employee) who has her own
stitch-marker-making business. My set was three of these adorable fish and one big blue bead that looks like a bubble (her sets are typically three alike and one different, so you can work in the round and mark beginning of row). She makes lettered markers to go with your Cat Bordhi books, and she does amazing row counters, too (I have some markers and a counter in a cabled sweater I'm working on that you haven't seen....YET). We do carry her things in the shop, if you'd rather peruse them in person, but buying from her direct means she gets the full profit (she's taking a year or so off of teaching to get her bearings while her youngest started school and her eldest started high school and her life gets more....centered). And if you're a LYS owner outside the Lansing area, she does do wholesale, so you can carry her fab stuff in your shop, too!
Suann has been a good friend and advice-giver over the past week, and it's only made me feel more "like her" (we have similar personalities and issues, me thinks) and a little more closer to her as a friend--THANKS, DARLIN'! I needed your e-mail "kick in the ass" the other day.
OK, I gotta get to bed soon and even more, I need to wrap this up. Thanks for sharing my fantastic day, and look for another post tomorrow (Wednesday), updating you on Charlotte, socks, and more. Plus, we're getting a gi-normous shipment of Dream in Color Smooshy (sock yarn) on Wednesday--every single color, in multiple skeins. YUM-O!
