: : the winner : :

oh dear i'm a day late (for giveaway results).
thank you for all the lovely anniversary wishes and sea glass love.
this is the only part about giveaways i don't care for.
having to choose only one.

random number helped and the winner of the sea glass and book was

Sheils:
Hi Lori, love following your blog and your travels. I live on the north west coast of Ireland and trawl the beaches here for sea glass and smoothed pieces of crockery. I would love to add some Californian glass to my collection. As for the book I'll definitely have to try and order it somewhere if I don't win it! Glad you had a lovely anniversary
Best wishes.

tomorrow i'm off on another short adventure, i have an almost six hour train ride to look forward to, lots of knitting time! i'll send your package off when i return in a few days sheils, thank you again everyone for your kindness! xxx lori

alegria ~ heaven

hello! how are you? we are back from our northern california adventure|getaway. in a previous post, part one and two happened, this is part three (favorite part!). we celebrated our wedding anniversary staying at our favorite bed and breakfast, alegria oceanfront inn and cottages.

 big river beach, mendocino

~ alegria inn ~

 we stayed in the driftwood cottage

 indeed the most charming place we've ever stayed on this continent. alegria has several cottages to choose from (that is the hard part, how to choose?) and a few rooms in the main house as well.

the driftwood gives a feeling of coming home, even though we don't have our own loft

bedroom, wood burning stove, private garden and a kitchen with a hand hewn wood table...

some of the ways we celebrated while in mendocino...

went sea glass hunting, found lots of treasure on the beach right out in front of alegria!

 saw the extremely photogenic Point Cabrillo Lighthouse

 wandered around town. across the road (behind me) is the 'love bench'

where couples sit and take in the spectacular ocean view

(no photo because it was always occupied) :)

visited the mendocino yarn shop

 watched the many migrating or wintering birds. {anna's hummingbird}

walked along the trails ~  mendocino headlands

stood among favorite trees, navarro river redwoods (a short drive from mendocino)

ate delicious organic breakfasts at alegria, complete with (stunning) ocean view

 collected treasures

a wonderful coincidence happened! this is one of my favorite knitting books,

'shear spirit' by friends joan tapper and gale zucker. 

gale,  photographer of the book, told me the lovely girl in the brown hat on the cover,

is the innkeeper's daughter (of alegria) 

and gale had stayed here while shooting the mendocino part of the book.

 eric and elaine, owner's of alegria were tickled to know this and said to 

say 'hi!' gale! 

and treasures for one reader of this blog. 

oh my goodness i found a lot of sea glass on this trip. the surf came up and there was even a little stormy weather. perfect sea glass collecting conditions. i found a book at the gallery bookshop that seems very helpful in finding your own treasure. it's filled with sea glass collecting tips. 

i'm giving away 'the official sea glass searcher's guide' and the sea glass shown here,

and a post card of alegria, to show where the treasure was found.

 to either add to your own collection, or start one.

{a small way to say thank you for all your kindness}

giveaway begins now, happy november 1st! and will end tuesday november 4.

leave a comment with an email, if you would like a chance to win

open to the world 

good luck everyone! 

mendocino links in this post:

alegria oceanfront inn and cottages

point cabrillo lighthouse

mendocino yarn shop

gallery bookshop

visit medocino

little lambs

today is a very special day here in the U.S., it's a day to remember all americans who lost their lives in active military service. 

although memorial day is a federal holiday, some people still had work that had to be gone to (me), and this weekend went by much too fast! but the flea market was in town. sometimes treasure hunting is just the thing  :)  would you like to see what i found?

 a hand made hand embroidered dress! it needs hemming and a good wash, but it fits

and it has pockets!

i found a book of little lambs, and little sheep too

for our nest when nights are cool

can you spare a little wool?

:)

i found a vintage pair of binoculars, with a good lens, functional leather strap and carrying case! 

 

a friend had an antique sale this weekend also, where she had small vignettes of items arranged outside

 a peek inside her storybook home

i cast on for a(nother) shawl. soon after this photo was taken, the yarn became

hopelessly tangled (all my fault) and the entire rest of the day was spent undoing. back on track today,

i have plans to never make a mess like that again. ;)

the winner of the bird needle gauge is karin -ida! 

thank you for such kind words, i wish i could send one to each of you!

the gauges are available for purchase only here in carpinteria. if you cannot make a trip to california ;)

one can happily be shipped to you!

my lovely (talented) friend roxanne drew the design of the pretty bird, then commissioned

 them to be made for her shop.

measuring approximately three inches long, and priced at $4.95 each (plus tax and shipping)

 contact roxanne here:

Roxanne's A Wish and A Dream

919 Maple St.

Carpinteria, Calif. 93013

805.566.1250

have a wonderful week ahead!  xxx lori

A GRAND ADVENTURE

 thank you for your sweet words

on my last post.

they made some girls

giggle and blush.

those lovely kind words spread

much happiness and joy.

i wish i could hug each and every one of you!

hello dear friends! 

i am still giddy over my daughter hannah modeling for carrie. so happy things went so well, and that gorgeous sweater carrie designed that hannah was wearing? it was knit by another incredible talent, nicole. is it okay i say i am envious of my girl? i would have loved to have met carrie and have worn a hand knit by nicole! 

i have finished a project that's been three months in the making. it's been waiting patiently for it's photo,

hopefully tomorrow, clouds are gathering over the mountains behind us (praying for rain here), and will hopefully add a good effect and pretty atmosphere. 

a golden necklace arrived from france. in every way, exquisite, still can't believe my good fortune. i won one of vibeke's giveaway's during advent (there were twenty four). a necklace made by tilly, yet another extraordinary talent. the necklace, so delicate, makes music when the leaves shimmer. here are tilly's words, so beautiful i had to share:

"{The land{e}scape series, #371...}

Material:

brass leaves & dark brown leather cord

A wintery scene. The music of the leaves falling.

For Vibeke's Advent calendar, I wanted to make something special. It had to be a tinkling piece. My favourites... Have you ever heard the music of brass bells? I love that sound... Brings me home wherever I am. Recalls me the tinkling garlands I've placed all around the house and in the studio.

But it's also an ode to winter. The pleasure of long walks in the snow, the frozen landscape, the long evenings in front of the fireplace,...

At that time of the year, I wanted to share a little something with you. These brass leaves are a way to invite you in my studio throughout the sensations they provide and the memories that are attached to them...

Hope you'll like the journey..."

thank you so very much vibeke and tilly.

i've joined with ginny to do a first ever mystery knit along (first ever for the both of us). it's ysolda's, it's a shawl and it begins monday thirteen january, that is all i know so far, oh! and there is still time to join!  :)  we discussed yarn colors and decided to be a little bit brave, choosing the coraly pink beaverslide wool shown above. i had to laugh, the other day i bought a new compact, the color is almost exactly the same! it's a little shocking in the container but when you put it on, it's really sheer and pretty. chuck frowned 'you wear makeup?' hee hee, a little sometimes, yes dear. 

my friend gave me this beautiful vintage pot! if you are in the area it's from this shop, so many treasures in there! it's perfect to hold an abundance of watercolor pencils, i've been using them to doodle on envelopes going out in the mail. 

and...did you notice the very grand title of this post?! for christmas chuck gave me a trip...

i am going to THE SHETLAND ISLANDS!!!

on A GRAND ADVENTURE

with GUDRUN JOHNSTON AND MARY JANE MUCKLESTONE

eeeeepps!!!

the adventure is scheduled for summer, but already i'm reading, and knitting, making my first dress, to wear to scotland, i think even in summer, it's cool there. though i have to say, it's difficult to knit while dancing around. i am utterly thrilled. thank you my love. 

busy making

time for the christmas tablecloth! it's just like santa's workshop here! busy busy busy. chuck has been gone on a backpacking trip and i was able to stay home a few days from work. it's been heaven, really and truly. getting things done! most of the time i didn't get out of my jammy's, or even cook (leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast and take out baked potato soup from the deli, yummy comfort food in cold weather, temps have been down to the 30's at night).

i made: a sweater for baby layla, and one sock, eight project bags (with toadstool fabric) swatched some new marled merino and started a ribbed hat in black cashmere (at least that kind of makes up for knitting in black, ugh.). i watched: hallmark movies, out of africa, midnight in paris* and the hatfields and mccoys (did you know they made up? shook hands and all). * made me want to read *this again.

~ the tiny sweater was made from this book using madeline tosh merino light in the winter wheat colorway. i used soft suede for the ties. baby layla lives in kentucky, where i see there is snow, i hope it will keep her warm and cozy. i like kimono wraps for babies, there is a double layer of fabric around the tummy, important!
ravelry notes here.

~ the project/gift bags were made with a double drawstring and fabric by moda, called a walk in the woods. there are foxes too!

~ the sock is going to (hopefully!) have a partner... pattern found here

~ pretty marled wool was my first purchase from here. there are one thousand five hundred fifty yards of fingering weight. the swatch is made with a size six needles, wondering what this will want to be? it's awfully pretty :)

~ the embroidery happened over thanksgiving with my girls (daughter and granddaughter), they practiced their stitches and i made more project bags, these were sent off to a kal and as a thank you. hopefully i will have more in the etsy shop soon! oh and the blocking pins i had a chance to try on the baby sweater are fantastic! the company  i ordered from has run out, but i found more here. (they look the same to me).

~ and last thing! did you see the yarn bowl? the one in the photo right above the one of chuck and owen on the beach? i am so happy to be able to share with you another creation made by my good friends karen and pat, the tsutsumida's. they made the yarn bowls i've shown here on the blog before. the humble potters (hee hee, yes you are) have opened the doors to their new shop, 'crow's nest studios'. to celebrate, they are offering this bowl, a giveaway!  measuring approximately 4 1/2" across and 3" high, it will easily accommodate most any ball or yarn cake. we are warmly welcoming you to put your name in the hat for the sweet yarn bowl. karen and pat will ship anywhere. they would also like you to know they will be adding more handmades to 'crows nest studio' so check back (EVERYTHING they make is amazing). to enter leave a message in the comments with your email so i'll have a way to contact you. this giveaway ends on sunday december 15.
thank you for stopping by and something i've been meaning to say, thank you and welcome new followers, friends. how lovely. xxxxxxxxxxxx lori

p.s.  forgot to say i hiked too, needing a break from all that making! and right before chuck left we took a few (two) walks on the beach, the tides have been incredibly low. owen thinks being out there is the most fun thing on earth. :)

joining with ginny and nicole