KNIT. HIKE. BIKE. SHOP. BIRD. PHOTO. REPEAT.

greetings! 

hello! i hope you are well! lately around here...

~  i've been using my phone a lot for photos. i found an attachment for iphone, that might be good substitute sometimes for a camera. it's a 4-in-1 lens system, including a fish eye, wide angle, 10x macro and 15x macro. have you used anything like this? would you recommend it? here is the link olloclip.

~ spring has arrived to california's central coast, the weather has been extremely lovely. i've been hiking and bike riding, and beach walking and gardening. first roses bloomed this week.

 ~ my grandson is in santa barbara magazine! he and his friends (travis is the blonde on the left) and the skateboard park they frequent. favorite designer heidi merrick is on the cover and featured inside, oh this dress and this one. yay heidi and travis!

~  sparrows and house finches are dining at the 'window cafe' (our blue bird feeder) all day long! i'm pretty sure i saw an indigo bunting, hoping to see it again!  these are such tiny colorful birds, the finches a deep rosy red. sometimes 3 or 4 sit on a nearby fence waiting their turn.

~  chuck and i collaborated on an article, it came out last sunday in the los angeles times. we both had 2 photos, one of mine has yarn :) this was a first collaboration for us so very exciting, more to come... :)

~ i made a shawl, a gift for a dear friend, for her upcoming trip to greece and turkey. it's the shetland lace triangle in jade sapphire lace weight cashmere. it took just about 450 yards. the skeins are 400 yards apiece, so i've just enough left of the second to make a very sweet pattern. and the pom pom yarn is now knit up, that was a patience tester. i think it's going to be a pillow, maybe...oh! and i've been collecting wool for the last few months for a long term project. it's all here now and i can start!

~ and little by little making preparations for scotland and the shetland islands. flights and accommodations are booked. we ordered a new bag, it's called the 'black hole' ,a wheeled duffel that has more room than anything i've ever owned. chuck calls it the 'black hole for cramming in yarn'. yep.   :)

and from cape town, more africa here (this is the last article), thank you lara and tamlin!
have a good week dear friends!

follow your arrow

i finished my 'follow your arrow' mystery knit along shawl with ysolda! it's a bit wild, the colors!  but kind of part of the mystery and experimenting, this was SO MUCH FUN! a very first mystery kal for me. suddenly mondays became something extra to look forward to, each clue was released this day, there were five in all. i so enjoyed reading through the threads in the raverly group set up just for this. every week would start the same, jump out of bed, check for the new clue, go to work (thinking about which clue to choose, there were two options within each) and hurry home to begin knitting. i'm going to miss it!  

raverly link ~ follow your arrow

joining with ~ yarn along

lately a lot of fun (and not so much) has been happening. i went wine tasting with good friends again, up to the santa ynez valley, santa barbara's wine country. we met the sweetest puppy at one of the winery's, saw LOTS of ducks in a nearby pond, and found handmade cork ponies.  visited a new to us fantastic restaurant, and i found pom pom yarn! somehow the pom pom's knit right into the fabric, we'll see... the pom pom party continues here. hee hee. the not so fun thing that happened was i've not been feeling well. better now, thankfully. flowers are blooming and birds are singing, clogs are getting broken in :)  it is feeling very much like spring.






* more africa here!

xxxxxxxxxxx lori

pom pom

this week i made pom pom's. they are addicting to do! it would be fun to see them all around my studio, pom pom's are sweet and colorful and happy. but before using up the worsted, ' favorite things' scarf (seen directly above) needs finishing. there is a new love (obsession) around here. pom pom quarterly magazine! in december, after seeing an issue, a resolution was made to collect every copy, there are seven so far. i checked their website, and etsy and even ebay for copies, with no luck. what to do what to do?? the stockist's! i wrote to every single stockist on pom pom's site. not sure what to expect, would anyone reply? would there be any magazines out there? the next morning (after staying up till three am emailing) i woke to a jam packed mail box! oh my gosh the responses! so many kind people everywhere! one by one every issue was located. yippee! 

the shawl in progress is ysolda's mystery knit along (i hope it's okay to share?). it has been so much fun collecting these clues every monday, which also made it difficult to decide which to knit. so i'm making three. this one is in time out, still deciding if the colors are working. the kauni is ombre creme wool and the mustard is a mystery vintage wool. i found the cone at a thrift shop for one dollar! it's soft and knits into a pretty fabric, just not sure of the colors together...we've had some epic winter sunsets, and finally even a small amount of rain this week. aren't the shades of the sunset and the shawl very similar?  hmm, we found a new to us coffee shop, chuck had a hard time deciding what to order, but ended up choosing the grilled home made banana bread with caramelized bananas and raspberry infused butter. i had new zealand style coffee, a long black. and did you see my husbands contribution to this weeks creativity? he peeled a tangerine into a perfect S. hee hee  ;)

xxxxxxxxxxx 

* if you have an interest, more Africa with lori times five can be found here and here! and here! 

* joining with ginny here

   

how to plan an african safari

dear friends,

oh my goodness. thank you for liking my shawl. thank you for the kindest most heartwarming words. thank you for being among the nicest people on the planet. thank you a million times, thank you.

taking a departure from knitting here to share another passion besides wool. this passion includes three other huge loves in my life, photography, the outdoors and travel... most especially

A F R I C A

 is this a passion for you?  do you dream of visiting the African continent? one of the questions chuck and i are asked each time we return from safari is 'how do you plan? which company? where to go? (there are over fifty countries in Africa) when is the best time?  our experience with one company stands out. so much so that our last two trips to Southern Africa were through them. and as soon as the time is (hopefully) right...

 we'll choose again

what i love about most about Africa... (here are a few pics, some are poorly scanned film prints, from a few years ago)...i LOVE the land and the people, the BABIES. i love the big five and the small five and everything in between, and the birds, oh the birds. i love falling asleep to the sound of lion's calling and i love to hear the people singing. i love a g & t or amarula for sundowner's, chuck loves his tusker's (beer). i love the adventure, the endless sky,  i love most the feeling of being fully alive, and when i step on the African soil, the feeling of coming home...

 SIGH

this is an advertisement by Rhino Africa in the current issue of Travel Africa magazine. it's brilliant! can you see the small plots of African dirt, suspended with ropes and wooden stakes and hot air balloons? lion (sheepishly peering over the edge, poor thing!) and elephants and giraffes!! all floating above New York City! the caption at the bottom reads: it's easier if you come to Africa...

i wrote about Rhino Africa after our trip to Namibia last year (here), we were so pleased with their outstanding service, truly, so friendly so helpful and a wealth of information, they were. and did i say patient? there are many MANY things to consider when planning a safari, questions and communications between you and your agent. our every need and concern was addressed before, and so important, during our trip too. and now look! if you have a moment (and interest) they have used my words and photos describing our fantastic adventure! eeps!!

my trip/Namibia through Lori's lens

thank you Rhino Africa Safaris




so to summarize, how to plan an African Safari:
1. watch the video below to begin dreaming
 2. contact Rhino Africa
clicking on the link above will take you there.
:)