knitting mountains

my dear husband,
fourteen days ago he ran forty miles of this back country wilderness
nine days ago he paddled one hundred (and ten) miles of this desert lake
and today he'll be climbing this extinct volcano
he is amazing to me.


i've been very busy too,
knitting. haha, oh dear.

i made two more hats (for christmas gifts) from my new Hat Head book. the first is the pattern on page 90 (if you have the book~ sorry non knitter friends you must be tiring of this subject!)

i like it because it features the eight leaf rose, a traditional norwegian knitting motif. and the second one is the manhattan skyline, page 89, it really looks like it i think! i have one more which i can't show, i'd better wait till after christmas.

shortly after chuck left for mexico city wednesday, i cast on for this one, his birthday surprise hat. this pattern i made up, i'm naming it 'purple mountains majesty' for my mountain climbing husband. i was having so much fun seeing the picture develop (and trying to hurry since he'll be back home on sunday, which is also his birthday, that i failed to check for size. when i binded off and ran to try it on ( i had another back of my head photo planned, haha) it wouldn't go down over my ears. it didn't fit!! i think my heart sank all the way to argentina. i tried several times, but this hat wanted to stay small. i had no choice. i took a deep breath (more of a gulp) and...

began unraveling...

i'm going to get it right this time. i've got two days. although i don't have much time for blogging, i still love to visit all of you. even if you don't see me commenting, i can read and knit, but i haven't figured out how to knit and type!

i forgot, here is a beautiful photo of a beautiful place (i'm the tiny person in it) that just came out, the december issue, it might seem familiar. (i'm very proud of you dear husband, for everything you are and do).and Happy Birthday love.

♥ lori

scandinavian love

i am part norwegian. it's probably why i've always had a fascination with all things scandinavian. this week was a good one for me since i had a chance to satisfy my curiosity (for the time being) with this part of the world. first i bought a book, about a norwegian knitter and then my sister and i visited the danish town of solvang (the danish capital of america) today. my head is full of all things nordic. we began our first steps in planning a trip to norway sometime in the not too distant future (germany too geli!). maybe we'll find some long lost relatives?
i hope you enjoy the pictures, the descriptions are below :)

1. persimmons

2. pomegranates

3. buttonwood winery in solvang

4. solvang

5. an astonishing leaf

6. horse drawn carriages and windmills

7. firklover candy (what is firklover please?)

8. my new wool being wound into a ball

9. swedish clogs

10. going on my christmas wish list. how can you not love a pair of warm boots with the name faraway hill ?...

11. a favorite book store

12. and favorite author

13. going in chuck's christmas stocking (so he can see what i will make for him)

14. new fantastic knitting book from norway

15. love this photo

16. 50 hats for 50 heads, 1 man 2 needles

17. idun

18. the author ( in the middle)

19. tonje

20. the 'knit kid'

21. here is the author and knitter, trond anfinnsen in his favorite knitted hat

22. silje wearing one of my favorite patterns

23. my attempt to recreate it. using vintage wool donated by a friend.

24. my son, erik, wearing it (he's trying to teach me a few things on the iphone, i'm distracted by how cute he looks).

25. and not scandinavian, but part ( a great part) of my week, my first customer appreciation photo! tracy sent me this photo of her new green sleeve in use. i'm truly and seriously touched. tracy is a brilliant, funny, compassionate and very beautiful girl, even with whipped creme in her nose. if you'd like to visit her (good idea!) or your wishing for your own green sleeve for yourself or to give as a gift, go here or here.

xo ♥ lori

hello december

last night on the mother nature channel...

here's how we said goodbye to november...
and now...hello december!

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my last post, Anne will be delighted and Chuck will be pleased too, I'll be sure to tell him when he gets home. He's off on another adventure this week (without me this time) :(

Wishing you spectacular winter (or summer) skies where ever you are!

♥ lori

women's work

Thanksgiving helped me this year to be grateful for what we have and not be sad for what we don't. With three of my five kids able to make it home, plus our friend Bill, who would have been alone, my darling husband by my side and of course owen running around willy nilly, there was far more thankfulness than sadness. or missingness. Next, here comes Christmas...I can do this... :)

I had a lovely four day weekend home from work, two if you count all the cooking and cleaning. The sun came out so i could finally get some photos of my anniversary gift. Below is what Chuck gave me, made by my friend, artist Anne Luther. This piece was part of a recent exhibition named 'Women's Work'....

Anne's show touched me very much as it honored so much of what i've done all my life, the domestic chores, cooking, cleaning, child raising as well as the skill of needlecraft. She elevated all these things to a beautiful art form. For more about Anne Luther go here.

Seeing Anne's art made me look at my own tools I use everyday. Here are the necessities for knitting that go with me everywhere. I think i've left out counters, I have three, those are super necessary. I did not take photos of knitting needles, cameras, pens (micron), paintbrushes, colored pencils, sewing machine... there are a lot of tools that improve my life and make me really happy everyday.

And then, I met a woman last week. she asked me what I was knitting (a new shawl). And we began talking. She is a knitter too, but a photographer first. She asked if i'd heard of 'Greetings from Knit Cafe' , the book.

Indeed I had! I was so inspired by the beautiful book, I made the skirt on the books cover

and then she told me, she took the photographs for the book! we both agreed it really is a small world. To see more of her (gorgeous) photos, go here.

It's cold and windy here now, perfect kite flying

(and knitting) weather.

enjoy your week ahead everyone!

♥ lori