bergen cowl

 i made a sweet cowl, to go with my new grey sweater from suss design knitwear. suss cousins is an expert knitter and designer originally from sweden, now living in los angeles. oh if i can dream, how i'd love to wear all suss all the time, everything looks so soft, simple, comfy and pretty. i love the designs of carrie bostick hoge also, she's the creator of this lovely cowl. one day last week, while faithfully knitting away on my one and only project (monogamous knitting is difficult these days!), an irresistible impulse came to make something quick and simple, yet interesting. the bergen cowl! tuesday night i placed an order with quince & co., friday the wool arrived, saturday i cast on and sunday, done! so very satisfying and now a cozy warm cowl is here for our turning cool weather. thank you again carrie (one of my favorite sweaters ever was designed by c.b.h. also).

pattern ::  bergen cowl
designer :: madder ~ carrie bostick hoge
wool ::  quince & co. lark

colorways ::  carrie's yellow, egret
ravelry notes ::  here


i found a book of poetry. a beautiful treasure of a book, a first edition written in nineteen seventy two. hand bound in leather, by the author. it's hand written too, in the authors own calligraphy. the inside covers are silk screened, i keep rubbing my fingers over the raised painted page, over the hand inked words. there are one hundred numbered copies, this book is number eighty eight. thank you book fairies for leading me to this one!

and the embroidery i shared last week, it's now a bag! i wore it out on saturday, even though it still needs some kind of closure. the bag is kind of too big, really need to pay more attention to measuring!
very happy to be joining with ginny, hi yarn alongers!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx lori

wine country

welcome to the wine country! we visited a few of northern santa barbara county's tasting rooms on tuesday
(i got the day off work) my friends pat and karen had a wine pickup ready and invited me along. i LOVE going to wine country!

"the hit motion picture, Sideways, put the Santa Maria Valley viticultural appellation, including the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail, on the map in 2004. Following the picturesque winding roads of  Tepesquet and Foxen Canyon will lead you to world-class wineries by way of sprawling vineyards and rolling hills. In the more northern region of the appellation, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign due to the maritime climate. This ensures a long temperate growing season which the Burgundian varietals crave. In the southern region of the appellation, the trail moves a bit east resulting in hotter days and cooler nights. Bordeaux and Rhone varieties flourish in this more extreme climate. The wineries in this region boast a concentration of California's most well know wine-makers; join them year round in the tasting rooms or at the many weekend events."

the day was glorious, sunshiny and autumny warm, a slight breeze sent turning leaves across our path. we visited four wineries and i made many uneducated impressions about the wines we tasted. my friends said it matters not, you know what you like! we spent the entire day out, returning home with thirty minutes to spare before our needlework ~ embroidery class. which was kind of funny, and probably not the best idea to combine these activities in the same day. :)  without looking too closely, here is what i am working on...

wool felt embroidery on wool and a little needlebook, it was one of our first projects, it's so handy and i really love the oak leaves and acorns.  :)
xxxxxxxxx lori

morning gold

i woke to my phone ringing. "honey? are you awake?"
"(now i am) :) yes, where are you?"
"down at the beach. would you like to go for a paddle?"

morning was utterly spectacular, the light danced, reflected off the sea, it glittered and shone in shades of silver and gold. we watched cotton ball clouds advance over the santa ynez mountains. and we searched the horizon for dolphins as we paddled up the coast. two hours later, with no sign of our cetacean friends appearing, we left nature's playground for hot coffee and a blueberry pancake breakfast.
i hope you find magic in this mid october week.
xxxxxxxxxx lori

for a cure

dearest friends,

i recently wrote about something that has affected our family,

a disease, with no cure. my grandson travis has Type 1 Diabetes.

i never imagined the response we received when i wrote about travis's fight, so many

who have T1D, their fight. the wishes, prayers, donations, every single one, i carried with me

today at the Walk for the Cure. 

 travis and his grammy, me!

 so many came for the walk, here is the youngest member of our group

 travis's homies

we wore tshirts, carried signs, wore beads...these were handed out, each color significant:

parent : gold  

grandparent : red

sibling : orange

(there was also purple for spouse, green for relative, silver for friend, and blue for living with t1d)

 (again, only cell phone photos) but can you see the writing on my shirt?

 your names, see? you walked with me. if you didn't give me your name you were added 

as a friend and as anonymous (as requested)

travis's mom, my girl

walkers of all ages

sadie bella, she's wearing her orange sibling beads

after the walk, time to eat, and play!

these walkers made their tshirts. the love and support today was as abundant as the sunshine.

 climbing with his three friends!

he had a good day xxxxxxxxxxxx

 we thank you from the bottom of our hearts

 hiding in the folds of the blouse i wore today, are the names of two little girls who donated

their savings, five dollars and five dollars and thirty one cents, towards finding a cure. my eyes fill with tears over this. maddy and abby, i'm sorry your names didn't show in the photo sweethearts, but they are there, on the blouse, on the top left, over my heart. 

one linen blouse gave up it's life for the cause, it was worth it, yes indeed.

thank you again so much dear friends.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx lori