wool fairies

 made by amy

time shared with friends, drinking tea and knitting, i love when it happens! this week amy and i met at a local cafe (missed you karen!)  we try for once a week. today my camera was in the car, so happy to take photos of amy's newest knits, the adorable mustard colored baby sweater and hat. my sweater is slowing coming along, a pleasure to knit, mostly though, it's patiently waiting while i stitch instead...

yarn along project bags (this one just sold. there are not any in my shop at the moment, but if you'd like one, please send me an email, lorix5@hotmail.com, they can be made to order! thank you!)

these photos are a bit overexposed, it's been very foggy and grey here

wool fairies sent surprises through the mail (gifts and giveaways won!):

from andi at my sisters knitter

and from tina at peacefully knitting


and

from south africa, carle of nuturing fibres, handmade this photo book, with pictures she found on my blog, and used them for inspiration when custom dying the beautiful wool she also sent.  i love the wool, the colors glow, the variances and depth, divine. for this wool and book, i really don't have enough words, thank you from the bottom of my heart carle

and from linda of natural suburbia, more nurturing fibres in gorgeous greens, her daughter jenna made the  stitch markers! linda, another south african blogger,  is also a mama, knitter, designer, (these are only some of her many talents) a talented mother and daughter!


then, using the christmas gift card to amazon from my eldest son kyle, the gift card fairy, (thank you son!). these came

LOVE icelandic knits, i'd love to make everything Hélène Magnùsson designs, i've only briefly looked through, but i think this will be a favorite on my knitting book shelf. and hedgehogs in the fog! do you know the award -winning animated film directed by yuri norstein? the companion book, about the adventures of the philosophical little hedgehog is a treasure.

some links:
amy's baby sweater, a free pattern on ravelry : here
yarn along project bag : here
nurturing fibres wool from south africa : here (carle is offering a lovely free shawl pattern for the month of may, and a kal to go with it here) thank you carle!
(the portrait on the cover of the book carle made was painted by artist julie whitmore)
and icelandic knits here ~ little hedgehog book here ~ film here
thank you andi, tina, carle, linda and jenna!
yarn alonging here

thank you for coming by, have a wonderful day!

to jonsi with love

today the fog rolled in, like a blanket, soft and white, it covered the shore, covered our home. so i headed for the hills. taking the longest trail, the one closest to us, a just over ten mile loop. i love it so much, to be up on the mountain, standing in the sun, looking down on the foggy town and ocean below, it's like being in an airplane, above the clouds!


 the weekend began like this:

(my daughter instagramed us at the concert we went to!)

friday night at the santa barbara bowl. we saw the icelandic band sigur ros. SIGUR ROS (capitals = excitement). kimberly, my oldest, and i were in the pit, seven souls from the stage (i counted). jon 'jonsi' birgisson, lead vocalist, man with the angel voice, sang right in front of us. small point and shoot cameras were allowed, a few photos were taken. i felt swept away, enchanted, the music. the visuals were also breathtaking, haunting and beautiful. next morning hannah, my youngest, called 'how was it?' 'it was the best night of my life'. she said, 'mama! what about the night i was born?!' oh absolutely darling, yes, that too.

it was though, the best, in a way, night of my life, babies and wedding aside. this band is at once stunning, mythical, transcendent, sublimely moving and powerful. i cried. at the end of their performance, they came out and thanked us, the audience. another reason why they are exceptional. many of these words are borrowed from reviews, i am mostly without. sigur ros world tour continues, i am dreaming of seeing them again, before it's over, here or here.  a very good review found here (they played at madison square garden last month). have you ever traveled far to see a favorite band?

and the random number generated winner of the knitting project bag giveaway is:

emma

'Oh yes please, I'd love a chance to win one of your yarn along bags.'

thank you emma and congratulations! thank you for all the lovely words, i am so happy to see the project bags liked, wish i could make one for each of you!  have a wonderful week ahead xxx lori

knitting project bag giveaway

my goodness

thank you for the kindest words at ginny's here and right here, our wilderness adventures, my last post...

 i'm home now stitching away, with ginny's blessing,

making 'yarn along' knitting project bags for my shop and one to give away. 

if you and would like to have a knitting, or crochet project bag

 please leave a comment.

the embroidery can be in any color you choose, and either with the same ribbon as shown above or with natural cotton tape to match the muslin bag 

i'll draw a name this sunday the twenty first, and this giveaway is open world wide.

to purchase a bag right now ~

they are here : lindy love

 and SO EXCITED, going to see one of my favorite bands tomorrow night.

into the wilderness

we went camping. the weather, the wildlife, the outdoors were brilliant!

 our adventure began at pinnacles national park, our first time here.

'Rising out of the chaparral-covered Gabilan Mountains, east of central California's Salinas Valley, are the spectacular remains of an ancient volcanic field.  Massive monoliths, spires, sheer-walled canyons and talus passages define millions of years of erosion, faulting and tectonic plate movement.

Pinnacles National Monument was established in 1908 by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Pinnacles National Park was created from the former Pinnacles National Monument by legislation passed by Congress in late 2012 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 10, 2013.

most of california's rolling green hills are shades of brown from lack of much needed rain

a view of the high peaks, and our second (big) hike, but first...

a warmup, a three mile out and back hike on the wildflower trail

fairy houses are found here too!

* 

the next day, up early for the high peaks nine mile loop hike, high peaks pinnacles are in the background

 a hint of what was to come!

we took the park rangers advice to take the more difficult route, getting most of the elevation out of the way first. the trail was steep and narrow, well maintained and beautiful!

 we've reached the top, it's SO cold and windy up here! pinnacles is the site for the california condors re-establishment program, so hoping to see one was high on the list. we saw nine that we were sure of! (they are tagged). here at the top we were treated to the sight of several gliding on gusty thermal winds, circling and soaring, so incredible! impressive, with a wing span of almost nine feet. the small speck on the top left is a condor on the rock, we watched as he flew off

three condors resting 

 this one was waving goodbye i think

 at the top of pinnacles high peak trail it became even more narrow and steep. in the 1930's handrails were
installed, along with small steps in the rock

in many places it was best to not look down

  can you see the climber on the rock face?

 here he is

 heading back down, the wind calmed and the weather warmed

can you see the blue jay?

 at the end of the trail we were rewarded with a bouquet of california poppies!

leaving monterey county, on to our next destination

carrizo plain national monument

a place of peace and quiet and never ending wonder

 the plains were dryer than we'd ever seen them. blm (bureau of land management) keeps a few small trees at the campsite watered, a blessing for the wildlife. this bullock's oriole found a good place to be

 there is always much to discover here, driving slowly helps, most of the roads are unpaved a good thing i think

 soon after crossing into the monument, time slows, mobile phones turn off, binoculars and camera gear come out. chuck and i play the guessing game, what do you think we'll see first? this time we weren't even ready, at the boundary, was a herd of pronghorn antelope!

carrizo plain has been referred to as californias serengeti,  a very similar experiance to being on safari

at selby camp. we are alone. almost...this tree has a tiny spigot with a wee cup under it, it waters the tree as well as...

wild visitors. this snake slithered into our campsite, and went to the cup under the tree

 for a drink

 we watched him gulp down the cool water, his cheeks puffing in and out as he swallowed, until he was satisfied

 and then we followed him as he slithered away,

 i think this is why he is called a gopher snake

he was a beauty!

back out on the plain, there is a lot of this

 the best way to see

  birds on the fence

 we had a tip from our friends at the visitors center, that there was a kit fox den in this area. we looked everywhere, where are you little fox?

a western kingbird

can you see this little one basking in the sun?

then one night, chuck had gone to the bathroom and told me he'd seen a large toad near one of the trees. i put on my headlamp and went for a look too. having no luck i came back to our camp and prepared to turn in for the night. luckily i had left my water bottle on the table near our tree, the one with the small water cup (remember the snake?) and something nearby caught my eye...

the western toad! oh my gosh, he is taking a bath in the water cup. i am sure i embarrassed him because he turned around, looked at me laughing, and climbed out, hopping slowly away

 the only wildflowers here this season

 a horned lark

 house finch

 the sacred painted rock, where my spirit guide, the white owl, lives

 a clever raven's nest in an ancient piece of farm equipment

 another visitor to the water dish, this little towhee

 a western bluebird! this one flew up to one end of a bench

and it's companion flew up to the other, two bluebirds!

this is not snow

 it is salt

 this is soda lake, now completely dry, until next winter, or the next big rainfall

 we'd never seen it quite this dry and so challenged each other to walk out on the lake

 i am glad i am not falling in

this grass hopper was not so lucky

C + L

a western meadowlark, i am getting pretty good at imitating them. chuck calls me jack (from the big year, best movie!)

 i found this, chuck photographed it. a huge black widow covered it's poor victim. in minutes she had the scarab beetle wrapped, swirling it around in it's web, and finally when it was no longer recognizable, she pulled it down into her lair.

 unidentified raptor with a headless giant kangaroo rat (we think)

 american avocet

 morning of our last day

 the bench in front of our tent is a perfect place to view the rising sun

 and to knit

sleeves are done, joined to body! now to stitch the fair isle yoke 

 leaving the plains we saw pronghorn not once

but two times more! 

thank you for coming along, it is always a pleasure.

xxx lori