turquoise

it's sea glass hunting time again! i've had good luck lately and just this weekend found another very rare piece of red glass! when i spotted it, it was under water, and a wave was coming. the only thing to do was wait and hope it would still be there when the ocean calmed, it was! the above photo shows some of my best pieces i've collected over the years. and though i like them all, the turquoise and aqua colors are my favorites. i found this book pure sea glass by richard lamotte, this weekend too, at the sea glass festival my sister and i went to. it's a fantastic reference. it describes where different colors may originate from, it could be that these pieces started as a bottle or dish or even a lantern. i'm so happy to add this to my library, if you like collecting sea glass, and would like to know more about it, i think you'll love this book.

turquoise found it's way into my knitting too. at the request of child number five, a new bikini was made (need to make one for daughter number one). i used 'butterfly' from greece, this mercerized cotton yarn was recommended for swim suits. when i was younger i made and wore knitted swim suits too. they are comfortable and look so cute on. there is no one here to model this one, sigh, so you'll have to take my word that it fits.  :)

pattern - here
yarn  - here
ravelry notes - here

and joining with ginny and all the lovely yarn alongers here
xxx lori

dreaming of...

africa

africa africa

 africa africa africa

 africa africa

africa

africa word cloud borrowed from #1 ladies detective agency books by alexander mccall smith, if you haven't read this series they are about botswana and it's lovely people and are wonderful! at the end of each book mr. mccall smith writes out africa nine times, just like this. love it. 

we've begun countdown, only fifty nine more days to go, two more months, a bit less than eight weeks, (haven't figured out the hours, hee he). going over our map, marking the route,  it'll be a very zigzaging loop we'll follow. right now the challenge is to not wish these waiting days away. i'm doing my best. 

xxx lori

p.s. all animal photos were mostly taken with a zoom lens. sometimes though one isn't necessary.  :)

charlie's secret

dear friends,  i found a book this week, and it's been weighing on my heart. 'knitwits' was in the children's section of our local second hand store. on the cover is a picture of a young boy. he's sitting on a toilet, holding a pair of knitting needles with a work in progress and a skein of yarn at his feet. on his face is a look i interpreted as embarrassment and surprise. next to his head are the words  'charlie has a really BIG secret'.

intrigued, i turned the book over to read the back:

" Knit a sweater? No sweat!"

"Charlie Kenny's mother is having a baby. And instead of getting the kid a normal present, like a teddy bear or a rattle, Charlie gets himself into a bet. To knit something for the baby.
Sure, Charlie couldn't resist trying to win Alices' collection of skulls (including one from a goat). But he can't knit! And what if the guys on his hockey team find out?
It looks like Charlie has two choices: Break the bet...or find a very good place to hide."

this makes me sad. but hardly surprised. i am not a preadolescent boy, but i have done my share of hiding knitting through my life. it's a complicated subject, and one i still don't understand, why it's this way. back in 1974 elizabeth zimmerman wrote that knitting is almost an orphan among accepted crafts. have things changed enough in the last forty years? would she be happy with the way things are now? although this book was written in 1992, now twenty years later, i am not sure. (i haven't read the book yet, maybe it'll have a different story than what i'm imagining).

sometimes, i still feel it. apologetic. or even, dare i say, embarrassed, to knit in public (i should say this in response to perhaps making someone else feel uncomfortable). i've knit my way around the world (taking these feelings and wool, with me) and i've had various reactions to it, from delight, to disdain. the thing is, i'm not sure it's changed that much. i'm wondering what your feelings are? am i making too much of this book?  do you sometimes feel uneasy while knitting outside your home, or feel you make others uncomfortable by doing so? and non-knitters, your feelings too? i know i'm biased, i think it's a beautiful craft, one of the arts. i've lately wished there were such a thing as yarn along town.
i think i would like to live there.

xxx lori

p.s. my shawl,  it's nearly done.   :)

lovejoy

 on saturday...

in a 'midnight in paris' sort of way, i spent the day with someone i've long admired, author and illustrator, sharon lovejoy. the top photo shows a few of her books that i've collected over the years.
can i just say,

eeeeepps!

she came to my town to visit a friend that had recently relocated here, and i was invited to join them. riding
my bike to town, i could feel the butterflies developing in my tummy. but, as soon as i rode up and found sharon with a garden hose in her hand and a smile on her face, i was at ease. oh my friends, what a day we had, we visited here here here, and here and more. and in that same 'midnight in paris' way, i found a wonderfully kind, sweet, charming, easy to talk with and easy to love, person. (if you haven't seen the movie, it's partly about an ordinary person that meets famously talented people, and finds common ground, and a friend, it's brilliant).

and then on sunday...

a gift of painted lady runner beans

while we were shopping, i found this wooden spool in a basket. an old spool with aged pink thread, carefully wound and saved. a precious reminder to reuse, recycle, and to go gently on this earth.

 i spent the day looking through sharon's books. and then looking at my neglected garden, thinking what would she do? i decided on a spot to plant the painted lady runner beans she gave me, and i picked some freesia to bring inside. but. i am not the gardener sharon is, i wonder if she would like to trade gardening lessons for knitting lessons?    :)

to visit sharon lovejoy, you can find her here
and here, and her books here
xxx lori

p.s. my kids say thank you for all the kind words on the new zealand post!

boys

 i've been blessed to have raised three of them. pictured below is my eldest son, kyle (in the hat). he recently spent five weeks in new zealand, with his love, vanessa and best friend jesse. they played volleyball (one on a pro tour) they surfed and they jumped off things.

kyle sent me a video, brilliantly photographed and edited by jesse, of the three of them in their adventures. the first time i saw it i gasped and wanted to look away, remembering times past. boys on the playground, climbing to the highest part of the jungle gym, 'look at me mom!'  while they balanced precariously or hung with one little arm. ackk! do you know this feeling too? you want to look, but you don't. oh the memories.

now, i've watched this video dozens of times, and even though it scares me, it thrills me. not just because of the things these kids do, but because of the joy that they do it with. i see the awe in their faces, the appreciation they have for where they are, for what they are fortunate to be able to experience. my favorite part is when they are in a blue grotto, looking up in astonishment at the cave surrounding them. but my favorite favorite is seeing my son so happy and fearless and free, loving life.

(you too vanessa darling, i saw you jump!)

kyle is in the black wetsuit (and sometimes hat), jesse in the red and vanessa in the teeny bikini. all are wearing smiles. :)

cotton leaves

on a hike this week, i found :  a heart rock, a tiny stream, a snake, a blue jay feather (after taking it's photo, i placed it  into a fallen tree near the trail for someone else to find too) and  i found a bit of inspiration. cotton leaf wash cloths, some for the kitchen, some for the bath (not really for hanging like a pennant, but it was fun to do for the photo!)  all for my grown up children. i have six made and four more to go before i can send these off (i'll make some for chuck and i soon)  thank you emma for sharing the pattern and thank you mother nature. the book i'm reading is down the garden path by beverley nichols. originally written in nineteen thirty two, it's said that this is one of the world's best-loved and most quoted garden books, i am quickly finding out why. it's a completely charming read. i love that it makes me laugh aloud!

cotton leaf wash cloths - pattern here by designer megan goodacre
fiber - blue sky organic cotton & knit picks cotton worsted in a leafy shade   :)



joining along with wednesdays yarn along  :)