leaves of grass

this is jared flood's beautiful pattern, 'leaves of grass', made with lion brand fishermen's wool. the circle shape of 'leaves of grass', an elizabeth zimmerman pi shawl design element, is one i love. the circle has as many meanings as it's infinite shape. some of the meanings i like are: the circle is the sun, the moon and her children, it's sacred, a circle is the center point of focus, a circle is endless love.

i am so happy it's finished, i'd hoped to be done before leaving on our trip and i made it with only two days to go!  i don't know which i loved more, the knitting or the end result, i love this blanket. jared's pattern was so beautifully written and the design so truly simple to make i'd like to cast on another soon, this time in the recommended fingering weight wool. this pattern was named for the pretty leafy motifs and after american poet walt whitman and his stunning collection of poetry. i still can't believe what two sticks and a ball of yarn can become... it does feel like magic. ravelry notes found here. joining with ginny here.

and now i'd better get busy packing and maybe wind up a bit of yarn for our trip, my sister and i are SO
excited, we're going to alaska! miss you, see you soon! xxx lori

wool colors and a new sponsor

looking out my window, these lovely shades of lavender...

reminded me of this...

and these petunias growing in my window box...

made me think of this...

and this brown bunny with delicate wisps of white...

looked just like this to me (alaska project!)

and this little dog (having the puppy pants scared off him by scout the neighbor kitty), reminds me of...

this, one of several current project on the needles...

hello friends! is this a sign of too much time spent with needles in hand? when almost everything in life is a reminder of hanks of wool you have, or would like to have? ah well, i'm excited about the new wooly additions to my basket! and my sister and i have been super excited making plans for alaska, which is only about a week away now. lindy and i have been researching the northern lights, wildlife excursions and knitting shops in fairbanks. hee hee, well, maybe that would be me (found one!)

this week the children's knitting class i teach reached the maximum capacity, which is six. there were five girls and one small boy, age six. the girls were picking up needles for the first time, but the boy, taj, was already accomplished with the knit stitch. he said his grandma had taught him when he was younger   :)
he was hoping i could show him how to cast on and make those little holes. by the end of class he had the knitted cast on and yarn over down. and then wondered when we would be making socks....
:)

i'm excited to welcome wild faerie caps as a new sponsor! melissa is a very talented knitter, spinner and dyer. she's busy filling up her etsy shop with handknits, handspun yarn, and goodies for your seasonal~ nature tables. visit wild faerie caps here. i've hearted this, ah autumn...!
for affordable sponsorship contact me at [email protected]   ~ have a wonderful week ahead
xxx lori

this place

this week:

~ thinking of a dear friend that passed away, too soon.
~  the tides have been high, sometimes, you have to (carefully!) climb over the rocks to get back home
~ i like low tides, they are the best for finding treasures
~ i like having alone time for meditation
~ owen. he does not meditate, but likes to get into things instead. i like when he doesn't get into things.
~ my eldest son played in a six man volleyball tournament this week. i love when he sends me photos, thank you son!  (sorry i don't know who to credit for the photo!)
~ i love this new yarn, a gift from a friend. she needed help on a scarf she was making with this lace weight yarn from rowan. she gave me a ball too, for helping! thank you melissa! the scarf is turning into a very fun knit, and so pretty too with the color changes. i like the gold and lavender, though inside there is a lot more blue. this yarn is so fine it's like knitting with spider webs, imagining that since i never would touch a spider web.
~ my sister sent this text a few days ago: our alaska cruise is in two weeks four days ten hours twenty five minutes and twenty six seconds! counting down now  :)

nuna

one day while looking through etsy i came across the shop of ragga eiriksdottir. she had the most lovely brightly colored wool, i somehow really needed. so different these pinks and blues were than than the neutral colors i love.  quickly i added one of each to my cart and then excitedly waited for the parcel to arrive from iceland! when the icelandic wool arrived i thought uh oh, what have i done? these pretty, candy colored wools are nice to look at but what ever will i make? it didn't matter, i thought, if they just sit here on my shelf looking so cheerful, that is good. two years went by and at times i would look at these little candy hued cakes and think, what will you be? and then one day they spoke. we want to be a shawl. really? okay then! happily knitting away on the twilight stole pattern from a fine fleece. will i be brave enough to wear it? nuna means now in icelandic, i think i will now   :)    ravelry notes here.


many many years ago i had a pen pal, actual letters! with a lovely woman in iceland. i don't remember if my fascination for the place occurred before or after our friendship began, but it's remained strong, i love it there and i've never been! some favorite icelandic links:

knitting iceland

ragga knits


the hand knitting association of iceland


the icelandic knitter


sigur ros

linking with ginny, happy yarn along!

welcome august sponsors

 welcome august sponsors!

natural suburbia's mamma 4 earth

linda, the lovely writer of natural suburbia blog is a knitter, urban homesteader and mamma of four from south africa. she is also a talented pattern designer (just one of her many talents!), and has created incredible fiber animals and flowers and more. with basic knitting skills, you can too! 

vista print for all your printing needs. with so much to choose from, business cards, calendars, photo cards...they even give you the option of uploading your own photos (my business cards have giraffes on them!)

please visit these wonderful business's and blog, and see what they have to offer. thank you sponsors, it's truly an honor to have you here!

* for affordable sponsorship ~ advertising, please contact me at:  [email protected]