yellow balsamroot, blue lupine, purple vetch, blue sky
The wildflowers are in peak bloom in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. I went hiking with friends on Thursday in the Memaloose Hills. This is on the Oregon side of the river, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. The dry side!
red paintbrush, too
It was a gloriously beautiful day.
So many flowers! See Mount Hood just peeking out under the clouds on the right?
It’s good to have friends who like to hike with you.
Big headed cloverlarkspur/delphinium
I’m not sure what this is, but I love the seed pods.
This is a reminder to me, to think about hiking in April for wildflowers. Sometimes May is just too late. What’s blooming near you?
Well, that was a hoot! With a hootenanny! The second annual Nash Yarn Fest by Modern Daily Knitting was a great opportunity to see old friends and new, hear music and speakers, and shop for yarn and yarn-adjacent goodies. I had a great time. And participated in country line dancing for the first time. It’s not unlike tai chi; you learn some simple steps that get combined and repeated, and do them with a room full of like-minded people. Fun!
Ann Shayne of MDK, with hubbo Jon aka singer Merle Hazard (he’s good!)
The event was well-run, as you’d expect from the team at Modern Daily Knitting. This year’s event was even better than last year’s. More speakers, more music. I don’t know if there were more vendors.
Me, Julia Farwell-Clay, and Kay Gardner
Kay is the other half of MDK. See her nametag? She’s the one who got us all hooked on Rudiger Schlomer’s Knit Hello. She and Karen Tumelty knit nametags for all the vendors. And there were tables set up so everybody could knit their own nametag, too. I already had mine, so I was good to go.
Denise really caught the Knit Hello bug! She knit hello, her name, and couldn’t stop. Good thing she found a thrifted vest to display her tags and pins!
with Franklin Habit and Gaye Glasspie (GG Made It)
It was great to see Franklin Habit, who came all the way from Paris to give a talk on his miniatures and creativity. And GG is always fun.
with Jeni Hankins and Odile Bunny
Jeni Hankins is a gem. She’s a talented singer/songwriter/writer/crafter, and she sang for us on Saturday. She has Appalachian roots, and many of her songs tell stories of her family. She writes for MDK, and she’s working on a piece about making doll clothes.
I told her about my knitted Barbie clothes made by my Aunt Vivian, so the next day she showed me Mary Jane, her Mary Hoyer doll that will be the subject of her MDK story.
Jeni Hankins
Jeni sang a song using her manual sewing machine as accompaniment, and sewed a project as she sang.
with Shelley Brander
Shelley Brander of Knit Stars was there, with her cute dog Charles Barkley (he’s on the floor, out of view). Do you subscribe to Knit Stars? I’ve participated in all the seasons (they’re video classes), and there’s always something interesting to learn.
Nancy Marchant
Nancy Marchant and her sister Jane came in woven knit vests. Woven knitting is Nancy’s current fascination. Cool!
There are more pictures on my Instagram page, if you want to scroll through. Including my game of yarn chicken on a project that I finished in Nashville!
Yarn from A Chick that Knitz
I picked up some more yarn inspiration from A Chick that Knitz. Three are pooling yarns. The teal green on the left is by itself for a single skein project, and the other two pooling yarns may or may not be combined with the variegated or semi-solid to their right. We shall see.
goodies!
The hootenanny came with a commemorative project bag and a skein of Atlas, as well as an enamel pin (next picture). I love surprise swag. I also bought a shawl pin from Birdie Parker Designs, various repair hooks from Stunning String Studio (because my Susan Bates handi-tool is a little too long for my notions tins), an embroidery project, and a glasses case that may be my new notions tin…or my glasses case.
The pin!
The pin, on my Julia Hilbrandt felt tote that I bought last year at Nash Yarn Fest. Julia wasn’t able to come this year, but the bag is going strong.
(last year)Project bag from Dani’s Knitting and Crochet, Logan UT
I came home to find this gift from Chilali Hugo, a Facebook follower. She sent me this frog themed project bag because she’s been knitting so many Portland Frog Hats. This bag is lovely; it has six pockets inside for organization, and is big enough for a small sweater project. I love it! Thank you, Chilali.
My shawl project has been living in the bag, but I just finished it. What goes in there next?
I usually knit from a center pull ball. They’re tidy, and if you put a yarn sleeve on the ball, it doesn’t collapse into a messy heap. Yarn sleeves shown above. And you can make your own! See this post.
Some yarns require a little more strategy. I’m currently knitting with Noro Silk Garden, and the high silk content makes it not very elastic. I could see that the ball was going to collapse, yarn bra or not. I decided this was a good candidate for knitting from the outside of the ball. The original put-up was very loosely wound, so my first move was to rewind it on my winder to tighten it up.
I usually knit sitting at a table, so I decided to try the Yarn To Go Carousel from Twice Sheared Sheep. I received this in my teacher’s gift bag at Vogue Knitting Live in 2025, so it’s been waiting for a while! Like I said, I’m usually a center pull knitter.
The wooden carousel comes in 3 pieces. On the left, you can see the spindle and base plate for holding the yarn. There’s a loop at the top for an optional wrist strap, but I’m not one to try to knit while walking. I’m a klutz! Maybe just standing, to take a break from sitting? You can use these 2 pieces by themselves, or add it to the spinning carousel.
The carousel piece on the right has two magnets on top, and revolves (on inner ball bearings?) as I knit. It spins very easily and doesn’t require a big tug to unspool the yarn. The platform itself is a little thick, but not a big deal since it’s sitting on a table and not weighing me down.
The ball is rapidly shrinking, and I am absolutely charmed by the sheep appearing as the yarn ball gets smaller.
I think for brioche or colorwork projects, I’m still happy with my 2 center pull balls with yarn bras. Two spinning carousels seems like it would be quite a production. But for this single ball of Silk Garden, it’s a good choice for me.
If you want to get a Yarn To Go Carousel, they’re available from Twice Sheared Sheep. They also come in a sunflower and mandala design, instead of sheep. The links are affiliate links, so if you purchase through the link, I get a commission. But this review is my honest opinion of this unsolicited gift!
No, my shawl isn’t done yet. But I needed to make this Noro swatch for an upcoming teaching project. Heading back to my brioche now.
Soooo are you Team Center Pull, or Team Outside the Ball? For me, it depends!
I’ve finally passed the point where I frogged the whole project, Row 196. I’m on 207 of the re-knit now. Whew! I like the fabric a lot better; it won’t stretch open as much when it hangs on the bias.
This picture is from knit group at the local coffee shop; it’s our table on Friday mornings! I don’t get to go to this very often because Friday is a gym/pool day for me. But my gym buddies were both away, so I played hooky and enjoyed the company.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, so the knitting on this has been a bit slower than I want.
I took some time out to knit a hat band to wear to the No Kings protest on March 28. I love this Typeknitting from Rüdiger Schlömer. You can make it say whatever you want, and it’s so legible.
I met a fellow frog hat knitter on the way to the event.
I love seeing frog hats in the wild!
The hat band works on my sun hat, too. The hat doesn’t have a crown, and is size adjustable, because I have a big head. But not as big as I thought! I was originally planning to knit a headband, but I made it a bit too long. Which made it a perfect fit over a hat!
We participated in this art installation for Mike Schneider (@blcksmth on Instagram) on the Burnside Bridge; it’s created with umbrellas. We’re the 2 white umbrellas on the top line of the second E in the word KEEP.
And we were lucky enough to get tickets to see Bruce Springsteen on the Land of Hope and Dreams tour. It was an excellent show.
I’m 70% through my reclaimed yarn, and I’m having…thoughts. The fabric is a little loose, and the lovely edging stitch pattern is a little floppy. A tighter gauge would make it crisper.
And then I accidentally made one of the motifs bigger than planned (upper left). I like it better than the smallest motif, which gets lost as the shawl gets larger. I could just continue, and add the larger motifs from here on out, because most of the beginning of the shawl is covered when you wear it. But that plus the loose fabric (which will hang on the bias and stretch) means I should at least try a sample on a smaller needle, with larger motifs.
I really like the bigger motifs; they look airier. And the fabric feels firmer, but not tight.
Sigh.
I think there’s another trip to the frog pond, but I haven’t blocked the bigger piece so I won’t have to soak the yarn again.
Still catching up! I came home from Spain because I had a trunk show at For Yarn’s Sake for Rose City Yarn Crawl. It’s an honor to kick off the crawl there.
Trunk show!
This year I featured brioche, assigned pooling, and brioche plus assigned pooling. That pretty much sums up what I’ve been working on this past year. Also, those are the classes I’m teaching at For Yarn’s Sake, so it was a great chance to promote them.
Dawn Barker of Barker Wool was there with a trunk show of yarns and designs. She’s done so much pioneering work with assigned pooling, and dyeing her own yarns to make her vision come to life. She has also done pooling yarn collaborations with MadelineTosh (and I have used several of those), but this year’s focus was on her own brand.
It’s always fun to see knitters wearing my designs! The Portland Frog Hat (free pattern!) was a big hit this last year. Alison’s hat looks great.
Margaret’s Starstruck is perfect! She took my brioche + pooling class last year, and this is the FO that came out of it.
Not my pattern, but Lisa took my steeking class last year, and then steeked this sweater that she designed. She had been waiting to cut until she took a class.
And Sam came by wearing the hat featuring the pooling stitch that I used on the Scattered Petals cowl I’m wearing. Rhyming!
The day was super busy, so I don’t have any more photos from the crawl. I taught a pooling class last weekend, and I’m scheduled to teach beginning brioche on Sunday April 26 at For Yarn’s Sake.
I taught the same class at Hook and Needle last weekend; we had fun! Come knit with me!
On Tuesday we took Renfe (a high-speed train) from Madrid to Alicante, which is on the Mediterranean Sea on the southern coast of Spain. It’s about a 2 hour ride, at speeds up to 300 km/hour (190 mph, thanks Siri). Very comfortable. Bev & John’s apartment is a 15 minute walk from the train station, easy!
Their 9th floor apartment is on the top floor of the building on the Calle del Teatro. The apartment’s wraparound deck looks down at the Teatro Principal which dates to 1847.
Teatro Principal, AlicanteThe Castillo viewed from Hotel Gran Sol
Castillo Santa Barbara is on Mt. Benacantil behind the city, right up the street. And I do mean UP!
We went to the Convistas bar in the very tall Hotel Gran Sol for drinks and views.
Looking down from Convistas at Hotel Gran Sol
Such a pretty esplanade, and palm trees in February!
Paella for dinner that night, and then a nice meander back to the apartment.
On Wednesday we hiked to the Castillo/Castell Santa Barbara, 166 meters up. (Castillo is Spanish, Castell is Valencian, and signs use both.) The views of the coastline and the Mediterranean Sea are spectacular. Definitely a great place for a lookout, so you could see your enemies coming. The origins of the castle date to the 9th century.
At the lookout towerThat’s the tower where we’re standing, yikes
Just imagine!
We walked back down through the old town.
Loved the art and poetry on this house. I guessed that it was a Time Flies/Tempus Fugit theme, but needed some help. And may I say that Google Translate with Google Lens is a very handy app? Here’s what the house says:
Pretty sure that’s months, not head of cattle, but the paint was slightly illegible on that line.
Sweet!
We visited a modern art museum, and then walked on the iconic esplanade.
It was very disconcerting to walk on; it looks like it undulates in waves from left to right. Can you see it? DH doesn’t see it in 3D, but it still makes me slightly dizzy!
There are a lot of gelato shops in this town. We only sampled two in our four days here. How virtuous!
Mortazza pizza at Scighera
Pizza at Scighera: Mozzarella flor di latte, chopped pistachios, bologna mortadella, burrata, pistachio sauce. Pistachio is the flavor of the moment in Spain. We had it in croissants, gelato, chocolate, pizza.
On Thursday we took a bus to Altea, a neighboring resort town.
Another pretty walkway
We walked up to the square at the top of the town to see the church up there.
Guernica-inspired sculpture by Antoni Miro, and the church behindVenus de Bronzino by Antoni Miro
So much public art, and such beautiful views of the sea. Look at those blues!
In the Mediterranean
Of course I had to dip my toes in the Mediterranean Sea
And also knit a few stitches there.
Aperol Spritz
A late lunch including the beverage of the week before heading back to Alicante. The weather was so nice the whole time we were there; this was late February and no jackets needed.
Friday was my last full day in Alicante, so we explored the town a bit more.
The Mercado, 2 stories of food, flowers, and more
We visited the Mercado, which is a beautiful 1921 building with 290 stalls of the most beautifully presented wares.
SeafoodFruitOlives!VegetablesMeat and cheese
Oh, jamón! The Spanish love their ham, and it is delicious. Even the Mercadona grocery store had a display like this.
After the Mercado, we wandered through town back down to the waterfront for a walk along the beach.
Sailboats on the MediterraneanNot even high season yet!
So much public art and beautiful architecture.
Even down to the faux needlepoint on this restaurant, where we had a very nice dinner.
Saturday I took the train back to Madrid, because it was time to go home. Brandi Carlile and the Rose City Yarn Crawl were next up on the agenda!
Brandi Carlile at the Moda Center
I’d love to visit Spain again. I think DH would love it. Someday?
So much to catch up on! My friend Sharyn and I went to visit our friends Bev & John who are staying in Spain for 2 months. They came to meet us in Madrid before we all headed to their apartment in Alicante on the coast.
Madrid is a beautiful city. The architecture is so much older than west coast USA.
Baroque doorway at Museo de Historia de Madrid
This museum was in the neighborhood where we stayed, right by the Tribunal metro station. (The metro is efficient and easy to use.) The doorway dates from 1726.
Doorway detail
Fancy!
We took a bus tour on the evening we arrived. It’s a good way to start to figure out where you are, and doesn’t take a lot of energy from the jet-lagged.
The moon makes a cameo appearanceCity Hall and the Cibeles fountainAgriculture building
Do I remember what all these buildings these are? No, but they’re gorgeous.
Julia by Jaume Plensa at Plaza de Colón
I did recognize the work of Jaume Plensa, having seen some in Chicago. We followed our tour with dinner at 10 pm, as one does. So continental.
On Sunday morning we headed for Puerta del Sol, a big lovely square full of people enjoying their day.
Churros and dipping chocolate, and café con leche, breakfast of champions!
The bear and the strawberry tree (madrone) are symbols of Madrid, and this statue in Puerta del Sol had lots of people waiting to take a picture with it. And kids were getting a kick out of 67 (is that still a thing they say?).
This ornate building was across the street from our churro stop.
Not to be outdone, the one attached to it appears to have bobbles on it.
Even the less fancy buildings were still quite lovely. We went to El Rastro, the famous open-air flea market, but it was pretty overwhelming, so we didn’t stay long.
Sharyn and I spent 3 hours in the Prado Museum, admiring the paintings of Velázquez, Goya, and many others. We could spend a week in there! No photography allowed, which is probably a good thing. My favorite painting there? Las Meniñas (Velázquez).
In the metro station on the way home, this Velázquez from 1660 was featured: The Spinners or the Fable of Arachne. How did I miss that in the museum? Easy, it’s a huge museum and we saw just a fraction of it.
Fiber arts are everywhere, right?
We had another fashionably late dinner that evening, this time at Cafe Commercial around the block from our apartment. Great vibe, and the olives…
Plaza Mayor
Monday morning we headed for Plaza Mayor, the main square in Madrid; it dates to 1619. The buildings surrounding the square are uniformly impressive.
Felipe III
A bronze statue of Felipe III from 1616 is at the center of the square.
On the way to the plaza, we came across El Gato Negro, the yarn shop. It was a quick trip through, but the most interesting part about it was that you’re not supposed to help yourself the yarn. Let them know what you’d like to see, and they’ll show it to you. No pawing through the wares!
There’s a hang tag for each section of yarn, but the skeins weren’t individually labeled. And there’s a scale because you purchase by weight. This sport weight cotton yarn was 7 euros/100g, which is really quite reasonable. I’m looking forward to playing with my two hanks…eventually!
In the afternoon we visited the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace.
Almudena Cathedral
The cathedral was begun in 1883 and completed in 1993. The interior is a mix of old and new styles. Note the modern stained glass windows above what looks like Byzantine-style paintings just below.
Royal Palace
From there we headed to the Royal Palace. It’s…a lot. A bazillion chandeliers and marble and porcelain and paintings on walls and ceilings, and…very beautiful.
Enter here, and feel your insignificanceDon’t forget to look up!an early 19th century piano, and several instruments by Stradivarius in this room
This piano has five pedals for registers such as bassoon, drum, or bells. Or so my translation app tells me!
Throne roomTable for 120, if you’d likeCollar of the Order of the Golden Fleece (ooh, fiber adjacent!)
Tuesday, the next day, we were off to Alicante on Renfe, the high speed train. More later, but I’ll leave you with one more building to enjoy.
Adios Madrid, city of architecture, fountains, art, statues, olives!
PS: The NY Times came out with a “What to do in Madrid” article after I came home. Here’s a gift link if you want to know more!
I’m in Spain, Madrid and Alicante. Coming home soon. But I wanted to share this:
I happened upon El Gato Negro near Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
It’s a cute shop, and they had some fun speckle and space dyed yarn, too.
It matched my flower power jacket. I had to buy some! It’s cotton, sport weight, 2 100g skeins. I wonder if I can get the pink to pool a bit. It’s a pretty short color pop. We shall see, later.
Rosaria shawls, my 2014 RCYC MKAL design
I’m coming home soon. Rose City Yarn Crawl starts Thursday, and I’ll be at For Yarn’s Sake on Thursday with a trunk show! See my latest designs, and get my book, Brioche Knit Love, if you haven’t already.
Also, I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, beginning brioche, on Sunday April 26 at For Yarn’s Sake. Come learn brioche in person with me, me, me!
I had a fabulous time at Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival last weekend. I taught 4 classes: Brioche Pastiche, Brioche Doctor, Embellished Brioche (brioche + assigned pooling), and Fun Stitches for Assigned Pooling. I was in my technique heaven!
Andrea
Andrea wore her Whale Conga Line to Assigned Pooling class. I love seeing finished projects from previous classes!
Katherine wore hers, too! And I loved wearing my Seagull Flight shawl from Brioche Knit Love. (Seagull Flight pattern is still on sale for 15% off with code FLOCK through February 24.)
It was fun to have Lily Chin teaching on this coast! I usually see her in NYC.
The marketplace was full of goodies, as usual. And I feel like an influencer: Last year I asked several dyers if they had assigned pooling yarns, and I only found one.
Tara from Stranded by the Sea gave me the yarn that turned into Fired Up last year (see it over her shoulder?), and had lots more pooling yarn this year in both fingering and worsted weight.
I picked up some Starry Night to demo in my assigned pooling class, and also picked up sparkly yarn…and chocolate.
Phat Girlz Fibre also had pooling yarn, and Ashley took my pooling class to make the most of it.
Dragonfly Fibers/Canon Hand Dyes had gradient and rainbow assigned pooling minis (very cool).
And Northwest Yarns had assigned pooling yarn AND my books, which we sold out. Woohoo!
Greta showed me her Portland Frog Hat. I’m getting to ya!
I also loved Susan’s little frog hat in the Runway Rubber Duck contest. He took 3rd place, yay!
Debbie’s duck took Top Duck and Fan Favorite. The small scale lace and bead shawl plus the red hat were well done.
Anna-Lisa’s group won the Top Flock award with this Olympic themed team.
And Mr. New Beginnings at the train station modeled my Fired Up Cowl.
I had a great time teaching, socializing, shopping, and knitting.
But perhaps brioche plus pooling isn’t the best choice for knitting by the fire during a late night game of Cards Against Humanity. I taught Brioche Doctor the day before, so I was definitely prepared to frog and get this back on the needles!
This morning I gave a presentation on Design Process and taught an assigned pooling class for the Greater Boston Knitting Guild; we had a fun 3 hours together! Let me know if your guild would like a presentation or class, too. Tomorrow I’m off to Spain to visit friends. DH is staying home with the cats. Hasta luego!
Find my patterns on Ravelry: Michele Bernstein Designs
Here are some of my favorites, and the newest. Many of my designs are also available through my Payhip store.
PDXKnitterati 