Category Archives: Portland area fun

On a (sweater) roll!

Posted on July 5, 2026 | 3 comments

I finished my Luminos Tee. It looked great right off the needles, and even better after wet blocking. The size stayed the same, but the stitches and edges are smoother. I knew the size would be consistent, because I knit, washed, and blocked a swatch. That’s always good for a sweater that you want to fit!

A quick mirror selfie. Yarn is a kit from Knits All Done/Yarn Snob, merino/silk/cashmere. Luxurious!

Do I always knit, wash, and block swatches? Usually yes, for sweaters. But I’ve been eyeing the Ranunculus sweater, and I’m not sure it matters. The instructions are the same for all sizes through the yoke; the actual size is determined after knitting the yoke, when beginning the raglan shaping. You can use any weight yarn, and a size 10 needle is recommended. That’s all pretty loosey-goosey!

I wanted to play with some fingering weight linen that’s in my stash. Most of it is in an abandoned design project. There are 3 untouched skeins (50g/168 yards each), so I can play with what’s there without ripping the old project yet. This sweater takes 370 to 400 yards for the short sleeve version, so I’m covered!

It would make a very open and airy Ranunculus, to go over a tank top or sundress. I decided to jump in and start knitting; it’s just as easy as making a circular gauge swatch. I’ll have enough done when the yoke is finished to really figure out my gauge, and adjust accordingly. Because blocking is transformative for linen, I could put it on waste yarn and wash and block. Or not. The smallest size in this pattern gives me 10 inches of ease, so I’m not worried that it would be too small.

I took it to the Waterfront Blues Festival yesterday; it’s going pretty quickly. (Jenny Don’t and the Spurs on the screen.)

The weather was perfect for 3 days of music outdoors. Happy Fourth of July weekend! 250 years for this republic.

Time to knit…

3 Comments

Posted in Knit, Portland area fun, yarn

Tagged Knit, knitting, knitting gauge, Luminos Tee, ranunculus sweater, sweater, waterfront blues festival, yarn, yarn snob yarns

Busy and blue…and red!

Posted on June 29, 2026 | 7 comments

Well that was a busy weekend!

I taught an entrelac class for Modern Daily Knitting on Friday morning. Always fun to hang out with MDK!

I rode in a fundraiser bike ride, PeDal Support for Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon (PRO) on Sunday morning. DH was on the organizing committee. They raised $20,000, which is great. I found our old bike jerseys in a drawer, so we had to wear them! PRO provides programs and information for People with Parkinsons and their care partners. DH hosts a weekly ping pong program for them, and a monthly support group. His blog, Shakin’ Street, is here. And if you’d like to donate to my PeDal Support page, that link is here.

The ride was on the Banks Vernonia State Trail, which is a rails to trails conversion. The path is fairly flat at the beginning, and then begins a gentle climb that goes on for a while. It’s an out and back ride, which means downhill on the return! The section in Stubb Stewart State Park is especially lovely, with dense forest and so many shades of green.

Our garden has been in berry overdrive! We have two blueberry bushes, one of which is probably 25 years old. We’ve had gallons of berries this year. Blueberry muffins, blueberry bread, blueberry cobbler, blueberries in the freezer…I’m about to make blueberry lime jam.

Blueberry cobbler (recipe link) and vanilla bean ice cream

Bisquee investigates raspberries and prosecco

Picked and dunked within 5 minutes. Bliss.

I’m making good progress on my Luminos Tee. I put it on 2 needles so I could see the shape! I’m currently working in the round, and it’s shaping the shoulders and V neck. The construction is very clever, and I’m enjoying seeing how it’s put together. (There is actually pink in the lighter stripe; the lighting at my dining room table is wonky because of the reddish wood.)

Test knitting for Trillium Path is nearly done. I’m looking forward to sharing this simple knit with you!

7 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged Banks Vernonia Trail, biking, blueberries, cycling, entrelac, Luminos Tee, modern daily knitting, Parkinsons Resources of Oregon, Trillium Path

Wildflower hike

Posted on April 26, 2026 | 1 comment

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!

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.

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?

1 Comment

Posted in Portland area fun, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, Memaloose Hills, wildflower hike, wildflowers

Rose City Yarn Crawl Latergram

Posted on March 26, 2026 | 1 comment

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.

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!

1 Comment

Posted in classes, events, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged Brioche knitting, for yarn’s sake, knitting classes, rose city yarn crawl, trunk show

Frogging a frog hat

Posted on November 17, 2025 | 2 comments

This Portland Frog Hat is a little too big. I have a big head, and it’s big on me. So I started knitting another one, 4 stitches smaller. It turns out I don’t have enough yarn to finish the smaller one, so…I’m frogging this one! The hat will be going to Sheryl in Spokane (proceeds going to Northeast Emergency Food Program), and she’d prefer the smaller size, too.

I had steam blocked the hat shown above, so the yarn was pretty kinky. I didn’t want to soak it, in case there’d be any color change. Steaming is my best option. But first, I’d have to wind it into a hank. You can’t steam a ball of yarn!

new hat WIP, and previous hat yarn on niddy noddy

I wound the yarn on my Kromski niddy noddy. I don’t spin, but this thing comes in handy sometimes, anyway!

I had to look up how to wind on a niddy noddy; it’s been a while.

I steamed it on my ironing board with my steam iron, and it went from curly to smooth.

I’ll be done re-knitting tonight. And then I’ll weigh the FO, and see if there’s enough for a second hat in the smaller size.

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, Portland area fun, spinning, yarn

Tagged niddy noddy, portland frog hat, reclaiming yarn

Craftivism

Posted on October 17, 2025 | 11 comments

Portland is not war-ravaged, nor is it burning to the ground, despite what you may have heard. I went with a group to knit in peaceful protest outside the ICE facility on Thursday. The hippo was the first inflatable costume I saw that day.

I resurrected my favorite tote, even though the corners are wearing out. Before you ask, no you can’t get one of these any more; the maker has closed her shop.

Artists (Artifa!) were painting on the other side of the street.

Inflatable costumes are available if you’re so inclined!

Although you can donate to the cause, too.

I chatted with people as they came by. Many were visiting from away, and wanted to see what was really happening in Portland. I spoke with people from New York City, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida. It was nice to connect with people on a beautiful autumn day.

We made it into the local news!

I think I’m going to knit a frog hat for DH…

11 Comments

Posted in KAL, Portland area fun

Tagged Craftivism, peaceful protest

Wildflower walk, dry side

Posted on May 17, 2025 | 10 comments

Last week (May 7), I went on a wildflower walk in the Columbia River Gorge, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. That’s the dry side. I was enticed by the pictures of balsamroot in my Facebook feed.

Yellow balsamroot flowers and a view of Mount Hood at Catherine Creek, Washington

I wanted a view of Mount Hood, so we crossed the river to Washington. This was one of the only clumps of balsamroot left this spring. I don’t know if it’s warmer/dryer this year, but last year there were a lot more! I’m going to have to put a note in my calendar to go in April next year.

Poppies, Columbia River, Mount Hood in the background

There were a lot of poppies, though! I didn’t see any of those last year.

I love how luminous bitterroot flowers are.

The bachelor’s buttons were also out in force.

So good to have friends that I can talk into excursions! I promised that it was a walk, not a hike. With views of Mount Hood and the Columbia River! We stopped in Hood River, Oregon on the way home.

We saw wing foilers, which seem to be the next interatiion after the windsailers. Pretty cool!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michele Lee Bernstein (@pdxknitterati)

We chatted with some of them, and checked out their gear.

It was a lovely day for an outing. Are you out and about this spring?

10 Comments

Posted in Portland area fun, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, mount hood, wildflowers, wing foiling

Rose City Yarn Crawl 2025 this week!

Posted on March 2, 2025 | 3 comments

The Rose City Yarn Crawl is coming right up, Thursday March 6 – Sunday March 9. Lots of shops to visit, lots of prizes to win! The theme this year is “Our Sky Full of Stars.”

I’m having a trunk show on Thursday at For Yarn’s Sake, come say howdy! I’ll have lots of knits to squish, including my latest design, Starstruck. Way to fit the theme!

Collage of shawlette, detail of shawlette, and the assigned pooling yarn

It’s busy season around here. This morning I gave a lecture on blocking and taught a class on brioche + assigned pooling for Vogue Knitting Online.

Brioche cowl featuring assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting

Trunk show is this week, and next week I’m heading to Nashville for NashYarnFest. This is the first NashYarnFest; it’s being put on by Modern Daily Knitting. I’m looking forward to knitting…and some music!

Speaking of Modern Daily Knitting, I have news! I’ll share in the next post…

3 Comments

Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged Brioche knitting, classes, Nash Yarn Fest, rose city yarn crawl

RBG street mural refresh, encore

Posted on September 6, 2024 | 4 comments

Our original neighborhood RBG street mural was painted in September 2020.

She had a facelift in 2022; a lot of cars drive over her.

Another two years have gone by, and she was pretty grimy. Time for a makeover!

Many hands make light work.

All better!

Just in time for the upcoming election. Vote!

4 Comments

Posted in Portland area fun

Tagged RBG street mural

Back from camping

Posted on July 15, 2024 | 8 comments

A hot dry weekend is always better under the trees!

It was our very timely ladies’ camping weekend. We went to Panther Creek Campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, just north of Carson, Washington.