Category Archives: travel

Weekend in Buffalo NY

Posted on May 23, 2023 | 4 comments

I had the great pleasure of teaching for the Knitting Guild of Greater Buffalo this weekend. We had a day of brioche, and then we explored elongated novelty stitches (some of which are also great for assigned pooling) and designing with favorite shawl shapes. So much fun!

I usually choose my airplane seat by whether there might be a view of Mt. Hood. It only matters during daylight, and it was a very pretty morning. (No view? Aisle seat please.)

Maureen was the perfect hostess/tour guide/organizing whiz. I met her (and Sharon, the other half of the organizing duo) at Madrona years ago. She took my entrelac and Syncopation classes and knew we’d have a good seminar weekend! My one non-knitting wish was to see Niagara Falls. We went over to the Canadian side for a better view.

Niagara Falls, American and Canadian, on the Niagara River

The water is a pretty green from dissolved minerals.

American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls (the smaller one to the right)

Looking across the ring of Horseshoe Falls

I think the Canadian falls are prettier than the American falls, but I’m not trying to create an international incident!

I didn’t think to take class pix until the last class, which was on shawl shapes. It’s a pretty relaxed class, and you have a bunch of mini-shawls when you’re done. Vince says he’s going to string his on a cord and hang them like a garland on his mantel. After blocking and weaving in ends, of course! Blocking is magic for shawls.

When in Buffalo, one must have Buffalo wings!

Thank you to the Greater Buffalo Knitting Guild for having me! I love teaching for guilds. If you want me to come teach for yours, let me know…

Now I’m home trapped under these cats!

4 Comments

Posted in classes, travel

Tagged Buffalo NY, classes, Niagara Falls, shawl shapes

Whale Watch for Landlubbers and more

Posted on March 12, 2023 | Comments Off

I’m teaching an immersive two day brioche workshop at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the Oregon Coast, July 15-16. Fees are just for the workshop; you’ll need to find lodgings nearby if you’re not local.

We’ll start with beginning one color brioche, move into 2 color brioche in the round, and then introduce increases and decreases to make the whale tail and seagull motifs on the Whale Watch cap or cowl. You’ll be a brioche pro by the end of the weekend! Register here.

This is the same hat and cowl that I’m using on the Nautical Knitting Cruise on the schooner Zodiac at the end of July. (The cruise is full, but you can sign up for the wait list if you’re interested.) Either way, you’ll have fabulous brioche skills at the end of your time with me.

I may be teaching Whale Watch brioche on the Vogue Knitting Cruise in September, too. We’ll see if we have repeat cruisers; if there are a lot then I’ll choose a different pattern. I’m looking forward to all of these coastal adventures!

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Posted in classes, events, Knit, travel

Tagged knitting classes, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Vogue Knitting Cruise, zodiac schooner

Still catching up, bicoastally

Posted on February 21, 2023 | 3 comments

How much can we pack into February? A LOT. I’ll never get to completely blog VKLive NYC and Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat in Tacoma, but here are some highlights.

Fun classes with great students, both at VKLive

And at Red Alder. why am I showing both Sheepy Steeky Coasters classes? Because the joy of scissors makes a great photo op!

So happy to meet up with Keith Leonard and Shaina Bilow again after Knit Maine. And new friend Dario Tubiana, too. (Check out the sheep on the door of La Pecora Bianca.)

The Empire State Building makes a great tiara…or unicorn horn. You decide.

I didn’t have a full length mirror in NYC, but I did in Tacoma, so I could do my traditional what did I wear collage. Coffee Breakers Shawl (from Brioche Knit Love), Camellia Wrap, Ebb and Flow cowl.

Ebb and Flow looks good on everyone! New Beginnings statue outside the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma. It was the train station a long time ago.

Hanging out with Alasdair Post-Quinn (double knitting king), Michael Kelson (Spinpossible), and Xandy Peters.

We had fabulous markets on both coasts. What did I buy, since you know I don’t stash yarn?

Super fun yarn and NYC-themed project bag from Maker’s Mercantile. And it comes with a notions box that fits in the pocket, too. Look closely to see all the fiber-related pictures!

Also from NYC, Jūl’s new toolkit. Choose your shape: round, square, or triangle.

You can make the shape into a shawl pin with the stick pin, or a shawl cuff with the leather band. You can use the stick pin by itself. The other two leather pieces are to close a cardigan front. And the buttons have a round ball at the end of the shank, and a leather back to pop over the ball. You can move your buttons from one piece of knitwear to the next. So far I’ve only used the cuff, but I’ve used it a lot.

From Tacoma: a silly cats in hats project bag, also from Maker’s Mercantile. Did I need it? Yes. It will help corral supplies for a class.

Oh look, yarn! I bought this peacock green to teal gradient from Schmutzerella to knit one more Ebb and Flow. I love how smoothly the colors melt into each other. I can have both the taller neck and the longer triangle with this much yardage. It’s not stash if I have a plan to cast on soon! Right now I’m trying to decide if I want the blue on top or bottom. The piece gets wider towards the bottom, so the stripe down there will be narrower, but more visible. What do you think?

Always nice to see Mt. Rainier from my hotel room window.

So very different from my hotel room view the week before!

Currently on the needles: I’m finishing an Embellishment Cowl sample. I used it in class last week at VKL, and now I need it to display at For Yarn’s Sake as a sample for my class on May 7. It’s almost done. I need to have it bound off and steam blocked by Thursday morning, just in time for my trunk show. Wish me luck!

3 Comments

Posted in classes, events, Knit, Product review, travel, yarn

Tagged Jul Designs, Red Alder Fiber Arts, Schmutzerella Yarns, VKLive, VKLive NYC

Planning ahead to September

Posted on February 4, 2023 | 3 comments

I worked summers at a cannery on Kodiak Island, Alaska to pay for college, way back when. I worked in the egg house, sorting and packing salmon roe to send to Japan.

That’s me, with a handful of salmon roe. I’ve always wanted to re-visit Alaska, without the fish eggs.

Guess who’s going to Alaska? This cruise with Vogue Knitting is going to be spectacular. I’m not sure what I’m teaching yet, but I think brioche and Whale Watch Cap and Cowl would be perfectly appropriate.

We shall see! Come knit with me!

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Posted in classes, Knit, travel

Tagged alaska knitting cruise, Vogue Knitting Cruise

Ahoy, knitters!

Posted on January 10, 2023 | 9 comments

I’ve just signed on to teach aboard the Zodiac, a schooner that sails out of Bellingham, Washington. This is in conjunction with Northwest Yarns of Bellingham. The 3 day cruise is July 31-August 2. It’s a nautical knitting cruise! And you get to learn to help sail the ship, too.

(photo from the Zodiac website, used with permission, copyright Taylor Hodges)

The trip includes 4 knitting classes. Two of them will be brioche! We’ll use my Whale Watch Cap and Cowl pattern to introduce brioche and then learn increases and decreases.

Our other two classes will explore fancy stitches and herringbone braids (and simple stranded colorwork).

Are you game? Register here!

9 Comments

Posted in classes, events, travel

Tagged nautical knitting cruise, northwest yarns, zodiac schooner

Best laid plans, volcano edition

Posted on December 14, 2022 | 4 comments

The news that Mauna Loa was erupting when we already had plans to be on Hawaii kicked my planning instinct into high gear. Kīlauea has been erupting since September 2021 (it stopped in 2018, and started up again), so we hoped to see Kīlauea and a distant glow from Mauna Loa if we drove from Kona over to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and stayed overnight.

I booked an AirBnB in Volcano (the town) for Saturday night so we could drive over on Saturday, bask in the glow Saturday night, and come home on Sunday.

We scoped out the overlook on the Crater Rim Trail so we’d know where we were going to go after dark, planning a viewpoint that would include both Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. Halema’uma’u (the crater inside Kīlauea) was smoking that afternoon

and looked beautiful at sunset from Volcano House. (Although suspiciously less steamy?)

I spoke with a park ranger, and she pointed out Mauna Loa’s steam in the distance, but said that things had quieted down quite a bit. (Steam from Kīlauea’s Wahinekapu steam vents in left foreground.)

We went down Crater Rim Trail to the overlook after dinner, and this is what we saw. Yep, nothing. No lava glow from either Kīlauea or Mauna Loa. Too dark to see steam (the moon wasn’t up yet). I guess Madame Pele (Pelehonuamea, the volcano goddess) has her own timetable, which didn’t coincide with ours! But I have to say that the sky was stunning, with more stars than I’ve ever seen at once.

We rose before dawn to see the sunrise (in the rain) over Halema’uma’u from the Kīlauea Overlook. (We picked a different overlook, because there was no need to try to get Mauna Loa in the same view.)

No lava glow, but it was beautiful anyway. It looks like both Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are now taking a break. I think Pele is laughing at us! (If you’d like to see more glow from a previous visit in 2015, see this post.)

Of course I took a picture of my knitting with the volcano. I didn’t actually knit…it was rainy, windy, and cold. This is the little sample I’d be using the next day to review increases and decreases for the Brioche Buddies cast on party.

The nice thing about getting up before dawn is that there was nobody on the Chain of Craters Road, and we were the only people looking at the Hōlei Sea Arch before 8 a.m.

The arch in 2013 and 2022. It’s 90 feet tall, and was formed 550 years ago. You can see by the angle that they’ve moved the viewing overlook; heavy surf in July made the cliff less stable. The heavy surf also took some chunks out of the arch leg; at some point it will fall into the sea.

It was a beautiful, quiet, windy morning.

I’m glad we took this road trip, even if we didn’t get to see hot lava!

Sometimes you just have to chill out and go with the flow…

4 Comments

Posted in travel

Tagged hawaii, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, volcano knitting, volcanoes

Knit Maine 2022

Posted on October 1, 2022 | 13 comments

After the Vogue Knitting Cruise and a few days in New York, DH headed for Portland, Oregon and I headed for Portland, Maine. Knit Maine (from Peacetree Fiber Adventures) was held at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, a 3 hour drive from Portland. It was like going to camp! North Coast Maine is a magical place.

It’s probably good that I didn’t know beforehand that I’d be taking my suitcases (2!) down these stairs to my room.

And back up again at the end of our stay. And that I’d be up and down them repeatedly every day. I got my 10,000 steps every day, and a stairmaster workout, to boot!

With Louis, Shaina, and Christine Walker (Knit Maine organizer!)

Happy to be settling in!

Outside the dining hall at Haystack — Gathering area outside the dining hall

Morning Yoga at Knit Maine — Morning yoga

My classes? In the wood studio. I taught Petite Brioche and Whale Watch/Brioche Increases & Decreases, as well as 3 other classes.

My Planned and Assigned Pooling students loved the Cabana Boy colorway from Yarn Snob.

Fancy knit stitches — YO? YO! Fun and fancy stitches to dress up your stockinette.

thrumbelina thrummed slipper — Thrumbelina thrummed slippers

Jacquie didn’t love making the thrummed butterflies, and I mentioned that some people use the roving as a carry-along strip. Worth a try! As long as you get the result you want, you’re doing it right.

The days were packed with classes, but we also had time to shop in the market that was set up in the clay studio. Casey Ryder from Port Fiber had some beautiful yarns from Cashmere People, Spin Cycle and Harrisville Designs (and more?).

Madder Root had beautiful bags. I couldn’t resist this one. You know I love the night sky!

Louis Boria — Louis choosing colors from North Light Fibers

and Sven from North Light Fibers brought beautiful yarn, including Water Street, a DK weight 40/60 cashmere/merino blend that is making me dream of cushy brioche accessories. There was more, the offerings changed from day to day. I’m sure I didn’t see everything.

The weather was perfect, and there was time to explore the campus.

At Picnic Rock with Shaina, Kristin, and Cal

Rock stack at Picnic Rock — Stacked stones at Picnic Rock

Path through the woods at Haystack — Trail…

Louis Boria, me, Shaina Bilow, Kristin Drysdale, Casey Ryder, Christine Walker (Peacetree Fiber Adventures), and Cal Patch. Knit Maine featured classes in knitting, drop spindling, embroidery, sewing, needle felting…a nice mix of fiber arts.

Christine is such an excellent organizer. She had Knit Maine tote bags ready for each participant, with supplies for their classes. Also in the bags? These mugs, and a center pull ball winder from Katrinkles. ETA: T-shirts, and a copy of Taproot magazine. (I had partially unpacked, and things got separated!) A skein of yarn from Moss Fibers, specially dyed as The Maine Event colorway, was the parting gift. I’m looking forward to making something special with it.

The fun didn’t stop when we left Haystack; we still had to get back to Portland.

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A post shared by Michele Lee Bernstein (@pdxknitterati)

You can get a lot done on a 3 hour bus ride

That’s a wrap on my epic east coast adventure! I’m so happy I had the opportunity to teach in such a variety of settings. What a great way to start autumn knitting. Now I’m gearing up for virtual and in-person teaching. Looking forward to a fiber-filled fall!

13 Comments

Posted in classes, events, Knit, travel, yarn

Tagged Haystack School of Crafts, Knit Maine, maine, peacetree fiber adventures

NYC part deux/anniversary plans

Posted on September 30, 2022 | 6 comments

I only had 3 days between the Vogue Knitting Cruise before heading to Maine. Going home would have turned two of those days into travel days, so I made a plan to stay in NYC instead. It was also my birthday, so DH came out to celebrate with me.

We took walks, explored parks, relaxed, and saw Hamilton and Six. Six is the story of the wives of Henry VIII, reimagined as a sing off in which each wife tells why her lot was the worst. I love Tudor history, so that was very fun. The music is very catchy, and I’m still listening to it and singing along with the soundtrack.

Hamilton was all that fun and more! It’s a masterpiece. I hadn’t seen Hamilton or listened to the soundtrack before attending, but it wasn’t a problem. Also, I recognized many main characters from Outlander, haha! Washington, Lee, LaFayette. The Battle of Monmouth (and General Lee’s retreat). No Jamie Fraser in the musical, though.

I loved knitting in Bryant Park; it was just the relaxing afternoon I needed. Bryant Park is right behind the flagship New York Public Library.

The iconic stone lions outside the library are named Patience and Fortitude.

A couple days before I left for my epic East Coast adventures, DH came to me and said that he had been planning a surprise for our anniversary, but had been persuaded to make it not a surprise. Confusing? He wanted us to renew our vows, and had been talking to my pastor. (He doesn’t do church, but he’d met her once a few weeks before.) She recommended that he ask me, because vows should be consensual and not a surprise. Makes sense! So we had a phone chat with her while we were in New York, planning for a small ceremony in a favorite park in Portland on our anniversary, the day after I’d get home from Maine. (Nonstop fun, right?) We didn’t want a big to-do; my September was full enough!

Since we were in New York, I got a wild hair to see if the jeweler that made my anniversary band (7th anniversary a very long time ago) was still in business. (We lived in Queens back then.) He had passed away, but his grandson now runs the business. We had a nice visit, and ordered white gold bands, each with a single tiny diamond. They wouldn’t be ready for the ceremony, but we borrowed their ring sizers as stand-ins.

It all worked out. The kids came to help us celebrate. DH and I had lovely tributes for each other. (I called him a romantic hidden inside a curmudgeon.) We renewed our vows with updated versions of the original ones. It was a small and perfect event!

But that happened after Knit Maine, so I’ll head back to the east coast…in the next post.

6 Comments

Posted in events, travel

Tagged anniversary, marriage, New York City

Vogue Knitting cruise: O Canada

Posted on September 28, 2022 | 6 comments

We had two stops in Canada: St John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

St. John had two yarn shops in walking distance from the port. First stop? Cricket Cove, in Brunswick Square.

So much beautiful yarn, a lot of it Canadian-dyed. This Hand Maiden Yarns display was gorgeous! It had several interesting kits set up, some for thrumming and some for color pooling, both of which I’d be teaching in Maine the next week. But I already had yarns for those classes, so I didn’t indulge. (I like my yarn acquisitions to have a plan.)

Our second stop was Good Fibrations, which had a good selection of hand-dyed yarns, and spinning and weaving supplies.

And goodie bags for us, including this sweet notebook set and hand balm.

I bought this skein of hand-dyed super bulky; I need a new demo yarn for my Brioche Entrée scarf. I’ve been using the same bit of yarn for years, and it’s time for a refresh. This will be perfect against my white demo needles.

I also bought a new circular for my Petite Brioche class; I wanted a metal needle that would contrast better than my dark wooden needle against my dark demo yarn. No 16” circulars in sight! LYS owner Elizabeth Miller told me that she likes 20” (who am I kidding, 50 cm because we’re in Canada) circulars for hats, so that’s what she carries. I didn’t even know that Hiya Hiya stainless circulars came in 20” lengths. I bought one, and it’s perfect.

On to Halifax!

Another port, another charming lighthouse…or several

I met up with fellow blogger Brenda Solman. We walked the boardwalk and visited The Loop yarn shop, where I finally bought yarn that didn’t have a plan. Oops.

Can you blame me? This is Flyss from Hand Maiden Yarns. It’s 65% silk, 35% linen. I don’t know what it wants to be, but it’s stunning.

We walked the Halifax Public Gardens, established 1867.

Some of the cruisers went on an optional wine and fiber tour. I wish I could have been in two places at once!

Halifax was the last stop on our cruise. The next day was a full day at sea. We had the second of our classes in the morning, and a get together in the afternoon. A few more cruise pictures below.

Carla Scott, VK host, Kat, and Kathy Bunbury, tour specialist

Lots of knitting, and lots of fun!

Relaxing after touring Halifax, with yet another lighthouse

It was a very fun trip; I’m so glad I was a part of it!

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Posted in Knit, travel, yarn

Tagged Halifax, Hand Maiden Yarns, St John New Brunswick, Vogue Knitting Cruise

The other Portland (port o’ call)

Posted on September 26, 2022 | 8 comments

Our Vogue Knitting Cruise also made a stop in Portland, Maine.

Unlike Newport, Rhode Island, and Bar Harbor, which involved a tender (small boat to get from cruise ship to port), Portland has a deep water harbor that accommodates cruise ships. We could just walk on and walk off! With proper documentation, of course.

We had a trolley tour of Portland, which ended at Port Fiber yarn shop. Port Fiber is owned by Casey Ryder, with whom I’d meet up again the following week at Knit Maine.

Designers Mary Jane Mucklestone and Bristol Ivy came to show samples and talk about knitting in Maine. Seeing and touching samples in real life is always so compelling!

Selfies were taken, of course.

You know I’m not much of a yarn stasher. But I love a yarn with a story, and couldn’t resist this.

Casey imports and distributes yarn for Cashmere People Yarns. These yarns are ethically sourced, handspun and hand-dyed by women in Tajikstan and Afghanistan.

Each skein has a picture and bio of the spinner, which I find charming. My skein is a two ply fingering weight cashgora, which isn’t a blend of cashmere and angora fiber. It’s actually from cashgora animals, which are a cross between Russian fiber goats and cashmere-type goats in Tajikstan. My skein is in the Atlantic colorway, which I thought was appropriate for this cruise souvenir. I’m planning to knit a Zephyr shawlette, which starts at the skinny end and I can knit til I run out of yarn. Or if I get wild, I’ll design a new thing that’s similar. (If you want your LYS to carry this luscious yarn, have them contact Casey Ryder at Port Fiber.)

I also took the opportunity to meet a longtime friend from my piano forum. I’ve met up with other piano and knitting friends after knowing them online. It’s fun to meet in real life; you just pick up the chat where you left off. (The first time I ever did this, DH was worried that I was meeting up with an axe murderer. Hasn’t happened yet!)

We went to Gritty’s so I could fulfill the lobster roll on my bucket list. It was delicious! But spendy. I think I enjoyed my unphotographed lobster Cobb salad at Stewman’s in Bar Harbor even more. Less guilt…it’s a salad, right? (And split with a friend…with fries…)

Don’t forget I’m giving away my Knit Fit kit; see this blog post for details on how to enter to win! We got these in Bar Harbor, which I previously posted about in order to get this party underway. My next post: O Canada! Two more ports…

8 Comments

Posted in foodies!, giveaways, Knit, travel, yarn

Tagged cashmere people yarns, Knit Fit kit, lobster, port fiber, Vogue Knitting Cruise