We’re back from a week in Kona, Hawaii. It was warm, wonderful, and very relaxing. And now I’m home with access to my stash, so I could have another crack at knitted words.
My guess was correct: Bigger yarn and tighter gauge, along with more tonal contrast, makes my letters much more readable. These letters are from the Knit Hello ebook by Rüdiger Schlömer. You can order a copy of this ebook from Modern Daily Knitting if you’d like to knit your words, too. What would you have your knitting say?
My favorite vacation activity was watching the Geminid meteor shower over several nights. At first I was watching at 5 am, because Orion is setting into the sea at that time, and Gemini is just above and to the right.
But then I realized that the meteors were all over the sky, not just out of Gemini. So I started watching in the evenings, too. Sometimes it’s easier to stay up late than to get up early!
One of our adult kids came to join us in Kona; we had fun doing the usual: Turtle spotting, star/meteor-gazing, tide pooling, hanging out on beaches, admiring sunsets. It’s nice to have some time to catch up with each other.
Carvings at Pu’uhonua ō HōnaunauHonu (green turtle) at Ai’opio BeachLooking back at fish trap and Ai’opio BeachSunset at Kailua Kona (in town)Lavaman Red (center) is only available at the source (brew pub)Last sunset from the lanai before going home
Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas! The tree is up.
These are my finished designs of 2023; there are still 3 in the hopper that will be published in 2024. Assigned pooling was definitely a big part of my year! Pooling is a Cinch, Firefly Trails, Fanfare, Starfall, and the Star Flower Shawl were my pooling pieces.
I started the year with the Aspen Leaf Coasters, which were a brainstorm off my re-worked Aspen Leaf brioche scarf for Knit Picks. Because what if you only had to knit one leaf instead of a whole scarf?That was a fun idea, and I designed them so I could use them for a class on brioche increases and decreases. (I’m teaching it at Red Alder on February 16.) I finished the year with the Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl (center bottom) because I love that leaf motif. I’m back to my beloved brioche and leaves after my assigned pooling detour.
27 finished projects in 2023
I counted up all my projects for the year, and there were 25 FOs. Two were from other designers, the Sink Mates mini washcloths by Lorilee Beltman, and the Buggiflooer cowl adapted from the Buggiflooer Beanie by Alison Rendall (for Shetland Wool Week). The other 23 were from my own designs.
I knit several of these pieces more than once while developing or revising the designs. I love second (and third) chances, don’t you?
Ebb and Flow in variegated, long gradient (pink), mini skeins (blues/greens)
I designed Ebb and Flow to use a souvenir skein of Moss Fibers yarn from Knit Maine 2022. Then I knit it again with the long pink gradient. I loved the color, but I think the yak/silk blend doesn’t have enough bounce to help it hold its shape (it didn’t help that I made the neckline wider, but that was a good thing to learn for the design). And then I knit it with mini skeins, and that was awesome.
I knit two more Starfall cowls for the upcoming knit along with Knits All Done/Yarn Snob, and found that a bigger, fuller star was ideal based on Keith’s dyeing patterns, along with an extended lace edging due to his generous yardage. (I had to knit through an entire skein to make sure there would be enough.)
Second chances can add a lot to an experience, whether it’s knitting or something else. While we were on vacation this month in Hawaii, we took advantage of two second chances. I had gone rock hopping with the kids at Wawaloli Beach in 2018, but we never came to the wave crashing tide pools that were pictured in our guide book.
Wawaloli Beach tide pools…found ‘em!
These are great for wading, if you’ve got kids. The calm pools that we saw before were full of interesting sea life, including shingle urchins.
It was definitely worth going back and doing it again for the short Coastal Trail; the tide pools were full of interesting fauna. Why do sea urchins put things on themselves? Camouflage, maybe?
Looking back from 1871 Trail at lava shelf/tide poolsLooking north, 1871 TrailGoats!
I was a little sorry to learn that we were going to be on vacation during the new moon, which meant no moonsets. But after several days of waking at 5 AM by accident, I decided to have my coffee in the dark on the lanai.
Orion, December 15 (amazing to capture with iPhone)
The sky was perfectly clear, and I saw Orion setting over the ocean. A green shooting star dropped from his shoulder. I saw six more meteors in the next half hour as Orion sank to the sea. Apparently the Geminid meteor shower happens at this time of year, who knew? Gemini is near Orion in the night sky. There is also an Orionid meteor shower, but that one peaks in October.
Do you knit/do things more than once? I do! And learn a little more each time.
It’s been a minute or two, hasn’t it? I came home from Minnesota on a Friday, did a book signing and taught on the weekend, and left for Hawaii on Monday…two and a half weeks ago?!
We had planned for the kids to be with us, but after traveling at Thanksgiving and then learning of the omicron variant, they decided to opt out this year. That left us with the usual 3 BR condo, and lots of room to spread out. We worked *and* played.
Not a bad place to knit! I decided that I wanted the Dotty Bed Socks to have the dot pattern on the top of the instep, instead of an all striped instep, but some of my test knitters loved that wrap around stripe. Which do you like?
Knitter’s choice! Instructions for both insteps will be in the pattern. I’ll publish it next week, or the week after, along with the Slip Away Cowl. If you’re interested in a combo deal, make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter!
Slip Away Cowl
Now I’m home, and scrambling to catch up. (More aloha pictures at the end of this post.) I put up new Christmas lights on the house on Tuesday. I still need to put the knitted fairy lights on my wreath, hopefully today.
The tiny tree is up, and both Biscuit…
…and Calvin have investigated. One of my Korknisse was missing, but I found him under the piano, and all is well.
Three Wise Guys
I just made a batch of Irish Cream for gifts. The recipe is in this post, and the picture is a re-run because it’s biz (Bisquee?) as usual around here! Onto the next thing! But I’ll leave you with a little more aloha…
yellow billed cardinala brazen Zebra doveJava finches (Java sparrows)Honu! A rum pum pum pog…Moonset
We ran away to the sun in early December, and had a fabulous time. There was even knitting involved.
We saw turtles and tide pools.
Honu at Ai’opio Beach
Tide pool at Wawaloli Beach
Shingle urchins
We visited an octopus research facility…
And watched sunsets and moonsets.
Waning crescent moonset Dec. 8, 2018
Eventually we had to come home…
It’s been a good year, knit-wise. I published 13 patterns this year (the newest one, Concentric Bed Socks, will be out tomorrow), and taught at retreats, festivals, and yarn shops. Designing and teaching go hand in hand for me.
What will 2019 bring? More of the same, I hope!
I’m working on a collaboration with Knitted Wit for March. It’s flying along, and I hope to be done with the knitting next week.
I think they are spot on with the colors! I had an idea for this set, and after six swatches, I think it knows what it’s doing.
It’s on hold, now that I’m home, and cold! But the plan is set.
I knit a sleeve on the flight home, stopped to prep for Hanukkah and Christmas, and knit the other sleeve in the last couple days. I didn’t have my row counting stitch marker with me on vacation, so I made do with a piece of contrast color yarn, flipped from front to back or back to front each time I made an increase. One must make do with the tools at hand. I think I actually like this better than the row counter; it’s very visual.
I now have three tubes, and am headed toward something resembling a sweater. I am really looking forward to wearing this! In the meantime, here are some vacation pictures because, aloha.
The full moon coincided with the beginning of our time on Maui, and you know how I am about the moonset. So glad I took my real camera with me; the iPhone can do most things, but not this.
We had a couple stellar day trips. One was to the Lāna’i Cat Sanctuary (512 cats!) on the next island over. Fun day, with two ferry rides, drinks at the Four Seasons, and some tide pooling on a very beautiful beach.
We saw three whales playing near a sailboat in the sunset from our ferry back to Lahaina.
My favorite day included a hike to the Nakalele Blowhole. This is Mother Nature at her most impressive.
Rainbows everywhere! (If you’re curious about the gifs, I’m using an app called Motion Stills, free from Google, that makes gifs from iPhone “live photos.” It has image stabilization, which is awesome. It can also make short videos from the same photos.)
We really enjoyed the wraparound lanai on our rental condo. We had views of Lana’i and Moloka’i. Erosion has taken away the beach, but we were there for the views, including monk seals and green turtles swimming past. A perfect getaway.
Sneak peek at a new shawl design debuting in January. Until then, aloha!
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 