Tag Archives: kona

Aloha and brioche to ring out 2019

Posted on January 3, 2020 | 7 comments

We had our annual getaway to Hawaii in December; it was warm, wonderful, and relaxing. As one son said, it was vacation, not travel. Reading, knitting, long walks, watching the waves, the birds, the sunsets…and one day of turtle spotting.

You know I have a thing about moonsets. Our first morning coincided with the full moon, and this is what I saw at 5 a.m.

The next morning I saw the sunrise chasing the moonset. Tap the picture to embiggen. Gorgeous. I want these colors in gradient yarn!

Speaking of gradient, I finished my Aspen Leaf scarf; I love the gradient and brioche together. More on this later.

We loved the birds that visited our lanai. Mostly Java finches (Java sparrows) and yellow billed cardinals.

I learned that if you push the white still photo button while taking a video, you can get hilarious pictures of birds in action.

We spent one day at our favorite beaches, Ai’opio and Honokohau (they’re right next to each other and perfect for a walk to both). There’s a cool old stone fish trap in the water; fish would come in on the tide, and then be stuck in the pool when the tide went out. Passive fishing at its finest!

There are lots of honu, green sea turtles, lounging in the water.

And at least one petroglyph!

I love spending time with the family.

Aloha!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged birds, hawaii, honu, kona, moonset, sunset

Fiendishly simple? And aloha!

Posted on January 3, 2018 | 8 comments

A hat is a fiendishly simple thing. It’s a tube, closed at the top. Easy peasy, right?

I’ve been playing with this hat project all week. It’s been a Goldilocks experience. Too tall? Too short? Just right? The top of this pink hat has been reworked a couple times, but I can’t complain about the view.

The pink version is snug and a little (but not too) short; it’s a cute beanie.

The blue version has 12 more stitches than the pink one, and at the same height it doesn’t feel quite secure on my head. I’m re-working it to be a little taller so it can come further down over the ears, or folded up at the bottom.

I’ll be knitting one more for a size in-between. Who said hats were simple? There’s a lot of planning going on here!

Oddly enough, it’s been very comfortable knitting with this wooly yarn in Hawaii! I brought a fingering weight shawl project, too, but I’ve been so smitten by this brioche I can’t stop playing with it.

We’ve had a great week. We came over on December 26, and now it’s time to go home. But here are some pretty pix from the week.

Beautiful He’eia Bay is just around the corner from our condo.

Lots of honu (green sea turtles) at Ai’opio Beach, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park.

More turtles at Kiholo Bay, and we saw this petroglyph at the water’s edge.

When Hualalai erupted, these shells were caught in the lava. They’re being revealed through erosion. They look like frosting!

Kiholo Bay

We went night snorkeling with the mantas! (Picture from the Eka Canoe Website; I highly recommend this.) There were at least five of these magnificent creatures swimming with us, somersaulting and backflipping, close enough to touch (but you’re not supposed to. One brushed by DH; he said it felt like a shoe.

My favorite bird, the yellow-billed cardinal.

And favorite guy, on our morning walk.

Moonset in the morning (January 2)…

Sunsets in the evening…bliss.

Aloha!

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged big island, Brioche knitting, hawaii, kona

Desperately seeking sea arch (Hawaii edition)

Posted on December 31, 2014 | 2 comments

We made a return trip to the Big Island just before Christmas to get a little sunshine and warmth.

We wanted to do a hike south of Kona that promised a number of sea arches. Having seen Holei Sea Arch at the end of the Chain of Craters Road last year, I was pretty excited.

Either we missed the trailhead, or the directions were wrong, but it was going to be a long hike over uneven lava rock gravel down to the shore. No thanks. We opted to go to another beach, Ho’okena, which was supposed to have one nice arch.

We wandered the pahoehoe lava shore for a while, and found these.

A consultation with Facebook friends later determined that they are shingle urchins. They’re about the size of a quarter, and look like purple leather buttons with flower petals under them. Cool!

Heading back, we found what we think is the aforementioned arch. It’s over an opening in the rock, so water pushes up through the hole behind the arch when the waves come in.

It wasn’t overwhelming, but at that point we were just trying to declare victory.

When the kids came to join us a couple days later, I told them of our quest. CollegeKid pointed out that there was an arch right below our condo’s lanai. Much easier to get to, and much more interesting!