Tag Archives: travel

San Diego knits!

Posted on July 16, 2025 | 2 comments

I spent last week in San Diego, presenting and teaching for the San Diego North Coast Knitters Guild. This is a happening guild! They bring in guest speakers/teachers nearly every month, and have two retreats per year. Impressive!

Monday was travel day, in order to be in place on Tuesday. I arrived in the afternoon, so I went to the beach! Moonlight State Beach was just a half mile down the street from my hotel in Encinitas.

concession stand tacos — Not your usual concession stand hot dog

Moonlight State Beach and lots of people

It’s a lot more crowded than an Oregon Coast beach, because the water is warm.

I walked a half mile south to where it was quieter. Perfect. Then back to my starting point, and a little ways north. I sat on the sand watching the waves, and it was so pleasant that I couldn’t bring myself to get up for an hour past when I thought I should.

I explored the main drag of Encinitas. Very touristy, lots of fun shops and eateries. And overlooks at the ends of the streets so you can see the beach and ocean.

The main drag is Highway 101, so 4 of these surround every tree and lightpost. .

I gave a presentation on my design process, and blocking accessories at the guild meeting on Tuesday. And I enjoyed the Show and Share time at the end of the meeting.

A collage of brioche shawls called Both Sides Now

The knitters in Emmy’s family had a knitalong (KAL) of the Both Sides Now shawl that I designed for Knit Picks. It was fun to see so many of them, and to see how different each side looked.

Anne brought her Sophie’s Rose shawlette. 2014!

And one of the knitters modeled a cardigan that she started in 1997. She had set it aside many times, and was finally determined to finish it. Then she ran out of her lilac yarn, so she color blocked one of the fronts in a gorgeous spring green. It looked fabulous, but the kicker? She found the rest of the yarn after finishing the sweater! I think the color blocking really added to the piece, so it was a serendipitous misplacing.

Woman wearing brioche knit cowl featuring assigned pooling petal motifs

I was pleased to have a chance to wear my new Scattered Petals cowl.

I taught classes on Wednesday and Thursday: Brioche Pastiche, Whale Conga Line, YO YO Fancy Stitches, and Sheepy Steeky Coasters.

I loved that program coordinator Theresa bound off her coasters just before class, and she brought her steamer for steam blocking!

Mary is knitting a Starstruck shawlette. I love her color choices.

It was so nice to meet Karen, who test knit for my Brioche Knit Love book.

I had a great time with this guild! I’d happily teach for them again.

I came home and hit the ground running. Lots to get done this week before I leave on Friday to go sing in Sisters!

2 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, travel

Tagged knitting, knitting guild, San Diego, travel

Kona aloha, 2024

Posted on December 30, 2024 | 4 comments

We spent a week in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii earlier this month. This is a favorite place of ours. The west coast is on the dry side of the island, and we see more rocky lava than beach. We stayed in a different condo complex this year, the Keauhou Kona Surf and Racquet Club. Still oceanfront overlooking lava rock and the ocean.

two wine glasses and a hawaiian sunset overlooking the pacific ocean

We made it in time for sunset. I woke the next morning at 5 am, after moonset and before sunrise, so I had the joy of watching the Geminid meteor shower around the setting Orion constellation. I saw 12 meteors in the 45 minutes before the sky began to lighten. This was the only morning the Geminids were visible; on subsequent days there was too much light from either the setting moon or the rising sun.

Rainbow over the Pacific Ocean as seen from Keauhou/Kona, Hawaii

I love hanging out on the lanai. I saw kayakers, canoers, dolphins, waves, and this beautiful rainbow.

Our complex was just south of Mākole’ā Beach. It has tide pools, black and tan sand, and Ke’eku Heiau, a restored temple.

Ke’eku Heiau at Makole’a Beach, Kona Hawaii — West end of Ke’eku Heiau

carved statues at the end of ke’eku heiau — Statues at the east end of Ke’eku Heiau

Looking past Ke’eku Heiau towards Kahalu’u Beach — Looking north past Ke’eku Heiau towards Kahalu’u

One morning I saw schools of yellow tang in the waves!

Sunset at Makole’a Beach — Sunset over tidepools at Mākole’ā Beach

It was a great place to watch the sunset, but I think I like sunset on the lanai even more.

Kaloko Honokohau lava field — Aloha Costco!

We explored more of Kaloko Honokōhau National Historic Park. The park ranger advised starting the loop with the lava field and ending with the more pleasant beach and petroglyphs. Good advice; a mile over lava rock trail wasn’t very pleasant. Glad to have my hiking poles.

The next feature was Kaloko Fish Pond. This was built by native Hawaiians for raising fish. The ocean is to your left. The rock wall has been rebuilt; it’s impressively level.

The trail continues along part of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, which follows the coast. It eventually comes to Honokōhau Beach, which is my favorite place to look for honu (green turtles).

Four Hawaiian green turtles basking in the sun

I wasn’t that close; this is zoomed *and* cropped!

The trail continues on to Ai’opio Beach, which has a fish trap and heiau, another favorite place for turtle spotting. The trail then heads back up towards the welcome center and lava fields, while passing a petroglyph field.

Petroglyphs at Kaloko Honokohau National Historic Park

I see people, a long gun, a fish hook…what do you see?

A piece of knitting being held in the air with the ocean in the background

Of course there was knitting on the lanai. Heres a sneak peek at my latest design project.

It was a lovely relaxing week, and we came back ready to tackle Christmas and Hanukkah prep. Which was good, because I hadn’t done any beforehand!

I hope your holidays are merry and bright. Looking forward to new adventures in 2025!

4 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged big island, hawaii, honu, kona, petroglyphs, travel

May I have a drum roll, please

Posted on August 21, 2008 | 10 comments

It’s contest drawing time. I put all the commenters’ names on slips of paper, dropped them into my tote bag, swished them around, and pulled out a slip. It was blank. Round two: Swish, pull, and the winner is Lorajean! She wins the book, Knitalong. Congratulations; I’ll make arrangements to get it to you soon. Thank you all for playing!

And because I can’t stand to have a post without pictures, I’m sharing a few more vacation pictures. (No knitting to report right now; I’ve been reviewing and editing pix, all 437 of them.)

Norman Island has some interesting caves for snorkeling at Treasure Point. This is outside, inside, and outside again.

We also hiked on Norman Island. If you stand on top of the ridge of the island, you can see the Bight (the bay) on one side and a reef on the other.

A remora hung out with the boat one day when we were moored.

And the rainstorm that came through on Thursday night made for some interesting skies. The storm went on to become Tropical Storm Fay. There are two rainbows in the first picture; the second one is very faint and above the bright one.