Tag Archives: waterfalls

Classes: Get ‘em while you can!

Posted on May 11, 2021 | 8 comments

I have a couple big projects to work on this summer, so I’m cutting back on my teaching schedule. If you’re itching to take one of these classes, do it now!

Petite Brioche at Virtual Vogue Knitting Live: There’s still room in my Petite Brioche class on Saturday, May 15. If brioche is on your bucket list, Petite Brioche is a great place to start.

Darn It! Mending Your Knits: Tuesday May 18 via Bazaar Girls Yarn Shop, and Saturday May 22 via Twisted Yarn Shop. Weekday or weekend, I’ve got you covered!

Advanced Tink Drop Frog (Lace Edition): Sunday May 23 via For Yarn’s Sake.

Brioche Doctor: Fixing Brioche Mistakes: Tuesday, June 22 via Bazaar Girls (link coming May 20 or so).

I’m taking a chunk of time to work on a big project, and I’m looking forward to telling you about it, once I get some final details ironed out.

And summer’s coming; we want to get outside! I’ve had both my Covid vaccinations, and I’m starting to see friends and family in real life. I had a road trip with friends up the Columbia River Gorge to Hood River last weekend. We had a year’s worth of stuff to catch up on.

I saw this bronze at Gallery 301 in Hood River, and I’m in love. She’s so serene, and she knows that kitchen magic. I’m not sure where she would go in my house, though.

We drove home on the Old Historic Columbia River Highway (it’s been closed due to landslides, but it’s open again).

I used to bring the kids out here to play in the splash pool on hot summer days, before we had air conditioning in the house. It’s also the trailhead for a favorite hike.

Vista House is currently closed to visitors, but the views are still inspiring.

Looking east toward Beacon Rock from Crown Point on the Columbia River

Salmon and scallop poke, and favorite bubbles!

And I was home in time to celebrate Mother’s Day with the family. The kids came over and made 2 kinds of poke, and we made pineapple fried rice to go with it. (Tossing the pre-cooked rice with fish sauce before it goes into the wok makes it so good.) It was great to be back in the kitchen with them, after a long year of distancing. A perfect cap to the weekend.

8 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, travel

Tagged classes, Hood River, poke, waterfalls

Spectacular autumn in the Pacific Northwest

Posted on October 28, 2019 | 4 comments

Mother Nature and the weather have conspired to make this fall one of the most colorful in recent memory. It’s so beautiful I almost can’t stand it. I’ve been taking a lot of pictures so I can remember this on gray winter days.

DH and I went for a short hike at Wahclella Falls yesterday; the trail re-opened in August; it had been closed since the Eagle Creek fires in September 2017. Still beautiful, and worth the wait.

Munra Falls at the beginning of the Wahclella Falls Trail

Tanner Creek

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Wahclella Falls. A beautiful afternoon in the Columbia River Gorge. #columbiarivergorge #waterfall #pdxfall

A post shared by Michele Lee Bernstein (@pdxknitterati) on Oct 27, 2019 at 10:07pm PDT

Wahclella Falls approach

Wahclella Falls (East Fork Falls above)

Gotta have a selfie!

Mushrooms growing on a burned log

A gentle reminder

And here are some pictures from just around the neighborhood.

The view out my studio window…it’s amazing I get anything done!

How’s fall where you are? Spring?

4 Comments

Posted in Portland area fun

Tagged autumn, Autumn color, wahclella falls, waterfalls

Punchbowl Falls hike

Posted on September 10, 2014 | 3 comments

At the beginning of the summer, I put Punchbowl Falls on my short list of must do hikes. I love waterfall hikes, but summer slipped away from me. No matter. September is perfect hiking weather here in Oregon.

This is about 4 miles, easy hiking. It begins at the Eagle Creek trailhead at exit 41 on I-84 in the Columbia River Gorge.

There’s a short spur trail about 1.5 miles in that goes to a view of 100 foot Metlako Falls. Pretty!

Punchbowl Falls falls (ha!) into a shallow area that is very popular in the summer. I waited for people to get out of my picture…

Lower Punchbowl Falls empties into a deeper pool. The water below is a gorgeous greeny blue color. (See all the tiny people up by the upper falls?)

My friend V was my hike/photobomb pal.

There is no westbound freeway access from exit 41 to return to Portland post-hike; you have to go east to Cascade Locks and turn around. While we were there, we went to Thunder Island Brewing and tried the pear cider from HR Ciderworks. Great cider, great view.

We headed back west for a stop in Troutdale and dinner with V’s dad at the iconic Tad’s Chicken & Dumplings. I love that they never fixed their sign. Chic, indeed!

On to knitting! The winner of the first week’s prize drawing for the Snowy Woods KAL is getting this in the mail:

Tiny scissors, tiny tree stitch marker, and some fun HiyaHiya yarn needles. Congratulations to Kelli! Kelli has finished her cowl already, and so has one other knitter. These are quick, addictive knits, perfect for gift-giving. It’s not too late to join the KAL; we still have 2 more weeks of prizes, and a finishers’ drawing, too. Check out the Ravelry thread for more info.

What’s on your needles? The seasons are changing!

3 Comments

Posted in KAL, Knit, Portland area fun, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, hike, Metlako Falls, Punchbowl Falls, snowy woods kal, waterfall hikes, waterfalls

Autumn waterfall hike

Posted on October 30, 2013 | 11 comments

September was hugely rainy, and I was mourning the lack of closure to a spectacularly beautiful summer. October brought back clear skies, but cooler temperatures. I’ve been deadline knitting/designing non-stop for the past month, and feeling the need to get outdoors before the rain returns! I wanted to re-do the waterfall hike we took in July, because the twin waterfalls were a little lacking in water then. Susan and I headed there on Monday, but at the last minute I opted for the Horsetail Falls loop instead, because Pony Tail Falls is more dramatic. Same exit on the freeway, turn right instead of left! The Columbia River Gorge has many options.

The hike begins at Horsetail Falls. I used to come here a lot in the summers when the kids were little. They’d play in the splash pool; it’s nature’s air conditioning.

The trail goes upwards along five switchbacks, and then levels out. About half a mile in is Pony Tail Falls.

I love this one, because you can go behind it.

Further along the way is Middle Oneonta Falls.

We met a couple hikers who encouraged us to take a side trip to Triple Falls. This one has been on my list for the last two years, so we did it. It was an extra 1.6 miles out and back from the trail we were on.

Spectacularly beautiful! It was definitely worth the trip.

Can you see the two hikers at the top of the falls? I think they had to cross over on that log. I am not so adventurous.

The moss was really lush; this tree looks like a mossy spider.

Flowers? No, just bloomed out mushrooms.

Four waterfalls on a four mile hike, a great afternoon in the Columbia River Gorge. We’re lucky to live so close to so much beauty. And on the way home, we made a quick stop at Multnomah Falls.

Now I’m back to working on a new design project. Can I just say that I love giant graph paper?

Charts are fabulous. Do you prefer charted instructions, or line by line? What are you knitting now? Are you ready for fall?

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged columbia river gorge, hike, horsetail falls, Horsetail Falls loop, Oneonta, Pony Tail Falls, Triple Falls, waterfalls

Garland, Garland, Garland…waterfall!

Posted on July 15, 2013 | 7 comments

I bound off Saturday night. Blocking to follow. (And I wish I could capture the awesome super-saturated bright blue-undertoned green of this, but I’ve tried, and apparently I can’t.)

Cathy sent me this picture Saturday night. She’s on her last repeat. This color is called Madge. Love it!

I saw Claudia at church yesterday. She bound off Saturday, too. I offered to block for her. Pictures soon!

You may think that I’m just sitting at home knitting, cooking and jamming, but it’s not so. We went for a family hike in the Columbia River Gorge on Saturday. The weather was spectacular, and so were the views. I think that’s the peak of Mt. Adams across the river in Washington.

The destination Saturday was Upper McCord Creek Falls. These are twin waterfalls, but the one on the left is just a trickle at this time of summer.

I saw a picture from early June, when both were full, on this hiker’s site. Maybe next year.

Nearby is Elowah Falls.

How long until this rock is eroded away?

A pipe that used to carry water down to a sawmill, long ago.

We stood looking out over this ravine, watching hawks ride the thermals. They spiraled upward without flapping their wings. We also saw swallows? swifts? flitting about. Much more work for them. So cool to be above, looking down on the hawks. And I love how you can see that the gorge is laid down in strata over time.

I’m not sure what the function of this is. A pipe goes in from the back, and it’s overflowing at the top and leaking at the side. But it’s cool looking. It’s right at the trailhead.

It’s hard to believe that this is just 45 minutes from home. If you’re local, you might find this gorge hike guide useful. I always pick the easy ones!

It was a beautiful day! I hope you’re enjoying your summer, too.

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, Elowah Falls, family hike, Garland KAL, Garland shawl, Upper McCord Creek Falls, waterfalls

Still one at a time…

Posted on August 4, 2012 | 5 comments

I’m trying to work on more than one project at a time, but so far it’s just not in me.

I re-finished the sleeves on the Raspberry Vodka Lemonade, and they’re perfect. It was worth ripping them both back. I took the lazy way out and only re-blocked the sleeve ends. Modeled shot later, when there’s a photographer around. And see the freshly washed roving in the bag? It’s in the queue.

I’m knitting almost exclusively on the Blueberry half Pi shawl. I was going to knit this on my beloved Lantern Moon ebony circulars, but I quickly found that I needed a pointier tip to work with laceweight yarn. Lorajean let me borrow her HiyaHiya sharps, and that seemed to do the trick, so I bought my own.

But metal needles are soooooo slippery for this loose knitter! After tinking 600 stitches because I kept messing up the tink, I am back on track. I wonder if I’d have a better time with sharp wooden or bamboo needles to reduce the slip factor, but I don’t want to switch now in case it changes my gauge. I’m 100 rows in and not going back, thank you very much.

This isn’t really much to look at yet, but I know that blocking will transform this duckling into a beautiful swan.

I do need to set this down and get a few other things going, but I’m not very good at juggling projects. We shall see…

What else is going on? Summer has arrived, today, threatening to hit 100 degrees. It’s the first time we’ve been over 90 this year. I’m hanging out inside, in the A/C. But yesterday I took a jaunt down the Old Columbia River Highway with a friend, and we stopped at several waterfalls. All except Ponytail Falls are right on the highway, so it’s a very scenic drive.

Wahkeena Falls:

Multnomah Falls:

Oneonta Gorge. No photo; the end of the gorge isn’t particularly picturesque.

Horsetail Falls (I hiked there last month, too):

Ponytail Falls (see Pattie under the rock overhang?):

We heard rustling in the foliage, and saw this little guy:

For all of you baking in the heat across North America, here’s a little refreshment at Wahkeena Fails!

And I am finally (!) sending out my handmade pay-it-forward goodies. I made them last night, and liked them so much I made one for myself, too. I hope that Susan, Rebecca, and Denise enjoy their handmade gifts, and wonder if they were more timely in mailing theirs out than I was! I haven’t received mine from Mimi yet, so I know that I’m not the only one falling behind.

How are you keeping cool? Can you stand to knit with wool?

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged needles, waterfalls