Aloha! These past 2 weeks have flown by and I’ve got some some fun stuff to share.

This week I received the May 2012 Knitpicks.com catalog and sat on the couch next to the hubby one night leafing through the pages when I stopped and saw . . . they added my photo to their catalog! Holy Schnikes! Really?? Here’s page 15 with my Hawaiian Tattoo Socks pattern being the first one on the second row. And they put me next to Camille Chang’s pattern (for me, that’s like being next to Picasso) which is just an honor to be on the same page. Yes, Mom, I’ll get a copy of the catalog for you

And the colors for weeks 19 and 20 are oldies, but goodies – starting with BEACH UMBRELLA PASTEL in Falkand British Merino/tencel lace yarn and Polwarth roving:

More purples with LAVENDER FIELDS in 80/20 Merino/Silk roving, superwash Merino/nylon fingering yarn and Cashmere/Merino/nylon fingering yarn:

This colorway is a somewhat new one and brings back fond memories of a mid-afternoon snack. This is PRETZELS & BEER in English Shetland roving and superwash Merino/nylon fingering yarn:

The last two colorways come from my favorite place on earth, Hawaii. This is LANIKAI in Cashmere/Merino/nylon fingering yarn and Merino/tencel roving:

And from the island of Kauai, WAILUA FALLS in Mixed BFL/Silk roving and superwash Merino/nylon fingering yarn:

This weekend I’m participating in a virtual Spin-In where a bunch of us all over the US are taking the weekend to spin as much we can and post photos of our work. We are also doing a yarn swap of our handspun yarn – how fun! I was already working on some cormo yarn prior to the Spin-In so I had to finish that first. Here are the results so far.

This is 3.83 oz of Cormo roving | 32 WPI (lace weight) | 606 yds | 2 ply

After plying that, I started on my first real piece for the weekend. This is from my very first drum carded batt using gray merino wool and peach-pink merino/silk wool:

off for more spinning! enjoy!

Aloha Everyone!

Thanks to all to took advantage of my MAYDAY sale last week I was able to clear out a bunch of yarn and wool to make room for new wool lines. Please check the shoppe shortly for new listings.

Here the the colors for Weeks 17 & 18.

A new colorway, COFFEE BEAN & TEA LEAF, named for my favorite mainland coffee shop. This is superwash merino lace yarn and superwash merino/nylon wool.

Another new colorway, EIFFEL AT NIGHT. I took this photo just before we rode the elevator to the platform for a spectacular view of Paris. This is superwash merino fingering yarn and 21.5m merino wool roving.

PURPLE OVERLAY, another new colorway, is based on one of my first experiments with dyeing. I, like most dyers, started with kool-aid and food coloring and dyed up a skein with electric orange, green and blue. This was so bright that I could hardly knit without wearing sunglasses! So, I frogged my knitting, wound the yarn back into a skein and overdyed with a medium purple and it came out similar to this. (As an aside, I ended up knitting myself a pair of socks with the overdyed yarn and love them!)

In honor of the coming summer, this is PEACH COBBLER in merino/silk lace yarn and BFL/silk wool.

I did a bit of spinning and spun up about 200 yds of fingering weight targhee yarn. CALICO, named for the old ‘ghost’ mining town in the California desert is just under 2 oz.

enjoy!

Aloha Everyone! Here the the colors for Weeks 15 & 16.

SOUTH SEAS in Superwash BFL wool and Falkland British Merino/Tencel Lace Yarn

VENETIAN THUNDERSTORM in Alpaca/Merino/Silk roving and Sparkle lace yarn

TEAL in Sparkle Icicle roving

TEQUILA SUNRISE in Falkland roving and Sparkle lace weight yarn

PIETA ALCOVE in Superwash Woo/Nylon roving and Superwash Merino lace weight yarn

BLACKLIGHT, hand-dyed, hand-blended and spun Merino, BFL, Silk, Bamboo Lace Weight Yarn

enjoy!

Aloha Everyone! Happy Spring

Here the the colors for Weeks 13 & 14.

ST. PETER’S DOME in 21.5micron Merino wool and superwash merino lace yarn

TROPICAL SORBET in Merino/Silk roving and Sparkle lace yarn

STRAWBERRY MARGARITA in Merino lace weight yarn

LIGURE SUNSET 2 in Merino/Tencel roving and Merino/Silk lace weight yarn

SUNSET SEA ALASKA in Corriedale roving and superwash Merino lace weight yarn

EGGPLANT, kettle dyed, in 64ct Merino roving

TEA LEAF, kettle dyed, in 64 ct Merino roving

and a custom order for HONOLULU COFFEE COMPANY in Sparkle Fingering weight yarn

enjoy!

Aloha All! Here are the colors for weeks 11 & 12.

For week 11, I decided to showcase my favorite Swiss-themed colorways in honor of family members moving back to the US from Switzerland. This is PILATUS in merino/bamboo/nylon roving

and cashmere/merino/nylon fingering yarn

from the inspirational photo I took of Mount Pilatus

SWISS CHOCOLATE in superwash merino/tencel roving

and superwash merino fingering yarn

From the inspirational photo I took of some yummy Swiss chocolate

And what’s chocolate without some coffee? For that we travel to the HONOLULU COFFEE CO, my favorite coffee house on the islands. This is a variation of their logo colors in merino/bamboo/nylon roving

and Falkland British Merino fingering yarn

From their company logo

This one is DARK UNIVERSE in merino/silk roving

and merino/silk lace yarn

Some fun sparkly ‘icicle’ roving in PURPLE RAIN and RED HIBISCUS

And in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, a pair of Shamrock Socks!

The pattern is available here.

Enjoy!

Aloha All! Here are the colors for weeks 9 & 10.

I’m still experimenting with fiber reactive dyes (used on cellulose or plant fibers) and found this easy-to-spin cotton roving! I was so excited to dye this up and it came out very patriotic. This is AMERICANA in cotton roving

and organic cotton/bamboo fingering yarn

This next colorway was inspired by an island creature. This is HANGIN’ HAWAIIAN GECKO in superwash BFL roving

and superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn

More superwash BFL roving in LAVENDER LEMONADE

and merino silk lace yarn

and if you’re not in the mood for lemonade, how about some NUTTY TEA in 64 ct merino roving

in BFL silk roving

and merino/cashmere/nylon fingering yarn

based on a fellow spinner’s ‘tea break’ photo during last month’s virtual Spin-In

(thank you Nutty for the inspiration and use of your photo!)

I am also trying more ‘boy’ colorways and started with WOODLAND, based on some video game characters. I was hoping for darker tones, but am still happy with how it came out. This is polwarth roving

and ‘tweed’ (merino and superwash merino) fingering yarn

. . .  some dyed icicle roving for added sparking in your fiber blending. This one is KELP GREEN

and lastly, a handspun in Peruvian wool. This is TIDEPOOL, spun and thread-plied during last month’s Spin-In

enjoy!

Aloha All! Here are the colors for week’s 7 & 8:

CRAB SHELL in wool/nylon roving

and Falkland British Merino/nylon fingering yarn

the inspirational photo i took on the beach at the Kahala Hotel & Resort in Oahu

ROMAN CHURCH in Corriedale roving

and Falkland British Merino/nylon fingering yarn

and the inspirational photo i took while in Rome

AUMOE 2 in targhee roving

and in superwash merino lace yarn

PAGSANJAN FALLS in polwarth roving

and in superwash merino lace yarn

and the inspirational photo i took while sitting in a canoe at the falls

and a couple pairs of socks

SWEETHEART SOCKS

and BLOCKED SOCKS

enjoy!

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 5 & 6.

DOLE WHIP in merino silk roving:

and superwash merino lace yarn:

and the yummy inspirational photo (available at the Dole Plantation in Oahu):

WINDWARD WATERS in merino/nylon roving:

and merino/nylon/stellina ‘sparkle’ fingering yarn:

BLOOD ORANGES in wool/alpaca/bamboo roving:

and superwash merino fingering yarn:

SAND RIPPLES in 64 ct merino roving:

and merino/silk lace yarn:

and the inspirational photo of ripples in the sand:

and some others from this week:

GALA in superwash merino/tencel roving:

STREETS OF VERSAILLES in targhee roving:

HANALEI 2 in superwash merino fingering yarn:

and SUGAR & SPICE handspun yarn:

Had a fantastic time this weekend during a virtual ‘spin-in’ with my fiber friends on KnitPicks Community!!

Thanks for the fun, everyone

Aloha All and Happy Superbowl Sunday 2012! Here’s another installment of photos from our latest trip to Oahu.

This is a photo from the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Hike in Hawaii Kai.  The photo is almost identical to the one I took back in 2010, but this version seems a little bit more blue.

If you hike farther up the mountain there is another look-out point you can take photos of the shoreline. I love how the water changes colors from turquoise to dark blue. As always the clouds seemed to be moving at lightning speed across the sky . . .

How did we get up here? There’s a view of the hiking trail. One of the first stops is a big marquee talking about the migration of humpback whales since this is the route they take. Sadly we didn’t see any humpbacks on our hike, but what a pretty trail! We see many folks hiking up here with their dogs, baby strollers and some even run the length of the trail! If you do take the hike, be sure to wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, sunglasses and bring some bottled water.

During another outing, we started driving around and stopped at a look-out point off the highway. Very important to read the signs! I wish I could say we followed this sign, but . . .

We decided to take pretty photos of the ledge near sunset. So we scaled the wall and hiked down this rocky ledge (you can see the road where the white fence is on the right side – luckily we didn’t have to hike down that mountain). . .

. . .  to get to this pretty ledge where a local man was fishing nearby. As the sun went down the water level went up and at one point, hubby and I were getting sprayed with sea water. Quite fun actually.

We walked over to a cove and watched as the waves came in, broke on the rocks and turned the water into beautiful suds.

Another view as the sun is going down. About the middle of the photo is where the road continues. We didn’t go farther than this point as it would have gotten more dangerous. But we did get some nice photos!

(Oahu | December 2011)

Aloha! Here are the colors for weeks 3 & 4.

COCO CURRY, named for our favorite Japanese curry house on Oahu. This is superwash merino lace yarn:

and in corriedale wool:

FOG in merino/silk/stellina lace yarn:

and alpaca/merino/silk wool:

KA’ANAPALI BEACH in Falkland British merino/tencel lace yarn:

and superwash merino wool:

Here is DA KINE again, this time with both versions. This is superwash merino fingering yarn:

and in superwash merino tencel wool:

BURNING SUNSET OVER HALEIWA in merino/silk/stellina lace yarn:

and BFL/silk wool:

and the inspirational photo!

SURF N TURF in superwash BFL/nylon fingering yarn:

and Falkland wool:

2 half skeins of merino fingering yarns: BIG BEAR BARK

and BILTMORE BARK

and finally, a pair of socks finished! This pair is for me which is why it took nearly a year to finish. This is TRI-COLOR Socks, made with 3 different lace weight yarns.

enjoy!