Back to the island : photos of Maui, November 2016

Aloha and Happy December 2016!

For this post, I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos from our trip back to Maui last month. Of course, we could have stayed forever but we know we will return as the islands always seem to pull us back . . .

These will be scenery photos with a food photo blog to follow!

For this trip, my parents decided to treat us for a week’s stay at their timeshare in Kihei. They’ve had this timeshare for over 3 decades and were able to give us some time they had stored up. Maui Hill is a fairly good sized resort with some native creatures on the property like this beautiful gecko, whom we named, Mr. G:

Here’s a photo of the sunset from the resort:

One of the things I love to do in the mornings is take a walk from Kihei to Wailea and enjoy my morning cappuccino at the Honolulu Coffee Company at the Shops at Wailea. The walk is just under 2 miles each way so we get our exercise and our breakfast all at once!

And what better company to share coffee with than Louis, Tiffany and Prada?

During our last night there, the Shops at Wailea hosted a very special musical guest, the super talented Keali’i Reichel and his hula halau, Halau Ke’alaokamaile. The last time we saw Keali’i live was about 10 years ago at the Hollywood Bowl. This was definitely a more intimate setting with many of his fans in attendance. Hubby said I looked like Beatles came to perform, the way I was fluttering about 🙂 Well, it was that special . . .

Hubby and I decided that we would try something new on this trip and since he’s never done the famous “Road to Hana” we added it to the list. I’ve done it before with my family but that was many years ago. So, I do get carsick and the Road to Hana has about 600 turns (yes, that is SIX HUNDRED turns) so I was really anxious to say the least. Armed with Dramamine, ginger ale, ginger gum, pretzels and ahem, plastic bags, we set off early Sunday morning and headed to Hana. I ate nothing for breakfast, had the windows rolled down and hubby drove slow and steady. I had no problems whatsoever.

Here are some of the fantastic views and waterfalls we saw during the journey to Hana:

Once we arrived at the town, we decided to keep going! All the way to Haleakala National Park where we spent some time at the Oheo Gulch. Here you can see waterfalls and lagoons cascading down until they reach the ocean.

Here’s the reverse shot of the water heading into the sea:

On our way back, we decided to visit the Hana Lava Tube! Hubby and I love this kind of stuff so we were in heaven. This truly is an old lava tube that the owner discovered over 20 years ago and has since made it into an attraction. We had some super powerful flashlights that illuminated such a majestic space.

Even though it was early in the season, we decided to go Whale Watching with Pacific Whale Foundation. We have gone snorkeling at Molokini Crater with them before so we knew the great service and education we would get from the company.

What a beautiful day to be out at sea. We did see one small humpback but wasn’t able to get too close to him. Ah, well, next time then . . .

Since we launched off of Ma’alaea Harbor, I HAVE to take this opportunity to share my most favorite sticker/sign I’ve seen. I actually took this photo years ago and it still gives me a giggle each time I see it:

Lastly, I’ll end this blog with a Hawaiian sunset. Hubby took me to Makena Beach, near the place we were married years ago.

Here is a panorama he took:

The lone boat offshore . . .

And of course, I had to get some knitting in before dark.

Hope you enjoyed this little journey through Maui, my most favorite place on earth!

Stay tuned for the food blog . . . and more yarn stuff.

Aloha Nui Loa!

Christina & Jake

 

Advertisement

2015 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 24 – 28

Aloha!

Summer is in full swing and we’re having beautiful days here in SoCal. I thought I’d start with a photo from our Hawaii trip back in May. This was taken from a corridor window of the hotel where we stayed. The weather was just perfect for a hike around the bay.

Now, onto colors! Continuing with the Hawaiian theme, here is WAIMEA ROOSTER, inspired by this lovely rooster I saw while up at Waimea Falls.  After a 3/4 mile hike through botanical gardens you end at the falls where there is a bleacher-style seating area. This rooster was stalking a poor lady who was trying to get away from him! I, in turn, stalked him with a camera. I later learned this fella’s name is Waimea Willy.

AMERICANA is a self-striping colorway in a muted tones. I have been wanting to knit up samples and bought one of those 9-inch circular needles that some sock knitters rave about and gave it a go. It was really nice being able to knit in the round without switching needles like I do with my circulars. I don’t think I’d switch completely as I really love 2 cirs for socks, but it was fun to try!

The original RAINBOW PRIDE colorway was a custom order for last year’s Pride Week. After the 6/26/15 SCOTUS’s ruling, I’ve been dyeing up more of this self-striping yarn ;).  This was my very first self-striping colorway!!

Back in May,Hubby and I visited his parents in Ohio about a week before this crabapple tree bloomed. Mom-in-law took this fantastic photo of her tree and sent it to me so I can see how nicely the flowers came out. I thought it was so pretty that I had to try it out in a colorway! This is SUSIE’S CRABAPPLE TREE.

My most favorite Broadway musical is The Phantom of the Opera (I know, totally cliché, but I did grow up in the 80s . . . ) and the touring group finally made it’s way to Los Angeles this summer. Hubby and I went to a matinee showing at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre and had a great time.

I remembered how much I loved ballet, even though I haven’t taken a class for a while. So, I started crocheting up some new bags for the shoppe.  Here are some of the available ballet/pointe shoe bags. The shoes were ones I had ordered years ago and never wore so now they are great props.

This one was knitted with two strands of Highland wool held together.

This bag is made with hand-dyed wool for a fun tweed effect.

This was made with holding 2 strands together, one was a gradient yarn and the other was a solid.

This one was made with a tweed wool yarn.

This was fun to make – so bright! Two strands of Highland wool held together was used for this bag.

Some items still available @ www.AlohaBlu.com. Enjoy!

2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 18 to 20

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 18-20, posted on the shoppe.

A new colorway, PARISIAN SUNSET, was inspired by this photo I took from our hotel room in late Fall 2010. The week long trip was mostly overcast with little bits of sun popping through the clouds. This sunset was amazing and I had to re-create it in yarn and wool.  These pieces are merino/tencel fingering yarn, sparkle fingering yarn sock blank, sparkle lace yarn and a targhee/firestar roving that I plan on spinning!

PACIFIC SEA NETTLE is an oldie-but-goodie colorway in Corriedale Cross roving and superwash merino lace yarn. And yes, the turquoise is from the gentlemen’s shirt in the background!

I don’t do too much cotton dyeing but it’s always interesting how cotton comes out. This colorway came out more muted than I had expected but still pretty! This is FADED DESERT SUNSET in cotton roving.

JILL’S BLANKET is an almost-self-striping merino/nylon fingering yarn that was inspired by my friend Jill’s baby blanket project years ago. Her yarn colors were more pastel but I remembered how pretty the pinks and browns looked together and dyed a variation.

A couple more cotton projects . . . these skeins are both #10 Crochet thread, so a laceweight yarn. The first one is a pretty blue color that when I dyed the first time came out a very pale blue-gray. I overdyed it and got a more saturated color.

This second skein is perfect for summer with bright green and peach-pinks in the yarn.

One of my fiber friends asked me to dye a rainbow yarn. I had never done a rainbow before and the colors are so pretty that I was eager to try. Later I was asked to make it self-striping, which seemed brilliant, but I didn’t have the tools for it so at first I said I wasn’t able to. BUT after thinking and thinking and thinking, I decided to have a go by manually winding the yarn in 6 sections and dyeing them in the appropriate colors. Here is the custom order with both the self-striping and variegated rainbow yarns.

SUGAR CANE SUNSET is a new colorway! This photo was taken on the beautiful island of Maui during our Christmas trip last year. We didn’t know if these fields were sugar cane because of the flowering tops. We later learned those tops meant the sugar cane was ready for harvest! These pieces are merino/cashmere/nylon sock blank, merino/silk roving and merino/nylon fingering yarn.

PATRIOT is a hand-dyed, handspun yarn in merino wool plied with silk thread. I dyed the wool in pieces of red, blue, light blue and turquoise then spun the singles in sequence. Half of the skein is plied with black thread, while the other in off-white! The colors reminded me of modern and vintage American flags that used various shades of blues for the stars section background. 

KIHEI SUNSET is another new colorway (13 new ones so far this year!). This inspirational photo was taken at Maui Hill Resort in Hawaii. My family has been staying there for nearly 3 decades and we spent Christmas there recently. The sun was just about set, with beautiful pinks on the clouds and a gradient blue/green sky when I took the photo. These pieces are superwash merino lambswool roving and superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn.

SWISS CHOCOLATE, an oldie-but-goodie colorway inspired by some wonderful pieces of heaven on a plate. These pieces are merino/cashmere/nylon fingering yarn and a new wool base, merino/yak/silk roving!

And lastly, some sock photos. I’ve been battling tendonitis in my wrists so have had to slow down the knitting a bit which is not at all fun. BUT I was able to finish this wonderful project for myself! The pattern is Mermaid  Anklets & Socks by Debra Garner. She includes a pattern for both the anklets and socks and since I don’t have any handmade anklets, I gave it a go. Pretty simple pattern and it worked up quickly. I memorized the instep pattern so I was able to just knit knit knit!

Some of the inspirational photos are available @ www.society6.com/alohablu. Enjoy!

2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 15 to 17

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 15-17! Most items are available on the shoppe.

ROOM SERVICE ORCHID is inspired by a beautiful flower that came on a tray when we ordered room service while visiting Oahu a few years back. I thought the colors were so pretty I took a bazillion photos of the orchid and dyed them up in superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn and merino/silk roving.

HAWAIIAN MIST is one colorway I’ve dyed up only once before and had forgotten about. I love the photo inspiration and resurrected it for another go around.  I just love how the mountains stop the movement of the clouds which creates this beautiful mist! These are superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn and merino/bamboo/nylon roving.

A true oldie-but-goodie, RAINY DAY EIFFEL in Shetland roving and merino/silk lace yarn.

One of my favorite desserts on Oahu is the DOLE WHIP, a pineapple sherbet that I first had at the Dole Plantation! I thought it would be fun to create a yarn that had soft yellows and a bit of beige (because you can get it in a cone, after all). These are sparkle lace yarn and superwash BFL roving.

 SUNSET IN GALLIPOLIS‘ photo was taken by the owner of Nybble Cafe in Gallipolis, Ohio. These pieces are merino/silk sock blank, superwash merino lace yarn and merino/bamboo/silk roving.

AHI POKE is a colorway inspired by one of our favorite Hawaiian dishes. Made with sashimi grade ahi tuna fish, Japanese seaweed, onions and seasonings. Upon landing in Hawaii, we always head to our nearest favorite restaurant for a plate or two. These pieces are both superwash merino/nylon in fingering yarn and roving.

And for some socks! Here are a few I completed recently.

HAWAIIAN QUILT SOCKS: BREADFRUIT is an original pattern that I’ve been wanting to make for a while. I am always fascinated by quiltmaking and Hawaiian quilts in particular. While there are many beautiful quilt patterns available the challenge is to design a sock pattern that will fit in a 4″ wide canvas! After much finagling and re-designing, here’s the final outcome.

This next pair is a wider version of my original SCI-FI SOCKS using a new yarn line from KnitPicks. Kinda funky, but still fun to make!

And I just finished another test pair of FLAG SOCKS: CANADA using some sparkle yarn! This is a wider width version and I really love how it came out. I am aiming to write up the pattern next month for a summer release.

Last but not least, a skein of handspun yarn. This was dyed by retired indie dyer, Sosae Caetano, in merino/bamboo wool. I spun up a fine lace weight yarn then plied it with silk thread and over 1300 size 6 glass seed beads. I am thinking about making a small shawl with the yarn for myself 🙂

Enjoy!

2014 Yarn & Fiber Colors – Weeks 11 to 14

Aloha! Here are the colors for Weeks 11-14!

APPLE PICKING is a hand-dyed, hand spun yarn in superwash merino, then double plied with silk. The dyed silk roving is from Phoenix Fiber Co on Etsy, which I spun into a thin thread for plying.

LIGURE SUNSET 2 in merino/tencel roving (not pictured), alpaca/merino/silk roving and cashmere/merino/nylon fingering yarn was inspired by a photo I took while in Monterosso, Italy.

OLYMPIC SKI TEAMS were inspired by the uniforms I saw during the Winter Olympics. I dyed the wool, ran them through the drum carder and pulled them off as roving. These are available as a set.

KA’ANAPALI BEACH always brings back great memories of my friends’ wedding. This photo was taken while waiting for a spa session for us bridesmaids. These are alpaca/silk yarn and merino/bamboo/nylon roving.

Tencel is great for blending with wool projects!

In the area called Days Bay in Wellington, New Zealand we came upon a bus stop painted in bright colors of pinks, yellows and orange and lovingly adorned with hearts. On the bench were two beautiful words: Love Life. These pieces of LOVE SHACK are polwarth/silk roving and sparkle fingering yarn.

This is a sample set of rolags I created using Corriedale, Wool, Silk, CVM/Romeldale, Merino & Banana Fiber.

I hand-dyed the yellow/green/black multi yarn for this ballet bag, then added the black top for contrast.

Finished up another test pair of FLAG SOCKS: USA, but adjusted the pattern on one sock and found an error as well so I’ll be frogging/re-knitting/re-testing this pair, but here’s what it looked like when I finished.

Another pair of BOARDGAME SOCKS in KnitPick’s Stroll Tweed yarn. This one goes to Ms. Chantal.

Speaking of which, Knitpicks just sent out an email introducing the new line of sock yarn called Hawthorne and included my pattern in the email. Super cool!

More stuff on the shoppe soon! Enjoy!

Images of Hawaii 2013 – Part 3

Aloha all – here is Part 3 of my Hawaiian photo blog. These photos were all taken on the beautiful island of Maui.

My family has been staying in Kihei in South Maui for decades. Though it has changed dramatically in that time, it still is pretty laid back and the views are wonderful. This photo was taken while on a morning walk on South Kihei Road.

This photo of the last itty bitty bit of sunset was taken in the car – yup, I’m one of those people hanging out a car window with a camera . . . or two. I love that the lens focused on the horizon and everything else is nicely blurred. I also love that the orange just about matches the color of the rental car we had (mix-up at the rental agency awarded us an upgrade to a sports car with a rather loud bright orange paint scheme. We affectionately called it “The Monarch” after the Monarch butterflies found on Hawaii). Sigh, I miss that car.

We hopped over to Lahaina one day since I had to do some last minute shopping for Christmas. Doesn’t everyone need a box of cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company? We strolled Front Street and I snapped this photo of the sailboats on the water.

Taking a drive along the northern part of the island, we ended up at Honalua Bay. There was a single sailboat in the bay and you can even hike down to the beach for some lounging and swimming. I took several photos of the bay and the single rainbow. A few minutes later the second rainbow on the left started to appear.

We often wondered if these fields with the flowered tops were sugar cane and during our ziplining expedition, our guides did confirm they were sugar cane fields. The flowered tops meant the fields were already past the harvesting time. I took this photo from my vantage point in the Monarch and loved the lighting at sunset.

We visited the Maui Ocean Center which is a fabulous aquarium on Ma’alaea Harbor. They have a wonderful collection of sea life and beautiful views from the outside exhibits.

This glass tunnel through the shark tank is AWESOME! There is even a glass panel on the floor so you can see sharks above and below you. I did get rattled once when I failed to see a Hammerhead coming around me. Despite the heart-racing drive-by, I would still venture to dive this shark tank 🙂

OH – I also updated my storefront, so some of these photos are now available at Society6. Enjoy!

Images of Hawaii 2013 – Part 2: “Flyin Hawaiian Zipline”

Aloha!

Here are more photos from our recent trip to Hawaii from the beautiful island of Maui and the amazing time we had ziplining.

I’ve always wanted to go ziplining and luckily my adventurous hubby, brother and sis-in-law were game too! After doing some research online, we found Flyin Hawaiian Zipline. They had the longest zipline in Hawaii with a 4-5 hour tour! I am not afraid of heights, but like any unknown event, I get some butterflies in my tummy at first.

We awoke before sunrise and traveled to Wailuku to the Maui Tropical Plantation where the 7am tour started.

One of the sugar cane fields was being harvested so we saw the smoke from the harvest during the morning sunrise.

After weighing/checking in our guide, Alika, got us harnessed up. One of drivers, Caleb, took us up the mountain in one of these ATV’s.

Our other two guides, Nick and Kupono, took us through the safety protocols, braking methods and we did our practice zip that was only a few feet off the ground. Then the fun began. They start you with the 2nd longest line and I just had to go first. . . you know, to chase the butterflies away.

Here are some views from the mountain. The hikes were quite manageable and the guides always offered their help, snacks or water.

This gives you an idea of what the lines look like from ridge to ridge. This was one of the smaller lines.

In the middle of the tour our guides took us to a garden where FHZ is making an effort to bring back native plants to the islands. They are planting the Hawaiian State Flower, the yellow hibiscus, on the mountain and had us help water them. The first plant I watered was called “Hibiscuits and Gravy” – awesome.

Our guides took turns going to the next platform, and that first person over was who helped us ‘brake’. Alika is getting ready to head out.

Here is Alika’s way of heading to the last platform. That little speck on the far ridge was where he was heading. No, we didn’t get to go upside down, but we did go backwards once!

And here’s me coming in for a landing. I can’t think of a better way to ring in the Winter Solstice than ziplining Flyin Hawaiian on my favorite island with my hubby and siblings. Photo by Hermine.

Maui, Hawaii | 21 December 2013

Flyin Hawaiian Zipline
1670 Honoapiilani Hwy
Wailuku, HI 96793-9347
(808) 463-5786 | flyinhawaiianzipline.com

Images of Hawaii 2013 – Part 1

Aloha and Hau’oli Hakahiki Hou! Happy 2014!

We had a nice Christmas holiday back ‘home’ in Hawaii and already miss the islands. After going through my photos, I thought I’d share some of my favorites.

On the island of Oahu, we visited our favorite beach, Waimanalo. It was a beautiful day though there were red flag warnings for Man-Of-War jellyfish in the water – hubby even spotted a baby one on the shore – so we stayed on the sand.

We stayed on the famous North Shore where the sunsets were just spectacular. Here is what it looked like on the first night.

This rainbow came out early in the morning so I hurried to snap many photos before it disappeared.

We had lunch twice at Ola’s where the view was stunning and the food was delicious. I tried the fish called hebi (shortbill spearfish) for the first time. Yummers.

We loved being back home, but eventually it was time to leave. So, we boarded a hopper flight (aka propeller plane) over to our next destination. On the way I took this aerial view of Waikiki . . .

 and Diamond Head.

35 minutes later, we touched down on my favorite island of Maui.

to be continued!

Images of Hawaii – Part 5

Aloha All! It’s been about half a year since we’ve last been on the Islands and of course I’m homesick. . . again.

I thought I’d share some more photos from the last trip to try to quell the homesickness.

At the Kahala Resort

We drove around residential areas up on a hill (yes, beautiful homes with breathtaking views) and found this wonderful view of Koko Head Crater

A view of Chinaman’s Hat

Another view from the Kahala Resort

And lastly, a view from the Hawaii Kai Makapu’u Point Trail

enjoy!

i just love Hawaii . . .

Images of Hawaii – Part 4

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)