A Solo Journey, 22 years ago . . .

22 years ago today – at the tender age of 24 – I boarded a plane to embark on a month-long SOLO trip through beautiful Italy.

Armed with a wheeled carry-on luggage, backpack, calling card to phone Mom frequently and let her know I was ok, 1000+ page fiction novel, guide books, Lira currency (!) and 35mm camera with lots of film, I had a reservation at a modest pensione in Rome to start the journey.

Back in 1999, my roundtrip airfare from LAX to FCO was less than $400 USD, Eurorail pass was less than $400 USD! 

Il Colosseo, Roma, Italia – Febbraio 1999

During my month there, I met up with friends-of-friends who toured me through the little towns outside of Rome, connected with my cousin Laura in Firenze and stayed with her former classmates in their Florentine flat, took a bus tour with architectural grad students through the streets of Verona, stayed in a seaside hotel in the Ligure area, had my breath taken away by all of Venice and hand carried 3 bottles of wine back to the States.

Chiesa del Santi Luca e Martina, Roma, Italia

Most of the time, though, was spent in quiet contemplation about the future . . . 

Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre, Italia

What turned out to be a trip of a lifetime, I look back with delight that 1) I actually did that, 2) how different the world is now and 3) I wouldn’t do anything different. Well, I wish I didn’t have bronchitis and walking pneumonia during the trip – THAT I would change!

I would return to Italy 5 years later with my (now) husband, making even more incredible memories while reliving the great ones of the past.

Closing the chapter on the year 2020, I look forward to what 2021 will bring: more memories, hope and amazement for what is yet to come. (And more yarn, of course).

Portofino, Italia

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Yarn & Fiber Colors for Weeks 27-28

I wasn’t feeling too well this past week so I’m behind in my posting, so here are the colorways for Weeks 27 and 28.

This is RAINFOREST, a Falkland British Merino/Tencel fingering yarn:

Ah, and SOUTH SEAS, a Falkland British Merino/Tencel lace weight yarn:

I tried my hand at LOVE SHACK in lace weight. This is a merino/silk blend with over 1000 yards!

And a sparkly VENETIAN THUNDERSTORM, in a merino/silk/stellina lace weight yarn:

What’s summer without some bright colors? This one was inspired by a potted plant I used to have that would once-in-a-while bloom a pretty ORANGE HIBISCUS. This is a superwash merino/nylon fingering yarn.

And my homage to the south with SOUTHERN SUMMER SUNSET in a tweed fingering weight:

LANIKAI HIKE is a new colorway inspired by a photo I took while on the Lanikai Pillbox Hike in Oahu. This is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend. Yummers!

AUMOE 2 is a fluffy Targhee wool top of dark blues, blacks and grays.

And another LIGURE SUNSET in superwash merino lace weight yarn.

enjoy!

Yarn & Fiber Colors for Week 26

Whew! Summer is here! After a very hot 4th of July weekend with lots of time for dyeing and all things yarny, here are a few colorways for ya:

WATER & MOONBEANS is a handspun yarn made from fiber from 2 etsy artisans. Water is a cashmere/silk blend from CorgiHillFarm, and Moonbeams is a merino/bamboo/silk/sparkle blend that ws part of a “fiber club” shipment from SosaeCaetano. Both were beautiful on their own but together made a beautiful 2-ply yarn.

LAVENDER LEMONADE is named after a drink found at a local vegetarian/vegan restaurant. I must admit at first I was skeptical to try an all-vegetarian place since I am such a carnivore, but this particular restaurant is awesome.  Native Foods is a chain so I would definitely recommend trying their Lavender Lemonade if you have one near you.

This one is a superwash merino/nylon wool roving:

While this one is a merino/bamboo fingering weight yarn:

HAWAIIAN RED DIRT, named for the famous dirt from the island what will never come off your white clothes no matter how hard you try, is a superwash merino lace weight yarn:

LIGURE SUNSET 2 is a Targhee Top roving – so bouncy!! This time around the black dye didn’t break as much as I liked so I added some brown to add more color.

LOVE SHACK is also a superwash merino wool named for a bus stop in Days Bay, Wellington, NZ.

And lastly, AHI POKE, named for one of my favorite Hawaiian dishes of raw tuna fish, onions, seaweed and spices!! Yummmmmers!

This one is a superwash merino wool fingering yarn:

And this one is a Peruvian wool roving:

Wheeeee!! Happy Summer everyone 🙂 Enjoy!

Yarn & Fiber Colors for Weeks 24-25

Alooooha!! Well, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been focused on work stuff helping my crew towards a big goal. This past Friday was a big milestone for us (and was a successful one! whoo hooo!) so I’ve got a bit more breathing room for fiber fun! Since I wasn’t able to post last week, here are the colors for weeks 24 and 25.

I’ll start with KAANAPALI BEACH, a Falkland British merino/tencel fingering yarn. I just LOVE the sheen on this yarn!

PEACH BLUSH is a very pretty merino/nylon/stellina (sparkle) fingering weight yarn in grays and peach!

LIGURE SUNSET roving in Sweet Grass Targhee – GASP!! You literally just want to climb into this wool and take a nap.

SUNSET OVER FüRIGEN is a superwash merino lace weight wool inspired by our trip to Fürigen, Switzerland.

ZION 2 is a superwash merino wool roving inspired by Zion National Park in Utah. I’m still amazed at how the colors came out!

TOMATO BASIL was so fun to make. I found the dyed merino/romney cross fleece from etsy artisan, sdspin, and hand carded the wool before spinning. The first ply is a nice red while the second ply is a ‘tomato basil’ mix of beige, pinks and green. Towards the end I ran of red so I plied the last few yards with the remaining tomato basil color. This yarn is roughly heavy worsted with some thick-thin qualities as well.

And finally, MORNING AT BILTMORE INN is a superwash lace weight yarn inspired by – yup, you guessed it – a morning at the Biltmore Inn. A few summers ago the hubby and I spent some time exploring the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and I woke up early one morning – probably jet lag – and opened the curtains to this beautiful vista of the dewy grounds and the town in the far background.

enjoy!

Yarn & Fiber Colors for Week 21

Ah, I am a bit late in posting due to the long weekend and working during said weekend, but here we go with this week’s yarn colors.

This first skein was inspired by a very crafty knitter by the name of Nutty4Knitting. Nutty does actually has a first name but we will keep that secret for the time being. I had some new fibers and yarns coming in so I asked the Dye-Along forum on KnitPicks Community for suggestions on new colorways. Nutty suggested a peach, blue, blue-gray color – now, how pretty does that sound? I am sure this isn’t exactly what she was thinking as I took some liberties with the dyes, but I think A NUTTY SUGGESTION  came out nicely in a superwash wool yarn. Thank you Nutty!!

PURPLE HAZE 2 is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend that came out brighter than I thought. Instead of using a purple dye, I mixed blue and red and it seemed really dark in liquid form. I love that there are still specks of blue and red in it as well.

Now we jet off to two of my favorite places in the world. . .

WAIMANALO STORM is our fave beach on Oahu where we found ourselves running to the car to avoid the sudden torrential downpour. 10 minutes later it was sunny again and we were back on the beach 🙂

And lastly, LIGURE SUNSET was inspired by a photo I took from the first town of the famous Cinque Terre, Monterosso, during sunset.

inspired by:

and there you have it. Week 21 colors! enjoy!!