Tag Archives: Knitting & Spinning

Abalone Cove, March 4th, 2012

I fear this may be cheating a bit to call this a hike, but it is at a park, and did call for a bit of steep uphill on the way back out.

Abalone Cove, or Shoreline Park, a State Ecological Preserve in Rancho Palos Verdes, has some of the nicest tidepools I’ve seen.  Today we went there for a negative low tide around midday.  It was pretty crowded, but any time you see a bunch of kids enjoying nature that can’t be a bad thing!

We saw a lot of purple sea urchins, a few red ones, a lot of  Giant Green Anemones, a couple sea hares, a lot of mussels, some hermit crabs, some other crabs, a lot of starfish (Ochre & others), and various small fish.  My biggest thrill?  I saw a small octopus.  So cute!  it blended in so well with the bottom of the tidepool.

This site has some great pics, too.

Zylphia is now available again!  I’ve had so many requests for this pattern to be republished — thank you!

I still need to do a photoshoot on all the old Sanguine Gryphon patterns.  Honestly, I’ve no idea when I can fit that in to my schedule.  I’d love to have Kathy, who did the gorgeous photography for California Revival Knits (which, by the way, is getting so very very close to publication), shoot them, but it’s all a matter of scheduling, organizing, etc etc. Kathy’s not local to me, so it involves either me going to Seattle or her coming here.

Regardless, Zylphia, and the others (Simone, Emily, Jack, to be republished soon), will get nifty new pics.  If you’ve purchased them through Ravelry, you’ll get the updated version when it’s available.

I got back from Madrona on Monday (and thank you, Jet Blue, for letting me go standby! got home 4 hrs earlier than would’ve otherwise). It was a whirlwind. I taught a class, I took a couple classes, I performed in the teacher talent show (oh, if you weren’t there, you missed a fun, fun time!), I hung out with friends, I petted lots of yarn and fiber, and I actually worked a day in the middle of the weekend redoing charts for CRK (all updated now).  More later. I promise.

Three days of vet work, then I’m off to Stitches on Friday morning. Find me at the Bijou Basin booth; if I’m not there, I’m wandering around saying hi to folks. But I’ll be there most of the time, with hard copies of the Undersea Garden Cowl pattern from CRK (which is getting ever so closer to final) and my Don’t Fence Me In mitts.

What all else has been going on? I’m swatching, charting, sketching etc for patterns for the next book. I’m working on classes for the Knitcircus retreat.  My website got hacked a week & a half ago, so I’m still doing some mop up on that.   (Thanks, Dreamhost:  NOT.)  I’m thinking of adding PinIt! buttons since I’m futzing with the site anyways.

I’m updating my old Sanguine Gryphon patterns (Zylphia & Simone being first & second in line). Photography is the main hold up on these, but I’m thinking of releasing them with my current non-fancy pics then updating with purty pics once taken. Comments? There’s a plethora of lovely pics up on Ravelry for reference.

I’m still squeezing in tech editing, of course.

That’s about it.  I’m actually going to try to do most of my packing for Stitches tonight, since Rosemary & Curtis are visiting for dinner tomorrow.

Winter TNNA was good!  Tiring, fun, all that.  I left my house early Friday morning (5am) to meet Jeane De Coster (Elemental Affects) at her home in Desert Hot Springs.  I tossed my stuff into her car, then we headed to Phoenix.  The 4 hour drive went quickly — we talked nonstop the entire way.

I’d not really been back to Phoenix since graduating high school.  I’ve driven through it once or twice, but that’s about it.  It was basically unrecognizable.

Once we got to the convention center, we grabbed lunch at the food court (overpriced, but serviceable, and hey, at least there were options other than burgers & fries) then went into booth set up mode.  We both knew if we didn’t eat…we wouldn’t.  The convention center is apparently new;  it was very nice, nicer than the one at Long Beach (though I much prefer being able to stay at home!).

Jeane made up kits for my Peacock Mitts for Sample It (exhibitors can elect to sell a few items (samples of their wares) at wholesale prices to attendees).  I’m so happy about how excited people were by them!  Jeane will continue doing kits, so if you’re wanting a kit, check with Jeane.

I met up with Audrey (check out her upcoming book, Reversible Scarves, from Cooperative Press — it’s gorgeous!).

That night, Jeane dropped me off at the  airbnb I was staying at.  If I had to live in Phoenix, I would want a house just like this!  Kate, the home owner, is an absolute sweetheart — smart and funny and generous.  Plus she shared her pets with me — I got lots of cuddles from her adorable dogs & kittehs.  I finally got to meet Lindsey, who also stayed at the house;  we had a nice walk to the Convention Center on Saturday.

Stacey, Steph & Audrey

Over the weekend, I met Stacey from the Knit Picks IDP in person.  She’s fantastic & very funny.  I was interviewed for the Knit Picks TNNA podcast.  I also was able to hang out a bit with Michelle (Fickleknitter) and Holly.  I met Johnny Vasquez from Fiberstory TV.  Carl & Eileen & Marly Bird from Bijou Basin were there as well.

I visited various booths, listed in no particular order:  Imperial Ranch, Baah Yarn, Dream in Color, Lorna’s Laces, Shibui.    I also met the people at Namaste – and proudly showed off my go-to bag, my red Namaste Monroe bag.   I didn’t realize how local they were to me!  They’re in the Los Angeles area.

Felicia of Sweet Georgia & Steph

The Craftsy folks had a booth, too — it was great to meet them.  I got a t-shirt, great for bumming around the house (working on my projects for the Craftsy BOM class, lol).

I’m planning on (finally) going to the summer TNNA in Ohio — already looking forward to it!

Looking at February (Madrona 15-20 Feb, vet job 21-23 Feb, Stitches West 24-27 Feb, vet job 28-29 Feb) I realized there wasn’t going to be much opportunity for a hike.  I’ll do something in the Palos Verdes area, even if it’s just the Terranea hike/run, but it’s not like we’ll be able to really count on doing a day hike in the Santa Monica Mountains or the San Gabriel Mountains.

So…Sunday we did the Malibu Grotto hike.  We did this last year, and it was a lot of fun.  You hike downhill to the Grotto, scramble around on rocks, then hike back uphill.  Lots of fun plants to look at as well.  There weren’t many people at all on the trail, which was a nice change from the previous hike in Eaton Canyon.

I enjoy the scrambling in an adrenaline-pumping sort of way.  I’m not a big fan of heights — specifically of the chance of falling, really, which is a quite rational fear given that I occasionally fall off curbs — and though the potential drops are only about 20-25 feet, the landing would be on solid rock.

I do like the fact that I get an upper body workout from this bit of the hike, enough to be a little sore the next day.

We stopped at Leo Carillo beach on the way back.  I waded (COLD! but good to my tired feet) and checked out some anemones.  The tide pools are better at Abalone Cove, but the water here is so lovely and clear that anytime we can stop along here I like to do so!

Because it’s a state beach, you can’t collect rocks or shells, but it’s fun to see all the different colored rocks.  People do surf here, despite all the rocks;  we saw a couple long boarders catching the (very small) waves.

Learn more about Leo Carillo state beach here and here.

Learn more about the Grotto hike:

• http://www.hikespeak.com/trails/grotto-hike-malibu/
• http://www.localhikesbeta.com/Hikes/Grotto-Trail-1132
• https://sites.google.com/site/daykations/los-angeles-ca/malibu-grotto-hike