The following events took place on November 16, 2009.

After spending the night at Shelbourne Villa in Nelson, we were picked up by our tour bus and headed out for a day of hiking. Originally we were supposed to take a boat from Kaiteriteri to Torrent Bay, and walk to Marahau, but do to a large collection of Germans we were bumped from our boat trip and walked from Marahau to Torrent Bay.  Thank goodness!  We saw only a few people during most of our walk, and were able to enjoy the fantastic scenery and vegetation all around us.

Starting out at Marahau

Tree Fern, Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand.

We had our lunch at one of the many side-track beaches along the route and watched birds, sea-kayakers, and locals on their sailboats.


Beach along Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand

After about 7 miles of hiking we reached Torrent Bay, and a beautiful golden beach that was completely empty.  As time passed more and more people trickled down to the beach, also waiting for the boat to take them back to Kaiteriteri.  But for a while, we were by ourselves.


Beach at Torrent Bay, Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand



The Newlyweds Honeymooners

That night we had Thai for dinner, and I noticed that my carrots were cut into specific shapes.  Sadly, I ate the rabbit before I could add it to the collection.

Curry vegetables with carrots cut into birds, and an apple.

A lovely day!

My blogging voice kind of petered out there for a while.  Right in the middle of showing you our New Zealand trip!  I have a LOT of catching up to do with my blog entries, and I hope that I CAN catch up.  I don't want to just shuffle over several months as if it were water under a bridge.

Big things are going on at the Little Yellow House.  We have a team of workmen showing up every weekday morning (although they appear to be late today) for our second floor renovation.  The heavy equipment is now gone, we are on our third dumpster, and the flooring man put in an appearance on Saturday to take a sample of the hardwood floor he is trying to match.  We are hoping that we will be safely and warmly (thanks to INSULATION - surely in the 40s and the 50s people knew about insulation?  Right??  I mean, we didn't even have NEWSPAPERS stuffed in our walls) ensconced in our upstairs bedroom suite by February. I will not hazard a guess whether that means February 1 or the 28th.  But I can't wait. Especially since we decided to just gut the space and removed an entire deserted mouse city....or at least its sewer system. It is never a good sign when the superintendent on site tells you "Lady, you better not go up there, it is raining mouse turds." My allergies will certainly approve.

New Year here was pretty quiet - P was on call, so no celebratory champagne until New Year's Day.  P broke out his Christmas gift from me - a crepe maker and fired it up with a 1966 recipe my mom had from an old flame.  We were happily stuffing ourselves with crepes and drinking mimosas until noon or so.  It was lovely, and one of those days we rarely have.  

So I am hoping for big things this year.  I am working towards a healthier me.  P has expressed an interest in going semi-vegetarian. (After we use up the 5lbs of pork tenderloin in the freezer.)  And I am working on decreasing my yarn stash by knitting through it.  I think it is time to knit another vintage baby sweater on speculation.  I have a tremendous amount of fingering weight yarn, and I am out of boy/gender neutral baby sweaters in my Gift Box.  (Because my friends from college like to spring already-born babies on me, why??)

And it is snowing again (still).  Probably until April.

Catch-up posts are coming.

And I just got the call - our dry-wall guy is sick with the flu.  Maybe we will be moved in upstairs in March. April? Surely by tax day?

What ever you have heard about New Zealand - it is all of that and more!  The flights were fine - I was able to knit from Detroit to LAX and then stowed my knitting away for the flight to Auckland. (This was possible because we were not booked all the way through - we saw every single baggage claim carousel on our trip. sigh.) Then we flew to Nelson on the south island in the quietest prop plane I have ever been in.  And what saved my sanity during the 30 hours of travel?  My Kindle.

My Kindle (named Palimpsest) in a knitted scrap cozy.

I am a really fast reader - and several long flights, plus jet-lag off time would have required me to bring at least six books.  The perfect solution to lugging heavy and bulky books with me was getting a Kindle.  I love the screen - it really does simulate a book page very well, and the frame does disappear when you are reading.  I actually finished casting off for the cozy while we were in the long term parking lot at Detroit.  Just in time!

Upon finally arriving in Nelson (and picking up our luggage in front of the airport) we checked in to our Bed and Breakfast at Shelbourne Villa , took a shower, and headed out to stay awake as long as possible.  We wandered along the riverwalk until I nearly fell over.

We had a quiet evening, because we knew hiking was on the agenda for the next day!

So here at the Little Yellow House we have officially started the countdown to New Zealand!  We have noise-canceling headphones, I have a brand new Kindle (lurv it so much!), the suitcases have been pulled out of the attic, and I will need to check my wardrobe to be sure I have everything that I will need.

It sounds like knitting on the plane may be a problem. Qantas prohibits knitting needles from their flights.  Since we are flying Qantas from Los Angeles to Auckland, then getting a connecting flight to Nelson, I am looking at nearly a full day of no knitting.  I did buy an Addi 8" 2.5 circular for the hell of it - it barely qualifies as a knitting needle - but after knitting with it I am not sure I would mind having it confiscated!  It puts a lot of strain on my wrists, and isn't very satisfying to work with.  Still, it doesn't look threatening at all, and if I have the window seat I might not draw too much attention to myself.

However, I can knit from Detroit to LA and then stow my knitting in my checked luggage.  That will give me 4-5 hours of knitting - and there is nothing wrong with that.

Today I took a fantastic workshop with Andrea Wong on Knitting Socks in the Portuguese Style at Woven Art.  Most of the time was spent just learning the Portuguese style - something my Portuguese MIL had described to me several years ago. The yarn is held in a pin perched on the left shoulder, or with the yarn running around your neck.  Tension is completely controlled by the right hand, and knitting and purling are achieved by flicking the left thumb.  When practiced at full speed by an accomplished knitter it is a blur of motion that is astounding.

While I am not entirely sold on doing colorwork inside out - I do like *seeing* my charts appear in my knitting - there is no doubt that there is less hand motion whether you are knitting OR purling.  Because Portuguese style purling is SO economical of motion, many practitioners prefer to purl. I know! Garter stitch consisting of purl rows!  It boggles the mind, but there it is.

So what may be my first Portuguese style project?  I am seriously contemplating using Andrea's Japanese Sideways Sock pattern and PURLING every row.

I am not sure how easy it would be to knit twisted stitches - purling would be easier - so I don't think I can immediately combine this new obsession with that of my other recent obsession - Twisted-Stitch Knitting - see the newly released book by Maria Erlbacher (Schoolhouse Press).  But perhaps when Andrea comes back in April I can ask her if she has tips for "fancy work".

It has been a tremendous knitting day. Obrigada, Andrea!

My schedule is slowly clearing itself, and I am focusing on individual tasks at hand rather than thinking about everything at once.  Thanks for all the kind comments from my last post.  I wish I could respond to comments, but the way blog-city is set up it is impossible.  But please know how grateful I am!

Let's see. Rhinebeck was amazing!  I picked up some yarn and fiber, but the best part was hanging out with my mom, sister, and aunt - a sisters reunion weekend!  My camera somehow didn't make the trip, but I know my sister got a few shots, as did my mom - I will see if I can track anything down.  I grew up in southwestern Connecticut - a bedroom community of New York City, so less than 2 hours from Rhinebeck.  The Taconic Parkway was always iconic when I was growing up. Driving on it was a sign we were headed to the most beloved of places - the Adirondacks.  So driving up the Taconic again filled me with thrilled anticipation.  We stopped for brunch on 199 at Another Fork in the Road - a fantastic "diner" that is just about perfect in every way. Mom and I had buckwheat crepes with spinach, mushrooms, and cheese. My sister had a full breakfast complete with homemade sausage.  It made me wish I was a local!

My aunt drove down from Vermont.  She is an incredibly accomplished knitter, but recently suffered from burn-out having worked on one incredibly complicated sweater of her own design (cabled, even) that needed repeated ripping and was knit on small needles.  When I saw her in August she hadn't touched her needles in months.  When she came to Rhinebeck you could tell she was feeling the joy again.  It was really lovely to see.  

We stayed the night in Poughkeepsie, all the other local motels were booked.  But it worked out really well - it was a 20 minute drive or so.  We saw other Rhinebeckers there - their blue wrist bands (the two-day pass) gave them away.  And on Sunday we drove up through Hyde Park and had breakfast at Eveready Diner.  And then it was back to Rhinebeck for a few more hours.  When the rain started in earnest we decided to pack it in, but it was so much fun!

I have a number of FOs to post, and a book review  - hopefully I will catch up just in time to leave for NZ next week!