commerce wins again October 29, 2008

The Scotland-like weather outside (windy, raining, cold) is making winter seem much closer than it did just a couple weeks ago. It doesn’t help that it was in the 90s this past weekend in Mexico. We’ve already had frost on the car several times, but I haven’t actually broken out the ice scraper yet. The fact that this will happen soon reminds me of something I meant to make last year but never got around to: an ice scraper mitt (ravelry link). I inevitably forget my gloves or (more often) my gloves get wet or turn out to be completely ineffective against wind, so I always end up freezing my hands. This seems like the perfect solution.

Then I saw these. They’re two for $20. I couldn’t buy the yarn for that. And they’re down. They will be just slightly warmer than a knitted version. It’s virtually never cheaper to make something for yourself, but still. Foiled again by that vast commercial conspiracy out there.

the one with the signs October 24, 2008

You know you were waiting for it. It’s funny sign time!

At the Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona) memorial, right after you get off the boat. I guess they got sick of tired tourists sitting outside their door, but a bench for authorized personnel? Seriously?

From the boat for the sunset cruise. I guess that takes drug smuggling off the table.

Now we’re headed to Mexico for a wedding. These beach destinations are just wasted on me. There was actual knitting from Hawaii and that will make an appearance next time, hopefully along with some knitting in Mexico. I must say that playing with wool on the beach gets you some rather weird looks.

scenes from hawaii October 22, 2008

I’m back to the mainland and I seem to have missed the beginning of the rapidly accelerating slide into winter. Nothing like going from upper 80s to frost on the car in the morning. As winter starts to close in, a few glimpses of a warmer place:

One day the coworker I was traveling with and I got up and hiked Diamond Head in the morning and then took a sunset cruise in the evening, so I caught both sunrise over the mountains

and sunset on the water from the same day.

And I just had to include the ubiquitous palm tree picture.

are we under two weeks yet? October 21, 2008

Needle-dee pointed this out, and it’s too good not to pass on: presidential candidate finger puppets. It’s almost enough to make me learn to crochet. Almost.

tourist mecca October 16, 2008

People in Hawaii actually say Aloha for hello and Mahalo for thank you. Those people are the operators of tourist attractions.

You’re actually more likely to hear people say konichiwa than Aloha. There are Japanese tourists everywhere. All menus at restaurants in touristy areas of Honolulu come in Japanese. Half of these restaurants are Japanese to begin with. My first day here, I went to the Pearl Harbor memorial. It was packed with Japanese tour groups. Ironic, no? I do wonder how many of these people think the rest of the US is like Hawaii?

This huge tourist presence makes sense, given how close Japan is, but this surprised me. If you think about it, Japanese tourists coming to Hawaii go back in time: Japan is 19 hours ahead of Hawaii; the flight takes 6 hours or so. For a relatively short flight, they gain pretty much a whole day. I hear there’s a yarn shop here with a huge selection of Japanese yarn, but I haven’t made it there yet. That whole work thing keeps getting in the way.

Oh, and one piece of advice, should you head to Oahu any time soon: don’t go to a luau, no matter what anybody says. Even the one at Paradise Cove. Very overrated.

Random Hawaii Fact of the Day October 10, 2008

Hawaii is a collection of islands. Hawaii has interstate highways. How is that possible, exactly?

Speaking of highways, my road map gives me handy language tips. It says:

The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters: A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W.

The Hawaiian language has four primary rules:

Every word must end in a vowel.

Every consonant must be followed by at least one vowel.

Every syllable must end in a vowel.

Now you know.

Aloha! October 5, 2008

Greetings from the southernmost US state. I’m in Hawaii for the next couple weeks. Rough, I know. It will be mostly work, though I will get to have some play time on the weekend. This will sound completely nuts to some of you, but I’ve never had any burning desire to visit Hawaii. I’m not much of a beach person.

I am also not much of a snake person. No, let me rephrase that. I despise snakes. Have a true phobia of them. There are supposedly no snakes on Oahu, and, according to the “Plants and Animals Declaration Form” we had to fill out on the plane, bring a snake into the state is a felony.

I like this place already.

why not to knit while tired October 1, 2008

I was drowsily plugging away at Tempest this weekend, determined to finish one of the fronts. It’s all stockinette at that point and really quite boring, so that combined with my general sleepiness meant it was really hard to stay awake. But I made it. At some point, W came in and asked me what I was making. When I told him it was a cardigan front, he gave me a weird look. It looked rather long to him. I dismissed his general lack of knitting knowledge and kept right on going.

But wait…(you saw this coming)…he was right. I had gone 24 rows too many before beginning the armhole decreases. That’s a rather long way. I tore it back a couple nights ago and all is now well with the cardigan. But I should really pay more attention.