Puerto Vallarta Peregrinaciones

Before we left the Puerto Vallarta area, we ventured into town to check out the malacon (boardwalk), shops and local restaurants. As luck would have it, during the first twelve days of December there is a custom in many Mexican towns for the faithful to process to the cathedral. The custom is called Peregrinacion. The main street is closed to traffic for the evening as groups make their way to the church.

Because the street was closed to cars, it was easier to take photographs ...there were so many memories to capture.

Pictured above is one of the local chalk artists working around the plaza and the cathedral.

Who knew there would be a fork in the road?

After the processions were over, we walked to the Malecon and found an Italian restaurant with an upstairs view, La Dolce Vita. From this vantage point - more photos.

Remember, this is a knitting blog...just had to get these last few photos from our trip out of my system. I ripped out what I started of the Darkside Cowl during the plane rides. It lacked the stitch definition I had hoped for. The redo is quite satisfactory and was accomplished in a day.

Puerto Vallarta/Nuevo Vallarta

We took a brief but enjoyable trip to the states of Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico last week. Our timeshare, Grand Mayan, is located just north of Puerto Vallarta (which is in Jalisco) in Nuevo Vallarta (state of Nayarit). You think you are confused??? But locals in NV use the PV time. It certainly made it less confusing when preparing for our departing flight, as the airport is located in Jalisco. Thank goodness we were actually early for our flight home because it took FOREVER to check in. Someone needs to do some serious reorganization of that airport!! Everything else about the trip was great - with that one, small annoyance.

Here is a shot of Greg chasing me down the "Lazy River" or "Rio Lento" at our resort...

Yes, that is the famous chainsaw scar above his knee.

We took two "side trips" during our vacation. The first, last Wednesday, was to the town of Tequila. Guess what the main industry is....that is right. Tequila! We toured the Jose Cuervo factory. Cuervo means raven, thus the bird pictured in the family crest on the website.

I couldn't take any shots inside the building to show the beautiful barrels and copper distillers as it was prohibited. The town is also where one of my favorite hot sauces, Cholula, is produced. On Thursday we ventured out again - this time our destination was San Blas. Over 50 years ago I spent two weeks there with my parents and a friend of the family who lived in the small port town. I had fond memories and was relieved that things were much the same...

Above is the old church in town and below is the new one.

Then, outside of town is the original one... it was burned many years ago. Residents point out figures that they say some can see. In this photo is the face of a woman. Do you see it?I was intrigued by the vendors in the marketplace on the plaza. The masks were colorful....
But the highlight of the day was the "jungle" trip through the swamp just outside town. There were many birds and reptiles (herons, hawks, iguanas, turtles)...but my favorite was the crocodile. There were many!

This week will be filled with work at Skein and some serious knitting which I will take pictures of to post both here and on Ravelry.

Boston Blue

The Boston Blue Scarf (see my Ravelry page for details), intended as a Christmas present for someone who will put it to good use this winter, is off the needles, photographed and ready for shipping. We have one more item for the package that will be ready toward the end of the week. Then down to the UPS store...and off it all goes! The scarf was made with Rowan Lima (baby alpaca) and was a delight to knit. I would definitely make another - but have too many other projects underway to tackle another just now.

Greg and I spent the late afternoon listening to Pete Christlieb's band play a benefit for the Friends of the Library in South Pasadena and then went to Briganti for dinner. It couldn't have been a better day.

Here is a sample of Pete's sound:

:

Walden Pond Hat

This is a shot of the top of what just came off the needles a few hours ago. All of the ends are now neatly woven in and it is ready to be put into a mailer. The colors reminded me of the previous post's pictures of Walden Pond. Thanks to Shibui Yarns, someone will have a cheery hat to wear!

Another project that is trudging along - LuLu Leggings from Spud and Chloe.

Because I have been working all week, the leggings are neglected...too hard for my little brain to do all that counting with customers, visiting friends and students. No complaints...just excuses!!!

Wonderful Trip

We went on our first trip to Boston last week. It was a fun, event filled, action packed 6-day visit to see the sites, experience Fall color and spend some time with M & J.

The first day we borrowed a car and drove to have lunch with relatives in Conn. I discovered that there other knitters in my family. We also had a lovely home-made apple tart. Thank you Aunt Dot.On the second day, Greg and I borrowed the car (pre-programmed for the trip) for a stop at a wonderful diner in Watertown for breakfast and then to Old Manse in Concord and Powell Flutes in Maynard. No pictures were allowed at Powell - but I shot the outside of the building.

On Friday we met one of Greg's former students (who is a student at Harvard) for a bite of pizza on Harvard Square. His parents joined us as it was Parents' Weekend and they were in town, too. Then we went in search of Woolcott and Company. Sadly, as you can see by reading the link, they were in the process of closing their doors. Over the weekend we stopped by Windsor Buttons for another yarn fix. When we arrived there, it was almost closing time....they are doing well it seems and have an overwhelming collection that I will have to visit again, and again.

The view from M&J's apartment is spectacular. They are living on the Charles River, in East Cambridge. The location is convenient to their labs and near rail lines that take them around the Boston.

Views from the apartment (the Museum of Science is on the right)...

I have many wonderful pictures of the city and will post just a few here...

We had a lovely lunch at the Boston Public Library-

Visited a museum....

visited graveyards....

walked around Walden Pond ....

and watched the sun set...

We had both history ....

and nature lessons...

Thank you M&J for the wonderful look at your new home. We will definitely come back again in the near future to experience more of this beautiful area. You are the best tour guides we could have had!

Back to Blogging

Yes, I know it has been quite a while since typing here. Things have been sporadically busy over the past few months. I went to Sock Summit in Portland. There was the whole thing of our daughter moving to Boston. Poor thing, she lived among the craft paraphernalia (her old room) here after closing up her apartment and before embarking on a cross-country road trip. Then Greg and I went to Cabo for some R&R. What's not to love about snorkeling,

sailing

and deep sea fishing?