17-Day Hawaii Knitting Cruise

Got the winter blues? Give yourself something to look forward to on our knitting cruise to Hawaii. These islands are some of the most stunningly beautiful islands in the world. Sailing round trip from sunny San Diego, this cruise visits the four main Hawaiian Islands with classes taught onboard by Beth Brown-Reinsel.

Enjoy an excellent balance between cruising and exploring in port. Time at sea allows everyone to enjoy the luxury of shipboard living, get acclimated to being on vacation, learn knitting skills and make new friends before your Hawaiian Island adventure begins. While in Hawaii you'll have plenty to see and do from shopping and water sports to learning about fiber production and the local knitting scene.

From the second you arrive in San Diego your fiber adventure begins with Baah! Yarn and continues to each island. Meet Stephanie Macdonald, author of the new knitting book being released this fall "Knitting in Hawaii". Shop for locally hand-dyed yarn at Hanalei Strings while being serenaded by ukeleles, and try your hand at dyeing handspun yarn at the Hawaiian Homegrown Wool Company.

We invite you to join Craft Cruises along with Beth Brown-Reinsel on this sun-filled Hawaiian knitting adventure.

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Baah Yarn & San Diego

Baah! Yarn and Needlecraft Cottage will welcome our group to Sunny Southern California with a trunk show. Mira Cole, the creative genius behind Baah! Yarn, will have samples and patterns available to inspire you! Mira has promised a new San Diego color and cruise pattern that will debut for this show.

As an early believer in Baah! Yarn and colors, Liz at Needlecraft Cottage attempts to have all Baah! colors and weights stocked at all times. Participants will be sure to find total happiness at the party Baah! Yarn and Needlecraft Cottage is planning for us. Wonderful yarn, amazing colors, inspirational patterns, and refreshments will make it a perfect San Diego yarn day.

San Diego has so much to offer visitors, such as the old Gas Lamp Quarter, Old Town, Coronado Island, charming seaside towns and pretty beaches with nonstop action. Come in a few days early to see how they do yarn "San Diego Style" and to get into vacation mode before embarking on your Hawaiian cruise adventure.

More Info for www.baahyarn.com

INSTRUCTOR

Most known for her Knitting Ganseys book and DVD, Beth Brown-Reinsel specializes in traditional knitting and is inspired by historic garments. Beth is the founder of "Knitting Traditions" and focuses on teaching techniques to help knitters enjoy their knitting and to have the confidence to take on new challenges.

Beth has been keeping herself busy teaching at major fiber events throughout North America, launching her new website and releasing her newest DVD on Color Stranded Knitting Techniques. Beth loves traveling and the camaraderie that goes along with knitters traveling together.

On this cruise Beth will be teaching some of her most popular classes including Traditional Gansey Techniques, Latvian Fingerless Mitts, Swedish Twined Socks and Norwegian Mittens. On this cruise you'll have the opportunity to learn valuable new techniques with plenty of time to knit socially while watching the pretty coastal scenery and sparkling blue Pacific Ocean go by.

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Traditional Knitting Virtual Museum

Beth has been spreading the word about a new website for traditional knitting, "The Knitting Museum.” This is a virtual museum celebrating traditional knitting styles and techniques. The website is "an ever-growing compilation of links to museums with knitting collections; knit designers and teachers whose work is inspired by traditional knitting; and other resources and inspiration."

More Info - http://www.knittingmuseum.com

HIGHLIGHTS

Maui is the "Valley Isle"

Enjoy a perfect day at the beach, take in the best luau in Hawaii, "Drums of the Pacific,” or have a cosmic experience at the "Tour of the Stars” at the southern end of Kaanapali Beach. Maui is at the very heart of everything that makes Hawaii magical, from dramatic seascapes, rugged mountains, artist communities, lush foliage and shimmering beaches to the sacred Lao Valley and the Haleakala National Park.

There is nothing more Hawaiian than an evening of pulsating energy that takes you on a journey through the islands of Hawaii. Learn about local tradition and sample the exotic flavors of native Hawaiian cuisine. After the sun sets the tiki torches are lit and the sights, sounds and delights of the Pacific islanders come alive through music and dance.

For those looking for something more intimate take the "Tour of the Stars” at the Ka'anapali Hyatt. Come early to enjoy the pretty gardens, tiki torches, tropical drinks and delicious pupus. Once it gets dark head to the rooftop astronomy platform where you will learn how more than a thousand years ago, voyaging Polynesians were guided to the Hawaiian Islands with the help of the stars.

The resident astronomer will help you learn to interpret the sky with the unaided eye, then with giant astronomy binoculars, and ultimately with "Great White,” a massive 16-inch reflector telescope that sits more than nine stories up on a remote site of the hotel rooftop. Reservations required, weather permitting.

Oahu is the "Gathering Place"

As the most populated of all the Hawaiian Islands, Oahu is a melting pot of diverse ethnicities bound together by the spirit of aloha. Oahu is most known for Pearl Harbor with the USS Arizona Memorial, the looming dormant volcano called Diamond Head, the action of Waikiki Beach, world class surfing waves, incredible dining, designer shopping and the urban art scene in Chinatown.

Kauai is the "Garden Island"

Kauai is one of the wettest and most lush of all the Hawaiian Islands. Let your spirits soar on a flightseeing tour along the dramatic Na Pali cliffs dropping some 4,000 feet to blue surf below and to the interior where you’ll find endless waterfalls and the Waimea Canyon known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” Kauai offers so much to cruise visitors including countless white sand beaches, green cliffs, and azure water.

Hanalei Town

On Kauai you will find the lovely little Hanalei Town. Located on the north shore, this town is graced with beauty where many artists create stunning work using island materials. Here you’ll find new-age artists, organic farmers, laid back locals, surfers, and even the occasional movie star. Hanalei Bay Beach is ranked as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and is just a short walk from the only yarn shop on the island. In Hanalei you can shop for yarn, visit the beach or just hang out at a sidewalk cafe while cooling off with a refreshing tropical "shave ice" in flavors like coconut or lychee.

Hanalei Strings

Hanalei Strings is a ukulele and yarn shop combined. Hanalei Strings is known for dyeing their own vibrant hand-dyed yarns and carrying handmade ukeleles. You will love the colors of their yarn inspired by all the nature and beauty of the island. Yarns are offered in Merino, Bamboo blends, cotton, Cashmere and silk blends with patterns available. You will also find this lovely island-dyed yarn at the brand new yarn shop Twisted Turtles near the ship dock.

This funky store is also a music store specializing in all kinds of musical instruments. Come on by to listen to some fun and funky music while you kick back in their comfortable sitting area and meet some locals.

More Info - http://www.hanaleistringskauai.com

Hawaii is the "Big Island"

This island offers everything the other islands offer and more. Not only do you get the beaches, mountains and lush scenery but you also get Volcanoes National Park, the Homegrown Hawaiian Wool Company and the Hawaiian Vanilla Plantation.

Island Yarn & Art Supplies

This fun yarn shop, located in Kailua-Kona, will have a unique cruise project designed specially for our group using locally hand dyed yarns which will be available for purchase as a souvenir of your trip to Hawaii. Refreshments with an island flavor will also be served.

Stephanie Lui Macdonald – Author “Knitting in Hawaii”

Stephanie Macdonald will host a trunk show of her work featured in her new book “Knitting in Hawaii” scheduled to be released this fall. After having grown up in the small village of Na’alehu located on the southernmost part of the Big Island of Hawai’i, Stephanie left Hawai’i for the mainland where she spent over 25 years in marketing before moving back. Having taken up knitting on long international flights for work, she was forever hooked and hasn't stopped knitting since.

Stephanie resides with her husband Dave and cat Blue in their home in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, perched high above and overlooking the Kona coastline and sheltered in a lush bamboo forest, a perfect haven for knitting and designing.

Hilo Private Tour to Akaka Falls, Hawaiian Homegrown Wool & Hawaiian Vanilla Company

We have arranged a private tour to include the best Hilo has to offer. On this tour you will enjoy a gourmet lunch in a tropical vanilla orchid garden setting and take home one souvenir skein of hand-dyed Hawaiian wool you dye yourself. This optional tour starts with a scenic drive to Akaka Falls State Park where we will take a beautiful self-guided hike along a short loop that meanders through lush tropical vegetation to scenic vista points overlooking Kahuna Falls and the free-falling Akaka Falls, which plunge 442 feet into a gorge.

Hawaiian Homegrown Wool Company

The next stop will be the Hawaiian Homegrown Wool Company at Maluhia Farm where Jan Dean will give a short presentation so you can learn about raising sheep in a tropical environment and fiber processing using just rain water and sunlight.

You then try your own hand at dyeing a souvenir skein to take home. Local fiber artists using island produced wool, alpaca and angora rabbit fibers will be on site to demonstrate spinning and dyeing.

More local fiber artists will be featured at the farm's market, offering a wide variety of finely crafted goods using knitting, weaving and Hawaiian netting techniques. Refreshments of tropical cookies and locally grown herbal tea will be served.

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The Hawaiian Vanilla Company

The Big Island just wouldn't be complete without visiting an orchid farm. The Hawaiian Vanilla Company is no ordinary orchid farm, it is a Vanilla Orchid farm. Participants will enjoy the Hawaiian Vanilla Experience Luncheon where all of your senses will be filled; taste, smell, touch, hear, see and learn all about vanilla and the journey the owners of this farm have been on since purchasing their first vanilla plant in 1998!

Here you will learn about vanilla cultivation. Vanilla is the pod of an orchid plant that bears a scentless celadon-colored flower. Vanilla has one natural pollinator, the Melipona Bee, which must be there exactly when that orchid orchid bud blossoms. The coincidental timing is virtually impossible, so the vanilla plant must be hand-pollinated in order to produce a vanilla bean pod.

Enjoy a delicious locally-sourced tropical lunch with orange-vanilla marinated chicken breast and caramelized onions atop herbed bread, with Vanilla-Mango Chutney aioli, roasted red potatoes, farm-fresh organic greens with Vanilla-Raspberry Vinaigrette, crumbled feta and Vanilla-Honey-Peppered Pecans. This restaurant definitely does not skimp on vanilla! Guests will also enjoy their classic Vanilla Lemonade or Vanilla Tea with lunch and after a special walking tour, some fresh home-made Vanilla Ice Cream with Vanilla infused hot-fudge sauce.

More Info - http://www.hawaiianvanilla.com/

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE

The ms Veendam is one of the smaller ships in HAL's fleet and offers an onboard experience defined by spacious comfort and innovative services such as Lanai Staterooms with slider doors allowing direct access to the Lower Deck walk around, or Spa Staterooms, located near the luxurious Greenhouse Spa with extra spa amenities.

The ms Veendam has recently completed all Signature of Excellence enhancements to her public rooms and staterooms. Enjoy elegant dining rooms, a $2 million art and antique collection, beautiful teak decks and spacious staterooms. Explore the new and exciting venues being offered: The Retreat, a private resort-style pool experience offering sophisticated poolside amenities and service, or The Mix, an innovative meeting place featuring three specialty venues for relaxing and knitting with old friends and new alike.

BOOKING INCENTIVE

Summer on Sale

Holland America’s newest sale starts on April 5 and includes a $50 p.p. beverage card. We offer best price guarantee including amenity specials. Whatever is in effect at time of booking be added to your booking and if something better comes along every attempt will be made to include it for you if it applies to the sailing and category you want. Please note cruise line specials can change at any time.

Reduced Deposit & Onboard Value Booklet

Book by April 23 and pay a reduced deposit of $100 p.p. on 7-day cruises, $200 p.p. on 8-14 day cruises and $300 p.p. on cruises 15 days and longer plus get an onboard value coupon booklet. Holland America Line is offering the following onboard discount booklet worth over $350 in savings. Sample coupons include:

• Spa Discounts
• Casino match-play certificates
• 15-minutes free internet with any plan
• Discounts on wine packages
• Photo discounts
• Logo-item souvenir discounts
• Laundry discounts and more