Embarcadero. We ate lunch here
Embarcadero. We ate lunch here
I've been getting all kinds of cool mail from Mama E this week.
Firstly, I got my blue installment of sock yarn. Gorgeous as always. I really should buckle down and knit with it. Actually I'm thinking about not knitting socks with her project spectrum yarn but knitting this really cool blanket using all of it. I think? I could always use a new project I don't have nearly enough going on.
The second mail from Mama came tonight. An email about something I never would've bet money that I'd be interested in but find myself really excited about: A Sock Cruise up the Pacific Coast. How fun!!!
It's set for next April and will be going from LA to Vancouver and stopping in San Francisco for a day - at Embarcadero - like right by where Jocelyn works and..right near ArfFibers! Yaaay!
There are lots of plans on the boat for us - color theory, sock classes, and a bag of Mama E goodies included! The price isn't that bad - 475 per person double occupancy need 200 for a deposit. I'm totally going. Just have to sell enough yarn to pay for it. I need to get back on the spinning wagon anyway I really miss it.
Let's see if Cody wants to go too! Barry's definitely on board with the idea.
Remember how I mentioned not needing more projects? I've been in a finishing mood this week. Last night I stayed up really late and finished that gypsy scarf made from a bunch of yarn I picked out at ArtFibers. It wasn't that hard to do and strangely I think it's one of the best things I've made. I love that it's like a souvenir from my big day alone in the city. This thing looks so cool. I've got to get back into photographing stuff but no photos will do it justice. Really.
Tonight I'm going to finish knitting some fuzzy liners for the ugg baby booties. I decided they were really too big and instead of knitting icords for ties or creating a corset effect on the back of the shoes with extra suede yarn (both are cool solutions) I wanted the inside to be fuzzy. So I picked up the stitches at the top and have been knitting little fuzzy socks out of Berroco plush to push inside the bootie. I just finished the first liner and after following a full sock process - heel flap, gussets, toe decreases, I've discovered it's just as easy to just knit a tube and stuff it in there. I'm halfway through finally watching Heaven's Gate tonight. Kris Kristofferson is in it. Anyone that was in The Highwaymen kicks ass.
Speaking of another Highwayman, I watched Walk the Line last night. Ok. Now of course I liked the ending (yes I cried like a leetle girl) and OF COURSE I liked the music. Reese Witherspoon was great. Yeah everyone said so and it was true. But not for one second could I forget that was Joaquin Phoenix. That was a surprise. I mean, I never thought I'd get over the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was playing Howard Hughes but I did (although I'm still afraid that I'd giggle at his beard throughout Gangs of New York so I haven't seen that). I certainly expected to have that suspension of disbelief with Phoenix but it never happened. I just kept comparing them. He did the best he could but no. Not the same. I also kept hearing him say that line about every time he watches the weather he has to..well...if you've seen To Die For you know what I'm saying. I've never seen Gladiator and I'm pretty sure that's for the best.
I did get a big kick out of the two small scenes with Shooter Jennings playing his dad, Waylon Jennings (yet another Highwayman). If I ever have a kid I'm totally naming it Shooter - boy or girl. The other one will be Schmuley. Schmuley and Shooter. That's ok I used to want to name them Vincent and Thor. Aren't you glad I'm probably not having kids now?
When I was watching the ending of the Walk The Line I was misty eyed and wondering if Cody and I could ever sing together. He's a great singer and a pretty good guitarist. Very low voice. I decided he'd give me too much crap about my pitch and I would give him crap about what songs we played. We're a much better programming duet. At the same moment, when the credits started he was thinking about me at work and called. I love our weird married telepathy.
I watched a live Johnny Cash performance from Montreaux in 1994 on PBS last week. That was fun. They sang Jackson.
Friday
Flight out of Denver was late. In my experience this is a matter of course. Oakland airport is kind of ghetto.
The look of utter and complete surprise on Jocelyn's face when I came in the door after Chris was priceless. She had no idea. And they had spent a lot of time fixing up the guestroom for random future guests. Chris done good.
Saturday
Adela's yarn store - damn those women were rude. I'm submitting an essay about my experience to any and every place that will take it though. I really hate thinking about how they treat people, particularly newbies who are already insecure. So I'm going to spread the word. First stop is Knitter's Review Forum. Then the shop reviews at Knitting.about.com. To spread the good word as well I'm going to submit my great experiences at the other shops I visited in the area. In any job involving customers there's no shortage of complaints, but the compliments can be rare so I try to send my compliments when I can too!
My first day in California and we went to a mall. I'd forgotten to bring a jacket of any kind (hey, it's hot here at home!) and there was a 50% off clearance sale at Torrid. I found some fun things that would keep me warm in breezy San Francisco. And I got to see a hhttp://www.sephora.com store!!
We went to dinner at absolutely the best sushi place ever ever. And dudes, I've been to Japan. Really interesting combinations of tastes - nice fusion style which didn't come off as pretentious that's quite a trick. Peanut butter and jelly rolls. Holy Crap. I happily ate them while singing the peanut butter jelly time song in my head. Peanut butter jelly peanut butter jelly.
Sunday
Took the bart into SF (I was staying about thirty minutes away in Castro Valley). Saw Jocelyn's office. Walked around the artisan markets in the Embarcadero Ferry Building. Ate crab cakes for lunch.
ArtFibers was closed. Booo.
We went to the MOMA. I saw an Eames chair, Eva Hesse sculpture, a few Ana Mendietas, Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, a particularly frightening de Kooning portrait (which is saying something), one of my favorite George Braques paintings. So many. At one point I was going around a room looking at the paintings not paying attention to what was in the center. When I came to the placard for it it said Marcel Duchamp, Fountain. I turned around and damned if the that urinal readymade signed R. Mutt wasn't sitting right there. Fun! The exhibition on the top floor about Painting Masculinity was interesting as well. I bought some small art book toys for the 'phew's birthday. Which I need to mail today.
We went to Japantown. Mostly because I wanted to go to the Japanese dollar store I'd heard about (here). I'd been to Chinatown when I was a kid and apparently Chris had been there throughout his childhood since his grandmother lived there so Japantown was a different and more interesting area for us to see. That's when we took all those photos of Barry as godzilla and stuff. It was fun. Bought some tchotchkes. Including washcloths with hedgehogs on them. For some reason there was more French Engrish than actual Engrish on the stuff there. Is that Frengrish?
We took a taxi to Fisherman's Wharf so I could see the sea lions. Called Cody on my phone so he could hear them barking. Ate dinner at a mediocre and overpriced Italian place that overlooked the sea lions. Great mineral water and garlic bread. And at first the food would seem like it was really good. But eventually we would realize that it was bland and we were just really hungry. Took a very long ride on the bart back to their townhouse.
Monday (Memorial Day)
I slept late. Oops. After running some errands we drove down to San Jose to meet Nathania and Emy @ Commuknity. I'd heard about this shop from a variety of sources and Laurie had loved it so much I had to check it out since I was so close by. It was a fairly short drive. (This seems to be the major benefit of Castro Valley - it's roughly 30 minutes to most places in the area).
Commuknity is HUGE with golden natural light and friendly people. Who are also nice enough to leave you to wander around by yourself to absorb the wonder but they're nearby to answer questions in a friendly way too. Most yarn stores I know and love have a clausterphobic feel to them, which can be good when you feel like you're being cuddled by all the yarn, or it can be bad when there are a lot of customers elbowing each other over the koigu. But Commuknity was open and somehow simultaneously warm.
That place has a great variety of yarns! I'm guessing every yarn in the Rowan catalog? And I got to see Bee Sweet yarn in person. I've been wanting to get my grubby hands on that. I'm such a sucker for the socially conscious southern hemisphere yarns. There's a cozy sitting area around a fireplace with big comfy sofas and lots of books. And a separate room for classes - which is something I'm looking forward to when Village moves. I always feel so guilty skulking around the people taking lessons in weaving and spinning in the middle of the store.
It was really cool to meet new people who are participating in Dyeorama and find out how their experiences have been. Emy's been SO GREAT about answering questions on the group blog. This idea of people helping each other was really what Scout and I had in mind when we went to the trouble of making everyone who signed up able to post to the blog. We wanted a place for people to share ideas and experiences so it was really nice to thank her in person.
This was the perfect antidote to the poison from Adela's Yarn I really needed to spend some time in a good, friendly yarn shop and I couldn't have asked for a better place.
Unfortunately, Jocelyn and I were too late to go by the crazy Winchester house so we went across the street (this is in a charming little shopping village in San Jose) and drank coffee and chatted for a while. Then we went back to her house and Chris grilled some tri tips for us while Jocelyn cooked my favorite "mushroom thing" over pasta. This is sort of a vegetarian version of beef stroganoff made with sauteed mushrooms, yogurt, and a TON of butter that she made up when we were roommates in college. I've never really been much of a cook. Even then.
Tuesday
Was my big day alone in the city. Jocelyn had to work (which is a bummer because this was her birthday) and I really didn't want to spend the whole day sitting around their house. So I rode with her on the Bart train and got off at the second exit to the City - sort of near Union Square. But I'm going to write a whole separate post about that because there's a whole lot to say about that day.
We did end up going out to dinner at a nice new French restaurant and I gave Jocelyn her two presents (a purse and wallet from Etsy don't look Joce there are prices!).
Wednesday
I bummed around the house, took a jaccuzi bath (so jealous of this), did a load of laundry, packed. Jocelyn took the second half of the day off to drop me off at the airport. We got a bit lost but I made it to the plane. Got really delayed coming out of Denver again. Didn't make it to Albuquerque until very, very late.
Cody's been off this week so we've been doing a lot of organizing projects around the house. And a lot of sleeping and cuddling with the pets. Seems I was missed a lot.
I'm still working on the post about my big day by myself in San Francisco!
Yep we are home. Poor Barry is sooooo tired and his little stumpy legs hurt from all the walking. We're not used to that much walking. But I'd forgotten how cool it was to be in a city with good public transport. And I hadn't been to SF in twenty years - when I was fourteen. Of course the main focus was on just hanging out with Jocelyn but there was lots of yarn store visiting too. I had some great suggestions from Scout's readers on where to go. I'm working on a big post about everything I saw but, as they say on Cute Overload, soooo tie-tie.
Also, my parents are visiting in a month to be here on my birthday so there's some preemptive panic cleaning going on.
So I've been keeping quiet THIS WHOLE TIME that I was sneaking to San Francisco yesterday to surprise my friend Jocelyn for her birthday. Say hello to super secret surprise! And we actually pulled it off! She was surprised when I walked in the door last night..
Barry in Denver Airport
Barry with Bags
Surprise!!
Jocelyn with Barry
Yay! Ok now I'll be sending photos to Flickr from my phone and automatically have it post to the blog so you can keep up.
We're off to the farmer's market!
Even though I've been trying to avoid meme-type posts for the most part I thought the pattern of US states I've been to was interesting and it's a fun link.
create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide
feel free to post yours in the comments!
