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| Excuse 453 for Knitting |
| 11.29.04 (11:31 am) [edit] |
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Here's another good reason to knit (and blog, too, I suppose). It boosts your social life! Today, I met Sallie for lunch downtown. Sallie lives just a bit down the road south of me and is a new knitter. She found my blog searching for yarn stores in the area. Turns out, she works right here in my town, and we were able to meet. We talked and chatted and enthused like we had known each other all of our lives. Now, I have met yet another very nice friend. Yep, knitting is a GOOD thing. :idea:
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| Wild Fibres Rocks!! |
| 11.27.04 (2:13 pm) [edit] |
Today, as part of my birthday treat, we took a trip to Savannah to visit Wild Fibres. (Sorry, no link, since they don't have their website up and running yet.) Oh yes!!!! We have needed a shop like this in our area forever and ever.
I was entranced by shop, shop owner and the fiber. Here's what I got:
I have an educated suspicion this luscious fiber originated from Donna since I just read her last entry about leaving some fiber at the shop yesterday. I have to tell you - this fiber is incredible!! I am seeing it for a pair of slip stitch mosaic socks.
Can you tell I am reviving my interest in Fair Isle by the books I selected? I am ready to tackle something challenging!
Jennifer, the shop owner, told me that a spinning group is forming (yeah!) and also invited me to come and sit in the shop and spin to generate interest. Oh what fun!! I am hoping to do it next weekend if nothing comes up.
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| New Yarn |
| 11.26.04 (12:12 pm) [edit] |
I spent Wednesday plying up my brindle yarn with this result:
This is less than 400 yd. and has taken almost a pound of fiber. I bought 2 lbs., hoping it would make enough for a pullover. Now, I am not so sure. I think "maybe" I have enough of the first pound left to boost the yardage up to 500yd. so maybe there is hope.
I spent a quiet Thanksgiving/birthday at home (mostly) with my Bill. We actually did go out to eat lunch with friends from church. Our son is away in Florida visiting his new girlfriend and family, but will be home on Tuesday to spend through Christmas with us. (His school has a 6 week break between Thanksgiving & Christmas). Later in the afternoon, we went to see "Christmas with the Kranks." Yes, I know the trailers of this movie look really, really dumb, but seeing as Bill and I had both read the book, we gave it a shot. It was really very entertaining - I actually laughed out loud a bunch - something I rarely do when I am at the movies. There were several interesting "scarf" sightings in that movie, too. Nothing very elaborate, technically speaking, but some very luscious looking yarns.
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| Happy Thanksgiving |
| 11.25.04 (6:18 am) [edit] |
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Wishing one and all a Happy Thanksgiving today.
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| Pictures |
| 11.24.04 (7:47 am) [edit] |
Mystery Socks
Brindle Yarn
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| Changin' Gears! |
| 11.24.04 (5:35 am) [edit] |
Well, now, after a concentrated effort, I have alll my work for November behind me, and am off for the holidays. We are not going out of town. With our jobs, it is pure pleasure to get to hang around home. So, there will be some project pictures coming very soon. Right now, the light is not good for trying to snap decent pictures. I am working on a pair of socks (for the same mystery recipient who is getting the scarf) and spinning that burgundy, light blue merino/natural camel down roving. That stuff is heavenly! I am on bobbin #3 and am anxiously awaiting filling that bobbin so I can start plying. Navajo plying was not going to be the best idea for this particular fiber - I want the colors to be more homogenous than the singles are. I am really looking forward to seeing what the final product looks like.
In other news, it looks like we have another spinning convert. Click on over to Sandra's site and see the pretty yarn she is spinning using a honey dipper. It's hard to tell she is new to this. Great job, Sandra!
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| More Trip Pictures |
| 11.19.04 (6:45 am) [edit] |
After taking a hiatus from the San Francisco travelogue, I figured it was time to wind up the trip.
After leaving the beach, we left the Ocean road for the street into Golden Gate Park and passed this restored windmill. Don't tell anyone, but it's hard getting a good shot from a Go Car.
We passed a bison preserve and then stopped at Stowe Lake, where I snapped a photo of these serene and charming guys.
We also rode near the Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden, but did not go in. Upon exiting Golden Gate Park, we cruised through the Haight-Ashbury district without getting out, but there were some interesting shops all around. It would have been nice to investigate.
Graduallly made our way up, up, up, up so we could take a white-knuckle ride down Lombard Street, promoted as The Crookedest Street in the World. Our GPS Nav Lady told us that this actually even isn't the crookedest street in San Francisco, but it is the prettiest.
We turned the little Go Car in, with a little bit of regret. She did a great job for us, and we had a wonderful tour.
Back on our own, we wandered onto the dock of the Maritime Museum, where I got a shot of Ghirardelli Square.
And just to prove we rode one...
At Pier 39 were the Sea Lions. I hate to say it, but this was a very smelly place. These guys do NOT look like they are having the best quality of life possible.
Also, at Pier 39 was a marvelous store named Alpaca Fashiion. It should have been named Alpaca Heaven. They had the most marvelous felted alpaca capes and very colorful intarsia knitted cardigans!
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| Good News, Bad News, Good News & a Picture |
| 11.17.04 (2:24 pm) [edit] |
The good news is that I don't have to go back to the chiropractor until after Thanksgiving. The bad news is that I figured out what is causing some of my problems. Drop Spindling! That's the bad news. But the other good news is that spinning with the spinning wheel doesn't bother it.
I tried to post this picture last night, but could not get tblog to work.
This is the picture of the scarf for the mystery recipient.
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| Cozy Day |
| 11.14.04 (12:37 pm) [edit] |
It's actually less than 60 degrees here today. Unusual for here, for this time of the year. A nice afternoon for wearing cozy alpaca/wool socks and a fleece top. Later this afternoon, we are headed out to the movies.
I am working on a scarf from the silk bought at Artfibers (color 26 in case you are interested). It is a Christmas gift for a mystery recipient. There is probably no chance this person would be reading my blog, but just in case, I'm keeping their identity a secret. This silk feels like silk to the hands, but is light as confetti. I have no idea how it was spun that way. It's almost as fluffy as cotton candy (as the ad says). I am doing the scarf in a ribbed pattern. K3,P3 row alternating with K1P1 row. It looks as if it will be about 5 1/2 feet long when finished.
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| In Case You are Interested |
| 11.12.04 (12:24 pm) [edit] |
If the Sutro Baths capture your imagination, here is a great link that explains their history.
And, by the way, I have edited the Tour Part Two several times - if you caught it earlier in the day, it is now expanded. My apologies, but I just couldn't stop myself!
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| Tour Part Two - In Which I Wax Sentimental |
| 11.12.04 (6:45 am) [edit] |
I hope you will forgive the fierce onslaught of many pictures today. This portion of my San Francisco trip brought back the same emotions I felt the first time I visited in 1970. So, trying to regain my youth once again, I suppose, I snapped tons of pictures of the next portion of our tour.
Okay, so this one doesn't exactly belong with the group. This is a gorgeous skyline of San Francisco snapped as we were leaving Fort Point.
After leaving Fort Point, driving up hill and through some aromatic eucalyptus stands we headed toward part of the Presidio, continued upward through some gorgeous vistas of Marin County across the bay, through the posh Seacliff neighborhood, where our friendly GPS navigator lady taunted us by telling us to look out for Robin Williams (as this is where he resides), but remaining mysterious as to his home's exact whereabouts. (We researched it when we came home, so if we ever do it again, we will know). We traveled downwards to catch sight of a notorious beach, Baker Beach - it makes me blush to mention what it is notorious for. Maybe some of you might want to research that on your own. :twisted: Fortunately, we saw nothing notorius and headed back up the hills, only to descend once more to this vista.
Now, I have done quite a bit of traveling in the US, and I think this is arguably one of the most gorgeous vistas in our country. Add to the fact that we were zooming down the cliffside in the little go car in the sun and wind - well, it definitely felt like the California Experience!
Next are some ruins. The first time we saw these, my family and I had no idea what they were but found them fascinating. Turns out, they are the remains of a posh resort called the Sutro Baths. A glassed-in structure surrounded 7 deep swimming pools carved out of the rocks. The incoming tide flooded and filled the baths. Each pool was regulated at a different temperature. And, this is hard to believe, but it is said there was room for 1,000 people to swim at once. Anyway, I had to climb down as far as they would let me to inspect.
I didn't try to go to the end of the cliff. This sign is not very legible in this picture, but it says, "Cliff and Surf Area Extremely Dangerous - People Have Been Swept from the Rocks and Drowned"
Here is another shot of the Sutro Baths.
Wow, how time flies. I must stop and get ready for an appointment. I could post the rest of the pictures I have ready, but my narrative would suffer. So, I will edit and add some more later today.
(Editing entry: Sutro Baths could accomodate, not 1,000 people at a time, but a whopping 10,000 people! I thought that was right, but hesitated to make that statement without checking it first! Also, they could accomodate 25,000 spectators. They had 500 bath houses, 20,000 bathing suits for rent and 40,000 towels. It's almost enough to boggle the imagination! There was also an amusement park on the site. The carousel from the amusement park has been moved to Yerba Buena Gardens and is still functional and enclosed in glass. I got a peek at it on the way to a company function at night. It was gorgeous!)
Let the tour continue. Here is my beloved Cliff House, somewhat modified from what it was in 1970. Wowee, just look at that ocean!! Is this a scene or not?
It was actually a redwood, rancher looking affair back then. The National Park Service has taken it over and restored it to its 1930's look. But, hey, that was about the only thing about San Francisco that significantly changed since my last visit, so I guess that's not too bad, after all! I was disappointed at the sleek, modern restaurant and gift shop inside. In 1970, it still had that aura of a bygone era with a kitschy gift shop complete with Nickelodeons with old time moooveeees!!
The only concession to earlier years that now exists are framed copied of menus from several eras of operation. One of them had the version of the Cliff House I remember.
Here is a shot of the cliffs of Point Lobos from down near the Sutro Baths.
If you think the cliffs are not steep, try walking the trail to the bottom or top.
And here is a dear shot of Bill with the Go Car.
I was waiting for the perfect backdrop for this shot. Maneuvering the Go Car out of parking lots took some forethought. There is no reverse, so the car must be moved BEFORE starting it.
The next leg of the journey will cover Golden Gate Park and Haight Ashbury, so stay tuned.
Oh, and by the way, since this is a knitting/spinning blog, I finished a hanspun, handknitted poncho last night. Pictures will follow.
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| Virtual Tour Part One |
| 11.10.04 (7:24 pm) [edit] |
By far, the most awesome part of our trip was on the day we decided to rent a Go Car and tour the city. Okay, so, yes, they look like a child's toy. Well, I guess it is a toy, when you think about it. This unique little vehicle was perfect for touring. It is a fully narrated and GPS guided tour. They gave us a map in case we needed one, but with the GPS, it is not really necessary. And the open top was great for taking in all the splendor of San Francisco and the beautiful day. It was a little windy, but thankfully our coats took care of that. So, without any further fanfare, we will begin to follow the tracks of our tour.
We started out at the waterfront right around Fisherman's Wharf. Since I have already posted some FW pictures, we will continue from there. After leaving the wharf area, we passed the posh marina district. Here is a picture of one of the parks in the area.
Along with the park, there was also North Beach.
Brr... yes, doesn't it look too cold to be getting a suntan?
After passing parks and beaches and part of Fort Mason, we made our way to Fort Point
where we climbed 3 stories to the top. Unfortunately, we could not go up in the little lighthouse. But we could walk and stand directly under this.
I thought it was rather cool to get to stand under the bridge. There was a work in progress to reinforce the bridge against earthquakes. Quite a good idea, if you ask me. What was an amazing fact to discover was that it only took 4 years to build the bridge. The new Sidney Lanier Bridge here in our own backyard took a whopping 8 years to build and is not nearly as impressive.
More to come later, but here is a shot, as promised, of the clock Bill gave me. Is this cute or not?
The spinning wheel turns as the clock ticks. Note the clock on the wall in the picture. It is where you set the alarm.
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| Fizzled |
| 11.09.04 (7:05 pm) [edit] |
The last two days have felt like I have directly jumped off the cloud I was riding on. Work has been, well, more work than usual. Last night and tonight I feel drained, so that is the reason for no more pictures yet. I am planning to put together a little virtual tour along the same route we took, but it must wait until I am a little more serene.
I did manage to finish a long scarf, destined to eventually be a poncho type thing after a seam in the appropriate place. And, I took another scarf, already made, and converted it to a similar type garment.
Bill surprised me by buying a little alarm clock off E-Bay. It is special. You will see why when I do the unveiling.
I bought some fine Italian Wool (feels a lot like cashmerino, to tell the truth) and some tessleated silk at Artfibers while in San Francisco. The owners of the shop decide what kinds of yarn they want and have it spun for them in Italy. I have never seen such gorgeous yarns. The down side is that there are only limited quantities of some of the yarns.
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| Back from the West Side |
| 11.07.04 (8:06 am) [edit] |
Okay, so now I am back from:
Yes, I am tired, but it is a very nice tired, packed with some wonderful memories. We got to take two lovely tours, rode the BART, ate on Fisherman's Wharf, bought Ghirardelli Chocolate, visited a yarn shop, cruised the strip along the ocean, tootled around Golden Gate Park and checked out the infamous Haight-Ashbury and Alcatraz. What fun!
Here's a shot of Pier 39. Hard Rock Cafe is in the foreground, the GG bridge is barely visible in the background. One day we toured, it was misty, the other day it was gloriously clear.
Here is the ferry landing for the trip to Alcatraz.
And here is Fisherman's Wharf.
We did so much more than visit the waterfront, so there will be plenty more pictures to come.
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