The Soundtrack (because there is always a soundtrack):
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere, The Odd Couple
Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming
RHCP - By the Way, Stadium Arcadium
The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang, Aftermath (UK version, repeated at least 2x)
The Roots - Do This Well Remixes ('94), Things Fall Apart, Illadelph Halflife
Travel knitting project (because I always travel with one):
Small, mindless knitting *phew* aka- stockinette stitch.
I'm working on "samplers" to boost my knitting skills. I'm also working on smaller items so that I can see the ratio of "finished items" to "works in progress" increase (increase on the finished side). For this year I'm currently somewhere around 5:10. *sigh*
I jumped into an adult size sweater (on relatively small yarn) at the end of last year, and although I can say it's been a relatively painless experience, it is taking longer than I hoped. And by hoped, I was hoping it would only take 3 months. Currently at 5. Granted, I would've been done by now if I worked monogamously on this sweater day in and day out, but I just can't (I know, bad word) because I'm getting bored with the monotony and how slowly it is creeping along. I know once it's done, it's gonna be the ish but damn. The smaller sampler projects will hopefully break up the insanity and get me through the spans of time in which I have put my sweater on a time out. These smaller projects will also give me a sense of accomplishment = encouragement!
The "Wills" sweater from Rowan Classic Babies, book four.
And now on to the trip...
In some type of order (although not chronological), here are the highlights from our San Diego day trip -
Good eats: Blue Wave Seafood, San Diego - hot, fresh, delicious seafood, hefty portions, friendly service, poor seating situation : | The place was packed, so seating was at a premium. No worries though, the seating is clearly no deterrent (even for us)! No website, but I linked to the yelp page which has over 500 reviews. You know they don't mess around ;) And of course, Stone Brewery, Escondido - on the drive home, we stopped for evening beer, pretzels and a few items from the gift shop (shirt not included in photo).
Cali-Belgique (IPA/Belgian), C'est Magnifique!
Great shops: The Grove (books, fabric, clothing, knitting... what more could one want?), Two Sisters and Ewe (yarn, roving and fiber books) and Rosie's Calico Cupboard (aka total fabric insanity!!! Rooms and rooms full!).
New stash items (because, come on...):
Two Sisters and Ewe, in La Mesa.
The funny thing is I was actually able to control myself. I told myself beforehand that I would not purchase any yarn, only roving if it was available in the shop. I kept my word :) I'm getting good at this! Maybe restraint does come with age ;)
This was a great shop, with a very warm vibe. The power was out when we stopped in, so I was shopping in the heat and practically in the dark ha! But the experience was very pleasant, and the shop had a nice selection (a large chest full, as well as goodies in various locations in the store) of mixed roving at reasonable prices (many were consignment items). There was also a nice library of books, some nice knitting accessories (including mini crochet hooks from LACIS, which means I don't have to go back to Berkeley for them. Darn!) and a nice range of yarn (including Sublime!). If you are in the area, definitely stop by and support this great LYS!
3 bags of fiber: (l-r) 4oz Pin-drafted Border Leicester, 4oz Loose Lincoln, 4oz Columbia/Rambox
All fibers are for testing purposes as I'm still in the practice stage. There are so many types of fiber out there, why limit oneself to just 2 or 3? I don't have any plans for what I would knit these into, but I'm sure they will all be a fun experience to spin with!
Another funny thing is that one of the ladies in the shop must have sensed I was itching for fabric, because she mentioned something about an insane fabric shop less than 10 minutes away. I told her not to tell me any more about it, and then she proceeded to hand me a card : | hahaaa! The story here is that the owner of the fabric shop ended up taking over an entire strip mall for all her fabric! Probably somewhere around 5 or 6 shops total, I'm guessing. I was told the inventory was thought to be somewhere around 6,000 bolts of fabric, but after inventory was completed, they found there were over 16,000 bolts in the store! *good lawd*
The store was a little overwhelming at first; 16,000 bolts of fabric can do that to you. I felt my jaw hit the floor a few times, and I was blinking more than normal which meant I was clearly overstimulated with all the goodies! Fortunately, the shop was amazingly organized (by color, print, etc) so I was able to skim through most of it before the shop closed.
Rosie's Calico Cupboard, in San Diego.
As you can see, I hung out far to long in the blue section. We arrived at this shop about a 1/2 hr before it closed, so my goal was to grab as much as I could and attach a project to it so I would have a reason to buy it. There would be no way I could put back a future summer dress, skirt or a future apron, right? :D Half an hour was seriously not enough time, but I'm glad we had the chance to stop by. I will definitely either be phone in orders, or stopping by the shop again in the future when I have more time to peruse through each room without time constraints.
Tentative project list: (l-r) sundress, sundress or skirt but was originally planned to be used for home goods/sachets, binding/piping for a few projects, sachets/home goods, 2 knitting cases
So there it is! Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment