Pink House

Don't Rush Fall

One of my pet peeves is that all of the stores rush right through fall (after Halloween) and jump right into Christmas. It seems that every year the Christmas season get pushed forward by a week or so. Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, but I want Christmas to be in December. Not November 1st! This week we've even seen Santa appear at the mall BEFORE Thanksgiving. Horrors!

We're going to California to be with our sons for Thanksgiving and I don't want it to feel like Christmas already (they're coming HERE for Christmas). We plan to buy a turkey and roast it along with all the other Thanksgiving dinner fixin's in the house we've rented at Newport Beach. We'll play some cards, watch a movie or two, walk on the beach, eat some seafood, and maybe do some window shopping. Enjoy the company and warm weather.

My message to all of the stores is this: Please don't rush from Halloween right into Christmas.There's a lovely November in there somewhere.

Here are a few pics from this fall depicting what I especially like about the season:

Dressing up your dog for a Halloween costume party

 

Roasting Butternut Squash

 

Knitting Scarves for the winter ahead

 

Picking Apples

  

When the course grass is still green and its warm enough to golf without a hat and gloves

So, please, don't rush fall. We only have one more week to savor fall. Christmas officially begins the day after Thanksgiving.

South to San Luis Obispo (Day 5 of California trip)

On Tuesday we planned to drive south on Hwy 101 to San Luis Obispo (aka SLO)to visit our other son, C, for a couple of days. He had scheduled conflict on both weekends, and so we planned to see him midweek even though he had classes during the day. We planned to arrive by Tuesday early evening to have dinner with him.

Before we left San Francisco though, we had to make another stop at Imigiknit because I was having trouble with the scarf pattern than I had bought there on Sunday. I had worked on it in the hotel room the evening before and thought there was a mistake. Sure enough, after the owner and I both tried the pattern - just a sequence of 4 rows - she realized that one of the rows in the printed pattern was written incorrectly. We both knit up a quick sample to check the revised version and it looked right. I was glad to get this figured out because I planned to knit in the car on the drive down to SLO. It's about a 3 hour drive.

K and I have a tradition that when we're in northern Cal we stop at an In-n-Out Burger. It's our once a year fix. So we did this day on the way down in some suburban area south of San Jose. If you haven't ever eaten at an In-n-Out Burger and you're traveling in Cali, you must give them a try. Nothing like the other usual suspects. Much better. They use real beef, and real potatoes that they cut and fry before serving. Their kitchen is open so you can see what they're doing - no microwaves or freezers.

We arrived in Paso Robles (just 30 minutes north of SLO) area in mid-afternoon, a bit ahead of schedule, and decided to check out a winery. Paso Robles has become our favorite area for touring vineyards and wine-tasting. There are over 200 wineries in this area, but it is much more rugged than Napa and less commercialized. This area has a unique terrior and enjoys both the year-round warm climate as well as the cool ocean breezes from the nearby coast. We love the PR wine region and have visited there a few times now. We plan to take a group of friends there next year for a winery-touring trip. This time we stopped at Denner Vineyards, one that we had driven past before but hadn't stopped at. Denner has a large, contemporary building sitting on top of a hill above Vineyard road (about 3 miles off the highway). To my surprise, they were building an additional building (going to be an upscale bed-and-breakfast for wine club members) that looked like it was going to be very nice. We went inside their impressive tasting room (vaulted ceilings, modern leather furniture) and the owner happened to be there and we chatted with him for 1/2 hour while sipping. Very interesting. We like hearing the stories of how the winemakers got started, how they selected the property and planted the vineyards, and built their pulic tasting rooms (often large beautiful buildings). This particular older gentlemen had ties to Cal Poly (which has a viticulture program) and we talked about that too.

C decided to drive up after class to meet us at a restaurant in Templeton, a small historic farming town just on the other side of 101, for dinner. McPhee's Grill is a restaurant we learned about on our first visit to PR area in 2007 when we first to Chase to college. We've returned several times. It is located on the main street in a historic building (used to be a saloon in the early 1900's I think) and serves farm-fresh gourmet food. It's kind of decorated like an old farm house inside. My favorite thing of their menu is the oak-grilled artichoke served with lemon aioli. C ordered the barbecue ribs. We had a nice visit with C, catching up on his music and school activities. Our big surprise when we first saw C is that he got a haircut! Very short! If you've seen his recent music video, you can see that it was quite long. So the short hair was a surprise.

After dinner we drove with him down to SLO and he showed us the house that he and his roommates were moving to later that week. They are moving out of the college-owned apartments next to the campus and into the a small rental house just down the street. This one has driveway (for their cars) and a smallish, fenced backyard where they can host gatherings with friends. They signed a one-year lease on this and are going to sublet out the apartment until the end of summer. Housing is very competitive and expensive in SLO since it is a college town.

Later we said our goodbye's (so he could study for a test the next day) and we drove over to our hotel at Pismo Beach. Pismo Beach is just a 10 minute drive from SLO. We had planned to stay in Pismo rather than the crowds of SLO. Our hotel - Lighthouse Suites at Pismo Beach - was right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. An awesome view! We loved it! More on that tomorrow.

A Sunday Walk around the Neighborhood (Day 3 in San Fransisco)

Sunday was such a full day on our trip - we covered a lot of ground and I took a lot of photos.

K was still in class on Sunday, so I arranged to ride the BART over to the city to meet S for brunch and spend the day walking through the neighborhood where he was looking for a new apartment with him.

This cool 3-layer stencil was on the wall beside us at Beretta

S and I were meeting for brunch at Beretta which is the neighborhood spot near his house which we couldn't get into Friday night. Sunday at noon is a bit quieter in this neighborhood and I easily got a table. The restaurant space is so cool - on a corner so lots of windows, high-ceiling, wood floors, and some sleek furnishings. Running along one side was a full wood bar where you can watch the bartenders work their magic (they're known here for their fresh fruit cocktails). Surprisingly, people were ordering drinks even though it was barely noon.

I ordered a pot of french press coffee all to myself. S ordered an omelet and I ordered one of their small thin crust pizzas with prosciutto di parma, tomato, arugula & mozzarella. For dessert S suggested we share one of their homemade sorbets - blood orange and it came with a little butter cookie. Yum!

 

We had a nice brunch - catching up, hearing about his job, and talked about his search for a new apartment. He's lived in the same house with 3 college buddies for 2 years and they plan to all move in June, so he's hunting every weekend. Today I got to go apartment-shopping with him which was an adventure! He was also going to take me neighborhood-exploring around the new area he and his friends wanted to move to. Yay! I love checking out city neighborhoods - one of my favorite things to do.

I learned that the there is a fine line and literally a few blocks between a desirable neighborhood and a sketchy neighborhood in the city. S and his friends have been in the sketchy part and even though their house is very nice, they want to move into a better area (with higher rents). S showed me that if you cross one particular street going west - Valencia - the shops, sidewalks, cafes, all start looking up. Cleaner, more upscale, and a different clientele. Just a few blocks away was much nicer. He had some apartments lined up to look at, but as we walked he got a phone call and one place was rented already by an earlier appointment. Bummer! That's how fast apartments go in the desirable neighborhoods. We decided to keep walking and see the sites, and look for possible "For Rent" signs in windows.

See that sign in the second-floor window in the photo below? I spotted this one. S literally stopped, looked at the sign from across the street, called the phone # from his cell phone and inquired about it. It was a 1000 sq.ft. 2-bedroom apartment for $2500 a month and no parking. And the apartment is just ONE of those windows, not all six that you see there. Onward.

We walked and S asked, "Have you heard of Bi-Rite Grocery?" "Yes!" I answered, "I've always wanted to go there!" (Famous - you can read about it in national food magazines and newspapers). And he pointed across the street and said, "Well, there it is!" And so we went inside.

The place was PACKED on a Sunday afternoon. The isles were so tight you can barely inch your way through and the checkout line snakes its way through the isles. But the produce, the fresh pastas and cheeses, the locally-baked artisan breads. The take-out counter (gourmet!) and meat window are incredible too. Oh, these lucky people!

 

What's especially cool about these kind of neighborhoods is that the streets are lined with LOCALLY OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES. I love that and that's what makes it fun to explore. It's not just like the malls across America now that are full of the same stores and the big box stores that are so common everywhere. Each place in these type of city neighborhoods are owned and usually operated by the small business person - they each have their own unique flavor of products and services. And in a city like SF they are in the neighborhoods - the cafes, coffee shops, boutiques, groceries, specialty shops, upscale restaurants, gift shops...they are all unique and supported by the people who live there. THIS is main street America, folks.

We also stopped at a cool neighborhood yarn shop called "Imagiknit" owned by Allison Isaacs. The yarn shelves were stacked from floor to ceiling. So much inventory in such small spaces! I ended up buying a scarf pattern and some Malabrigo Chunky hand-dyed yarn that S liked to knit him a scarf. (more on that at a later post). A nice shop.

K called and was driving across the Bay Bridge to meet us. He checked us into our hotel for the next two nights, and then called to meet us down by Delores Park. S told him to look for the line of people waiting outside an ice cream shop and we'd be there: at Bi-Rite Creamery. This was the best ice cream I've ever had! Locally owned and made with all natural ingredients. No wonder there was a line snaking down the sidewalk and around the corner! I had once scoop of Coffee Toffee Chip and one scoop of Toasted Coconut. Both were fantastic.

We parted ways to get checked into our hotel and rest our feet a bit. We were staying at the Westin St. Francis right by Union Square (got a steal of a price on Hotwire!) and the lobbies were gorgeous! I'm mad at myself for not taking some photos of it - just beautifully elegant historic hotel that has been kept up really well. We really enjoyed our stay there. And we saw some famous people in the lobby bar as well....

That evening S treated us to a wonderful dinner out at Bar Bambino for K's belated Bday gift. It was a very nice restaurant in an unlikely area, but really nice and we had a great time. We started out with artisan cheese, cured meats, and a glass of wine at the marble-topped bar in the front area, and then had dinner in the back covered courtyard. A very nice treat and another amazing dinner in the city!

More San Francisco adventures tomorrow!

Hand-dyed yarn - a souvenir from Portland

More from the Portland trip. I only went to one yarn shop while there....but a good one that I'd been to before. Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks in a southeast close-in suburb area - Sellwood. It's such a good store - large, good displays and samples, and a in-house coffee shop to boot. Check it out if you're in the area.

I looked through LOTS of different yarns - many high-end brands as well as lots of Oregon grown, spun, and dyed yarns as well. This one is one of their own in-house created ones, hand-dyed with all natural products (the gal told me the two plants used to do it but I can't remember). Anyway I bought this one skein to make a scarf because it reminded me both of spring and the muted shades of lilac that I had in my wedding back in 1981.

Knitted Hat - Spiraling Beanie

As I talked about in the previous post, I usually knit my two sons a quick hat or scarf for Christmas. This year I finished Sean's scarf and then ran out of time to make Chase's. I did though finish it a few days after Christmas just as he was heading up to the ski mountain.

This year I wanted something a bit different for my 20 year old. I've knitted him a lot of hats over the past five years, many of which he sketched and designed, and then asked me to knit. This time I was looking for a different idea when I spotted this one on Purl Soho's project website, the Purl Bee. Perfect! It was a clever pattern and looked a bit more interesting than straight ribs or cables. I already had chosen the yarn and had two colors. I also needed a pattern that would knit up quickly. I made some minor changes to the original pattern (noted below).

 
This went together fine, and as I said before, I was able to ask Chase his opinion about halfway through the process. He gave it his thumbs up but requested that it be made larger (which I did) and that the middle stripe be wider than the one in the pattern photo. Check.

Our family has large heads and lots of hair, and so I always adjust the patterns to make hats larger. (I cast on 90 sts instead of 81, but I probably could have added another 6 sts). This yarn was also a bit bulkier than a regular worsted like the pattern called for. Chase also likes hats to have more at the bottom so he can pull it low, and more at top to sit up a bit like a smurf-style hat.

I also used one of his current hats to check the size both in terms both length and width. This is an easy way to check for size when you trying to knit a gift and don't want the actual recipient to try it on before it's finished.

Mission accomplished! He liked it, it fit, and he wore it to the ski hill. My other comment is that with this spiraling ribbing (pattern below) it wasn't quite as stretchy as a regular ribbed hat would be. So after he wore it one day with ski goggle straps over the lower part, I noticed that the ribs were kind of stretched out of shape, especially at the bottom. So if I were to make this pattern again, I would try to make a more stable ribbing for the first three rows or so to anchor the spiraling ribs.

Guy's Knitted Spiral Beanie (my version)

Yarn: Cascade Pastaza (50% wool, 50% llama), heavy worsted (1 skein of each color)
Needle: Size 9 Addi Turbo Circs. I started with a 16" and switched to a 12" up at the decreases.

Cast on 90 stitches (muptiples of 6). Join ends, place marker and continue in a k3, p3, pattern.
Every 3 rows, end the row with only 2 purls, and adjust the next knitted rib by 1 stitch, so that the ribbing rotates over by one stitch. Continue doing this, adjusting the ribbing every three rows.
Knit with no decreases for about 7 1/2 inches (which is about 42 rows with this yarn).

Decreases:
Round 43: K2, *p1, p2tog, k3; repeat from *
Continue k3, p2, k3 for three more rows.

Round 47: K1, *p2, k1 k2tog; repeat from *
Continue k2, p2 for three more rows.

Round 51: *P2tog, k2; repeat from *
Continue P1, k2 for TWO more rows.

Switch to 12" circs.

Round 54: *P1, k2tog; repeat from *
Continue P1, k1 for two more rows.

Round 57: *K2toget; repeat from * to end or round
Round 58: *K2tog: repeat from * to end of round.

When you have about 8 stitches left, thread yarn through remaining stitches with a yarn needle and pull tightly drawing the end inside the hat top. Knot and weave in ends.

STRIPING: I knitted 20 rounds with the main color, 15 rounds with the contrast stripe, and finished the remainder of the hat top with the main color.

Circumference for men's large hat: about 23 inches.

More knitted Christmas gifts

Usually for Christmas I suspend work on my own knitting projects to knit one simple knitted item for each of my sons, like a hat or scarf. Except the year I worked on a complicated cabled sweater from a Rowan pattern for my older son, but that's another story.

Anyway, this year I barely squeaked out the knitted gifts in time. I made one son a scarf and the other a hat (photo coming soon). I also knitted a cardigan for my mom and then forgot to take some decent photos. Here's the only one I could find:

The backstory behind this was that when I first started knitting, I visited a yarn shop in Bozeman, Montana (we didn't have one in our town at the time). Before that I had only purchased them online. We were in a hurry and I had to quickly make my purchase. I loved the variagated colors in this and thought it would make a cute sweater. So I paid for it and we left. Later I found a simple cardigan pattern in a Family Circle Knitting magazine and started in. Whoops! I didn't really know how to knit well enough at the time, and so there were quite a few mistakes and dropped stitiches. I also realized that I didn't have enough yarn to actually complete that sweater. So, I put it all back in the bag and pushed it to the back of the closet. Yeah, you knitters will know what I mean.

Fast forward to 2008. One day last year when I was going through my studio closet looking for some quilting fabric, I spotted a bag in the corner and I pulled it out to see what was in it. There I saw this long-forgotten yarn and remembered this project. So I got it out and frogged the pieces, figured out how much I actually needed to make that sweater and started in again in a smaller size - thinking that my mom would like the colors. I finished the pieces (simple stockinette) in a couple of months. Blocked it and then forced myself to complete the dreaded seaming in early December. I took this one photo and then wrapped it up to give my mom for Christmas. I also felt pretty good about actually USING and finishing a project with yarn (a pretty expensive one too) that I had purchased years before. Brownie points for that!

Yarn: Tahki Bunny Print - in variagated green, purple, pink, rusty brown. 100% Merino Wool
         Takhi Bunny - in solid purple for the ribbing on bottom, cuffs, and collar.
Heavy worsted weight
Size 9 needles
Pattern: Simple cardigan from Family Circle Easy Knitting magazine - winter 2005

The other project I made which I actually finished AFTER  Christmas was a hat for my younger son.

This is the yarn that I chose for it. Cascade Pastaza which is a heavy worsted and is 50% wool and 50% llama. It super soft and squishy, and last year I made him a hat with it which he really liked. These colors are kind of dorky but that's what the snowboarders like.

I chose a simple pattern for a Spiral Hat for guys that was featured on the Purl Bee website. Purl Soho is a tiny but adorable yarn shop in Greenwich Village that I've been to on a trip to New York. I love their little website with knitting and quilting project ideas. So I made some changes in the pattern which I will show later. Anyway, I finished the cardigan, I finished my older son's scarf and then I had a housefull of holiday guests and things got crazy. We were running here and there and cooking and cleaning up. No knitting took place. So on Christmas Day this is all that I had done on the hat:

But the good news is that I could check with Chase, who is quite picky when it comes to fashion preferences, and ask his opinion on the colors, the striping, the size, etc. So he gave my pattern plan his thumbs up and a week later, when things slowed down on the homefront I did finish the hat just in time for him to wear it up to the mountain for snowboarding. Mission accomplished! I'll upload a finished photo later.

Knitted Scarf for Men

All of the knitters have been making up their versions of Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striping Scarf for gifts this holiday season. Since spotting the gorgeous scarf on his website last year, I printed out the pattern but set it aside as I had other more complicated knitting projects in the works. But in early December I thought that I needed something a bit more mindless to knit on cold evenings.

Instead of using two different colorways of self-striping Noro Silk Garden yarn, I selected only one in a fairly masculine colorway (Color #249)which mostly meant no pink or purple in it. I then chose another solid color yarn (charcoal gray) in similar weight and fiber content (Brown Sheep worsted which also has mohair in it)to use as the contrasting yarn. I made the pattern a bit narrower than Brooklyn Tweed's version and continued alternating every other row between the Noro and the Brown Sheep.

I was really happy with the results. It wasn't as bright and colorful as using two different striping Noro yarns, but I thought the striping Noro through the neutral Brown Sheep yarn was more subtle and appropriate for a guy to wear. The recipient was happy with it and so was I. I also helped my sister-in-law select her yarn colors to make versions for her son and daughter-in-law, and I also have another scarf going already in using two different Noro and Brown Sheep yarns. It's fun, easy, and addicting!

Here is the pattern for MY version of Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striping Scarf:

Materials: Noro Silk Garden yarn (silk, kid mohair, lambswool) - 2 skeins, and Brown Sheep worsted - 1 skein - in a complimentary color. (Using the Brown Sheep also makes the scarf more econoical than using 4 skeins of Noro as well)

Needles: I used a circular Addi Turbo in size US 8 (I use Addi's for nearly everything because I love the smoothness and how easily the yarn glides off the end)

Dimensions: Approx. 5 to 6 inches wide, and 6 feet in length. (The recipient loosely wrapped the scarf around his neck once, and let the ends hang just below his chest. It looked about right).

The scarf is worked over an odd number of stitches in 1 x 1 ribbing (knit 1, purl 1,etc.). This is great because it is reversible (both sides look the same), is rather thick, and lays flatly. I cast on 35 stitches using US 8 size needles. Start with the solid color (Brown Sheep) yarn, and knit two rows, slipping purl-wise (with yarn in back) at the BEGINNING of every row. This makes a nice neat edge on both sides of the scarf. Simply knit and purl across each row, turning and continuing back to the beginning side. Then switch colors and continue in two rows of each color until you have used up both skeins of Noro and the one skein of Brown Sheep, OR until it is long enough for you. You may block it if needed, but I found that simply rolling up the scarf when I was not working on it kept it in good shape.

Enjoy! and share your photos if you try this version in different colorways. Obviously this would be just as appropriate for women using brighter and more feminine colors of both Noro and Brown Sheep.

More photos of other knitting projects to come soon!