I’m LOVING all the contest entries! I love the confessional nature of some of them. I love when people share their stories. And for the record, G and I never celebrate Valentine’s Day. I can barely remember a present or a card even. We don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving – so VDay is really off the radar. Besides, we’re one of those couples you love to hate in that every day around here is VDay. We’re so in looooooooove. (Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me!)
More trip news! Firstly, let me just say that blogging can oftentimes feel like a job. Sure – sometimes it’s a fun job, but sometimes it’s not and don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy to come up with something on a fairly regular basis. I mean, I knit a lot – but I don’t knit THAT much. (Not that I’m really complaining, per se. I know full well that I have CHOSEN to do this. I could take it all down in a second but I would honestly miss it. Breaks are good. For the most part this blog has brought nothing but goodness into my life. THANK YOU for that.) Anyway, when I’m thinking ugh – I have to write something witty and funny and smart and take pretty pictures and knit something fabulous or I know no one will ever read my blog again – my faith in blogging is RESTORED!
I mean, how else would I have ever had the chance to hang out with SUCH fabulous people?! How else? So far now I’ve met bloggers in Maryland, New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, The Peninsula. I’ve met bloggers from Wisconsin, Utah, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Pennsylvania. Canada. I’ve met people in my own backyard that have become some of my favorite people in the world – all through this little blog. My trip out to the Central Coast of California was no exception. Or it’s called the Peninsula. Or South Bay. The area just south of San Francisco where all the computers companies reside. Near Stanford University. Seriously – this is THE fiber community. They’ve got like a million shops out there and everyone knows everyone and everyone (from what I could see) likes and RESPECTS everyone and the shops are all in on it with each other and they all carry really different yarns with almost NO overlap. I visited three stores (there are like a million more) and they were all very different in style and layout – but they were all equally warm and inviting and I would’ve been comfortable kicking up my heels and knitting for a while in any one of them.
My knitblogger adventure started Friday night. The incomparable Cookie picked me up and took me to dinner with Nathania, Jeni, and NO BLOG Hannah – who it turns out – is my long, lost twin. (GET OFF THE MYSPACE GIRL and grow up. Get yourself a BLOG!) I’m positive I laughed more than I ate and I was instantly comfortable with everyone. Which is saying a lot for people you’ve never met before (or met for just a little while – DUDES! I was at Nathania’s Bridal Shower!)
After dinner, we walked a few blocks to a coffee shop and hooked up with Kristi, Jocelyn, Freecia, Lu, Lisa, who came out with her gorgeous 2wk old son that seriously made my ovaries ache, Linda and Jill.
We ended up moving to a crepe place a couple doors down because the first place couldn’t accomodate us and we preceded to get thrown out of the crepe place. We’re so bad. HAHAHAHA! No, really, they wanted to close. So then we stood in the street because we could NOT STOP YAPPING. Nathania’s got a picture of us!
The next day, Nona picked me up and we headed out for a yarn crawl with Cookie and Kristi! I was really excited to hang with Nona – I’ve long been a fan of her blog and her new swatch project is INSPIRED! What she can do with a log cabin square just stirs my heart. Our first stop was Full Thread Ahead where Hollis, the owner, was super generous and let us into the Secret Stitches Stash where I picked out the most beautiful yarn I’ve ever seen!
Have you ever? It’s HandMaiden Sea Silk in the Straw colorway (such a pedestrian name!), but let’s be honest here – that’s pure gold folks.
Everyone was in agreement that this was definitely MY COLOR and it was all I could do to stop smelling it and fondling it and generally behaving with it in a very unladylike way. Thank you Hollis! I will definitely use this yarn for something very, very special!
Our next stop was Uncommon Threads – and unfortunately I didn’t get to hang here long enough. The back table was a VERY inviting spot and it would’ve been a lot of fun to hang with the knitters I met back there. And they had fudge. What more could you ask for?
We rushed out of Uncommon Threads so we could get to Purlescence before it closed. Another VERY fine knitting shop! I couldn’t leave empty-handed two stores in a row, so I picked up some Louet Gems and Claudia’s Handpainted for some potential Anemoi Mittens!
I’m thinking of a stained glass effect. We’ll see. After we closed down Purlescence, Kristi, Cookie, Nona and I did what knitters do best – we hung out and knit! Some delicious local flavor and fantastic conversation was the end to a perfect knitty couple of days.
I can’t thank you all enough for taking time out of your busy lives to spend time with me! It was a blast and I loved knitting and talking and hanging with all of you! Anytime you’re in my neighborhood – SHOUT! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Next up tomorrow…. A LEGEND is revealed!
As soon as my yarn diet is done, that Sea Silk is mine, too. I love that stuff but have a mountain of yarn to knit up, first.
I’m with you on the V-day love stuff. It’s rather anti-climatic around here, since every day is romance day. We’re not over the top, but the sweetness is an ongoing thing like it should be, I think.
Isn’t Cookie great? I met her when she was down here in LA for her Knitty Gritty taping. Hopefully you didn’t manage to get tomatillo sauce all over her friend like I did…
My BF and I are also non Valentines day supporters. We love and laugh every single day, why single one out?
I have two skeins of the Straw. The name and the color make me think of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale.
That Sea Silk is GORGEOUS!
That Straw was spun by Rumpelstiltskin, no doubt. What a fun trip!
OMG, The Sea Silk is GORGEOUS!!!!! Me must have some.
Oh wow! Those in stained glass would be awesome beyond belief!!!!
Friday night really was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I don’t get out of the shop to hang with my friends and knit as much as I’d like to. I think I’ll do it more now. Come back and visit again soon!
I smelled Sea Silk for the first time this weekend and came thisclose to buying some of it to keep smelling. I got some Claudia’s Handpainted this weekend, too, gotta love knitting festivals!
We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day either. I make us a nicer dinner than usual. That’s about it. Why should my husband feel pressured to buy me something on February 14th when he treats me like a queen every day?
What an amazing time you had on your trip, and yes, spun gold, that yarn is gorgeous, beyond gorgeous. As I wrote in my comment yesterday, we don’t ‘do’ V-day, for the same reason you two don’t. Just not necessary because every day is a sweetheart day.
Three words: envy, envy, envy.
Looks like you had a blast. I must meet Cookie in person one day. She actually sent me my FIRST dyes to use when I started dyeing over a year ago.
Be still my heart! The SeaSilk is stunning!
It was awesome hanging out with you, and I can’t wait to see what you do with that gold. It’s going to look like a million bucks!
Sounds like an amazing couple of days!
Ha! It’s funny to start reading your post today and find your first paragraph perfectly echoing the comment I left on yesterday’s post!
“I have to write something witty and funny and smart and take pretty pictures and knit something fabulous or I know no one will ever read my blog again”: pfffff! Are you able to believe yourself for more than a nanosecond when you have such thoughts???
The something special you’ll make out of the SeaSilk will indeed be very very special, that’s for sure! How could it not be with such a yarn? And your Anemoi Mittens will look fantastic with such an interesting color combo!
You will LOVE the sea silk………trust me.
Looks like you had a great time!
beautiful yarn! just stunning! glad you had such a fun time!! go bloggers 😉
I recently bought some Straw too and was thinking about knitting the Casino shawl with it. And strangely enough, I was just thinking about knitting Endpaper Mitts with some reddish variegated Koigu and some black for the background for the stained glass effect! Very cool idea. I can’t wait to see yours!
What a fabulous trip! 🙂 I was in the Bay area last year, but didn’t make it to any of those shops. I already want to go back though! Sounds like it was great. That Cara sure gets around! 🙂
We had a blast — and we miss you! For now, we’ll hang with your “twin” to get a small Cara fix … 🙂
Confidential to Hannah if she sees this: “Thank. Youuuuuu.”
Wow, so much fun was had! And I’m completely jealous of that gold seasilk! Must. Get. Some. Let us know when you’re out on the Left Coast again!
Ooooo, pretty Seasilk. If I knew you bought that, I’d have asked you to take it out at Purlescence on Saturday. Dang. I’m going to have to go to FTA soon. Can’t wait to see the Anemoi Mittens!
wow, that sea silk looks like beautiful hanks of gorgeous blond hair. barbie would be jealous!
Sounds like such a great time. How nice it was for you to be able to meet up with fellow bloggers and they take you in like one of the family.
Hi January One,
Long time reader (well 3 months now), first time commenter. I just wanted to say that I’m so glad you loved my hometown. I grew up in the South Bay and live in the East Bay. When I read that you were going there I was so excited I almost commented at that point, but you had already headed off. Anyway, glad you had a great time. Next time you are in town, you should check out Knitting Arts in Saratoga. They have an awesome selection as well. I love Purlescence! They just opened up and are the closest yarn store yet to my parents’ home in San Jose.
I think I just pissed myself when I saw that yarn – WOW!
the sea silk is phenomenal. i am using some right now to knit eunny’s print o the waves shawl for my mamma. your account of the central california coast makes me yearn to jump in the car and head up the 101…maybe in the spring after the beans arrive….hmmm.
I have one skein of that straw sea silk, and as soon as I saw it I thought exactly what Carrie did: it’s the straw spun into gold by Rumplestiltskin. It is so gorgeous I can’t believe it. I’m so jealous of your FOUR skeins!
Gee, I’m surprised Lola didn’t beat me to it. She’s coming out for a visit in March and we are going on a yarn crawl of sorts (one day to Philly, the next to NYC). If you can recommend any place to shop or lunch, we would appreciate it immensely.
The Sea Silk is gorgeous . . . it reminds me of Rumplestiltskin (and I think he gets a bum rap, by the way). Can’t wait to see what you turn your “straw” into.
I know exactly what you mean about the fiber and the blog.
I have 3 beautiful skeins of the Straw colorway. I looked at the others, but kept coming back to this creamy spun-gold treasure.
The blog? It’s a wonderful way to connect with a community of like-minded folks wherever you go! I’ve made acquaintances across North America, into The Netherlands and even Norway. I love it!
cant wait to have a knit nite or yarn crawl 🙂 (I will touch the Hand Maiden Sea Silk…)
oh and even moreso… can’t wait to see those mittens!
That seasilk looks heavenly!
It sounds like a perfect trip – so many fun and inspired knitters all in one place! The seasilk is glorious!
BTW, the photos in your previous post of you and G are adorable.
uh, near stanford university? i think you mean “relatively near the university of california, berkeley.” 😉
That Sea Silk is absolutely gorgeous. Wow! What a color. So happy you had fun in my home state. Those pictures of your and G are be-yond. What a beautiful coupla people you are.
Um…I don’t know where to put this, but Ithink the worst Valentine’s Day I ever had was with my most recent ex, who always gave me car parts for all major gift-giving holidays. Yay.
But the best breakup I’ve ever had is when I was skiing with my boyfriend at the time, and he didn’t listen when I said I was a beginner (meaning this was my 2nd time on skis, and the first time I was 5) and tried to take me down a black diamond. (Or something along those lines that means “omigod, is this hill STRAIGHT DOWN??”)
So I try to get off the ski lift at the top, thinking “I’ll give it a shot, and if all else fails, I can sit on my skis and slide down, and that should be fun, right?” Um, no.
I caught the tip of my ski coming off the chair lift, my boyfriend had already started down the hill, I flipped myself face first into a ROCK (requiring rhinoplasty at the ripe ol’ age of 19, lucky me) and split the seat of my pants open. Wide open. For all those disembarking the very full ski lift to see. Hooray!
So the hot ski patrol men come and get me on their dandy little sled thing and take me to the infirmary, where they joke around and generally take my mind off the fact I have frostbite on my tookus and a busted face..until I start wondering where my man has gone.
Turns out, one of the patrol guys saw him ski down the mountain, get out of his gear, straight into his truck and take off.
So I caught a ride to the hospital with the ski patrol guy, who I dated for almost a year.
The end! 🙂
MMMMMMMMMMMMM. I needs me a shawl out of some sea silk. It’s gorgeous!
S and I just celebrated our first Valentine’s Day together (literally!). He flew up, we had dinner, he went to the airport.
Aahh Cara. You sound happy – that is great news!
Bloggy meetups are the best. 🙂 It makes me happy every time- how it is not weird at all!
That seasilk is just gorgeous- 4 skeins! What to do with it? Or is it too good to knit? hehe
I’m an old fart, and I have had about 33 valentine’s days with froggy (DH big time) and I also have 3 skeins of that phenomenal color of seasilk (grabbed a few months ago at Knitty City here in the Big Apple) – can’t wait to see what all of us are gonna do with it!
have a happy heart day,
xx
mhv
It sounds like you dah a fabuloso time! And OMG the Sea Silk is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Ever. (For the moment.) 🙂
i love your new yarn purchases. they are gorgeous in the pictures. i am sure that they are better in person.
See, knew I wasn’t a cynic. I love hubby too and every day is a treat. So, even if I don’t have a sappy or horror story submitted, I don’t need a card or flower on one day…I get them all the time. Good for you and G, Cara. Enjoy loving your man…everyday.
Those mittens are going to be wonderful! I love the stained-glass idea.
I have one skein of Straw that I’m saving for something very special. No idea what, just yet, but it’s going to have to be worthy of that wonderful color. It looks like you have enough to make a shawl… I’ll be very excited to see what project you choose. 🙂
Hey Cara. I was far too jealous over the Sea Silk to comment yesterday, but found this via my friendly neighbourhood kidlit blogger this morning and thought you might be interested. don’t want to make you change your mind about seeing the film, but this seriously makes me want to read the book even more.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702110328
My husband has never cared for Valentine’s Day; he always tells me that “actions speak louder than words.” Despite his feelings about the “Hallmark Holiday” he always sends me flowers. This year is different. At Christmas a neighbor put up thousands of lights and close to 20 gigantic inflatable decorations all over his lawn. I joked that I wanted to decorate our yard the same way next year, because I certainly didn’t want our house to be the least festive on the block! I really was joking – we’re Jewish and don’t decorate the house at Christmas, anyway. This morning I woke up and looked out the window to determine whether I had to go to work because of the snow storm and I see my husband – inflating gigantic plastic heart and cupid shapes. My dear husband, and a few neighborhood kids who didn’t have to go to school today, had been outside inflating the decorations and building snow mountains since early morning. There were flowers at my desk when I got to work. I LOVE that man!!!
That sea silk is breathtaking!
I’m so jealous of all the fab people you met!
Thanks so much for the kind words and for stopping by the store. I can’t wait to see what you make with the SeaSilk. It was great meeting you. I’m sorry I didn’t get to join you for any of the social events, I’ll look forward to spending more time with you next visit ;}.
c bebe ~ i <3 you so much.
http://hannahbee23.blogspot.com/
yesssssssssssss… a blog. it’s a lot of work. 🙂
when are you coming back to the peninsula? EPA (EAST PALO ALTO) … nice.
c bebe ~ i heart you so much.
http://hannahbee23.blogspot.com/
yesssssssssssss… a blog. it’s a lot of work. 🙂
when are you coming back to the peninsula? EPA (EAST PALO ALTO) … nice.