Teh Husband and I just got back from a few days traveling the Central Coast area of California. This was Jon's first visit to the area ever and my first in 20 years (how did I get old enough to be able to say that???), and it was a great couple of days. Hearst Castle was as over-the-top as I remembered, although admittedly my clearest memory from my youthful visit was of the indoor pool. I really, *really* want that pool. Please? I'll be good.....
Soooo shiny....poing......
Then it was on to Carmel, where we stayed 2 nights at this lovely inn. We pretty much took it easy, bumming around the inn and the town, and also spent some time at the terrific local aquarium. Strangely, I ate no seafood while staying 2 blocks from the sea, but while at Jack London's I did partake of an excellent chicken-fried steak which, to paraphrase Teh Husband, was not just a meal, but a commitment
Oh, and of course I had to stop by the the LYS! And if Jon tells you I dragged him there the minute we hit town, he's a liar! I waited at LEAST 45 minutes, which I think was pretty restrained considering that I was in danger of running out of travel yarn. Plus, I needed to support the local businesspeople, right? Of course I'm right! Anyway, the shop is a bit small but very cute, with a nice selection of popular yarn brands at fairly standard prices. The yarn is mostly arranged by colour, which looks gorgeous; a few types of yarn, like sock and baby yarns, were separated. I picked up two things: a skein of Noro Iro, to make a scarf to replace my much-mourned lost one:
Colours are much richer than they appear here, but it was raining, so whatever. Minutes after this picture was taken, the yarn was wound into a ball using the brash bedstead as a swift!
And some SWTC Tofutsies sock yarn, which is a fascinating blend of wool, cotton, soysilk, and chitin (from shrimp and crab shells). It smells really nifty and a little oceany!
Colour is pretty close on this one, a nice
raspberry combo.
I actually taught the woman in the shop how to pronounce "chitin" properly. Geek powers, activate!
On the way home yesterday we stopped of at Stitches West, since, y'know, it was on the way (uh huh, suuuuuure)(what? it was!). While there I, um, may have had one of those accidents you hear about where you trip and fall and swipe your credit card on the way down? Yeah, it was like that. There was just SO MUCH yarn and fiber and wheels and spindles and books and people and beautiful things and is that Jane Sowerby? and ooo shiny poing! And I think I got a touch overwhelmed by all the sensory input. I do know that I completely forgot to eat lunch, other than a (quite good, especially for a convention center) iced latte, and that it was a good thing that Jon had a book......I did (mostly) stick to my resolve to buy only things that I normally cannot get in person; the problem was that most of the items being sold fit into that category!!
I must say, I am not sorry I did not sign up for any classes--they were being held in curtained-off areas to one side of to market hall (at least the classes I saw were), and it seemed an awfully LOUD environment. I did peek in to a couple, and the instructors were doing their best, but the environment did seem conducive to learning too much.
The purchases shall be displayed in the fullness of time (ie tomorrow), but for now here's one of my favorite images from Carmel:
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