You see, technically it started on Tuesday night…

Risa and I met up to knit for a little while before meeting Nova and Steph and heading over to the restaurant (the fabulous Khan Toke Thai House) to meet Rangsiwan and Vanessa.

In our cozy dining room!

Over a delicious five-course meal, the six of us shared numerous stories and upcoming plans.  Minutes turned in to hours and the night slipped away…

Going home, we made elaborate plans for the next day… plans that spanned the San Francisco Bay even! We started early with a yummy breakfast at Stacks in Hayes Valley and a little photo shoot with the sculpture in the park across the street.  We formulated a plan, and jumped into Rangsiwan’s sweet ride and headed over the Bay Bridge to visit an amazing little shop in Berkeley:  Stonemountain and Daughter.  It is primarily a fabric shop, but they had quite a beautiful supply of notions and even some yarn for knitters too.

The store name button mosaic

I spent a long time looking at buttons. There were hundreds to choose from, and I was looking for something special for my Moldova Coat… and I found a couple of choices, so I got them both! (and a few other pretties too for future cardigans and pullovers.)

Everyone else came away with lovely fabrics and elaborate plans for quilts and garments.  I really can’t wait to see what comes of all of the lovely inspirations!  One day, I would love to devote more time to sewing (and this would be such a great place to go for all of that inspiration!) but I feel like knitting and weaving are keeping me busy now.

We drove through Berkeley and headed back to Oakland towards the storied Article Pract store:  the shop’s reputation proceeded it, and it lived up 100%.  Especially when I saw their sale room with 40% off bagged yarn… I picked up 2 bags and the new Vogue.  Evidently I was in a tweed frame of mind… Rowan Summer Tweed and Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed came home with me! (click for photos).

The Bay Area had higher than average temperatures last wee, so we were all looking for some refreshment.  We headed back to San Francisco and went to the MIssion neighborhood, anticipating our next yarn shop stop at Imagiknit… but first, we needed some sustenance.

Aloe Juice at Samovar (I want to find a recipe for this!)

Once we cooled off and filled our bellies, we were ready for more yarn shopping/browsing.  We walked across the street to Imagiknit… we all seemed to have agendas to look at yarn, books, magazines, and in my case, the sales wall.  I am happy to report that they had an amazing selection of sale yarns. In fact, the owner Allison was begging us to help her make some room for all of the new autumn yarns that were sitting on boxes on the floor.  I did my best to oblige.

Rangsiwan, Steph, and Risa picked up a few things too…

The shop has such an amazing selection of yarns and such a great space - everything is so well-lit and the people are very friendly.  My basket was filled a few times as my eyes tended to gravitate towards all of the pretty colors with no real plan for patterns.  So, I pulled out a little list that I made earlier when consulting some patterns on Ravelry.  So, I got 3 bunches of yarn that will make some great things.

Hemp for Knitting Hempwol - also Kraemer Tatamy Tweed and EL Silky Flammé

And just when you think “how can they fit any more in?”  well, I told you we got an early start, so by the time we were finished with Imagiknit, it was still early afternoon.  We had plenty of time to spare… and after stopping by Tartine for a spot of tea and some knitting (Nova was craving one of their pastries) and we all agreed that it was photo time.  Everyone in the group is into Flickr as much as I am, and we wanted some fun shots to document our day.  We headed to a nearby high school and set up my camera and remote for the infamous JUMP shots!

(Risa, Steph, Nova +baby, Rangsiwan, and me in air!)

Jump shots are known to induce laughing fits, so if you attempt such things at home, BE READY!  We did about 6 of these, and this was the best one where we were all in the air.  Rangsiwan even went for the pirouette!  We also posed for some fun shots that Rangsiwan turned into clone shots on Flickr.

We headed north to Japantown to check out Kinokuniya’s craft books - so many great things (but I left empty handed, you may recall my little spree at the NYC location back in April) and then we ended the amazing day at the delicous Cafe Lettüs.  We were a tired bunch, but so happy.  I think we all had tired grins on our face as we said our good byes.

As I entered the elevator in my hotel, it became very obvious that I would need another bag to get all of the yarn home!  I sat in my room with that familiar “afterglow” feeling: amazing people and an amazing city!

…and lest you think it was fun and games all the time - this free day aside - I worked diligently for the rest of the week in my work conference.  I made some great connections with other archivists (a few knitting archivists even!) and attended some enlightening sessions that got me “fired” up about my own work at my institution. That is a good feeling.

One more post about SF coming - all knitting and art related!

Last year it was Chicago - this year it was San Francisco - Archivists really know how to live it up in some great cities!  This trip was a little “iffy” up until the week before, but after feeling great for two straight weeks, I felt that I could handle the travel.  I am so glad I made the trip!

San Francisco Bay Bridge

When I got in town last Saturday, I immediately headed down to the great farmers’ market at the Ferry Building.  I wanted to stock up on veggies and fruits for the week.   Californians don’t realize how great they have it with the whole fresh local food thing - I was amazed at the variety and the freshness of many of the fruits and nuts.

Before leaving Maryland, Risa and I planned to meet up at the market that afternoon… she and her husband, M, met me there  and we ended up spending an amazing day together!  We saw the parrots of Telegraph Hill (we heard them first!) and we had the blisters and sunburn to prove it!

(Risa and Martin - see her amazing Salina!)

We climbed huge hills, took loads of photos, and ate some delicious vegan foods at Herbivore. (I think they loved the food as much as I did and they aren’t even vegetarians!)  After a wonderful day, we made plans for the next day too…

I spent the majority of a beautiful Sunday indoors at the conference hotel looking at PowerPoint slides - but it wasn’t bad, actually.  I was in an archival cataloging seminar with two instructors from a large university’s manuscripts division.  We got to do some original cataloging on [facsimiles of] very cool documents:  seventeenth-century English poetry papers, an American Civil War diary, and even a early modern French marriage contract.

After my seminar, I met up with R and M again for Indian food and a night walk in Union Square.

After all that fun, I did some penance by sitting in a stuffy office building learning about XML for the next two days… but I did have some fun activities after hours…  I met two other knitting archivists in my class, and we decided to head to ArtFibers after class.  Oh my.

An amazing shop with SO many beautiful and unique yarns - and sample swatches for EACH one!  As you can imagine, it was quite difficult to make a decision… Abigail, one of the other archivists, came away with a beautiful lace weight wool/silk blend.  After a whole back and forth between four of five different cones,  I decided to get some very pretty nylon paper yarn, Origami.

Perhaps for the eponymous Origami Wrap Sweater? [Rav link]

I ended the first three days with a delicious Ethiopian dinner with a great friend - it was so great to see Leslie again!  We met up last time I was in San Francisco (in 2006) and this time we had a camera to document our meetup, and our knitting in hand.  I got to meet her beautiful family (+Ollie) and we talked yarn and politics late into the evening.

…much more to come…

Tomorrow morning, I will be heading to the west coast for an archivists conference in San Francisco.  These work conferences are a time to mix business and pleasure - especially when events are planned in such a fun city.  I have a whole load of vegan/raw restaurants to sample, as well as some exhibits/shows I want to check out at museums and galleries.  I even found a yoga studio near my hotel that looks like a nice treat.  Meeting friends, touring… and oh yeah - by complete coincidence, I swear - my hotel is only a few blocks down from ArtFibers - on the same street even!  So, I have all of those things to look forward to on top of the titillating discussion about metadata, cataloging, preservation, and archival processing :) 

This is a photo from our (brief) November 2006 trip to SF, and I am looking forward to seeing the city through my (better) camera this time around…  and no, unfortunately my camera lens is not as big as that telescope up on Twin Peaks.    (Funny, I barely recognize myself with the long hair!)

California has made the family news lately too:  my brother-in-law got into graduate school, and he and my sister will be moving to the Monterey area next spring.  So, the bi-coastal thing may be happening more often in the coming years… something to look forward to!

Have a lovely weekend/week, all!  

My absolute favorite thing about summer is the garden harvest - whether the fruits and vegetables are from our garden, or a local farmers’ fields. Amazingly fresh and delicious. There is nothing quite as rewarding as picking a vegetable in the backyard and eating it soon afterward.

We are entering the high harvest season right now in Maryland. Each day, we have new things to pick in the garden. Today, we had our first large tomato - an heirloom “Cherokee” variety. Also had a half dozen cherry tomatoes and jalapeños, a zucchini and an okra. I could have picked a few more things, but as you can see, my hands we full! Tomorrow, we should have another tomato, an eggplant or two and a cucumber.

Last week, we harvested our first giant - an heirloom Amish squash, that is about the size of a basketball… maybe even bigger! Much like a pumpkin, this squash is yellow/orange inside and relatively easy to cut into pieces. We found a good recipe for pumpkin curry, and used it as a guideline for seasoning (we can’t get enough Indian in this house) - we wanted to try it on the grill.

Pumpkin Curry - modified for the grill

2/3 c oil
2 medium sized onions
1/2 t cumin seeds
3 1/2 cups diced pumpkin
1 t finely chopped ginger
1 t crushed garlic
1 diced jalapeno (you can sub red pepper)
1/2 t salt
1/4 c water (can spritz more if it is too dry)

Combine the seasonings with the oil in a bowl and add to the diced vegetables. If you have a grill skillet, it really adds to the flavor! Depending on the ripeness of your pumpkin, it can take a little while to cook. Check often with a fork until the pumpkin is tender enough to eat. Ours took about 20-25 minutes on the charcoal grill. You could easily adapt this back to indoor stove top cooking by adding more water to the recipe.

Serve over brown rice.

What are you enjoying this season? How is your garden growing?

Feeling an intense desire to start something new, I went through the stash last week and surveyed my options.  I reacquainted myself with some of the yarns, and I rediscovered something I already knew: I have a lot of options.  Too many.  So, I just kind of chose at random.  A yarn that has been the stash for over a year, but a new pattern that I picked up earlier in the summer…

I chose the lovely purple/red Peace Fleece that I got at the festival in 2007.  (The colorway is “Moldova Burgundy”, and while it does have a burgundy cast to it, I see it more as purple - perhaps it is more red in the sun?) For the pattern, I chose the  Crotona Coat, from the Berroco #281 collection.

I really like the asymmetry of this piece.  I haven’t picked up the buttons yet, which are a key element of the garment for me.  My heart is kind of set on wooden buttons to make this a more “rustic” piece.  It would sort of match the heathery wool…

I give you about 9 inches of seed stitch - knit exclusively this week during my Olympic viewing.  (Yes, I have been watching a lot of Olympic coverage…)  I decided to make the coat shorter than the pattern - probably skimming the hips.  I adjusted some of the pattern to work with this, but I think I may have a slightly more flared edition.  To avoid seaming seed stitch later, I am knitting the front panels and the back in one piece - 200+ stitches for the 40″ size.  Surprisingly, the seed stitch is going along quite well, and I haven’t felt that it is a slog at all.  In fact, it is quite relaxing - the rhythm of the stitches in and out.

…Now back to the Olympics and to endless seed stitch!