Interesting day with *knitting content*!!

We decided to spend this, the last full day of our trip catching up on one or two places we've not reached so far and intended to set out from our hip, happening hotel (where most of the guests are as hip and happening as ourselves, i.e. not really!) and meet Mary somewhere midtown.

Sadly, the parking valets had other ideas. They'd lost our car.

OK, it's a hire car, there were none of our possessions in it (except for a treasured and personalised Thomas Guide to Los Angeles with markings on for all our favourite places), so we could afford to be relaxed.

But we were not. How could these people be so hopeless at their job as to give our car to someone else? How could someone else be so foolish as to drive away a car which wasn't theirs?

We harrumphed and made it clear that we were not amused, in our very British way (!) and made alternative arrangements for Mary to come over to Santa Monica and collect us. Bless her. In the meantime, we explained that they should find our car. Preferably before tomorrow, when it needs to be returned to LAX when we fly home.

We made our way to Wildfiber which, over the years we've been coming here, has transformed itself from a surface design emporium to a knitting store. It's an exciting place to explore and the stock is extremely interesting. We had a fun hour or so there and of course, made a purchase or two.

Together with a restock of some needles, I decided I needed to try some Toefutsies Chitin yarn. To quote from the label: "Chitin is fiber from shrimp and crab shells! It's naturally antibacterial!" How appropriate to bring this one home from the beach.

I think that my good friend Sue of the Magic Armchair has used this yarn, probably bought from Get Knitted? But hey, I get to carry mine a few thousand miles

Incidentally, when we got back to the hotel tonight, there was a voicemail to say they'd "found" our car. No further details. We have been out to dinner with friends and haven't checked yet, though!

The good life

Enjoying our breakfast in Santa Monica this morning, we were amused by the bottles of wine on sale - though we preferred to stick to cafe latte and camomile tea ourselves.

Highlight of the day was a visit to Paper Source in Beverly Hills, in search of the small bone fasteners for a couple of books I have in mind. As we enjoyed mooching along Rodeo Drive (as you do) we spotted a bit of a hoo-hah outside Cartier and soon realised that this was a "celebrity moment".

 

Who was inside? Several people asked us, but we had to admit that we had no idea. Still, it didn't stop us doing the rubber necking bit ourselves and we hung around a while to see.
 
Eventually the curiosity got the better of me and I crossed the road and asked one of the paparazzi who explained it was Eva Longoria - adding "of Desperate Housewives" when he saw my blank face.
 
We moved on.

(See here for the results of the paparazzi ambush on Cartier)

Sorry, no yarn today, Jordi. We stopped by Wildfiber but they're closed on a Monday. The Margaritas nearby are good though.

Good to be back

We've been coming to Los Angeles for some years now and one thing is guaranteed - the buzz we get when we return to Santa Monica, in particular the first walk down Third Street Promenade when it feels as though we'd never been away.

We are Gehry fans and love the Disney Concert Hall downtown. We found it fascinating to learn that Santa Monica Place is another Gehry building -designed before he entered his wavy metal period!

We spent this morning browsing South Pasadena, where Zinnia called. Interesting and friendly store with an eclectic stock - the kind of thing that needs restraint before buying. Some interesting classes on offer too.

Came back via the San Raphael Bead Company and Mary's apartment where I spent a while captivated by the Food Network! Dinner tonight was with friends Kevin and David at Genghis Cohen...great name, isn't it?

Connected again

No blog posts for a while as we were in a communications desert - no email, no cellphones. But what we lacked in technology, nature more than made up for in so many ways.

 

This is where we have spent the last few days. Elizabeth's house on the coast north of San Francisco is simply breathtaking and was ours for a short time as we chilled with our great friend Mary.

 

We loved the wildlife, quite literally on our doorstep in some cases, in others just around the corner, over the edge so to say.

 

We walked, talked and tried to fly kites in the brisk sea breeze.

We began the Mobius knitting project, though I decided to call a halt after a few inches and wait for a larger needle. Mary's is going well though, in spite of a few wobbles early on.

We drove out to Mendocino, then via long and tortuous road with many a winding curve, leading to nausea as well as to Healdsburg and the wine country. But mostly we simply enjoyed being in the most magnificent house in stunning surroundings.

No cellphone? No internet? No matter!!

Happened to be passing, so we dropped in

Way back in the Compuserve days, when several of us were chatting via the Bernina forum, I "met" Sue Yannone of Sue's Sewing Palace, Helena MT. Actually I really did get to meet her at a Knitting and Stitching Show when she very kindly brought me a whole heap of resources for my 1630 machine which were unavailable in the UK. Since then, I have regarded Sue as my Bernina Guru and though, of late, I haven't been using my machine much, the occasional email has kept her in my thoughts.

So, when we found ourselves in Helena today, of course, we had to drop in. Sadly Sue wasn't there, but Carol telephoned her and we enjoyed a chat, which was great. I even offered her a transfer to Gloucestershire, but for some reason, she prefers Montana ;-)

Her store is indeed a palace with a huge stock of machines, notions and fabric. Not only that, but there's a service depot and the most amazing classroom. Sue, perhaps it's as well you're not a little nearer, for I fear I'd spend so long there, you'd never get rid of me!

We spent most of the morning at the Montana Capitol building, where once again, we were surprised at the unrestricted access we had, never mind the fact that no-one asked to look inside our bags or ask any other security questions. We found a grand interior with an interesting collection of paintings and stained glass, though sadly, the guide's commentary did not take into account our lack of Montana local history! Never mind - we enjoyed the tour and the subsequent tour of Helena itself.

Upon our return to Bozeman, however, I needed to get a pair of shoes repaired and whilst they were being done we browsed the main street where we'd been yesterday. Sure enough, the Yarn and Fiber company were open and able to supply a skein of Mountain Colours yarn for the next pair of socks. But also, next door, we found Reproduction Fabrics where Margo Krager, the owner, was on hand to share her enthusiasm for vintage fabrics. Not only that, but she told us of her longing to visit Manchester to visit mills and other remnants of the cotton industry. My own meagre knowledge was put to shame by her comprehensive textile history and I promised to share some details I have at home upon our return.

She also recommended "The Secret Life of Textiles" of which I had no previous knowledge, but clearly I should investigate further.

Her collection of vintage reproduction fabrics, shelved in chronological order was fascinating. We especially liked her range of indigo prints, formerly UK sourced but now made in South Africa. Due to weight restrictions I had to limit myself to a couple of small bags of samples, but there were many very tempting goodies on those shelves, I can tell you.

So, on to pick up my newly heeled sandals from the cobbler - but no ordinary cobbler this, for we are in cowboy country and the boots for sale in here were rather out of the ordinary. My little white Italian sandals looked a bit forlorn amongst the Western cowboy boots and leather chaps and saddles! But my, did they do a great job!