Crafty Pancakes

A little bit of prison and yarn

Have you ever been in a taxi and honestly thought that you might not make it out alive? That happened to me three times over Memorial Day weekend. At the last minute we decided to take a road trip to a place where you actually give money to a man doing this...

Escape Man was in a straight jacket and also wrapped in chains in the middle of the cable car turn around. We all watched him as he worked his street performer magic and then shelled out a couple bucks as he went around with his smelly hat. It was pretty amusing to say the least.

I really like San Francisco. The city is fascinating to me and the touristy stuff is always fun. I think we all liked Alcatraz the most. My second favorite thing was finding this at Boudin Bakery...

A sourdough turtle! I am absolutely crazy about turtles so this find was a lot of fun for me. I also found a store called Fairyland at Pier 39 where I bought a picture by one of my favorite artists, Amy Brown.  It was such a great trip. I wish we could have stayed a few more days. The only thing I didn't like were those crazy taxi rides! Honestly, I'm surprised I lived to blog about it.

One of the things that I found very interesting at Alcatraz (my family didn't understand why) was this little tidbit of information...

Hard to imagine some of the most hardened criminals in the United States knitting and crocheting. I don't know how comfortable I am with having the same hobby as Alcatraz inmates. Or does that make it cooler somehow? Maybe knitting is for bad girls.

The trip ended with Jeff having gas. Literally. At our last stop for gas on the way home he put the hose into the tank and it disconnected at the top of the pump area. Gas came pouring down like a shower... but this one was incredibly strong smelling, burns your eyes and was flammable. Nice. It was a lovely car ride the rest of the way home.

As a welcome home surprise today I received my yarn and needle set for the KAL...

I tried to capture the true hotness of the pink and this one doesn't even do it. It is really hot pink. The kind of pink that is obnoxious and reminds me of old lady lipstick. Maybe it will make a cute top though... wishful thinking. You'll sure see when it's done. I have tomorrow to come to terms with the pinkness and then it hits the needles on the 1st. 

I might be onto something

Who would have thought that all I had to do was complain about the May Gray and then voila, sun! I wonder if I can just start complaining about things and then have them magically go my way?...Hmm. Doubtful but I'll give it a try for another day or two.  So... it's too cool outside for me and I need it to be at least 75. Let's see what happens tomorrow with that one.

Well I did indeed figure out my next knitting project and joined the Summertime Tunic KAL. When I first saw it in the current issue of Interweave Knits a while back I thought it looked fun and something that I would actually wear so I went for it. I even ordered the yarn. I wanted to use the suggested yarn in lilac but can't get my hands on it. Instead I went with a cheap substitute from Knit Picks. They only had two colors available yesterday so I bought the fiesta pink. I have read on a couple of blogs that it needs to be knit in a smaller size than you wear because it knits up a little bigger and baggier than most people are expecting. Should be a fast and fun project. Along with the yarn I also bought the Options Needle Set.  The KAL kicks off on June 1st so hopefully it won't take too long to get the package. It will be a great summer top.

Speaking of summer... I decided I need to stay busy while my son is away visiting his dad in Oregon for a few weeks after school gets out. It's funny how I always wish for kid free time but when I have it I miss him so much. I will be spending the week of 4th of July in Hawaii. I have always wanted to visit the Big Island and see  Hawaii Volcanoes National Park so I am really looking forward to the trip. I'll be staying at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. If anyone has been there please let me know how you liked it. The reviews seem great but you never know until you get there. After I get back I will have one day to do laundry and then I'll be back on another plane to head off to visit my best girl friend in South East Washington state. It will be a busy but fun couple of weeks. Now that I have a bikini wearing ordeal ahead of me I had to officially kick off the "get my ass back in shape 6 week bootcamp" today. Oh how I already hate it. I wish the 15 lbs would drop off by eating Ding Dongs! Ooh.. maybe I'll use that as tomorrow's official complaint.

Now I'm off to do some creative thinking about what to do with this absolutely gorgeous piece of fusing glass...

Excuses, excuses

No crafting going on yet. I think I need the sun to come out and give me some energy. This May Gray is sucking the life out of me. I do however have a food recommendation if you are in the area. I had heard about a new burger joint about an hour North of me in Long Beach called Cisco Burger and I finally checked it out last night. It's owned by Jesse James of West Coast Choppers fame and his wife, actress Sandra Bullock. They use 100% Kobe beef and all the produce and dairy is organic. The diner is also completely run on solar power. It was nice to see that the place is so eco-friendly and the burger was good. Very small menu, huge portions, small diner atmosphere, low prices... worth the trip if you don't mind being in a run down part of Long Beach. My son thought it was pretty cool due to the Jesse James thing. Also, it is right by West Coast Choppers which was fun to see.

Not much else has been going on here in the good ol' OC. I went to the San Clemente Pier on Sunday. I would imagine that on a warm sunny day during the summer this place would be really fun. I went on a cold cloudy early evening and it sucked. It also didn't help that the water looked like this...

We have the lovely red tide going on here in south Orange County. Yuck. Kinda takes the fun right out of the beach unless you are into rust colored water.

Time to read some blogs and get some inspiration and ideas for the next project on the needles. I think I feel socks on the horizon.

Ready.. Set.. Craft!

Oh my gosh.. How many times can I start up this silly blog?! A big thanks to all of you who wondered why I had disappeared again. Let's just say it's been a time of enormous change. I'm now coming to you from Southern Orange County. Selling a house and moving is one of the biggest stresses and I'm happy to finally be all settled in up here. One of the great things about the new house is just behind these doors...

I have my own crafty room now!  Finally, a permanent place for my charity quilting and other sewing adventures. Here is where the post gets a little picture heavy. But you want to see it all... right?

excuse the wonky colors in this one

I think I have enough fabric to lock myself in there and make quilts for the rest of 2007. I also have enough fabric to make a few hundred baby sleepers. If I start talking about going fabric shopping please do an intervention.

It's nice to finally have all my knitting books in one place instead of scattered around the house.

Now what you are about to see behind these closet doors could frighten and offend some of you knitters out there...

Are you ready? It's cubes of acrylic! You have to be understanding about the situation.. it's for baby charities.

 

 

Yes, that is an Ashford Joy spinning wheel in it's carrying case on top of two tubs of fiber. And yes, I've had it for almost two years and still haven't used it. That is an awful thing to admit. I don't even remember how to use the wheel anymore! Here's the good stuff...

Oh yeah, I even have my own knitting nook in the master bedroom retreat...

So I'm organized and ready to go! No more excuses!