California Thoughts

Adding my thoughts to the many, many upon the passing of Bill Cunningham.  I can't seem to shake the feeling that I have lost a beacon, someone whose very existence made my life better...

It's been a few days since we returned from our week in Sacramento.  I am still adjusting.  It is amazing how physical surroundings, perceptions of time and the lack of life "markers" can both disorient and sensitize.  We did a lot last week, including driving to San Francisco and Napa Valley.  We visited an olive farm with row after row of glorious olive trees, bee hives and the busiest fig tree ever, a converted pottery factory now serving as studios and living spaces for artists, a converted gallery space and the newly reopened San Francisco Museum of Modern Art where I was surprised by an early Frida Kahlo painting of Diego and herself.  The painting is surprisingly tender and hopeful and she presents herself with incredibly tiny feet as though she were a child and Diego was her protector.  Do all women go through that phase or affectation?  We ate high end (Gary Danko's) and low end (In n Out burgers).  Needless to say, we ate a lot.

But the highlight of the trip for me were three local yarn shops in Sacramento, Fair Oaks and Chico where I reveled in the colors, gauges, textures, blends.  Living in New York, you would think that there are unending choices in yarn sources.  Perhaps if I were amenable to traveling to Brooklyn I could count a good number of local yarn stores.  But in reality the number of yarn shops per capita have actually diminished over time and their offerings are often limited.  So you can imagine my thrill at discovering Rumpulstiltskin, Babetta's and Heartstrings Yarns.  My stash has swollen as a result including my first purchase of Swan's Island which I am dying to knit once it gets a little cooler.  I am knitting another stash addition - Juniper Moon's Zooey (a blend of cotton and linen in a great bluish grey which is perfect for the summer) - the pattern is Nouri by Carol Feller from Pom Pom quarterly.  My gauge was all off in my first and second try so I had to undo hours of work but after going down one size and changing needles it seems to be fine.  I am fascinated with the unique potential in summer weight yarns especially in the textures and feel of linens.

Maybe wallowing in mountains of yarn is my defense to life.

- Chee Mee