M*A*S*H, Sun and Yarn

It's hard to believe I was in sunny California only a week ago. That's the problem with having a few short days in the sunshine: it goes by in a flash! It was exceedingly lovely. We had perfect weather, ate lots of nice food, walked and hiked in the sunshine... all my favourite activities in one of my favourite places.

The day we left for L.A., we had to get up at 4:00am to drive to the city to get to the airport in time. We had breakfast before we left, then halfway through the flight, we both had a second breakfast, and by the time we arrived at 11:00am local time, we were ready for a third. Regular hobbits, that's us. We stopped at a cafe in Manhattan Beach that we've visited before and sat in the sunshine and had a meal: breakfast for the hubby (again) and a "Luigi Sandwich" for me (grilled zucchini, eggplant, provolone, pesto and tomatoes in toasted sourdough). And we managed to eat two more meals and many more snacks before the end of the day. Geez, that's what happens when you're awake for much longer than you're used to!

To my surprise, it was the hubby who suggested we stop in at a yarn shop. He had them bookmarked in his phone from previous visits, so we stopped in at Twist, Yarns of Intrigue in Manhattan Beach, where Cathy welcomed us with cups of tea, a soft couch for the hubby to sit and relax on, and plenty of beautiful yarns for me to fall in love with. I was gratified that she remembered me from a previous visit. "You had long hair before, didn't you?" she said. I am nothing if I am not memorable, it seems.

I walked away with two skeins of her hand dyed yarn. This is breathtaking skein of merino/bamboo superwash in a colourway called Vintage Denim. It's hard to photograph, but it has gorgeous silvery/blue/purple sheen:


This generous skein of 650 yards of alpaca sportweight was my favourite find. She dyed it in caramel browns with touches of red here and there. I have an idea of what I want to do with it... something drapey and luxurious to wear around my shoulders... daydreams, here I come...


I also managed to do some knitting while I was away. dkzack has been churning out several pairs of fingerless mitts, and I've been so jealous of them that I decided I needed a pair. I had started a pair of Straightforward Mitts before I left, and had nearly finished one while in L.A., but decided while waiting for our flight back at the airport that I didn't like the increases I'd used, and that I needed a longer cuff, and that I started the thumb gusset too early... Basically, it needed an entire re-do. I ripped back to the cuff, and spent the entire flight re-knitting it. I sewed in the ends today, and there you are: a one-gloved wonder:



In all, it was a good trip. We hiked through Malibu State Park and visited the site where M*A*S*H was filmed:


We hiked through Griffith Park:


We saw cool things:






We enjoyed the sunshine:


And now, we are home, with all the familiar things around us:


And that's not a bad thing at all...

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