Ventura to Napa Travelogue

It took us just over 6 hours to make the trek from Ventura to Napa. Actually, to Yountville, about 6 miles north of Napa. Searching online for a B&B, I found this railway inn, where the rooms are actual boxcars and cabooses (caboosi?) Ratings were good and I thought it would be a kick, so I booked a room for 2 nights. Great choice. The room is narrow but long, with skylights in the bedroom and bathroom, plus 2 bay windows to add space.And Yountville is wonderful - a small town with with several wonderful, high-end restaurants within a block of our hotel, including this bakery directly across the street, with the best chocolate croissants ever. We had breakfast from there this morning and intend to do the same tomorrow.

Our first stop today was an 'old faithful' geyser in Callistoga that erupts every 30-40 minutes. We weren't expecting much, but it turned out to be great. We had 30 minutes to wait for the next cycle, so we visited these guys - Tennessee fainting goats (they didn't while we were there), Jacob lamb with mama, and a four horned Jacob (daddy?). This guy loved having his head scratched but deserted me when someone else offered him a handful of grass.

Waiting for the geyser was peaceful (except for the woman on her cell phone, giving out her credit card number to her dressmaker so everyone in the area could hear. What an idiot.) After a couple of false alarms, we got the real thing. Over 60 feet into the air for 3-4 minutes. Lots of time to take lots of photos.

We chose our first winery because it has a tram up the hill and (we thought) had a restaurant on-site. We were wrong about the restaurant, but the tram was fun. Some great views and not too scary since it was only 15-20 feet off the ground most of the time. The tour was self-guided and included tastings of 5 different wines. It wasn't that interesting, although we liked viewing - and smelling - the oak barrels.

There are literally hundreds of wineries in the immediate area and they try to outdo each other with spectacular buildings, gardens, and 'extras'. The driveway at Sterling was flanked by trees, with vineyards on each side. Berringer winery is one of the oldest in Northern California. The main house, a gorgeous Victorian with beautiful stained glass windows that we really wanted to see, is undergoing renovations (we were bummed.) Since the next tour didn't start for over an hour, we settled for just wandering around the grounds. The 'leaning tree' was my favorite and there were some beautiful fountains and pieces of art in the gardens. Next stop, Chandon winery, had beautiful grounds and lots of artworks, including a foot bridge and these rock 'toad stools' (thinking stools?) that I loved. Chandon also didn't have a tour for over an hour, so we took our photos and moved along.

We've eaten incredibly well so far on this trip. On the way up, we stopped at Harris Ranch for lunch and had the best beef either of us has ever eaten. Lunch today was in St. Helena at 'Market' on Main St. The best crab cake and portobello mushroom sandwich ever. And the strawberry-cherry crisp? F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

Tomorrow we're taking a tour of Castello di Amorosa - the castle winery - before heading north to Ashland and Medford, where we'll have dinner with my sister, Teena, and her hubby, Mike. Looking forward to it!

Weaving Update

The bamboo/tencel shawl is done. I warped most of Friday and Saturday, finishing early Saturday evening. I'm thinking I should write a book about all the rookie mistakes I'm making and solutions to the problems I'm causing myself. I've definitely got enough material.

Like heddles. Most people probably make sure they have enough for a project before they start. Waaay too easy. The good news - I knew where to find directions to make temporary string heddles. The bad news? I needed 15-20 of them on three of the four harnesses. May I just say that it takes a long time - and causes severe strain to shoulder muscles and patience - to make and string that many 'temporary fixes'? (And the unevenness of the bottom knots? Big problem. Had to go back and fix each one of those.)

Finally started weaving Saturday night and all went well for awhile. I was happy with the texture of the fabric and the twill lines were at the 45 degree angle I was striving for. You know it couldn't last. I don't know if it was the bamboo/tencel threads or the way I tensioned the warp (exactly how the book said to do it . . . ) but I started having significant tension issues about half way through. By the end, I had fishing and cuckoo clock weights hanging from almost every warp bundle. Very attractive.

The shawl's pre-washed size is 16" wide by 52" long, excluding fringe. I love the colors and the texture. But for my next project? I'm going back to towels.

Hippo Birdies To Ewe!

Today is Marie's 23rd birthday. We started celebrating on Wednesday with Birthday, Part 1 - tickets to see Wicked at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. It was an incredible production, definitely a 'must see' if you're in the L.A. area. Today was Birthday, Part 2 - celebrating at Macaroni Grill with (most of) the family.

Birthday, Part 3 is a trip to Vegas with best-friend Jen to see Stomp. Happy birthday week, Marie!

A Totally Fiber Day

This morning, I knit on the log cabin blanket while getting my hair cut. In the afternoon, I measured two warp chains and started threading the loom for the bamboo/tencel shawl. And at spin night, I finished spinning 8 ounces of pin-drafted Gotland wool and decided what I'm going to do with it - Navajo-ply it and crochet a shawl to enter in this year's Ventura County Fair. A totally relaxing day.

Done Times Three

I finished the last towel and had them in the washing machine before noon. The one with chenille weft - the last one I did - is my favorite. So thick and soft. I'll definitely be doing more with cotton chenille. I still need to hem these (my least favorite part); I washed and dried them first so they could shrink up without pulling the hemming out of whack. Learned that lesson the hard way!

Now I Remember

Now I remember why I like weaving. It's very meditative - and fast - when you do it right. Before starting the second towel, I re-read portions of Deborah Chandler's book 'Learning to Weave'. Made a huge difference in how I'm weaving and the results I'm getting.

This afternoon, I spent just over an hour weaving and finished the second towel. (It's on the bottom roller.) And after teaching my crochet block-a-month class tonight, I started the third towel, using a brown 2-ply cotton instead of 8/4 carpet warp, and have it just over half done. The pattern on this towel will be three twill treadlings rather than the entire sampler like the first 2 towels.

For the fourth one, I'm planning to use a thick cotton chenille, just to see what happens. If things keep going as they have today, I should have these off the loom tomorrow afternoon. Hooray!

First Towel

I took the first towel off the loom last night. I probably should have waited until they were all done (I think I can get at least 3 off this warp) but I was anxious to see what it looked like and if I was going to like the finished texture.
Pre-washing, the towel measured 15" x 24.5". After a quick trip through the washer and dryer it's now 13" x 21.25". Not too bad, shrinkage-wise, for a 100% cotton fabric.
Some of the blocks are pretty cool looking - others, like the blue on the bottom left, are nothing special. But that's one reason for doing a sampler; finding patterns I like and can repeat on other projects.

I'm going to do one more towel using the same weft so we'll have a matching set. Then I think I'll change the weft to a thicker softball cotton for the third, just to see what happens. I want these done so I can play with the pretty bamboo.

Tech specs: Warp - 8/2 cotton carpet warp in navy, white and cream. Weft - 8/2 cotton carpet warp in navy and white. Pattern is from 'Weaving, A Handbook of the Fiber Arts' by Shirley E. Held

More Fiber

Dick and I headed for Santa Monica and the Contemporary Craft Fair this morning. It's one of my favorite art shows. They have a wide variety of mediums with hundreds of great vendors, including two members of my weaving guild, Deborah Jarchow (wonderful chenilles and a great teacher) and Regina Vorgang (gorgeous rugs). And it doesn't hurt that we had a coupon for two free admissions.

We wandered, ate lunch, and wandered some more, but ended up buying only one thing - fiber. Twelve-ounces of hand-dyed 50/50 bamboo-tencel warp from Teresa Ruch Designs of Portland, OR. Gorgeous stuff. Teresa had a plastic bin of these tucked away in a corner. She let me dump them all on the booth floor (it was her idea, honest!) so I could sort through them better. Fiber-junkie heaven. I finally settled on this teal/orange/purple colorway; I think it will make a great shawl with some stashed black 10/2 tencel for the weft .
My interest in the twill sampler had kinda stalled. Now I'm really motivated to get it off the Baby Wolf so I can start on this.

Not What We Planned

What we planned was to spend the day at the newly remodeled Huntington Library in San Marino. But when we got there, we discovered it was "free" day which required a time-stamped entry ticket - obtainable only in advance, of course. Dick had been looking forward to this trip for weeks; to say he was annoyed is an understatement.

Our backup plan, created on the fly, was a trip to Americana at Brand, the new open-air shopping/dining/living center in Glendale. We'd heard it was beautiful and it lived up to the promise, with dancing fountains, a trolley line (not operational today unfortunately), and lots of stores, restaurants and movie theaters on the ground level, with luxury apartments and condominiums on the upper levels.

We had lunch on the patio at Frida, a nice Mexican restaurant with a great mole sauce, then wandered around enjoying the weather, the ambiance, and the Eiffel Tower. And still got home in time for Dick to see a movie with Marie. Perfect!

Why?

My first thought when I saw this was: why would I want to?

(Why would I want to crochet some rocks? Get it? Yeah, it's silly.)

Lazy Daze

In my next life, I want to be a spoiled house cat.

Oreo, catching a few rays.

AJ's favorite spot is smack in the middle of the front window.
Great for keeping track of who's coming and going.

And Snickers, sound asleep under a blanket.

Can you tell these three like their comforts?