(no subject)
Barium sulfate suspension = the worst "smoothie" i've ever had in my life. what's even worse than that? that i have to drink another one of those in the morning. the artificial banana flavouring so isn't helping any. *gaggagag*
My insides feel like they're getting all warm, but not in a good way.
***
The Sounds show on Monday was awesome. :)
While Em stood in line for willcall for our tickets, I saw lead singer Maja and some chick leave the venue and go onto the tour bus. When they came off it, I had my camera in hand, ready to ask for a pic. But yeah, I didn't ask for one, here's why: As I slowly made my way over, Maja dropped her water bottle by accident, yelled out "oh fucking shit@!@!" and kicked the bottle under the bus. Yeah, that would have been the perfect opportunity to ask for a pic!!! Get my ass kicked or just be quiet? Hmm.
So seeing that fiasco more than made up for not standing front row. Eh, it's cool. I'm starting to get jaded about having to always be front row any way. Could that be a sign that I'm getting old? ;)
I remember The Amy had warned me about second opening act Morningwood. That still didn't prepare me for them. Damn, that lead singer said some FOUL things. Whatever came out of her mouth was so FOUL, that even I'm blushing from remembering it. I ended up liking them a lot, and I bought their cd.
The Amy - They played Fire~! during the encore. :)
I wish they had kept "Goodbye Seventies" for this new tour. My only gripe for an otherwise bad-ass show!
I can never ever get sick of hearing "Rock 'n Roll" live. Never.
***
Oh, I spent last weekend up in Folsom hanging out with Rach. I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote in my knitting journal into this here post cuz I'm the lazy!
April 29th marked the first-ever "Rachel and Leina Yarn Tour". We would start the day with a bad-ass breakfast. We would end the day at an upscale restaurant. Somewhere in-between those meals, we would make our way all over her part of California, checking out as many yarn stores as we can without passing out.
Yep, this was truly a special day for us.
Breakfast at Sweetie Pie's, historic downtown Placerville
Just look at the glorious and bountiful spread of food before us!
-Rach had ordered a scramble with a side of raisin toast served with the restaurant's signature ollalieberry jam.
-We split two huge ollaliberry pancakes (but couldn't finish).
-I had ordered 2 biscuits and gravy and cheese blintz topped with ollalieberries.
First Stop: Lofty Lou's, right next to Sweetie Pie's
We waddled on over to Lofty Lou's. This place has a pretty good selection. By the way, I suck at writing up reviews for places, so bear with me.
-Rach purchased a pair of size15 circs. The store didn't really have what she was looking for. And she was so smart---she had made a shopping list of the yarns she needed for her future projects. I admire how she just stuck to that list for the rest of the day.
-My gameplan was to find yarns I could make shawls with. I ended up purchasing four skeins of a space dyed blue faced leicester yarn because haha, I want to make a Clapotis for myself. I really like the different shades of pinks and purples in that particular colorway I picked up.
Second Stop: Sierra Knitting Co., Cameron Park
We got back on the highway and headed down to Cameron Park for Sierra Knitting Co. The store is located in this railroad themepark style shopping center. The selection there is really small, but it's a brand new store. Gotta give them some slack for that.
When we stopped in, there was a knitting class in progress, and it was so cool to hear a newbie knitter yell out, "FINALLY! I GOT IT!" :)
-Rach purchased some stitch markers.
-I purchased 3 balls of Misti baby alpaca laceweight yarn in a shade of light greyish blue.
Third Stop: Babetta's Yarn, Fair Oaks
When we got to this place, we hit the jackpot! The selection of the yarn is mindboggling! And I'm picky about this sort of thing---they price their items with the suggested retail, not with some crazy mark-up like I've seen in certain Bay Area stores.
--Rach purchased 3 skeins of Cascade 220 -- orange, yellow, and green. She's going to make a nifty orange-themed bag from Happy Hooker. a small bottle of Eucalan.
--I didn't buy anything. I was overwhelmed!!!
After we drove off, I told Rach that whenever I visit and if it happens that I need yarn for something, I want us to go there.
Fourth Stop: Frog Pond Knits, Citrus Heights
(oops - no picture)
We didn't purchase anything from this store. They did have a sale going on for Claudia's Handpainted and Artyarns supermerino, but I wasn't in the mood to buy any of those. They did have some merino laceweight in stock, and seriously, if they had a skein of teal merino laceweight yarn, I would have bought that in a heartbeat.
Rach was sticking to her list, and she needed Brown Sheep Nature Spun. The clerk told us to go check out My Secret Stash. When she said "My Secret Stash," Rach looked confused. And then the clerk had to clarify that that is the actual name of the store!
Fifth Stop: My Secret Stash, Carmichael
This store truly surprised us. Even though it is small, the walls are covered with shelves of Brown Sheep yarns. Rach easily found the Nature Spun worsted weight that the Alien Illusion Scarf called for. And this place does not mark up Brown Sheep yarns at insane prices like I've seen at other places.
-Rach - 1 skein of black Nature Spun, 1 skein of green Nature Spun
-Me - 2 skeins of Wildfoote sock yarn that's in purples and reds and a hint of green.
The owner, manager? who? had asked me if I had knitted socks before. I told her no. She gave me a free pattern for socks done in worsted weight yarn to get some practice in before going down to the small needles for the sock yarn. That was so awesome of her to do that. :)
Rach chatted up with someone who worked there and we got to see some really nice shawls and hats.
Sixth Stop: Tea Cozy, Sacramento
-Rach - 1 box of PG Tips tea. So British!
-Me - 1 box of Williamson Earl Grey tea. So British!
Seventh Stop: Rumpelstiltskin, Sacramento
There was one particular yarn that kept eluding Rach, and it was Classic Elite Provence. It's a 100% mercerized cotton yarn that is recommended for the Classic Black Top in SnB. We couldn't find it anywhere, not even at Rumpelstiltskin. The owner helped Rach find a substitute, and Rach ended up liking the feel of the substitute more than the 100% mercerized cottons that the store did stock.
-Rach - 5 skeins of Plymouth Wildflower DK. Brittany size 5 dpn.
-Me - nada.
This is the shopping "center" that houses Tea Cozy and Rumpelstiltskin.
Eighth Stop: Filati, Rocklin
(no picture)
This place was the most out of the way for us, but yet we went anyway. The store is huge, but the service is lacking. This is one of those places where it is easy to get ignored. I looked at all the prices of the yarns, and yep, they mark up their yarns a lot. This was the one that bothered me the most---I've seen 2 oz balls of Jaggerspun Zephyr sell for as little as 8 dollars a ball and upwards of up to 12 dollars a ball. This place has got those other ones beat. They were selling 2 oz balls of Jaggerspun Zephyr for TWENTY-TWO DOLLARS a ball.
-Rach - nada.
-Me - nada.
Ninth Stop: Beverly's Crafts, Rocklin
We are so not yarn snobs. ;)
We went into this store looking for a Bernat railroad novelty yarn for a shawl Rach wants to make and for Wool-Ease Thick&Quick for my afghan. This store didn't carry Bernat's novelty stuff and they didn't have the teal shade I was looking for.
-both of us - nada.
Tenth Stop: Michael's, Folsom
-Rach - 3 balls of Bernat Matrix in green. 4 skeins of Caron Simply Soft for her granny square afghan. a ducky refrigerator notepad.
-Me - nada. No teal shade. :(
We kicked back for a bit back at Rachel's place before heading back down to Sacto for dinner.
Dinner at Biba, Sacramento
(no pics because the pics I did take are blurry)
This place went above and beyond our expectations! What we ate was absolutely heavenly!
-Rach - spaghetti alla vongole, something like that. a pear, gorgonzola, and radicchio salad.
-Me - pappardelle with ragu sauce. a mixed greens salad.
We split a serving of tiramisu. BEST TIRAMISU I've ever had!!!
The portions may seem small to most Americans, but I know from first-hand experience that the portions are more European-sized...The place is run by a cookbook author, and it shows with what we had.
Anyway, what we had was definitely worth the price!
I'd come here again...in a few months. ;)
yarn recap pics -
Rach's purchases.
Leina's purchases.
(the money I saved from not buying as much yarn went to Biba. hehe.)
***
In advanced b/w, our instructor asked a bunch of us to apply for on-campus gallery showings next semester. So I'm sitting here, drinking a barium sulfate suspension smoothie and trying to figure out what to write for my proposal. Knowing me, I'll forget to turn in the damn application. There's always the semester after that.
***
I feel like making some more Daphne Zuniga icons.
My insides feel like they're getting all warm, but not in a good way.
***
The Sounds show on Monday was awesome. :)
While Em stood in line for willcall for our tickets, I saw lead singer Maja and some chick leave the venue and go onto the tour bus. When they came off it, I had my camera in hand, ready to ask for a pic. But yeah, I didn't ask for one, here's why: As I slowly made my way over, Maja dropped her water bottle by accident, yelled out "oh fucking shit@!@!" and kicked the bottle under the bus. Yeah, that would have been the perfect opportunity to ask for a pic!!! Get my ass kicked or just be quiet? Hmm.
So seeing that fiasco more than made up for not standing front row. Eh, it's cool. I'm starting to get jaded about having to always be front row any way. Could that be a sign that I'm getting old? ;)
I remember The Amy had warned me about second opening act Morningwood. That still didn't prepare me for them. Damn, that lead singer said some FOUL things. Whatever came out of her mouth was so FOUL, that even I'm blushing from remembering it. I ended up liking them a lot, and I bought their cd.
The Amy - They played Fire~! during the encore. :)
I wish they had kept "Goodbye Seventies" for this new tour. My only gripe for an otherwise bad-ass show!
I can never ever get sick of hearing "Rock 'n Roll" live. Never.
***
Oh, I spent last weekend up in Folsom hanging out with Rach. I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote in my knitting journal into this here post cuz I'm the lazy!
April 29th marked the first-ever "Rachel and Leina Yarn Tour". We would start the day with a bad-ass breakfast. We would end the day at an upscale restaurant. Somewhere in-between those meals, we would make our way all over her part of California, checking out as many yarn stores as we can without passing out.
Yep, this was truly a special day for us.
Breakfast at Sweetie Pie's, historic downtown Placerville
Just look at the glorious and bountiful spread of food before us!
-Rach had ordered a scramble with a side of raisin toast served with the restaurant's signature ollalieberry jam.
-We split two huge ollaliberry pancakes (but couldn't finish).
-I had ordered 2 biscuits and gravy and cheese blintz topped with ollalieberries.
First Stop: Lofty Lou's, right next to Sweetie Pie's
We waddled on over to Lofty Lou's. This place has a pretty good selection. By the way, I suck at writing up reviews for places, so bear with me.
-Rach purchased a pair of size15 circs. The store didn't really have what she was looking for. And she was so smart---she had made a shopping list of the yarns she needed for her future projects. I admire how she just stuck to that list for the rest of the day.
-My gameplan was to find yarns I could make shawls with. I ended up purchasing four skeins of a space dyed blue faced leicester yarn because haha, I want to make a Clapotis for myself. I really like the different shades of pinks and purples in that particular colorway I picked up.
Second Stop: Sierra Knitting Co., Cameron Park
We got back on the highway and headed down to Cameron Park for Sierra Knitting Co. The store is located in this railroad themepark style shopping center. The selection there is really small, but it's a brand new store. Gotta give them some slack for that.
When we stopped in, there was a knitting class in progress, and it was so cool to hear a newbie knitter yell out, "FINALLY! I GOT IT!" :)
-Rach purchased some stitch markers.
-I purchased 3 balls of Misti baby alpaca laceweight yarn in a shade of light greyish blue.
Third Stop: Babetta's Yarn, Fair Oaks
When we got to this place, we hit the jackpot! The selection of the yarn is mindboggling! And I'm picky about this sort of thing---they price their items with the suggested retail, not with some crazy mark-up like I've seen in certain Bay Area stores.
--Rach purchased 3 skeins of Cascade 220 -- orange, yellow, and green. She's going to make a nifty orange-themed bag from Happy Hooker. a small bottle of Eucalan.
--I didn't buy anything. I was overwhelmed!!!
After we drove off, I told Rach that whenever I visit and if it happens that I need yarn for something, I want us to go there.
Fourth Stop: Frog Pond Knits, Citrus Heights
(oops - no picture)
We didn't purchase anything from this store. They did have a sale going on for Claudia's Handpainted and Artyarns supermerino, but I wasn't in the mood to buy any of those. They did have some merino laceweight in stock, and seriously, if they had a skein of teal merino laceweight yarn, I would have bought that in a heartbeat.
Rach was sticking to her list, and she needed Brown Sheep Nature Spun. The clerk told us to go check out My Secret Stash. When she said "My Secret Stash," Rach looked confused. And then the clerk had to clarify that that is the actual name of the store!
Fifth Stop: My Secret Stash, Carmichael
This store truly surprised us. Even though it is small, the walls are covered with shelves of Brown Sheep yarns. Rach easily found the Nature Spun worsted weight that the Alien Illusion Scarf called for. And this place does not mark up Brown Sheep yarns at insane prices like I've seen at other places.
-Rach - 1 skein of black Nature Spun, 1 skein of green Nature Spun
-Me - 2 skeins of Wildfoote sock yarn that's in purples and reds and a hint of green.
The owner, manager? who? had asked me if I had knitted socks before. I told her no. She gave me a free pattern for socks done in worsted weight yarn to get some practice in before going down to the small needles for the sock yarn. That was so awesome of her to do that. :)
Rach chatted up with someone who worked there and we got to see some really nice shawls and hats.
Sixth Stop: Tea Cozy, Sacramento
-Rach - 1 box of PG Tips tea. So British!
-Me - 1 box of Williamson Earl Grey tea. So British!
Seventh Stop: Rumpelstiltskin, Sacramento
There was one particular yarn that kept eluding Rach, and it was Classic Elite Provence. It's a 100% mercerized cotton yarn that is recommended for the Classic Black Top in SnB. We couldn't find it anywhere, not even at Rumpelstiltskin. The owner helped Rach find a substitute, and Rach ended up liking the feel of the substitute more than the 100% mercerized cottons that the store did stock.
-Rach - 5 skeins of Plymouth Wildflower DK. Brittany size 5 dpn.
-Me - nada.
This is the shopping "center" that houses Tea Cozy and Rumpelstiltskin.
Eighth Stop: Filati, Rocklin
(no picture)
This place was the most out of the way for us, but yet we went anyway. The store is huge, but the service is lacking. This is one of those places where it is easy to get ignored. I looked at all the prices of the yarns, and yep, they mark up their yarns a lot. This was the one that bothered me the most---I've seen 2 oz balls of Jaggerspun Zephyr sell for as little as 8 dollars a ball and upwards of up to 12 dollars a ball. This place has got those other ones beat. They were selling 2 oz balls of Jaggerspun Zephyr for TWENTY-TWO DOLLARS a ball.
-Rach - nada.
-Me - nada.
Ninth Stop: Beverly's Crafts, Rocklin
We are so not yarn snobs. ;)
We went into this store looking for a Bernat railroad novelty yarn for a shawl Rach wants to make and for Wool-Ease Thick&Quick for my afghan. This store didn't carry Bernat's novelty stuff and they didn't have the teal shade I was looking for.
-both of us - nada.
Tenth Stop: Michael's, Folsom
-Rach - 3 balls of Bernat Matrix in green. 4 skeins of Caron Simply Soft for her granny square afghan. a ducky refrigerator notepad.
-Me - nada. No teal shade. :(
We kicked back for a bit back at Rachel's place before heading back down to Sacto for dinner.
Dinner at Biba, Sacramento
(no pics because the pics I did take are blurry)
This place went above and beyond our expectations! What we ate was absolutely heavenly!
-Rach - spaghetti alla vongole, something like that. a pear, gorgonzola, and radicchio salad.
-Me - pappardelle with ragu sauce. a mixed greens salad.
We split a serving of tiramisu. BEST TIRAMISU I've ever had!!!
The portions may seem small to most Americans, but I know from first-hand experience that the portions are more European-sized...The place is run by a cookbook author, and it shows with what we had.
Anyway, what we had was definitely worth the price!
I'd come here again...in a few months. ;)
yarn recap pics -
Rach's purchases.
Leina's purchases.
(the money I saved from not buying as much yarn went to Biba. hehe.)
***
In advanced b/w, our instructor asked a bunch of us to apply for on-campus gallery showings next semester. So I'm sitting here, drinking a barium sulfate suspension smoothie and trying to figure out what to write for my proposal. Knowing me, I'll forget to turn in the damn application. There's always the semester after that.
***
I feel like making some more Daphne Zuniga icons.