It's So Long Since I Expect You've Forgotten!

   

Several weeks ago I took my first trip out to San Francisco.  When I got back I posted about my visit to the Britex fabric store and left you with a promise of more to follow, then life got super busy, the way life does, and I'm only now getting around to my follow up post.

My visit to Britex was wonderful but I had another day to kill while Simon was working so I decided to explore on my own and use the time to visit a wool shop - I was getting around on foot so I set off on a 40 minute walk from Union Square to Atelier Yarns at 1945 Divisadero Street.

Welcome to Atelier Yarns, an independent, family-owned store specialising in luxurious, natural and hand-dyed fibres.  I'm not going to list the vast number of brands and yarns stocked, they are all here for you to see on their website and they do classes too, listed here.  I felt at home immediately and the staff made me incredibly welcome, even getting me a chair and setting me up in front of all the pattern books so I could enjoy looking through them all.

That's my chair and there's even a fountain running outside the back door.

Once I'd found some patterns I liked the staff helped me choose appropriate yarns.

I want to make this little jacket for my grandson-to-be

and this hat too

I'll make them to match and here's the yarn I bought - Adriafil Knitcol trends, superwash merino wool, colourway 57 - Botticelli Fancy.

After chatting with other customers I had a wander around the rest of the store

let's do a close up on this section - I spotted this fantastic rabbit fur that I just couldn't resist

I had a dilemma over what colour to buy and finally opted for the mink brown to make a cowl that matches the brown rabbit fur ear muffs I wear throughout each winter.

It's not cheap and you knit it alongside this Debbie Bliss yarn - it's $86.95 for the kit which includes the two yarns and pattern but I'm very excited to make it and wear it next winter.

When I finally left the store I'd been there over two hours and the time had flown by.

I continued walking on to Mrs Doubtfire's house

and then set off on my return journey walking down Fillmore Street, a young shopping district, where I enjoyed checking out the shops and eating an unbelievably large lunch at La Boulange that I just couldn't finish 

and later a scrummy frozen yoghurt from fraiche.

And just a few more pics from the trip to whet your appetite

I was pleased to discover the guys on Alcatraz were taught crochet as one of their activities.

Sailing past Alcatraz on the way out to Sausalito.

Walking from Sausalito to the Golden Gate Bridge

 Walking the Golden Gate Bridge 

'The crookedest street in the world' - Lombard Street

I also want to give a mention to Virgin America as they exceeded my every expectation in flying out to San Fran.  You may recall from my post about my last trip to Seville that being gluten free I don't particularly enjoy airplane food/snacks and breakfast in particular - rice cakes are most airlines' gluten free food of choice.

This was not the case on Virgin America so while I was still up in the air, I just had to Instagram and tweet this pic of the gluten free crackers they served me with a cheese selection and red wine.  Absolutely delish.

And look what Virgin America tweeted back to me straight away

What a fab flight, wine, scrummy food, watching trashy TV, catching up on my emails, tweeting, Instagramming

and, of course, knitting

I loved San Francisco and I'm looking forward to going back and exploring more, especially all the fabric stores and fab foodie places my new quilty friend, Christopher @The Tattooed Quilter has told me about.

 My next trip is planned for August with Flicky and I just can't wait :D

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my sidebar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

   

     

That Was February, This Is March

So it's March and I've been buying some gorgeous new fabrics at Pins & Needles on the Upper East Side.

A couple of Ed Emberley "Picture Pie" for Cloud9 fabrics - you just have to love those raccoons and Michael Miller's black & white Clown Stripe.

2 yards of multi pom poms, white fleece and white french terry.

Some fat quarters - I haven't got a printed selvedge on any of them so I have no idea what I've bought, if anyone has any idea I'd love to know!

So that's what I've been doing in March but what about February and, for that matter, January?

Well in January this little guy came to live with us, his name's Watson and he's a Havanese.

Yep he's pretty much running the household and, as you can see, he's totally taken ownership of Tatty's bed!

Then in February Simon and I headed off for a week to Seville to see all the kids - that's right, ALL the kids - it's 2 years since we were all together!!!

The trip involved a lot of this -

there's half a bottle of Tanqueray gin with a thimble of tonic in my glass!

Need more evidence of how we passed our time?  

Here's Ana, Jack, Joe and Katie and a table full of our cocktails.

We didn't take many pics (see my post about my previous trip here) and a lot of what I do have are poor quality phone photos, but there's not a single one of us all together :( and turns out this is the only pic I've got of Flicky!

and this one's me with Simon.

It rained every day and although it wasn't warm it was most definitely warmer than NYC.  The sun did break through for a couple of hours one day as I snapped this pic of Joe and Katie dancing in Seville's Cathedral garden

and this is the sunny view from the top of the Cathedral's Giralda Tower.

I loved all the hand stitched scarves

and there was quilty inspiration on every floor.

Here I am on the flight home - knitting and stretching out as there were only 80 of us on the 335 seater plane.

Airplane food was, as always a trial for me - just because I'm gluten free doesn't mean I like rice cakes, I hate rice cakes.

So that's my dinner and below's my breakfast - another rice cake that someone's gone to the trouble of cutting in half - makes no difference, I still hate rice cakes.

Since I got home I've been working on a sampler for a potential class, late into the night I've been busy sewing together jelly roll strips.

Tomorrow I'm off to San Francisco till Monday and I'm looking forward to some potential sunshine instead of more of this.

Here's to Spring in New York - though I've got a feeling we'll be skipping Spring and going straight into another scorcher of a Summer!!!

I know it's terribly British of me but I'm wondering how the weather's treating you?  Answers on a postcard please or even in a comment.