I'm in a bit of a mood tonight, nothing major, but after writing it on Facebook, and thinking about what I was not in the mood for (leaf-blowers, thunderstorms, exercise, and more I'm sure), I tried to come up with what I might be in the mood for.
I toyed briefly with finding a new knitting project (having a 6+-hour plane ride to look ahead to will do that to a knitter), but was rapidly overwhelmed by it--sometimes you're willing to dig through the endless possibilities and other times it's kind of, well, overwhelming--but I decided to play around with other ideas for this trip to California that my mother and I will be taking later this year, to visit my brother. I've mentioned this, yes? In passing, anyway? We're going to see him and the house he bought a few years ago, in Oakland. We visited him in San Francisco in 2014 (just before he bought), and I've visited him there many times over the years, but we only spent a little time in Oakland, so it's much less familiar to me.
We're actually not planning to do all that much--we're going to see him, after all, and the house, the garden, the cats--but we'll be going out to eat, and maybe fit some yarn store visits in there, and who knows what else. We have our flights booked from here to there (using miles! which felt like quite the achievement), but the rest is pretty much up in the air. Which is fine for now.
In terms of the yarn, I'd be happy to go back to A Verb For Keeping Warm, and Piedmont Yarn & Apparel sounds good too. I looked on Ravelry, and there's one in Berkeley called The Black Squirrel, which sounds fun, and in Alameda, there's a crafting consignment store, of all things! It's called The ReCrafting Co., and I am quite curious about it.
In non-yarn things, there's a place I came across called Barlovento Chocolates that, unsurprisingly, sounds delicious (the caramels, the marshmallows), and although this review of the "store" is from 2012, something tells me going might still be a small adventure.
Otherwise? Well, I am open to suggestions. Restaurants? Sights? Hotels/motels that are basic/clean/in a safe area/don't cost the earth? We're not going until September, so if you think of something, pass it on!
I mostly knit, sometimes crochet or cross-stitch. I read, a lot. I love cats. I love hockey, especially my no-longer-local team, the Boston Bruins. Want more? Read on.
I'd never heard of Black Squirrel, thank you!
ReplyDeleteMillenium Restaurant moved from SF to Oakland a few years ago. It is a vegan restaurant but if I lived close and could afford it I would happily never eat meat again. Their food is absolutely glorious, sourced from biodynamic farms. (Well beyond the organic label.) Stephanie Pearl-McPhee once raved over them. So if you want a splurge of a meal I recommend that place.