Friday night my cousin Rebecca walked up my sidewalk and started off one of the most fabulous weekends I’ve had in quite a while.  See, none of my family lives here in California so we are mostly centered around the Mr’s family.  This is fine & I love them more than anything, but I often feel like a fish out of water, I’m louder than they are, I talk more, and I can have quite vulgar humor.  I also have a bad habit of getting excited and sticking my foot right in my mouth. Sometimes it’s funny, but other times it’s completely embarrassing and makes me feel stupid.

Where am I going with this? Well, when you are around people who are not innately like you are, you always feel a little out of sorts, always on the fringes because you don’t understand them & they definitely don’t understand you.  Well, Rebecca gets me and I totally get her we are both loud and constantly talking.  I’m sure the Mr was a little overwhelmed at points, but I found it completely refreshing to not have to hold anything back for fear of her taking it personally.  I’m allowed to have my own opinions (even if she doesn’t agree) with out penalty.

Rebecca has been one of the coolest people I’ve known for a long time.  I used to go to New York after Thanksgiving to visit her and remember having my mind blown by things like, sushi, homeless people, and cabs. (Hey, I was 14 after all).  I think she inherently has a cool factor a million times higher than me and I still feel myself looking to her for inspiration and a little bit of guidance.

Friday night we had some great Mexican food and chatted, excessively.There was a minor upset when I went up to the counter for my reservation & the lady stared blankly back at me.  Yes, someone did take my reservation, but I should have called back as the lady repeated everything I said 3  times, a sure sign she didn’t understand a word coming out of my mouth.  I’m sure it was way too much talking for my dear husband, but he held his ground fairly well I would say.

Saturday we got up early and talked some more while the Mr still slept, when he got up we headed out to see as much of California as we could in 1 short day.

Grant Park in Ventura.

We took her up to Grant’s Park in Ventura. It’s one of those great places along the California coastline where you can see everything for miles around.  It was an amazingly clear day (after days of rain!) which made seeing the Channel Islands really easy to do! 

After that we headed up to Santa Barbara and I finally got to visit the Loop and Leaf for the first time.  I’ve heard about this yarn shop for about a year and the last time I went it was closed, so I was extremely excited.  They have a beautiful littleshop but a limited selection.  They have the full line of Shibu & Sheep Shop and quite a bit of Hand Maiden, Koigu & a wall of Kauni and that’s about it, they are a beautiful boutique, but I’ll take my Anacapa Fine Yarns anyday. 

Kauni Yarn.

I bought two different colorways of Kauni & Rebecca picked up a beautiful skein of Handmaiden cashsock. Yes, she did start knitting while she was here.  I was really amazed at how fast she picked up the long tail cast on and the basic garter stitch.  She even recognized her mistakes immediately. I’m seriously impressed to say the least.  I think this kind of learning curve is genetic which we both share.  It’s not fun for either of us to do anything that we are not immediately good at, so it’s imperative that we get good, fast.

So pretty.

We headed out of Santa Barbara before 3 to avoid the massive Valentines Day crowd headed up there. (The Mr & I don’t celebrate Valentines, it’s a holiday for daters and since we love each other unconditionally every day we don’t need 1 day to prove it.  I think these things are less important when you are married for a while).  The 101 N was a parking lot making me quite glad we were going south.  We took the back way down through Ojai on the way back, stopping for a little window shopping and some performance “art”.

I'm not sure exactly what was going on, & I'm pretty sure they were high.

We had Toppers Pizza (Delish as always and a complete treat) for dinner and settled into knitting and movies. 

Unfortunately she had a flight to catch early Sunday m0rning so our time together was short. Thankfully I think that it’s renewed her desire to eventually live out here so I will have to keep enticing her with trips

Modeling the Koolhaas hat I gave her for Valentines day

One more amazing thing? She digs the hand knits, how much more awesome could you be? (also, I am completely in love with her sunglasses, and realized that I was reflected in every shot I took).  I tried to get her to pick out a sweater pattern for her next gift knit but she asked instead for a lap blanket, and after scouring Ravelry I couldn’t find one that interested her, so off to my stitchonaries I go.

Once she left it was back to normal life. I’m a little more than sad that she’s gone and feel lonely for some family, for people like me.  I spent the rest of the day knitting on my sleeve of the sweater I designed for the Mr. It soon will have a name and a full functioning pattern. Right now I’m testing and tweeking.

Cabled sleeve details

I will not run out of yarn, but I think I will have just enough to knit the collar. This sweater will have to be seamed in a different yarn because I just won’t have enough. Live & learn I guess. I’m still not sure why I bought less than my usual amount but shit happens.

The Mr spent the day finishing the hole for his pond. He received  a pond for Christmas from the parents and is almost done putting it in.  I think it’s looking freaking awesome and can’t wait to get the waterfall running and fishies a swimmin’

In a pond!