A day of quotes

[Edit 6/20/08: Um, right, thanks Linnea - Wonder Mike. D'Oh!]

[Edit 6/16/08: added link to SuperMike's website.]

Today was the World Wide Knit in Public Day. A woman by the name of Kathryn (pictured with Carisa) arranged the San Francisco event. Around 11:00 this morning knitters began trickling in to Union Square, usually in small groups, but occasionally as singles.

We saw several interesting things at the WWKIP event. Someone was absolutely brilliant to make a bag out of measuring tapes. You could measure anything by comparing it to the handle! 

A guy was going around interviewing people who were knitting in public. I heard someone call him Super Mike. Carisa got a business card from him, so I’ll update this page with a link to his blog and podcast later. He seemed like a really nice guy. When he got all of his interviews, he brought out his spinning! He had a spindle he called a Golding. It was pretty.

I heard some great quotes today. I had observed that we had quite a few knitters show up at our little event. I mused aloud that I thought the news should be covering us – I saw lots of tourists photgraphing us, so why not newspapers? Linnea had a sharp observation “Not unless we are doing topless knitting in public…” Super Mike did come by to interview us afterward, so I got my wish and I got to keep my top on.

Sometimes comments from Carisa require a little background. You see, Carisa doesn’t like children. I’ve never really wanted any myself, but I don’t have a problem letting those who actually like children raise them. Carisa doesn’t see it that way – she thinks people shouldn’t breed at all. It doesn’t come as a surprise then that Carisa announced “Why spend money on kids when you can spend it on yarn?” Ah, Carisa.   

Carisa had to take off to see some of her Petsitting clients after the WWKIP event, but Linnea and I went off to do other knitting related activities. We went to the bookstore where Linnea purchased this book.

I had to go to the restroom before moving on to the knit store, and would you believe it, I got another funny quote. I looked at all the doors, and another woman waiting informed me that they were all full. “Oh, poo,” I said. “Not yet,” she replied! The poor thing was horrified that she said something like that to a stranger. I assured her that I found her very quick witted and I was thoroughly amused.

So, after that incident, we made it to ArtFibers. I decided to purchase some fiber to spin. I found some silk called “Orissa” and some wool called “Waitaki.” 

My plan is to spin them separately and ply them together. I am in the market for a new spindle, by the way. I tried a top whorl spindle today, and I liked it better than the bottom whorl type. I just didn’t like the one I tried enough to invest in it. Does anyone have a favorite spindle maker? Please leave a comment.

I will leave you today with yet another cute picture of Nebula. The person who brought him to the shelter many weeks ago called me today wanting to know if Nebby was ready to be adopted yet. The guy was so cute when he left Nebby in the first place. Nebby was not eating well and hadn’t made any number two yet, so the guy took Nebby somewhere where the people knew more than he did about raising kittens that small. He was concerned about what I was going to do with his kitten when I came down to get him. I informed him that I was going to get the little guy vaccinated and take him home to love him to pieces until he was big enough to get adopted. When Nebby’s future daddy spoke to me today, I informed him that Nebby wouldn’t take a bottle for me either – he decided that he was a big boy and he could eat big boy food. It hadn’t occurred to the guy that Nebula was big enough for real food. I was surprised, too, just to be fair. I’ve always known that Nebby’s finder would come looking for him one day - I guess that time has come. 

First impressions of Vancouver

I’ll be up front about this – I think I LOVE Vancouver. We arrived yesterday morning, and I have had so much fun already!

First of all, I was struck at the compostion of the city. I expected the racial mix to be like that of San Francisco since most of what I had heard about Vancouver before I arrived made the cities sound much like one another. Vancouver is actually really white. There are a fair number of Asian people, but on our first day we saw only one hispanic guy and two black guys. I was totally shocked at how diverse this place isn’t.

The next thing that occurred to me is that it’s very quiet here. I keep thinking that at home, there are street musicians and people yelling and others driving by with loud music blaring out of their cars. Here, there is none of that. I don’t think I’ve yet seen a single car bouncing with the force of the bass from the stereo. Keep in mind that I spent a Saturday night here and didn’t come across that sort of thing. People here are very quiet and polite. I don’t even see as many people using cell-phones while they walk.

As for what I love about the city, well that’s a lot. I love the food. We went to a restaurant called Un-wined for our first dinner. It was amazing! They served tapas (small plates), and they were all outstanding. We went to a chain diner for brunch on Saturday, and I noticed that the portions were not as big as at home, and the food was much less greasy. This morning we went to the best place ever – the Cat’s Meow Lounge and Eatery.  Everything was cat themed! The bathrooms were called “Kitty Cats” and “Tom Cats.” Too funny!

Last night we just roamed near our hotel and did whatever came up. We ran across a comedy show at the Tom Lee Music Hall Theatre, so we went in. First of all, Carisa and Ryan, you’re going to love what we saw in the building:

I believe the show we saw was really right up Carisa’a alley. It was a community theater group doing sketch comedy. They were awesome! One guy did a bird impression that was impressive and hilarious – you had to be there. I’ll have Michael recreate it (as best he can) when we get home. They made Disney songs into Snoop-Dog style remakes (the Aladdin one was particularly funny – they mentioned picking up ho’s on the magic carpet…). There was the “rule of threes” repeating skit regarding roomates, carpooling and situations with girls going out dancing. There were 3 personality types – irritable, weird, and the glue. They explored how these types acted together and in sub-groups. It ended with them not knowing the words to O Canada - they reverted to The Star Spangled Banner.

I love the shops on Granville Island. So far I went to a silk weaving place and I saw a yarn shop that isn’t open on Sundays. There were other non-fiber places, mostly local art things. We also went to the Public Market. Really cool! I saw a really cute pet store. I didn’t go in yet, but I will on another day.

There were other things that caught my eye:

A guy in a kilt (just like Scottish Country Dance class)!

The white crossing dude really looks like he has somewhere to be!

One of the sidewalks has leaves pressed into it. How neat!

One of the only things I’m not thrilled with so far is that it is colder here. Not freezing, but I do need my San Francisco winter coat all the time. I also don’t really like how much like home this place is. I mean, all the chain stores are here. They are Canada-ed up a bit I guess. I saw a Denny’s where they replaced the apostrophe in the name with a maple leaf.

So for now, so far so good. I have good internet access at the hotel, so I will update as often as I can.

One last note: I received a call from Leo’s new foster mom yesterday. Apparently he is vomiting and has projectile diarrhea. I’m going to call her again tonight to see how he is. I hope he’s better.