wear some flowers in your hair

Posted on Posted in book reviews/events, designing, food and garden, projects

so the last i left you i was still in berkeley and we were heading out the door for a day in the city. we piled into two cars and headed for the bridge—we were feeling lucky, as it was a gorgeous morning with no lingering fog and no heat either. perfect for sightseeing.

and you know how i love taking pictures out the car window . . .
(cookie even slowed down in a couple spots so i could get this or that picture)

we made straight for the ferry building first, as we were meeting romi, who was taking the ferry to meet us for the afternoon.

i began texting her when we left the house and soon estimated that we’d be arriving at just about the same time—which we did. but we had to find her once we got there . . .

so we took a little turn around the place on our way to a central meeting spot. i was traveling with cookie and adrienne—which meant there was plenty of possibility for getting sidetracked as we are all easily distracted by unusual and tempting store displays

i will confess to some serious cheese shop envy for all that you san franciscans have at your fingertips—we have to travel pretty far from canton to see a selection like this one at cowgirl creamery, but you seem to have a nice shop around every corner.

and shut UP—a store just for mushrooms??
adrienne almost had a conniption in anticipation of our visit to far west funghi. she was very excited for us to see this place—she even bought some candy cap mushroom ice cream to share later on (and boy was that ever yummy . . .)

we had just enough time to grab a cuppa coffee at blue bottle before locating rosemary, then hooking up with kristine and michelle to complete our merry band of staycationers.

onward to lunch at the slanted door. we tried to be more adventurous by doing a picnic, but unfortunately we hit the area right at lunchtime and all the outdoor tables were filled. so we opted for indoor dining

which was very tasty. i love that this group is enthusiastic about trying each other’s dishes—more fun for all of us i think.

after lunch we were treated to a very special opportunity—shiree, a knitting friend of kristine and adrienne’s invited us for a visit to the museum of the african diaspora, where she gave us a tour of their current exhibition, soulful stitching: patchwork quilts by africans (siddis) in india.

the 32 quilts (or kawandi) included in the exhibition were stitched by members of the nonprofit siddi womens’ quilting cooperative, which is keeping this tradition alive by working together to secure materials, offer workspace, and provide outlets for selling quilts that are not needed at home.

the quilts are unique to siddi culture and reflect the individual design sense of the maker, though certain design elements are always present, such as the puhla, or flowers, which adorn each corner.

there are two general sizes—family size and crib size, which are determined by the measurement of the makers forearm length. from house to house, therefore, the two sizes may vary considerably.

the quilts are pieced from old clothing which is built up in layers to provide padding (in lieu of batting material). traditionally, they are backed with a single cotton sari, though newer ones produced to sell through the cooperative may be backed with fabric yardage, sometimes a cotton blend.

one of the recurring design elements seen in crib quilts is the use of tiny fabric squares to represent stars, either scattered randomly or in an exuberant pattern throughout the composition. the presence of many tiny squares expresses a wish for the baby to be lively and in good health.

siddis live in a multireligious culture and while mixing religion by marriage is completely sanctioned, the family religion or religions are often recorded within the quilts as identifiers. brackets at the corners tell us that a household is muslim, while the inclusion of crosses tells of a christian background. including both symbols (above) represents a mixed household.

we were very lucky and grateful to view this collection while it is traveling—thank you shiree and sarah!

if you live in the area or might be visiting, it would be an excellent show to visit, especially if quilting is one of your other loves. for more information about the collection and the cooperative, please visit the museum site or the site of curator and collector, henry j. drewel.

while we were in the neighborhood, we decided to pop around the corner to SFMoMA, where adrienne used to work, so she could say hi to an old friend. while we were there, we were offered tickets to see the stein exhibit—so we took them up on it and went in.

this was pretty exciting for me because i’ve read so much about gertrude steins’s circle of artist friends and seen so many photos of her collection on the walls of her various homes, as well as those of her family.

it was quite crowded, but we thought we’d walk through and do as much as we could manage. it’s a large show and quite thorough, with lots of photographic and written history as well as many, many paintings. plan to spend the better part of an afternoon if you want to examine everything.

we met up with our party on the rooftop, where coffee and cake awaits those who are persistent. and pretty cake, too

while we sipped and visited with connie and family, i worked on my blumchen cardigan front, cookie knit her sock, connie worked on a sweater piece and adrienne worked on her hot waffles hat. ya gotta go and give adrienne some encouragement—she is really psyched about this one, but is known to get distracted.

but i think if our whole blog rained down nice comments on it, she may be inspired to finish. she sure was rockin’ it on monday afternoon, i know that (aday, now that the hat has some size to it, you need to put a photo in your project page!).

(view from the museum walkway)

i don’t have new progress pictures for my own knitting either, but i got a lot done on the plane, so i’ll be sure to post those next time. on my blumchen, the second front is now off the needles and i cast on for the back last night while catching up on some TV with david. the fallberry scarf is about ten inches long now.

after we said our goodbyes at the museum and the chinchios headed for home, we wandered to the mosconi center grounds to decide on our next move.

it was like a tiny slice of central park, with people playing, sunning, and sightseeing. we decided to try something completely different and headed for bourbon and branch, a speakeasy that kristine had heard about.

well, it was different alright and we enjoyed it quite a bit. the menu is so extensive you can hardly get through it before the waitperson needs your order. but go ahead and choose anything—the drinks are deliciously refreshing and the environment is quiet—nice for talking while you drink.

back in berkeley for dinner, we settled ourselves at cafe colucci for ethiopean food, one of my favorite cuisines that we cannot get here.

by then you can imagine that we were ready to go home and knit for the rest of the evening. surprisingly though, we did sit up for quite a while. what’s a staycation for if you don’t take advantage of every minute?

for our last day, we hung out in the morning, taking it slow, then shopped lightly in some of the berkeley neighborhoods for the remainder of the day. adreinne and kristine took us to the vivarium , where we got to see some of their favorite reptiles and amphibians play tag and eat lunch.

builders books was next

followed by the gardener and several paper stores,

as well as the gnome store

i kid you not.
actually, i really wished helena could have seen this one; it was right up her alley.

after that we had a snack at crixa cakes hungarian bakery and then it was time for the special, special store

lacis—where a truly dizzying array of vintage ephemera awaits.
again, i just wish helena had been there to see it, but hopefully, she’ll get to visit one day.

there is no way to accurately describe the scene—let’s just say that they have everything. in fact, they redefine the notion of having everything.

which is good, because i was looking for small tapestry needles and have not had any luck in my travels elsewhere. not only did they have them, but they had more of them and more different sizes and types than i’ve ever seen in one place ever.

once i found what i needed, i had a chance to look around a bit, but not in depth—this is really a shop you should not come to at the end of a busy day, haha. i would have loved to look at each of those hankies to find a monogrammed one for david, but did not have the patience or the time.

and i’m actually GLAD i didn’t need anything form the bridal room; not that day, haha. but i’m looking forward to another visit some day when i feel fresher.

and that friends, was the end of my long trip. after a nice casual dinner of cheese, bread, and ravioli around kristine and adrienne’s table, cookie took me to the airport for my red-eye flight home.

i got in yesterday morning and fell into bed, where i stayed most of the day. david and i had a wonderful reunion dinner of his special curry pasta with greens from the garden. i sorted some mail and unpacked, but i still have a lot of piles of stuff to square away.

this morning a really cool plant was delivered from david—a bonsai gardenia.
i hope i can keep it alive; it needs lots of humidity, which means i have to pay attention (not my forte with plants, but i’ll make an extra-special effort because david gave it to me).

and now, i really have to scoot—several things to do before dark.
tomorrow we have a pattern release to give you; stay tuned!

22 thoughts on “wear some flowers in your hair

  1. Loved your post. Have a daughter in the San Fran area and love to visit. I’m emailing her right now to tell her about the quilt exhibit. Looking forward to more patterns. I’m on a sock kick right now but getting ready for something different.

  2. I love reading about all your travels! It all looks wonderful, but the Mondrian cake slice still has me laughing – how clever.

    Hope you’re enjoying settling back in at home.

  3. I love San Francisco. You might like to ArtFibers sometime for a little yarntasting. The quilt exhibit looks like it was quite a special treat.

  4. WOW! love the pics of the travels. Keep them coming. I am a little envious! In a good way. Have fun and safe travels. I’m looking foward to more. I wonder how long it would take me to go through the everything store? Hmmm

  5. Love the colorful & functional quilts. They inspire me to not have all my quilts so matchy-matchy!! Thanks for sharing.

  6. Anne, looks like you had a fab time in San Fran. Thanks for the cute shots of Cleo–my Gracie was missing her SF friend. As for the bonsai, take it into the shower with you. Ok, not in the shower as in “in” but in the bathroom. I did this with my orchids in Germany (sadly, I could not bring them back with me) and they flourished. I suspect it will be the same for the gardenia.

  7. isn’t the ferry building amazing?!?! it was the highlight of my trip to SF last fall – where else can you get a crabcake sandwich, some fresh goat cheese, and an organic, vegan pumpkin doughnut?? 🙂 Laci’s looks amazing – thanks for sharing it!

  8. Great that you are home safely & that bonsai is a lovely present from David. My girls love curry pasta too.

  9. So many neat stores! I would love to visit Lacis. I’ve probably spent too much time browsing their website, though, so perhaps an in-person visit would be a bad thing!

  10. A neighbor that used to live near me is the sister of the owner of the Cowgirl Creamery – lovely people and great cheese! I got to meet the Sis!

    The trip is looking fabulous – so pretty. thanks for sharing pics!

  11. Bonsai gardenia?! Never heard of it. But if it’s anything like the real thing, the flowers are amazingly fragrant! Definitely try to keep it alive long enough to find out what you think.

  12. You lost me at the title…that is one of my heart songs!

    I love living thru your travels. I so hope someday to get to the west coast and see some of the treasures you have shared with us!

  13. Those quilts look just amazing. And Mondrian-style cake?!!!! Too much fun!! It looks like you had a wonderful conclusion to your travels. Welcome home!

  14. it’s so funny, my aunt lives over in that area, and I’ve been to all those stores – minus the african quilts and stein collection. But the cheese store, mushroom, etc! I love san fran. I hope to live there one day.

  15. lacis looks like a female version of my husband’s favorite tool store whose slogan is “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it”. Love that store!

  16. Anne, thank you for all the lovely photos and descriptions of your travels. I know your adventures can be exhilarating and at times exhausting so I appreciate your keeping us “with you” when maybe you were blogging during the exhausting times. Your last trip to Berkley and San Francisco was particularly of interest to me since Kristine is my niece and Michelle is my sister.

    I’ll give the same advice for the bonsai….keep it in the bathroom during showers or all of the time if it works there. I had a beautiful orchid that was so happy for years in my dry MN climate because it lived in the bathroom.

  17. So much fun!! LOVE the vivarium, btw. And someday I’m going to make it to Lacis when I’m there… I wish I’d known you were going to be on Fourth St. – next time, you’ve got to go to Vik’s for lunch (BEST Indian food ever).

  18. Hi Anne–I enjoyed your post more than ever as my daughter Margaret and I just got back from SF a week ago–while visiting her big sister Emily, we also visited the Ferry Terminal and SFMOMA–I also took pics of the cheeses at Cowgirl Creamery and the treats on the rooftop garden at the SFMOMA (but then we went to see the last Harry Potter!)

  19. It really was a lovely couple of days. Even though I was in my own town, it felt like I was on vacation. Can’t wait for you to come back and to explore more!!

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