A Brief Excursion Into San Francisco

November 2, 2012

After an early morning Dim Sum, Liz and I decided to head into San Francisco to explore the city a bit. We coordinated with Stacey and Shane, who were heading off on their own trip… and made plans to meet back at the house, so we could hit up the tidepools (around 3PM at low tide).

Much of the weekend was packed with family action (and mostly a lot of meals and waiting until the next meal). So this kind of made it difficult to make plans with folks, ahead of time. Tried to give Kevin a ring, but our window of availability was too short. And of course, the weekend we’re in his neighborhood, Bryan decided to swing by Chicago (think he had a pop-up shop for the weekend).

So with a bit of time before regrouping in Half Moon Bay, Liz and I headed to a place she had heard about on Ravelry: a yarn shop called ImagiKnit.

Even as someone who doesn’t knit or crochet, this place was pretty massive/impressive.

I like how the signs around the shop show just how passionate the folks are about what they do.

A secondary room, with more yarn.

Liz, standinb before a wall of colors and choices.

Our yarn is better…

Liz, winding up a ball of yarn. Though I’ve seen this many times, the process and devices are still quite mesmerizing.

Afterwards, we drove a few blocks and found our way to a place called stuff. It was a store chock full of antiques, set up in the traditional “booth” style where each area contained items belonging to different folks.

I wasn’t in a huge documenting mood, so I kept the photos to a minimum. Though I did manage one pretty cool looking Instagram photo, if I do say so myself.

Among the many things we saw, Liz focused in on this purse/basket with a mouse still life. I don’t know what my wife’s fascination is with posed animals, but this is her thing I guess.

I’m pretty sure she’s kicking herself now for not grabbing this while we were there. She’s talked to me about wanting to make her own version of this.

My suggestion was that if she tries to recreate this scene, the mouse’s basket should have another smaller, even tinier still life on top of it.

Liz, giving Big Bird a squeeze.

Is it me, or do the eyes look a little off? A little deranged, even? Also, the hat makes me think he’s about to bust out a version of Sinatra’s My Way.

Totally random aside: every time I think of that song, I think of the state of karaoke in the Philippines.

Ok, that went south quickly. I went from Sesame Street to murder in a few short sentences. Sorry about that.

This is worth mentioning: in the upstairs bathroom, there’s a ton of stuff on the walls. On one side, there’s a Darth Vader head (alongside a very large Vader poster). And on the other side of the room…

a disco ball! Until now, I didn’t realize what a perfect combo this makes – disco balls and bathrooms. Almost as good as having organ music playing, when you’re going to the bathroom.