Day Trippin' - Los Angeles and the Renegade Craft Fair

On Saturday, a friend of mine and I did a little day trippin' to Los Angeles.  Our main destination was the Renegade Craft Fair being held at Grand Park in downtown.  And, of course, there's always other things to find and explore in L.A.  We were excited about the fair and what else we might find.

We headed out fairly early in the morning with a stop at Starbucks for our morning elixir.  Then, we hit the freeways and made our way through traffic in time for the fair to begin.  We parked under the Music Center which was right across the street from the park.  Wow...there were eight stories of parking below ground!  We were on the fifth level down.  Only $9 for all day parking...not bad!

Grand Park runs across a couple of blocks.  There's a big fountain at the end where we entered...

It was an unusually HOT day for L.A. and people were enjoying the refreshing water below the fountain.  I was VERY tempted to join in on the fun.  Especially, later, when there was someone with a microphone leading people to jump up and down and dance in the water.  However, I had regular shoes and socks on and I was carrying my good camera with me.  Oh well, maybe next time!

The park was filled with visitors and activity.  The Renegade Craft Fair was being held at one end and the Dizzy Feet Foundation had the National Dance Day event going on at the other end.  And, look who was being interviewed by ABC as we walked through...Nigel Lithgoe from the show, "So You Think You Can Dance"!  I like that show a lot!  So, it was fun to see Nigel in person.  Unfortunately, we seemed to have missed the dance performances.

After hanging out in the shade of a tree for a bit to check out the dance event, we headed over to the craft fair.  There were rows of vendors set up, filling the north end of the park.

I had planned to take a lot of photos but the heat was really getting to both of us.  It kind of melted our enthusiasm, mood for shopping, and interest in taking pictures.  We walked through a couple of rows and then took a few minutes to try to cool off in the shade.  Then, we'd head back out for another couple of rows and go back to the shade.  We repeated this system until we made it through all of the vendor aisles.  Oy!  It was SO hot and humid!

There were lots of different types of things being sold...from printed art, to creams and soaps, to signs and jewelry.  A few of my favorites were:  Painted Bird with their cute and colorful crocheted shoes; Di Palermo Body with beautifully scented body scrubs and soaps; a vendor that I failed to get a card for that had suitcases filled with blank journals made from the covers of old books...everything from Dr. Seuss to old medical books to antique books with beautiful covers; and Bunny Butt Apothecary because of the name...they had lots of great soaps and stuff too. 

This is the only vendor photo I got...some fun scarves made from suit jacket lapels...

There were food trucks there.

I took pictures of a few that I liked the look or name of...

Baby's Badass Burgers...

A little Airstream trailer and Luckdish Curry...

Schmuck with a Truck...

There were even a couple of vendors with trucks.  One sold books and the other is my all time favorite, the "Yarnover Truck".  I rarely visit them without leaving with some gorgeous yarn.  Yesterday was no exception!  Look what came home with me....beautiful blues, turquoise and dark charcoal hues that are deep and chocolaty and with tints of green.

It's a gorgeous, 870 yard skein of "Squishy Lace" by "Dragonfly Fibers".

The colorway is called, "Rocky Top".  It reminds me of the rocky, Northern California Coast.  Beautiful!  I'm SO excited about how much yardage is in this skein!

Since it was so hot, we didn't stay very long.  We were anxious to find a place to cool down.  We needed food because it was already around 1:00 p.m.  We also wanted to see a yarn shop in the downtown area.  So, we drove over to the area it was in and found a place to park to find the yarn shop and a place to eat.

As we walked over to the yarn shop, we saw this face on the side of a big building.
It's interesting how parts of the face area are etched into the brick of the building.

As in most big cities, there are a lot of old and interesting buildings.
There were big Griffins all around this building...

The yarn shop we went to see was inside an old book store, The Last Bookstore.

How cool and how fun this book store would have been if the day was cooler and we'd eaten.

I think I need to go back someday...a cooler day!

There were artistic vignettes all through the store.

Here's one of them...

The yarn shop, Gather DTLA (Downtown L.A.), was on the second floor.

Their sign and the big, artistic use of crochet was breathtaking!...

Crochet love!

The store was tiny but how nice to have one downtown for people who work there and for visitors.  They had a small but nice selection of yarn and supplies.  And, they were friendly.  Best of all, for yesterday....they had a powerful fan that felt oh-so-good!

For lunch, we found a great little cafe, "Crepes Sans Frontieres", inside the Spring Arcade Building.  We found it because of a little chalkboard sign sitting at one of the entrances to the arcade/corridor.

What a find it was!  It turned out to be one of the best parts of the day.  It was cool, peaceful, the people were nice, and the food was delicious!  I had a gluten free/buckwheat gallette (crepe) with chicken, caramelized onions, mushrooms and tomatoes.  There was a small, mixed greens salad with a Dijon vinaigrette dressing included.  It was all delicious!  I also had an interesting and tasty version of lemonade...it had ginger in it.  We sat, relaxed, cooled off and enjoyed some time to chat.

After our mid-afternoon lunch, it was time to head back to the car and home.  We were parked in one of the many downtown lots.  I don't like graffiti but I thought this did make for an interesting photo...

I've always had a curiosity about Los Angeles.  It's far enough away to not go often yet close enough to go explore from time to time.  I know there are a lot of hidden and wonderful things to find within it's boundaries.  It was fun to go and spend a day discovering some of them.

Hello, Yarnover Truck!

Last week, I posted about a project I was working on and how I'd run out of yarn wayyyy before it was done.  At that time, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend any more money on it.  And, I wasn't even sure that more yarn would be available.  I'd purchased the yarn over a month ago.

After I thought about it for a while, I decided that I liked the project a lot and that I really didn't want to rip out all my hard work.  So, I sent a message to the Yarnover Truck (where I'd bought the yarn)

to see if they happened to have any left in the same dye lot.  They did!  They said they'd be happy to hold it for me even if I couldn't make it to one of their locations until August or later.  Wow!

They were in San Diego on Sunday.  That's not all that close to me but I love

going down there and it was a great excuse to beat the crazy heat we had at home.  

An hour drive and we were in temps 30 degrees cooler than home!  Wow!

Hello, Yarnover Truck!

I went in and they had my yarn right there waiting for me in a bag.

They even gave me a Yarnover Truck button.  They're so nice and I really enjoyed

chatting with them for a few minutes.  I was excited to congratulate them for

winning the 2013 TNNA Business Innovation Award.  I know a lot of us thought

their idea was genius.  It's awesome that they have been officially recognized for it.

They had their glass trophy sitting on the counter.  :-)

I know that I said it this after my first visit to the Yarnover Truck and I'm going to say it again after my second visit...this is one of my all time favorite yarn shops.  That says a lot because I go into every yarn shop I can find in Southern California and everywhere I travel.  I think that just about every yarn they have is super gorgeous.  They have both knitted and crocheted samples that are stylish and perfect for the season.  And, their little shop is nicely organized, bright, airy and just plain fun!  

If you ever get a chance, go shop the Yarnover Truck!

They had a couple of these signs for sale...cute.

I know that food trucks are super popular now.  I had no idea there were stores on wheels...except 

for the Yarnover truck!  Turns out there's a whole association for them.  This event was put on by

the AMRA (American Mobile Retail Association).  Who knew?!  This event was held behind a very nice wine bar called "Fifty Seven Degrees".  It was near down town San Diego and Little Italy...just above the airport.  There were over half a dozen trucks, a DJ spinning some cool tunes, food and drinks.  The theme was fashion and there were a lot of really cool and cute clothes.

Here are some of the mobile shops...

I like the name of this one and they had lots of cute stuff.  They even had a fitting room on board.

The shop next to the Yarnover Truck had lots of hand made art type clothing and Steampunk styles.

We saw a lot of really cool stuff that was very inspired and impressive.

This is another shot of it.  The "mobile" part of their business was a nice, restored VW bus.

What a fun day!  I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for more events like this.

And, of course, I'll definitely be back again and again to shop at the Yarnover Truck!

I may only need one more skein but I bought two...just in case.

This is officially my most expensive yarn project ever!

But, it's not even done yet and it's filled with fun and happy memories.

I was a very happy girl last night as I wound my new ball of yarn

and started working on my project again.  Yay!

I'd also made a pitcher of sangria last night that was oh so delicious.

It was a very good day!

Ugh!

Ugh!  I'm frustrated! 

 I've run out of yarn before my project is anywhere near finished.

I've worked for weeks on this project.  

It's been a love/hate kind of project.

Easy yet hard in that the openness of it makes it hard to see any mistakes

until a row or three later.  Rip!  There has been a lot of frogging along the way!

But, I kept going because I loved the sample I saw weeks ago on the Yarnover Truck.

Here's my project draped over the back of a chair...

(Keep in mind that this is unblocked and would look different and much better after blocking)

I've been a bit worried about the length since I finished the first skein and saw how short it was at that point.  But, I kept hoping (dreaming) that I had enough yarn to make it big enough.  I kept looking at a project on Ravelry (which looks exactly like the one on the Yarnover Truck and says she used 

two skeins) and trying to believe it was going to work...with a little magic.

The sample I saw on the truck was the "increased width" and had a tag that said it needed

two skeins of the yarn used in the sample.  I bought two skeins.  However, at the end of my

two skeins, the shawl is barely over three feet long.  I know it will grow during blocking but

I really don't think it will grow nearly enough!  It really needs one more skein to work.

That's the problem.  The Yarnover Truck is usually in areas very far from where I live.

So, even if they did have a skein left over of this exact color and dye lot (which would be

surprising with the amount of business they do), I'd have to drive hours to get it.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this project.  It's way too short to use.  

But, I put so much time and work into it.  I guess I'll just put it in time out

until I'm ready to frog it completely and use the yarn for another project.  Ugh!

P.S. I've received a couple comments about contacting the Yarnover Truck for more yarn.
I came close to doing that but I've spent so much money on this project already
 and I'm not sure I love it enough to spend more.  I'm not even sure I'm willing to make it
 in a narrower version with the yarn I have because it wasn't very fun to crochet.
Maybe I'll feel a bit differently after some time away from it.

Yarnover Truck / Girls Day Out

Yesterday was a girls day out for my friend Judy and I.

We found out that the Yarnover Truck was going to be

in our area and planned a whole day around it.  

Our adventure started out with a 45 minute drive to Escondido and little antique shopping.

Judy got a great little antique table with a bowl/box top.  It's really cute!  

I think it could work great as a knit or crochet project holder next to her favorite stitch spot/chair.

You can see it in her blog post HERE.

Our next stop was lunch.  We found a BBQ restaurant and enjoyed yummy food and chat time.

Then...we were off to visit the Yarnover Truck!

If you haven't heard of it yet, it's a yarn shop on wheels that just opened this year.

They travel all around Southern California and provide yarn shopping fun at various places and events.

They were at two wineries this weekend, Orfila in Escondido on Saturday

and Oak Mountain Winery in Temecula on Sunday.  We went to Orfila Winery.

Here it is...The Yarn Over Truck!...

There were two tables set up outside for Baah Yarn and Ewe Ewe Yarn.

The colors were amazing!  So vibrant and gorgeous!

The truck itself is small and only accommodates a few people at a time.

There was a short line for waiting to go in.  It didn't take long and it was worth the wait.

The side walls of the truck are lined with shelves that are very organized and filled

with beautiful yarn.  Knitted and crocheted items are on display near the yarn 

each one is made from.  And, each one has a tag telling the pattern name, the yarn used, 

and how many skeins are needed for that project.  I love that!

I fell in love with a lacy crochet shawl.  It's very different from the ones I've been making

and exactly what I've been searching for.  It required two skeins of "Spud & Chloe" fine 

sock yarn.  I had no trouble deciding on a color.  My eyes went straight to this beautiful

pale turquoise...a color I've been wanting to make a shawl with.  In fact, I don't

even remember what other colors were available.  This color was it! 

It's superwash Merino and silk.  It's so soft and pretty!

There was a little check stand in the front of the truck to purchase yarn.

They even wrote the pattern name down for me so I can purchase it on Ravelry.

Judy bought a skein of yarn that was dyed specifically for the Yarn Over Truck.

It's called "Keep on Truckin'".  It's blue and teal and beautiful.

You can see it on her blog post.

The weather was spectacular yesterday and so was the scenery.

A perfect day and place to kick back, relax, and enjoy!

The winery was small and really nice.

I'd definitely like to go back there again someday.

We walked around and enjoyed the views and took a few pictures.

We had fun looking at the nearby houses and picking out our favorites.

Some of them were huge!

After the winery and yarn truck, we decided to head to the beach town of Encinitas.

It was only about 20 minutes away.  We visited two yarn shops that Judy had never been to, 

Common Threads and Black Sheep.  After walking through town, we took a walk on the 

beach and gathered some rocks to decorate with crochet...like the one in my "Rockin'" post.

We headed back home around six and the hour drive gave us more chat time.

What a fun day!  And, now we have more yarn and rocks to create with!