A Particularly Nice Evening

Last night we went over to the Farmers Market for our regular Wednesday night L.A. dinner group. We've been meeting the "regulars" for a few years now, just to eat dinner and discuss the events of the week...usually L.A.-centric events. The worlds of music, art, architecture, literature and all things Los Angeles are represented by the participants.

Amy, Stuart, Larry

The group changes all the time, depending on people's schedules. Last night we had a large group consisting of me, Larry, Amy, Stuart, T.K., Robbie, Todd, Catherine, Gary and new guest, Nancy.

Robbie, Todd, Catherine, T.K., Gary

Gary, Ellen, Nancy

Robbie, Catherine

I know I've said this before, but there's just something about the Farmers Market that is magical and very European. I can't think of another place in Los Angeles where you have a choice of restaurants and can eat outdoors in a pleasing atmosphere, filled with interesting people. I suppose I should widen my horizons and look for other great places in L.A. to gather. Let me know if there's anyplace that compares to the Original Farmers Market, please.

The group was quite lively last night. Also, for some reason, the Market wasn't that crowded. Maybe the tourists have finally decided to go home. For me, the Market is best in the dead of winter when it's raining. No crowds, easy parking, no lines at the restaurants and you can stay cozy while wearing all of your knitted and crocheted hats, scarves, etc.

Blog Star

I'm so excited! Kevin Roderick of L.A. Observed wrote about a bunch of eclectic blogs in his post the other day and I made the list! My good friend, Beth O. alerted me to this mention. Thanks, Beth, you're a peach! Most of the blogs listed are L.A.-centric, with a variety of subjects covered: Food, L.A. landmarks, art in L.A., L.A. politics, etc. Kevin is the author of Mr. Larry's fave book, "The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb."

Of course, Kevin only mentioned part of my Saturday....just the shopping in Burbank and seeing famous L.A. personalities at Philippe's Restaurant. He didn't even mention that I went to the Music Center for a matinee performance of "Curtains.", which is a very L.A. thing to do!

It's unusual to find me in Burbank...it's kind of off my beat....."From Boyle Heights to the Beach....from Manchester to Mulholland...", but I am thankful for the notice. Thanks, Kevin!

New Car! New Car!

Official Brochure Photo of Toyota Matrix

Woo Hoo! My brand new Toyota Matrix was delivered this morning to my office door! Double Woo Hoo! I've been driving my Mom's hand-me-down 2000 Honda Accord for a year. The Honda is a nice car...it was lovely of Mom to give it to me. It's just not MY car. I really need a station wagon for all of the canvases, yarn, groceries, etc. that I haul around all the time. Hey Mom, thanks for the down payment on my new Matrix!!!

I will be taking my new car to various locations in beautiful Los Angeles to photograph it very soon. For now, here's how it looked while it was hooked up to the flatbed truck in front of my office building.

Flatbed Truck Driver with Ellen's NEW CAR

Mr. Larry came over for lunch so he could drive it around and ogle all of the features. We discovered that my new car has a sunroof! I didn't even order a sunroof! Woo Hoo, again! Now we can stand up and wave to everyone thru the roof of the car as we cruise Pico Boulevard.

Must buy yarn. Must get busy crocheting new designer headrest covers for Matrix!!!

Saturday

The Mid-Century Tiki Safari Inn, Burbank

I didn't have anything planned this weekend. I could have gone to the Sunset Junction to see some of my fave bands playing, but it was just too hot to stand in the broiling sun in the middle of Sunset Bouevard. Last weekend, while I was at the Michael's in Burbank, I wished that I'd had more time to explore the various other stores in this faboo big box mall. On my side of the hill, we just don't have these large clusters of chain stores in one area. We usually have to drive all over the place and park and re-park to visit the chain stores. There is something to be said for the suburbs. Yes, they all look alike and it's difficult to find your friend's beige house among all the other beige houses but, there are so many large plots of land out there in the 'burbs, that developers can put all of the chain stores conveniently surrounding the same parking lot. One-stop shopping, at it's finest. Early Saturday morning I drove over to Burbank. I passed the Safari Motor Inn on the way and took photos of this historic mid-century modern tiki motel.

I visited Marshall's, Shoe Pavillion, Target and Michael's at the Burbank Empire Center. Of course, I picked up a few goodies. The land where this shopping center is located used to be Lockheed Aircraft. The design of this outdoor center is very industrial...corrugated metal and concrete blocks. Large metal frames are used for signage, with rivets and aluminum trimming for the buildings. And, of course model airplanes fly above the center. I suppose if a new development is built on top of a historic site, that this is as good a rendition as any could be. Needless to say, I was carrying too many bags and drunk with shopping to even think about photographing this great big box mall.

It was almost lunchtime when I was done shopping. I considered doing the mall thing and going to the Olive Garden for lunch, but then I realized I was a quick freeway trip to downtown L.A.

I zipped downtown and went to Philippe's the Original French Dip for lunch. I've written about Philippe's extensively. The food is really good. Just as I was finishing my yummy French dip sandwich, none other than my favorite Hist-o-tainer, Charles Phoenix along with his buddy, Paul sat down at the table next to me. Paul Reubens is better known as Pee-Wee Herman. I took a stalker-azzi photo of Charles and Paul eating lunch with The Leonards. The Leonards are two guys named Leonard that just plopped themselves down next to Paul & Charles and proceeded to tell Paul how much they idolized him. Paul was very polite and spoke to The Leonards about their idolization issues. By the way, Paul, after reading your bio on IMDB, I see that yesterday was your b-day! Hope it was great. Charles introduced me to Paul. I told him I'd enjoyed his work and I left. It was only 1pm. I was thinking that I could just make it to the Music Center, a few blocks away, and maybe score a "rush" ticket to a matinee.

Paul, Charles and The Leonards

chowin' down @ Philippe's

Luck was with me. I was able to buy a $20 ticket to see "Curtains" at the Ahmanson Theater. My seat was originally priced at $75! This is an excellent way to see some marvelous plays at the Music Center for a reduced price. Of course, you take your chances on whether or not there are "rush" tickets available. "Curtains," starring David Hyde Pierce (among others) was very enjoyable. I knew it was the type of play / musical that Mr. Larry wouldn't be interested in seeing, so I didn't feel guilty about going without him. The matinee let out at about 4:30.

Scene from "Curtains" at the Ahmanson Theater

Music Center Plaza

Later that evening, Larry and I had a shrimp dinner at the Rodeo Mexican Grill on Olympic Blvd., just west of downtown L..A. There's a branch of this restaurant in Echo Park on Sunset Blvd., but this is by far the more modern and comfortable of the restaurants. It's easy to park and they serve cocktails! All in all, it was a productive and fun day. Sunday was Emmy day....mucho TV watching and lolling about on the couch knitting and crocheting!

100% Virgin Acrylic

My New Fave

I have an affinity for acrylic yarn. Yes, mohair, cashmere, certain wools, Egyptian cotton are all soft to the touch and a dream to work with, but I was raised on crunchy acrylic. When I learned how to knit in the early 1960's, acrylic was king! It was new, revolutionary, a scientific wonder and indestructible. It was also easy to machine wash and dry, and lighter in weight than wool for the Southern California climate. It came in lots and lots of pretty colors. It was inexpensive......so many good reasons to love acrylic yarn. There were versions of acrylic with fun names like Sayelle, Orlon, Nylon, Acetate and my two best friends, Poly and Ester. Hey! Remember the singing group, The Orlons? In my opinion, The Orlons were always superior to the group called The Cashmeres!

The Orlons

Over the years I've been seduced by fancy and expensive natural fibers, but I always come back to good ol' reliable acrylic. Why spend tons of money on natural fibers when you can have just as much fun with acrylic? The new blends are really wonderful. Coats and Clarks has come up with a new RED HEART SOFT YARN! It's incredible! It's very much like Caron's Simply Soft, but comes in tastier colors.

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I was at the Burbank Michael's this past weekend. This Michael's, located at 1551 No. Victory Place is fully stocked right now. The reason I was in Burbank was to attend Christine's Yard Sale. Christine and many of our fellow knitster friends got together and held a group yard sale. I bought a few books and it was an excellent excuse to be in the vicinity of the Burbank Michael's. You see, here on my side of the hill in the Big City, the only Michael's we have is in Santa Monica. I don't like being negative, but the SM Michael's is old, crummy, no one ever helps you and the shelves are sparse. You have to travel to the 'burbs to get a good selection. Also, the big box mall where the Burbank Michael's is located also has a Krispy Kreme, Shoe Pavillion, Starbucks, Marshall's, Target, Lowe's, Linens 'n Things, Sportmart, Staples, Best Buy, etc. It's one-stop shopping at it's finest.

Christine's Yard Sale Group in Burbank

Back to the wonders of acrylic. My friend, Regina, posted this whole rant about knitting yarn vs. crochet yarn and the Super Yarn Marts of our past. One of the points that she makes is that the Super Yarn Mart was the ONLY place where we could find a variety of yarn to buy. Oh sure, you could find a few skeins at Woolworth's, Sears, Fedco and even the May Company, but Super Yarn Mart was the best. They even imported yarn from Europe! There were locations all over the Southland. The aisles were wide, the stores were huge. There were samples of afghans, sweaters, baby clothes hanging from the rafters. They gave you these patterns for free. Everything was pink. All of the ladies that worked there were old, wore lots of lipstick, drank coffee all day and smoked in the store. Ahh, yes...those were the days of acrylic heaven.

The Most Wonderful Yarn Store on Earth

So, don't be such a yarn snob. Try some of the new and improved acrylics! They're faboo!

A D D E N D U M

Ana of BananaKnits just sent in this photo of her vintage Super Yarn Mart ruler! Thanks, Ana!

More Dishcloths

"Ballband" Knitted Dishcloths

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm still working on some dishcloths. I really like this pattern. Natalie at the WeHo SnB has made quite a few of these too. They are addicting. I was at the Michael's in Burbank, and they have a really good supply of Sugar 'n Cream kitchen cotton available.

After knitting a few of these, I'm not liking the raggedy edges that result from carrying the different color yarn up the side. As you can see in the close-up below, I crocheted an edge on the green and purple cloth. For some reason, this crocheted edge looks wonky to me too. Hmmm? I think the only solution to neatness would be to knit in some sort of border while still slip-stitching the base color up the sides of the cloth, maybe 2 stitches in? I have no clue how to do this. Any suggestions, excellent knitters out there?

I might just try to find a crochet stitch that simulates this pattern.

Last Ukulele Class

Last night was our final ukulele class in the series of six at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. I will miss the uke challenges that our teacher, Steve Rose gave us, urging us to stretch our little fingers to great lengths on the uke fretboard. The class started out with eleven people and ended with seven stalwarts. That's not such a bad drop-out rate. We all traded e-mail addresses and have promised to trade uke info and news about upcoming uke events. Hopefully, an intermediate class will be offered in the near future. My friend, Nancy came along for part of the class to take some photos of our final ukulele class.

Ellen, Tom and Don in back

photo by Nancy Del Favero

Donnae, Ann and Pamela

photo by Nancy Del Favero

photo by Nancy Del Favero

Steve showing us a particularly difficult chord

Photo by Nancy Del Favero

Shelby advises Pamela on uke technique (left)

Photo by Nancy Del Favero

I do know that Steve will be teaching another beginning ukulele class this October. Even if you've never played a musical instrument, this is a fun and rewarding class. I urge everyone to sign up and have some fun.

We learned all the basics in class, along with lots of popular songs ranging from folk tunes like This Little Light of Mine, to calypso songs Jamaica Farewell, pop songs King of the Road, You Send Me and classic American jazzy songs like Avalon, Up A Lazy River, 26 Miles. One of my favorites is the Hawaiian song, Goin' to the Hukilau. Now, I have to memorize all of those songs with the lyrics and chord changes along with learning new songs. I want to be more popular at parties, you know.

Larry bought me Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Country songbook with some swingin' Patsy Cline and Hank Williams songs, among others. I purchased Jumpin' Jim's 60's Uke-In, which has some catchy pop tunes by the Beatles, the Monkees, Burt Bacharach, etc. There is lots of ukulele info online. It's amazing how many people live in Uke-land!

Wall of Fame, Upstairs at McCabe's

Velaslavasay Panorama

The Velaslavasay Panorama

On Sunday, Larry and I attended the Ice Cream Sociable at the new-ish Velaslavasay Panorama. and Gardens. The owner of the Panorama is Sara Velas. Sara is an artist. She is currently working on the Panorama painting. At the Panorama's previous location in Hollywood, the painting was called The Valley of the Smokes. It was a rendition of what Los Angeles looked like over 200 years ago, in the round. It was a very moving painting. I believe that the subject matter for the new painting has something to do with the arctic. It's sure to be just as beautiful and inspirational as the painting in the former Panorama.

The Gazebo in the Panorama Garden

The building where the Panorama is now housed is on 24th Street, between Hoover and Vermont, near USC. It was originally an old movie theater. Later it was used as a playhouse and acting school. It's final use was as the Tile Union Hall, hence the magnificent tile on the exterior of the building. There's an informative article about the Panorama building here.

Director, Sara Velas is obsessed with Victorian entertainment. There was a lot of it on Sunday. When we arrived at the Panorama, we could hear music emanating from the garden. Charlie Cox was playing his banjo and singing for the crowd.

the tuneful Charlie Cox

Chris Nichols, Larry Underhill and guests

Mashti Malone was serving their original ice cream and pomegranate sherbet. Erik Newman, "the reluctant avaitor" was readying his infernal bicycle aerial machine.

Erik Newman

Surprise guests, ukulele player David Barlia and his female dancer companion, The Pooka Child, of the Bilgewater Brothers Band serenaded us for a few select tunes.

Pooka Child and David Barlia
There was a magician performing tricks.

All in all, it was a mildly entertaining afternoon. I should have brought my knitting.

Join The Ring!

Annika and Gwen from our WeHo SnB came up this brilliant idea! Let's form a WeHo SnB Ring so we can stay current with everyone's blogs! Excellent idea. I am now an official ring member. If you attend our WeHo SnB meetings on Thursdays OR Saturdays OR have attended in the past OR maybe want to and you have a blog, join us in the ring! Click here to read all about it. Come on Carla, Sachi, Crazy Auntie, Shannita, Mary Heather, Tami, Lori S., Darcy, Jason, Natalie, Sara-1 and Sara-2, Drew (Honorary Member), Regina, Kathy of Hollywood, Allison and any other WeHo web log stitchers out there....PLEASE JOIN US!

Last night at the WeHo SnB I brought a few of my crocheted leis. The lovely and talented Lena Linoleum was gracious enough to model one of the variegated leis for the camera. Enjoy the lei, Lena...it suits you!

Lena and Crocheted Lei

Jeffrey recently returned from a trip to Taos, New Mexico where he enjoyed many opera performances, the faboo scenery and tons of cultural events. He brought me back a belated b-day gift of a felted potholder that looks exactly like a stack of tacos! So cute and useful! Thanks, Jeffrey. You know about my love of tacos! I'm an avid reader of The Great Taco Hunt and I've even crocheted a taco or two in my lifetime.

Felted Tortilla Potholder from Taos

Thanks, Jeffrey!

My Crocheted Taco

Have a great weekend!

More Crocheted Leis

Crocheted Hawaiian Leis

Crocheting Hawaiian leis is addicting. I've figured out how to make leaves with the flowers. Now, I'm using up some old yarn and trying out new color combinations.

I'm thinking that these would make darling scarves if I don't tie the ends together for the required lei. With the ends hanging loose, this will look similar to the Potato Chip Scarf.

My next lei will be with lime green leaves and coral flowers.

Another Estate Sale

Olympiad Drive, View Park

No, I do not spend all of my free time going to estate sales. It just so happens that in the spring and summer there are lots of sales. At one time in my life I was intent on buying up all manners of vintage items. I like pottery, costume jewelry, records, sheet music, knit and crochet supplies and books, paintings, furniture, some clothing, etc.. Over the years I have amassed quite a bit of vintage items. I think my collecting days are almost over. Soon, it will be time to divest myself of my many treasures. HOWEVER, my friend Rhoda is still on the hunt for stuff. She drags me to many of the sales that we attend on weekends. We usually make a day of it and go out to lunch in the area where the sale is located.

This past weekend, we went to a Treasures Estate Sale in View Park. View Park is a lovely area of Baldwin Hills with gorgeous mid-20th-century homes, rolling front lawns and magnificent views of the Los Angeles. This particular home was built in 1949. The original owner built the house himself. It did have a rough-hewn look to it, but it was spacious and great for entertaining.

Beautiful Beamed Ceiling in the Great Room

The deceased had two different wives with varying interests.

The house was packed with all sorts of things, from 1920's era costumes to vintage phonographs and player pianos. There was a cabinet in the kitchen with about 100 punch bowl cups....party people! I found a book on clowns.

The horse ride had a Woolworth's sticker on it

This is the exact Hurdy Gurdy I received for my 4th Birthday!

The Hurdy Gurdy was broken, otherwise, I would have bought it

Cloisonne' Kitchen Art, mounted on walnut

For me, it's not about what I might buy anymore, it's about seeing an old house in a nifty L.A. neighborhood and how people live. This sale continues this weekend. The address is 4260 Olympiad Dr., LA, CA 90043. Check it out. You might not buy anything, but you'll see a beautiful L.A. area.

After our hunt was over, we headed to nearby LaDera Heights for lunch at one of L.A.'s best coffee shops, Pann's. It was yum-a-licious.