Splitty City!

The Virus Shawl Chart. It's called "Virus" because the pattern spread like one among crocheters around the world!

The Virus Shawl pattern never disappoints! It takes a bit to understand the pattern, but once you've got it, you can fly through the shawl. It is constantly interesting to crochet too. I've made many shawls with this pattern, but this is the first time I've used Trendsetter's Transitions Yarn of the "Smoothie" variety.

My Guild, The El Segundo Slipt Stitchers visited the Trendsetter Warehouse in Van Nuys last August. The owner, Barry Klein gave us an overview of his yarns, along with corresponding patterns. When I saw my friend, Lenora model this Barry Klein designed Sweater/Poncho combo, I immediately LOVED the yarn, so I bought a skein!

Lenora, modelling the "Swancho," with Barry Klein

I'm quite pleased with how my shawl turned out. I love the colors and it's quite large. The drape is lovely too. I used a size "G" crochet hook. HOWEVER, because of the ombre shading in this yarn and the fact that the four thin strands that make up the variegation are not twisted, this yarn is really splitty and difficult to work with! I'm glad this piece is finally done!

Colorway: Turqs to Violets, #211

I changed the border to long picot stitches

Enchanting!

We were lucky to be invited by our friends Margina and Gary to attend Descanso Garden's Enchanted Forest of Light on the day after Thanksgiving. WOW! We love touring Descanso Gardens during the day, but the light installations were really fabulous at night!

We met Margina, Gary, Linda and Nancy for dinner before our tour at the nearby Dish Restaurant in La Cañada. The menu was varied, the decor fun and our meal was delicious.

It was a short drive to Descanso Gardens. Parking was difficult, but Larry managed to find a place on the street near the entrance. Luckily, it was cool, but not too cold at 7:30 pm.

We started our journey through the grounds. The very first display was a knock-out, called "Flower Power." It was a field of glowing glass tulips that changed colors in a rolling wave. Wow! My photos do not do it justice.

Field of Glass Tulips

Tulips, close-up

Our path was lit and the areas were numbered. Next up were the Rainbow Sycamores, very tall trees lit with various color lights.

The next show-stopper was the Starlight Garden. The best way I can describe this area was hanging doily sculptures, lit from the inside, rotating to form more hypnotic shapes on the ground below them. 

This display was slightly dizzy-ing, but was my favorite of the evening.

Starlight Garden...Revolving Doily Lights

We passed by lakes with changing light colors, the Symphony of Oaks that had music emanating from the platforms under each tree. The Fantasy Forest was quite lovely. The lights really do enhance the natural beauty of the plants!

Starlight Garden

Another favorite was the Garden of Good Fortune, lit by hundreds of red lanterns in the Japanese Garden.

Garden of Good Fortune

Scary Larry

Margina made a fantastic little movie of our dinner and Garden adventures. Click HERE to see her masterpiece!

Thank you again, Margina and Gary for including us in this enchanted evening!

Thanksgiving 2017

Del Rey Yacht Club

We celebrated another lovely family Thanksgiving yesterday. It was unusually hot in Los Angeles, 95 degrees! I'm most thankful that I did not have to turn on my oven! 

Click on photo to see larger version

Our gang of 22 met at the Del Rey Yacht Club for the buffet. Everything was delicious. Best of all, it was fun seeing my cousins, their children and grandchildren. The last two remaining matriarchs in our family, Roz and Mae, seemed to have a good time too!

Twilight time at Marina del Rey is the best time

Cousin Julia. My Mom always orders balloons for the table

To see more photos of our family Thanksgiving, click HERE.

"Blueberry Pie" for dessert!

Del Rey Yacht Club. 1965, Maurice Fleischman, architect

Yarny Holiday Gifties

Yikes! I'd better start on my holiday gifties NOW! I waited a bit too long this year, deciding what I was going to make for a few friends, so now I need some yarny gifties that are QUICK to crochet and/or knit. Here are a few that I like. Links are in the captions.

Khaleesi's Dragon Scale Mitts for my "Game of Thrones" fan friends

Ellen Silva's Checkbox Cowl. Photo by Gale Zucker

Not sure where I saw this crocheted hat, but I could figure it out from the photo!

Crochet Reindeer. I like to have a few ornaments on hand

EVERYONE needs a disturbin' Turban! Turban Twist by Bernat

Last year I made Pussy Hats for my girlfriends. The previous year I made beards for everyone! Another year, bandeaux of blooms were all the rage. Beehive beanies were my obsession too! Be sure and click on all those links to see my cute friends in all of their yarny glory! I'm sure inspiration will speak to me this weekend so I can get started!

Are you making gifts for your friends this holiday season?

Old School

Kim's Restaurant, Crenshaw Square

I made a new "friend" on Facebook a few weeks ago. We both commented on a Los Angeles architecture/cultural related post. Turns out that my new friend, Mitchell, is also a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy and moderates the Facebook Group, Asian Retro. He grew up in the Baldwin Hills area of L.A. as part of the Japanese-American community. While I was following comments on the post, many of his friends from the neighborhood chimed in regarding their favorite places to eat in the area. Kim's Restaurant was mentioned often and with gusto.

After much discussion back and forth about which of Kim's Cantonese dishes reminded everyone of home, my mouth was watering. I needed to visit Kim's. I've been to the neighboring Tak's Coffee Shop, also located in Crenshaw Square a few times, so I knew exactly where Kim's was.

Saturday, Larry and I took a quick ride over to Crenshaw Square. The complex has been beautified and fixed up since our last visit! It looks great! This is a lovely mid-century shopping and office courtyard building with tons of parking in back. On the Crenshaw side is the newly resurrected Earle's Grille. It was very busy on Saturday night. We drove to the back where Tak's and Kim's are located. Kim's was doing a brisk take-out business and there were several diners inside the newly remodeled and very clean restaurant.

Crenshaw Square's Courtyard Building has been gussied up!

Kim's offers Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese and Mongolian food. You could probably get a hamburger here as well. I was reminded of the Chinese Restaurants along Pico Boulevard from my youth, Hoi Ping, Kowloon and Wan-Q.

Wor Won Ton Soup

We'd heard that the Wor Won Ton Soup was excellent. We ordered a large bowl which was chock full of yummy stuff. We also ordered the Chicken with Ginger with slices of REAL ginger on top. Everything was fresh and delicious. The service was good too. We will definitely be returning to Kim's when we're hankering for old-style Cantonese food!

My fortune read, "Treat yourself to something of quality." I just did! Dinner!

I'm so glad that this complex, Crenshaw Square, has been preserved. It's an excellent example of mid-20th century, multiple-use architecture. Read more about the Asian community in the Crenshaw area HERE. 

Kim's Restaurant

3860 So. Crenshaw Blvd., LA

AFTER Turkey Day!

Yes, we're all gearing up for Thanksgiving next week. Did you buy your bird yet? We are lucky to celebrate the day with our family by eating OUT. I don't think I've ever cooked Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd. This is good and bad. Good, because I don't have to rush around before the big day. Bad, because we never have leftovers. This post is all about leftovers. I will probably cook a turkey breast and a drumstick or two the day AFTER T-giving so I can cook some of these recipes.

What to do with the remains of the turkey?  Shove turkey bits into every conceivable type of recipe you can imagine, that's what!  

I like turkey leftovers even more than I like the original dinner.  Turkey soup, turkey sandwiches, turkey chili, turkey tetrazzini, turkey salad....the list is endless.  By the end of the week you are really glad to see that turkey over and done with!  Time for a nice, juicy steak.

Here are some links to a few of my fave turkey leftover recipes:

The turkey sandwich is the easiest.  Just smash some white meat, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mayo and lettuce into a soft roll or two slices of nice, fresh French bread and chow down.

Turkey Tetrazzini.  Substitute wide egg noodles for the spaghetti. 

Turkey Salad.  I like to add some green grapes or diced apples to this recipe.

Turkey Soup.  I also add a handful of Kasha (oat groats) to my soup for that haimishe or homey flavor.

Turkey Chili.  Just remember to add más comino (cumin) to this dish for authentic flavor!

Don't forget to wear your "Turkey in Pilgrim Hat" the entire week!

Saturday WeHo SnB

The Original Farmers Market (a few decades ago)

Once a month, on the second Saturday, the West Hollywood Stitch 'n Bitch has a special get-together. We also meet EVERY Thursday night at the Original Farmers Market. I've been missing the Saturday meet-ups because I have Ukulele Workshop on Saturdays at the same time! I needed to see my Saturday yarny people last week, so I skipped Ukulele!

It was a great Saturday morning. Everyone brought the projects they were working on, including knitting, crochet AND embroidery!

We meet in the upstairs dining area, above Kip's Toyland. This is a perfect spot for larger groups without the hustle-bustle of the downstairs Market.

Upstairs Dining Area at the Original Farmers Market

Suzette is working on the cutest CHICKEN!

Meri is knitting a beautiful, lightweight sweater

Vickie is crocheting a cowl

Stephanie is embroidering a hand-towel

Stephanie brought this vintage embroidery instruction booklet

Amy is almost done with the red, white and turquoise afghan. She will be working on a hat or cowl with the purple yarn

Molly is also embroidering...a lovely set of cocktail towels for her daughter

I brought a new project to work on. Instrument print project bag by Brenda C.

We always have fun on Saturdays! Lots of laughs, some yummy food and we even get a few stitches done! Why don't you join us on the second Saturday of the month, 10am to noon?

My Little Corner of the World

1964 - Pico Boulevard, looking east toward Roxbury Drive, L.A.
photo from Mid-Century Modern & Historical Los Angeles of the 60's, 70's and 80's on FaceBook

My little corner of the world has changed a bit since 1964. I grew up about a block north of this intersection on South Bedford Drive, just inside the border of Beverly Hills.

Click on the photo above to enlarge. You can see the Super Drugs was on the N/W corner of Pico and Roxbury; the Standard Gas Station on the N/E corner., next to Owens Market. Crocker Bank was on the S/W corner and Westwood Nursery & Plants was on the S/E corner, next to Reiss-Davis Center. The grass parkway and a bit of the lawn is visible of the apartment complex on the right side of the photo. As a newlywed, my first husband and I lived in this 4-block apartment campus during the mid-70's. Just west of Super Drugs were a few more small buildings and the Ranch Hotel was to the west a bit. It had a western theme with this big wagon wheel in the front. The logo looked like this: rancHotel in 50's script. We always used to call it the rank hotel!

This was a great area to grow up. We lived a block from Roxbury Park, close to school. We could hop on a bus to Overland Avenue. BEFORE the Westside Pavillion was built, the blocks between Kelton Ave. and Overland Ave. were filled with mini-mall-type stores, the Picwood Theater and the Pic-Wood Bowling Alley. I spent many Saturday afternoons at the movies, then later at the bowling alley with my friends. I remember when the current Macy's (former May Co.) was built at the corner of Overland and Pico. It was so much more modern than our usual May Co. at Wilshire and Fairfax. The mini mall just west of the May Co. housed stores such as See's Candy, The Little Folk Shop, J.J. Newberry's and Eileen Feather Reducing Salon and a small Von's. There are plans now to re-develop the Westside Pavillion into a mixed-use area with apartments, condos, shops and restaurants. Nothing lasts in Los Angeles forever!

If we walked east on Pico a bit, toward Robertson Blvd., we could catch the kid movies at the Stadium Theater during the summer and visit the Beverly Wood Bakery for a treat!

Stadium Theater, 1930. USC Digital Archives. The Theater is now a Synagogue

The Beverlywood Bakery has been here since 1946. Many of the adjacent shops and 
buildings are the same!

Below is a current picture from Google Maps of Pico and Roxbury. The Super Drugs is in a new building that also houses some UCLA Medical offices; the gas station is still there, but it's a 76 station now. Crocker Bank is now Chase Bank; Westwood Nursery is long gone. That corner and the Reiss-Davis Center are now part of the giant Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Ranch Hotel became a large office complex, housing a gym, restaurant, post office and more. Owens Market has been replaced by a Yummy.Com market. In the distance on the north side of the street, you can also see the towering Beverly-Hillcrest Hotel, now called Mr. C Hotel. 

2017 - Pico Boulevard looking east toward Roxbury Drive, L.A.
photo from Google Maps

Take photographs often of your neighborhood. While we're busy, driving around and living, we don't notice the little changes. Little changes turn into BIG changes!