history

  • @ Los Angeles

    ByHeather Bailey

    We just returned from a week in Los Angeles. My super-talented sister-in-law, Wendy Lane Bailey, had flown out to L.A. to perform at the Gardenia.
    We were supposed to arrive in time to watch her sing, but our van's new
    transmission had a different plan. Even though the transmission was
    only a couple of months old, it gave out on our way out of town—big time. Needless to say, we started out on a different adventure than we had planned.

    AtSymbol

    I'll just say that we got to know the truck stop really well. And
    after a few hours we made our way to a pizza place near the mechanic’s,
    camping there for most of the evening until we had secured a rental van
    to pile into. Nine hours and $700 later, we were back on the road to
    L.A.

    FabricShopping

    Unfortunately, we missed Wendy’s performance. A serious bummer.
    But, we tried to make up for it once we arrived. We stayed in a
    beautiful hotel in old-town Pasadena, one of my favorite areas.

    Our first stop was to visit old haunts in the Fashion District with
    the kids. When we lived in Hollywood, Elijah was about the same age as
    our little one is now. It was bizarre—and pretty cool—to see him, at
    6-foot-3, push our youngest around in a stroller just like I used to
    push Elijah around the Fashion District in a stroller, years back. What a
    serious time warp.

    PinksHotDogs

    We ate at Pink’s hot dogs for old-time’s-sake, spent a day at The Getty Museum, shopped at the Rose Bowl Flea Market (my favorite!), toured our old neighborhood—which has changed quite a bit, yet is so much the same—had cocoa at The Grove, and received a driving tour of historic Venice, CA from Wendy’s friend, Jessie, who has lived in Venice for the last 40 years.

    I’ve been to Venice many times, but I had no idea that a large part of the city was originally built along canals. Instead of driving to a neighbor’s house, they would canoe. I love it.

    SphinxGettyMuseum

    As for The Getty, I adore it.

    If you can believe this, I never did visit The Getty when we lived
    close-by. We even had a friend who was a curator there at the time, yet I
    still didn't make it. Back then, Isaac once went on a private tour of
    the museum before it opened. Where was I at the time!? Seriously.

    SketchingGettyMuseum

    It was fantastic. I am awed and inspired. And ready to find a
    portrait-painting class to take. Know of a good one? We’re back home
    now, but part of me wants to turn around and head right back to The
    Getty. If you are ever in Southern California, get yourself there. Don’t
    miss it.

    BreathingCover300The
    mechanic repaired the transmission without charge. However, I’m still
    sad that the fiasco cost us our chance to see Wendy’s show. She has two more shows
    coming up in New York City next week. Perhaps I can round up a couple
    of free tickets to give away and send one of you in my stead.

    All photos are from my Instagram feed—hallelujah for functioning phone cameras! We forgot to pack the big camera on this trip—ack.

  • Knit Bits

    ByHeather Bailey

    Knitting1
    I
    taught myself to knit 20 years ago. My freshman year in college, my mom
    gave me some supplies for Christmas, but she never got around to
    showing me the basics over Christmas break. She offered to teach me once
    I returned home again for the summer—but I was too impatient. I would
    have to teach myself. My first project was a fisherman's knit
    sweater—because that's my kind of crazy—always start with the hardest
    project.

    Knitting2wIsaac
    and I dated long distance for my first couple of years of college, so
    we spent a lot of time on the phone—often for hours at a time. I got a
    lot of knitting done during those long calls.

    Come to think of it, I made two fisherman knit sweaters that
    semester—it was A LOT of time spent on the phone—Isaac was quite the
    talker back then. I was happy to listen and knit, occasionally chiming
    in with an "uh-uh…yep…sure…of course…then what?…" A $40 Radio
    Shack headset phone saved my aching neck. I loved that phone.

    That was back when I still planned to become a surgeon. Knitting and
    doll-making were my stress-relief from a demanding school schedule.

    By the time I switched my major to Apparel Design, knitting was my
    side-kick. I brought my knitting to class, to the cafeteria, to
    church—everywhere I went.

    Later, when I designed a full-on clothing collection for competition
    in the university's annual fashion show, my collection was the only one
    to include a variety of knitted garments. In fact, I suspect that my
    men's intarsia sweaters were pivotal to my First Place win in my first
    fashion show. It was early in my second year of the program, and I was
    competiting against designers with twice as much schooling and
    experience.

    Knitting3

    Living in sunny Arizona, I don't knit quite as frequently as I did
    when we lived where it snows. But, it is still one of my
    all-time-favorite pastimes. When I get the itch to knit, it doesn't
    matter if I have a project figured out—or even the right needles (as
    evidenced by my rubber-band-modified double-pointed needles above)—I set
    to it.

    RuffleScarf1wThis
    time, I tried my hand at the trendy, new ruffle yarns and made a scarf
    for my sister-in-law, Laura. She's in DC, where it's a bit colder. And
    she's my style-sister. If I can't wear it—because it's just not cold
    enough here—then I can enjoy the finished knitting through her.

    I did finally grab some shorty little light-weight bamboo needles to finish the job—so I could knit on a plane without bothering my neighbors—and avoid getting patted down by airport security.

    I dont' know how many of you knit, but have you ever tried working with ruffle yarn?

    My take: It was fun to knit with, but a little slow. You knit each
    chain/eyelet that runs along one edge of the yarn (see top photo), and
    it's a bit of work to keep the yarn untwisted. Then there is the matter
    of burying the yarn ends. There was no straight-forward solution for
    this, so I put it off of course. I finally resolved to crochet the ends
    into the work so they would be undetectable—which worked perfectly.

    I finished up last night, in time to ship this one off for
    Valentine's Day. Sorry for the spoiler, Laura. I'm sending chocolate
    too.

    If you're a
    knitter, here are the details: I cast 15 stitches onto size US 4
    (3.5mm) needles. Knitting every row, I used 2 full balls of Flaunt™ yarn
    by Loops & Threads™ (Michael's) for a mid-length scarf. This yarn
    comes in several variegated options, as well as in solids.

    Next up, I'm making a twinner scarf for me—in teal.