Down by the bay

Down by the bay,
Where the watermelon grow,
Back to my home, I dare not go,
For if I do, my mother will say,
"Did you ever see a fly wearing a tie?"
Down by the bay.

Miss M used to sing this song A LOT when we were in our Raffi music phase. I haven't hear it in a while though. She is currently in her Sesame Street music phase. This is all we ever hear in the car. If she's not singing the Sesame Street theme song, then she's singing Elmo's song (to the tune of Jingle Bells) with any improvised lyrics she can think up.

It was a nice change of scenery to spend a couple of days in Monterey and Carmel. The drive was a little slow due to holiday weekend traffic (which was expected) but we did make it to Monterey before the sun set and took a nice walk around Cannery Row. I've been here many times and usually don't take the obligatory touristy photos, but I did stop to take a few this time.

There are lots of touristy shops and restaurants along Cannery Row. I think that having lived in San Francisco for decades and having seen all the touristy stores there, this leaves me with very little desire to look at similar touristy stores anywhere else.

We don't see too many seagulls at home, so I took this opportunity to point them out to Miss M.

Ok, where did these buildings pop up from? I swear they weren't here two years ago. Some buildings have gotten a face lift. The green one is a hotel.

The room at the place we stayed was much more spacious than I expected. I should say rooms since it is a family suite where there was a king bed in one room and a sofabed in the sitting area. The best part was the DOOR between the two rooms, so that we could put Miss M to bed and still stay up for a little longer afterwards without having light or sound disturbing her. I knew there would be a refrigerator in the room. What I had not expected was also a separate sink area, microwave, and dining table. All this was in the sitting area side. Both sides had a fireplace and sliding doors to a balcony. It was very spacious and perfect for travel with a toddler.

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We managed to head over to Carmel where we walked down the main strip (Ocean Ave). Then we headed up towards Knitting By The Sea. I can never remember exactly where it is, but I did eventually find it. This time the store was open. Miss M enjoyed meeting Foster, the dog who hung out in the shop.

I was hoping to find some yarn to use for my latest cable scarf but nothing jumped out at me. I'm having some difficulty finding the perfect yarn that is soft, works well for cables, and is thin enough so that the scarf won't end up being more than 12 inches wide. If I can't find a yarn that fits the pattern I charted up, I will have sacrifice 2 cable panels in order to obtain acceptable scarf width. Maybe that's for the best. Vicki told me she preferred the version with less cable panels more than the version I wanted to make. In any case, both charted versions are ready for posting. Now I just need to knit it up.

I did see some lovely yarns at the shop. Mmmm...cashmere! They have Filatura di Crosa Zara, which I like very much. I saw some soft soft soft alpaca/silk blend yarn (7 sts per inch) in the back that would have made a lovely scarf, except that they only had two colors, black and light pink. Not quite what I wanted.

I also checked to see whether they had a Nancy's Knit Knacks needle gauge, which Barbara recommended for needle sizes omitted from the Susan Bates needle gauge. I am still searching for one of these.

Monterey/Carmel trip continued in this post.
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