Kind of odd this morning that I happened to be driving down Valley View when I spotted hundreds of goats on the hill next to the road. Well it *looked* like hundreds but was probably less than a hundred all munching peacefully on the dried grass. I guesstimate that there must have been at least 75. In any case made me long for a longer lens to really give you the full impact of the phenomenon.

Another passerby, also snapping photos, told me in a hushed voice that they had been brought in by Goats R Us, a local company that specializes in the removal of unwanted plants by goats.

The variety of goats was astonishing. I’ve grown a new respect for the beauty of these animals that I had never really noticed before. Ain’t nature grand?

Summer’s not complete for me unless it includes berry picking – that’s how much of a summer ritual it’s become. I was overjoyed when my friends, Paul and Marie, agreed to accompany me to the coast south of San Francisco for some olallieberry picking at Phipps Farm and Country Store.

I got enough berries for two pies, I think, and I’ll probably return later this summer for boysenberries.

The overcast light made for some wonderful photographic opportunities.

In addition to the country store, there are also birds, including a peacock and some ugly looking turkeys. I can’t really describe it. You’ll just have to drive down there and see for yourself.

My old friends from San Jose, Pat and Peter, met us at Phipps. It was great to see them. After berry picking, we drove a couple of miles north to San Gregorio for coffee.

The San Gregorio General Store had live music – on a Saturday afternoon no less. How wonderful! It’s a terific venue and they have a great selection of hats too.

All in all, it was another spectacular day on the California coast.

There’s been no lag time between socks these days and progress on my most recent pair has been swift. A friend recently reminded me about Knitty.com and it was there that I found a sock pattern worthy of the super soft, yummy yellow Malabrigo sock I purchased at K2Tog a few months ago.

BTW: K2Tog is moving and opening in their new digs on June 1. The new location is near their old location on Solano, just a few blocks up the street, so be sure and check them out if you’re in the neighborhood.

Because this sock pattern was designed by Marlowe Crawford and it’s a tribute to Northern California, it seems fitting that I would continue my exploration of the Northern California coast this holiday weekend by visiting Bodega Head just north of Bodega Bay. See for yourself.

It was an utterly spectacular day on the California coast. Simply magnificent.

And the rock formations are certainly quite pyroclastic, aren’t they?

I had an enjoyable hike with friends last Sunday at the Cataract Trail in Marin County on the Mt. Tam Watershed. Pictured above is my new friend, Aminta, still smiling during the tortuously steep section near the beginning.

It’s surprising how remote this area felt being so close to San Francisco.

This trail is known for the waterfalls, which are abundant, although I wasn’t sure which one specifically was Cataract Falls. They were all gorgeous.

Paul tried but never did manage to get a WiFi connection.

We spotted some wild orchids on the trail.

Where the trail came out of the woods it offered the most stupendous view of San Francisco, the East Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Again, you can see Sutro Tower in the distance. As you might guess, I really enjoy spending time in this part of California.

Here are friends Caroline and Royal taking a break.

And here’s my friend Paul.

Hiker whose name escapes me looks out over Marin and the East Bay Hills.

On the return, I spotted the most amazingly knarled tree. I love it!

I’m glad I had the opportunity to hike as this week has been wet and rainy and more is on the way for tomorrow. You know what they say about April showers – it’s true!

The hills near my home are so beautiful and green right now. I love driving and biking the country roads.

But why do people do this?

When I finally overcame my block about the edge for the log cabin blanket, it actually went very fast. I’m very pleased. Instead of working in the round, I knit each edge separately and sewed them at the corners. Easy peasy! Why did I think it would be so difficult?

I threw it around Max on a recent excursion to Stinson Beach.

Now it keeps me warm on these chilly November nights.

Everyone’s flown home and flown the nest and once again I find it’s just the three of us…me, myself and I. *sigh* Ah well I can’t complain. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at Karen and Jeff’s house as you can see. The crowd seems to grow bigger every year.

I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving too!

Working two jobs with the possibility of a credential program on the horizon, leaves precious little time for knitting.  This blog post will hopefully reassure you that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. Not yet anyway.

I knit the “Noro” scarf above using Mochi Plus instead of Noro and it was such an enjoyable knit, it only took me a few days. Highly addictive and that’s all I can say about it right now. I also started the turn a square hat by Jared Flood which will also employ Mochi in combination with Cascade 220. That’s all I can say about that right now too.

Other than knitting I did make it out into nature recently. Isabella and I drove out to Point Pinole last week and it was just lovely. I haven’t been to PP in more than 20 years and it was even more beautiful than I remembered. Check it out.

Ok. Off to work again. Check back with me soon!

I’m a huge fan of natural building, urban homesteading and water conservation – among many other things – so I have been particularly interested in what four young women, all natural builders, have been exploring at Villa Sobrante. I got to know Lindsay, Massey, Sasha and Trilby through knitting nights at Artfibers (which they first discovered here at alicethelma.com, but that’s another story) and have even met three of their mothers.

Together they bought a boarded up, bank owned, two bedroom house occupied by squatters on a huge lot and began the process of transforming the property into a laboratory for natural building. This past weekend, they opened up the lab to conduct one of their “work parties” with the intention of insulating their back house with light straw clay.

I got there just in time for lunch on Sunday (he he) as everyone enjoyed the heat of a Northern California autumn. I think it got to be over 80 degrees. Although Sasha was in Oregon, Lindsay and Trilby are pictured on the far right while you can see Massey enjoying herself in the next photo:

This gave me a chance to explore the property. Pictured below are two earthen structures known affectionately as “pods” built by Sasha and Massey which sort of reminded me of indigenous living units. Tres cool. Technical information about these structures can be found at the VS blog.

Meanwhile, Lindsay gave me a tour of the home which was made inhabitable with the use of salvaged materials. Remember, a year ago this was a boarded up wreck of a house. It’s amazing what these women have accomplished in such a short time.

You can see Sasha’s bedroom wall made from wine boxes in the distance, past the banjo. The boxes have the added benefit of creating a unique shelf unit all held together with thin bamboo strips.

Then I saw their rainwater catchment system at the side of the house and I got really excited. WOW!

More salvaged building materials -  windows and doors – which are just as thrilling as rainwater catchment.

This being a “work” party, I helped Trilby for about five minutes mixing slip. Being an old lady such as myself, my back couldn’t tolerate the labor and I wasn’t prepared to play in the mud.

An expert at natural building, Trilby efficiently mixed the slip then tossed it with the straw…

…which was then used to insulate the walls of the building.

So what does this all have to do with knitting? Nothing really except to illustrate that knitters have lives and are involved in other activities besides knitting. In fact knitters are some of the most interesting people I know.

Colorful too.

Case in point: This is my new REI colleague, Antonia, happily knitting away in the break room. We quickly realized during training – she was training me – that not only were we fellow knitters but that we had actually bumped into each other at Artfibers recently, when she was on a field trip with the Kensington Knitting Guild (first Monday of every month I think).

This area in West Berkeley has other knitting venues. Case in point:

This is the entry to ActivSpace which is also the entry to A Verb for Keeping Warm. Yeah I know, it looks too warm to knit and it is! I’m still getting used to the weather and the relentless sunshine and seriously wondering if it will ever get cold enough to knit. *sigh*

The entry was guarded by a very mellow poodle named Roscoe. Dogs are everywhere too.

What you should know is that A Verb for Keeping Warm is only open on certain days those being Thursday, Friday and Saturday – that’s for the brick and mortar site, a lovely little shop with heavenly fibers hanging everywhere. I came here with a specific mission in mind and it wasn’t fiber – sorry!

They also have a lovely dog named Cleo, and although this is not the best photo, I post it knowing that a certain someone will get a big kick out of it.

And then there is Michael, yet another local knitter, which brings me to my mission. I read on the Panopticon‘s blog about a sock pattern called Oliver by Marlowe Crawford, available at A Verb for Keeping Warm and I simply had to rush right out and buy it immediately. I mean I *never* buy patterns but I had to have this one. I’m so easily swayed by the knitting blogosphere it isn’t even funny. Already I have plans to knit 198 yds. of Heaven by Christy Verity. When? No idea. But I will.

Michael was nice enough to hold up a finished Oliver sock which claims to be one of the best fitting handmade socks in the…universe? We shall see. Hopefully this sock can help me recapture my sock mojo…or not. I’m having a hard time concentrating these days. Anyone else?

I took some time out of my hectic schedule to go to the movies with Alice and Liz. We saw (500) Days of Summer which had some laugh out loud moments and was quite entertaining. It comes highly recommended by me but better hurry – it won’t be in theaters long.

I am NOT recommending Inglourious Basterds for the double misspellings. Sorry QT – I’m a teacher after all.