Riding the Bus

"Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you need someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." - Oprah Winfrey

I confess, I am a bad Californian. I don't have a car, and I often ride the bus. I only live a couple miles from work and using the bus system is free with my University ID, so I figure it makes sense to take advantage of public transportation. When I tell people that I use public transit the usual reaction is shock and dismay with a smattering of pity, particularly in this California car culture. They are particularly flustered when I tell them I actually LIKE riding the bus. As a psychologist public transit provides an opportunity for naturalistic observation of my fellow humans. Rarely does the bus disappoint. Just the other day, as I walked on the bus a fellow in the front flashed a handmade sign that read "Impeach President Bush." I'm not sure that he will get much traction in his crusade on the local bus system, but you never know. I have to admit that the seriousness of his message was somewhat hampered by his attire. He was wearing what appeared to my keen eye to be a handknit, orange fun-fur hat, complete with earflaps, worn in 75 degree weather no less. As I said, the bus rarely disappoints.

This past weekend, the husband and I availed ourselves of public transit and took the metrolink into LA. Our destination? It depends on who you ask. The hubby wanted to see the tourist sites of the city and wander around a bit. I wanted to hit a fancy schmancy LA yarn shop. Anne facilitated this by giving me detailed information about which trains to take to get to a couple shops near Union Station. Then she told me that Black Sheep Knittery was having a 50% off sale. What could be better?

We had a great day in the city. We went to the Grand Central Market, Angels Flight park, walked around the fountains in the financial district, and browsed Olvera Street. Here are some photos:




More importantly (for knitting blog purposes, anyway), I got some lovely new yarn and patterns at Black Sheep:



What you see here is 8 balls of Cashsoft DK in a silvery sage (sorry about the bad photo), the new issue of Rebecca, and some sock needles. I also got a new bottle of Kookaburra wool wash and a book on how to remove stains. Actually my husband picked out the last two items (I guess we know who does the laundry in our house!). Frankly, this shows a remarkable amount of restraint on my part. Almost no one left the shop with under $100 worth of yarn, some spending as much as $300. My spending was slowed by the realization that I don't really have room for any of it, and I might actually have to turn the yarn into bedpillows to make a place for it (do you think it would be too lumpy? could I leave the ball bands on?). Now I've just found out that Suzoo's is having an April Fool's Day sale. What's a yarn addict to do? (do you think anyone would notice if I replaced the futon mattress with yarn?)