My Summer, So Far (part 2)

I hit the road, pretty much as soon as my new cast was dry.  First stop: Beautiful Encinitas, CA, where the members of San Diego's North Coast Knitters Guild welcomed me warmly.

After a full day of talking and teaching and knitting, I recharged at the hotel, whose driveway looks like this at sunset:

Encinitas is home to the famous Swami's Beach, where I got to see actual surfing happen for the first time.  It was such a surprise to realize that even though I've spent most of my life on the West Coast, I'd never seen people surfing before.  The Northern Oregon coast, where most of my ocean time has been spent, is freezing cold, treacherously rocky, and sometimes even Great White shark-infested.  Not ideal conditions for most surfers.  This is more like it:

My new friend Karen, who took this photo, was kind enough to crop out my casted hand.

The knitters showed me a fabulous time, and I left them with a few new sexy party tricks. We talked at length about yarn substitutions.  When you knit where it never rains and the temperature rarely dips, special considerations apply to all your yarn choices.  Cotton?  Yes, please.  Wool? Sorry, no thanks, Sheep.  Turtlenecks? Nope.  Lacy shawls?  Yep!  

I really enjoyed the the challenge of wrapping my head around the knitters' climate issues. While I can't imagine living in a world without woolens, I'm so happy these clever beasties have figured out how.  And of course, they've made the trade so they can live like this:

California dreaming, indeed...