Last Saturday, several members of the Knits of the Round Table -- a local informal Sunday afternoon knitting group -- took a field trip to Berkeley. We took the Capitol Corridor Amtrak train to Richmond, then BART to Ashby Station. From there, we walked about a mile and a half to Article Pract -- a really top-notch knit shop!
The ladies at Article Pract recommended we go to Bakesale Betty's for lunch and come back to eat in the knit shop's back room. They also recommended we try Betty's buttermilk-fried chicken and cole slaw sandwiches: Oh. My. God.
So here we are in Knitters' Heaven -- eating these FABulous sandwiches surrounded by the most yummy yarn imaginable!
After stuffing ourselves with food and our bags with yarn, we hiked another mile or so to Lacis, a shop that defies description. It is nirvana for all needle-related arts, from needle felting to bobbin lace to yes, knitting. They do not carry yarn, but their book and unusual tool selections are excellent.
Lacis' centerpiece is the lace museum. They have examples of the most exquisite hand-stitched lace ("lacis") that is hundreds of years old. You need a magnifying glass to see these unimaginably tiny -- yet absolutely perfect -- stitches. And the craftswomen who created these laces did so without the benefit of Ott lights and magnifying lamps! Just incredible -- and definitely worth a visit.
All good things must come to an end, so we left Lacis, crossed the street to the Ashby Street BART station, and retraced our steps, er, tracks back to Sacramento, knitting all the way.
A good day from start to finish.
