Travels with knitting

We made it up to Northern California with no troubles at all. In fact, as Rick was kind enough to do the driving from the north side of the Grapevine up to Sacramento, I got a ton of knitting done. The good thing about garter stitch is that it makes great car knitting, even in the pitch black (although I did have to make use of oncoming headlights to see if I was managing the "knit two together through the back loop" maneuver correctly).

On Sunday, we had breakfast and walked the dog, and then headed out to the Bay Area, with a day full of plans. We started off by having a wonderful visit and lunch with Grandmom; I always wish we could stay longer, although I think we all know that by the end of those three hours, she's pretty tired, and the kids have hit their sit-still limit (even though they do love to look at Grandmom's travel photo albums with her; this time we went through the one from the time she lived in Europe for 18 months from 1935-37)(!!). I miss living closer to her, when we could visit more frequently. When we lived in the East Bay, I used to go visit with her a lot, with Rick and by myself, or with the kids once they were born. We'd go for coffee at the Warming Hut at Chrissy Field, and take walks on the Marina Green, and for a long time, Rick and I had a regular habit of taking her out to dim sum every few months (at this great place whose name neither of us can remember, but that everyone always knew as the pink place near the Russian Orthodox Church in the Richmond District). I manage to forget how much I miss it most of the time, but when we go up there, I am reminded.

But we had a nice lunch with her, and a good visit.

After that, we headed into the city to go to the De Young Museum (another place I associate with Grandmom; she docented there for years and used to get us in to see exhibits) to see the Tutankhamun exhibit. No pictures, of course, but we all enjoyed it very much. (Although I do often find it curious how often exhibits like that make no mention of textiles. In one of Howard Carter's original pictures of the tomb, there is something sitting on a stool that I am absolutely convinced is a spindle, but of course it's not identified, sigh.) I saw the exhibit at the De Young when it was last here, well over twenty years ago (I think I was about the age that Tess is now). Rick saw it in New York on that same tour. Both of us missed some of the pieces that we remember seeing, but I thought that this exhibit did a nicer job of placing Tutankhamun within the history of Egypt, which I appreciated. I'm glad we went, and both of the girls enjoyed it tremendously, which was a large part of the point.

On the way out, we stopped in at the Amish quilt exhibition that's also there right now. They had some stunning quilts on display; I admit that I was most impressed with the quilting itself (am I using the right terminology, quilters? I mean the stitching that holds the layers together), which was a huge design element in all of the quilts and so intricate. And of course, I assume (because the exhibit didn't say) that it is all done completely by hand, which makes the complex, even, stitches that much more impressive. It was serendipity to happen upon them while we were looking for a way up into the observation tower to see the view of the city.

I will say, though, as a last note, that I'm still unconvinced about the chicken wire on the outside of the tower. I keep wanting someone to come by with a stucco gun to finish the darned thing off. But that might just be me.

And then we got to have a lovely dinner with Rick's cousin Jasmine, and her husband Justin and my lovely baby cousin Tyler, who is growing like a weed. He thought his big cousins were pretty nifty.
And he's acquired some new skills since I saw him last. (Heh.)
I miss seeing them more often, too, but it was lovely to get a chance to sit down and have dinner together and visit for a while.

Rick very kindly did all of the driving so I could get knitting done. Between that and the time I spent knitting yesterday, I have finished a project. Which one, you ask? Well, I haven't taken any good pictures of it (tomorrow in daylight, I promise.) But meanwhile, here's a hint.