KitKatKnit

I be you thought I was finally going to catch up with about 3 weeks of blogging. Well, no. What I did want to tell you is the coolest thing just happened! Those of you that have read kitkatknit for a long time know that Mrs. Robin comes back every year and nests hidden either under the grapes or under the eaves of our back porch. This year early in the season I saw her checking things out but she never did build a nest on the porch. I did see her and Mr. Robin on and off all spring. I found her nest up in one our maple trees a week or so ago.

So the coolest thing that just happened? I was checking email in the kitchen and I could hear a bird tapping on the window above the sink. Not flying into it getting hurt but again and again flying up to it and banging with its wings. So I opened up the sliding back door to see what was going on. It was Mrs Robin!! She looked at me and flew up into the grapes. And what did she leave behind for me to see? A fledgling! He was perched on the potting bench. We said our hello’s and then Mrs Robin called for him and the both flew off.

She trusts us and knows we aren’t predators. I am sure she wanted us to see her baby.

And watch out for the occasional Mom brag. Missed me? I missed you! I’ve been a bit busy the past couple of weeks. This post will be about Graham’s June 14 graduation, the next one will be about our trip to the Black Sheep Gathering and the one following that will be our local Cool Desert Nights car show.

Let’s see, where to start? How about the fall of 1992 when we moved back home after a two year assignment in MD. Graham had already finished kindergarten in Gaithersburg and when we talked to his principle and the teachers at Tapteal they gave us the choice of 1st grade, or Graham could do another year of kindergarten. It would be taught in a different way by a different teacher and it would be a great solid foundation to his education. So kindergarten #2 it was. Fast forward to 2005 and Graham was the sole valedictorian of his high school. Smart yes, but he works hard to get to where he wants to go. The summer after graduation he was a musician in a production of “Return to Forbidden Planet” at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Scotland. He was there with his best friends and they traveled through out Great Britain together. What a way to end your high school days!

If you’ve been reading kitkatknit for a while you’ve read all about Graham. Graham was accepted at the seven or so undergraduate programs he applied to. When he talked to admissions at Seattle University and visited campus and the Mechanical Engineering department, he knew that is where he wanted to be. Seattle University is a Jesuit university. I could tell you all about it but it’s best if you click here to read their mission. Graham took advantage of living right in the city. He attended concerts, the theater, talks, comedy performances, and the symphony. And I think that’s why he’ll really love living in Boston for the next couple of years! And Graham thrived in the rigorous academic atmosphere.

My side of the family is small. Just my parents, my brother Steve and his wife Barb, Knitting Hubby, Graham and I. That’s it for the core, yes I have cousins but this is the nuclear part. We forgot to take a picture of us all at Graham’s high school graduation but did remember this time! We all stayed at the same hotel for graduation and the first night we had dinner at the Pink Door. It was fun, we sat outside overlooking Elliot Bay and the food was fantastic! For example the Squid Ink Spaghetti del Pescatore.

And Tiramisù for dessert!

Saturday morning started with The President’s Commencement Brunch. Different SU administrators and SU President Father Sundborg spoke. We’ve loved Father Steven Sundborg, SJ from the start. Before Graham was even at SU.His bio says “He actively supports programs that encourage students, faculty, and staff to make a difference” and he make a difference to every one he meets. Because Graham and Rachel are so cute, I took a lot of pictures of them that weekend.

The brunch was followed by the Baccalaureate Mass at St James Cathedral, the parish for Seattle University and the cathedral of the Archbishop of Seattle. Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Alexander Brunett, Father Sundborg and two other priests. The Cathedral is beautiful. My friend Ginny when she lived on Capital Hill as a child used to attend St. James and she recently told me about how it looked before the most recent renovations.

After Mass we had no time to rest, we had the College of Science and Engineering reception to go to. We got to meet a lot of Graham’s faculty. We’d only met Robert Cornwell when Graham was a freshman and Dr Cornwall was the freshman adviser. We did get a very nice picture of the family, except missing Rachel and Graham. Left to right are my Dad, me in the back, my brother Steve in the front with the dark blue sports jacket, Knitting Hubby in the back, my cute little Mom and then Barb my sister in law.

About the time Mom was on the far side of the room looking for the table with the bowl of watermelon, a presentation was about to start. Knitting Hubby and I snuck up front and watched as Graham was presented with the Rev. Edmund B. McNuty, S.J. Award by Michael J. Quinn, Dean of the College. The McNulty award is presented to an outstanding graduating engineering student judged on scholarship, leadership, dedication and inspiration. This is the second time in 3 years that a student from our area has won the award. Dan S., a graduate from one of the Kennewick high schools won it 3 years ago. Mom, after the presentation made sure that the Dean and ME chair knew that Graham was her Grandson!!

Of course we also had to get pictures of the Mechanical Engineering Chair, Greg Mason PhD and Frank Shih PhD, Graham’s mentor and adviser.

And some of the soon to graduate ME seniors.

This is Graham and his friend and former room mate Brian. Brian will be attending UC Davis for grad school. They have been great buddies for the last three years and lived together for two.

These are the guys, the girlfriends and Kathleen on the far right is Rachel’s older sister.

We had just enough time between the reception and our dinner reservation to get a great picture of Graham and Rachel.

Where was the pre-graduation dinner? Ohana’s of course. Nothing like celebrating with sake, giant drinks with umbrellas and great food in a Tiki bar.

We had to get up early the next day to get in line for great seats at Key Arena for Graham’s graduation. We got fantastic seats three rows up from the floor, on the opposite side of where Graham was seated. Oh well. Graham led the College of Science and Engineering into the arena. From here on all the indoor shots are a bit shaky from the bad lighting. Sorry.

That also meant that Graham graduated first in his college. He got to smile and shake hands with Father Sundborg for quite a while, while the speaker announced that Graham was the McNutly winner.

More handshakes from Dean Quinn.

Does this look like a PROUD graduate? Graham B. EIT, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with Minors in Mathematics and Physics. Magna Cum Laude.

And equally proud parents.

Says Rufus! (which is great since he needs high fiber) These aren’t all for Rufus, I kept some for KH and I.

You probably don’t believe I’ve been doing fiber stuff. Here’s proof. Maine Morning Mitts in Noro Silk Garden.

The Aunt Phoebe Comfort Shawl. I turned it upside down though and put the lace on the bottom and the solid part on the shoulders.

I threw some Coopworth in my dye crock pot last week and came up with this.

Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Doors, Eric Clapton, The Who, Ozzy Osbourne, and Graham. Well Graham is a great bass player but has never played with any of these bands. Though he has played bass with Linda Ronstadt’s brother Mike and cousins Bill and John. But that’s another story for another time. The common thing? Key Arena in Seattle. Site of the Washington State Exhibit during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Used as a concert hall, used by the Seattle Sonics, used by the Seattle University Redhawk basketball team and this year the SU 2009 commencement. Graham’s college graduation!

Graham will graduate top of his Mechanical Engineering department, Magna Cum Laude, with minors in Physics and Mathematics on June 14. That means he graduates wearing extra paraphernalia including an honors hood. He was so excited when he picked up his regalia last week that he took a cell phone picture of himself in the hood. So excuse the photo quality. We’ve been doing a major happy dance here.

I’m suffering from road lag so I didn’t pick up any knitting this weekend, not even to take a picture of the blocked and finished Maine Morning Mitts. In Noro Kureyon, you’ll just have to imagine them. I am slowly working through the blogs I read. Boy am I behind!

We got invited to a party, but since it’s this Thursday evening we have to turn down the invite. It would really be interesting to go to. Note that the suggested dress is Cocktail Formal 1940’s. I’d have to look that up.

Soooo tired. G’night!

Ok so yes we made it back a couple of times to the Common Ground coffee shop with the free wifi, but no I didn’t post. Too busy keeping up with the news and emails. Oh well. I did get some knitting done right before we got to South Dakota and I finished spinning 4 oz of merino (at least that is what it was marked) on the Hitchhiker.

What Hitchhiker you ask? The one I bought used two weeks ago for traveling! I tried it out the Sunday before we left when the usual spinning group (plus Penny on her new Ashford Traveler) met under our favorite shade tree on the Columbia River. KH with his Matchless, Kim with her Louet, Penny on her Ashford, Jessica on her Lendrum and me on my HH. If Nancy had shown up with her Spinolution we would have covered most of the popular wheel manufacturers. Hitchhiker spins great, just need to try out plying before I can give the full review as a travel wheel. The good news is that it is very portable yet steady (unlike the Victoria). It fits in a Lowes Hardware reusable tote bag with plenty of room for a small lazy kate and extra roving. Have you seen the Hitchhikers finished by NorthernDyes on Ravelry? Beautiful stains and wood burning.

Monday we mostly stuck around town. There is an old fish hatchery in Spearfish. KH hadn’t been there since he was a little kid. It has been turned into a historical site and was extremely interesting. Fish from the hatchery were sent by train in ice temperature controlled cars to the east coast.

Here’s a couple of local Spearfish llamas. Cute!

We did take a drive up Spearfish Canyon, pretty any time of year. Had lunch at one of casinos in Deadwood. I was going to drop some of my lucky quarters into the slot machines until I found out that they are no longer coin machines. I really dislike the new paper machines that automatically add any of your fake winnings to your credits. So we just played the penny machines. If we weren’t going to hear any coins fall, it didn’t matter if we were betting pennies. After lunch we drove east of Deadwood to wander around our property we own.

Tuesday we drove to Sturgis on our annual Harley parafanalia buying trip. KH picked out a couple ’09 rally t-shirts and I found a Harley motorcycle jacket in my size on the women’s clearance rack.

Wednesday KH and I spent the day in Rapid City. Visited his undergraduate Alma Mater the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Visited the Prairie Edge and the Sioux Trading Post. Visited Stavkirk. I’ve shown you pictures of Stavkirk before.

What I haven’t shown you is that Ole and Leana have a cabin on the property. You all know Ole and Leana don’t you? I never knew Leana was a spinner! Here’s pictures of her wheel and of her skein winder.

Tried to visit Rapid City’s only yarn shop that opened two months ago – Castle Fibers, but it had closed 30 minutes before we got there. We’d never been to a Cabelas so we drove out to exit 61 and looked around in the Rapid City Store.

We left early on Thursday morning. We always take the I-90 route thru Sheridan WY on our return route. We have never had the wonderful atmospheric conditions that we did that morning. For the first time we got to see Devil’s Tower

Instead of our usual breakfast at the Gillette WY Village Inn House of Pancakes, we held out until we got to Sheridan and ate and got lattes to go at a cute little main street café called Java Moon. To get there you turn left at the two headed calf.

Even with our stops to stretch we made it to Bozeman quite early. We picked up our truck, and since we had two vehicles for a while, KH and I split to do our own window shopping. I of course wanted to visit the two downtown knit shops. Both are just off main street. The first one – Stix Yarn is underground. I thought it was just one giant selection on one floor, but no, the basement store had a sub-basement! Very nice store, very nice yarns, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Noro, Ella Rae, Manos, too many to even remember. They had sweater amounts in nearly ever color in all the lines they carry. And lots of samples knitted up. I got to see my first Swallowtail shawl up close and personal. Yum! I bought some Ella Rae’s in 3 different greens to weave a scarf from.

The second shop was across Main and right behind Ted’s Grill (Ted Turner’s restaurant). WOW and I mean WOW. The Yarn Shop and Fiber Place was spectacular. They have a great selection of indie hand dyed roving and yarns, natural colored handspun and mill spun wools and a current show of weavings from a retrospective show honoring long-time Bozeman fiber artist Karin Utzinger. I didn’t look at their knitting yarn displays because from across the room I spied a brand new Schacht Baby Wolf and a Matchless. I almost didn’t recognize the Baby Wolf because it was a 4 harness and didn’t have the dark gold patina my 8H has. They also carry a few different brands of rigid heddle looms and table looms. I was very impressed with their selection of boat and stick shuttles, raddles, and the most temples I’ve ever seen at one time. They carry more than Weaving Works. They also carry the full line of Harrisville Design Shetland and Highland, tons of cottons, linens and chenilles. You know who’ll be getting my orders from now on! I practiced restraint and only came home with three bundles of indie dyed roving. I’d tell you who the artist is but I don’t want any competition when buying from her.

One last stop on our trip home. Paradise Fibers in Spokane. Just a quick hint. Do not use Google Maps to try to get there. Just turn left at Trent from Freya and its the business behind the Adult book and toy store.

When we say “Aunt Fannie from Broadass” that means we are on a roadtrip to South Dakota to visit Knitting Hubby’s Mom for her 90th birthday. On the way out we always take Hiway 212 in Montana, across the reservations. That route takes us through Broadus MT, or as we call it Broadass. Nancy (from Friday Night Knit Night) has an Aunt Fanny that lives there so we always do a quick wave when we are in town.

Graham and Rachel had come home for the weekend to visit her family and us. Friday night they left in Seattle holiday weekend traffic and were stuck on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass for nearly 3 hours.. That got them into town after 1 am. We got up to leave for the road trip at 5 am so Graham got up with us and we got to talk for an hour and helped us pack the truck

My friend Johan always babysits the cats while we are gone and her final words to me were “hope you don’t have another one of those trips to South Dakota” . Those trips meaning something happening to the car. Some other time I’ll recount all the somethings.. SO Johan jinxed this trip. We made it fine to Bozeman, checked into our hotel and when we decided to leave for dinner the truck wouldn’t start. No way no how. So I called the local Nissan dealership and happened to after hours contact some one from their service department that asked some questions and I had already done most of what he suggested (big thanks to Dad since he brought me up as mechanic girl). Next was to see if we could get a rental car. After 9 calls and answers of “we only have a full size SUV for $99 a day”, Alamo had a full size sedan for us for $34 a day. Next we had to figure out how to pick it up. My cousin Ralph and his wife Judy live in Bozeman so they picked us up and drove us to the airport to pick up the car. KH and I at dinner at our favorite Montana Ale. After dinner our last step was to find a tow. I called the place that seemed to have the most comprehensive service. They picked it up and their service department was going to start working on it today (Tuesday).

East of Bozeman is the Livingston Vally. It is one of the most beautiful areas of the trip, always green no matter what time of year.

This is the first time we’ve traveled this route in May and was the first time we’ve seen antelope this far west. We usually don’t see any until we are almost to Wyoming.

We ALWAYS top at the prairie dog town next to the freeway. Everybody say it in unison “oh how cute!!”

Like I mentioned above, on the way to South Dakota we always cut across the reservations. There’s a lot more to look at. This time we spotted sheep very close to the road. The entire flock must have been recently shorn, you could still see the shear marks.

We also spotted a shepherds wagon, we see these alot in SE Oregon and others in this area of Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. This rancher was using it as his ranch signage.

We’ll be coming back to this coffee shop with free wifi tomorrow morning and I’ll post more!

That’s all I’m saying for now.

We all knew last Saturday was Lisa’s birthday. (and the Friday before that was Kelly’s) And were surprised by a call from her hubby Kurt. He planned a surprise birthday party BBQ for her for this afternoon. Kurt did a great job!! Lisa’s two sisters and a niece were visiting her from NY and GA. We were to arrive at 1 pm and Lisa’a sisters were supposed to return her to the house between 1 and 2. Lisa did think something fishy was going on but was surprised by how large the crowd was! About half were fiber friends and the other half work colleagues of both Lisa and Kurt.

As soon as I heard Kurt say “and bring something to nibble on” I knew I was going to make bruschetta. I know there are many recipes out there but mine is a simple cold layered dish. Freshly sliced baguette on the bottom, with about a 1/4 tablespoon finely chopped garlic per baguette. Next layer is a nice slice of mozzarella cheese, a large basil leaf, covered by a slice of tomato. Served on the side? Pear balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a cruet.

A few minutes before Lisa and her sisters arrived, Kurt put 2 bags of charcoal briqets and about a pint of go-juice (charcoal lighter) in their BBQ. Kurt and Lisa are both firemen/firepeople/whatever. We found out that just because you know how to put our fires, you might not know how to start one. In a BBQ. Kurt let the briquets soak in the go-juice, lit the bricks and while he was proudly smiling over the fact that the charcoal lit, turned to see the BBQ’s paint on fire. It went out by itself. No help from the firemen present. Note that when we got there that was a red BBQ.

There was lots of food, drink and presents.

Lisa arrived, we ate and then Kurt brought out the cake and ice cream.

We were a group of walking wounded. Lisa was sporting a full walking brace to nurse her foot. She stepped into a hole and tore ligaments. Kim had a foot in a foot brace because she somehow has a stress fracture of her first metatarsal. Knitting Hubby is still nursing his shoulder, Nancy is still sick with the creeping crud but at least finally went on some meds and sounds a little better!

Just by sure coincidence, all the fiber friends had brought projects to work on while we chatted after the BBQ and cake. Kim had socks, Jessica brought her silk scarf and I brought my new to me Hitch Hicker!

Not to be outdone by the fiber side of the crowd, Kurt disappeared for a while and came back with handmade camo jackets, hat and pants. And demo’d for us!!

We had great fun. Happy birthday Lisa and thanks for putting together a great party Kurt!

What’s the funnest thing to do over Mother’s Day weekend with the family? A trip to the Woodland Park Zoo of course. But the weekend started on Friday instead when Knitting Hubby and I left for a trip to Seattle to visit Graham. This was our last trip before Graham graduates from Seattle University on June 14. We stayed at our favorite hotel that is directly across the street from the campus. The campus is beautiful, it’s filled with gardens and everything was in bloom. We’re going to miss it (but really looking forward to Boston!!)

Graham had class until 2:20 so KH and I were on our own for lunch. We ate at Jacks Fish Spot. For once we were able to walk right up and find a stool at the seafood bar. You can’t get any fresher lunch. Can you say yum?

From there we wandered through the vendor stalls in Pike Street Market. The flowers were beyond beautiful. Small bouquets were $7, jumbo were $10 and almost too large to carry were $15. Most stalls were charging 12 stems for $10 if you wanted to choose your own flowers to have arranged.

KH had a tattoo detail touch-up appointment at 2:00 so we walked down to Madame Lazonga’s Tattoo. Ruby Santiago – KH’s tattoo artist added detail to his tattoo and brighten up some of the colors. Everything now looks more 3-D in natural sunlight.

At the booth next to Ruby, Jacqueline Beach was working on a woman who graciously gave me permission to photograph her tattoos. The woman is a self proclaimed “Cat Lady” with 10 cat tattoos, each representing 10 of her 14 cats. Other tattoos were done at other shops, Jacqueline was tattooing faceportraits from photographs. The detailing was superb! And Jacqueline said that Cat Lady would be coming back for more touch up and detail later in the summer.

Graham joined us and we spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening just walking around, down to Pioneer Square and back. If you know how hilly Seattle is, you know how thirsty we got. We ended up at Elysian Brewing.

Saturday morning we drove up to Woodland Park Zoo. We hadn’t been there since Graham was 2 and screamed like a little girl when a baby elephant sniffed him with her trunk. He didn’t even scream in the spider exhibit this trip so 20 years between visits must have calmed his nerves. I took close to 200 pictures over the weekend. I could go on and on and show you all the pictures but instead I’ve just chosen a fun few. Enjoy!

Weaving content = Weaver Bird Nest

Oh and since this a fiber related blog, here’s the birthday sweater I finished last week. So Jennifer, if you are reading this don’t tell Hattie!!!

Tools. Don’t we all have our favorite tools? The ones that fit in your hand and work like they were designed to (after some practice of course). Today’s tool tale? Spindles. I’ve been spinning wheel spinning on and off for almost 20 years. Spindling? Maybe 3. And almost never. Why? Because I am so spazzy at it. Spindle flying across the room, “drop spindling”

I’ve tried large, I’ve tried small, I’ve tried weighted ring. Nothing. Well at least nothing that I felt comfortable and gave what I considered a good product. So last month I was drooling over some Goldings and realized that the small ones were only $38. Hey come back, don’t you all leave to order, you have the rest of my blog to read!!! I love purpleheart wood and loved the Tsunami pattern so I pushed the go button. It came in mere days. And right out of the box — SUCCESS. So what is different about the Golding Tsunami? Very light weight, .75 oz. Brass outer weighted ring. Impeccable engineering. Ok not to mention that it is pretty…

So what’s s’mores all about? Knitting Hubby and I never win anything. Well I guess I on occasion win a yarn contest. Yesterday when I made my daily stop at the local market I noticed there was a drawing for a bag of groceries. I put in one entrant for KH and one for myself. Well guess who won? KH!!!!! The bag contained 2 big Hershey’s bars, a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, a big bag of kettle chips, a plastic container of cowboy cookies and a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi. All in a reusable grocery bag!