An Age of Elegance

The week in Singapore has flashed past, and I can hardly believe that it is over and that we are heading home. I have relaxed by the pool at the hotel, been to lunch and then to dine at Boat Quay, shopped at some more lovely shopping malls, visited Raffles Hotel and been to the Night Safari, which was fantastic.

Singapore is just a really nice place and I have had a lovely relaxing holiday. The top photo is of the entrance to Raffles Hotel, which is a lovely old building with a great atmosphere.

Here's me in front of the hotel:

This is Mr Knitbert at Raffles, looking elegant on the staircase up to the shops:


We had lunch in the courtyard, which was very pleasant,

and I saw this (I think) mynah bird playing in the fountain.

After lunch we went to the Raffles museum, which is fascinating and full of memorabilia and photos of people who have stayed at Raffles over the years.

Here's the pool at our hotel:


and here I am relaxing beside it with my crochet (which has made good progress, I have finished one skein of Tao now):


The Night Safari is out of the town centre and was just fabulous. It starts after dark, and is basically like a huge zoo or wildlife park full of nocturnal animals from Singapore, India, Africa and Malaysia. It is very dimly lit, so I have not had much luck with photos, but there are a couple I will show you. It is just very atmospheric and really interesting to see the animals at night. I recommend it to anyone. The park also includes the last remaining rainforest in Singapore.

Anyway, here is a photo Mr Knitbert took, of a lake which was lovely and peaceful and you can see the water is still and there are reflections of the trees in the water.


and here is Mr Knitbert at the entrance to the park:


I asked Mr Knitbert what he had in his pocketses and he said if he told me he'd have to shoot me. And Jacquie's really scary story about hair had me worried! But I'm safely home as I finish this post and so far it seems to be OK....

Before I conclude, I'd like to thank the lovely Maid of Flitwick for nominating me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I'm thinking about who to nominate in my turn.

Bad Hair Season

Today I am posting from Singapore, where I have been since Sunday (morning for you, afternoon for me). It is a very nice place, clean and safe and full of greenery, water and some rather large shopping malls. This photo is of me outside our hotel. It is rather hot here and very humid, which is a nightmare for my hair. As some of you have noticed, I have recently been straightening my naturally curly hair. Normally it is fine all day as the air is not too humid at home, but here, as soon as I step outside the hotel airconditioning my hair starts inexorably to twist into corkscrew curls. So I have to take all the photos of me very early in the morning, just after my hair has been styled and before it has begun to frizz.



Here are Mr Knitbert and I on our way to the beach.



Here is the water's edge, and me drinking a smoothie which I had just bought. Mr Knitbert was having a 2-scoop ice cream, but his photo is not very flattering.

So far I have been shopping in some great big malls, walked along the beach and had lunch in a little beach side restaurant, and been to Chinatown and bought some silk brocade. This afternoon I went on an amphibious bus, which was once a landing craft in WW2, and which drives around part of the tour and then goes into the water and floats for the other part. Unfortunately I let Mr Knitbert (who has to work in the afternoon and evening) leave with the camera, so I don't have any photos of that bit.

In the evening, I thought it would be good to do some exercise, so I have signed up for a week's membership at a nearby fitness club and I have been going to yoga classes. They are called "hot yoga" and this is because they are done in a room which is heated to about 28C, so you sweat buckets but it helps to stretch your muscles. The level is also fiendishly difficult, and as I have not done yoga for a few years (although I do Pilates) I now have muscles aching in bizarre places. On the other hand, my spine is very flexible!

I have been getting on with my crochet project from Colinette, the Sweet Chestnut scarf from the Arboretum book.


It is in TAO silk, which is gorgeous to work with, in colourway moss. It is probably the most complicated crochet design I have done so far and I am coping with it OK, so I am rather pleased with myself.



I have got my Mystery Stole with me, and am plodding through Clue 2, but I feel more like doing the scarf right now, so that's what I am going with.




I do also have a pair of Mr Knitbert's unfinished socks with me (unfinished since March, that is) and the crochet squares I was doing on the flight to New Zealand, which will one day become a cushion cover. No, really!

In Which I don't Visit Woolfest After All, and Mr Knitbert's Computer Makes a Funny Noise.

Well, first of all, I am alright Aknita, thank you for asking. And look, I finished my Ribby Shell! I'm rather pleased with it, I must say, and I have plans (and yarn!) to knit another (although possibly not time...). Here's a back view:


So, what's the story about Woolfest, I hear you ask? Well, Mr Knitbert and I drove like the wind last Friday evening (although respecting speed limits obviously) and apart from a little traffic around the M25, we reached Southport just before dark in a very respectable six hours, including a stop for food. Aren't those M&S Simply Food things on motorways just fabulous? What a brilliant idea!

We spent a convivial evening with our friends, and retired late, awaking the next morning to steady rainfall and severe weather warnings. Over breakfast we considered our options; drive for another two hours in the rain and then visit Woolfest in the rain, or stay in Southport and spend the day with our friends and their family? They did not think they would like to visit Woolfest if it was not going to be a gloriously sunny day, and I could see their point (they don't knit). So, in the end, we decided we would prefer to stay with our friends and we went shopping in Southport, which is a delightful little place, and Mr Knitbert had a Significant Haircut.

I was sorry not to get to Woolfest, but I will try again next year, and I did have a lovely weekend. I wish I could say that not going had saved me money, but that's another story!

While I was away, Clue 1 was posted for the Mystery Stole, and since then Clue 2 has been posted as well. The first two clues were looking gorgeous in the photos posted on the Group, so I was quite excited about beginning mine. I think the pattern looks quite Elvish, so maybe the theme is to do with Lord of the Rings? Anyway, I got started yesterday afternoon, finally, and here is where I had got to by yesterday evening:


As a reminder, I am using Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino (gorgeous to knit with) in Wild Cherry, and silver-lined amethyst beads, which look just perfect with the colours of the yarn. The pattern is very well written, and the charts are clear, and I am really enjoying knitting it so far. I have got to row 50, so am just about to start charts B and C of Clue 1. I am hopeful of catching up with Clue 2 by Friday, although I do think that any thoughts I might have had about knitting Catbert's (late) birthday present or finishing Mr Knitbert's socks, or even starting some new socks, or...well, you see what I mean.

I should also confess that two weeks ago I went into a fabric shop and bought fabric to make three skirts, for which I have first to design the pattern pieces. I don't know what I was thinking of! Except that I really want to make these skirts because they will look so gorgeous. Certainly not of the amount of time I actually have available, that's for sure! I'll post some pictures of the fabric next time, and maybe a sketch of what I am going to do with it.

And finally, for Mr Knitbert's army of fans, a story about his computer. Two weeks ago, I was woken up very early one morning by a dreadful rattling sound coming from the computer room. "What the **** is that awful noise?" I asked grumpily. I am not a morning person.

"It's my computer," replied Mr Knitbert, gloomily.
"What's wrong with it?" I yawned. "And where is my coffee?"
" I don't know," said Mr Knitbert, despondently. "I think it might be the CPU cooling fan." Needless to say, dear reader, the side was already off the computer and there were screws and tiny screwdrivers everywhere.

Later that day the hoover was in the computer room and appeared to have been used (I was amazed that Mr Knitbert even knew how to turn it on). The hoovering made no difference to the noise, however, so Mr Knitbert decided that as long as he started the computer up, let it run for a few minutes and then restarted it, it worked OK. This worked for two days and then he began having to restart it three and even four times, and it was still making an awful noise. I was getting very grumpy by this time. The constant restarting of the computer was delaying my morning coffee.

He then decided that it was definitely the CPU cooling fan, so he ordered a new one. It came two days later by the first post. I heard the sound of him running downstairs to sign for it, and then running back upstairs to the computer room. The next thing I heard was the sound of someone walking very carefully down the stairs as if they were carrying something heavy. Well, in fact, the computer was being carried down to the conservatory to be fitted with its new fan. Half an hour later it was back, and Mr Knitbert switched it on, saying "Tada!"; alas, prematurely. The ghastly rattling sound started up again.

"Hmmmm," said Mr Knitbert thoughtfully, "it must be the power supply". We had a spare one of those left over from a problem with DSoK's computer a few months back (would you buy a second hand computer from this family? I wouldn't), so he went off to find that. I should perhaps mention at this point that the last time something like this happened to Mr Knitbert's computer he replaced the cooling fans, the CPU, the motherboard and then the sound and graphics cards just for fun.

The next morning I woke up at a normal time to a blissful silence from the computer room.
"Oh, " I said, "you fixed it! Was it the power supply then?"
" No," he replied, "it was the second hard drive." Sure enough, there it was, in its little tray, cluttering up the desk. And there it still is, and will probably stay until I clear it away.

In Which I Meet a Mysterious Stranger, I Mean Stole, and Mr Knitbert Completes a Gardening Task

Before any of that, I was reminded this week that I should never travel in June. Actually, I don't travel very much at all these days, which is by choice, but a few years ago I used to travel very frequently for work; at least one or two trips a month. June was always a peak time, as people want to get things done before the summer holiday season starts. For some reason, there often seems to be a sudden change in the weather around mid-June, from warm and sunny to wet and cold. Time after time I would set off, thinking that my destination would be warmer than the UK, only to find myself shivering in flimsy summer clothes as I disembarked from the aircraft, or picking my way across a sodden car park in the p*****g rain, in unsuitable strappy sandals, on my way to collect a hire car. One year I remember that the temperature in Paris all week was 10 degrees(C)lower than it had been in London. Of course I never had so much as a warm cardigan with me, let alone a coat or umbrella.

On Thursday afternoon, I had to go to Amsterdam to attend a training course on Friday. Guesss what? The weather in Amsterdam was appalling, so as soon as they had got us settled on the aircraft, the pilot announced that owing to air traffic delays because of the weather, we would be taking off two hours late. Normally this would not be a problem for me (see Last Train to Knitville) but can you knit on an aircraft? Well, that would be no. Luckily, I have plenty of knitting podcasts on my iPod to keep me occupied.

When we finally arrived, Amsterdam was swathed in a heavy curtain of rain under a lowering grey sky and it was freezing cold. Unsuitable strappy sandals? Oh yes. Flimsy summer clothes and no warm jacket? Of course.

As it happened I enjoyed my short visit anyway; I stayed in my favourite hotel, the sun was shining the next day, I met up with some colleagues I hadn't seen for a while, and I even had time for some shopping before I returned to the airport to catch the flight home. At which point I learned that bad weather in the UK had caused air traffic delays and the return flight was delayed by an hour. Aaaaargh! So I am seriously thinking of taking an emergency crochet pack with me next time I fly...

Last weekend I discovered Pink Lemon Twist's Mystery Stole 3 Knitalong. The Mystery Stole idea seemed so much fun that I joined up, and I have been receiving 200 mails a day ever since from the MS3 Yahoo Group; I have had to switch to receiving digests! There are 1800 odd knitters signed up at the time of writing this post, and going onto the group is like going into a huuuuge room full of people all chattering about the same thing, it has an amazing energy. At the moment, everyone is asking questions about what yarn to use and in what colours and whether or not to use beads.


For once, I am going to knit this from stash; I am using some Fyberspates kid mohair laceweight which I bought from Yarn Addict last year. It is in a colourway called Martian Sunrise. There is a swatch pattern already posted, and here is my swatch.


It has beads in two different colours sewn along the bottom edge, and I have decided to use the copper lined crystal beads from e-beads, which are on the left.
Or have I? Since writing this I remembered that I also have some Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino in stash, in a lovely red colour called Wild Cherry. This morning I got it out, and here is the skein:


I have wound it (all 2400 yards of it) into a ball this morning, and now I really love the colour and I think I may have changed my mind, so I am going to swatch with this too. In which case I'll need different beads. Oh, well...

The first clue is being posted on 29th June, and the KAL is open to sign-ups until 6th July, but you can read all about it on her blog at the link above.


Well, it's not exactly a DIY project, but it's a bit more than mowing the lawn...
I planted a buddleia in our front lawn about five or six years ago when it was very small and spindly, and over the years it has grown rather large. In the summer, it had started spreading over the edge of the garden and intruding into the space where the neighbours park one of their cars. For the last two years, they have pruned it a bit and I have pruned it a bit, but it just kept on growing, and last week I decided that it had to come out.

We removed all the branches first (in some cases with a saw) and then started trying to dislodge the roots with a spade and fork. There was a tense moment when Mr Knitbert managed to spray earth all over me, including in my hair, which I had just spent hours styling. I explained, quite calmly and reasonably I thought, that I would probably have to go straight back inside and redo my hair. I'm afraid Mr Knitbert's reply can only be described as unsympathetic.

We continued digging, and after a while with little progress, Mr Knitbert decided that he would use the car to pull the roots out. This was quite exciting! We tied some old webbing jackstays around the shrub and Mr Knitbert attached the other end to the car somehow. The car inched forward, the shrub leaned over and then after a while the webbing snapped and the shrub sprang back to its original position.

We returned to digging, and this time managed to loosen, and then extract, the shrub and most of its roots. I am reasonably sure that even an inch of buddleia root will simply grow back to an enormous shrub in time, but for the moment the neighbours can park without fear, and Mr Knitbert can claim credit for finishing a gardening task.



And finally, here's my progress with the Ribby Shell. I have done 10.5 inches, so only 3 inches to go before I can divide for the front and back neck. I know it doesn't look very exciting yet, but it will...I tried it on and it fits well, which is good, so I am looking forward to completing it.


The next project (apart from MS3) is for Catbert, and it will be in this yarn, which is Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino Dream in Fiery Fuschia. I must say I love the colours. I am going to be using Sivia Harding's Fantasy Shawl pattern, which can be done in a scarf size with one skein.

Just Now, Our Blood Dances to Other Music

At last, all the suitcases have been emptied and put away, and all that is left is three new bags of yarn, one bag of sock yarn which I took with me, and these fat quarters. I bought them in Devonport, in Cushla's Village Fabrics. They are from an extensive range of New Zealand batik, which features motifs from New Zealand culture and nature. I think they are just gorgeous. The silver fern ones are probably my favourites.

The helpful lady in Cushla's told me that she will ship overseas and that fat quarters, if there are not too many of them, will often go in one envelope, so do not require too much postage.

I have an idea that I might take some of my photos and print them onto fabric, then create a cushion with the image at the centre and use some of these fabrics as a border. I think I might be able to make a set of three or four. What do you think? I have so many photos from this trip that the difficulty will be choosing.

This photo is from the balcony of our hotel in Nelson, which was on the banks of the Maitai river. In the publicity photo for the hotel it showed the river like it is here, flowing past the hotel and with a canoe on it. When we woke up on the first morning I thought at first they must be in the throes of some dreadful drought, the river was more or less a trickle along the far bank. Of course, it is a tidal river and the tide was out. Duh!

I really liked Nelson, which I had not visited before. We explored the town on the first day and went to an excellent market full of local art and crafts, then to the Bead Gallery as recommended by Catbert's guidebook. What a fabulous shop! It is stuffed full of beads and jewellery of all different types and colours. I spent an hour in there, or so I thought, and came out to find that DSoK was a middle aged man and Mr Knitbert had aged twenty years. No, not really, but they did look a bit bored. I bought the necklaces and earrings on the left at the Bead Gallery, and the necklace and earrings on the right at a handmade jewellery stall at the market. This necklace is made of carnelian beads painted with copper.



The next day, Catbert and DSoK went sea kayaking in a little place called Marahau, about one hour's drive along the coast and opposite the Abel Tasman Park. Mr Knitbert and I spent the afternoon on this deserted beach while we waited for them.


While we waited, we visited the local cafe and indulged in a coffee and a snack called a Seriously Yummy Cookie. And it was, dear reader, it really was. I think chocolate was involved, and some nuts, but apart from that I cannot now remember. It was also a Seriously Large Cookie, and if I had made a habit of eating them I should have become a Seriously Large Knitbert.

For our last day here we had booked a water taxi to take us from Marahau across to the Abel Tasman Park, where we walked along the coastal track to another bay, where we were picked up at the end of the afternoon. The water taxis were cool!

The boats are on a trailer, which is towed along by a tractor to the water's edge, with all the passengers in it. At high tide there is a ramp down to the sea, but at low tide the tractors drive right onto the sand and out into the water. Then the boats are floated off the trailer and zoom off at high speed towards the park.

I will not bore you with too many photos, but the park is beautiful, and we enjoyed our walk. Here are just a few pictures of our day. We were exhausted when we got back, and I sank gratefully into a hot spa bath at the hotel.




`In due time, we shall be home-sick once more for quiet water-lilies swaying on the surface of an English stream. But to-day all that seems pale and thin and very far away. Just now our blood dances to other music.'

Wind In the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Marlborough Sound

I can't resist showing you some more pictures of Marlborough Sound before I continue with my account of our journey. It is difficult to convey through individual pictures just how striking and how beautiful the scenery is, because it just looks as though I am showing the same picture over and over again.


Imagine that you are on the deck of a slow-moving ship, in the warm sunshine, and that you are leaning on the rail and looking out across the water. For an hour and a half, the images you can see in these photographs are gliding past you, each dramatic, rocky inlet giving way to another, just as dramatic; and all around you the intensely, astonishingly blue waters of the Sound. Catbert, in addition, was looking out for dolphins, which are sometimes seen in the Sound, although sadly we did not see any this time.

At last we arrived at the little seaside town of Picton, where the ferry slowly turned and then reversed into its berth.

Here we disembarked and collected our luggage, and then proceeded to the Avis counter to pick up our second hire car. Apart from camper vans, hire companies in New Zealand generally do not allow you to take your hired vehicle on the ferry from one island to the other. Instead, you drop your vehicle at the ferry port, cross over as foot passengers, and then collect a new car on the other side. I thought that this would be rather complicated, but it worked very smoothly, and the other benefit was that our new car, in other respects identical to the previous one, had been recently valeted, whereas the one we had left...well, enough said.

From Picton we took the scenic route east to Havelock (where we had a delicious lunch) and then to Nelson, where we stayed for four days and visited the Abel Tasman Park. The scenic route climbs up and winds along the Sound and in this photo we have stopped at a scenic lookout point at the top. Here's what I could see:

You couldn't really ask for more in life than a view like that, could you?

Home Again

Well, here we are, home again, and with mixed feelings. It is nice to be back amongst all my own things, and no longer living out of a suitcase. An added bonus is that the lawn is not as long as I thought it would be and my lovely pink and yellow daffodils are still in flower. I wasn't really ready to leave New Zealand, though; there is still so much I would like to see that I could have stayed at least another month, and it was sad to be at the end of our holiday with Catbert and DSoK. It went so quickly!

The journey back, although long, passed quite uneventfully, and I am now experiencing the usual bewilderment at being on the other side of the world to where I was yesterday, and confusion about whether it is day or night. Mr Knitbert senior has a theory that when you travel as far and as fast as you do when you fly long-haul, your astral body can't keep up with your physical body, and the link which binds them together is stretched out very thin for a few days until your astral body catches up. It's as good an explanation of how jet lag feels as any I have heard.

Anyway, if you will all bear with me, I shall be able to relive the last week of my trip here.

First of all, just a few more pictures from our journey down the North Island. On the way we stopped to look at the Huka Falls. I imagined a nice, dramatic but scenic waterfall such as one finds in the Lake District. Instead I saw this!



These falls are at the end of the Waikato River, which is part of New Zealand's hydroelectricity generating capacity.

The rest of our journey took us about four hours, and included a yarn store where we stopped so I could buy some possum merino yarn. This combination is one I have only ever come across in New Zealand. Possum fur is very warm and soft, and as possums are a pest in New Zealnd, introduced from Australia and destroying native plants and attacking native wildlife, they are destroyed wherever possible. Sadly there are apparently 70 million possums in New Zealand today, so not likely to be eradicated any time soon. The mix of their fur with merino wool is soft, warm and light and now some of it is mine, all mine!!! Ahem.

Our last stop was at beautiful, semi-deserted Waikanae beach, which you can see in Catbert's photo at the top of the post. We played frisbee here for half an hour to stretch our legs and enjoy the peaceful sand and sea before continuing to Wellington, where we were to stay the night with some friends of Mr Knitbert's family, before taking the Wellington to Picton ferry the following morning.

North to South

Just a short post today, as I am in Christchurch in an internet cafe, and my hour on the network will soon expire. There is still so much to write about and so many photos to show, but I guess I will complete the story back in the UK (with a permanent broadband connection!). Mr Knitbert is doing fine by the way, and thanks those who expressed concern about his ghastly experiences. He is mainly sticking to cake at the moment.

Here I am in Hokitika, at the National Kiwi Centre, where they also had yarn. This is where I got my Natural Felted Merino yarn, which is lovely and soft. I would like to make a cardigan in it, I think, there was a nice one in the last Interweave Knits which I quite fancy, if the tension is right.
I'm a little ahead of myself, though, as before we got to Hokitika, which is in the South Island, we had to drive from Rotorua, down the West Coast of the North Island, to Waikanae, where there is a beautiful beach, and then to Wellington. In the morning we had to cross the Cook Straits from Wellington in the North Island to Picton in the South. It was a beautiful day, and a lovely crossing. I took the opportunity to make some much needed progress with Mr Knitbert's socks!

The scenery in Marlborough Sound is just stunning, and as it takes about one and a half hours to traverse the Sound, there is plenty of time to look at it. There is a strict speed limit on the ferries in the Sound, they only do about 5 knots, as otherwise they might damage the wildlife and the coastline. There has been an ongoing argument between the ferry companies and the local residents about this for many years. It is beautiful though, isn't it?