Happy Chinese New Year

Knitting and therefore blogging will probably resume next week.

Sock It To Ya!

Not much of a post but an update on one half of the Jaywalker socks.




My son calls it the crayon socks and wants on too. So I'll be making a pair of plain ribbed ones for him using the same yarn. BTW GGH Sprint is a cotton yarn but it is absolutely cushy and lovely to work with.


I want to say hello to some new commentors.

Alison - That's some nice roving you got there. Thanks for your comments on the Crossed in Translation knit.
Liz from the UK. Thanks for your comments on trinity. I actually have 2 lots of Trinity - Violet and Hibiscus. I've knitted the Violet before and it doesn't feel as bad as the Hibiscus which was a very "oily". Strange huh!
Tutleymutley I love your blog name. Hope you enjoy your trip to Thailand in October.
Jessie - what a great collection of Hiakus you have there! Thanks for organising the haiku contest.

For all of you who commented on the Crossed in Translation Knit - I am going to keep going with Cotton Ease. I have decided to go down a needle size and will post the small progress I made on the sleeves later.

8 things to do in Bangkok

Why 8? Because I couldn't think of 10

1. Shop in Jatujak market



You just have to. It's a one stop wholesale weekend market that just caters for almost everything under the sun. All except yarn, sadly. If you're a beader or a paper crafter - you'd probably faint from sheer delight. Those unable to visit Bangkok can leave vicariously through Jatujak Online

2. Get a massage or visit a spa
A one hour foot massage cost bout US$ 6 - 7 in a massage shop just about in every corner of Bangkok Central. A more upmarket spa like Asian Herbal Center would cost a lot more but the ambience is much better. However, a Thai massage is not for the faint hearted. Proceed only if you're used to bone cracking and back twisting.

3. Visit the Floating Market




It's quite a chore to get to. Most tours start at 6.30 - 7.00 am - the bus ride takes roughly an hour. You're dropped off on a pier to take a longtail boat which takes you through some of the remnants of Bangkok's famous canals to the market itself. Tip for those taking the longtail boat - sit either in the very front or the very back, those in the middle will be liable to get splashed. Also if you're finicky about life vests and the possibility of taking a dip in dirty water, give this a miss. You can ask to be taken directly to the market.

4. Eat Thai food at a road side stall.




Beware, you have to have a constitution of an ox. For those of us who have lived most of their lives in Asia, it shouldn't be any problem. One of the best food we ate was in a hot pot stall opposite Isetan near the Chidlom station on the BTS Skytrain. See that lump at the top?? It's a piece of pork lard which provides all the oil needed for cooking all the meat we ordered.


5. Drink beer in a microbrewery.

There is authentic German beer brewed on the premises at Tawandaeng German brewery. Read a review . I have to say the Dunkel is nice but the Weizel (sp??) is even better. You have to book beforehand or you'd wait quite a bit for your table.

6. Visit the Assumption Cathedral





In a land full of temples why on earth would one go to a cathedral. Well for mass actually. But what a surprise! This magnificently restored cathedral puts our local St Johns in Kuala Lumpur to shame. To get there - get a taxi to the Oriental Hotel and ask the doorman for directions - it's just around the corner. Would you believe it - it has it's own page on Wikipedia

7. Get some tailoring

Suits, shirts, skirts, gowns all made to order within 24 hours. For women, you have to be a bit more picky about the tailors as not all of them can make a gown or a feminine suit with much success. I noticed the ones around the Oriental Hotel are more inclined towards women's evening gowns. Most are better trained at the gentlemen's tailoring. However if you’re just wanting to make some fitted shirts, you can't go wrong with US $ 8 - 9 a pop.

8. Shop for knock offs locally made branded goods.

If brands like Gacci, Bikenstone, Levvies and Amani offend your sensibilities, please avoid walking on Sukhmvit Road. Otherwise - enjoy!!

Jaywalker

I'm just back from Bangkok where traffic is a nightmare and pedestrians fear for their lives. There's no real system of crossing and "Jaywalking" is the only way for the chicken (and the humans) to get across the road. Luckily the jam is soo bad most cars don't go more than 5 kph at a time.

In honour of my trip to Bangkok I took a skein of sock yarn, GGH Cotton Sprint, along for the ride.





And while I was there I got this to put my sock and all other sock projects in.





More on BKK in the next post.

Crossed Purposes

I've been having some fun swatching for the Crossed in Translation KAL.



From top: Cotton ease, Sirdar Breeze, Jaeger Trinity

From gauge reports on the KAL blog- it seems that a light worsted would be the best yarn to use, and true enough the Cotton ease gave me a gauge that was 2 stitches more than recommended. I would have liked to use the Sirdar breeze but apparently this yarn has been discontinued and the LYS I got it from has only a few balls left.

Cotton ease has been the nicest to knit with, the Trinity is the lightest but you can hardly see the cables. I'm only afraid that it will be one huge sweater.

I knitted up about 4 inches of the sleeve last night and it is an exercise in concentration. There's all this different panels of charts to do which are all scattered over the page and increasing at the sides as well. Think I'll go back to Samus tonight.

I had thought of goin on a yarn diet and to do major stashbusting this year - at least for the first half of the year but already my yarn addiction is rearing it's ugly head. I'm drooling over this





Shall I get and let it be the last yarn purchase of the 1st quarter of this year??