A Bluestocking Knits

I had an afternoon off — all hail the new babysitter! — so I decided to visit some yarn shops in Kowloon kid-free.

   

Took the MTR from Admiralty to Kowloon Bay, changing at Mong Kok — visited the Telford Shopping Plaza and found these —

Emma Woollen and GB Woollen (sister to the one in Taikoo Shing) — both bright and rather sleek, with a couple of knitters on stools and a saleslady who looked rather pleasantly surprised to see me — at GB, I bought some "Maurice" from Puppy Yarns, a silly name but a lovely single-ply wool in deep jewel tones.

Took the MTR back to Prince Edward Station and walked a few blocks to Fa Yuen Street and Double Knit, now open — quite a big place, to my surprise, with shoppers and salesladies chattering a mile a minute, representative balls of yarn in glass display cases along one side and the rest of the stock in bags and bins along the other side, swathes of samples knitted into scarves hanging from the ceiling, and I found some Jaeger Matchmaker DK on sale for $28 (US$3.60).  A ridiculous price, so I bought rather a lot….

Not far away, I found Nathan Woollen, on Siow Chin’s recommendation —

(I wish I could say that I got these policemen to stand in the doorway as a reference point, but it was a fluke, and they were too busy writing tickets to notice me.)

Obviously a family-run shop, as there seemed to be a set of parents, a daughter, and a granddaughter, a charming little miss of about three, who said "Hello!" politely, and smiled when I replied "Ni hao!"  I bought some scrumptious Noro Silk Garden #82 for HK$49 (US$6.30, retail at home about $10.50). 

I got back home in just under my allotted four hours, not too tired or hot, and very happy!

One of the Hong Kongers that David works with arranged a bit of sightseeing for some of the folks here for only a short visit, and we tagged along.

We were to meet at the tram for Victoria Peak at one o’clock, so I took the opportunity to dash over to Mongkok in the morning to look for this —

Filo Kilo in Sai Yee Street, just around the corner from the markets we visited last week (!), and from the Double Knit shop.  I may have to ration my HK dollars a little more carefully and come back here again, as there are some very lovely things and priced accordingly….

We had lunch at the Peak Lookout, then walked along Lugard Road to see the views.

The Peak Tower, landmark, tram terminal, home of Madame Tussaud’s Hong Kong.

A view of Central and the hills beyond —

and of the eastern side of Victoria Harbour.  It was a beautiful day, and not so hot up here, either!

Then we took a pair of taxis across the harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced "chim sha choi"), and went to the Hong Kong Museum of History.

It’s a good thing that it was open until seven o’clock and not six as we thought, as we’d gotten there around five, and there was no way that we could have seen much of it in an hour — jampacked with walk-through exhibits on prehistory, folk culture, the British colonial era, the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, and the handover in 1997.

Even a bit of knitting —

a pair of gloves made by a prisoner of war in the 1940s, out of remnants of old sweaters.  It’s a very poignant piece of work, beautiful muted colors on the gauntlet cuffs, seed stitch on the back of the hands, all very tidy and meticulous.  What a ghastly time that must have been, and yet someone took the time and effort to scrounge bits of wool and make something beautiful.

We were so exhausted from the heat of the day and the walking, and so full from our late lunch, that we decided against dinner after all, and said goodnight to our friends.  David and the girls and I walked along the waterfront promenade and watched the city lights — took the Star Ferry back to Central, and then home.

The other day we went to some of the markets in Mongkok, on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.  We started off at the Goldfish Market in Sai Yeung Choi Street — a fascinating array of shops and stalls with all kinds of aquarium fish, some in tanks and some ready for the asking, hundreds and hundreds of them.

Further along was Fa Yuen Street, an outdoor market with this —

tucked behind.  Didn’t get to go in as it was closed for the day, but I took a moment to appreciate those surreal mannekins from the shop next door.

Not far away was the Flower Market, a number of blocks packed with cut flowers and small potted plants.

Around in Yuen Po Street is the "Bird Garden," a market and gathering place for bird-lovers.  Tiny open-air shops line the path, selling birds, beautiful wooden cages and little porcelain water bowls, and all sorts of accessories — including grasshoppers to feed to the birds with long chopsticks.

Songbirds are very popular pets in China, especially with men — perhaps connected with the belief that the birds bring good luck.  The cages have a small handle on the bottom, so that they can be carried in one hand — men gather here to socialize and give their birds an airing, hanging the cages from tree branches and various poles hung along the path for that very purpose.  It’s kind of weird and sweet at the same time.

A very hot day, in the low 30s C and humid with it, so we moved slowly and drank lots of water, but enjoyed the afternoon immensely anyway.