A Bluestocking Knits

Hong Kong

Father’s Day

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Bluestocking

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19th June 2005

Yesterday was Father’s Day, so after the girls woke David up rather earlier than he was hoping, we went here —

the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. He’d been here on a previous trip, and thought the girls would enjoy the tunnels in the old fort and the views of the harbor.

Julia discovered the echo capabilities of the tunnels early on — the exhibits were a bit much for the under-fives, but upstairs was a drawing area with tables and crayons and chops for stamping on their finished artwork, and the girls did have a good time running around outside, even though it was pretty hot.

On the way back, I got a little bonus when we stopped off here —

GB Woollens at the Cityplaza mall in Taikoo Shing (!). They were having a sale (!!), so I picked these up for HK$59 apiece (about US$7.59, retailing at home for $8.95) —

RYC Cashcotton 4-Ply in shade 903 Seafoam, a subtle tweedy tealy-greeny shade. Maybe it will be enough for the Interlocking Balloons scarf….
Blankets, Throws, and Afghans

Quantum Cotton

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Bluestocking

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17th June 2005

This morning I read the Harlot’s theories about black hole knitting. I thought about laughing, I thought about crying.

It’s using up a lot more yarn than it should, a lot more. I’m already on the sixth ball out of the twenty I have, and it’s supposed to be a lot longer than it is.

I did the math, David did the math — separately — and it should work. He sat on the floor with it a few weeks ago, with a pencil and another piece of paper, and finally said, "It’s quantum yarn. It occupies another temporal and spatial reality."

Stephanie, I feel your pain.
“Scarf Style”, Knitted Lace, Shawls and Scarves

Thoughts on the “Misty Garden” Scarf

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Bluestocking

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16th June 2005

I finished the Misty Garden scarf yesterday afternoon, after splicing on the last ball mere hours earlier. It’s a fairly easy knit, other than keeping an eye out that the mohair stitches don’t get dropped accidentally.

I’ve not been much of a mohair fan, but the colors of this Rare Comfort Infusion are simply beautiful. There was a noticeable difference in one of the balls — despite being the same dye-lot — in that the mossy green lengths were much shorter, working into a mere stitch or two, instead of three or even four. The other two balls were closer to the photograph in the "Scarf Style" book. The Old Shale pattern is a very good choice for this yarn — stitch definition tends to disappear in the mohair, but the ripples enhance the colors and the odd row of garter not only keeps the scarf from curling, but gives the mohair another element of volume in addition to the natural haze.

(I’m not happy with the photos — don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but the focus rarely pleases me. Will try again later — it’s starting to rain.)
Hong Kong, Knitting

Fifth Day of the Fifth Lunar Month

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Bluestocking

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11th June 2005

Today being the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, it is the Dragon Boat Festival. Tuen Ng commemorates an ancient national hero, Qu Yuan, who threw himself into the Mi Lo river to protest against the corrupt rulers of the time. Legend has it that as the townspeople tried to rescue him, they beat drums to scare away the fish and threw dumplings into the water to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. This grew into the drumbeating coxes of today’s dragon boats, and the traditional dumplings of the festival.

More here and here. I’d heard that it was hot, crowded, and very spring-break-like (there was even an article in the South China Morning Post yesterday about how to get drunk barge-hopping), so as I was on my own with the girls and we’d gotten up at 5:30 to see Grandma off, we decided to simply watch it on television. Not very authentic, I’m afraid, but we did have dumplings from the restauraunt downstairs, at least!

Today is also, of course,

Worldwide Knit in Public Day. I took the Forbes Forest scarf to the playground with us — far too hot for the mohair of Misty Garden, but the stiff breeze blowing around the corner of the building kept the temperature from being unbearable.
Shawls and Scarves

A Misty Garden Cloud

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Bluestocking

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9th June 2005

The siren call of the Rare Comfort Infusion yesterday afternoon was too strong for me….

We bought this little Tang-style horse at the Temple Street Night Market last week.

The yarn is very pretty — a bit of that mohair scratchiness through my fingers, but the different pinks are enchanting. There are at least four shades — a deep reddish one, a clear and rosy one, another with a hint of orange, and a pale one rather like a not-quite-ripe watermelon, as well as a mossy green here and there — all very subtle.
Hong Kong, Knitting, Shawls and Scarves

Catching Up

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Bluestocking

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8th June 2005

To cover the rather pathetic lack of knitting content, I can only offer that we have actually been sight-seeing since Grandma is here, e.g., the Big Buddha on Lantau Island,

the riches of Stanley Market,

the Flower Market in Mong Kok,

and an emergency detour for new shoes when Julia’s literally fell apart in the middle of the street. Not to mention a playdate that somehow swelled to gigantic proportions — ten preschoolers, ten! — and most of another afternoon folding and ironing laundry.

We also managed a trip here yesterday,

Mui Tong Wools Co., in Bonham Strand in Sheung Wan. The street had been rather off the beaten path when I was there last, and has been lately transformed into an absolute chaos by roadworks, so I hardly recognized it. I was about to walk right past when Laura said, rather wearily, "We’re going here, aren’t we?" They were having a sale, 20% off, so it was rather crowded, but Mom and I both managed to find something nice without much effort (!).

Here are my latest acquisitions: from left, four balls of Anny Blatt Mérinos in a lovely soft lavender, and four of Jaeger Alpaca 4-Ply in 393 Damson, a plummy reddish-purple, very pretty; five skeins of Cleckheaton 8 Ply Crepe, an Australian superwash wool blend in a tweedy teal; five balls of Filatura di Crosa Soft Wool, an angora and extra-fine merino blend, in 516, a smoky grey; and the three balls of Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Infusion Kid Mohair in 617 Rosehip that I’d ordered online, for the "Misty Garden" scarf.

I am nearing the end of the second ball of the Matchmaker 4-Ply on the "Forbes Forest" scarf — it is a fairly easy knit, though slow-going since we’ve been busy with other things. I’ve had a rather intense craving to read this past week, too, so I finished "The Far Side of the World", curled up all by myself with a cup of tea, one rather cool morning. Bliss!
Hong Kong, Shawls and Scarves

Grandma Visits

Published by

Bluestocking

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3rd June 2005

My mom is here for a visit — in knitting news, she brought my new Jaeger booklet and the three skeins of Jo Sharp kid mohair that I ordered a few weeks ago!

The other day while the girls were in school, we went yarn-shop-hunting, and found this one —

The main Tailor & Alteration shop at 1/F Shing Wah Mansion,451-457 Hennessy Road, in Causeway Bay. Very hole-in-the-wall, I thought for sure that we’d blundered into some service hallway, but the little man at the desk took one look at us and pointed to the ceiling — or so I thought — after repeating this a number of times, I finally saw that he was pointing at a sign, one which matched the business card in my hand.

The shop was much larger than it seemed, full of nooks and crannies, a good-ish selection of yarns, but mostly sewing fabrics and accessories. (Good to know, as Julia’s got a hole in her purple dress….)

Grandma was delighted to finish the poncho I started for Julia, in Lion Brand Homespun. Couldn’t get her to stand still long enough, but she was obviously having a good time!

And here is my progress on "Forbes Forest," after about a skein and a half —

The Jaeger merino is very pleasant to work with, softer than it had seemed at first. Am tempted to stock up on it….
Hong Kong, Shawls and Scarves

Elegant

Published by

Bluestocking

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28th May 2005

We went to Kowloon Park yesterday — I didn’t think it would be quite such a walk from the Star Ferry terminal, but the girls managed it, and enjoyed the playground as a reward. Dodging raindrops afterwards, we somehow managed to find ourselves here —

Elegant Company, at 37, Parkes Street in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. Downstairs are knitted garments, upstairs a little trove of Jaeger, Patons, a bit of Rowan, and a number of Japanese brands. Popular this evening, too, although the four of us made a bit of a crowd all by ourselves. The shop man was amused by the girls’ delight in the way the needles swung back and forth on their hooks (at just kid-height!), and their answers to David’s make-work questions of what they would knit with this yarn or that. I had come with a List, a selection of projects and not only recommended yarns but half a dozen or so alternatives each, so I felt very organized and efficient and was able to pick out six balls of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK in Loden (730) within minutes.

Destined for "Forbes Forest" from the "Scarf Style" book. HK$31 a ball, just under US$4, so I’m very happy. (It is going for US$6.95 at home.) Also picked up some 3.25mm Peace bamboo straights ($HK22), and it was with great difficulty that I kept myself from casting on as soon as the girls were in bed later.
About the Bluestocking

“What Kind of Knitting Needles Are You?”

Published by

Bluestocking

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26th May 2005

You are bamboo. Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and
enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You
love the craft and beauty of traditional
things, and you value the comfort and
experience of knitting as much as the results.
But while you are reveling in your warm cozies,
don’t get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is
the whole wide world!

What kind of knitting needles are you?
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Hong Kong

Excuses, Excuses

Published by

Bluestocking

on

22nd May 2005

For everyone who was so kind about the rainy panorama, here is a sunny one —

The weather has actually been quite unpredictable lately, although always warm and humid — one day it was sunny in the morning and bucketing rain by evening, today there was a big thunderstorm just after dawn and about four minutes of downpour, and now it promises fine.

We have no water in the buildings all day today, because of the roadworks just below (part of which you can see in the photo). This is inconvenient to say the least, but I have filled up the two bathtubs and the tea kettle, run a last load of laundry, and finished the breakfast dishes long before I normally would have — so now maybe I can actually knit! It’s been so busy this week that I haven’t had time to do much more than just think about knitting.

(A lot of that, though — with all of the beautiful stuff coming off of people’s needles lately, I’m tempted to add a few more projects to my current works — the Yarn Harlot’s utterly lovely Lotus Blossom shawl, the Knitting Wench’s gorgeous Pi Shawl in progress, any number of the beautiful things in Pam Allen’s "Scarf Style", luckily for me one of only two knitting books I brought with me to Hong Kong, or I’d be delirious.)