Author: beecosydesign

Drivers licence and a flat tire

~ beecosydesign ~ 2 Comments

Once the immigration and residency process for the UAE was started my Canadian driver’s licence could not be used anymore. Not a big deal as driving seems rather crazy here – yes, even more so than in Vancouver where stop signs are often ignored and drivers squeeze through an intersection even when the light changed to red two cars ago – and I prefer taking the bus. It provides me with a leisurely view of the city and plenty of time to knit.

IMG_20160713_135653
A return bus ride into downtown yields 2/3 of a baby hat..

Taking the bus is not a long-term solution, though, unless I like spending a lot of time planning my day. So, it was time to have my drivers licence transferred into a UAE one. We had planned to do this for a few weeks, but were hindered by our travels, shorter opening hours during Ramadan and my husband being busy at work with long days. He felt he might be needed for the procedure as it is so often the case with a housewife visa. Yesterday everything aligned and we drove to the Driver licence office to arrive before 7 pm. A stack of papers, copies of visa, drivers licence, passport photo etc in my hands. The building is new and set up for a high volume of customers who can go there to pick up their car license and pay their fines as well.

For the licence one starts with the information desk for a quick review of completeness of papers and receives a number to wait for the eye exam performed by an in-house optometrist right on the spot. After paying the fee of currently 30 Dirhams the applicant takes the form specifying glasses or not for driving and another number to wait for the licencing officer to check the papers and the original licence. Waiting for another few minutes it was my turn and after answering a few questions, having my picture taken, paying another fee and showing my Canadian driver’s licence a licence card was issued right there. What an efficient procedure! No waiting for it to be mailed to us by Canada Post or here Emirates Post- Yes!

“Do you want to drive home?” was my husband’s question when we left the building at almost 7 pm. While I was considering my answer we arrived at the car and noticed the right back tire had lost some air. Now what? We had no idea where we could drive and preferably close by to have this repaired. After two quick calls to my husband’s colleagues we learned that our best option may be the vehicle inspection office right behind the office we just left. Getting there was an experience in itself as signage is hit and miss. One sign said to go left, but the arrows on the road indicated the opposite way. We tried it anyway and ended in a dead-end in front of a metal barrier gate. It could be moved by a single person: out of the car I hopped, opened it for our car to pass through, and put it back in place. All the time hoping the local police would either not see us or be too busy to ask us what we were doing. Around the block was our next try: success, but there was a line-up of 20 and more cars and we did not want to wait all evening for an assessment. In the meantime we learned that we may try one of the ADNOC gas stations instead. We saw one half a block away and found it had a small repair bay. Asking the technician he located the nail in the tire, but told us he could not fix it. We would be best off going to another ADNOC station with a tire repair shop about five blocks away next to Khalifa University. Off we drove and luckily I knew where Khalifa University was and what the building looked like: typically there are no street addresses and locations are given by close-by landmarks only. We were helped immediately by the technician who after a quick look pointed out that the tire not only had a hole, but a bubble had formed as well, indicating a rupture in the tire lining.

bulgingtire
The nail had entered from the top and scratched the lining = bubble

That meant the tire needed to be replaced. To keep the wheels balanced we needed at least two tires, but seeing the condition of the others he suggested we buy a new set. A short time later he had the correct tires located and brought over to be installed. All worked out really well and in about one hour, albeit not very cheaply. A quick licence transfer ended up being an evening of learning and with four new tires on the car. Who would have thought?

Until next time, Maike.

Canada Day during Ramadan

~ beecosydesign ~ 1 Comment

Canada Day on July 1st fell during the time of Ramadan this year and the Canadian embassy organised for the first time a very Canadian event: a free skate from 6-8pm followed by a friendly hockey game between expat Canadians and the local UAE national team. There was a great response to both and when we arrived at 7 pm the ice rink was busy with skaters of all nationalities and many Canadians. My husband rented some skates – who would have known we needed some here in the desert?- and joined the crowds.

free skate
UAE team photo
Canadian team photo
score after two 15-minute periods

The game began at 8:45 pm with listening to the UAE and then singing of the Canadian anthem. I had high hopes for the UAE team with their best players against the Expat team. But no worries at all: the Canadian team was leading with 4:0 after the second period. At that time my hopes to see the UAE team score were so diminished that we decided to go home. It was a wonderful event with skating, watching hockey and singing the Canadian anthem twice with fellow Canadians. How better to celebrate Canada Day?

Let me tell you a little more about Ramadan and what we learned so far: June 6th, 2016 was the begin of Ramadan, a holy month of fasting during daylight hours for Muslims all over the world. This is the first time my husband and I are experiencing it as a way of life in our new home of Abu Dhabi. In the weeks leading up to it I heard so many different rules and stories about what to do or to expect as an expat in an Islamic country that I was not sure if I should be worried. So, I started to look for information from different sources and found a free two-hour seminar held at the Eton institute. Many local magazines and websites will explain the basic rules and expectations as well.

When listening to other expats Ramadan seems to be a time of year where everything shuts down, nothing fun is going on and life becomes too quiet and restrictive to stay around. Expats who do not need to work or have holidays left book them for Ramadan to leave the country and return to their country of origin. “Only expats who have to work will stay.” I had been told.

But, what really happens during Ramadan? Yes, no drinking, eating, chewing gum and smoking of anything in public during daytime is one of the rules applying to everyone. For this reason many restaurants will be closed during the day and the ones staying open will have all windows curtained.

Windows curtained off
Entrance covered, too

This probably impacts a number of expats as it seems that a lot of socializing happens in restaurants and at weekend brunches. Still, many events are continuing to happen albeit at different times or moved to someones home if food and drink is involved. For me this is less of an issue since I spend most of my days at home or close to our apartment anyway and do not go out for food often. The only time I noticed the lack of cafes or restaurants was when I visited Yas mall one afternoon and could not find a single place to have a coffee. But my search was a short and incomplete one since I learned later that the food court close to the cinemas was behind walls and some of the chains were serving food. Government offices may have reduced work hours and buses are not going in the early morning hours until 5:30 am and stop again from 6 pm – 8:30 pm for Abu Dhabi. Thus, allowing time for prayer and food for the drivers. This will impact the low-income workers in their ability to get to or from work unless they use the more expensive taxis. The Government offices keep most of the same work hours and may close a little earlier at 2 pm instead of 2:30 pm to allow time for rest, prayer and preparations for Iftar, the first meal after sundown when breaking the fast.

During the seminar we learned about the traditions behind Ramadan: the fasting during daytime hours will help to build compassion for the poor and hungry in the world as only one can truly feel their pain when walking in their shoes. It is a months of charity where a Muslim is expected to donate 2.5% of their net worth! – not yearly income – and to purify their body (no smoking or drinking and trying to break bad habits e.g. eating chocolate daily) and minds (by spending more time in prayer and reflection). When our teacher talked about Ramadan she sounded excited and happy and gave the impression that this month is a great experience for a Muslim and something to look forward to. She admitted that the change of habits an be tough and often the week before will be used to ease into the fast by changing habits slowly, but the breaking of the fast with the Iftar meal in the evening sounded like a joyous and celebratory event.Many restaurants offer Iftar buffets and set up Ramadan tents for this. It will get so busy that a reservation is a must. Others will have guests over for the evening meal and celebrate with friends and family at home, the more traditional way. The time of day when fasting starts and ends is determined by the sunrise and sunset and published in the news and on the radio for each day. There is even a small time difference between the times for the emirate of Abu Dhabi to their next neighbour Dubai. Abu Dhabi still shoots a canon at sunset to alert their citizens to the time of Iftar. Even if one can not hear the sound one may be able to see the smoke in the air. The malls and roads are decorated with Ramada lanterns and light sculptures of a crescent moon: it looks very pretty and enhances the festive mood.

Nearing the end of Ramadan – most likely on July 6th – some government offices have shut down for the entire week to provide employees time to prepare for and celebrate Eid al Fitr. This means that obtaining my driver’s licence and mailing some postcards will wait until next week. At the same time my husband will be off for 3 additional days and this is a great opportunity for us to travel and explore another city and country with a cooler climate for the next few days.

Until next time, Maike

 

Craft markets and crafting in Abu Dhabi

~ beecosydesign ~ 2 Comments

Some things we leave behind when we move and many are coming along. Sometimes what stays is surprising. I had planned to leave the craft market circuit behind to concentrate more on knitting items that challenge me and explore projects that would be planned from the purposely spun fiber to the final accessory or garment. But I learned quickly that just spinning and knitting to enhance my knowledge for myself seems to be not purposeful enough. Two weeks into our arrival to Abu Dhabi I explored the first craft market at the Eastern Mangroves hotel and run by LaLoupe. It was a fun event with a big bouncy castle and activities for smaller children, so the parents could go and shop in the ballroom.

Craft market at the Eastern Mangroves hotel
Fabulous tiramisu, Mangroves lounge

The afternoon latte and tiramisu in the Mangroves Lounge upstairs were fabulous and a great treat after the market exploration. In the following weeks I had the opportunity to visit a few more craft fairs or markets, half of them were showing off items made elsewhere in the world and sold by vendors who often had “brick-and-mortar” outlets somewhere in town or in Dubai. Those were not the events I felt my knitting and crocheting would fit in. My current favourite craft market is the one at the Abu Dhabi golf club next to the Westin hotel. It is well organized, shows lots of vendors with handmade crafts from jewellery to body care to hand-sewn bags and clothes. Another one I want to scout out later is the one in front of Waitrose supermarket in Al Zeina which may be suspended for the summer until September..

In preparation to apply I have started to knit and design a line of baby accessories and toys and am thinking to add some lace scarves for women as well. It all depends on my current supply of lace yarns since I have not found a store which sells any, yet. The cottons used for the baby items are sourced through Green Branch Trading crafts in downtown Abu Dhabi and Magrudy’s book store in Al Wahda mall.

new baby hat design
honeycomb pattern on top

In the meantime the Parisian Night Channa sweater in Katia linen has been finished and fits beautifully. I have made only two small adjustments to the pattern to increase the length and to decrease the neck opening which I describe on my Ravelry page.

The yarn caused a little bias to the finished product which can be seen when the sweater is hanging: on he right hand bottom the back with the plain stockinette is showing when there should be only the “ribbed” front. This potential issue was already visible when I swatched and noticed that the swatch pulled a bit to one side. Still, it turned out great and fits nicely with a longer back and fitted sleeves. I hope to post a picture of me wearing it soon.

While knitting I am a huge fan of watching knitting and spinning podcasts or reading spinning blogs. My favourite spinning blogger is Rachel of welfordpurls with her variety of topics and very regular blogs. She writes about spinning, the process she uses to get to a finished yarn and garment and about other interesting spinners out there. The most motivation to stop knitting and sit down to spin a for a change comes from her detailed description on how the process works and her many photos. Looking at them makes me want to spin a little more and so I did this week when I finally pulled out my recently acquired Turkish spindle. After a spinning class at Fibreswest in March I stashed it with my other lace spindle and moved it our new home over Easter. So, I only had access to it again for the past month and my urge to try it and create some colourful turtles overcame my worries that I may not like spinning with it. I LOVED spinning with it and finally managed some clockwise-spun (Z) 100% merino singles that by themselves are lace-weight and may still fall into that category after plying them into a 2-ply.

if it looks like this the wrapping with “over two arms and under one” was done properly
two almost same-weight turtles

Success! The easy part about using a Turkish spindle is the fact that the staff with the pointed bottom pulls out of the arms and then the arms can be pulled out of the yarn = the turtle, without having to unwind it. Each one weighs about 5-6 grams and can be plied right from this after they have sat for about a day to settle down the twist. It fascinated me so much that I plan to take the  spindle and some charcoal dyed merino with me to play with while on vacation next week.

My last “work-in-progress” is knit with a Caterpillargreen- yarn from my stash I bought last August at a Fibrefest in Victoria, Vancouver Island. This Vancouver Island artisan hand-dying company creates self-striping yarns for socks, shawls and brioche cowls in amazing colour combinations. They are so popular that any new inventory in their online store sells out within hours of being posted. Finding  a table of this company by surprise and with lots of stock made me swoon and at least one of their skeins had to come with me. My friend recommended the Skyline colourway and the bigger skein for a better size. I had oogled it in my stash often and planned to knit the scarf many a time just to be pushed aside by a more “urgent” project.

image2 (1)

But now the time is right and it knits up quickly with a very simple pattern of stockinette knit and the occasional purl row – just a backside row knit instead of purled – to frame the stripes. Pretty much a modification of the Boneyard shawl by Stephen West. Thank you, for reading!

Maike

 

 

 

Masdar city, Jalboot and gas stations in Abu Dhabi

~ beecosydesign ~ 2 Comments

After writing about a variety of topics in each blog, I decided to switch it up a little. Writing about life and travel one week and about my crafting another week. So, when reading the headline you can chose to continue depending on your interest.

Abu Dhabi is a city of contrasts from the desert sands in between construction sites to the manicured lawns surrounding lavish homes to fascinating architecture. One of the latter is Masdar City: it has been build to the highest environmental standards and is worth a visit anytime of the year. We picked a Friday around 11 am and had the most Utopian experience. Fridays are quiet until the afternoon with prayer services at the mosques. On our way we were the only car on the road trying to find the parking lot from where an electric unmanned pod (car) would take us to the center of Masdar. Eerily, besides one security person there was no one else in the parkade or on the platform to the pods. We had a choice of 3 and entered after a door opened on the push of a button. An electronic voice welcomes you in Arabic and English and asks to sit down in the big seats, relax and enjoy the ride. Through lightly lit cement tunnels the pod silently rolls for about 5 minutes to its final destination.

departure hall to Masdar city
inside the pod: 4 comfortable seats
entry hall to city centre
exhibit in entry hall

Still: no other person visible. We were feeling a bit insecure if to proceed and walk up the stairs or not. Well, Masdar was supposed to have stores and restaurants as per the Visit Abu Dhabi website. Upstairs we found another security guard and he had a map for us to explore the outside with its 15 buildings, the core of Masdar. And there they were: people! Not a futuristic ghost city after all.

In our quest to find things to do and share with our guests later this year we are exploring some air-conditioned activities. Jalboot is a “guided” round trip boat tour on a catamaran starting and ending at Abu Dhabi mall. They stop for passenger drop off and pick up at Al Bandar, Yas marina, the Fairmont hotel, the Etihad towers (a hotel and office complex) and Abu Dhabi mall. The entire round-trip takes 4 hours with short 10-minute-stops at each location. It is just enough time to stretch your legs, take a few photos and return to the boat. Ours was their newest boat with comfortable seats and lots of safety features. We found the 4-and-a- half-hour tour a bit long for our liking since it involved mostly sitting and looking outside. The commentary/guided part was given via a short video on a big screen just a few minutes before each stop and could have been more in depth. Some information was provided by a map in each seat pocket, but it was difficult to figure out our location in relation to the landmarks. Having a GPS on our mobile phone helped when we wanted to learn about a building we saw shore-side. The Fairmont hotel stop was inaccessible due to low tide and the last 30 minutes between the Corniche and Abu Dhabi mall around the port were in choppy waters which made for a bumpy ride. Overall this is a good tour for a hot day – the air conditioning was great! -, for adults (children may get bored by looking outside for hours) who like to sit and are not getting sea sick when the boat starts to rock the waves. The most exciting part was the first half of the stretch between Etihad towers and Abu Dhabi mall as the boat goes along the coast with views of the Sheik Khalifa’s palace, Marina Mall and the Corniche beach with its skyline. There is an option to buy a one-stop ticket for just that part and I would highly recommend it. Buying tickets at the kiosk in Abu Dhabi mall or online in advance is the easiest way to get started. Ticket purchase on board by credit card is advertised as well. .

Abu Dhabi Corniche

Two weeks ago we got access to a car, a 2005 VW Touareg V10 diesel. Not a car we had planned to buy, but it came our way for such a low price that it was a great deal. It comes just at the right time when summer is starting and escaping the heat in our own car becomes a real pleasure. Not only buying a car in a foreign country is exciting, so can be the seemingly easy task to buy diesel fuel for it. Abu Dhabi and the UAE are a country with plenty of oil, natural gas and therefor gasoline as well. But because it is a young country and still growing at an amazing speed the number of cars on the road increases faster than the ability to build gas stations for them. On any given day one sees shorter and sometimes longer line-ups when going to fill up the car. Diesel is a special commodity and subsidized in Abu Dhabi. Because it is more expensive in Dubai and the other emirates of the UAE there was a big illegal trade especially for trucks and heavy machinery (click on the highlighted section for a good article). Which lead to the “diesel card” for each vehicle licensed in Abu Dhabi. The card came with our car and is re-loadable as it is the only form of payment accepted. All other gas can be purchased with either cash or credit card.

Typical multi lane line-up at gas station

Additionally, one has to find a station which sells it. Most locations will sell only gasoline which is similar to Canada’s diesel distribution set-up. Luckily, we knew about it and found an ADNOC station about 10 minutes away in Khalifa city. Still, we were confused which of the lines we  should chose to arrive at the only diesel pump and were helped by the attendant to jump into the right queue. we will be “in the know” for next time at that station, but may have more surprises elsewhere.

Settling into expat life

~ beecosydesign ~ 12 Comments

We are living in our apartment now and slowly days seem to be taking on a routine, despite continuing to set up our house. It is still quite different for me not to have any friends to visit and to interact with new people daily who may become part of our lives for a shorter while before they move away. I continue to miss my connections in Vancouver and all those cool, yarn-craft-related activities. My friend Manuela had her first Lonsdale Shipyards night market sale for her jewelry on May, 20th 5-10 pm and has a few more coming up on July 8, August 19 and September 30. If you are in town check it out!

Until a few days ago we were still car-less which makes quite a difference for mobility about town. We did not think it mattered much, but started to notice the limitations last week when we thought of acquiring used furniture, but were unable to figure out how to transport it home. A taxi is only useful for smaller items like boxes and compactly packed Ikea blinds, but once it comes to tables, shelves and chairs one needs their own transportation. It has somewhat curbed our ability to visit other areas in town as well. Nevertheless, I managed to take the bus downtown to research a craft store selling yarns and to find my way from there to Abu Dhabi Mall where the next Knitting Amiras meet would be held. I picked a day with no other appointments to make sure I had sufficient time, but a peak temperature of 43 C. We have two bus lines coming to and leaving from our area. Each is scheduled every two hours. But they alternate, so we have hourly bus connections.  The timetables can be looked up online and are pretty accurate. One should be at a bus stop about 5 minutes before departure and the bus can be delayed up to 10 minutes, limiting the maximum wait time outside to about 15 minutes. That will be no problem, I thought, even in 43 C as there is always some shade to wait in. Oh, well, the plan did not allot for the time spent walking around a block twice in the blazing sun to find the Green Branch Trading craft store. Per Google maps it was supposed to be past the travel agency at the corner of 4th and Sheik Zayed the first street and next to the furniture store. I found both, but no craft store. Locating a store or destination in Abu Dhabi goes by description of general area, the block with a well-known “landmark” (it could be a store or restaurant) and then a count of how many doors from there. Finally, when I looked up and down the street questioning my planning, I saw my destination across the street. Which was 6 lanes wide and the only option to get there safely was walking back to the intersection and crossing at a traffic-light controlled crosswalk. Driving is crazy at best of times and jaywalking only recommended when one can attach to locals who seem to know what they are doing. At this point I had exceeded my 15 minutes outside air-conditioning and was more than happy to cool off inside. The yarn selection goes across two walls with mostly acrylic, some cotton and same rayon yarns. The pricing is reasonable with 10 AED (about 3.50 $ Cdn) per 50 gm ball of fingering weight cotton (needle 2.5-3 mm and 125 m). I liked their selection and had already decided I needed to knit a few more cotton squares for the kitchen. A pretty purple-pink variegated and a blue ball made it into my basket before I went to explore the rest of the store.

cotton selection
acrylic yarns
more yarns and embroidery thread

They carry an amazing array of paints for all art purposes upstairs: oil, acrylic paint, water colours and dyes for cotton. Colour pencils, pastel colours, chalk and lots more. Amazing! Downstairs the selections go towards buttons, batting for quilts, sewing thread, artificial fruits and other decorations, glues etc.Too many items for me to take in or to look at. Definitely, a destination to go back and look for almost anything crafty, but fabric.

Sufficiently cooled off I thought it can’t be too difficult to walk the 4 blocks to Abu Dhabi mall from there. Well, that was quickly revised after about two blocks in and the next bus stop offered two lines stopping close to the mall. The cool bus was exactly what | needed to be ready for a walk again. On my way I saw this endearing sight for a Canadian:

Cool sight..
Cool drink,,,:)

It is part of the Mall on the ground level outside. After finding the knit group meeting spot my next quest was to load some more money on our Hafilat bus cards. As per website it can be done at some bus stops, malls and the main bus station. Someone pointed me to a machine nearby. Unfortunately, it was broken. Well, last time loading money on my card was easy at the main bus station another 20-25 minutes by bus. I figured that the bus stop opposite the one I arrived at would get me there. Another 5 minute walk and 20 minute waiting for the right bus to show up. That bus stop was not air-conditioned and just standing in the shade with a breeze flowing made the sweat trickle off me. Drinking water ongoing did not seem to make a difference as I was still parched and couldn’t wait to be inside again. Barely recovered while sitting on the bus I had to get off again as the bus did not drive into the station but stopped across another 6 lane road. Walking to the station so close and still so far almost did me in. I arrived and bought a cold pop just to re-hydrate. Now, I could go about loading money onto the card and sitting for a while waiting for my bus to take my back. Funny, I thought, that I can find the timetable for departures but no mention of it on the stops or bays saying “suburbs or airport”. The numbers were just not listed. About 5 minutes before departure I checked again: no, I did not miss the bay with information for the bus. Dumbfounded by this I asked the security guy if he knew where the airport/suburb buses were leaving from since they arrive in the station when coming into town. “Oh, those! You need to catch them across the road!” was his answer. Darn! Not only did this mean I had to go outside again, climb stairs to an overpass, walk across and then wait in the heat and sun, I may have missed it already. Luckily, the bus was late and I finally made it home crashing onto the bed for a nap. Lesson learned: next time bring enough cash to be able to afford the 60 AED to get back by taxi, the most common form of transport for many, western expats without a car.

Waiting at home for deliveries or maintenance has its upside in lots of knitting and spinning time. The socks have been finished and submitted to a sock-hop contest at Wetcoastwools in Vancouver. Thank goodness, for online submissions!

Tangerine Dreams
by Blue Moon socks that rock

And the new yarn has been knit up into a “scrubby/potholder” for the kitchen and a baby hat in a honeycomb-slip-stitch pattern, which breaks up the pooling of the colours a little.

cotton square
new baby hat design
honeycomb pattern on top

The decreases of the honeycomb pattern on the top of the hat turned out in a flower pattern, surprisingly. It will be knit more often for my new baby collection for sale on etsy soon.

Until next time with more experiences from Abu Dhabi….

Maike

 

Still moving

~ beecosydesign ~ Leave a comment

Before we move to our apartment and while I still have access to Wi-Fi and the internet a quick update on what happened in the past two weeks. We were completely immersed in moving from Canada to Abu Dhabi: from Craigslist sales of some of our furniture, saying good-bye to our friends and emptying our Vancouver apartment to simultaneously packing what we thought we may need here in Abu Dhabi. It felt like a marathon for 10 days with no time for ourselves. Amazingly, everything was done by the deadline, our departure flight on May 6 th. Arriving here has been quieter for me since I am still waiting for my immigration application to return. It is anticipated for early next week. My husband on the other hand had to continue “running” as his work started the day after our arrival. Being the leaseholder of the rental apartment he had to communicate with maintenance and cleaners. At least, with a second key I can now help by waiting for deliveries. Anticipated move-in day is this Thursday with a bed and couch in place. There is very little storage in the kitchen and we will be creative once there. In the meantime we try to enjoy the amenities at the hotel: a nice pool and great views over a golf course and the channel towards downtown.

Golf course and mangroves
Towards Ferrari World

Turning around one has the view of our pile of luggage we are currently living out of. We managed to move with a total of 10 large bags in three flights and now realize, we may have brought way more items than needed. My crafting supplies alone took up three bags. I will be busy knitting and spinning for the years to come without even needing to buy a thing. Which, obviously, will not really stop me. But my sincere plan is to use up most of this stash – there is still more left in Canada !- and NOT shop on my travels.

So, I have one finished knit item to share: a second pair of socks with a longer cuff in the awesome sock yarn from White Birch Fibre Arts in the colourway “Umbrella drinks forever” which I modified in the heel area from my last pair featured here.

image

Happy with the slower pace of getting settled I started two new knits: another pair of socks in a variegated yarn from BlueMoonFibreArts  in the colourway “Tangerine Dreams” which reminds me of spring flowers. Unfortunately, I will frog or unravel them since I realized just now that the 48 stitches on a 2.25 mm needle is a little to big for my feet and I don’t like the toebox. The next pair will be 44 stitches and starting with 16 stitches in a turkish cast-on. 

The other knit is the Channa sweater by Liisa Nieminen which I swatched for a few weeks ago and then did not have time to pursue. Knitting with the Katia Linen-Cotton-Mix is definitely better when using sharper pointed needles, but still I need to check every row that I didn’t split the yarn. The yarn feels a bit “hard” at this point, but will soften once washed and dried.

I am looking forward to move to our own place soon and being able to unpack all of our clothes, housewares and my Majacraft Suzie Pro spinning wheel. Hoping that everything arrived as packed for creating our personal space with photos, small home decorations and tokens from our friends and family. Soon life will feel more normal again with spinning and knitting for entertainment. 

Until next time with first impressions from life in Abu Dhabi!

 

 

Moving through the times of change

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This will be my last post from Vancouver and it has been a tender, joyful and sometimes sad journey towards our moving day. Knowing which day it will be and seeing the time trickling away some activities intensify while others fall aside – for a little while – until we arrive in our new home in Abu Dhabi. My husband has worked hard at two jobs at once: his paid daytime profession and on his days off on organizing all the permits, papers and housing which needs to be in place before he can ask to sponsor me. I am amazed to see how in a short 5 weeks he was able to get his IDs, rent an apartment and organize my joining flight. We will be living on the high floor close to the beach and with views over the expanse of a canal and some desert sands to Yas Island.

The city centre of Abu Dhabi flanked by the Corniche with its beaches and promenade is located on Abu Dhabi island and it takes about 30 minutes by car to reach from our new home. But we have everything we need in walking distance in our small community: a grocery store, dry cleaner, restaurants, a German Doener Kebab – this makes me smile as Doener Kebab is not a German dish, but still found everywhere in German cities -, cafes and a pharmacy. Our building provides an air-conditioned gym which we need to burn some calories in the summer months. We have been told it will be so hot outside from June to September that we will not be able to walk even the shortest distance. This is still unfathomable to us.

While I am all excited to finally arrive there in about two weeks time I am working on dissolving our current home. Moving and going through all of our possessions baffles me every time. It is the collected amount of all things small that make a move arduous. Every piece of paper just chucked into a stack over the past 15 years needs to be evaluated: still needed or discard? How many pens can one amass in a house? I found more than a hundred in various locations, some hidden in drawers and many in holders on every counter. Most “collected” from hotels we stayed at on our travels. And the list goes on. As the moving out date gets closer sorting through will fall by the wayside and all not sorted will go into storage to greet us in a few years. With the big furniture items sold or ready to be moved to storage an end is in sight and excitement is building.

My memories of this Vancouver spring are of flowers popping up everywhere I look:

lily of the valley from Renate’s garden
pink cherry blossom “snow”
Crabapple or cherry tree?
pink dogwood flowers
lily of the valley from Y’s garden

The variations of pinks and whites reminded me of the Knit-Along-Shawl I test knit for my friend Uta. If you feel like knitting a lightweight, airy shawl perfect for a slightly cooler summer evening the German patterns are ready to be released every few weeks starting in June. Check out the information here.

The previous Monday was the last “fun fibre art day” I allowed myself to spent with friends. I was invited to Monique’s studio to learn how to dye fibre and yarn. When Y and I arrived everything was already set up on two big tables: The floors and the tables were covered with towels, papers and wrap to protect from any dye splatter. Lots of freedom to be creative and not too worried about messing up other surfaces. We worked with Ciba dyes ready to go in a stock solution which made the process safer as we were not inhaling any pigment particles. First came the preparation of the wool in a cold water soak with vinegar and a little soap. Sitting in this solution the fibre is given time to absorb water and be completely wet. Air bubbles will lead to lesser dye pigment absorption and lighter or no colour. Which happened to this roving of Texel lamb fibre. Despite soaking for an hour and squishing out air bubbles, once the fibre was lifted out, it dried almost immediately in some spots. But it still turned out gorgeous.

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Light purple on the right side (outside) shows the effect of air in the fibre.

We learned to let silk soak for a maximum of 30 minutes as it is more reactive with the vinegar and changes its smooth and lustrous character. We prepared our dyeing station with microwave-able plastic wrap: two parallel layers to hold the “long sides” of our skeins and two short at the end to wrap the “ends” once the colour had been applied. Making sure the dye had contact with all the yarn – checking the bottom by lifting it helps – we were ready to wrap it up and heat it in the microwave for a few minutes. Checking after each heating cycle if the dye had been exhausted. Being me and liking to plan ahead I used mostly blue, red and purple, my favourite colours, with the most adventurous being a green by combining turquoise with yellow.

I love the results and am totally excited to try it by myself with my Greener Shade dyes in Abu Dhabi. May be, even striving to be more daring like my friend Y who created these amazing skeins:

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On the drying rack.

Until next time from our new home in Abu Dhabi,

Maike

Decision time

~ beecosydesign ~ 4 Comments

Juggling between life’s daily demands and planning the final details of our move requires a lot of decisions. Every item in our house  I touch – and I swear: there are hundreds if not thousands of them! – needs to be evaluated: Do we move it? Do we keep and store it? Do we recycle it? It takes a lot of time and that is becoming scarcer every day. Nevertheless, I make an effort to carve out a few minutes here and there to see friends and knit or spin. But I noticed that my drive and focus for crafting something more complicated has been lost. Back to the basics with knitting the occasional sock – and in the past 7 days – knit and felted mini bowls to keep my hands busy and keeping my mind at ease.

The pink-purple striped socks hand-dyed by White Birch Fibre Arts turned out beautifully with the stripes matching up. I weighed my yarn after finishing to see if there would be enough for a second pair and realized I can make them about two stripes longer in the cuff as I only used 43 gm of the 100 gm skein.

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The double stripe of purple around the ankle was caused by using all the pink to knit my German short-row heel. The plan is to keep the width of all stripes the same in my next pair.

The mini knit-felted bowls can be used for holding jewellery or as a coaster for mugs. They work really well as a soap dish, too, as the wool absorbs the moisture of the soap bar and does not attach to the softened soap. Preventing all that “gunk” that collects in porcelain or ceramic soap dishes. They are easy knitting in the round on 4 mm DPNs and fast: One is usually done within an hour – almost instant gratification!

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15 mini bowls in 7 days

I love to use felt-able wool yarns – no super wash!- with long colour changes. The top seven bowls were knit in Noro Kureopatora col. 1009  in blue, purple, white and green. Each turns out a little different depending on where in the colour change the knitting starts. Sometimes I use some of my small skeins of hand-spun samples mixed in with some commercial yarns as well. The three bowls on the right of the second row were created with a blue-purple hand carded blend and a crepe yarn spun during my class with Diana Twiss in March. The five red-orange bowls were knit from a squishy (discontinued) yarn “Nashua hand knits Wooly stripes” gifted to me by my friend Y, an inspiring story-teller through the media of crafts and words.

Now, that I have come close to knitting as many mini bowls as I wanted to knit and running almost out of the Noro yarn the question of “What will be my next project?” swirls through my mind. Usually, there would be plenty of answers to that, but in the awareness that most of my yarns have either been packed to be moved or to be stored, there are limited options available. It basically comes down to these three:

  1. Knit my second pair of pink-purple striped socks
  2. Start the Channa sweater by the lovely Liisa OR
  3. finish my Bear’s Rainbow blanket by PurlSoho

Each has its own merit: the socks are small and portable and therefore ideal for carrying around everywhere in my purse, but not that exciting as I just finished one pair. And who really wants to knit the same item twice?

The Channa sweater is the most exciting for me to anticipate to knit and since it will be created in Katia Linen it is a great piece to be worn in our new home town. As I was curious to see if I can get gauge I set out to make a swatch. The 3.5 mm needles give me exactly the stitch count of 22 stitches/10 cm (4 inches) – yes! The row count is off by 6 rows which can be compensated for by recalculating some of the directions. I am looking forward to start, but am holding back as I am not sure that I will have the focus and time to finish it in three weeks.

gauge swatch in Indigo with 3.5 mm needles
tiles for Bear’s rainbow blanket
colour difference outer row of top tile the one below

The blanket is one of my Unfinished Objects or UFOs that was started a while ago – the exact time eludes me – to finish up some left-over Lion Brand Cotton Ease yarn. I had about 1 and a half balls of the grey-brown in my stash and thought that it would be enough to frame about 24 to 30 colour rounds for a small blanket. After 6 squares I realized that my assumption was way too optimistic and I needed more of the same colour. Off to my yarn store Wetcoastwools I went to find that the exact dye lot was no longer available. The new dye lot was a little darker which is almost impossible to see in the photos (the outside of the top square was crocheted with the darker colour), but quite visible for me. I discussed my dilemma with Glenda and thought that changing the last outside row on all squares to the darker grey would even it out. Frustrated that I needed to unravel and crochet the outside of six completed squares – into the bag it went waiting for a better time (with more motivation). That time may be now since it would relieve me of “stash” I would not need to move or store. And another idea how to use the different dye lots has formed in the meantime: I will crochet nine squares completely with the lighter grey colour and use them in the middle of the blanket and the remaining ones in the darker colour. Only one row needs to be unravelled and I can move forward hoping to crochet one to two squares each day. It looks as if I could finish it before we move and most exciting: once done I can start the sweater I am really desiring to knit.

To the crochet hook!

Cheers, Maike

 

Easter in Abu Dhabi

~ beecosydesign ~ 4 Comments

Since my husband moved to Abu Dhabi time seems to be flying by and I am busier than ever. To shorten our separation I flew out to spend the Easter holidays with him. Easter is a Christian holiday and therefore not recognized in the United Arab Emirates as a day or two off work, but one can see lots of evidence in stores in the form of chocolate bunnies and eggs. About 10-15% of the population (and all of them are expats) are still a big enough market to sell Easter-shaped chocolate. Our Easter-reminder came in form of two cute bunny-shaped face clothes courtesy of our hotel staff and a chocolate egg from a colleague. I had intended to bring my parent’s Easter goodies but they were late and showed up after I had left.

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For this visit I had planned to learn more about the country and the ways how day-to-day life works. That opportunity came promptly the next day when we visited Khalifa park, a public park next to the hotel, where we enjoyed not only the beautiful landscaping and  saw gatherings of families and friends for an evening barbecue. For 2 Dirhams we could have taken the miniature train around the park, but decided to take the local bus to go downtown to the “Mother of the Nation” festival, instead. This sounds easier than it is. We knew from online searches that a bus fare costs 2 Dirhams and it sounded to us that you pay the bus driver in coins. So, we waited for the No. 56 bus and when we boarded were told that this bus – and as we learned later: all inner city busses –  can only be accessed by an electronic fare card. The “Hafilat” card can not be purchased with the bus driver and our bus stop did not have a  Ticket/card dispenser neither. Our bus driver explained we needed to go to the central bus station and buy a card there. Seeing how we were confused he let us take his bus and we were on our way to the Corniche. Taking public transit is a safe and comfortable, air-conditioned affair. Women sit in a section in the front of the bus specifically designated for them and man in the back. Women could be in the back if they wanted to, but when traveling by oneself it feels safer to be in the “women only” section.

wall murals created by artist
artist working on hi mural
Jump zone: 5m or 9m drop

We had fun at the festival and stayed until 11 pm engaged by the activities of artists, ecological exhibits, a jump zone, a zip-line and the Arabian national Orchestra playing. The exhibit about “The Mother of the Nation”-festival was dedicated to H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, highlighting  her crucial role in promoting global tolerance and instilling the values of cultural diversity among all members of society. She spearheaded literacy in the UAE for all children and encouraged women to participate in  public life. Leading to the formation of a government in 2016 in which 27 % of all cabinet members are female. We were impressed by the exhibit and just realized later that none of the photographs depicted her.

The next day saw us exploring Dubai on a guided bus tour. A different city in just a 90 minute car drive away. Dubai seems bigger, more grandiose and more shiny than Abu Dhabi. A city bursting with activities, a well-developed public transit system (metro) and bedazzling buildings. We saw Jumeirah beach and the Burj Al Arab hotel, Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. This portion of the tour was spent inside in air-conditioning and was very comfortable.

Atlantis Hotel
Burj Al Arab hotel
Inside Dubai Mall
too tall: top of Burj Khalifa

The morning sightseeing was followed in the afternoon by a visit to the “old town” with the Dubai museum showcasing the development of Dubai from small wooden houses to the skyscrapers of today, a walk through the textile market and a boat ride across the canal to the spice and gold market. This part of the tour was more memorable for me as it showed more of Dubai’s roots and individuality. The boat ride was refreshing and unconventional: no railings to hold on to and not a flotation device to be seen. Driving on the canal is a relatively smooth ride, but one wants to sit down at all times as the landing on the other side included bumping into the pylons or other boats to move into the bay at last. We were curious if the tours would still run in the summer when temperatures reach over 40 C and our guide confirmed they would. He is used to the heat and the guests came mentally prepared, he pointed out. It is hard to imagine…

Entry to the Museum
display of regional boat types
our water taxi
Dubai from the water

The spice market is amazing with its smells, colours and some unknown herbs. I could have spent money and time there and would love to return in the future. The gold market, a street of stores selling mostly gold jewellery, displayed gold in all imaginable variations. Windows showed not only necklaces and bracelets, but entire dresses made of gold. I wondered how a woman would wear such a garment and about its weight.

spices in bulk
gold necklaces
gold tunic!

Both cities Abu Dhabi and Dubai are big, bustling metropolitan areas and despite frequent questions by my colleagues: there weren’t any camels or dromedaries to be found in the streets. We were able to watch camel races on two tv channels in which the camels are “ridden” by a robotic jockey and followed by Range Rovers (presumably with the trainer inside) just outside the track. The only other spot for camels were these cute, stuffed animals for sale:

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Besides some tasty dates we did not buy anything at all as we are still looking for a place to live and do not want to move even more items around.

With all these activities and despite long hours on the planes – a total of 38 hours in the air – not much knitting happened. I managed to finish this Opal hand-painted pair of socks and started another one in White Birch Fibre Arts, which is the most luxurious sock yarn I have ever purchased. The pink and purple colour stripes work really well to produce the short-row heel in a contrast colour, thus creating a double stripe of purple on the top of the foot. It does not bother me too much as a sock often folds into creases in that area, but I think I may have enough yarn for another pair and will set the contrast colour heel into the middle of a stripe. Thus, keeping the stripe sequence the same on the bottom and top of the sock and perfecting the look. 🙂

The sock-a-thon at Wetcoastwools is keeping me motivated and the small size of the projects makes them a good choice when there is only a minute here or there to knit. In case you are wondering why I knit socks when moving to a country with a warm to hot climate: the tile floors cool off so much in the air-conditioning that cold feet are quite common. Hand-knit wool socks are the best remedy short of shoes or slippers.

Until next time,

Maike

 

 

 

 

Packing for a visit to Abu Dhabi

~ beecosydesign ~ Leave a comment

To shorten the time of separation I am getting ready to visit Abu Dhabi once more. Packing has been going on for a few days – quite unusual for me – but since I will travel with a big suitcase there is space to  move some of my clothes, yarns, fibres and one spinning wheel abroad. Plus, My husband already misses some of our North American “easy” foods like KD and Quaker instant oats. He found them at Geant supermarket at an outrageous price of 6$ for KD and 9$ for the oats. The other interesting fact is that he is currently not permitted to buy alcohol in a liquor store. For that a resident of the UAE needs a licence which one can only apply for once the resident visa stamp is in the passport which will take another week or so. Luckily, I am still allowed to bring wine and beer. 
 
The most important preparation for every trip I take is the planning of knitting projects. Usually, I take a fair bit and more than needed, but after weighing my to-be-checked-luggage and weighing in at 52 pounds -2 pounds over the limit – items from the suitcase had to move into my hand luggage and taking away precious yarn and fibre space. So, my Louet Victoria spinning wheel’s carry bag was stuffed with fibre, yarn for knitting, some knitting needles and in the end even some clothes. Even with all that stuffing it weighed in under 18 pounds or less than 9 kg. 

 
 
For knitting I brought a pair of socks I started the day before and some yarn to knit a few more of my mini bowls/coasters. Just some easy, straight forward entertainment while on the plane and while waiting in the airports. 

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Opal yarn handpainted socks

The week before departure was a busy one with work and a fabulous spin class with Diana Twiss at Fibreswest. Even though I had taken classes before to learn how to spin a yarn I had not really sat down to see how different amount of twist in either the singles or while plying make a difference in the final yarn. I had been under the impression that all my yarns needed to be completely balanced after plying which then meant if I did not spin my singles with high twist my final yarn ended up with a low twist in the final yarn. Low twist can be an issue when knitting with it as it sometimes removes a little of the twist making the yarn look like two separate strands rather than one. We created a reference card for the different amount of twists and I have another card at home I can fill with the different drafting methods and their impact on the yarn structure. Something to do once the move has happened.DSCN1574

As for projects I managed to finish: the “Kunterbunt” scrap yarn hat turned out well. I sewed in the threads between colours to avoid the dreaded hiding of all the 22 yarn ends – 2 for each colour- in the end. The pompom added a little fun and helps the slouchy look when worn higher up.

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More about my Easter in Abu Dhabi next week.