knit

Works in progress: knitting, crocheting and spinning

~ beecosydesign ~ 1 Comment

Since my last post in July, where I was writing about projects in the making, not much has been finished. Some not being in my control, for example : this knit-along shawl. I have finished all I can knit as per emailed out instructions, but will leave it be until the 5th pattern shows up in my mailbox. I am sure it can be a quick finish then.

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Four lace patterns done – one more to go
I could “cheat” and just knit the 5th pattern since I test-knit all of them earlier this year, but I feel it is better for me to wait and knit along with everyone else. Especially, when there may be questions popping up. I find it easier to answer while immersed in the process than weeks later.

The shawl I started with the variegated Blue Moon “Socks that rock” yarn combined with a Regia sock wool came along well during my visit in Germany and could have been finished if I had liked the current size. For a while I couldn’t make up my mind if it was big enough and then decided a week ago that with my impending travel back to Munich/Erding next week I have the great chance to buy another ball or two of the Regia sock yarn at Sopie Braun’s Haus der Handarbeit and continue knitting the burgundy edge. At this point it is only about one inch deep and I think the colours look more balanced with at least two inches of the darker colour.

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The second knit project I took on the trip is almost done. Really, there is only the last task of adding some eyes and a nose to this cute, little lamb. It probably could pass as a bunny, too, with its droopy ears and small tail. As much as I am happy with the outcome this time again I find that the knitted fabric shows a little the stuffing inside. I noticed this with my baby toy balls as well and thought it might be fixed with a tighter gauge. May be, I need to go down more than 1 mm in needle size?

Little lamb in a cabled jumper.
Panda fibre from SGY and turtle-spun skein

 

Once I arrived back in Abu Dhabi the Panda fibre was laid aside and the yak-silk fibre I had sampled during Tour de Fleece was spun. I had decided that to showcast the beautiful colours a long gradient would be best. Which meant that I needed to prepare the fibre. First it was split lengthwise into three strands of roving. Then the first one was seprated after each colour into shorter pieces. The pieces were sorted from fuchsia to blue to purple and spun into a thin single with a ratio of 1:10. The second strand was prepared the same way to yield a lace-weight to fingering weight 2-ply yarn. I was trying for a worsted spin, but the fibre was tending to fly away and didn’t draft consistently after the manipulation. I found it easiest to work with a short backward draft.

Yak-silk in the braid
separated into colours
First single

Thanks to Wetcoastwools video blog I was bitten by the sweater knitting bug. Glenda and Bernadette have been showing the most amazing sweaters and cardigans they were knitting during the summer and talking about how much they wish it would be fall or winter to be able to wear their new pieces. That was so inspiring that I pulled out a project I had swatched for in 2015 and then put aside to clear some stash before moving. It is the Stormwatch sweater by Holly Yeoh which was started on August 31st with Filisilk yarn (70% Merin, 30% Seide) by Atelier Zitron. I would describe the colour as coral red with a very slight yellow undertone. This yarn is thinner than the recommended sock-yarn in the pattern, but knits up with the same gauge and will be more suitable for our warm  Arabian climate. The oversized fit will allow a lot of airflow which I come to appreciate since moving here.

4 inches of the back
Lace pattern with good-memories computer stitch marker

The very last and most recent craft is a crochet poncho made of 156 flowers. This beautiful, lacy crochet top pattern came to me as a birthday gift and paired with a pretty fuchsia-coloured cotton yarn to get started right away. The pattern called for a few more balls and I found the perfect complementing colours at Greenbranch Trading in downtown Abu Dhabi.

Poncho pattern
Colour gradient
First ten flowers

I have to admit that this pattern is way more challenging than I thought. It is a case of reading the instructions, thinking “Oh, this seems easy enough and I am sure I can modify it to not have so much sewing to do” and then being taught by trial and error that it is not. For some reason I was expecting to be able to crochet one flower and continue to the next one without breaking the yarn. With a little bit of thought I could have figured out that it is impossible when crocheting from the middle out. So, there is a thread to be sewn in at the beginning of each flower and at the end. Multiplied by 156 flowers. Yikes! How could I? When I don’t like the non-crocheting part of the work? It turned out to be ok as I am hiding the threads after each flower while working along and thinking of a dear friend that makes it all so much easier. The other learning experience was that I do not as easily understand the written crochet instructions and am heavily relying on the photograph and the chart. In knitting I can work from either one, but not for crochet. I ended up ribbing back and crocheting each of the three rounds three and more times until I was satisfied that I had the result I was expecting. Since my first flower took over an hour to finish I am happy to report that I am down to about 15-20 minutes per flower. A much better speed to finish the final garment before the year is over. I may even be so lucky to use fewer flowers as I find that my first row chain of 10 is quite long already and I like the poncho to cover my shoulders and upper arms, but not down to the wrists. It will be an interesting journey.

Thank you, for reading my blog! Maike

Will travel for wool: crafting and shopping in Europe

~ beecosydesign ~ 8 Comments

Well, I love to travel: the choosing of a destination, planning the journey and accommodation, learning about the country or city and then exploring it with my own senses while there. It is a bonus if I can find yarn and fiber related stores or activities. Sitting on the plane, train or bus are my dedicated knit and spin times and I am almost more productive on our trips than at home.

The past months I had the opportunity to visit yarn shops in Munich/Erding, Paris and Dublin and found some lovely owners passionate about their work. In early June we stopped by Tolle Wolle in Munich, a store I researched and found online thanks to a good website describing their product lines. It was easily accessible by S-train and carried a brand of lace yarn I was familiar with. My goal was to stock up on colourful lace wool, which I did not seem to find in my stash or local store, to knit a few shawls. The owner, Sabine Schneider, is a very creative and engaged knitter who not only runs fashion shows of  knitwear she designs for Atelier Zitron and Noro, but is working on a book with Atelier Zitron as well. How cool is that?  Since I forgot to buy a complementary sock-yarn there for another stashed skein to create a colourwork shawl similar to “Daybreak” by Stephen West I checked out “Das Haus der Handarbeit” (the house of handicraft) in Erding. Their website is a bit general and less informative, but that may have to do with their vast array of yarns, needles and other craft supplies on offer. Way too many to put online. The short video on their website gives a quick impression of their store. The staff was friendly and helpful even though I showed up 10 minutes before closing.

lace yarns
Solid colour sock-yarn to b worked with the variegated

The lace yarns are still waiting for their time on my needles which was in the meantime occupied by these three scarves:

Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West
Without moonlight by Caitlyn Ffrench
Playground shawl by Leteknits

The rainbow striped one on the right was just finished today. In June I explored Paris with a good, old friend of mine and we had the most amazing time visiting museums, galleries and Versailles. Inspiration was everywhere in the buildings, the clothes people were wearing and the food we tasted. I want to go back badly: it was just such a wonderful experience. Staying close to the Louvre was a bonus since we didn’t notice the concurrent soccer Euro-Cup going on and was easy walking distance to many sights, including two yarn stores.  Cat’Laine was the first one I visited. A big summer sale was going on and all the products were displayed in cardboard boxes on shelves and the floors as well. It was a bit overwhelming to get a good view of the yarns and most seemed to be Katia brand. This store does not have a website and it is a surprise to find it in one of the smaller streets. I bought some Katia Inox, a wool with stainless steel, in grey and teal for a colourwork lace shawl. I was curious to see if the steel would be only adding a sparkle here and there or if the end product would retain a 3-dimensional shape. The other one was La Droguerie which is a small, privately owned French craft-store chain. It is beautifully set up in an old store room which reminded me of the haberdasheries of old. Yarns dyed specifically for La Droguerie are displayed in skeins hanging of the ceiling and along the walls to chose colour and type and then the amount needed will be wound up for you from big cones. They sell fabric for quilts, buttons and beads, feathers and wooden accessories. A feast for the eyes and a must visit for a knitter or quilter when in Paris.

 

 

The month of July provided me with plenty of opportunity to participate in online spin and knit events. Parallel to the Tour de France the “Tour de Fleece” happens and our team “Wool n’spinning” was led by co-captains Rachel and Becca. It was great fun and the motivation was high to spin a little every day. My final yarns were a gradient, blue-white super-wash merino with a little sparkle of Angelina, a blue sari silk yarn, a skein of white Polwarth from the Falklands and three mini skeins to sample and make a choice how to spin my yak-silk fiber. Plans are to knit the two blue yarns into a scarf with some colourwork and the yak-silk into a scarf with some lace elements and a colour gradient.

Falkland and blue-white merino
yak-silk and blue sari silk

During the Tour De Fleece my husband and I decided to fly for a weekend to Dublin to celebrate the end of Ramadan and Eid al Fitr. We arrived half a day later than expected when we missed a flight, but were still able to visit all the places we wanted to see. Among them two yarn stores in walking distance. This time I was on a search to find an Irish yarn, preferably from wool of Irish sheep, in a natural white to be used for a yarn dyeing session the day after our return. The first one was “This is Knit” located in a beautiful neighbourhood (South William Str) and in an old mansion, the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, renovated into boutique stores. They have a great setup and lots of beautiful yarns including some locally dyed and hand-spun. I would have bought there, but felt that a 20 Euro skein of local yarn is too expensive to be in an experimental dye workshop.

The next shop was a bit further away and took us by the St Andrews church on Dame Str and the adjacent well-manicured park. An area we would have not wandered about otherwise. The Constant Knitter is absolutely worth the visit. The owner Rosemary was so helpful and really concerned about my expectations when I picked a natural white Cushendale DK (spun and grown in Ireland) because she thought I may be unhappy with the coarseness of it. I am not worried at all: it is a true sheep yarn which is meant for garments and accessories to be worn as an outer layer still retaining some of the lanolin. Wonderful! As a backup I picked another white merino/nylon yarn of fingering weight to use for dyeing as well and a few grams of local Cheviot fiber for spinning.

Tallship and famine museum
coastline by Howth
spinning some Falkland wool during our hike

The rebuilt Jeanie Johnston, a museum ship explaining the circumstances of emigration during the famine (1844-1848), and the “Little Dublin museum” are both well worth a visit and not as crowded as the streets outside.  Interestingly, we skipped the Guinness brewery tour and did not visit the Scotch museum or the Jameson Scotch building. Mostly, because Dublin was so crowded that we spent our second day in the suburb and seaside town of Howth. A walk along the gorgeous coastline with its purple blooming heather, steep cliffs and great nesting places for seabirds, was exactly the Ireland we wanted to experience. One can still work on some spindle-spinning in between.

At the moment I am working on a scarf as a participant in a KAL for a good cause (Fuer einen guten Zweck) run by my friend Uta. We just received our third lace pattern and it will be one of my travel projects. The other travel knits will be a colourwork scarf with the two sock yarns shown above and a small gift for a friend. So, I can show you the yarn, but nothing else.

KAL for a good cause
colourwork shawl
to be a gift…

This pretty much sums up my yarn and fiber activities of he past two months. Have a great rest of July!

Maike

 

 

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.

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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!

 

 

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.

DSCN1669

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!

DSCN1647
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.

DSCN1620

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

 

 

 

 

About moving, plumbing and knitting:

~ beecosydesign ~ Leave a comment

what happens when one flies away…

The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of activities to get my husband ready for his move to Abu Dhabi: passport pictures to be taken, bank accounts to be opened and bathtub to be cleaned – one of his agreed to “duties” for household chorus. After spraying the walls with bleach and washing them down, all was in order by Thursday evening. The next morning I can hear some cursing through the splatter of the shower water and wonder if our hot water for the building has been turned off again as it happens once in a while. No, it’s just the bathtub not draining – at all! Great! The plane does not wait and so it was up to me to figure out a solution. Oh, how I wished that my husband had not dismissed my comments about water backlog in the tub for the past few weeks…:)

black flecks of pipe dirt
the tools of the day

First the plunger: That made things worse as now the overflow pipe got flushed through and spewed out black spots of yucky slime. Next came some bleach – nope did not help neither. It actually may have made things worse. Luckily, we have a second bathroom and shower so I was able to freshen up before going into the next round of removing the clog in the pipe. (Note to self: may be, we do need a second full bathroom in our Abu Dhabi rental?) Rummaging through closets I found a wire snake to insert into the pipe: it did not fit through the grate holes. ARRghhh! Knitting needle: not long and bendy enough. Now, the swearing started! Ok,  a can of “One-second plumber” is sitting on a shelf- I am convinced that will work. One blast: nothing. Second and third: still nothing and this is where I am supposed to call the plumber. Hell, no! Off to the closest store and some good, old Drano as an last attempt. And, yes, finally it worked! Flushed it through with some hot water and the pipes are running clear again. Success!

Surely, I had earned time for knitting and resumed my time-trial for socks. The second sock in grey was just finished yesterday and here are the final results:

A pair of socks with the magic loop and two-at-a-time took 10 hours 45 minutes.

A pair of socks on DPNs takes only 8 hours 30 minutes.

A pair of socks on two circulars takes 8 hours and 30 minutes as well.

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Yes! Knitting with DPNs is not slower than the other methods! I think my speed comes from pushing the DPNs into the knitting to set up for the next round without letting go of my yarn. Still one question beckons: Is it the same speed to knit two socks-at-a-time on two circular needles? I am not so sure about that, since the untangling of the two yarn balls adds time. Additionally, the turning point when I switch from one needle to the other and push my knitting into position slows it down again. It will be something to work on in the future, but in the meantime I like to knit a different sock pattern. May be, in this colourful, hand-painted sock wool I found in a sale bin at the Beach Basket Yarns & Gifts store in Birch Bay, USA. It is a German Opal yarn from a few years ago named “Malerische Schoenheiten” which translates to “Painted beauties”. It is indeed hand-painted in yellow, purple and aqua and very unique.

Malerische Schoenheit = Painted Beauty
Opal hand-painted sock yarn

Besides the test knit shawl, which is almost finished, I have this pretty cowl named “Stacks” by Liisa Nieminen on my needles. It was given to all participants during our speed-knitting class. I love the interplay of smooth stockinette with bumpy purl sections divided by slipstitches and the only thing I might change is the height of it. I am a frugal knitter and want to end the cowl with the yarn left in the ball after the two swatches. 🙂

“Stacks” by Liisa Nieminen
left swatch: thrown stitches- right: picked stitches

I love to have at least two knit projects on my needles: one to carry around with me for sitting on the bus or while waiting in lines, the other to knit at home with a more intricate pattern or larger and not fitting into my handbag. As there is a new opening for the next item I am looking through my stash and what would be great to use  up before I move. There are these lovely mini-skeins of many pretty colours which shall become a “Striped scrap”hat:

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My plan is to knit them up from left (brown) to right (purple). They are my reminder and the left-over wool of my three seasons of knitting hats and fingerless mittens for sale at Vancouver Christmas Fairs.

Until next week!

It’s all about time..

~ beecosydesign ~ 5 Comments

After waiting for 3 months, and some pushing for a faster resolution to not much avail, my husband has just received his background check clearance for the UAE. We are delighted and a little nervous as we dive into the unknown and resuming our energy to get move-ready. For my husband it will happen within a few weeks as he will move with a few suitcases full of clothes and may be a household item or two. I will stay around for another 6-8 weeks to finish up cleaning out the house and saying good-bye to friends and colleagues. I will keep you updated on the proceedings as they come along.

My timed two socks-at-a-time  on a magic loop – trial has come to an end and the result is in: it took me 10 hours and 45 minutes to knit up a pair of socks. That included lots of untangling of yarn every few rounds and two rounds of frogging: one round was ribbed out to get back into the pattern and half a round was knit back to separate the socks again. When knitting two items at the same time on one needle it is very helpful to use the yarn from a separate ball for each item. When I accidentally continued using the first yarn for the second sock they were very attached. 🙂

finished in 10h45m
after 1h30m on DPNs

I started a comparison sock knit on double-pointed needles (DPNs)  with a same size needle (3mm), same yarn, same sock pattern and size (German: 38/40 or US: 8) in grey. So far it seems to knit at least at the same speed or even a bit faster since I don’t have to untangle the yarn. It is easier to keep track of my pattern, too. But then I do only produce a single sock in the end and more often than not it takes quite a long time before I will start the second one. Which means I have to sit down and count the rows of knitting to match the length. So, that adds time… My plan is to finish one sock on the DPNs and the second one with two 3mm circulars to see if the use of fewer needles increases my speed. And still: the DPNs are my favourite method to knit socks.

Finally, there is some update what became of the two silk-based fibres. First I thought the colours of both fibres had some overlap in the peach and pink strands, but after spinning the singles with a semi-worsted draft one looked very much golden-hued peach while the other showed a brighter blue-ish pink tone. Since, it was not clear if plying them together would result in a muddled colour I decided to chain-ply each separately and keeping the option to knit them together to mix the colour for later.

3-ply (chain-plied, Z)
singles (S) on the bobbins
merino-silk (top) and silk fibre

Both ended up being a fingering to sport weight yarn: the peach colour silk-merino 87m/28gm (or 3107m/kg = 1413 ypp) and the pink-purple coloured silk 61m/20gm (or 3050m/kg = 1388 yap). There is no immediate plan to knit them into a hat or a cowl. They will live in my stash until their time comes.

Whilst dividing my time between spinning, knitting socks and test-knitting a scarf for my friend Uta I decided to take a class with Liisa Nieminen at WetCoastWools to become a faster knitter. Our first lesson covered continental knitting or “picking stitches” which is my accustomed way to knit, but to knit faster I have to break old habits and try holding my yarn closer to the needles. Not an easy feat which requires lots and lots of focus and concentration to not fall back into my comfort-zone. It is going soooo slow! Let’s see how I feel about this once I finished knitting our homework: two swatches. One will be knit “throwing” stitches or “English style” and the other with “picking stitches”.

I realized that my fibre activities in the past few months have been heavily based on pink, purple and red colours. May be, I was drawn to them for their brightness and splash of colour during the grey winter months, but I am missing blues, greens and brown. Time to change it up!

Until next week!

 

 

 

 

 

Spinning, Knitting, waiting…

~ beecosydesign ~ 1 Comment

… and life goes on

Day 89 has come and gone since my husband has applied for a work permit and visa to the United Arab Emirates. We are not sure if we were overly optimistic in hoping for a 6 week response or if this is just a regular wait period. It can be testing, especially since we have planned everything out: picked a moving and storage company, packed away the first few boxes of items we seldom use and recycled or donated goods we do not need anymore. There is not much more we can pack away at this time without impeding our day-to-day life. This became apparent when we had friends visiting the other day and could only find one vase to hold the flowers. Who would have thought we would miss something already?

Too much fretting is futile and producing something with my hands makes me happy. Yarn and fibre in all their colours brighten any day, no matter how grey or rainy it may be. This cute, little jacket was knit for Cherryl’s baby who arrived quite surprisingly about a month early on February 14th. Just the day the last stitch was knit. On Monday I found these fun bird buttons at Wetcoastwools and now it is ready to be delivered.

Hello Baby cardigan
by Susan Anderson

The shades of fuchsia and purple fibre I had shown you on a bobbin two blogs ago has been transformed into an equally pretty, marbled yarn in a sock yarn thickness (2.5-3 mm needle). Success! This is my first 4 ounce (110 gm) braid of merino fibre I managed to spin fine and long (425 m) into a soft 2-ply yarn. The twist which holds the fibre together is not high enough for it to be knit into socks, but a lace scarf could be its future. The spinning took two weeks to fill the two bobbins with the singles and another 3 days to ply. “Forever” in my impatient mind. I was astonished by the long hours of spinning, but now understood why most of my previous spinning resulted in DK or worsted thickness (needle size 4-5 mm) yarn. They just spin so much faster!

Final skein
Off the bobbin and..
..on the niddynoddy

My next spinning adventure will be a 1-ounce braid of a merino-silk and 20 gm of silk both hand-dyed at Knotty by Nature in Victoria. The colours have some similarities which will show better once spun up. I have not decided yet, if they will be knit together as two separate yarns or plied together (for a more mixed and marbled effect). Stay tuned for the results…

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To keep things interesting I like to learn something new every few months. There are so many different methods of knitting out there that I have to wonder how I managed to only know long tail-cast on, knit, purl, yarn over, knit together and a standard bind-off for three decades. It still boggles my mind that there are so many techniques just to start a knit garment. Not even to mention all the bind-off ones.  One website Knitting at large assembled 11 online tutorials! And there are more! I have tried about half of those and find that my favourite beginning is still the good ol’ long tail-cast on. It is the fastest one and my muscles can practically knit it without thinking. Today, after years of hearing that knitting two-socks-at-a-time on a circular needle in a magic loop is the fastest way to knit a pair of socks, I ditched my double pointed needles (DPNs) and used a 3 mm x 100 cm long circular needle for a first trial pair of socks from the toe up. This video by Patty Joy showing an even easier cast-on than Judy Becker’s is ingenious and my new favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrUTWaIgdMk

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I will time my knitting to see how long it will take and compare that to another pair knit on DPNs. The race is on!

Have a great week!

 

 

Vacation in BC

~ beecosydesign ~ Leave a comment

Stay-cation in the Lower Mainland and beyond

The first week of my vacation, originally allocated to fly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to set up a home for my husband and me, has passed in a flurry of activities in BC, enjoying tourist attractions along the way.

The past weekend we visited the Vancouver Aquarium late in the afternoon and were surprised to find we only had 45 minutes to the end of the day. It is a great time to go if you have a membership pass and can return any time. The crowds which usually hang around everywhere and especially the beluga whale and dolphin pools had gone home and we had free viewing access to every exhibit we wanted. What a treat! Our first stop was the tropical rainforest to warm up from the cold rain that had permeated our clothes on the walk from the Stanley park bus loop  to the aquarium. We love the colourful bird species and the sloth. Then we went to meet Chester, a young false killer whale, and were amazed to see him interact with the us and other guests. He swam from one window to the next to show us how he played with his food, a dead squid, he took into his mouth for a second just to spit it out and capture it again. We were mesmerized and could have spent hours more, but it was time to head out into the rain again.

The next day looked bright enough to give flying to Victoria, BC’s provincial capital on Vancouver Island, a try. Despite rain clouds hovering over North Vancouver Harbour Air deemed the view reasonable enough to fly their Turbo Otter water plane across the Georgia Strait. We had tried the previous Sunday and were left stranded due to fog. Happily, we went aboard and marvelled at the views from our window.

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If you have the chance, fly at least once on a water plane and see the beauty of the islands dotting the waters between Vancouver and Victoria. It is a spectacular view on a sunny day and a great reminder that this is the true coastal BC.

Victoria for a few hours was a rainy, cold and windy adventure that had us amazed by the “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” exhibit at the Royal BC Museum. We love this yearly event for its thought-provoking and awe-inspiring photos and recommend it for everyone. It will be shown until April 4th, 2016.

Before we flew home a last visit to the Bengal lounge at the Fairmont Empress hotel was a must. There had been news that his very traditional lounge will be renovated come May 2016 and may receive an updated, modern look. A last drink and snack and home we went.IMG_20160131_122301

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knitting time was a little scarce this week since I decided to start a new spinning project: a beautiful braid of purple and fuchsia merino roving in the colourway “amethyst” from Sweet Georgia Yarns sitting in my stash wanted to be spun into a sport weight or sock yarn. I am still working on it, but the colours shine even in the braid and on the bobbin.

Still, there are always a few minutes on a bus ride or an hour in the evening with an opportunity to sit and knit. My “Canted sweater” designed by Mari Chiba has been finished and fits really well: a little loser on the lower part with lots of airflow in case of a hot flash and more figure-hugging on the torso and arms.

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The newest and very exciting knit project is a test knit for my friend Uta from Justquilts for a German mystery KAL scheduled to start in May 2016. I am happy to work with some lace yarn from my stash and try out the pattern for a beautiful finished project. I can not reveal more at this time, but check out her blog in the meantime. The start of the mystery KAL will be posted there and I will post it as well.

Until next week!