On Our Way

So we've left China. The last week involved the shipping company packing all our belongings up...including the vast majority of my stash, packing our suitcases for 6 weeks away - not an easy feat I can assure you, and saying goodbye to the great friends we made. It was strange leaving our home of 3 years but exciting all the same. 

Now though, we're in Thailand. Having spent about 10 days in Bangkok we decided it was time to head somewhere a little quieter and preferably near a beach. We got a train from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then a boat to Koh Samui. The train journey itself was fine as we went first class so had our own little cabin, that was followed by lots of waiting around for a mini bus to take us to the ferry port and then a little more waiting before we could board the ferry. 

On arrival at our bungalow, aptly named Blissful Tropical Beach House, after many hours of travel we were delighted by the view and the house itself. Lying in bed we have a sea and mountain view which is wonderful after being in the city! We're staying at Bang Po, which is a quiet area of Koh Samui and perhaps not to everyone's liking. For us though it's perfect. This is the view from our bungalow:

We've rented a motorbike for the week to give us the opportunity to do some exploring of the island. It's wonderfully green and, of course, the sea is a brilliant blue, lined with golden, powder soft sand in most places. 

My days have been quite blissful and I feel very lucky right now. I sit on the porch to eat breakfast and read my book (The Night Circus, which I highly recommend), then we go for a ride and explore and perhaps eat out. One particular restaurant made me rather happy simply because of its name: Octopus Willys. The food there was delicious though. Look at these mussels with garlic butter and breadcrumbs:

Of course there is knitting and spinning but I think I've rambled on enough for now and will save that for another day! What are you doing for your holiday? I'd love for you to share!

Two Weeks Left!

It's been far too long since I've posted - things have been hectic the last few weeks. The amount of socialising we have done is crazy! We leave China in two weeks and I have one week left at work. It's come around so incredibly quickly and I expect the next week to fly by even quicker than the previous weeks have! 

We have no definite plans for the holiday but we will head to Thailand and be there for four weeks. Then hopefully we'll have a week in Singapore before heading back to Bangkok to head to Jakarta on the 9th August. I'm really excited about our new adventure and hope that the blog will have more travel posts than I've been able to write this year. Our aim in Indonesia is to travel there as much as we can - we'll have a car so this will help greatly. 

I have enjoyed my time in China and it's been an incredibly valuable experience for us both. Leaving will be difficult as we've made some very good friends here and met some wonderful people. It is time to move on though and to begin a new adventure! 

As for knitting - I have an FO! It took a while but I have finished the Trillian I have knitted for a friend. I didn't massively enjoy the pattern as I found it quite boring but I like the FO and hope that my friend does too. The yarn (Juno Fibre Arts Milly Standard) was lovely to knit with however, I much prefer non superwash wools. The colour is gorgeous and the different tones make for a very interesting knitted object. 

Trillian in Juno Fibre Arts Milly Standard - Grape colourway

That's it from me for now. I hope to be back soon with more knitting and spinning. 

Realisation

Mango Dumpling

As I write this I am sat in Starbucks, drinking hot chocolate - it's grey outside so thankfully I'm not missing a great deal. It's report writing season and this time I've decided that instead of sitting at home, surrounded by things I'd rather be doing, I'd try and get my reports written here. So far it's going well, although considering I'm blogging that may seem ironic to you. After a couple of hours I've decided I need a break from them. Also I've had too much sugar - in the form of a hot chocolate, bread and butter pudding and a mango dumpling - for it to be worth continuing for the time being. 

It's finally dawned on me that, in two months, we will be leaving the home we have made here in Suzhou. Seeing as I've had the job since December you may think I'm a little slow on the uptake, but there is simply so much going on at work that most of my focus has been there. I'm also realising now that this move will probably be harder than leaving the UK was. We've made some great friends here, seen some of them leave already, and now will be leaving some behind ourselves. Lots of little 'lasts' have already come and gone, last parent consultation, last class assembly, last winter for a while etc....and each 'last' from hereon in will be that little bit harder. Don't get me wrong though, I'm really excited to explore somewhere new and to start my new job, but the next couple of months are going to be a little emotional to say the least. 

On a more happy note I did finish spinning and plying a third of my Fondant Fibres custom dyed punis. I've done a two ply and really like the way it's come out. The colours have blended to create this gorgeous green but still have pops of blue and yellow running through it. I think this will knit up beautifully. The last two thirds of the punis have been divided equally and will be spun and plied soon.  

That's it from me this week. I hope you all enjoy the weekend! 

Distractions

As you know I've not been knitting a great deal recently. Over the Easter break we were able to get away to Bangkok for 6 days and I was able to meet up with some other knitters. We sat and chatted and knitted in Simply W (Whittards of Chelsea cafe)and I got a little of my knitting mojo back. Since being back at home though, I've not picked up my needles - the cold I came down with in the first 2 days of my holiday has not helped.

Initially I was frustrated by my lack of interest in my knitting but now I'm acceptant of the fact and trying to enjoy my spinning as much as I can. 

Part of the reason I've been so distracted recently is that I've got a new job and we are moving to Jakarta(!!!!) in the summer so I've been getting the necessary paperwork together for the visa process. We are really excited to be moving to somewhere new but the idea of shipping off my stash while we move is not an appealing one!

Over the next few months I'm going to have to try to pick out some knitting and spinning projects that will see me through about 3 months, while we wait to get our stuff. As you can imagine this is not an easy task so I'm really going to have to plan carefully...any suggestions would be great!

In the previous post I mentioned the Stitched Together SAL; I have been spinning for that and have finished half of my fiber. It's an angora/alpaca blend from Ixchel Bunny and the colourway is called Wallaby Dreaming. I've found this fiber quite challenging due to the slickness and staple length - I can't quite figure out the drafting of it so it's frustrating at times. I love the colours though and it's lovely and soft with a fuzzy halo so I will persevere. If you have any tips for spinning either alpaca or angora please do share them. 

Distracting me horribly from that though are some gorgeous custom dyed punis from Fondant Fibre. They are a blend of merino, BFL and silk and are my first punis. I've been incredibly eager to try this fiber prep for some time and have heard great things about Deb's. She was really helpful and accommodating and her attention to detail regarding the packaging is excellent; my parcel arrived with a stitch marker, wonderful sounding tea bag and a lavender bag! I will definitely order from her again.

That's it for now! Have a great week! Don't forget to follow the link below to follow me on bloglovin'. 

Spring is on the Way!

I seem to have lost my knitting mojo due to a lot of stuff going on here. Life has been quite stressful (hence my absence for the last three weeks) but I'm hopeful that it will start to calm down soon. 

I have been knitting although mainly on a new project, which is a gift for a friend. You may remember that I was gifted 1kg of alpaca/wool laceweight yarn from peru. It took me far too long to decide what yarn to use and what to knit but I now have a Trillian on the needles. I am using some Juno Fiber Arts yarn in the Milly Standard Sock Yarn. The yarn is lovely and soft and although I tend to prefer non-superwash yarn, this is for a non-knitter so it made sense. The colours are so pretty and I recommend checking out the shop if you haven't. 

The second of the fingerless gloves from the previous post has been started, it should be finished by the end of the week!

Some spinning has happened; the first half of Aurora from the last post is finished but I have yet to start the second half. Look at those gorgeous colours!! 

I have joined in a Spin Along with the Stitched Together podcast and information can be found here. It's open through March and April and you have to spin 100g of fiber and suggest a project you might use it in. 

On my spindle for the SAL is some more Ixchel Bunny in the Baby Alpaca and Bunny Top. The colour way is called Wallaby Dreaming and has yellow, green, blue and a light brown and it will become a two ply. The spinning is really easy and enjoyable. 

Unusually for me, I've been reading this term. If you know me, you know this rarely happens as I fall asleep if I so much as look at a book in the evenings. One of my new year's resolutions however was to read more and I've been trying to make an effort in this area. Mostly I get my book recommendations from the Richard and Judy Book Club - if you need some inspiration take a look.  

The book I've just finished is called When You Walked Back into My Life. It's a very easy read and I found myself getting really drawn into the story and the characters. Admittedly, I bought it mainly because the cover is so beautiful, but absolutely loved the story. 

The book I'm reading now, The Universe Versus Alex Woods, has got off to a great start and the first chapters had me hooked. The main character, Alex, is very interesting and his back story is quite unusual.  

That's it for the week, I'd love for you to tell me what you are working on or reading at the moment.