In which Swatchy gets some Canadian action

This morning, after the kids were off to school, I went looking for Swatchy. I found him here, still sleeping at 9:30.



Poor l'il Swatchy. He was tuckered out, after a weekend beyond his wildest imaginings...

It all started so innocently. He climbed into the car and settled himself on the dashboard, perhaps thinking that this was going to be a wholesome weekend, seeing as he was traveling with a suburban, station-wagon-driving soccer mom.



The drive up was quick (relatively speaking) and uneventful. Swatchy enjoyed seeing the autumn foliage, and was fascinated by the gossip, although he tried not too look too interested.

He was happy to arrive at the hotel, quickly selecting a lovely color-coordinated skein of Black Bunny Fibers Canadian Luxury sock yarn to nestle down in for the night.



I think Swatchy figured, once everyone was in bed by 10:30 p.m., that his traveling companions were nice, if a bit sedate.

He was a good sport as we awoke early the next morning, bundling up and arriving at the show not long after the gates opened at 9 a.m.


He was quite excited to be hanging with knitting designer Laura Grutzeck; I heard Swatchy whisper excitedly to passersby, "See that lady with the pretty curly hair? She has a sweater in Vogue Knitting!" He found faithful traveling companion Jim to be delightful and eminently civilized, too.

Swatchy enjoyed seeing all sorts of beautiful fiber and yarn, and although he found the llamas and sheep a little intimidating, given how big they seemed to him, he quite enjoyed snuggling up to the bunnies, like this one:


(The bunny, on the other hand, disapproved.)

I was having a great time seeing old friends and making new ones, buying some roving, fondling the wools, but then I saw Swatchy surreptitiously yawn. I decided it was time for the big guns. So Swatchy got to meet Jess, of Ravelry fame:

and Clara Parkes, of Knitter's Review and book fame:


and Dr. Mel, of kilt-wearing fame:


I must say that Swatchy was very well-behaved and extremely polite to all the knitterati that he met, except when he mistakenly thought he heard Kristen Rengren



say that she knew a woman with Chronic Fatigue and it was all in her head, and then he threw himself at the table where she was book-signing, screaming stuff about "people who need to go to the CFIDS website before they start shooting their mouths off about stuff they know nothing about" until I was able to pull him off and tell him that she said "I know a woman with Chronic Fatigue and she has to stay in bed" and then he got all embarrassed and I had to leave the author's tent before Melanie Falick kicked the shite out of me.

At that point, I whisked Swatchy away, and we retired to our hotel room for a brief cooling-off period before dinner. Swatchy wasn't very impressed with our favorite Rhinebeck diner:


But he cheered up immensely when he met our dinner companions, including Mindy


(he was all over poor Mindy!); the wild and wooly Ali P (I need your blog link, Ali):


and last but not least, Vé-vé.



I think that those wild Canadian minxes were a terrible influence on Swatchy, because last night I went up to Little Miss's room to kiss her goodnight and I found this:


Oh, Swatchy, lolling in the hot tub with the Barbie twins? What have I done?!

In Shanghai

Our last stop in China was Shanghai. It's a large, modern, shiny city.



We met with a delegation from the Institute of Coastal Studies at East China Normal University.



There is a wonderful antiquities museum in Shanghai. Aren't these statues cool?



Knittah's Dad sets a crazy pace. He let me take a break, though.



At long last, it was time to go home. One last picture outside the VIP lounge in Beijing. Did you know I'm a VIP?



Actually, it should be VIS: Very Important Swatchy!

Xi'an

From Chengdu, we went to Xi'an. This city was an ancient capital of China, and has amazing architecture. Knittah's Dad thought the Great Wild Goose Pagoda was the best.




We also visited the city wall, which has a really cool bell tower.



My buddy Frank tried to throw me off the wall!



But don't worry. Knittah's Dad always takes really good care of me.

Back to Chengdu

After we left Beijing, we headed for Chengdu. Swatchy Hugz was there before me! Some of what I saw was the same, like the yummy food:



But I also visited the Naval Institute of Biology and saw this leatherback turtle. Yes, there are sea turtles in China!



But the best part, ooohhhhhhhh, the best part was the PANDAS!



No one would let me get too close to the pandas. I don't know why. They sure are cute, though.



Knittah's Dad was the luckiest. He got to hold one! I think it talked to him!

Time to Play

Knittah's Dad works hard. But this was our first trip to China, so we got to see some sights too. Here we are at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology.




Knittah's Dad said this was a statue of horned dinosaurs, but not Triceratops. I don't know what that means though!

This is one of the botanical gardens at the Institute of Botany in Beijing. It was October, but look at the flowers! Can you see me in the picture?



This is a monastery in Beijing. I forget the official name, but I sure think it is amazing!



Finally, this is the famous Great Wall of China. But guess what? Knittah's Dad was carrying me in his pocket, and FORGOT to take me out! So I didn't see it. I went all the way to China, and even got to the wall, but I didn't get to see it. Sigh.

Official Meeting Type Stuff

My trip to China was a business trip, after all, so Knittah's Dad took me to meetings right away. We started at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.


This is our group from the US along with the outreach team at the Chinese Academy of Science.

We met with Chinese scientists to talk about climate change and how to fix it. There was a lot of serious thinking going on.*



Fortunately for me - I mean, us - we had a delicious lunch! Everywhere we went in China, our hosts always provided elaborate meals and banquets. I even got my own plate this time!




*Knittah says that a recent article in The Economist talked about the Chinese government's slow action and commitment to addressing pollution issues. While some officials and scientists are advocating very strongly for better policies and enforcement, the government is not investing enough money or attention in the problem. Our group is trying to help them change that.

Reporting In

Hi there, Swatchy McSwatchypants finally reporting in! Guess what? I went to China!

I accompanied Knittah's Dad to China as part of US group meeting with Chinese scientists on global warming. But I'll get to that. First, Knittah's Dad had to pack me in his bag to make sure I traveled safely.



It's a very very long trip, although I guess Swatchy Hugz already told you that. I was homesick when we got there, and tried to call you. That's my friend Frank helping me out.



Luckily, our hotel was very nice.



Check out this amazing carved elephant tusk in the lobby of our Beijing hotel! Isn't it cool?



Did you know that Beijing has terrible air pollution?



The Chinese economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, and this has led to lots more cars and buses on the roads and many more factories. The good news is that the government has paid attention to the need to clean the air, especially because of the upcoming Olympics. Even so, Beijing is a big city, and a bit scary for little old me!