Off to Thailand!

Devon didn't really have a plan after Australia, but she trusted the Universe and we ended up flying FIRST CLASS to Kuala Lumpur. For $7 extra!!

You should have SEEN that leg room, it was sick!

Well, leg room isn't really an issue for me but the big cushy seats were NICE. We only stayed in KL for two days, then we were on the train to Thailand!

 

There was so much to see and do there, I don't know where to start! We spent a few days in Bangkok, where Devon broke her ATM card. Don't worry though, we made some great friends because of it!

Tell them about the sparkles!!

Ah yes, and Devon got some tinsel put in her hair. Then we headed north to the mountains, for the town of Chiang Mai and the Trek of Doom.

Oh come on, it wasn't that bad! Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Yeah yeah. So while we were in the north, we visited a silk factory. They didn't have yarn, though. :(

Silk worms, fattening up on leaves

Unraveling the silk cocoons on a spinning wheel to make thread

Weaving the silk fabric on a loom

And an umbrella factory, where they make and handpaint decorative umbrellas. So pretty!

We also went to "Monk Chat" at Wat Chedi Luang, one of the many Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai. You can chat to the monks in English so they can practice. We met 2 very cool monks. I had a very interesting conversation about Buddhism and how it compares and contrasts other world religions. Devon taught them how to say "What's up". Equally meritous, for sure. We still exchange emails with Sone, the monk on the left! He is very sweet.

I'll let Devon tell you about the trek.

Ah, the trek. 3 days in the mountains and jungles. Sweltering heat during the day, freezing cold at night. 16 km over steep hills, nothing but your wits to guide you…

(And two Thai trekking guides)

Eating off the land…

(Eating food the guides cooked for us, and a lunch they wrapped in banana leaves, which are more effective than Ziplocs at preventing leaks.)

Facing wild animals…

(Trained elephants that we got to ride)

Sleeping on the bare ground…

(In a sleeping bag in a bamboo hut)

Peeing outdoors…

(She did this even though there WERE toilets available)

Navigating the rapids in a lashed together bamboo raft…

(The water was about 2 feet deep)

Some more shots from Thailand…

Our favorite juice bar in CM… fresh juice and smoothies for $1!!

Chiang Mai is such a small town you can ride a bike everywhere!

Then, pray tell, what ARE you supposed to dry with the drying machine?

Oh, fabulous!!

Thanks to Noricum for telling me how to email posts!!! Now I just have to put the pictures in, and add labels. Super!! MWAH!!

Love,

Swatchy Prep

Dispatches from Australia #1

Long time no see, huh? I know, I know, but Devon and I have been extremely busy and I'm going to make up for the total lack of communication right now.

Where did I last leave you? Fiji? Oh yeah, an accident report from the field. You'll be glad to know I am thoroughly patched up! Though if Swatchy Doc wanted to come over and check me out, I wouldn't be opposed (hubba hubba). Anywho, Knittah made me a lovely band-aid that matches my scarf, and Devon sewed it on. And now she keeps me far away from critters, at least most of the time…

So let's see. After Fiji, we made a brief stop in Brisbane, Australia, and headed up to the Sunshine Coast, home of the Australia Zoo and the late Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter.

Look, it's a sleeping koala!! They sleep 20 hours or more a day… almost as much as Devon!

I heard that!

Oh, are you up from your nap already?

 

Here I am, just chillin' with a kangaroo.

CRIKEY! A reticulated Python! Oh come on, you wouldn't have been able to resist saying it either. Speaking of the Crocodile Hunter, they had a thing where you could take a picture in front of a blue screen and have it digitized, like with your head in a crocodile's mouth, or you with Steve Irwin. WITH STEVE IRWIN! Is it just me, or is that a little macabre?

The zoo was awesome though. It was cool to see Australian animals, and you can get so close to them! We even petted a koala… they're so soft and fluffy!!

The weirdest thing about Australia is how similar it is to the US. It felt a lot like Florida! The money is cool, it's all different colors and each one has a little window.

Helllllooooooo!

Of course Devon gets a big kick out of looking through it. Over, and over. She never stops finding it funny. EVER.

I see you!

Sigh. 

Why. Can I not. Copy and paste. The HUUUUUUUGE post I just painstakingly typed out in Word, with PICTURES.???????????????

Gah. 

Eaton's

Dear Knittah,

Earlier in March, Noricum and I were walking along the walkways that connect downtown Winnipeg buildings, when we ran into Timothy Eaton. Well, not literally. Although Noricum is frequently clumsy, she wasn't that clumsy today. And it wasn't the actual Timothy Eaton, he passed away back in 1907. But we did see the statue of Timothy Eaton. I got to rub his toe for good luck. (A Winnipeg tradition.) I hope some of that luck made it's way back to you. ;)

Love,
Swatchy

PS: The Eaton's company, now out of business, was a Canadian institution with lots of history. I've included links at the bottom of this post.



• Eaton's Wikipedia page
• CBC page with TV and radio clips
• www.eatons.com

Designed and Ready to Go

I finished the Botswana doll, and am ready to send him off to Gaborone. The sample doll, pattern and some yarn are going to the Otse Homebased Care Society. This group of women are learning to knit, and hope to make some of the Botswana dolls for sale.

The doll is 9 inches tall, and is made with six colors of Elann Peruvian Highland Wool. The doll's shirt mimics the flag of Botswana, and he wears a red HIV/AIDS awareness ribbon.

The Otse group is also called "Rwadisanyang Merwalo" which means "bearing each other's burden's." I am very proud to make this small gift to them, and hope that it benefits the women and their families.

Prototyping

When Swatchy Doc made his appearance in Botswana, several volunteers were taken with him. One woman leads an income-generating group for women, and they are learning to knit! I volunteered to design a doll for them that they could make and sell locally.

The doll has to be very simple in construction, and knit flat (not in the round). They also requested that I use the colors of the Botswana flag, and that the doll fit in a child's hand. So I started knitting up some prototypes.


The first one is very blocky and easy to knit, but not very cuddly looking.


Adding arms made the doll more appealing, if a little more challenging to knit. But now the torso is too long and the proportions don't look right.


Third time's the charm! Proportions are nice in this one.


And here is the doll knit up and stuffed. Now I just need to add some personality.

The Winner Is . . .

After much deliberation, and clicking back and forth among the links, I have chosen a winner in our Warming Up Swatchy Contest. Each of the entries was terrific, and made me smile. But my choice for who warmed up Swatchy the best is . . . . .

mrsfife for her Swatchy in the Tropics photo.



Congratulations! Email us your address so we can send out your prizes!

Contest Entries

I have shamelessly stolen all of the images so that you can see all of the entries here on one page. In the order that they were received, here they are:

Dandy's entry:


Magnusmog's entry:


Mrsfife's entry:


and Penny's entries:


Let's give all the entries a big round of applause! I know that looking at these photos sure warmed me up. :) Thank you all for entering!

*drumroll* ...and next up, Knittah will post the winner!

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!

Contest Reminder Correction

Whoops... I forgot that there's a leap day in February this year. (All of my calendars are still packed.) So you still have one more day.

Current entries:

• Dandy
• magnusmog
• mrsfife
• Penny, with Swatchy in Hawaii and Florida

Contest Reminder

You have one day left to enter the Warming Up Swatchy Contest...

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!

Entries

Entries in the Warming Up Swatchy contest:

• Dandy
• magnusmog
• mrsfife

You know you want to win those prizes... deadline is the end of February!

Prizes!

Noricum came up with a great idea the "Warming Up Swatchy Contest." Just photoshop Swatchy (the original Swatchy only) into a warm weather photo and send her the link. Noricum is contributing the hilarious prize of a vintage book on fur. And I am happy to add TWO skeins of sock yarn:



Specifically, the prizes are one skein of Austermann Step with Aloe and Jojoba (420m, 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) and one skein of Plymouth Sockotta (414 yds, 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool, 15% nylon). Both of these yarns are machine washable, too!

So get those links in! You have until the end of February.

Botswana Knitting Guidelines

Hi Everybody! I'm glad you liked the pictures from Botswana. Let's do it again! Winter is coming to Botswana and no one has heat. Here are the guidelines for the next round of knitting:

1. All items are needed, but we've been asked especially for mittens, scarves, sweaters and blankets.

2. Think WARM, so wool is better than cotton.

3. Most items will be washed by hand in a tub, and hung to dry on a wire fence or similar, so think DURABLE.

4. Kids love bright colors.

Our deadline is JUNE 1st. Email me to make arrangements for sending your items.

Thank you in advance! These children need to know that people love them, even from far away!

Warming Up Swatchy Contest

Brrr! It is *freezing* here. Literally. Actually, if it were only freezing, it wouldn't be a problem. However, when the windchill brings the temperature down to below -40 (F or C, it's all the same at -40), all we want to do here is snuggle in a warm blanket, in front of a crackling fire, with a mug of hot chocolate. However, Noricum has to work, and she drags me along with her. *shudder*

So, we decided to have a contest. I, Swatchy, want to be somewhere sunny and warm. (The warmer the better!) Since I'm stuck here with Noricum, I've decided to do some virtual travelling, and that's where this contest comes in. Please send me somewhere warm! Photoshop me into one of your vacation photos (or a photo that you have permission to use), and we'll send one winner a fantastic prize we picked up at the Manitoba Crafts Museum.

We're going to ask Knittah to be the judge and pick her favourite photograph (this blog is here for her, after all), unless, of course, she'd like to enter herself. ;) (Or if picking a winner is too much for her limited energy. If she doesn't want to do it for whatever reason, we'll decide on a different judge.)

To enter, leave a comment with a link to your photo, or e-mail it to Noricum. She'll make a post with all the entries after the deadline so that Knittah (or whoever) can pick the winner.

So, what is this fantastic prize, you ask? It's a hilarious used book from 1935 that we got for $1:

It contains valuable information, such as how to clean and repair furs, and gems such as a pattern for this stylin' fur tie:

I bet you didn't know that both skunk and opossum are very hard wearing furs? Or that antelope "is one of the most attractive furs for sports wear. The flat set of the fur is so distinctive and slimming."

After hearing what can be found in this book, you may want to keep your eyes open for some of their other titles:


Deadline: please submit your entries before the end of February. (Noricum decided that we'd give you the rest of February, since this is her birth month.)

Cheers,
Swatchy

PS: If someone would like to add to the prizes, feel free!