Thailand 2006
take two (take one can be found in November 2006)

Saturday 22nd October.
After getting the reception to phone Dave and Tanya of PaddleAsia, I get ferried by yet another moped taxi (how they manage to balance overweight me and my backpack I don't know) to the Imperial Hotel, which is no relation to Imperial 2 guesthouse. There I meet fellow kayakers Leeja and Lowry, a couple from Latvia who cannot keep their hands off each other, and we get collected at 08.10hrs to be transported to the South of the Phuket. Lowry the Latvian lover is drinking whisky for breakfast - ah, such is the folly of youth. I meet a further three members of our small group - this time three aussie (hashers!) guys on a male bonding trip. I really am the gooseberry here!

We board a 'longtail' boat to get ferried to Ko Yao Noi in Phang Nga Bay, me and the Latvian lovebirds in one boat with a thai english speaking guide called Bow (or Beau or even Bo!), and the aussies in another boat with another guide. Before we get there, we stop off in kayaks and paddle around three different islands. We have no spray decks or buoancy aids (that's PFDs for you american guys) but the water is amazingly calm and the paddling very easy. The boats are plastic and pretty manouverable for sea kayaks too.

Our first stop is an island with a large 'hong', an interior room formed by the collapse of a huge cave system in the middle of the island. We paddled through a cave and into the hong. This was an impressive introduction to the unique limstone geology which we explore over the next couple of days.

Best sight of the day - a yellow hornbill (I'm guessing at its name!) sat in a tree:
The hot sun glinting off the waves, the islands in the distance, mangroves, red ants, jungle - you can practically hear everything growing like mad here with so much sunlight, water, heat. I can't believe this is the Thai autumn going on winter - it's so humid and hot - what must it be like in SUMMER? Already I feel like I'm living in the hothouse at Kew: same fruity, rotting smells of vegetation.

We get back to the bungalows at Santisook and they are beautiful - my own little pad, with a deck overlooking the sea and coconut trees. There is plenty to eat: rice and veg, chilli, prawns, chicken and fruit.

There is lightening and thunder at 4pm - a deluge of rain which doesn't last long and doesn't clear the air either. We're supposed to go paddling again that afternoon, but I'm so tired and jetlagged that I'm unconscious as soon as my head hits pillow. I get bitten despite the mozzie net.

Monday 23rd October. I wake up bright and early just as the sun is rising, so go for a stroll along the beach to take some pics.

Breakfast is a huge cakelike omelette/pancake hybrid with honey. We all then pile in to a tuktuk to go back to the longtailed boats ready for our second day's paddling adventure.

Today we paddle around and about Koh Roi, Koh Kudu and Laem Tang on the Krabi coastline.

First we paddle through a mangrove swamp: there are monitor lizards sunbathing and swimming, crabs that climb the trees and large snails disguised as tree bark. The limestone dripping off of cliffs form weird and wonderful shapes that would all have names like "elephant's nose" if this was England. We stop for lunch where I find beautiful sea shells and a little red chilli plant growing wild. Later more paddling, and when we reach the Krabi coastline, there are starfishes galore in the turquoise water, and living coral (which I never imagined would look like this!). I can see why scuba diving is so popular around here - wouldn't mind having a go myself.

Back at the bungalow, it's brewing a storm again. There are so many exotic plants growing around here: coconut palms, begonias, plants that I'm used to seeing in greenhouses. There are crabs on the beach that dig holes and chuck the sand over their backs leaving little perfect 'sand pearls'. Had to be sneaky to catch them out of their holes - keep very still like playing "What's the time Mr Wolf". The food is fantastic and plenty of it, with lots of beers too - the australian guys engineered that. The family matriarch who runs the kitchen is interested in my knitting and has a go. She loves my socks - but not much call for warm socks here. I meet Bow's little girl - he can't have seem much of his family while we're here on the island. Being piggy in the middle, I disappear off to bed relatively early to read 'McCarthy's Bar'.

Tuesday 24th October.
I woke up at 3am, and then tossed and turned and slept fitfully - despite the mozzie net and jungle formula stuff smeared on, am still eaten alive. Missed the sunrise this morning!Had breakfast of fried eggs on weird toast. Bright yellow yolks as good as my freerange eggs used to be. Said goodbye to the cat with the crooked tail which kept me company the whole time I stayed in the bungalow. Must be horrible to live in a fur coat in Thailand. Our bags are chucked on the boat and we head out to explore an extensive area of mangroves. We explore different channels through this unique ecosystem. It's a remarkable area, a real highlight of the trip. Apparently Thailand's remaining mangrove forests are the breeding ground and nursery for much of the marine life in the ocean.

Here be monkeys galore. I'd been trying to photograph a monkey from afar, when around a bend in the swamp, a monkey decided to hitch a lift! It even checked inside my boat - nearly dropped the camera in surprise. The limestone cliffs are truly amazing and the photogaphs just can't do them justice - Sheer walls towering overhead with the roots of Banyan trees hanging down. As it draws toward noon, we start to see large groups of tourists on 'sit-on-tops'. We feel superior in our much more lightweight and manoueverable craft. There are loads of kingfishers (or lesser spotted redthroated speckled blackcap thingummybobs) and one herontype wader with bright yellow legs. From the gorge and mangrove forest we get back in boats to head for the coast and the wind is getting up. WE have one last paddle to a lagoon, seeing an amazing array of brightly coloured fish of the type you normally only see in fishtanks - tiger bellied, blue and yellow striped, small neons. I especially liked the lot eating a dead jellyfish - there were so many they were leaping out of the water.

It's now evening and I'm back in Phuket Town sat in the cafe next door to the ONON guest house - particularly apt for a hasher heading for interhash next, I thought. Rooms are very basic, but for 300 Baht (less than a fiver), I can't complain. Tanya (of Paddleasia) has sorted out my flights to Chiang Mai for tomorrow - via Bangkok, but still quicker than a bus! As I'm sitting here, supping my beer, I'm tempted to follow the large number of people who have been passing by, all dressed up in white. I ask the proprieter of the cafe what is going on and discover that this is the 3rd or 4th day of the Vegetarian Festival of Phuket. There have been fireworks going off accompanied by the biggest thunderstorm I've witnessed yet. Just got to finish some more beer dot dot dot.

Well, it's now 21.45hrs and I've just watched one of the weirdest processions - into the twilight zone methinks! Everyone was dressed in white and/or yellow, except those that weren't. The youngsters thought it was all an excuse for throwing firecrackers. A couple ran past with what looked like a comatose child over their arms. I wasn't sure wether this was an accident with fireworks or just all too much - because being in a trance seemed to be all part of it. Then there were the girls in pink and frothy wedding dress type outfits and the guys in ornate aprons, like masonic gear, waving flags and wobbling their heads with Parkinsonian rhythm - some terrible affliction seemed to have struck them all down. Were these the ones who skewer themselves? Drumbeats and smoke from the fireworks all added to the druglike atmosphere. Add a couple of brass horns to the general melee. And another beer or three. I get into conversation with a Chinese/Thai local fella called Jirasak, and ask him the reason behind the palsied shaking of the dressed up individuals. He tells me that they are possessed by spirits. These spirits need to be propitiated - by incense, or fire or sounds and smoke. Give something to them and they'll give something back! Apparently, many years ago, the chinese community had forgotten to pay homage to the gods. As a result, there was sickness in the community and many people died despite trying lots of different remedies. The ceremony was reinstated and the community got well again - so, ever since, the local temples hold an annual 'vegetarian festival' . This whole ceremony was imported by the chinese community in Thailand, from 'Pochee' (sp?) in China, because Communism banned such things. Whatever, it seems like a particularly spectacular way to bow out of Phuket and I feel blessed and thank all and any spirits that have been looking out for me (particularly the Great Knitting Goddess!).

KNITTING

ONE FO! These gloves are soooo soft - and are really comfortable despite the left thumb going on the right shaping and vice versa. I'm blaming the pattern and couldn't be bothered to frog.

I've even got enough yarn to do another pair for me (these have gone to my colleague Jan for her Chrimble present - we have a bran tub and she won mine).

Speaking of which - even though we are supposed to have a random bran tub - Jan bought ME a present for Christmas because it shouted my name apparently. She bought me THIS: It's a bit acrylicky but the colour makes up for it. I've decided to knit it into an aran type sweater ('Lars' from Rowan 36) but I'm going to give it a shawl collar instead of a round neck. Check out the wonderful needles from yvonne (my SP8). First Chunky sweater I've knitted in god knows how long. I know, I know, I have far too many WIPS to be starting a new project but it was a PRESENT for goodness sake (she says, waving her hands helplessly). I DO have another FO - a little hat called Gala (also from Rowan 36) but it needs a button to finish so I'll take a pic when I've sewn that on.And here is the start of February Socks for the sockamonth challenge.

I hadn't finished the Wellington Hat I'd started last year - but had lost the pattern, so I decided to reorder it because I liked it so much. Cabin Fever not only posted it immediately but managed to get it to me before the end of the week! from Canada! Howzat for service. and while I was at it, I ordered the gaugeless hat and the swing cardigan patterns. MMMmm.

So I'm now finishing the Wellington Hat number three:

OOoo I love it love it love it, EXCEPT when I have to frog it because I forgot to concentrate on just how many stitches there are between decreases on the crown and had one too short at the end of the round. Little Lixie sent me her crafty ZINE and it came with a sample of Crystal Palace yarn which was so nice I had to knit it in - see that little accent of blue on the crown? shame it didn't quite reach to the end of the round but that's what will make this hat truly original and unique - HA! I'll finish it this evening.

One of these days I will sit down and count just exactly how many WIPs I have on the go. Now that is a scary prospect.

That was the week from hell, that was!

Work? who needs it.


Let me tell you about how our Midwifery Group Practice is supposed to work (most of the following is taken from an article we did for 'Practising Midwife' lat year, on how we try to keep things normal):

I work in the National Health Service. There are 6 of us in the MGP (4.8 whole time equivalent) and I am the only full time (37 1/2 hour week) midwife. We cover a predominantly rural area in Devon. Our home birth rate for last year was 18%, our normal birth rate is around 60% (And by 'normal' I mean unassisted vaginal birth - 'abnormal' would include Caesarean Sections and Instrumental Deliveries).

Our Trust has a model of care which embraces “Changing Childbirth” in its totality. We have the ability to provide midwife led care throughout pregnancy and birth, from first booking contact and referral to a midwife led antenatal clinic, through to 28 days post partum, leaving our obstetric teams to concentrate on higher risk women.

We have excellent support from our managers, supervisors, and obstetric teams, where two-way communication is facilitated. We may refer women to an obstetric team for second opinion and they are referred back when assessed as ‘low risk’. General Practitioner support has taken time, but we now have their confidence, and it has been agreed that they do not have intrapartum care involvement unless they wish to.

Policies and Guidelines are evidence based and have midwifery input. From the outset of pregnancy we emphasise the MGP philosophy and aim to build the confidence of the woman and her family in the normality (or otherwise) of her pregnancy. Risk assessment is ongoing and discussed openly and honestly with women enabling them to make informed choices. Any request which falls outside hospital guidelines (e.g. home VBAC) is not dismissed out of hand, but involves the whole team: woman and family, managers, supervisors and obstetric team agreeing and documenting an action plan.

Although the group have very different personalities we share the same philosophy of care. We are confident, autonomous practitioners with a sound belief in women’s ability to give birth and put the safety and welfare of their baby first. We are confident at homebirth, water birth and suturing. Most of us have taken the 'Neonatal Life Support' course. We do not take the hospital mentality into the home but vice versa. This is helped by labour rooms at the Maternity Unit having the bed pushed aside, shower rooms ensuite and mats, beanbags, stools and balls available. We aim to combine the Art and Science of Midwifery by watching and listening during labour, being patient and not interfering unless action is required.

Home intrapartum visits are offered to all women to encourage them to keep their options open. They can change their minds regarding place of birth depending on risk assessment at time of labour. If intrapartum transfer is warranted, we follow by car or accompany in the ambulance, as appropriate, then continue care in hospital.

We carry pagers and mobile phones to facilitate contact with women and each other. The Delivery Suite Coordinator will provide professional support and coordinates the provision of a second midwife once requested for home birth. Equipment for home birth is serviced regularly and we know how to use it. Paramedic support is readily available. We do not feel alone.

We support the use of simple ways of enabling women to cope in labour – distraction, massage, water, heat, cold – rather than opting straight for pharmaceutical or epidurals. Caring and touch go a long way. However, we also care for women who want ‘high tech’, epidural hospital birth and still aim for vaginal birth.

All this sounds ideal. Meeting the needs of women means we have to be flexible and have supportive families and friends. We write our own rota and support one another to be able to attend a school play or similar. Long-term sickness and staff shortages in the unit or other teams may often require us to cover other areas, hence our women may receive care from other teams too. Pay back time can often be difficult to achieve, therefore the system then relies on good will to keep going.

MGP does seem to work most of the time and thereby facilitates normal birth. Despite covering a large area, we have raised the home birth rate, and maintained good mortality and morbidity statistics.

This is us on at our post Christmas dinner... Don't we look happy? (I'd come straight from work so I hadn't dressed up).

HOWEVER the unit is sooo short at the moment, we're being called in to help willynilly, which means our work in the community is being neglected and piling up.

Last Saturday I worked all day 'till 4pm doing postnatal visits, prebirth antenatal checks etc. Then I get asked to come in to the unit to transfer a client to a hospital 35 miles away. I get in to the Unit and while I'm waiting for the ambulance crew to arrive I acquaint myself with the woman I'm escorting. She was being transferred for very sad reasons which I won't go into on this public forum but was not likely to give birth enroute so I didn't take any of my equipment apart from my doppler.

On the way, the paramedic in the front of the ambulance sticks his head through the hatch and says "There's a woman in advanced labour not 5 minutes away and we're the closest crew - do you mind assisting?". What could I say? So we divert to a farm in the middle of nowhere - and I leave the woman I'm travelling with in the ambulance reading a mag., and venture into the house with the crew. There is labouring woman, obviously pushing, head in dogbasket, kneeling on cold quarry tiles in the kitchen. I check: yes, this baby is most certainly on its way! We try and make woman slightly more comfortable (yoga mat to kneel on) and fetch warm towels. The ambulance crew have a very basic maternity delivery pack - no syntometrine. The baby arrives not 5 minutes later - a healthy boy! This lovely baby, no worse for the experience, is placed skin to skin on mum and draped in towels while we wait for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing. Mum is rhesus negative and the ambulance crew don't carry blood bottles (thinks to self, next time I bring ALL my gear regardless of wether woman is likely to deliver or not) - I take a syringe of blood from the cord and hope it'll do. Mother delivers placenta and membranes easily and we help her to sofa in front of roaring fire, looking much more comfortable and very very happy and the baby latched on to her breast and suckling well.

I write down times and history of this labour in notes as best I can (a woman can have her baby in 5 minutes but it still takes over an hour and a half to do all the paperwork) while the ambulance crew check mum's routine observations of BP and pulse etc - and then hang around long enough to hand over care to the midwife coming from the Unit (about 20 minutes later).

We all then carry on our way - and what the woman in the ambulance thought I don't know but I gave her a big hug. By the time I get a taxi back to the Maternity Unit in it's now 11pm and I'm starving and eager to get home. But NO - there are no more midwives available (everybody and the world is having their baby tonight) and a woman who has previously had quick births is contracting and wanting a home birth. Plan, I go out to review her and the Delivery Suite coordinator will ask another midwife to relieve me as soon as possible. What can I say? So off I goes (in the opposite direction to home) to see this woman. She is certainly in labour so I set up all my equipment just in case (no more surprises, thankyou!) and wait to be relieved. The Dad to be takes pity on me and gets me a cheese and pickle roll (mmm). I can see the mother is progressing well, and, after a couple of hours I phone unit and ask where my relief midwife is - she has been delayed. I tell them that this baby will have arrived in half an hour so they'd better get someone out to me quick! Sure enough, baby arrives - lovely normal birth of another boy, all is well. Relief midwife arrives just in time to see the placenta into the world. By the time we finish notes and I get home it is 4am. Sunday I recuperate.

I have Mondays off to do my art class - the midwife on our patch is called in to Unit to help as they are still incredibly busy and staff are going off sick (surprise). Midwife doesn't get home until 8pm and people who should have had visits are missed and the answerphone in the office is ignored. We spend rest of week catching up and I don't finish earlier than 7pm on any day. I have MUG tattooed across my forehead.

On Thursday I get a parking ticket. The job isn't always like this, otherwise I'd resign tomorrow. Thank goodness I'm off for a couple of days now. This is why I haven't updated my blog.

Sorry!

The 'Wierd' Meme

Does Meme=me me, all about me???


I haven't actually been tagged, but so many of my blogpals have done this one and then gone on to say consider yourself tagged if you have read this because they didn't want to tag directly therefore I will consider myself tagged. IYSWIM. Ye gods, that was articulate.

Sooooo, I was sort of tagged by Woolly Wormhead and Spinning Sue.

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

I am not at all wierd, and if there is anything wierd about me then I am so wierd that I cannot recognise it and am very reluctant to own up to it, but I'll do my best. First I will have a bath and cogitate on this conundrum.


1. I love bad weather. This is not very 'english' - we english like to complain about our weather - it's the great icebreaker, conversation starter and finisher. But I like to walk in blustery winds and like trying to fly when it's really gusty. I even (so long as I'm appropriately wellied) like walking in the rain. Rain also means more water in the rivers. This means more paddling. Rain is lovely beating on the window when I'm all cozy inside, snuggled up to dh, in front of a roaring fire. I love the snow - especially when it's fresh and has covered everything familiar in its disguise. I get excited when there's thunder and lightening and could watch a storm for hours.

a rainbow near Trenchfrod reservoir:

2. I suffer from 'trichotillimania'. I was amazed to find it had a name. When I was younger (from around 6yrs old and onward) I used to fidget and pull and tease my hair - and pull it out until I had a bald spot on my crown roughly the size of an old shilling. I think it was probably learned as a response to the stressful environment of a seriously dysfunctional family. But we don't want to go there. I still have a tiny bald spot where I used to pick, and the hair that has grown back is white and finer than the rest of my hair. And though I mostly don't twiddle with my hair any more (I knit instead!) I have been known to do so when I'm bored or stressed. I have had to work hard not to fiddle with my hair, in the same way as some folk find it difficult to not bite their nails. Now that IS wierd.

3. I grind my teeth and talk in my sleep. My mother and I have been known to have a conversation with each other whilst we were BOTH asleep. My mother swears I once spoke French in my sleep - but how she knows that when she can't even speak the language (and neither can I) is beyond explanation. I'm beginning to convince myself that I'm wierd.

4.I have a predilection for doom and gloom in fiction: I like horror stories and nasty stories, eg. Stephen King and Val McDermid. I think this could be considered wierd.

5. I don't like going to sleep in the dark. I've got better as I'm older, but I didn't used to like putting my feet down to the bottom of the bed in case the witch that lived down there would drag me under. I'm not even talking about the thing that lived UNDER the bed, let alone in the wardrobe. When I was a kid, I would insist on having the hall light on to go to sleep. Now I just snuggle up to dh. Yum. Yet I'll go for walks on my own in the dark and in places many friends wouldn't dream of going in the daylight. There's nowt so queer as folk.

6. I spend much of my working life sitting looking at other women's nether regions. I've often thought that was seriously wierd.

There, now I'm convinced I truly AM wierd.

Consider yourself tagged if you read this and haven't been, and leave a comment to say you have so can check to make sure there are other wierd folks out there too.
Sunset as seen from our bedroom window.

Tilly news.

This is a picture of Tilly and Sydney posing in my mother in law's kitchen. Tilly is an elderly labrador - she'll be ten at the end of February - and is getting increasingly grey around the muzzle and very arthritic. And here she is, in the foreground of a beach down in the South Hams (about 40mins drive away).

Before Christmas, she developed a small, unsightly growth on her head - it kept getting knocked so it would often bleed and look red and sore. It wasn't helped by dh mentioning Cronenberg movies and tendrils growing out (bleugh). So I took her to the vet's to make sure it wasn't anything sinister. "Nah, that's just a wart" he tells me, but he was bored (quiet surgery) so proceeds to talk me into getting her spayed: Don't you know that 30-40% of unspayed bitches get pyometria, which can be life threatening? And, if an unspayed bitch gets a mammary tumour, it's more likely to be carcinogenic? And I'd rather do an elective operation now than an emergency op. in the middle of the night in three years time. What could I say? I booked her in the following week.

I think the vet regretted talking me into it: she fought the anaesthetic, taking double the normal dose to put her under (that's my gal!) - and then her consciousness fluctuated hugely during the op. which was quite tricky to manage. Then she bled when a ligament tore (he blamed this on her being slightly overweight!) - the entire operation took an hour and a half, instead of the usual 40 minutes. At least he removed the offending wart.

When I went to pick her up that evening, a more stressed dog you cannot imagine. She was panting so much she was covered in drool. She had a pressure bandage on which was red elastoplast with white cotton wool sticking out around the edges, kind of like a Santa costume. She had shaved areas on both forelegs and her head where the wart had been. She looked very sad. Feed her a light diet tonight, was the instructions, and I was given three weeks worth of pain killers. The whole lot came to three hundred quid or thereabouts (swoon - just before christmas!).

By that evening, she wasn't drooling anymore, but she still seemed very uncomfortable and her respiratory rate remained high. I tried tempting her with breast of chicken. Syd looked very interested, but Tilly rolled her eyes and turned up her nose. So, I tried smelly cheese of the stilton variety: nope, not a chance. This was unheard of - a labrador refusing food! I was very concerned and gave her lots of cuddles and strokes.

By the next morning, she was fully recovered, and looking for the chicken breast. The pain killers really helped her arthritis too. I took her bandage off after three days - some thoughtless vet nurse had stuck the elastoplast over two of her nipples (ouch). Taking her stitches out was a bit more difficult because it tickled. I'm pleased to report she's now completely recovered and back to her normal self - with a just few more grey hairs, no doubt. At least the hair has grown back on her head. Because the pain killers helped her stiffness, the vet has given her a course of cartrophen - so she's moving around a little better too. Walks aren't quite so sloooow and sniffy.

LIFE DRAWING CLASSES started yesterday - I was late, as usual. The entire Exeter City Centre is being rebuilt, or so it seems, and all the carparks I usually use were closed. I tried following signs to another (all the time, getting further and further away from the Phoenix, my destination) and then the signs disappeared. Eventually I managed to park in Dix's field and then didn't have time to get change for the ticket - paid for an hour and trusted to the gods that I wouldn't get clamped.

The class had started half an hour before... loads of people.

The excercises that our teacher, Nicci Wonnacott, gave us were fascinating - amongst other things, we were given just a minute to make a quick charcoal sketch, we were given rapidly changing poses which we would overlap and we were told to look for an minute then draw what we remembered with our eyes closed. We were told to draw with the opposite hand to the one we normally used - that was wierd.

Here's an example of the 6x2 minute sketches I did:

I've got four more sessions - we'll see how I develop.

OH, and I didn't get clamped or get a ticket. Phew.

"My name is Tutleymutley and I am a knitaholic".

Lots to report: I've had a week off visiting relatives in Ireland and Horsham - exchanging belated chrimble pressies... BUT, before I went, we had the best ever Bovey 'Stitch 'n Bitch' Ktog. in the Terrace Cafe, Devon Guild of Craftsmen - EIGHT people came along - AND I had an apology sent. I've never had to sit on my own, but there's usually only 3 or 4 of us. What a great start to 2007! Makes me wonder what would happen if I actually ADVERTISED it seriously.

Mary (one of the most loyal members - we've been going since last March, and I think she's only missed one!) is also an Honiton Lace Maker - very crafty.

I took several knitting projects away with me and managed to finish all of them.

I have become a knitting bore. I am in danger of becoming a knitting obsessive - I knitted the majority of the Cashmerino Scarf whilst watching Casino Royale at the movies. I was aghast when my sister, Jane, refused to let me take my knitting to the restaurant last Wednesday evening :-( I even took my knitting on a stroll through the woods in Horsham - only stopping to negotiate a particularly treachorous stretch of mud, much to the amusement of the out-laws.

Then, horror of horrors, I managed to finish all the projects I had with me in Horsham and had none left do on the drive home to Devon! Withdrawal symptoms. Still, contemplating 'At Knit's End' helped me over the worst - One for Seth (DS) "A fool and his money are soon partying".

No doubt about it - Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee aka The Yarn Harlot is a genius.

Have finished the first socks of Terri's (the OTHER terri) sockamonth challenge - and I'm pretty impressed at how the stripes MATCHED - that's just so cool. I'll be posting them off to Jane (sis in Ireland) - she has big feet so she shouldn't expect any more for a while... Apparently, according to jacquie over at the Crafty Threads 'n Yarns Forum, St Sebastian of Spain watches over the woollen stocking makers and may well be watching over our challenge. Kind of spooky.

Here's what the french market bag looked like AFTER it was stuck in the washing machine. It is a bit smaller than I would have liked, but it's OK.

Here's the second Debbie Bliss Cashmerino astrakhan loopy scarf finished - and it's vastly improved by the half a ball extra yarn: slightly longer length. This one is for my friend Bev.

I've found a pattern in a Rowan book to use the Louisa Harding Kimono Angora yarn my secret Pal (8) Yvonne sent me - fingerless gloves a la Scrooge. The pattern has an error in it - so I'm hoping it won't get worse because I can't be bothered to frog it. I'd rather bodge than frog.

DISHCLOTHS!

I never would have thought I'd get into dishcloths - google 'knitted dishcloths' and just see how many patterns you come up with. Hundreds! nay, thousands!

"Lots of knitters knit washcloths, and lots of other knitters make fun of
them for it. Simple or fancy, these humble little squares of cotton appear by
the million in some knitters' homes, along with patterns for them by the
hundreds. Knitters who love them say they are the softest cloths you can get,
they can be made to match the bathroom perfectly and they are a gently
exfoliator... making you a younger looking knitter. These knitters claim they
love trying out different stitches on something small, and they get a kick out
of a cheap easy project."

Before I mock the simple art of washcloth knitting, I will consider
how good it would feel to finish 4 projects in a day. The Yarn Harlot.

That last point is spot on. I got into designer dishcloths mostly to participate in the dishcloth swop - and it was a good excuse to go down to Waterford while I was in Ireland, and visit a yarn store to feed my addiction. I bought a ball of cotton in icecream colours and Jane got my first attempt at designer dishcloths. The next one I knit was for my swop partner, and the last one was a round one which I gave my sisterinlaw in Horsham. Posh dishcloths! who'd have thunk. Quick, easy and everyone pleased with their hand knitted gift.

Finally - my first instalment from the Fyberspates sock club arrived - the softest, scrumdiddllyumptious loveliest sock yarn, and one of those dinky sock keyrings to knit for.

Back to work tomorrow - what a shame.

I've been:

Isn't that amazing????? Especially as I only managed ONE measly post a week last year. I can only attribute this surreal event to the fact that I came over all enthusiastic and made not one but THREE posts in one evening, and someone, somewhere noticed. Oh yes, and it was my BLOGIVERSARY yesterday: This blog is one year old. Awww. I feeeeel good, da di da di da dida.

Thankyou

BOB peepl. (Is that the same BOB as the one in Blackadder? - No? OH, ok - apparently it stands for Brilliant Oscillating Blog Award. Well OOOOOKay)
Now the sad thing is that I can't actually put this award in my sidebar where it belongs because I don't know how! I've been trying and Blogger just seems to ignore it -Help! (see how undeserving I am of any blog award?) - if some kind soul can drop me a line and tell me how to put a block of html code in the side bar I'll be eternally grateful. It was never a problem with the OLD blogger...

For now, well, gush, gush, I'd like to thank the following peepl, without whom the blog wouldn't have been possible: My ma and pa, who put me here, my dh, for not minding me spending hours on the computer (Housework?? wossat?) , and my dogs for just loving me. and Donald Sutherland for being Vernon L Pinkley in The Dirty Dozen. TA.

KNITTING!!!



Kathryn (a loyal and regular member of our Bovey 'stitch & bitch' ktog) (waves furiously whilst jumping up and down!) has mentioned the dearth of knitting on this blog of late. (Terri blushes furiously and looks at feet). OK here's an update:


First on the list - This is the 'French Market Bag' from my favourite knitty.com that I also purchased for my secret pal no. 8 Spinning Sue and everyone knows that the major pitfall of these secret pal thingies is that you just got to buy an extra one of everything you buy for your pal?! I took it on holiday with me and managed to make a good start in the two weeks I was in Thailand - and I didn't have that much time for knitting! I'm just about to join together the last handle before chucking it in the washing machine on hot hot hot.














And next we have the 2007 GREAT STASHBUSTER project: Kaffe Fasset's bed cover. This is going to take an age. From the last picture I think I've done one more block - only about 16 or so more to do! I'm having great fun mixing different yarns together from my stash to make a chunky... Trouble is, I haven't got that much variety in my stash. (Cross my heart - I haven't). So I may be forced to buy some more yarn just for this. To get more colours and variety - you understand!

Thirdly (there are several MORE WIPS hidden in various places but we won't mention THEM) - I sooooo liked the Debbie Bliss cashmerino loopy scarf pattern and yarn my secret pal spoiler Yvonne (coooeee, waves!) gave me that I have bought MORE yarn (cheap - from Ebay!) to make several more. The first scarf I made was just a tad short (or I've got a thick neck or summat) so I'm using about half a ball more on this one - so it's nearly done. It'll be for my friend Bev - a belated birthday present. It's picked up a bit of fluff from the bottom of my work bag where I've been toting it about. I must be more careful.

A very active (as in bicycling, riding, never sitting still) friend of mine wants to take up a more sedate pastime so she wants to try knitting. YAY! So she's coming along to the first S&B ktog of 2007 at the Terrace Cafe in Bovey Tracey Guild of Craftsmen on Sunday January 7th (this Sunday folks!). She fancied my scarf so I've got her the yarn...

And finally: the Crafty Threads and Yarns Sockamonth challenge begins this month. I just discovered this site today, and, lo and behold, there is ANOTHER TERRI! And not only that, but she knits, is an RGN and has two dogs JUST LIKE ME. I'm truly flabbergasted. My ghast is full of flabber. She does appear to be younger and better looking than me with two cool dogs (Tilly, Syd - you hear me??) - may be tis a good thing she lives at the OTHER end of the country! Back to socks - I'm cheating, probably, but I started this sock for my sister last year and it is just waiting to have it's cuff cast off. Oh, and waiting for a mate of course. My sister has looooooong feet (she's got skinny size 9s) so I know she'll love these.


I've also joined in Fyberspates Sock Club - though I didn't realise it only runs from January to March and thought it was a year long thing at first! Who am I kidding! It still looks FAB and I'm looking forward to the packages of yarn plopping through my mail box for the next three months. So the other Terri's sockamonth challenge was timely...

There you go, Kathryn! See you Sunday X

I've been doodling cartoons for the ARM mag. Dear Hubby didn't 'get' this.

Probably because it's not exactly funny - it's SAD!

Happy New Year!

My sister (in Oireland) passed on a greeting to me which I will now (out of the goodness of my heart) pass on to you lot out there in cyberland...

Every New Year, 2007 being no exception, the Fairy of Joy visits Earth and whoever she touches with her wand receives happiness...

May she beat the shit out of you - to be sure!

How rude. I'll climb back in my box now.

illustration by Edmund Dulac

Thinking BOOKS...

Just before the New Year closes - I'm back from Thailand (where I had a fab time what seems like years ago already, and took over 400 photos!) and promise to blog a bit more diligently in 2007. (Sounds suspiciously like a new year's resolution to me - I'd better stop that right away! Get a grip!).

One of my all time favourite authors:
Octavia E. Butler has published 10 science fiction novels over the last 20 years and has been nominated for numerous awards in the field, winning three of its highest honors: the Hugo, Nebula and James Tiptree awards. In 1995 she was awarded a MacArthur Grant -- part of the genius program to reward those who push the boundaries of their fields.
Novels & Series:
Patternmaster (1976)
Mind of My Mind (1977)
Kindred (1979)
Survivor (1978)
Wild Seed (1980) (Tiptree Award winner)
Clay's Ark (1984)
Xenogenesis Series:Dawn (1987)Adulthood Rites (1988)Imago (1989)
Parable of the Sower (1994)
Collections:
Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995)
Short Fiction:
"Speech Sounds" (1983) (Hugo Award winner)
"Bloodchild" (1984) (Hugo and Nebula award winner)

I've just finished 'Clay's Ark' - a short but thought provoking tale of alien invasion and a bleak look at the future of humanity. I find it's selling for over £18 on Amazon! And I'm offering it up for nothing on the next Bookswap here (That'll be the 'B' one)
Hmm - I've also read 'Kindred' and the xenogenesis series. Still leaves a few more.

Amazon has a place to make LISTS soooo,

Here's my 21 all time favourite unputdownable reads... (my age? - I wish!)


The World According to Garp (Black Swan) by John Irving

£6.39 Used & New from: £2.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
The first Irving novel I read - an epic of women, wrestling, humour, tragedy.



The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

£4.49 Used & New from: £1.14
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
Absolutely compelling - I learnt so much about the Belgian Congo, and Africa.



The Stand (The Complete and Uncut Edition) by Stephen King

£6.29 Used & New from: £2.39
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
I've been a Stephen King fan since I found Carrie in a second hand bookshop. This is probably his best: Apocalyptic, huge! King tells a thumping good yarn.



His Dark Materials Gift Set: "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", "The Amber Spyglass" : His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

£13.86 Used & New from: £13.71
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
Was recommended this by the teenager next door: fab, escapist and better than Harry Potter.



Kindred (Bluestreak) by Octavia E. Butler

£6.41 Used & New from: £3.91
Average Customer Rating: 5*
First Butler book I read: sadly she died this year, so there'll be no more from this brilliant author. Butler explores race and gender in this magic story.



Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

£6.39 Used & New from: £2.98
Average Customer Rating: 5*
I was trapped in hospital with nothing else to read or I probably wouldn't have finished this classic anti war tale: I was so glad I did - wow.



The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Used & New from: £20.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
As a hardened fantasy reader, I've got to include this! Just skip the tedious historical battle stories and stick to the nitty gritty.




The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

£10.40 Used & New from: £4.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
Another blockbuster and cult classic that I adore. These books had me laughing out loud at times. Totally surreal - the last book in the trilogy upsets all your assumptions. Masterpiece.



The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey

£5.99 Used & New from: £0.01
Average Customer Rating: 5*
Read this years ago, but it has stood the test of time. Romantic but good escapist stuff of the kind I eat up.



The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper

Used & New from: £30.00
Average Customer Rating: 5*
Another of my favourite authors: interesting questions posed in a great story.




The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

£6.39 Used & New from: £3.52
Average Customer Rating: 5*
Steinbeck is another excellent storyteller - this tale is the story of a family forced to evacuate the 'Dust Bowl' during the Great Depression in USA.



Fear Nothing by Dean R. Koontz

£6.39 Used & New from: £0.01
Average Customer Rating: 4*
Couldn't include King without putting in Koontz. This story features one of my favourite characters, Christopher Snow, and I love Koontz' humour.



Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore

£5.59 Used & New from: £0.60
Average Customer Rating: 4*
No 13 - how appropriate. I was introduced to Mr Moore by bookcrossing. He makes me laugh out LOUD. This was the first I read - but go read em all.



American Gods by Neil Gaiman

£7.99 Used & New from: £4.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
I sense themes emerging in my list. This book is a bit of horror, scifi, fantasy, and humour but, above all, a bloomin' good yarn.



Dune by Frank Herbert

£6.39 Used & New from: £0.01
Average Customer Rating: 5*
I wasn't that bothered by the sequels, but this first book is masterful. Herbert creates an entirely believable, fascinating new world called Arrakis.



Watership Down (Puffin Books) by Richard Adams

£5.59 Used & New from: £0.01
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
An epic tale of bunnies with all my favourite components.



Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

£6.39 Used & New from: £0.67
Average Customer Rating: 4*
This is the only book by Mieville I've read, but I'll be back, to be sure. Fantastic, wierd imaginings - brilliant writing, and British too!



The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid

£5.59 Used & New from: £0.01
Average Customer Rating: 4*
Hard to know which of McDermid's novels to choose - they're all great, but in the end I went for the Tony Hill (psychological profiler) + Carol Jordan (DI) no. 1. McDermid was my intro to this genre.



Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

£6.79 Used & New from: £5.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5*
Read this whilst traipsing around China. It is the story of three generations of women with the huge backdrop of China's tumultous history in the twentieth century.



Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart

£14.27 Used & New from: £12.19
Average Customer Rating: 5*
I read this a long time ago - and remember being entranced. I lived not far from Caerfyrddin (Merlin's hill) hence my interest. Stewart puts a new twist on the Arthurian legend..



Toxic Shock (A V. I. Warshawski Novel) by Sara Paretsky

Used & New from: £0.01
Which VI Warshawski novel to pick? could have been any of them! VI is my kind of hero - tough, sassy, James Bond kind of luck but my kind of politics.

Thailand 2006
Travel diary take one.
I'm BACK from a lovely warm Thailand to ol' grey, cold and rainy Blighty. I've had a FAB time and only took 400+ photos...

I was diligent with my diary (at least until the last couple of days) - So I'll transcribe it slowly.

Thursday 19th to Friday 20th October - and I'm sitting here in 'Big John's BackPacker's Hostel' in Thanon Sukamvhit - having followed the instructions to get here so precisely that I was only 7 Thai Baht down on the record set on taxi rates. I've just had the 'Big John's Speshul Fried Rice' which was cheap and filled the belly. I'm sat on the 'Mezzanine Terrace' - a mezzanine being a 'partial story between two main stories of a building' and accurate enough but sounding much grander than it actually was. I'm sat at a formica table and the surroundings are basic but absolutely fine for my needs, ta very much.

The journey here was relatively uneventful - starting with the first leg to Dubai where I threw my aeroplane dinner over my neighbour - not deliberately you understand, after all my neighbour was perfectly pleasant, indeed helpful, and the food was the usual unobjectionable plane fodder. I guess my hand just slipped.

I'm disappointed to report that the carefully purchased bamboo circ. needles were NOT allowed on the plane - although I WAS allowed to take my sharpened pencils. What's the difference I'd like to know? I could stab out the cabin crew's eyes with both equally well if I was so inclined. In flight entertainment has improved no end since last I flew. You now have an interactive screen on the back of the person's seat in front of you (that's on your lap, in economy!) . At the touch of a button I had a choice of 50 movies, games and I could even text home at a cost. I only manage to sleep 4 hours, and that with waking every 10 minutes or so to move a stiffened limb or neck. And even though it's really only 5 pm there it's 11 pm here in Bangkok and I'm overdosing on a couple of halves of cold lager because it's a hot and humid 33 degrees C.

I'd spent several hours wondering around the HUGE new international Suvarnabhumi Airport only recently opened.

The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej which means “The Golden Land”, specifically referring to the continental Indochina. (“Golden Peninsula”or “Golden Land” is a traditional name for the Thailand-Cambodia-Laos-Burma region). There are over 40 flights to Phuket a day, and I thought I'd have no problem getting a seat. WRONG - tomorrow is a National Holiday and all flights are full. Since I have to be in Phuket very early Sunday morning (and it's now Friday evening) - to get the connection for the seakayaking trip - I am forced to catch a bus - which is the equivalent to taking the slow boat to China when I've only got 16 days to play with.

I'm sharing a dorm with Seena from Finland - she's also travelling alone, but is staying in Thailand for three whole months. I'm jealous.

I sleep the sleep of the dead and fail to hear my alarm clock at 6 am Saturday morning. Fortunately Seena does and wakes me up. I want to catch the [strike]damned[/strike] bus early from Bangkok Southern Terminal as the trip can take 14 hours plus.

Saturday 21st October after very english breakfast of scambled egg on toast, apple juice, coffee, I manage to forget the large bottle of water I'd just purchased and get a second taxi. The roads are amazingly clear - today is that National Holiday and there is only a quarter of the normal traffic volume ( see that picture? The cars were moving - normally it's gridlock!). Really lovely taxi driver who insists on taking me to the right ticket office and making sure I get the right ticket for Phuket and then sitting me in the right place to catch the bus afterwards. I have to wait an hour and a half for the bus, soaking up the atmosphere of a typical engine fumed, dirty bus terminal. There are mangy, fleabitten dogs wondering around (I was to see many over the next two weeks) - including two fairly young puppies.Although the bus journey will be long and slow, I'm looking forward to checking out the scenery, knitting, sleeping maybe. Almost as soon as I'm on the bus, my neighbour goes to shut the curtains. The bus is full of Thai people (with two saffroned monks taking the best seats in the back), and all the travellers pull the blinds so they can keep out the hot sun and sleep. She's obliging when I ask her to open them about half way so I can watch this strange new world go by: it's all still so excitingly foreign! After several miles though, the view starts to pall. There are miles and miles of seemingly industrial type buildings on the side of the road. Thailand doesn't seem to have strict planning control. After a few hundred miles we shut the curtains and I try to sleep too. There are several stops for loos and food - chili, chopped hot green chili and rice rules OK.

WE started out at 0945hrs and we get to Phuket at - aaargh - 0230hrs. By the time I've agreed to be ferried (on a little scooter!) with rucksack to Talang Guesthouse and found it locked up - then find an ATM to get Paddleasia's cash - then agree to be ferried by another moped taxi person to an OPEN guesthouse - it's 03.30hrs going on 4 and I've got to get up at 0700hrs! As soon as I get into the perfectly comfortable hotel room at Imperial 2 Guesthouse, I pass out.