Day 26: the big shop

I know what you are thinking, she’s finally lost it, why is she taking pictures of her grocery shopping?  But stay with me, it’ll make sense eventually.

Yesterday a friend of mine I met in China wrote a post about World Food Day, a day to draw attention to hunger, poverty and malnutrition across the world. In her post Olivia talks about how the cultural differences between nations has a huge impact on how we value food and her experiences of the difference between China and the Western world.  She also posted a link to a brilliant photo essay, you should definitely go over and have a look!

It’s that photo essay which inspired my photo today… my weekly shop.

I think you can learn a lot about people from their weekly shop, I always have a good nosey in other shopping trolleys as I wonder around tesco.  The photo essay is a real insight into the culture of each country represented.  Quite an eye opener.

P.S. Olivia, is you read this, I know I still haven’t sent you the parcel I’ve been promising for about 9 months, but if you email me your new address I PROMISE I will do it!!  I’ve said this publicly now so I’ll have to do it.  Miss you.x

Project 1 :: Autumn Bobble Hat 1

Well here is my first finished project! (Technically not my first official project, I spent 4 MONTHS making my sister a scarf last year and now she keeps it screwed up in a ball under her bed, grrr…..)

It is being beautifully modelled by my translator Catherine, I gave it to her for all her hard work over the last 4 months. I’m really quite pleased with it, although it’s a little bit too small, but she seems to like it.

I didn’t really use a pattern for this, I had a little look at a few patterns just to see how the basic shape of a hat is constructed and watched some videos on YouTube to teach me how to knit in the round and then I just got stuck in! I do think the knit sticks I used were a little bit too small though. This has made it stick up like a pixie hat, which is quite cool, but it also seems to have left big gaps where I changed needles, not so cool. But I’m still happy with it for a first attempt at knitting in the round.

Autumn Bobble Hat Number 2 has also been completed, with a few changes made to make it a slightly better fit. But I can’t unveil that until it’s lucky recipient (my Mum) gets when I get back to the UK at the weekend! But trust me, it’s worth waiting for!!

I also thought I’d show you a picture of a few people I met at work this week. I’m quite lucky with my job that I get to travel to rural China and I met these guys outside the building I was staying in.I’ve had quite a crazy time while I’ve been here, but I’ve packed my bags and I’ll be starting the 34 hour (urghh..) journey home tomorrow!! I’m really looking forward to getting back and seeing my friends and family and having a CHEESE SANDWICH!! It’s funny the things you miss when you are away, most of the stuff I miss seems to be food related.

Catch you later!!x

Let’s Get Started!

Hello!

Welcome to my blog!  I’ve always been interested in craftiness but I’ve recently developed a passion for knitting and after discovering some fantastic blogs like Attic24, Emma Lamb and A Creative Mint, I’ve decided to have a go myself and share my creations!

I’m just coming to the end of a 4 month work placement in deepest darkest China.  I’ve been living in a city called Nanning, it’s a fairly big city, but relatively untouched by Western influence, meaning it’s a truly Chinese experience.

This is my local market where I do all my shopping…I was also lucky enough to be here for Chinese New Year and they put beautiful lanterns all over the city…

Sorry it’s a bit blurry, but you get the idea, they looked AMAZING!

But the best thing I’ve found in this city, apart from a pizza restaurant, is an amazing market that sells every possible crafting accessory you could ever hope for!  There are stalls of buttons and beads, ribbons and material, zips and the best ones WOOL!!!

The place is more like a social club than a market, there are people sitting around knitting everywhere, and some ladies bring in their work to get advice from the stall owners, it has a really good atmosphere.

This is where I bought most of my wool..

…and this is my stash!!!!  I have no idea how I’m going to fit it all in my suitcase…I just couldn’t stop myself!  Every time I went there I filled my backpack.  Now I just have to work my way through it all, and I’m planning to share all my creations on my blog, so come back soon and see how I’m getting on…

C.x