Travel home

I was met at the airport by another Christmas tree. This one looked very African to me.

I also was able to get some nice photos of South Africa from the air.

I connected through Dubai and I probably should have taken some Dubai at night photos from the air but I was sleepy. To stay awake during the 3 hour layover, I walked the entire length of the airport twice and then I sat down and spun a little on my Kuchulu. I had started a new cop in the hotel after finishing up the sample on the Aegean. This is the same Briar Rose Cormo I am spinning on the Hansen. That is the other single.

I had seat 55A on the way from Dubai home and thought I'd be right in the back of the plane. WRONG! I was on a A-380 double decker plane and 55A was right in the front of the lower level. This thing holds 500-odd people! It has a lovely tail camera in addition to the usual front and bottom cameras.

There it is, at Shanghai airport. There were 3 jet bridges that came out to meet it. One for the upper level, one for first/business class and one for the lower level.

Or maybe the entire upper level was first/business class. I am surprised the large plane can fly!

Back home I pulled the Kuchulu out again. It is such a pleasure to spin on a fast little spindle.

There she is, on my ipod touch to show her size. I adore her. She travels with me a lot though I don't always spin on her.

And that is all f-f-f-folks! It is good to be back home!

Early Christmas and other tales

It is already time for Christmas in South Africa. My hotel lobby has this lovely tree with sheepies and a gingerbread house.

I also ran into Christmas at the Nelson Mandela Square.

There is a giant statue of Nelson Mandela there - surprise! I am just kidding. It is a lovely square with restaurants all around and places to sit and people-watch. My only regret was not bringing some spinning or knitting with me.

Speaking of spinning, I pulled out my new Jenkins Aegean and spun up the sample fiber that came with it. I spun a single and then chain plied it on the Aegean but not via the ply-on-the-fly technique. I did it in two separate steps. I like this better but I still don't like plying on the spindle. It took 2 evenings to spin the single and 1 to ply. It is a sweet spindle.
Partial spun single:

Completed single:

Plied yarn:

I chain plied it because the color changes are quite dramatic in such a small amount of yarn. It goes from the green to the purple.


I brought more knitting and spinning and may do some more tomorrow. I want to cast on for some mittens and then I think I will spin on the trindle trying to complete my TdF project. There is a long way to go but if I don't do a bit every now and then, I won't ever finish it.

I've also learned something about myself. I am happy to spend the evening in my pajamas, holed up in my room with my spinning or knitting, eating a light room service meal. It is relaxing and I enjoy it more than going out to dinner and sitting around endlessly waiting for food to be delivered and people to finish eating.  In my younger days, this would have been just the opposite. I guess I'm turning into a grumpy old woman.