Purl me

I love to knit.  Knit and purl, and slip one over. 

In the big process of packing up our house for Kenya, Ian inadvertantly packed my knitting….just in the wrong place:  a huge box and NOT my suitcase.  I thought about digging it out until I saw the box it was in the bottom of.  Ian replied, “I’m sure you won’t be knitting in Africa.”  Famous last words.

I even have a sweet case for all of my needles that my awesome sewing sister-in-law made that looks kind of like this except in pink and black (at least I think it’s pink and black, it’s in the bottom of that box you know):

Every once in a while I get the need to knit, and then I knit like a fool for a while, and then leave it for a while or longer.  I have started many a sweater only to finish it after my child is too big for it, and thus I have to find another use for it:  like donating it to the Women of Vision silent auction.  I took a picture of the “Lucy sweater”  before I sent it off, because I thought it was an especially cute sweater & I was especially proud of learning the new technique to get the lacey edging look:

Isn't it cute?

I think I got the pattern for it from this book, but course the book is in that darn box, so now I’m not sure:

Needless to say, I thought it would be pretty easy to find some knitting needles here.  Not so.  I am sad.  I spent yesterday afternoon scouring the  Makongeni Market with Esther, my house help, but to no avail.  I could tell what the shopkeepers  were saying by their nonverbals and gestures in other directions. “Not here, no I haven’t seen them, try down that way.” 

I’ve googled about every different configuration of knitting and  Nairobi, and haven’t found anything yet.  I know that there must be women knitting here!  I see pictures of African women posted on the web spinning and dying wool for yarn.  And, they wear sweaters and knitted hats when it’s 80 degrees Fahrenheit out here for goodness sakes!  Our night guard (yes, they are different from the day guard people)  even has a sweet knitted ski mask that he wears, except that it looks like it was sized for a baby.  He’s not the only one I’ve seen wearing something like that.  I’ll ask him if it’s ok for me to take his picture some night.  It’s quite a sight:  him in his professional “security guard” uniform and then the baby ski mask thingy.

If I can’t find some needles soon, I might be having one of you back home making a run to the knitting store (if you craft, sew or knit–knitting shops are a visual paradise) to grab a couple pairs of needles and some cheap skeins of yarn.

I think I’ll be working on a pair of these to wear here in Kenya:

Or maybe these:

Or, I’ll just stick to this kind of thing (yes, I think this is cute):