Hamilton

I'm staying with Margaret and Keith in Hamilton, in their house overlooking the Lake. Have been knitting a scarf out of some cream wool that appeared in my stash. Lovely activity for sitting by the fire in the evenings with old friends.

I bought some Tahki Rio, a merino/alpaca/silk mix, from Creative Outlet in Tauranga. The shop is always inspiring, with the yarns arranged by tone and colour, each box holding a wide variety of different types and plys. Gayle who owns the shop hand dyes yarns. She makes sure that there are examples of made-up garments in a good range of the products she stocks, so you can see how they are going to knit up. I say say 'see', but it is all in the touch - it is the feel that is more important for me.

I'm hoping the Rio will work for the sleeves of the jacket I'm making with the Rowan.

The scarf project is an accident. I set out to test a pattern from a library book, but I only have one set of needles with me in the house-on-wheels. So now I want to finish the piece so I can get back to the jacket.. .