FiberTribe

Double Secret Pal Love!

O Lucky Me! I arrived home last night to a lovely box from my SP 3. S/he is sooo thoughtful. S/he (ok, you can tell me which you are without blowing SP-dom, right?) took the time to send me prezzies to match my loves: ocean (an aromatherapy candle in "water" scent), chocolate (dark chocolate, how did you know it's my fave? with raspberries) , and travel writing (a covered Red (most favorite color travel journal) !! How cool is that? Thank you, thank you! So know I owe you TWO, count 'em, TWO pictures of Secret Pal Swag...All credit to the inventrix of this idea, may all her yarn be cashmere and silk! And 70% off...
But seriously, folks, is it just me or does it happen with you, too, that SP packages and cards seem to arrive on the days you really need it most? My day was ok but the boy was having a bad car day which is evidently waaay worse than a bad hair day. This relationship is too new for me to exactly know the best way to handle this particular male when he's feeling pissy...and I know you know what I mean. And for the lovely wimmen who love wimmen, you know it's the same deal. Pissy is no respecter of gender. Anyway. All was well by the end of the evening but the package sure did lighten up my mood. And so did the chocolate. Heh. Can you say endorphins???
So pictures tonight, no fooling. And to keep on spreading the warm fuzzies, please go see Rachael and soothe her fevered brow (new home buying anxiety). Rach, it really will work out, promise...

Happy, Lazy Monday

Lazy because it's a day off (for Columbus Day) and happy because DSL returned as inexplicably as it left. No thanks to BellSouth tech support, though. No pictures, though, because I'm writing this from the boy's place and haven't brought along the Bhutan Booty to photograph. Nor wonderful SP 2's lovely gifts. But most likely will begin those photos tomorrow.
Today was to be a beach day so of course it was overcast, spitting showers and dreary. Suited me anyway since I had just pounced on the latest Kate Shugak mystery out by Dana Stabenow. If you don't know this series, run don't walk to the nearest bookstore. Kate is a Native Alaskan American and is a private detective based in a huge national park I think stands in for the one in which Denali is located.
She is amazing and feisty and well-read and just all around wonderful. If you do pick these up, it is worth starting with the first one (check the copyright dates). I believe the series started about 12 or 13 years ago. The characters continue from one to the other of the books so it's worth going back to the beginning. I emerged into the non-sunlight, blinking at around 1 pm. Like the groundhog in
February, I decided to go back into my hidey hole for a nap. Very satisfying. I am well over the mother of all jet lag but since returning from Bhutan, I just sleep and sleep. I'm taking it as a good thing. Heh.
With what is left of the evening I may even pick back up on Carla with hopes of finishing a sleeve someday soon. Most everyone else in the Carla Along has finished so I feel like I should get on with it already. And there are so many beautiful sweaters calling to me from Jane Ellison's and Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Noro books. Have you seen the lovely colorway Wendy (see sidebar for the link) has started Eloise in (the Jane Ellison book)? And the beautiful Butterfly she has finished from the same book? Double yum. And I also do have the yarn for Lara from Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk book. Of course I have NO cold weather here. So I am going up to NYC for the November 13th weekend. I want to see Knit NY and Redlipstick Boutique and Yarnivore and Purl and maybe meet up with a few of you that I've gotten to know from Blogland. And maybe I'll even be able to wear a wool sweater. What a concept!

DSL Down

Sorry, actually BellSouth should be sorry, but my DSL is down since last night. No pictures since I'm stealing time at work to post. You've all heard about it but I just experienced calling DSL customer service and after several minutes hearing a faint Indian-accented voice on the line. Yup. BellSouth is outsourcing it's tech assistance to India. The poor woman couldn't hear me and I couldn't hear her and then when the connection improved I just had NO confidence she had a clue. She was so clearly reading from a script it was pathetic. And anyway, I suspect it's a local technical problem since I've already done all the ususally home troubleshooting.
To say I am furious is a vast understatement. Upon calling back I went into some sort of voicemail loop hell. Won't bore you further with these woes but WILL devote some time this morning to lodging complaints with the State Regulatory commission to whom Ma Bell must appeal for rate increases. Too many direct complaints and they don't get their money. Heh.
Anyway, back to usual posts when I get this resolved. In the queue: Actual Knitting Content. The Bhutan yarn purchase, the Bhutan scarf (started on Rowan 4 Ply), the Amazing Textiles Purchased, and swag that had arrived in my absence from Secret Pal 2. Yummy stuff, all of it. Stay tuned...

Elderly Gent + The Conch Shell National Museum

This is an elderly gent we chanced to meet on the side of the road on our way to the local Paro temple visible behind him. We saw monks chanting away across the valley by the temple and our guide said the Rinpoche Kyentse, the top, top Rinpoche (religious leader) was at the temple giving a ceremony. But he said he thought the royal family was there and doubted if we'd be allowed in. Sure enough, that proved to be so but it was worth a try. Oh. And that Rinpoche? He also goes by the name Kyentse Norbu, the director of the independent films The Cup, about a group of soccer-crazed monks, and Magicians and Thieves, another movie set in Bhutan. So Kyentse is both a highly respected lama AND a respected film director. Those kinds of juxtapositions pop up all over Bhutanese culture. Gotta love it. It would be the equivalent of the Pope directing films. Really good films. There's a great book by the Australian wife of one of the co-producers and a noted writer and former magazine editor in her own right, Bunty Avieson, called Baby in a Backpack to Bhutan. It's about a year she and her infant daughter spent living with a Bhutanese family in the capital city of Thimpu while, as she puts it, her husband disappeared up a yak trail to film a movie. The book is hard to get but I hear some bookshops in London have it. Otherwise it's mail order from Oz. See Bunty's eponymous website for a link to an OZ online bookseller.
And here's the National Museum of Bhutan, in a building that was the Wa or lookout tower for the Paro Dzong which it overlooks. Look carefully, it's built in the shape of a conch shell. And then there is the view of Paro Dzong itself and finally the view up the road from the museum. So peaceful.

Everest My Heart

Did I mention that as the plane rose through the clouds on the way from Paro to Kathmandu what should magically appear??? Yup. That is indeed Mt. Everest. I never in my life thought I see it with my own eyes. Ok, it's a photo from a plane window but peeps, that mountain was higher than we were in the plane. Heh. It is so huge and unbelievable and beautiful. I understood in a moment why people struggle to climb it. I really did gasp when I looked out the window. And I was on the right side of the aircraft (literally) by accident and at the last moment. How cool is that? So that's my (adopted) sky for all to see.

Thangka or The Mother of All Quilts

A Thangka is a religious tapestry, really a patchwork, applique and embroidered quilt of whatever size. In the photos below the Thangka is approx. 4 stories tall and almost as wide. It is unrolled several hours before dawn and then is rolled back up a few hours later. This is done only one day a year at the Tsechu or festival time. Our guide said that a new one was made a few years ago for another Tsechu and it took 30 women working every day about 9 months to make. Some of the photos were taken in the dark before dawn and before the festival goers began lining up to pass the thangka for blessings. In one photo you'll see the elaborate altar with butter lamps set up before the Thangka. The last photo was taken about dawn with the dancers in front. I can't recount all the story that the thangka tells but all the tsechus are in honor of and tell the story of the Rinpoche that flew to Bhutan on the back of a tiger from Tibet to meditate then tell the people of Buddhism.

Thimpu + The Road to Paro

If you can stand yet more Bhutan, here is a little charmer standing at the top of the stairs leading to the Mangala Paper Factory. Lovely handmade paper made from pineapple leaves of all things. Behind him is Thimpu, the capital city, spread out across the Thimpu valley. The day was overcast but you can get a sense of the city from the vista.

Here is the traffic 'signal' at the main intersection in downtown Thimpu. They put in a traffic light 2 years ago, but the outcry was so great that they returned the traffic signaler to his post. Thimpu is scruffy and almost totally under construction. The only uncomfortable element of the trip was the everywhere lurking imported Bangladeshi and Indian construction workers and some of their kids aggressively begging. It is just NOT done in Bhutanese culture to beg so it was plain what was going on. At night in Thimpu (a small town of no more than 50,000) the clusters of workers hanging about made it uncomfortable to be walking around. My radar was going off. VERY atypical of Bhutan as a whole. And nothing did happen.

And here is the alledged skull of a Yeti shown to us by the wonderful woman proprietor of Druk Handicrafts found on the first floor of the Wangchuk Hotel, just off the central downtown square. I only wish I had found her store earlier. She is a social worker by profession and did much work with rural women around preserving their weaving as a cottage industry. She has probably the best collection in the country of antique Bhutanese textiles. She was kind enough to show them to us, along with her beautiful collection of silver boxes and other objects, in the mini-museum she maintains in the top floor of the same building. It is only opened at her pleasure, not really a museum. Though she has donated most of the collection of the Bhutan National Textile Museum, also located in Thimpu. If you go to Bhutan, definitely go chat her up.

And llastly, for today, I leave you with the road and the sky on the road from Thimpu to Paro. And there is only one road over the mountains...I found it oddly reminiscent of Colorado. See what you think.

Wangdi Dzong

This is the approach to the Wangdi Dzong. Here's a shot of the interior courtyard just up from the Bodhi tree that is within it.

And here are some little hams and sweetie pies. The kids AND the adults just love digital cameras and love to see their images immediately displayed. Radiant smiles all around. But don't think they're not sophisticated. Cell phones just arrived in the capital and few surrounding towns just a month ago and you see them everywhere. It's funny to see a man in a traditional gho walking down the street and then his front pouch starts ringing and he pulls out a cell phone. Woot! This culture is doing an amazing job of retaining their core culture while cautiously bringing in 21st century technology.

Grandmother & Grandson

For some reason, typepad wouldn't include this in the last entry. More later...

LYS - Wangdi-Style

So you've got a knitting jones on and you need to stock up. Where ya gonna go when you're in downtown Wagndi Town? Why here of course! Check out the following wall of color and delight! The yarns to the left are brilliant silks and cottons really more thread than yarn and destined for weaving. To the right are the knitting yarns. One buys by the gram. About 11 scanty skeins weighed about 500 grams and cost US$4.28. Woot! I call this Bhutan yarn but in reality the proprietress says they all are imported from India. So? It worked damn well for me. Note that the grandmother is wearing a kira, with a silk blouse underneath and silver and gold jewelry clasps at each shoulder that hold up the kira. this, along with a short over jacket which she is not wearing also of silk, is the national dress for women. The grandson has on a gho, the men's dress. And they are not dressing up for tourists, people really do wear this.

As I said in an earlier post, the entire family got into the act, wife and husband then the daughter and her friends. The first shot is of the grandmother and grandson. Pictures of the yarn next time, I promise! Then you must help me decide what to make of it...