Qatif Market

First things first... internet ! Nothing again for 2 days almost... Driving me mad !
More visits to Saad dentist... will it ever get any better I ask myself after nearly 6 months of pain ! Finished one sock ... need to do the other one.

Ok, we arranged to go to Qatif market on Thursday (26th) and of course because we'd arranged to go somewhere, it poored with rain ! Still didn't put us off so off we went, kids in tow and rumbling toothache.

The history bit:
"The history of Qatif as a village goes back to 3500 BC during the late Bronze Age. Centered in one of the largest oases in the world and just a short distance from the Arabian Gulf, the area was well known as a trading center. Caravans were frequent visitors as were Portuguese trade ships, and local Bedouins must have traded their camels and goats; dates, bananas and lemons as well as handcrafted objects for things like spices, fabrics and tools."
Source: 'Sand Gets in my Eyes' Blogger

Once we managed to park we flip flop splashed around ending up with filthy feet and hem of abaya (which I couldn't wait to chuck off for a good old cleaning). We found at our first stop, all kinds of birds including parrots, pigeons, canaries, budgies, sparrows, hawks, oh every kind of bird you could imagine or not as the case may seem. Forgot the roosters, hens, ducks, geese and peacocks.
Next stop, puppies ! Didn't take any pics of this one as just too sad, even we couldn't fool the kids into believing that they were just being played with to show how adorable they were for us to buy ! Fortunately further on there were some beautiful puppies that were obviously well cared for (as well cared for as you get for market trading)so they were a little happier then.
Kittens ... well we did take this one pic but its so sad that we couldn't take it with us. I don't think Scamp would have appreciated it much and would probably had him for tea, thus ending our well intentioned rescue plan.
Then we chanced across some baby lady peacocks... almost kicked a bag at the side which was, when hubby pointed out to me, bagged up male peacocks. Wanted them too but was assured that someone would probably shoot them if we took them back to the compound once they started calling in the early hours ... before prayer time even.Then a strange sight greeted (well presented itself shall I say) of some brightly coloured fluffy balls. I thought they were pom poms until they flapped and chirped. They were of course, baby chicks dyed an eye catching colour to show just how yours could look too if you fancied them. We declined much to the kids protests.

Ok, so done the market bit... probably won't do it again but its just one of those things you seem to have to do in a country that has totally different beliefs and concerns from your own. And this is how one blogger 'Sand Gets in my Eyes' puts it:
"No one really knows when the tradition of the weekly market started. Definitely hundreds of years ago. Possibly thousands. But it is a tradition no expat should miss."

Of course there are the women's stalls where you can buy linnen baskets (which we did for 60sr (I think we paid over the odds) but there you go, sometimes haggling doesn't work. Hubby said on the way back, 'I always said we needed a basket for our laundry... lucky there were lots to choose from'. Anyway you've got to buy something havn't you to show for your little excursions out and about here, and at least it wasn't a peacock !We don't seem to have seen as much as others do as we got there pretty late, around 8.30am, and because of the rain some stalls had packed up and gone. I was particulary looking forward to the antiques stalls and jewellery but had to make do with just one stall that was left... Managed to come away empty handed at this one, luckily.

Probably luckily for us we missed the camels, goats and sheep too, but I'm sure we'll get to see plenty of those when we go to Riyadh next week.

Things I Miss & Don't Miss About the UK

Been here 6 months now so just weighing up the pro's and con's

THINGS I MISS ABOUT THE UK:

My friends

Curry Night Out

Fish & Chips

Being able to go out when & wherever I want to

Having the odd tipple (even if only once a year)

Being able to talk to a man other than my husband or whoever I have written permission to be with !

Being able to wear what I want, wherever and when I want - even RED if it suited me

Being able to ride my bike anywhere

Cornish Icecream

Fish Fingers

BREAD !



THINGS I CERTAINLY DO NOT MISS ABOUT THE UK:

The drunks walking down the street at all hours of the night and morning, usually stopping outside the bedroom window and having a fight or trying to break into a house or cars crashing into the pavement !

DOG POO all over the pavements

Rude Shop Assistants


THINGS I WILL MISS WHEN LEAVE SAUDI :

Saudi hospitality & friendliness

Sunshine

Polite and courteous shop assistants

Arabic Bread & Humous & Foul

Swarma's



THINGS I WILL NOT MISS ABOUT SAUDI :

Internet !!!! Intermittent... to none !

Expensive ice cream (£8-£10 a pot)

Male shop assistants ... everywhere (cosmetics, lingerie, oh no women shop assistants allowed

Having to wait outside while men go inside for a cuppa and a bite to eat unless its got a family section usually situated right at the back and in a dull, minging room allocated for the women and kids

Cockroaches & huge huge ants !

Public toilets

Unrelenting Heat of the Summer

Just found this designer... My Little City Girl

WEBSITE: http://mylittlecitygirl.com/
'About Me' page on ebay: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=my_little_citygirl

I just love this one and have got to make it ... doesn't look like there's a current pattern available but hopefully it will do before I try to make my own version up which will not be the same. I've done this before with one of my pineapple halters, I was very pleased with it but it wasn't quite what I had envisaged making so I'd just love to cut out the hard work and buy this pattern.

Now I'm definitely inspired again to start those halter tops for my dear daughter.

The blog is full of interesting articles and also has some fun free patterns available for downloading.
This one's a must for next years winter in Saudi (well its probably only needed for a week or so but it'll be a wonderful accessory made in a thread crochet cotton.

Trips Out ... Jubail

Not much knitting done again but on Sunday we went to one of hubby's work colleagues tent in Jubail. It had originally been arranged for the weekend (Friday) when the family would have been there too but it had to be rescheduled and only hubby's work friend was able to come.
However, his wife still cooked and prepared 'all' the food which was amazing. The hospitality is sencond to none and you really are treated well when you're invited to go along and it really is a privilege to go to one of these invitations.

There were 2 women (me and another wife) and 2 girl children... we would normally have had to go into the 'family' tent away from the men but we were allowed to stay with the men on this occassion as we'd have been all alone in the tent.
Some pics of our trip up to Jubail which doesn't give any idea of how weird driving is out here. We even ran into some young saudi men drag racing along the road. Initially I thought they'd lost control of the car by accident until it was pointed out to be that its a game, an adrelalin (oh spealling again ? er spelling even) rush.
On arrival was found we had gone to the wrong place and you might laugh but a desert camp site is pretty much like any other desert camp site and it took around 10 mins to realise we were in the wrong place. Long cut short we eventually got to where we were meant to be and were greeted with the arabian cardamon coffee, and then the food, and then more drinks, this time very sweet arabic tea.
The tents are so luxurious and we want one to go camping in The New Forest.. maybe not though as it rains too much and it would get very wet. But the work that goes into the material is astonashing and a real luxury after only camping in a canvas tent and mainly in terential rain at that in the UK.
It was beautifully peaceful with a slight breeze and with the double glazed window (!) open and the double glazed door, a very tranquil time. Double glazed ... amazing as there are no walls to speak of, only a cement brick work of about 2 foot and then some steel poles to hold the material in place oh and then the windows and door. Needlenss to say it doesn't keep the noise out... but then there's not too much noise going on out here in the desert.

We were shown the outside oven which was a huge hole dug into the ground and a lid to cover it when the charcoal has been lit to keep the heat in. Our host went on to tell us that when he stayed in the UK a few years back he decided to make one of these out door ovens in his garden. Once completed the family sat down to having a family bbq when the fire brigade turned up and he got a bit of a telling off as its just not done in the UK without planning and safety checking... and to say that he'd almost gone thru some gas pipework and was dangerously close to some. Not something the neighbours would have been too pleased about I'm guessing !
The kids had fun too...how big a sand castle can you build ? Ok it looks more like, 'be quiet, it'll come back out the hole in a minute and I'll get it this time'... I would like to add that no animals or insects were harmed on this trip ! PS: Just thought I'd better add to this pic as a friend believes the pink thing is a dead animal.. its a pinkish paper bag ! Promise ! My son would be squawking like a girl if it was a dead animal lol!

Heather, very pleased with her plate... eyes bigger than belly maybe !
On the way back I tried to take some sunset pics but its very difficult from a moving car which is where most of the pictures are taken from.

Dentist Rap ... er Rant ....

Had my consultant appointment at Saad Dentist this morning and came away feeling really miserable... problems again with mis-understanding procedures ...on both sides ... again !

Sooo, to cheer myself up went and had 2 swarmas (chicken, chilli..the whole works) and a freshly squeazed orange juice all for 15 riyals (approx £3)... Oh and some cd's for my new iPod Touch ! The cd's were 3 for 25 riyals (£5erish), but you have to put up with the pics being blanked out with censorship black permanent marker pen. I bought, Madonna, & 2 Britney Spears (sorry but I'm having a mid life crisis.. who said only men have them, but at least mines only for younger 'songs' not the younger woman !) Anyway the pics are heavily censored so you only see the head and any covered body part which isn't a lot on the Madonna 'Hot Candy'.

Oh and did a little bit of knitting my sock at Saad reception area, where I also got a complimentary arabic coffee. Whilst knitting the woman next to me leant over and showed me her little crochet'd mobile phone pouch. We couldn't understand each other but both had an interest in knitting or crochet. Very limited conversation but what a barrier broken with just a bit of wool and wooden sticks ! In fact she even lifted her veil very briefly to smile when I said her crochet was very pretty.

Roll on arabic lessons... maybe I'll even be able to say the odd sentence someday !

Happy Mother's Day

Well it came early for me (yesterday - Friday) as Friday is the new Sunday as it goes out here ! So I got mine early... yipppeeeee... and I got (cold, very milky tea) in bed, a personalised card and .... a iPod Touch ! WOW I'm thrilled.. spent most of the time playing with it and adding itunes and cd's and blogs.. in fact had a terrific headache last night cos of it. No knitting or anything else.. well except an hour at the pool and then an hour's walk along the corniche just before sunset.
We would have gone earlier but William had a football match in the morning and then it just got toooo hot, around 90oc and wearing an abaya was more than I could bear...and its only the start of summer ! The 'locals' well ex-pats who've been here a while promise me that I'll acclimatize but I'm not too sure about that as I never managed to do that in the UK over the last 20 years... or so... !

Found some of the corniche strays hiding amongst the rocks and couldn't help but take a pic of this one with unusual eyes, one blue and one amber. Not sure how unusual it is but I've only seen it once before.
The cats thrive on the corniche as there are always fish from the sea or those that the fishermen throw to them.

Last night was full of people fishing, even women in their abaya's, trying to stop them from getting wet, and as a well dressed abaya'd women knows, an abaya should trail on the ground to make sure ankles and feet are well covered, and by the waterfront its a bit difficult to hold a fishing rod and your abaya, up just a little to stop it from getting wet. The men's thobes are a little easier as they are shorter, but a lot of the men were in 'shorts'... I mean, come on, its summer !

Picnics are also a big thing for the weekends so we'll definitely be doing that sometime soon.Well that was my 'Mother's Day' and it was lovely and without these 3 very important people it would not have been possible.

Scamp the Stray ... nay Pampered Puss

When we moved to Saudi Arabia at the end of last September (2008) we were certainly 'shell shocked' to say the least to be in a very very strange country with totally alien life styles and religious orientation ie., being woken up every morning by the call to prayer at 4am, to begin with and the last one at 7pm (6 in all). I couldn't sleep cos I knew I'd be woken up at 4am and then unable to get back to sleep as I'd have to get up at 6am to get the kids ready for school start at 7am. Then finding the weekend is a Thursday & Friday (our Sat & Sun) so I didn't know which day of the week it was and still have trouble remembering...I'm not the only one, most people still have trouble with that one.

Then there was the heat... apparently we arrived in winter time !!! But it turned out the be a wonderful winter cos it cooled down pretty fast within a couple of weeks and it was lovely....It's heating up rather a lot again and finding walking about town in an abaya rather tiringly hot. I never really was one for malls but they are air conditioned so I'll start to do my shopping around in them fairly soon just for a change of scenery from the compound.

Then there's the matawa... actually I've not seen one but lots of the girls say they have been told to cover their hair and has a few incidents... lucky me so far, but I'm sure I'll have my day sometime especially during Ramadam when things become very religiously strict for all women including us ex-pats to adhere to the country's rules. There will be no drinking or eating in public during the daylight hours, which doesn't really affect us unless we want to go out in the searing heat of the day which I'm not likely to do but it would pose a problem in the malls as I did tend to drink bottles of water during the start of winter so can't imagine going without during the heat of summer !

Then there's the lonliness of not having a pet.. have always had a cat or something and was despirate to get a cat. I had been told that I'd have no problem getting one of the strays on the compound and there I was tempting everyone I saw then had the compounds strays all despirate for food and a home. Scamp was the winner, he just barged past all the 'scaredy cats' who were taking too long to get over their shyness and walk right on in. That was it, he was ours ! The best trained cat ever ! No weeing or pooping anywhere, no need for a litter tray, and fabulous with the kids. We all love him very much. So much so that I've now got to try to get a job out here so that we can afford to take him back to the UK at the end of our stay here.We still love Silver back in the UK, but he's never been much of a social cat and never really learned the art of getting it all in the tray or if he saw a plastic bag or even a pair of shoes he couldn't resist a little (or even a lot) of weeing ! Hubby has even worn a pair of shoes to work thinking he could smell cats all day and then he took them off and 'just knew' Silver had left him a present at some stage in them ! Still he's old now and the in-laws are looking after him and getting used to his peculiar ways, and even they love him so he must have something going for him although I'm finding that difficult at the moment after finding the 'perfect stray cat'.
As you can see Scamp has decided that he much prefers the life of a pampered cat to a compound stray but he has suffered for his preference. He was solid muscle when he first came to us, now he's just a 'saggy old' oh that's 'bag puss' isn't it... well he's getting there.

Silver wants the last word !

Just Subscribed/Joined .... 'Knitting'... Ravelry...Garnstudio

Just subscribed to 'Knitting' magazine but botched up the delivery address but hopefully will be able to sort it out when I buy my 'green card' for the internet phone and can telephone them to put it right... far too keen to get everything done in one go now the internet is up again.

Also just joined the Garnstudio forum on Ravelry.com ... brilliant ! Ravelry was definitely worth the wait… I only waited 3 days but it did go up to about 7 days and then back down to 2, so I guess it depends on ‘the hype’ at the time. I’d still have waited 7 days though knowing that its worth it.

There are so many projects to get you motivated and you can also find knitter/crocheters in areas near to yourself. I’m finding it a blessing as I’m not in the UK anymore and have managed to find knitters (not quite in the same area) pretty nearby’ish.

I also find it pretty interesting to find how others got on with particular projects and sometimes they add their own slant on things or even give advice if errors have been found or just slightly improved on a particular area that you also find more appealling or suitable.

My advice is get on there, you’ll love it

Right, kids been at a party, hubby been on a quiz night and meat raffle duty, me supposed to be recovering from lots of dental work so I suppose I'd better get of this 'pooter' before they all come home !

Garnstudio ... Got to Make

Not been doing much knitting as been trawling the net seeing as we've had it up and running since last night... oh the excitement... oh how sad is life nowadays that we don't feel happy unless we have the internet... anyway I digress...

I love Garnstudio for their patterns and yarns. I've only bought once before from Ally Pally when I last went but am going to get me some of that Fabel for this divine jacket and also to make another pair of socks !
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=111&d_id=1&lang=en

Bags & Izzy's Knit & Natter Group

Have been going through some of my old stuff to get some ideas of some projects to make that aren't too big and found some of my old bags which I knitted about 2 years ago at the 'knit & natter' group I started with a friend. Irene one of the ladies with a wealth of knowledge was the pattern designer and she designed this very simple bag for the group to knit for the school's craft fayre. We made bags, scarves, socks, dolls clothes .. oodles of stuff. I really miss the group and will visit on my next quick trip back to the UK to see them all and what they've been up to. Even to get the update on Ally Pally which I'm sooo envious about not being about to get to.

Penny the 'lollipop lady' became the master bag knitter and churned out the most beautiful bags and scarves. She is a perfectionist and even though no one else would see a mistake she'd unravel and wouldn't be happy until she got 110%... oh how we all ribbed her ! hehehe 'ribbed' !

Ok here's the very basic instructions Irene gave for the bags but you might need to do a bit of your own thing to it as we did in the group to make it your own. Penny's were made with doubled up yarn (using 3 strands) and I used 2 strands through out and just a dk for the top edge. I'll try to find a pic of Penny's later.

Basically its just cast on 26, knit 11 rows, inc 1 st at each end on next and following 3rd row.
Knit a further 30 rows then dec 1 st at each end on next and following 3rd row.
Then knit 11 more rows straight.
Cast off.
Sew up then do a round of sc/dc around the top and a further 5 rows of sc/dc.
Line the bag with a colourful lining and stick a pin or button on as a fastener. For the handles just ch 3 and sc/dc as many rows as you want, then sew into place. That's the basic pattern but make any changes you want to get your own look.

If you live in the Portsmouth area the girls would love to see you. I'm not sure how much it is now (approx £2.50) but you get drinks, biscuits (usually Penguins) and use of the pattern library and the expertise of the ladies in the group. They meet on a Friday afternoon (school term time only) and are called 'Isambard Brunel Knit & Natter' in the North End area. Just email me for more details.
POSTSCRIPT:

Just found this little bag on Garnstudio which looks pretty interesting.

Dentist... Internet ... Dentist ... Internet

Well we had the internet engineer out again last night and that seems to have solved the problem again (for how long we can't be sure cos it only seems to last a short while and then goes down again) so making the most of it for a bit and trying to catch up on emails and blogging and Ravelry !

Been to the dentist at Saad hospital ... again ... this morning. I have spent so much at the dentist since coming out here 6 months ago and hoping to be pain free very very soon. Why is it that teeth cause such big problems when you have a big change in circumstances. I've 2 root canals, and got 5 other fillings to get done. Not complaining about Saad though cos its a beautuful hospital and I think I have one of the best dentists.. he's just wonderful ! I used to be a phobic at the dentist and had been been for years, but 6 months here and I don't mind at all. The only snag is that its pretty expensive... no nhs !

Its warming up ... and I have fingerless mittens !

Ok, its certainly warming up here in Saudi but I still have the urge to knit socks AND now fingerless mittens and sat by the pool yesterday finishing these beautiful soft alpaca mittens. I then (after my swimming exercises) ran onto the craft group which runs on a Tuesday, to show the girls...now they've all been pretty unimpressed with the progress of the sock knitting until they are finished and now were suitably impressed with the mittens. I think we finally have a group becoming interested in knitting something. Dishcloths were another interest shown which I can quite happily deal with as I use to make my own back in the UK and also made a couple out here too but there's more interesting things to make. Maybe in a few weeks (months more like) I'll be posting pics of the groups projects, maybe I'll do that anyway cos they're all making something, from quilting, painting, oh all sorts of things so I will definitely be taking my camera along next week.

Am at a bit of a sticking point right now as not sure what to make next as there are so many projects I want to get started on.. the only problem being obtaining the yarns I want. So going to have to sit down and make a list and buy on line and wait for 2-3 weeks for the delivery. I had started making a top for myself (also at the pool) yesterday but ripped it out in the end when I realised I was never going to fit into it ! One Size ... yeah alright ... but its not my size. Need to get some ideas on what to make with 2 balls of (50gx2) Omaghi Filati Capri ribbon yarn. Any ideas ?

Ok... stuff for what to make... then its another pair of socks !

Pattern and yarn from Alpaca Select, Fabiola Mittens.

Yippeeeee Simply Knitting Arrived !

Finally my long awaited stash has arrived with this month's 'Simply Knitting' and 'Knitting' mags with the fab freebies. Not getting alot of knitting done again as just been flipping thru the pages to see what I can get on with as soon as I've finished my current list of 'just got to makes'.

Had a great day by the pool reading them.. can't wait for the next issue of Simply Knitting but it looks like its a definite 2 weeks wait for the post to arrive. Might have to subscribe to Knitting as well ! Just can't go without a knitting fix once a month. Snail mail is worth waiting for in these instances !

Scamp's Favourite...

... another basic rib by Kate Atherley from her Wise Hilda Knits blog.



Have finally finished this pair of basic rib socks but this time I didn't follow the rib pattern all the way thru and stopped at the cuff. I also made them on a larger needle as I am a very tight knitter and found that they were a better fit for me.

I am wearing the socks non-stop to see how they wear... made from 100G OF KING COLE ZIG ZAG SOCK YARN IN RHAPSODY

Update: 31 March... well I've worn them everyday and washed them (obviously several times) and the verdict is... perfect hardwearing with no sagging or shrinking. Will definitely buy this yarn again.



I just love this pattern and will keep coming back to it !

NITS ! Yep Nits not Knits !

Well I am now sitting here with my hair covered in conditioner as we found a colony on my daughters head tonight... uky... off to chemist tomorrow to get some weed killer or whatever they use nowadays or more to the point, what they use out here !

I didn't find any on me but I can't stand the thought of 'em...I did have my hair coloured and cut yesterday and my hairdresser said a few cuts back that hair dye will kill the little blighters so I should be ok. Poor Heather however, has about 3 weeks of hair dragging and scraping and she had them once before and is dreading it.

That's that then... did some more of my sock today at the pool and did 8 lengths (swimming that is) and hope to work up to 65 !!! That's what some of the girls do out here so I'm aiming for that too.

Right... off back to the nits... not knits !

Internet ... arrrrrrhhhhhh !

Well I've not been able to do very much on the blog lately as the internet seems to be more down than up at the moment... again ! Its so frustrating as I know that I've only a limited amount of time to get something on the blog this morning as it will probably go down again in a short while ... until tomorrow sometime !

So, well... I've still been making another pair of the basic rib socks by Wise Hilda Knits but they're taking a little longer this time as its been so hot at the moment that I've spent most of my time at the pool or gym or sunbathing or coffee morning it. Coffee morning isn't what you think ... out here (in Saudi) its a big big thing. I'll post pics as soon as .. but don't want to lose the link just yet so I'll edit them in in a bit so you can see what an event it is once a month.





I was the first to arrive and took some pics of the display tables which are always beautifully laid out with a freebie to take away with us.

Ok, so whats so special about 'coffee mornings' ? Well for 10 saudi rials (around £2) you get the freebie which this month was potted flower, as much food as you can eat from cooked english breakfast, french pastries, salads oh just everything imaginable along with juices and of course tea and coffee ! Then the raffle ! Oh and all the food is served by waiters and there's a fresh pancake or waffle maker on hand too. Also at these coffee mornings are local vendors from around Khobar and I guess a few from further afield. The rugs and carpets are always spectacular along with the pashminas and silk scarves. Lots of arabic jewellery and just .. well.... take a full purse along. The ladies tend to dress up as its also pretty much the only place (unless its a private do) where you don't have to wear an abaya !





I also won a prize at the raffle... again, as I won one last month too which was some soaps...not ordinary soaps very expensive soaps and I should have the face of a camel when I get round to using that one.



Next month is the Easter Bonnet contest so I'll have to get on and make something for that and the month after is 'International Day' where we'll all wear our national dress... Brits ! What have we got...apart from the string vest and hanky hat, or the Union Jack shorts !

Right going now as got a spinning class and want to try to get a couple of pics up before I go or the internet.