A Very Comforting Sound

This is probably the main sound associated with the muslim world and I originally would be woken up (and still do at times) at sunrise (around 3-3.30am), then again 20 minutes later, then 6.30am and again 20 mins later, then 11.30am and so on for 6 times aday. I also didn't think I'd ever get used to it, but I have and not only that I have grown so accustomed to the, now, familiar and hauntingly beautiful 'call to prayer' that I really do find it rather relaxing and find it a rather comforting sound now.

When we are away from Saudi I even find I miss it ... which is how I felt on a recent trip to Bahrain and couldn't wait to get back to Saudi and back to wearing the abaya and hearing the call to prayer. Oh dear a long cry from the early days, even though now its getting unbearably hot in the abaya (yesterday it hit around 118 o/F walking around the town) and again today its around 118o/F

Anyway listen for yourself, its only a few seconds worth, a very short snippet to show just how much a part of daily life it is and also how loud it is. There is me, my husband and my son and we are all talking but our voices are drowned out by the 'call to prayer'. Bare in mind that this is just one mosque loud speaker at the end of the prayer time, its even louder when they're all going.

EAP: There are much better recordings of the call to prayer which you can find on 'You Tube' but this is a short personalised clip.

Socks From The Toe Up

I received my book by Wendy Johnson a couple of days ago (almost 7 weeks I think waiting) but hadn't been able to get started on learning any of the new methods for casting on for a toe up sock due to the Sock Wars which I am now in a bit of a 'lull', 'quiet before the (desert) storm'. So Last night I pulled out those circular's and gave it my best shot.Now I'd been putting this off as I thought it was going to be so complicated but I'm pleased to report that it was really quite simple to follow the instructions for the 'Figure-Eight Toe' cast on. I feel ready to get started and will do so for the 'Socks From The Toe Up KAL' on Ravelry which starts on, 1st June. In the meantime I'll try a couple of other cast-on methods so I am ready to do all of the fabulous patterns from the book.

SOCK WARS IV Update 23-5-09

SOCK WARS:

To my assassin: Thorsgirl
So I live another day... and another I guess cos I don't think you're gonna get me yet !

To my target: Padinham Knitter
I hope you're death wasn't too painful, truely I take no pleasure in your kill just know that it just had to be done.
How was the saudanese chewing gum ... lol ...honestly its not harmful and it really is chewing gum. As I said I can get bucket loads, they seem to love it out here for some reason !

SNAIL MAIL:

The postie has just knocked and I tentatively took my post and happily didn't notice any suspect packages so feel pretty elated to know I've survived yet another day.

I was however, pretty shocked and very pleased to see my 'Simply Knitting' magazine arrive. The magazine only hit the shops on Thursday and its Saturday. Not going to spend too much time nattering as going off for a mooch at my mag., before going off to the dentist for my son's very first filling... a root canal ! Fizzy drinks are to go on hold as since we've been out here they've been spoilt rotten with the fizzy stuff cos its just so cheap. Not so keen on their teeth being spoilt rotten so somethings gonna change and plain water will be the staple much to the kids disgust.

Hopefully will be able to update again soon but the internet has been so intermittent the last few days that I don't know when it will stay up long enough to do very much. Here's hoping !

Sock Wars IV News Update 20th May 2009

Its been 6 days since the start of the Sock Wars IV and I'm still alive. I didn't think it would be any other way. I have trained hard and am totally committed to my fate. I know one day the 'death socks' will come for me but until that day I am strong and fearless as I have a strong faith and belief system... that I will reign supreme.

Thorsgirl is playing a game of stealth but she does not instill any fear in me... I who have had several weeks of 2.5 hour treatments for root canal, live and have trained in hardend and extreme conditions in the desert, am a worthy opponent for the toughest and 'you' Thorsgirl are no threat to me. I have no fear and laugh in the face (or toes) of your 'death socks', and am confident in the success of your imminent death (before mine). I have faith that Sockdingbat will get to you before you do me. So pray for all the good it will do you and I will relish in your 'death sock' throws.

Right off to get those kids some lunch, its all go for us moms who have a secret life !

School's Out ... Latif Pastry In

Right we're in for a long weekend... hubby has had 'saudi shuffle' for 5 days now but managed to go to work,... no school today Wednesday and do not return until Sunday. Was looking forward to a bit of a lie in this morning... not needed to get up at 6am for school. However kids were up and wanting to play x-box or something I didn't quite hear and just grunted 'mmm'. Should know that from experience this is not a good time to say 'mmm' to them. However, they were true to their word this time and just got on with playing the x-box and the school homework programme on the computer.

10am (feeling guilty now cos I didn't get up for the Schwinn class which was at 9.45-10.45) and got a phone call from my mate, 'J', on compound asking if we wanted to go to Latif Pastry for brunch. Okay I say and had to round kids up and all get ready within 30 mins to make sure we had enough time before prayer time at 11.30. Managed it fine with the obligatory 'why do we have to go', 'why can't I just go to the swimming pool' & 'I don't want to go humph humph..,' ect.,

Got in the cars and managed to get there with 2 kids still... just ... in between wanting to slap, kick out of the car and leave (oh that's another story in another country so won't go there... like to point out that however tempted I probably WOULD do this if pushed just tooooo farrr). Anyway I digress... managed to arrive amidst the wacky race drivers which seem to be everyone on the roads in Saudi and into the 'Family Section' of Latif's.

I hate 'Family Sections' ... they are putrid little hovels... well most are, mustn't generalise. Men's section, lovely and white and bright with windows and nice seats and tables... family section, puke yellow tables and chairs with NO WINDOWS(see pic).
'J' asked if it would be possible for the kids to go round and watch them making the breads which was okay by the baker. In Saudi most assistants, or shop people (head not working, can't think of a better .. is it verb or adjective...) are so genuinely friendly and helpful that I still find it amazing that they will almost agree to anything if they are able to accommodate your request. We went on round to the 'Men's Section' and proceeded to click away and video the kids baking the bread for our brunch. Oh how glad I was for this little diversion, it brightened up 'kid boy' no end and he had a cheerful dimeener all the way thru.
We went back into our designated area, 'puke yellow hovel' and awaited our lebnah/cheese bread, 2 cheese breads, cheese/zatar, my shakshokah (no idea what it was, but would have it again) & 5 cans of coke, all for 26 SR (£5 approx). Fabulous value and entertainment for a day (morning) off school.

Where in England would this have possibly happend without first booking and paying a large sum of money ?

Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but this place is just great (as long as you're living a priviledged lifestyle I guess... but I am ... so I do).

Ladies Lunch Out & Ticking Off for Taking Pictures !

I mentioned in the previous post that us ladies on the compound had our 'Ladies Lunch Out' this month at the lebanese restaurant, situated in Saad Hospital.

The meal could have been better but that could have been down to my choice of menu and not a true reflection of the food. I will have to go again and order something other than my usual 'favourite of the moment' shwarma which so far has tasted different everywhere I've tried them. In my mind its got to be the Golden Juice for them and a freshly squeazed juice.

The waiter, door attendent, manager, chef, in fact all of the staff were excellent and went out of their way to make the meal a pleasant and enjoyable experience. One lady ordered fish and didn't like it at all (nothing wrong with the fish, just that she made a wrong choice, something which is very common when you're ordering something different for the first time. Its a lottery sometimes as to what you might get, you might like it, you may not, but you may absolutely love it !). The management just couldn't do enough for us 'all' ... we were 'all' treated to complementary deserts.
The 'loos' were imaculate and gleaming, something you don't normally see especially in public toilets. Well Saad isn't exactly a 'bog' standard public facility so I suppose you could expect the best here in a private hospital area. Still it was above the usual standard even for private.
I however, did get a bit of a telling off for taking some more pictures of the reception chandelier and therefore, was unable to take any others as I was 'being watched'.

Please remember that most pictures are taken surreptitiously, and can be an extremely covert operation, or are taken from a moving car so its incredably difficult to get pictures of what you really want sometimes, and this was one of those occassions. So no pics from in the restaurant or of our lunch time out this month.

SocksBinLaden's RPG Missile Launched ... Latest NewsFlash

SOCK WARS & LADIES LUNCH OUT

Now I've been a little busy of late preparing my weapon for launching this week and so have had to concentrate on getting everything right. I am a trained assoxinator so I give it 100% attention and committment. Thus leaving very little time for chatting or any other events taking place.
That's except for the 'Ladies Lunch Out' this month which was at a Lebanese Restaurant which opened recently in Saad Hospital. We went for lunch yesterday and had a lovely time. I must admit though, that I have had better food, but for the price and surrounding, and ambiance, it really was a lovely get together for us. Next time I will choose something other than the usual homus, tabula, and shwarma for my meal and maybe I'll be a little less biased in my opinion. The best place so far for shwarma's is The Golden Juice in Khobar with a fabtastic freshly squeased juice.
This was my first Sock Wars Event and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far… waiting to see if I’ve a direct hit or miss.
Instructions for assembling the SocksBinLaden missile: RPG (Barcelona) socks, one hand painted Saudi cushion cover, a small amount of Saudanese chewing gum (yum yum), 'SBL' calling card and 'taunting note', all of which is wrapped up in camel patterned paper.

The RPG Socks (aka Barcelona Socks) have been launched and they are winging they're way as I speak onboard an BA flight, on route to London this evening (Tuesday 19th May), with a trusted accomplice assassin. The missile will be posted upon arrival and impact imminent upon its final destination around Thursday or Friday.

Onto my alleged assassin, Thorsgirl... well s/he's keeping a very low profile and I know nothing about her/him. I believe s/he is living in fear of the very name of SocksBinLaden and keeping quiet as s/he doesn't want to appear fullish in his/her hour of death. If however, you are reading this 'Thorsgirl' and want to have a go... bring it on ! Or maybe I should just say 'squeak squeak' to you !

Loved this weapon and will certainly make it again.

Message from SocksBinLaden

Be afraid, be very afraid !

Sock Wars... Miss Fire Already

Ok, after waiting by the computer for my ammunition for what seems an age today, I'm finally giving up and going for a well earned 'head down'. Its 0100 hours and I've just had to frog the whole thing as the weapon being used was a dud, (pattern had an error).

I am off to bed to try to catch up on some sleep before the battle commences again at dawn... well 3.30am to be exact as that's when the first call to prayer starts and I WILL BE AWAKE as it always wakes me up when I'm late to bed. Still have to be up at 6am for the kids to get ready for school as Saturday is the equivalent of Monday in the UK.

Battle commences at 0600 hours.

Red Delicious by Sara Peterson

http://www.knotions.com/issues/summer_2009/patterns/red_delicious/directions.aspx
Ok... I know... Sock Wars IV is imminent (spelling...not a strong point when in a hurry) but I was too early for the download as didn't take into account it was CET and not GMT so was waiting at 2pm (Saudi time) for 12noon (GMT) and its 3pm so will go back in a mo ! In the meantime found these just fabtastic socks ... I wanna make ! Will wait till Sock Wars has ended though as don't want to be too distracted.

Right must go... my weapon awaits !

Craft Morning

Tuesday mornings are craft day at the Oasis. Its the place us craft lovers go to meet up and take our UFO's to work on and have a chat, coffee and cake (or biscuit, whatever is on offer). I tend to oooh and arrhhh over everyone elses work, eat cake, a couple of cups of tea or coffee and then sit down to mine. I then, on many occassions, go home and frog all the progress I've managed to make...all due to the fact that I just cannot knit and natter at the same time in a group !

However, I always come away with some interesting snippets on saudi life, not all of which is publishable, and tips on 'how to's' for cooking and crafting. One piece this week was on the picnic cake that Pat brought in. She is the 'Queen Cake Maker' so we love it when she brings in her home baking.

This wasn't for us though, it was a 'commission' for someone else, but she did inform us of the website where the ideas came from... but I've forgotten it so will post it later. I think it was from the Bright Ideas website.Picnic Cake with HUGE ants (like what you get out here ! & not smiley faces as I had originally thought they were... forgot my glasses !)

Moving onto Heather and her craftwork of painted boxes. I particularly love the 'Good Bear, Bad Bear' (my name for it) as with lid down he has his head and when up he has lost it... very Saudi I feel.

Heather's Fabiola Mits

Finished Heather's fingerless mits on Tuesday and I just love the quality of this hand dyed, baby alpaca yarn and the sherbit shades.Onto the weather... well its now, consistenly hitting 100oF most days (and a little higher in stages)... AND getting hotter, so why knit mits and socks ? They're quick and fairly easy depending on the design and Heather and I love them... AND they will come in 'handy' (useful) in the colder snap which is usually around a week or so out here and for when we go visiting back in the UK in the winter.

Fabiola from Alpaca Select: Great simple, quick pattern… ideal for when I hit the ‘brain fag’ spot.

Scamp

Nothing much going on here except that I've been playing around with my new camera and trial version of Paint Shop Pro X, which I only have another 15 days left to run. I will need to buy the programme again as I left my disc back in the UK and I'm lost without it as I love to play about with my pictures. I know there are better programmes out there but I've never mastered the full potential of PSP and when I gave Photoshop a try, it totally floored me... I just couldn't understand anything at all and went straight back to the old faithful.

Right so, this is Scamp when he came in last night. He's a stray that we took in when we arrived here and he spent most of the 'winter' in doors sleeping with the kids, but now wants to spend most of his time outdoors now that its 'spring'... I'd rather be in with the air con than out there ... I guess its what he's used to though.

He may look a real 'bruiser' but he's a real softy. Apart from, that is, when he dug his claws into my face a couple of months back. It was my fault as I'd tried to get him out of a fight with another cat and came off worse. I won't do that again I can tell you. I think I was pretty lucky as cat scratches (and even more so bites) can be pretty nasty. I found something that looked like idodine and slapped that on. Little did I realise that it had a pretty horrendous staining effect and took a couple of days to completely fade away!

Coffee Morning Saudi Style

Coffee Morning - May 2009 International Day
Well Tanga & Co., have certainly done it again this month. There is always an elaborate display set up for the tables and hall. This month the theme was... can you guess... International Day where we all had to come in our national dress. Most of us made a huge effort... well you can't blame the Auzzies really can you... all they have is the union flag as well but don't want to flaunt it and wear it as small as they can... mainly on their heads... and shout 'you bloody poms' all morning at us Brits ! Still we rose above it all and came out with our stiff upper lips.. well as stiff as could possibly be with all that food going up for grabs. The international dress for Spain, Japan and all nationalities was astounding and some were just plain beautiful... however, I kept forgetting to get the camera out and snap all those lovelies due to eating, drinking and perusing the stalls ... and keeping eyes down for the raffle. I promise to do better next month !
Here are a few of the items that were on show today:I didn't win the raffle this month but did snap up a little bargain with this snake necklace which will be a great asset for my fancy dress as Cleopatra in a couple of months time. Just got to get the rest of the garb. I feel a trip to the Taba Centre coming up!A consolation of not winning the raffle would have been my arabic coffee cup with speciallity chocolates inside, but someone swiped it ... no one owned up... shame on them or haram, as I believe they say in Saudi !

Nicky Epstein... Snail Mail brought at last !

It's finally arrived(ordered 19th April so took 2 weeks, not too bad)... This book is just beautiful from cover to cover with just stunning photography and designs including snipets of information about what inspired Nicky to design a particular piece. A wonderful coffee table book that I keep picking up and flicking thru again and again. There are too many projects that I really just want to make, but realistically very few that I will ever get completed but will probably attempt, along with my own adaptions, making them easier and less time consuming.
This is my first Nicky Epstein book but I'm looking to add to the collection.

Bahrain...Knitting...SockWars

BAHRAIN
Right back onto the knitting...but first... got back from a great 2 day break in Bahrain. First to a cocktail do at The Raddisson Diplomat and stayover. Then took the kids to Seef Mall to the cinema to see '...Witch Mountain' by Disney... oh boy were we glad when that was over. The main point being is I suppose that the kids really enjoyed the film so job done. First cinema they've been to since being out here. No cinema's in Saudi so it was a real treat for them, next time it will be a great treat for 'us'.

SOCK WARS
Got back and found out that the internet was down... oh blippin heck... I knew it would do that just when I was expecting to find out who my target is in the Sock Wars... Hubby helped out by getting me a 'dongle' to borrow for tonight so I could get some info and update the blog.

A message to my target:
Well, I know who you are and I'm going to get ya !

MITTENSWhile I'm waiting for the ammo to use on my target, which I should have on 15th May, I have started a pair of fingerless mittens for my daughter who is very excited about them. I received this beautiful yarn about a week ago from a lady on ebay (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/NORDIC-KNITWEAR-AND-YARNS) and just decided what to do with it. The pattern is one I've used before from Alpaca Select 'Fabiola' but using the new yarn which is a hand dyed baby alpaca. Really beautifully soft with just the most ice-creamy & sherbit shades.

Yippee I'm a Winner !

Yep that's right ... I'm a winner of the 'Let's Knit' competition from issue 18.
I’m so pleased I can’t wait for my prize !

Been away for a couple of days and on my return found out I’d won a prize from the issue 18 of Let’s Knit.

My name was one of those picked from the big knitted hat that's used to select competition winners! My prize - 2 balls of Inca Cloud yarn which I'm really looking forward to receiving... so 'snail mail', bring it on !

Trouble is ... I got so excited at winning that I entered issue 19 just to see if I can get a ‘double whammy’... fingers crossed but maybe not likely ... me a ‘prize winning piggy’ ... never ...okay maybe I am !

Thank you Let’s Knit, I’m really chuffed

Knitting Banned...

... we are off to Bahrain this afternoon (approx 45 mins) and I have been told I cannot take any knitting with me !

What will I do for the next 2 days not being able to knit socks or gloves or even just scour the 'net'.

Not allowed to take the laptop either. We are to do 'family things' !

Oh I suppose its not that bad really, I might even enjoy it... Will let you know soon enough !

I might just sneak a pair of dpn's in the case ... thinking about 'Sock Wars' ... oh get a grip ... not even got out the house yet !

Is there such a thing as 'Knitters Anon' ?

Socks & Chit Chats

Finally a pair of socks I've not had to frog ! Knitted using Wendy Zig Zag, Cornucopia on 2.75m dpn's rather than 2.50m due to my tension being rather tight.

If you're wondering what all the bars are... well they're thick steel fencing all around the balcony just incase of a terrorist attack ! I think they're great for stopping the kids from jumping off the balcony and into the garden below, which is something I'm sure they would have thought of doing if the bars hadn't been there.

I can usually count on 'Wise Hilda's' socks to get me back on track although these did cause a bit of confusion. It might be me, but I had a problem after turning the sock inside out and working from the other side. When it came to working back on track after the heel, I omitted to re-turn the sock the right way round. It didn't say to turn it again in the pattern but it was an obvious move to get the sock correct and not look exactly like the basic ribbed pattern. I will do it again but make sure I turn inside/right side out at the correct point in the pattern so I at least get a pair of the 'reverse basic ribbed socks'.Had several deliveries this week. One being my 2 knitting subscriptions came thru, 'Knitting' and 'Simply Knitting', some beautiful wool (pics to be posted), and the fabulous Nicky Epstein's 'Knitting on top of the World'...beautiful book.

CHIT CHAT
On to Chit Chats... well these are tiny little gecko creature, also known as, Sand-eye, Whip-tail, Elegant and Israeli Sand Gecko and are between 3.5" to 4" long. The scientific bit: Stenodactylus sthenodactylus (Lichtenstein, 1823).These little gecko's live quite happily in the house where you'll find them on the ceilings and walls, however you only see them if its very quiet or they just scuttle so fast that you never even notice them. I think we've about 3 in the house but only see them on very rare occasions. I snapped this little one tonight, there were 2 of them but the other one scuttled as soon as I got the camera out.
Rather more exotic than the old english house spider to keep those flies at bay.