You can see my progress on the bluebird sweater there. There is only about a third of one sleeve and the other sleeve to complete. I'm hoping to be able to give Madelyn her sweater this weekend, nearly three weeks late. She'll forgive me, right?

I'm also almost finished with the first pair of Shurrab for the granddaughters, and I might start Nisseet, my afterthought fingerless mitts, or I might make the second pair of socks. Both of these are destined to be thank you patterns to my 1,001 Knits subscribers. If you haven't signed up yet, you still have time to get this year's gift (and maybe even find out how to get last year's gift, too).

One of my goals with my stash this year is to use the yarns that I bought because they were pretty, but aren't really the weight of yarn I like to use. So, for instance, I'm making those fingerless mitts with gorgeous self striping sock yarns, but I rarely use fingering weight yarn. My happy place is really between sport and worsted. This year will see me find alternative uses for yarns as well as doubling them or carrying them with other weights in interesting ways. How are you managing your stash?

Just for fun, here is a picture of me in the Red Sea. That day, I was able to swim in the sea the whole morning, until about 3:00 in the afternoon. That trip was the first time in my, not even adult, because I had so many responsibilities as a teenager, too, but the first time in a LONG time I really had no responsibilities.

This is part of the gold and silver markets in the old town of Jeddah, Al Balad, but it is in this area that my uncle (my maternal auntie's husband) had his shop. One of my cousins was telling me that they spent their childhood running around this area, and this part of Al Balad was so familiar to her because of that. For me, it was a sign of a complicated person, who supported my mother and me my whole childhood, so I would be cared and provided for, even when it wasn't his duty, and maybe something he didn't want. His wife, my sweet auntie, and my cousin's mother, sisters, spent their whole lives providing for and caring for me, and their husbands accepted this and helped. We had a home, food, clothes, everything because of them. One of the best parts of my trip was getting to tell one of them this, and that she was not unseen or unthanked.

Here are just a few more images of Al Balad. I got to spend a few days/nights there, and loved roaming around the more historic parts of the city. Jeddah is a resort town, wealthy, and like being in the Jetson's view of the future, but I love the history and the homes of the founding families, so it was a treat for me to spend time here. While I was in Egypt with my father, he would take me to three museums and historical sites each day. He knew how much I loved history, and frankly, you can't trip in Egypt without finding some historical signifier.

This was an archaelogical dig that we got to peek into, and even my cousin hadn't seen it before. I would love to go visit it again when I return and see what else they have found.

This is the original Al Basali. It is a fish and seafood restaurant named after the owner's nickname, the onion man. He was always carrying onions, because the traditional rice served with fish, sayadieh, is a dark, highly flavored, rice, which gets its color from the large quantities of onion, cooked down before the rice is added. I got to eat at the newer location, but this one has both the original, small, eat in restaurant, as well as a street food, take away window full of tasty treats (right next door is a bakery, where you can grab freshly baked bread to eat, too). The fish here is phenomenal. Honestly, the fish from the Red Sea, with the exception of Columbia River and Alaskan salmon, and our cold water halibut (and maybe cold water tuna), is the absolute best fish I have eaten anywhere. I ate fresh fish a few times in Jeddah, and in Alexandria, and while it was all excellent, the fish from the Red Sea is the best in the world. Their shrimp and squid are also delicious, and I imagine the octopus is, too, but I do confess that I prefer our cold water Dungeness and Red Rock crab to the warmer water crab. Though I didn't taste the lobster, I imagine it would also be better from cold water, but I could be wrong. However, with the two exceptions I made, I think I will compare all fish to that Red Sea fish for the rest of my life.

Love and Saffron is back from the library, so I can read it again. Also, I have been enjoying My Mexico City Kitchen so much! The only thing I actually disagree with her about is that I think soaking beans is good and cooking them with the salt is good. There are recipes in there for making your own crema, which is super exciting to me, and I think I might actually buy this book for our cookbook library.

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Labels: Books, Design, Family, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 6:24 AM