Knitting in Yunnan

So I just go back from a trip to Yunnan, and I was shocked, truly shocked, at how everywhere I went, there was always a lot of women knitting! Even in Shangri-La, high up in the mountains, there were people knitting. I hardly saw any when I was in Beijing, but you can't swing a yak in Yunnan without hitting a knitter! The interesting thing about the knitting is that everyone was using long, about 12 inches, double-pointed needles for everything they were making. My friend Megan must have gotten sick and tired of me stopping on the street and exclaiming "She's knitting too!" over and over again on our trip. Strangers also were a little perturbed when I would stop on the street and watch them for a few minutes, but they were creating some of the most intricate knitted items I've seen. I even got Megan to pester a couple of women about where they got their yarn, but it was fruitless.

I did managed to pick up some yarn goodies through other ways. In Shangri-La, I spotted women weaving on home-looms to sell in souvenir shops, so the light bulb above my head went over. Weaving = yarn, which I might be able to purchase. Using my very best pointing and gesturing skills, I walked up to this woman and gestured to her pile of yarn on the floor. She then smiled at me, and gestured to the scarves for sale in her shop. I firmly pointed at the yarn on the floor, and said "I want this." In return, I got a great "there must be something very wrong with you" look. Even though this woman clearly thinks I belong in the insane ward of the closest hospital, I did manage to start bargaining, and bought three balls of yarn off of her, ever though I have no idea about length and content, but I really wish that I had gotten a picture of the look on her face when I told her I wanted her yarn. The yarn itself is very slick and shiny, and I will be posting pictures soon as I can borrow a camera. I bought the green and blue that she is using in this picture, and a large bundle of a bright pink. It feels very soft, and and when I briefly swatched it, it had a great flowy drape to it. I'm going to bring it to knitting group and hopefully get a consensus on what it might be.

The other yarn-related coup of this trip was during our last days, in a town called Dali. The original plan was to ride bicycle around the lake and into some villages, but a rainstorm ruined that plan. So instead Megan and I spent the day exploring the old town, their coffee shops, street snacks, and doing some shopping. We had just finished our soft-serve ice cream from a street vendor, when I literally skidded in my tracks, just like a cartoon character. My friend Megan looked up at me questioningly, and with amazement in my voice, I said, "I think we just walked past a yarn shop." Her reaction was to sigh, and humor me by walking back down the street to see if I was just hallucinating, or if there was indeed a real yarn shop in this tiny little town. We found two huge open shops directly across the street from each other! I was fairly giddy, and Megan decided that needed a photo. Now, its not the nicest picture of me, but I think it does a great job of conveying my level of happiness in randomly finding this shop. I picked up some shiny soft stuff in beautiful jewel tones, with no labels. The women running the shop told me that each skein is 150 meters, and for 20 kuai apiece, I picked up 5. My intentions are to make a lap blanket or big shawl. Most of the yarn in these shops looked kettle-dyed in big batches, and not like they were all commercially dyed. If I had more room in my pack, I would have brought a lot more back with me since there were some lovely colors and it looked like she was selling yarn for pretty cheap, compared to Hong Kong.......oh well- that just gives me an excuse to go back to Dali someday! So yes knitters of the world, if you go to Yunnan province, there will be yarn in strange places, and you will be happy with what you find!