Having gotten word yesterday that our departure from Hong Kong has been scheduled for August 21, I promptly fell into a bit of a stash-enhancement frenzy, seeing that time really is limited now. When David found out that some of the prices here are almost half of those at home, he said, "Why don't you stock up?" His only request is that I have a project in mind for whatever I buy...
I took the shuttle bus into town this morning, timing my arrival at the Star Ferry terminal to coincide with the opening of the City Hall branch of the Hong Kong Public Library at ten. It was raining cats and dogs, so hard that I was quite glad to leave the driving to someone else, and to stare both appalled and marvelling at the rain sheeting down the bus windows. As the wiper blade passed, a good four or five inches of water came down across the just-cleared section, to be flung away by the return pass of the wiper, so fast that it shot out from the windshield at least six inches away. Well, a little video is worth a thousand words --
It was too wet as I dashed across the plaza to take a picture of the library for those who (like me) are into that sort of thing, but here is a view from the staircase window on the second floor -- the eastern edge of the Star Ferry terminal with Kowloon in the distance across the harbor, the carpark at left front, another part of the City Hall complex at right front, all very wet --
This branch of the library occupies quite a number of floors in the building, although each floor is not large in area. The knitting section at this branch is rather dated, I'm afraid, but this is in no way limited to Hong Kong. I didn't have much time to browse and ponder this morning, as I had to collect the girls from school at 11:30, but I did find a few interesting titles, ran back downstairs to the check-out, and outside to the bus stop.
The rain was just coming on again when the 10:45 shuttle came around the corner, about five minutes late. As it tore out of the terminal, eager to make up time, I guess, we suddenly veered off the usual route, and since I'd been daydreaming, I had to glance surruptitiously around me to make sure that I was indeed on the right bus. It dawned on me that this driver was an old friend, so to speak -- I'd taken a downhill trip with Speedy Gonzalez once before, and it was almost an hour then before the hairs on the back of my neck calmed down. This time he took a hillier but less-traveled road around the racetrack, but got stuck behind a public bus, which of course made stops every ten feet. When the bus made a stop in a passing lane, Speedy zipped around him triumphantly, and I swear I saw a corner of his mouth turn up in a smile.
So at least I got my library books home safe and dry, and have been poring over them much of the afternoon.
The Bohus one is really fabulous -- such wonderful colors, such intricate designs. "Poems of color" indeed. The "Blue Shimmer" pullover is beautiful -- in any colorway, I imagine -- and the "Green Meadow" mittens, the "Large Collar" in any form. Jaeger has a lovely alpaca that I could get at Paris Cotton Singlets -- I wonder if this would be a good substitute for the wool/angora blends. And I confess that I have never knitted a sock, not even one -- but, no time like the present, eh? I'm especially intrigued by the Welsh Country Stockings, the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose, the Norwegian Stockings, and the Estonian Socks. Lots of lovely merino at Paris Cotton Singlets and at Cheer Wool and Elegant....
It's a strange feeling seeing you show the photos of those books because I've borrowed the exact books from that same library before. About stocking up yarn, just before we left for vacation, I came across a yarn in Tsueng Kwan O (Metro City Mall) in Kowloon and found some Online sock yarn for HKD50 per 100g ball.
Posted by: Siow Chin | July 05, 2005 at 01:16 AM