Shopping for Yarn

So, today I went to church, as I do now every Sunday, at Wuxi Protestant Church in downtown Wuxi.  A. was not there, she's still on that company-arranged excursion.  The sermon was on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  The pastor did well to focus on the faults of the elder brother, but he listed seven specific faults, when it seemed to me that Pride was behind every one of them.  Pride, however, was never actually mentioned.

After the service, I found an English-speaking Chinese woman who I had met earlier, and asked her to help me.  I had decided to purchase some wool yarn.  I had written down in my notebook, "I want to buy 100% wool yarn," and I asked her to write it in Chinese characters.  She had to talk with someone else, to make sure she understood what I meant, and the other woman (who is a sermon interpreter) actually wrote some Chinese in my notebook, with pinyin to guide my pronunciation.  Armed with this translation, I walked out of the church and made my way to Hou Xi Xi.

While I was making my way there, I heard something nearby, that sounded like a million crickets all chirping at once.  I looked around, and found that I wasn't far off the mark:

Cricket Seller

Yes, some Chinese really do keep live crickets as pets, and apparently they buy them in little wicker cages, from sellers like this man.  Don't believe me?  Here's a closeup:

 

 

 

Caged Cricket

Click for a better look.  This one's sticking an antenna and leg out.  Just a little local color to add some visual interest to my blog.  Now returning to your regularly scheduled narrative.

Hou Xi Xi is also called the fabric market in English.  There is a sign on the main road pointing the way to it.  In and around a walled courtyard are vendors of fabric, and notions, and tailors too.  Lots of fabric available.  Some of my colleagues go there to get clothing custom made.  I went there to find a source of buttons, which was successful, but I also found a yarn shop, which was fortuitous.  No needles or other supplies, apparently, just yarn, in boxes, which I didn't expect the first time.  No English either, which is normal.  I've been back there once or twice since, looking for needles and crochet hooks, with no success.  This time, however, I knew they would have something.

I went in the front door, said "Ni hao", and tried to sound out the pinyin words that my friend had written for me.  They motioned to see what I was reading, so I showed them the Chinese characters.  One woman pointed me to some blue and white self-patterning yarn, that seemed about sock weight.  She pointed to a blue-and-white sweater which was apparently made from the yarn.  Looked nice, felt like wool, the box said 100% something, but not what I wanted.  I wanted plain yarn in worsted weight, preferably a few balls of blue and a few balls of red.  (All their yarn is apparently pre-wound.)  I did not have the language skills or tools to communicate that.  I did, however, motion to some boxes of plain yarn in blue and in red, and looked at the tags.  I could tell that they were blends of something.

Eventually, a woman showed me some boxes of plain yarn.  There was some red, but it was a bit too bright for my taste, and perhaps not enough of it.  Eventually, I found this:

Box of Gray Yarn

I know the light isn't great in the photo.  It's a heathered gray, seems to be about a light worsted weight, and there are four 100-g balls and two 50-g balls.  Smells like wool, the tag says 100% something, and the washing instructions say 20°C-40°C.  It should felt OK.  Seems like it's boxed in quantities for a baby sweater, or something like that.  I'm not sure whether to use two or three strands to make my hot mitt.  This box cost 50 RMB.  That seemed fair.

After that purchase, I wanted to take myself out to lunch, to celebrate my birthday.  I was thinking of a Korean place that I had been to once with my friends, but I didn't want to get lost trying to find it.  I wandered around for a little while, and eventually saw a Pizza Hut sign.  A few days ago I had been craving pizza.  I decided this would be good enough for a birthday meal in China:

Pan Pizza and Red Bean Smoothie

The pan pizza was a supreme, with normal American toppings.  I also had a red bean smoothie, which is distinctly Chinese.  I had enjoyed a red bean soup at a wedding feast (and I do mean "feast") the previous Sunday, and this was also quite tasty.  I must find some of these red beans, and learn how to cook with them.

Of course, no birthday meal is complete without a birthday cake.  My family knows that I prefer a strawberry sparkle cake, made with Angel Food cake mix and strawberry Jell-O.  Not much chance of getting that in China, but I did order this:

Strawberry Ice-Cream Cake

This was the closest thing I could find.  I won't say it's better than the strawberry sparkle cake my mother makes, but it was enjoyable.  Lunch wasn't cheap (by my standards here), but I don't celebrate a birthday every day.  I also got a "Happy Birthday" text from A.  (I had mentioned my birthday to her on Thursday.  I was pleased that she remembered.)

So, that's how I celebrated my first birthday overseas.  Not a big to-do, but I did get some presents from home, and had a good meal.  Speaking of which, it's past time for me to start dinner, so I'd better wrap this up.  No new knitting news or prayer requests beyond what was already mentioned today.  Thanks for reading.  God bless.