I’m actually writing this from Durban, where I have just arrived after four days in Cape Town. The trip to South Africa is for work – I am attending two travel shows, and have very little time in between for anything else. However – I have managed to do a few touristy things, and I’m going to tell you about them!

For work, I did a lot of walking. I got extremely lost one day, and found this guy. He was really, really awesome.

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront – Cape Town

I arrived in the city on Thursday afternoon, and after a quick visit to our show stand to check that everything was going OK with the setup, I had some time to get showered and go out. I took a walk down to the V&A Waterfront, which was absolutely gorgeous – stunning views of Table Mountain, a huge shopping centre, views of the sea and a salty ocean scent on the breeze.

I’m going to talk about the shopping centre a bit more in a minute. (Skip to that section for the yarn! You knew there would be some…) However, I decided to do some typically touristy things too, and on a limited time scale, I opted for the big wheel above Cape Town. It was glorious – I had a pod to myself and we went around five times, which was great fun with some beautiful views. The most eye-catching is of course Table Mountain, but you could see right over the rest of the city, out to sea, across to the stadium that was built for the World Cup and down onto the waterfront, which was also pretty good!

I then had some tasty calamari at a bar that was recommended by the local guy in the Vodacom shop, and it was definitely a good recommendation!

Spin Knits – Cape Town

I had one mission on my afternoon off, and that was to find a yarn shop – which just happened to lead to me finding the Waterfront. I had spoken to Jo (off the Shiny Bees podcast) who had recommended a number of yarn shops, and this was the easiest one to get to.

The shop was located in a place called the “Red Shed Craft Warehouse”, a craft village with loads of different types of crafts – fabrics, paintings, sculpture, African jewellery – and Spin Knits. Upon first glance it looks like a shop selling knitted garments – but once you walk in you happen upon the yarns! There were so many glorious colours and types – handspun wool that is spun in the shop, as well as some from other places in South Africa.

I had a good look around, and also asked if there were any ‘typical’ yarns or patterns. The short answer was no(!), but there were mohair kits for a shawl, and I bought one of those in the ‘underwater’ colourway. I also decided to buy some sock yarn in beautiful purple and orange, hugely vibrant and gorgeous. I am planning to knit Juju Vail’s Toe-Up Socks with Afterthought Heel with these, but I may find something else that I like…

While talking about patterns, the lady behind the counter (I am so sorry I never got her name!) offered me a book of ‘op-art socks’ which had some truly glorious patterns in it. I fell in love with one of the patterns in particular, and she gave me a copy of the pattern, Yaacov – so although I don’t think it is ‘typically’ South African, they will be my South African socks. You need a variegated yarn with a long colour change on it to work properly, so I’ll have to do some research on that.

I spent too much, but I don’t mind – I was *so* pleased to find the shop, the lady was lovely and I am really looking forward to casting on a project with any of my three purchases!

Durban

I’m now in Durban, staying with some family friends for a few days before starting another trade show next Saturday. I will be back in Blighty on Tuesday next, and although it will be nice to see the man and the hamsters, I wish they could come here instead of vice versa! (Did I mention the weather is warm? Twenty-five degrees!)

I will (probably) be finished Erquy by the next time you hear from me! Plenty of time on in airports and on planes, and a way to get knitting through all security has meant I’ve so far had nearly 24 hours of solid work on it, with plenty more to go!

I don’t know if I’ll have time before then to blog – I may be able to do WIP Wednesday this week as it is voting day in SA – but otherwise, see you when I’m back up north.

Much love,

Corrie xx