bula.....

...Charlotte's favourite word at the moment, after a week or so on Castaway Island, Fiji.
Lots of swimming, sandcastle building and shell collecting- and the weather was just perfect.
I have never been much of a one for snorkeling but decided (with a little encouraging from Damian) to give it a try. Amazing. I could have floated out there for hours- I only wish that I could have worked out a way to take my drawing stuff along for the swim!
In the middle of the day, when it was just too hot to be out in the sun, we found other things to occupy ourselves. Reading, making shell necklaces or just lazing around doing nothing. Nice.
One day we did a bit of weaving with banana palm fronds to make a 'mat' to put in the fairy house that the girls built.

Of course no holiday would be complete without a holiday craft project. I really wanted to make a start on a small crochet bag for Charlotte for Christmas,so I took along a hook and a few balls of some Nepalese banana silk that Maggie had bought for me last year in New Zealand. I had been looking for some way to use it -the yarn has a lovely dry feel and lustre and a bag seemed like a good choice.
Until I started that is....
I found the banana silk quite difficult to work with due to its very uneven texture. Admittedly I used a fairly small hook ( 3.50mm) as I wanted the fabric to be firm enough to hold its shape - perhaps with a bigger hook the fiber might have been easy to work with. Anyway, I persevered and was quite happy with the result- I just need to line it and sew on the small flower.

The plan was to make another for Rose in green and white but now I'm not so sure...perhaps I will try the same pattern in a cotton yarn instead. (Any hints, tips or suggestions for working with banana silk are most welcome- I still have a skein of lovely bright green to use up......)

Comments

[kirsten]

mmmmm, holiday. mmmm, beach. mmmm, water. lucky, lucky things! very, very cute bag, too.

[Pauline]

How absolutely perfect! We take the kids to Castaway every second year and next year is the one... saving madly... Lovely photos.

[Sonnja]

Lovely Bag!
Kind regards,

Sonnja, from the Netherlands

[Zelia]

Oh uau!
what a lovely holiday you had!
How lucky..
here winter is comming:(

The bafg looks lovely!

much love
Zelia

[Jenny]

Lucky you-sounds ideal. Enjoy it while you can. Such luxury.The little bag turned out really well.

[ingrid]

Lucky you! I looks like a lovely holiday. I love the first shot of your little beach girl.

[angelique]

We are very lucky to have recently moved to Noumea and we know those fantastic blue skies and white sand very well. Glad to hear it was a good holiday. Cheers

[Catalina]

wao! great holidays! beautiful bag and great watercolours! :)

[Catalina]

wao! great holidays! beautiful bag and great watercolours! :)

[Mirre]

Your holiday looks and sounds heavenly!