Roadtrippin' and small things spotted

Being married to an after-hours endurance athlete, means a lot of road tripping to nice places, of which my South Africa has no shortage.  So this weekend we went off galavanting to the Trans-Baviaans 24hr Mountain Bike Marathon where  our team of four rode into the mountains, following dirt roads, single tracks, orienteering through the kloofs and slipping down snot-like mud downhill towards thick gravel and potholes.  They started at 10h00 in the Karoo town of Willowmore and had 24 hrs to make to to Jeffreys Bay.  They're allowed only a 1-person logistical support and the checkpoints, and none on the road.   Our novices did quite well, considering one broke his chain in three places, and another had to be medevacked (but is now fine), and they're happy with their finish time of 14:40.

That was at 00h40 in the morning .
#imstillblearyeyed

We, the Wives of Cyclists,  did what the support team does and that is to take a long, slow drive, and pitstop at nice places along the route :-)

First stop was at The Heath, a favourite for good coffee on the the N2 and a nice spot to find some community project hooky:

Mmm...an idea for that basket or straw bag where the bottom corners are getting a bit...worn?

Pretty clutches

Onwards to Old Nick's Village, where I walked with my hands firmly tucked behind my back at Mungo's and just had time for a quick dash through on or two doors...

...where I spotted the lady at Indalo working on these squares!

By that time our boys' support vehicle reported a pitstop at a local church bazaar (fête) and lo and behold, it was just up the highway and 8 km off behind the mountain, so there we went!

The community of the tiny hamlet of Kareedouw hosts a Fietsfees (Bicycle Festival) during TransBaviaans weekend in the form of a bazaar on the church grounds:

How beautiful are these sandstone churches?

Ja...we had to pose...me lurking in the back with the red scarf.

As church bazaars go, there was some craft to be found, and  spotted this beauty of a baby blanket:

Love the sandstone colours.  I might be right in thinking this was done in Elle Premier Cotton DK, a beautiful mercerised cotton yarn.

And again, beautiful work from a community craft project, and I walked away with new washpeg bag and these potholders for me and my sisi:

Some shwe-shwe brightness for my kitchen, with crochet in Elle Premier Cotton

These hand-embroidered proteas will be making their way to Ireland

A most enjoyable, tiring weekend, with very little of my own hooky being done!
Will catch up, hoping for a quiet morning :-)

Slow and steady the tortoise was finished

My aunty D's tortoise potholders had to retire after a long hard-working life, and she wondered could I maybe crochet new ones?

Looking a tad 'used-up'

So I said I'd try, and trawled the net to find a similar pattern.  Surprisingly enough, I found one quickly, and then got real lucky as I could get a great colour match at I Love Yarn.

The colour is 'Guava' and it is just so beautiful

The yarn is a bamboo/cotton mix, and I decided to use double strands to insure good insulation (as I had a burn or two through a crochet potholder I've bought!).  Double-stranding does not work well for me...I don't like it, or might rather do it in rows than in motifs - I struggled a bit with the oval.  I discarded the first pattern after two or three tries and then found an amigurumi tortoise made up of pentagons...now that could work better!  Again, double stranding, and it actually added to the size as well, and my tortoise was growing. 

Tortoise V.2

I just added the row of Mixed Caramels singles to simulate the shell pattern, and it worked well enough.
(This was my first go at pentagons...not  my most favourite ever!  I'm sure it would be much neater with more practice and one strand only).

Amarula on ice, anyone?

At first I had grand plans of lining the inner with felt and nice printed cotton...in the end, simple Mixed Caramel pentagons won out :-)  That actually also worked out well, as it makes for a nice, thick, potholder. 

Starting to resemble a tortoise shell

I must confess that I got a bit impatient here...I have accepted that amigurumis and similar might not be my strongest point.  The head and feet turned out to be very small, but still recognisable shapes, and I still need to sew on some eyes and tails, but hey, these tortoises are going to do their job of Pot Holding!

...that is, if they don't take off before then

"What are these, Mies?"

Now I must just make a date to get on the train to Jozi for a long-overdue coffee with aunty D.