Knitting Fun

That’s one thing that I love about Shanghai – the multitude of events on every week.

There’s anything from drinking beer and seeing who’s the hottest Hooter’s girl in Shanghai, to ‘blue’ moon parties with buckets of booze, jello shots and body paint, to watching a film screening of Darjeeling Limited, to streetboarding World Cups, to visiting an exhibition filled with Olympics posters, to hearty ‘kegs and eggs’ brunches, to women’s boxing ‘Brawl on the Bund’ challenges, to watching Elton John sing. The possibilities seem endless.

However, me being me (sweet and demure, ahem) spotted ‘Knit Squares for AIDS-impacted Orphans!’ and I was automatically sold. It must’ve been the exclamation mark. So on Saturday, I dragged Rob along to the event for a knitting extravaganza. Before all you males give me the evil eye, we did spend the previous Sunday eating McDonald’s and watching Black Hawk Down. Balance is always a good thing.

Speaking of McDonald’s, they have this burger called the ‘Black&White Burger’ over here. Perhaps it can’t compare to ‘The Serious Lamb Burger’ I was eyeing that just came out in McDonald’s Australia (‘A succulent patty of Australian lamb mixed with rosemary, parsley and oregano, topped with a freshly cracked egg, juicy beetroot, gourmet salad, ketchup and aioli’ – seriously? It even featured on Huffington Post. And yes, browsing through McDonald’s menus worldwide in your free time is the cool thing to do). However, it is full of black peppery goodness – one chicken, one beef – and how can you resist how deliciously cute they are. It is now my McDonald’s burger of choice.

Okay, apologies, I digressed.

I’ve spent quite a while trying to think of how to make my description of the knitting circle sound as exciting as I thought it was and realised it is quite a feat. Not everyone is quite as strange as I am. Okay in short, imagine this. In a little quirky cafe within the French Concession, sit a group of people knitting 20x20cm squares in order to sew them together and make blankets for cold little orphans. Or at least attempt to knit. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Here’s me:

Here’s what I ended up with:

Here’s Rob:

Here’s what he ended up with:

Okay, it is impolite to laugh. (Loudly). The second attempt was much improved and actually rather impressive:

He later complained of muscle cramps, headaches, eye strain and came down with a fever for the next two days…

Male vs male. No bias here, but I must say that he did a much better job than the (only) other guy that was there.

Got a little knit-happy and decided to finish my square at home. Yes, that is me knitting at a hairdressing salon. No, I have no shame.

So that’s the end of my knitting adventure. Perhaps not quite the end. I intend to make it a regular fortnightly activity. I can also choose to visit an orphanage, help migrant children learn how to read, adopt a grandparent for a day or play with abandoned cats! Don’t mock, I find these things exciting.

I’m starting to like Shanghai more and more.