Monday craftyness

I've taken a break from my Ravelympic knitting last night and today to finish up some other projects that are lingering around my flat.

First up is a necklace for my sister. It was her birthday last week but she's been away visiting her inlaws so I haven't seen her. Hopefully she will like it.



I also finished up these felted flower pins for her too. They've been lying around for a week or so waiting for the pin backs to be attached.



And finally something for me. I found a bracelet that I'd started making a while back so I thought I'd finish it up.



I did get down to some knitting tonight though and I finished up another pair of socks. Its another pair of Monkey socks in Yarn yard merino tencel in the shade birthday. I really love this pattern and the yarn is so very soft.



Finally more pictures from China. Today's pictures are of some recognisable places. First up, the Great wall.





I visited two different sections of the wall at Jinshanling and Simatai. Both of these sections are further out from Beijing that those that you often see in tourist programs and during the current coverage and as such they are less developed. The best thing about that is there are less people so its less hurried. Also its a lot less noisy. One of the major things that I noticed in China is just the sheer amount of noise. No one really seems to have a concept of quiet, probably simply due to the amount of people that are always around. Personal space also seems to be a bit of an alien concept too - it was a little disconcerting how close strangers wanted to get and at times, some people just walked up and started commenting on your appearance or the fact that you weren't Chinese or just start to ask lots of personal questions. Glasgow is kind of known for people coming up and telling you their life story on the bus but we are amateurs compared to the average Chinese person. Having said that, I don't think I met anyone the whole time I was there who wasn't polite, so very friendly and genuinely pleased to meet anyone visiting their country.

Secondly Tiananmen square.



I found Tiananmen square a very spooky place to visit. Perhaps it was just my imagination combined with the knowledge of what has happened there in the past but I felt uneasy and a little sad whilst I stood in the square. As you can see in the picture, the air is pretty smoky. You can feel it in your lungs and on your skin.