The heat is on.... or rather, it's about to come OFF in a hurry!

We've been in Gurgaon for two months. In this time, despite my very best efforts, Geri's Masto has gone from bad to appalling. Her health is very unstable and she's had the return of some serious symptoms that we haven't seen since she started her medication regime. So, a difficult decision has been made and she and I are leaving - we have three more days here.

This decision is problematic in a number of ways, one of which is that we certainly didn't plan to be going to Wellington's winter from Gurgaon's summer. The reason it's a problem is that the temp here is still in the mid 40s (c) and the temp at home in Wellington is around 5-12c. This is going to be a challenge to manage with Geri's masto, to put it mildly. To complicate things, we are having a short break in Melbourne on the way home - trouble is, we have no winter clothing with us...

So, I've raided my stash and have been knitting fit to burst for the last 5 days. I already had a number of cold weather projects planned, one of which was a beret for Geri. As she can't wear wool; as I've mentioned in earlier posts, I had found a gorgeous handspun pure rabbit angora yarn in Melbourne from Morris and Sons.

Pure Rabbit Angora

Its label suggests; 5-6mm needles / 19 st per 10cm. I used 5mm needles 18st / 26 rows to achieve the gauge that matched the pattern I was using.

Lion Brand Kim Beret

The beret knitted up very quickly and took exactly two hanks of yarn. Best of all, Geri loves it and now I know that at least her head will be warm!

At the same time as starting the beret I started a scarf/shawl for myself using the same pattern that I used to make the Green Colonnade Shawl. I'm using the same brand of wool as last time -  Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica pure merino. The colours are a bit off in this photo so check out the link to get a better feel for the combination.

The solid colour is:

Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica - Kohl

and the varigated is:

Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica - Lava

This is growing quite well, but I don't think I'm going to get it finished in time for our trip home - ah well. I should be wearing it by early July though 8-}

To compensate for the lack of something warm to wear around my shoulders, Chris bought me (you know how is goes .... I chose and Chris paid ...) a present - a beautiful hand embroidered genuine pashmina.  Perhaps it's just as well I am leaving as the choice was overwhelming. We got Geri a lovely pure silk one as well. I'll post photos a bit later as we have a massive dust storm heading our way this very minute and it has become too dark to take photos of them !