I had an idea that my 9 days in Johannesburg would have me working all day and then spending the evenings in my hotel room, quietly knitting and listening to audio books. What actually happened was that I worked all day, ate dinner (by myself – boo hoo!), and then went back to my hotel room where I answered email, caught up with admin and collapsed well before 9 each evening.  Not much knitting got done.

However, I was able to spend a few hours on the weekend sitting out by the pool in the Johannesburg winter sunshine (which is almost like British summer sunshine) and get some relaxing and knitting time.  Here is where I sat by the poolside:

Not bad, huh?

And here is a very un-interesting photo of the progress on my black linen tee-shirt.  It is hard to photograph plain, black knitting in progress and make it look interesting.

The tee starts at the shoulders on the back, does some short row shaping, and then is knitted down to the the armhole; then stitches are picked up for the front shoulder and knit down.  There is some lace on the front, which I am just about to start.  Once I get down to the armhole, the front and back will be joined and then the body is knit in the round.

I also cast on for my Hanne Falkenberg jacket.  The fronts and back are knit as one piece, back and forth, so although this photo makes it look like a very small piece, this is actually 300 or so stitches and 40+ inches wide.

Here is a close-up of the pattern in which you can see the variegation in both yarns. The dark blue is a Shetland wool and the contrast yarn is a linen blend.

Here is where I spent most of my time.  This is the lovely campus of the Henley Business School South Africa in Johannesburg.  I teach there around 6 times a year, and always enjoy it immensely.  The students there are fantastic, and the staff always make me feel at home.

Here I am with some of my South African colleagues, from left to right: Lyneth, me, Eli, and Caritas.

I leave you with another shot I took at the Henley South Africa campus.  When you next hear from me, I will be reporting from Vancouver.