I was commenting on a reading blog I follow about my recent trip to Malaysia and I wrote “I knitted and snorkelled (alas, not simultaneously)” and thought to myself “That is a good title for a post!”.  So, here we are.

I went snorkelling 5 times on our short holiday on Tioman Island.  I had only done it once before, many years ago, and now realise that I am far too out of shape to have jumped off a boat in the middle of the South China Sea and gone off swimming in rough chop and currents.  Of the five swims (I want to say “dives” but I don’t think that counts for snorkelling) I had panic attacks on the first – while I tried to figure it out – and struggled quite a bit on the last two because of the conditions, but the second and third were lovely.  Although of course there is massive die-off of the coral, as there is everywhere, there were still spots where the coral was alive and beautiful and the marine life bountiful and colourful.  I decided I like this sport, but that I definitely need to be in better shape before I make a hobby of it.

We could definitely say that the knitting was a more successful venture – no panicking, just smooth sailing all the way.  I took two projects with me, and worked a little on each.  The fuschia tank top knit in pure raw silk was a good project to work on at the beach, and I finished one piece and knitted about 3 inches of the other.  (For information on the patterns for these two tanks, you can read this post.)  Here is the finished piece:

I wasn’t so sure about the colour (the shop was a skein short of my first choice – Capri Blue).  But now that I have been working on it, I think it is a great summer colour – very cheery and bright.  I also managed to knit 7 inches (in the round) of the Paid in Full tank:

It is squished onto a short-ish needle for ease of knitting, thus the lace doesn’t show up so well in this photo. Once blocked, it will be gorgeous.  I am loving every minute of this knit: the pattern is so pretty and well-written and the yarn is a joy to knit.  The yarn, Tern by Quince & Co, has 25% silk and it is springy and light and feels so good on the hands while knitting.  Each stitch is beautifully formed and distinct.  I love it!  The pattern has such professional details, too; I love the way the lace pattern starts before the ribbing ends and how it emerges organically from the ribbing:

Doug and I are still jet-lagged (and Doug is about to fly to Vancouver which will just compound everything).  But it is a glorious Saturday and I have nothing that must get done today.  I plan to sit in the garden and knit, sans the snorkelling.