Twist

Tashi Delek! That’s a traditional Tibetan greeting. My name is Kristi, and I’ll be a guest blogger for City Knitting on occasion. My family (husband and 7-month old daughter) and I live in Lhasa, Tibet, where we work for two international non-profit NGOs. In my spare time, I love to knit! So, I thought I’d give you all a taste of the knitting life here on the roof of the world. First, here’s a picture of how Lhasa looks. This is the Jokhang Temple, the most holy temple in Tibet:

Tibetan Buddhists from all over Central Asia make pilgrimages to this temple.
Right across from the Jokhang is my local version of “City Knitting”

No sorting by gauge here! This is the biggest market for yarn that I have found in Lhasa. Most of it comes from mainland China and IF it has a label with information on it, it’s in Chinese, which is no help to me. You can find decent wool in bright colors (I’m sure it’s great to felt with) and lots of acrylics, which doesn’t really interest me. What I’ve been interested in is yak wool. For those of you not familiar with a yak, here is a mom and her baby:

Yak wool yarn can be bought in the market as well, and comes with even less packaging than the Chinese yarn:

Here I am bargaining for my yak wool, (no fixed prices here- you have to bargain for everything- even in department stores). I am asking if he’s giving me the “foreigner” price or the local price. I hope I landed somewhere in the middle.

On the way home from the market, my husband (who took the photos - thanks!) asked how much I bought. They measure the wool by weight here, not length- so I have no idea how much yarn I bought in length, but that I bought two Jin, which is about a kilo of yarn. Seeing as how I don’t have a specific project in mind yet, I’m not worried about how many yards it is. I’m hoping to dye the wool and knit up and felt a bag. But that’s a whole other blog. Until next time, Tashi Delek!