dear friends, there were questions about my plains shawl, the one i posted about last week, so i thought it best to answer them here, if it helps anyone, that would be great. 1. 'how did you find a needle long enough?' i used a 38" circular needle, which held the one thousand one hundred and fifty two stitches, just. if i made one again, a larger length would probably be a good investment for the hands. that many stitches bunched together can hurt. 2. 'did you make a mistake? and have to go back?' no, luckily. and here's why. for all the rows up to the lace portion, one stitch marker (to mark the beginning of the row) was all that was needed. and you only have to pay attention on the increase and faux increase rows then, when the gull pattern began, i placed a marker every third repeat. the gull stitch is a seven stitch repeat, so every twenty one stitches a marker went on the needle. it quickly became clear that i wouldn't have enough markers. i only have about a dozen. so i went to a craft store and bought a few packages of jump rings. i needed fifty five total. the not so good thing about this was, the fifty five markers were like adding fifty five more stitches and i really did wish for a longer needle then! 3. 'are you crazy?' hee hee, i hope not. we have confirmed we will be visiting a himba village, while on our safari to namibia next month. it's necessary to have a guide take you, for language, cultural reasons, to bridge the gap. i'm so thrilled, it's been a long time dream. so i've begun making something to bring, to give. i started with the necklaces i showed a couple posts ago, but tired of working with itty bitty string and size zero needles. i need something a little quicker. so these pockets were born. the himba of namibia i have a plan to add something small to each, a trinket, buttons, sea glass... animals. african ones would be good. i truly feel one the best parts of visiting other countries, is bringing gifts to share. because of the wonder of blogging, in 2009, we met african blog friends and the orphans of kazungula in botswana. i knit thirty five little hats (it can get very cold there), for these babies. you can read about this here. now while i knit, i'm picturing more smiling faces i can't wait to meet. ~ if you would like to make a pocket i would love to bring it with me to deliver to the lovely himba. there is still time (if you hurry). one pocket only takes about an hour. depending on what weight yarn you use. there really is no pattern, but for those that would like to follow what i've made here are my notes: using worsted weight yarn and size 8 double point needles cast on 26 stitches divide on three needles, 8, 8, 9 join to knit in the round knit 3" knit 2 together all the way around knit one row using tail pull through 13 stitches. crochet approx. 34" chain, attach to each side and single crochet around edge. if you'd rather knit this on two needles as a sort of rectangle and stitch it up, that would be great too. no need to leave out the non dpn folk. we're leaving in nineteen days. just to let you know (hee hee, i've been counting down reminding everyone around me, sorry) email me at: [email protected] for my address, if you'd like to send one. i know it's a small thing, these pockets, but in many ways, it's a large thing indeed. joining with ginny a bit early this week, happy yarn along!