Hawaiian knitting... well... sorta....

While others have reported on our recent Hawaiian adventure, it behooves me to discuss the craft adventure my sister and I enjoyed. Flora Dec is a fantastic store in Honolulu, an Aladdin's cave of delights. There were artificial flowers galore, and all kinds of nifty crafty things. My sister bought a couple of ribbon and yarn leis, which were just beautiful and more reasonably priced than those in the tourist traps. I bought various things, including:

• A lei needle. This is a very long needle for stringing fresh flowers on. It was deployed on my return, using red and white bougainvillea flowers snitched from the neighbours. I wore it to an SSK meeting a couple of weeks ago.


• Making Eyelash Crochet Leis 3 by Coryn Tanaka and May Masaki. This is a wonderful how-to book for making fuzzy and gorgeous leis, and even includes patterns for Pet Leis - collars and leads for your pets. There is a picture of a Dobermann looking less than happy wearing a neon pink fuzzy collar with matching lead, and lots of cats wearing fuzz around their necks. Hmmmm, can I see Jonty the Pug wearing something like this? No, I value the Pug's dignity more than that.


• Some eyelash yarn. Two balls of dark red Idena Happy Yarn, to be precise. Yes, I plan to make one of these things. To wear? Maybe. I don't value my own dignity quite as highly as I do Jonty's.


• Making Ribbon Leis 1 and 2 , also by Coryn Tanaka and May Masaki. I gave the first to a friend who enjoys a huge range of craft, flitting from one to the next, and have plans for some of the others.


• Artifical leis only go so far. Sometimes you want real flower ones, and with frangipanni season coming up the streets are laden with blossoms. So how could I resist Hawaiian Lei Making by Laurie Shimizue Ide? I couldn't.

Now you'd think that would be enough, wouldn't you? Of course it was. But lurking on the shelves at home I already had:

• Hawaiian Seed Lei Making, also by Laurie Shimizue Ide. Most of these projects involve using a drill. As I don't have a drill, and have even less dexterity, I am unlikely to put any of this into practice, lovely as they are. I have my trusty old black kukui nut lei, which I do wear from time to time, so probably don't need any more.


• In case you think I am a lei-fanatic, I also have
Poakalani Hawaiian Quilt Cushion Patterns and Designs Vol. 2, (I can't find a link to Vol 2, so Vol 4 will give you the idea.) But alas, I am not a quilter at all, and despite having had this book for several years, have made nothing from it.

So what do you think? Will I ever choose a project from one of these books, or will I just look? Will Jonty get his very own lei and wear it with pride? Ages ago I found this photo, and while it isn't Jonty, it does stay with the Hawaiian theme, does it not?


That pug does NOT look happy, and I really don't hold with people who dress up their small pets. I think Jonty is safe.