Travelling the interstellar highway with a kikoy towel

‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use  it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid  the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal ( a mind bloggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense pyschological value. For some reason if a strag (non-hitchiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has a towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc, etc. Furthermore the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have ‘lost’. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slam it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence, a phrase that has passed into hitchhiker slang is “You’re a happy frood who knows where his towel is” 

Footnote: Towel Day is celebrated every 25 May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author.

It’s time to throw away the fashion rule book and the belief that horizontal stripes make the wearer look big and vertical stripes thinner.

The opposite is true according to research published recently in the journal  i – PERCEPTION by England’s University of York.

Journalist Fiona MacRae reports (Sunday Times April 3, 2011) that to look slimmer and taller, wear stripes across the body.  The researchers showed their volunteers drawings of pairs of women in horizontally and vertically striped dresses and asked ‘Who is bigger?’

According to previous conventional wisdom, horizontal stripes apparently draw the eye to a woman’s mid section and add centimetres to her waist while vertical stripes elongate her shape? But the experiment found the opposite to be true. When the two women, of the same size, wear the same size clothing, the woman wearing the horizontal stripes was judged to be slimmer.

Great news for everyone wearing the beautiful striped Kikoys. You can feel confident of looking thinner and taller!

Colours of the kikoy

We had a wonderful Kikoy weekend away down in the Margaret River wine growing region of WA. Rockpool Kikoy was part of a team of talented artisans who set up a Pop Up Shop of interactive stalls on the beautiful lawns overlooking the lake at Gunyulup Galleries.

The sun shone, the kikoys looked really bright and gorgeous and we all had a swim at Smiths Beach at the end of the day while the surfers caught a few good waves. Yay!

We received a great thankyou card from friends who have become new parents.

“Thanks so much for the beautiful kikoy. She’s had a couple of swims at the South beach already and the kikoy is much loved”.

Freya is pretty cute and as she grows she’ll always have her very own little kikoy beach towel.

YELLOW: Renewal, hope, joy and happiness. ‘Wattle Flower’ & ‘Summer Gold’  Kikoys

WHITE: Light, goodness, innocence & purity. ‘Summertime’, ‘Popsicle’, ‘Seashells’ & ‘Pebble Beach’

GREEN: Life, nature, fertility & well being. ‘Parakeet’, ‘Budgerigar’, ‘Dragonfly’, ‘Olive Tree’ & ‘Rainforest’

RED: Passion, desire, love, strength & energy. ‘Desert Wrap’

ORANGE: Creativity, enthusiasm, success & determination. ‘Coral Bay’, ‘Desert Gold’ & ‘Mango Smoothy’

PINK: Romance, love & friendship. ‘Pink Everlasting’, Pink Cockatoo’, Shell Pink’, ‘Sorbet’ & ‘Raspberry’

LIGHT BLUE: Tranquility, health, healing & softness. ‘Rockpool’, ‘Ningaloo’ & ‘Parrot Fish’

DARK BLUE: Trust, loyalty, wisdom & confidence. ‘Abrolhos’, True Blue’ & ‘African Night’ 

PURPLE: Power, nobility, luxury & mystery. ‘Desert Night’, ‘Jacaranda’ & ‘Sea Urchin’

BLACK: Power, elegance & formality. ‘Charcoal’, ‘Macchiato’ & ‘Smokebush’

BROWN: Stability & masculine qualities. ‘Safari’ & ‘Chico’ 

I am often asked what are the most popular colours for the younger girls. What parents think the girls like isn’t what the girls pick for themselves!

Popular kikoys chosen are almost always “Summertime” and “Popsicle” (Yes, they love the white kikoys!!!). The versatile “Seashells” is a popular colour which goes with everything – from a sarong to looking great as a mini skirt wrap over skinny blue jeans or leggings. Vibrant “Sorbet” is the Varoom kikoy! Everyone loves this colour for the summer and the beachy aqua colours of “Parrot Fish” and ”Sea Urchin ” always sell well with the beach babies.

Summertime & ParrotFish kikoys seen here at the beach!

Popular Summertime & Parrot Fish Kikoys at the beach!

Rockpool Kikoy features in the new bumper release of Scoop Magazine Summer 2010, just out! In Style Update, Scoop talks up the eco cred with ’Beach style with a conscience’ and describes the kikoy as a ‘top accessory for the beach’ .  The stunning ‘sea urchin’  wearable beach towel is featured.

Click the image to see the full size version.

Wrap Me Up

Top accessory for the beach? Check out the kikoy – a traditional cotton wrap. Its vibrant colours are perfect for the summer, and it has eco cred – it’s given its fresh hues with enviro-friendly Swiss/ german dyes. Beach style with a conscience. $45, sarong.net.au.

Ningaloo Kikoy at beautiful Ningaloo

Beautiful Ningaloo Marine Park and the magnificant northern coastline is one of many endless perfect places that people go to escape the winter and chill out. Pack a couple of brilliant kikoy sarongs in the caravan – they take up no room and can be used for absolutely everything! But best of all they are the most beautiful sarong for living life on the beach. The kikoy sarong dries quickly and are super strong for using as a towel, to shield the sun from the shoulders on walks along the sand, to cover food on the table or the esky or keep one handy to use as a sheet for a lazy nap in the annexe in the afternoon when the breeze comes in.  Pick a kikoy colour of coral, sand or turquoise waters and celebrate your good fortune to be where we’d all love to be! (Sarong colours are Coral Bay, Seashells, Sea Urchin, Rockpool, Parrot Fish or Ningaloo).

Max & friends at Kamakura Beach, Japan

A friend living with her family in Japan sent this great picture of the Kamakura beach. She said the Japanese are delightful and it is such an interesting and civilised country to be in although sometimes a little bonkers. Every day there is something to make her smile – like dogs dressed as fairies in supermarket trolleys! Winter great with the snow, spring beautiful with cherry blossom, summer hot but we get to see Max wearing a Kikoy Wearable  Beach Towel (Ningaloo) with his friends. Good place to be.