Just when you think I'm boring and predictable...

I do something crazy and ditch SnB to go to a Reggae concert in London after a last-minute invitation. My friend (and jam-night buddy) Adam said he was going to see a Beatles tribute band in London, do I want to go? Yes! He didn't tell me that they also did Pink Floyd and Radiohead (meh) but the Beatles songs were awesome in Reggae-style! They only really did stuff from Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but it was good. Loved Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Even though it's not on that album, I was really hoping to hear I am the Walrus, but didn't. The concert was great, the people behind us were smoking up a storm and we both had the munchies realllllly bad afterwards. We had to stop and get fish and chips. And then we had to stop and get a curry. And then a sandwich, and then I ate again when I got home.

I was going to go to London earlier that day to do some shopping for my little bro's graduation present and my aunt's wedding shawl, but I checked the weather and it was supposed to be cold and rainy, so I just went with Adam on the train. Just after the second or third stop, someone grew violently ill on the train in a different car, and they had workers running through the cars yelling "Is anyone here a doctor?". They kept running through yelling that, and after about 30 minutes of standing still while this person was really sick and everyone was stuck on the train between stops, Adam and I said that if they run through one more time, we'd announce that we were both doctors. We then decided to be the worst possible doctors in a situation like this, just for the hell of it. We're missing the start of the concert by this point, so why not have a little fun? He decided he was going to introduce himself as a radiologist and I was going to be an orthodontist. We would ask totally irrelevant questions such as, "before you were violently ill, did you happen to have a series of x-rays that you happen to have with you?" or "have you sought after treatment for your TMJ?" Luckily, the train started moving and we went to the next station where the person was met by paramedics and the rest of us moved to a different train so that car could be cleaned. Nothing like a little swine flu to get everyone a little paranoid, eh?

That's about it, really. No knitting to report, nothing overly new and exciting...just....tired from last night. But had a brilliant time at a Reggae concert in London, which was something I thought I'd never do. I'm really glad I did, though.

Wanted:

Wanted:

Someone to read my assigned books and handouts to me for 4-6 hours a day in a sexy Hugh Grant voice until June 4th. Will be paid in socks that pooled strangely and hats that don't look good on me. All interested should send resumes and swimsuit pictures to peaceloveyarn@aol.com. Jocks, Potheads, and William Shatner/ Christopher Walken/Elvis impersonators need not apply.

(On a totally unrelated note, I finished the Earth, Water & Wind socks. Do you like them? I went over my Flickr limit for April so I'm going to have to wait a couple more days to load them into Ravelry.)

Have an awesome day!

Fun in Frating/ I am a sock yarn whore

Had a wonderful morning/most of the afternoon in Frating today with Caroline, Lucy, Nadia, Maureen and lots of other knitters I didn't know, a quilter and a lady doing tapestry. Lucy came up with the idea of a meeting while ago, thinking we could all bring our unwanted books/magazines/yarns/etc and leave them on a table for people to take or swap for them. Since all of my belongings on this side of the atlantic can fit in a suitcase, a small duffel bag, and a violin case, I didn't have anything to give away or swap for. But that doesn't necesarily mean I didn't come home with anything. I told myself that I didn't need anything, and therefore I wasn't going to buy anything...and then Lucy brought her new yarns. And then Caroline brought some Noro Kureyon sock she didn't like...and it was downhill from there. Caroline also gave me a copy of "Yarn Forward" magazine with a cool hat pattern I like...may need one in purple to go with my new nose! Anyhoo, here are some pictures of today's awesomeness! At the peak of the Frating awesomeness, there were around 24-25 knitters. It was pretty crazy.My new additions to the stash, Lucy's Bear Necessities in "Pink Marbles" and "Emerald City" and the poor, unloved, unwanted Noro.Are there even words to describe this colorway? I think so...howabout, Mmmmmm yeah.My mitred square blanket checks out the competition (Nadia's mitred square blanket) Nadia went as far as accusing me of ironing mine to get it flatter (me? with an iron? I don't think so!)The "It comes Pints?"/Birthday Stole ( my birthday, of course. 1 month and 1 day to 21!) It doubled in size today, but seeing how small it was before this morning, that wasn't too outstanding of an achievement.

So that's about it! I only worked on the mitred square blanket long enough to finish the square I started last night before I got to sleep, and worked on the wrap for the rest of the day. Somehow, and I don't know how this happens, the more I knit on the purple beast, the bigger the ball of yarn gets! Amazing! I must find someone who can explain this phenomenon to me. Perhaps I shall take it to the physics department on Monday to see if someone there can help me solve this mystery....

"It comes in Pints?"

So this is my new stole. It is wonderful, it is easy, it's knit on needles that are probably 5 sizes too small and it could stand up on its own, but I love it anyway. It matches the dress I'm wearing to a wedding this summer. I'm only 2 repeats in, but that being said, they are 20 rows long each and I've added 20 stitches to the original pattern. I still have plenty of time though. No rush at all on this. I would like to get it done fairly quickly, or at least get to the point where I may be able to wear it in Ireland this June....maybe. Or be able to knit on it in Ireland without taking such a large yarnball with me (I know that sounds like a silly reason to work on it, but I can't imagine the jokes I would get from anyone that saw this beast. Wait....yes I can.) I am going to an Arts & Crafts day in Frating (probably spelled that wrong) on Saturday, which gives me something to look forward (ie wake up) to.

You probably want to know the specifics, though, right? It's called the Chalice lace baby blanket (which is a dirty word!) and I'm changing it up a bit, and the yarn is an uber-skien I got at Franklins. It's all on Ravelry if you're interested. Since the skien is 920 yards, I plan on just knitting until it runs out. That's always a good length for something. Unless that's ridiculously long, in which case I will make a couple baby hats with the rest. It is a lovely colour. The name "It comes in Pints?" was my friend Louise's idea; when discussing the monstrosity of the yarnball, she said it was like that scene in the Lord of the Rings where Merry says to Pippin (this is dork-talk for all who don't understand. It's okay. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you're probably what we would classify as "normal") "It comes in Pints?" after the wee-Hobit grabs himself a proportionally hilarious pint of beer. I tried to find a decent clip on Youtube to post here, but I could only find a dark, bootlegged copy. Sorry. Anyhoo...the "It comes in Pints?" excitement was almost exactly the same thrill that came over me when I saw this uber-skien. So until I think of something better, this is the "It comes in Pints?" stole to go with my dress for the wedding.

Moving on: Here is my latest pair of socks. The yarn is amazing, and I got it at the Fiber fair I went to on April 10th or 11th with Janet and Melinda and never posted about. Oops. Anyhoo, I took one of the skiens to Florida and casted on there, by the time I got back to Indy I was on the first heel flap, and by the time I landed in Heathrow a couple days later, I was here. The yarn is delicious but it's pooling quite strangely. That being said, I kinda dig it. I took pics of both sides to show off this super-weird pooling. For those of you who are in on the secret, I'd like to buy quite a bit more of this in a few months for no reason at all....

(It's 64 stitches around on size 2 needles, with an 8-row picot edge, plain stockinette)

So those are my new projects! I'm going to try to post after Arts & Crafts day in Frating and hopefully the stole will be starting to actually look like something.

So much to say, too jet-lagged to do it

So...I'm a terrible blogger, but you guys have probably figured that out. The truth is, I wish I could blog every day, but I'm just not that interesting and I don't knit fast enough to have something new each time. But every once in a while I just go non-stop for a week or two and once I remember that I haven't blogged in a while, I have so much to say, that I just don't even want to think about how I'm going to organize it all. So I'm not. I'm going to tell you about my trip to Disneyworld, a sock, and a stole that is just over an inch long. Then for the next post, I'm going to take pictures of another pair of socks and tell you about an upcoming lace project for a bride-to-be (that's NOT me- fyi). Prince William and I aren't *quite* there yet... Let's start with the best part: Disneyworld.
My mom and I went to Disneyworld for my last spring break as a student, and it was (mostly) awesome. It rained on the first day...alot. So we got cold, wet, and had to wear goofy ponchos to keep as dry as possible. I was hesitant to put on the poncho, but after a while, my hope in clear skies went away and I gave up and put the darn thing on. Here is one of the two pictures of my mom from the whole trip: If you see her out in public, call her "Poncho Libre". She hates it. She might honestly fly over to England and kill me for posting this picture :p
Then to be fair, this is me and my poncho in Norway (we did Epcot and Magic Kingdom in the rain). We went to France and saw an old friend, La Bette (The Beast). Hanging out with Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora. I truly think that Maleficent's spinning wheel was where it all started...for me at least.

The obligatory Cindy's Castle shot with Walt & Mickey.
Saw another old friend hanging out by the pirates of the Carribbean ride. He is trying to work on a merger between the Black Pearl and the Neverland Pirates so they can cover more water in tandem. I don't think it's doing very well. Get back to Neverland, Smee!

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Those are my two favs, and the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, perfect weather means lots of tourists and long lines, which was something we avoided the day before in the rain. We tried to get there early before all the animals went away for their naps. We got to see just about everything but the lions. Here are some of the highlights:

Evil Meercat. They're all cute and cuddly until you watch them on Animal Planet. Then they're just evil.

After we did just about all there was to do in Animal Kingdom at break-neck speeds, we headed over to Hollywood Studios and did my favorite two rides, Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster. Some lady was leaving and gave us fast passes for both on our way in, so that worked out perfectly and saved us a ton of time, which made up for the shuttle ride from hell (long story, not worth telling). We both were having funky hair days, so not too many pictures were taken. We did get some sock pictures, as I worked on it in line religiously in Animal Kingdom and got quite far that day.

The next day we did Downtown Disney (since you don't have to pay to enter or park) and hit the shops, including the world's largest Disney shop (just about peed my pants). Then headed back to Sarasota for the night. Went to one of the yarn stores the next day and got myself a nice ball of sparkly Berrocco Sox, and then headed to the airport. Got back and found these in the mail:
And started on this beast of a yarn ball last night. This morning I found her reading my book for my feminism class...good. Someone's got to do it.Moral of the story: Disney is awesome, I haven't been knitting very much, and I'm too jet-lagged to make this post any longer. I'm out!

The Wool has spoken

Ever get yarn that just speaks to you? It's a truly remarkable experience, at least for me. I normally go by the hmm-this-yarn-is-new-and-would-probably-make-a-good-sweater rule when shopping for yarn, but sometimes something just speaks to you and tells you exactly what it wants to be. My snapdragon merino roving from the Kromski store wants to be Mandie's Honeysuckle wrap. I think that's a wonderful idea....I just doubt that there's enough of it to make it's dream come true. It may have to settle for honeysuckle scarf...which would still be loverly. The roving itself is remarkable, from a distance it looks white, but once you get closer you see that is anything but white, it's a beautiful blend of blues, pinks, yellows and oranges. I love it. I wish I'd bought more...but it's just not in the budget right now.I'm going to go jump on the treadmill for an hour or so to work on the love handles....I leave you with Zen and Daffodils.

Birthday Turtles and OCO (Obsessive Casting On) Cardigans

I don't get asked to knit on group projects very often because I have a super-weird gauge (or maybe I smell, I don't know) so when Mandie asked me on Tuesday night to knit a shell for a group-effort turtle for Peg's birthday, I said YES! It didn't hit me until a few minutes later that my 2 messed up fingers and I had less than 48 hours to make it. Which is fine...if you plan on knitting a turtle shell for 2 days straight. But I'm glad to say that 30 minutes before my knit-night, I finished the shell. Janet made Sheldon the nekked turtle (turtle-butt!) and Francie made him a Colts shell. I went for the other end of things and made a hot pink and glittery shell, because our dear Sheldon might be a Shelley. It's so hard to tell on turtles. I also made a card with a sheep on it and I even got all creative (I always feel inspired after watching Martha Stewart) and glued some roving onto the sheep drawing. I kinda liked how it turned out...

I've also been a little crazy with the cast-ons since I've been home. I do this every time I come home from school, I get overwhelmed and excited by all the stash that's been chilling in my stash-room and I decide to play with it all. At the same time. I started with the acrylic. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've become a bit of a fiber-snob over the past few years and the acrylic has been slowing collecting a layer of dust while I reach for wool and alpaca over plastic yarn that squeaks when you knit it *shudders*. But I grabbed it and went for it, and have made 2 baby blankets for Project Linus so far, and am getting close on another 2. Since I was feeling all morally warm and fuzzy after dropping the first 2 off with Francie, I had to do another good deed and buy some green Purewool laceweight from "other Janet" who likes green nearly as much as I do. I tried to photograph it, it's just a really tricky color. It's a babypoop/acid green, but it's a good green (I know I didn't paint a good image for you) so we'll call it "Fern".
Since 4 Project Linus cast-ons weren't enough, I casted on 2 more cardigans, because I totally don't have enough projects going on right now. (In my defense I did finish a pair of hibernating socks last night, I just haven't grafted the toe together on the second one. Pics eventually) and now I've got 2 more cardi's going. One is a sport weight brown alpaca version of Mel Clark's Rowena Cardigan and the other is a top-down raglan that I'm improvising in Rowan Colourscape (I know. I'm a Rowan-ho.) I took pics of both, but I haven't made it far in either yet. I might just go all-out on the Rowan one since it's bulky, and will take all of a week to finish (I bet you anything I've just jinxed myself. Now I'll never finish it!)
But yeah...that's about it. Birthday turtles and OCO Cardigans. How's YOUR knitting going?