Countdown to London!

Hey there! Here I am, procraftinating again with the help of a new project and a blog. The big news is that I finally (not finally- the entire project took less than 2 weeks) finished the Socks of Dover/Blue Hedera socks! Which of course means, I've started the Guy Fawkes Sawkes in hopes of having them done by the 5th of November (I hope I can remember!) I can just tell they are going to be trouble...

So, I guess to recap on the Hedera socks:

Yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in the color Lunar Zazzle. Pattern is by Cookie A. from Knitty.com. I honestly feel like I let the Dream in Color down- maybe I should have done something else? I just feel- not worthy. The socks are pretty, but I was expecting...I don't know...they just don't feel right. I do have alot leftover- that will go into the mitered square blanket. I'm still only 2 squares in- I have to wait until I finish a pair of socks to make a square.

I also didn't fully appreciate how nice of a yarn the D.I.C. in until I started knitting the Guy Fawkes Sawkes in Plymouth Happy Feet. Yeah, I bought the Happy Feet because it was relatively cheap stashing in the event that the yarn was taken away on the airplane or some other disaster went down, but now that I've spoiled myself with D.I.C., knitting with Happy Feet kind of feels like knitting with flannel. It's just...not great. But the color is perfect for the Guy Fawkes Sawkes, and they are going to London with me on Saturday. Hopefully we will get our picture taken in front of Parliament, or with Johnny Depp at Madame Toussaud's wax museum. Maybe both- who knows!

Hopefully my camera will stop acting up by Saturday's trip- for some reason all my recent pictures are gone and pictures I thought I deleted months ago are back. Hmm. No idea what's going on with it. So the pictures I got of Tom's hat are gone for now, and if they ever come back I'll be sure to post them.

I also met up with Caroline Craftyfox on Tuesday morning at an art gallery/cafe and we got our knit on for a few hours. We were both making socks, and while it felt like I wasn't making any progress at all, the knitting fairy snuck into my bag and knitted a few inches while I was riding the bus back. I just love how that happens. Caroline also gave me a most wonderful and terribly English gift- 2 skiens of Rowan Rowanspun dk in a navy blue that will go perfect with my new coat. I need to find a fun lacy pattern to bring out the best in that yarn. She also lent me a Rowan magazine so I could copy a few patterns without buying the book. I've already picked out my favorite- a ribbed, beaded cardi on size 3 needles. I would have flipped right by it normally, but I did just buy a new skirt that needs a matching shirt. Hmm....maybe the after-Christmas sale rack at Michaels can help me out on this one.

That's about it- I'm feeling a little sleepy and may have a little bit of a nap before I get back to reading Keats. That guy can put me to sleep faster than a carbon monoxide leak.

hehe....

I know this is terribly American and closed-minded of me, but every once in a while I see something like this and can't help but snicker for a minute. And then take a picture of course:So I went on a walk today to enjoy the arrival of fall and buy more milk and Cheerios. I took a couple pictures for you guys since I don't have a lot of progress to show on my second Hedera sock. I'm loosing momentum and second sock syndrome is setting in and has made me not want to turn the heel. But since I am meeting Craftyfox for knitting over tea tomorrow, I need to turn the heel so I can focus on conversation. I also wanted to thank everyone for voting on what I should name the socks, and with about half an hour left in the vote, I think it's safe to say that we have a winner.

With 7 votes, our winner is "Cliffs of Dover"

Keep them as Bluberry Scones got 4 votes, and Crumpet socks got 3 votes. Jane Bennet, Wivenhoe Blues and Cold feet in Colchester all tied with 2, and this time nobody voted "I don't care" which is a relief. It's a little dissapointing when the highest scoring option is "They're only socks, you idiot. Get on with it."

I believe that I am all set for names on the next few pairs of socks, and I've got to fit in a couple lacy scarves for gifts quite soon, but they might need names.

Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you! Today was the day the Colchester Gazette came out and I'm in it! Luckily my picture didn't make it in because I was on week 2 of Fresher's Flu and looked like a combination of Death and Keith Richards with yarn, but the interview they did of me was quite long. They mentioned 8 times within 2 paragraphs that I was American (Paige, an American studying at Essex working on a pair of American socks with some lovely blue wool she got in America) but talked more about how I was the youngest one there but still totally with it. Score! I still haven't found the article on the website, but you're welcome to look around for it...let me know if you see something!

Another surprise! I'm designing a pair of socks! Actually I've already designed them, done the charts and the math and am now looking for the perfect yarn.

The pattern is for my readers and my fellow Fangbangers in the True Blood group on Ravelry (It's actually called Knit One, Dead Two) but it's about the new Vamp show on HBO. I designed a pair of socks for the main vamp, Bill, an ex-confederate soldier who got vamptified as he was going home after the surrender of the South. But it turns out my totally awesome pattern was already out there and called "Waffle Socks" and there is no point in even writing up my "Bill Compton" socks because I don't want to get sued for copyright infrigement. I have better things to do today.

But I am working on a pair of socks for the character Lafayette, who may be the most awesome character on the show. He's a gay, black, drug-dealing fry-cook at the restaurant where half the show is shot, and he's awesome. His drug of choice is "V" or vampire blood, and it gets people on it super-trippy, so the sock has cabled spirals and little Vs between the spiral repeats. The pattern is bright, bold, complex and trippy, I hope you like it- I sure do! Once I get the perfect yarn and get it knitted up, I will put it on my blog...somehow. Still working on making a link to free patterns in the sidebar. If anyone knows how to do that, please let me know- I'm technologically challenged.

The Sock Adventures: Part 2

So there's not been alot going on in my life that's worth blogging about, but apparently the sock has been having a great time with my friends in Colchester.

Yesterday evening, the monster in my belly demanded food that wasn't breakfast cereal or a salad, so I rounded up a few of the flatmates and we headed to Colchester on a quest for food. Since Alex (blonde guy) has recently misplaced(?) his wallet, we couldn't go to a pub for dinner due to his lack of ID and the fact that he still looks at bit like a 15 year old. So we went to Nando's chicken, a cultural must and a huge Mongolian BBQ rip-off (Seriously! Their shirts said Grillaz in the Mist!) famous for their chicken and their hot sauce (Which sounds like a BDubs to me). Since I am a wimpy vegetarian, I didn't get the full experience, but I did put way too much hot sauce on my veggie burger and it singed away my eyebrows, but that's another story. Since the sock was out and about (and my out and about I mean that it happened to be in my purse) we got some lovely sock pictures before our food came. (First picture is of Reece and Kam, the second is of Alex and his gf from Brighton, Jessica)

We headed back after that and I got all dolled up to go salsa dancing with Ricardo. But when I got ready and went to Ricardo's flat to get him (he's 2 floors under us so it's quite easy to get there) he was pretty much sloshed with the help of Sere and Agus. So I went salsa dancing by myself. I think Ricardo may be out of the picture now. Now if he could just leave my classes, the library, the appartment building and the Waterstones I have grown quite fond of, that would be very nice. It's so much easier to forget about someone when you don't see them five times a day. Back to Salsa dancing.

There are an abundance of female salsa dancers (salserinas) in Colchester, and a complete lack of men (salseros). The two men who knew what they were doing were the instructor (from Columbia- go figure) and DJ Carlos, who wasn't supposed to leave his booth. Since I was the only Salserina who had danced prior to last week, I danced with both the Columbian instructor (who told me my form was Cuban, and therefore all wrong) and DJ Carlos (who didn't care if I danced like a Cuban, because he and I share a love for Shakira and the Merengue). So I danced with those guys for a couple hours (one at a time of course, I'm not THAT good) and when other girls braved the dance floor I took a bit of a break. Some guy who was very sure of his Salsa-bilities asked me to dance and assured me he was quite good, and two steps in his lack of rhythm and style contradicted his promise, and I attempted to lead so that we didn't look like Jason Biggs in "Saving Silverman" where his friend wired his nipples and then kept hitting the buttons, making him convulse while dancing. So...I started leading to save him and I from the embarassment of continuing to do whatever the hell dance HE was doing and he tried to spin me...but didn't let go. I hit the wall, twisted my ankle, and called it a night.

I know I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to things like sock yarn and salsa dancing, but there's a reason for that. When someone is overconfident in their ability to dance and they throw you across the room and make you limp home, it pisses me off. Either you know what you're doing or you don't. If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch. Asshole.

So today was low-key. I spent most of today reading for tomorrow's classes and keeping ice on my ankle (now down to the size of a grapefruit) and went to the kitchen a minute ago to find this:

A shopping cart in the kitchen of my 6th floor flat and my flatmate, Jess, perched inside it. I don't know why, but it was very funny. It's even more hilarious that she insists on getting pushed around in it for the remainder of the evening. So what do I do to people who sit in shopping carts in the kitchen of a 6th floor appartment? You guess it. I made her hold the sock.

Grumble grumble

So it's been a while since I gave you guys a proper post, hasn't it? Sorry about that. This Freshers Flu has overstayed its welcome and classes are starting to get...time consuming. As in, read this book and we'll talk about it tomorrow. Bleh...why didn't I study something without hundreds of pages of reading every night?!

So there's not a ton going on, just classes and stuffy noses and of course, my trip to Colchester for the Tuesday night SnB that you're dying to hear about! It was really fun! The 2/3 of a sock and I left around noon and decided to spend all day shopping before the 7.30 SnB at Roxi's bar on High Street. So I walked an hour and a half (which isn't so bad when you've got an Ipod and a beautiful day) to Colchester with my purse/knitting bag and started window shopping. My only real mission for the day was to find a Waterstones and pick up a book or two (I finished "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" on Tuesday at a French Bistro with very expensive soup) and start getting ideas for Christmas presents (I do that- I am fully aware that it's not even Halloween).

I found a Cd store and was thrilled to find the sale rack was covered with music that I (and apparently nobody else) like and picked up P!nk's "Not Dead Yet" Cd aswell as the latest Killer's Cd. P!nk's Cd is very political and even more femministic (is that a word? It is now.) and the Killers Cd may have very well be put together during one long-ass acid trip. That being said, I love them both. Moving on...

I did find that Waterstones and spent enirely too long looking in the wrong section for the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series. Yes, I am aware I am a giant dork...I guess Buffy ended too soon. I bought what I thought was the first of the series, but after 10 minutes of reading about characters that aren't in the show yet, I figured I picked up the wrong one. Sure enough, I now have the 6th book, and none of the others. Great. I'm just going to have to put on my blinders with the Ravelry forums.

I was having a lovely time window shopping and around 5 I noticed that all the stores started closing, which did not work with the "shop till you knit" plan, and I ended up going to Roxi's bar about 2 hours early and sitting at the bar and talking to the Polish bar tender. It was all small talk until she realized I wasn't Australian like she thought, and then she began to tell me how much she hated President Bush. Join the club, Polish bartender. After her slightly anarchist rant, we started talking about less political things, which was refreshing. Since I came to England, everyone has wanted to speak to me about Bush, Obama, and of course, Sarah Palin (groan). Sure enough the knitters started coming and, and with them, reporters for the Colchester Gazette. So I've been in England for 3 weeks and am already in the newspaper! Woohoo- I just wish I had worn a little more makeup because they took ALOT of pictures of the blue Hedera sock and I. (Sorry for crappy pictures- it didn't even occur to me to take pictures before dark set in)

The SnB at Colchester is alot bigger than the one back home, but it's funny how similar they are. I instantly picked out replacement Janet and replacement Mandie, and eventually I figured out who the replacement Laurie is...I'm still working on the others. It's amazing how much like home a bar full of knitters can feel like. I managed to make most of Tom's hat (I made the mistake of giving him the hat on Tuesday night and haven't seen him since...so obviously no pictures. ) It did turn out nicely for just an evening of knitting. I even made it Liverpool colors for him.

That's about all for right now...I still have a lot of reading to do and I'm debating taking my laundry to campus and washing it while reading some more of the Lyrical Ballads-bleh. I can't wait until we start getting into the good Literature...

Here's a picture of the stash that somehow continues to grow despite my knitting socks like it's my job. It's amazing how that happens.

Please Vote!

This vote is almost as important as the upcoming presidential elections. Almost. I've put some alternate names for the Dream in Color Hedera Socks and can't decide- so I'm putting it in your hands, readers.

If, for some reason, the poll doesn't work, then leave your choice in the comments below. Or if you have another awesome name for the socks that should be put in the poll immediately, leave that in the comments below aswell.

Thanks so much! Can't wait to see what you guys like!

Isn't Photoshop great?

That's right, I've just photoshopped myself into long curly hair, size 2 jeans, and Dane Cook's arms. Next up, Prince William.

A day in the life of a sock

So...I bet you're dying to know what I'm going to knit next...or not. Either way, I'm going to tell you.

I'm doing a couple firsts with my new pair of socks, first time I'm using Dream in Color (Smooshy- in the Lunar Zazzle colorway, bought at the Village yarn shop in Zionsville) and it's also my first Cookie A pattern! I'm knitting Hedera from knitty. com, I figured it was a safe pattern to start with. I got about 3 inches into Pomatomus, also a Cookie A pattern, but it just looked like I was dropping stitches all over the place and I like my lace to look immaculate. I'm kinda finicky like that. (That being said, I also swatched for Bellatrix and it looks like after I HAD to have the custom dyed yarn for Bellatrix, I'm probably not even going to make that pattern with it. I'm thrilled to death with Hedera though, and I'm thinking that the Bellatrix yarn will be Hedera version 2.0, called something along the lines of "Evil Stepsister" to go along with my Faerie Tales class)

But anyhoo...my sock and I had a great day exploring Colchester because I just couldn't tolerate another day of laying in bed with a book and a sore throat. We took a walk through the beautiful English countryside:

Then we walked into town with Sere, my favorite Argentinian in the world! We wondered around Colchester for a while, determined to find Roxi's on High Street (that's where my new SnB meets on tuesday nights....I was thrilled to find out we meet in a pub) and found quite a few things, like a naughty underwear shop which we couldn't resist going in- even if we did laugh the whole time. We found a liquor shop that sells Absynthe (apparently that's legal here) and most importantly, a fish and chips restaurant. Sere was determined that she wouldn't like it so we split a meal and sure enough: she liked it! I'm not sure it was love at first taste, but she was expecting to be disgusted and she ate every bite so it wasn't that bad apparently.

We also found Franklin's, the largest yarn store in Essex county and it's totally walking distance from my flat! Woohoo! They have Rowan out the wazoo and it's not all that expensive either. They also have Twilleys of Stamford (that's what the green and purple striped hoodie is made out of) and Sere bought some so I could make her a scarf...which I will get around to-eventually. I really don't want to put down my Hederas right now, and Tom is starting to doubt that I will actually make him a hat. I did buy yarn for his hat so I don't have to use my sweater yarn, plus I think he will like this new yarn better...it's Liverpool colors. They also had this super fuzzy sock yarn from Regia called Softy, and of course that made it's way into my bag aswell. They will be lovely bumming-around-the-flat socks...and I'm just incapable of turning down lime green sock yarn.

*So you know, the new sock is currently called a most imaginative "Blueberry Scone Socks" and I'm having a very difficult time thinking of a better name for it. I would LOVE it if you guys came up with something more creative (but terribly British, of course) and left it in the comments or my Ravelry inbox. I do love my reader's suggestions on things of this nature*