umm… October 28, 2007

I promise I have not fallen off the face off the earth. I just work four days a week and have class. I really should post more, but I get distracted. It’s a bad habit, really. So here’s a quick update of what I’ve been up to.

Yesterday I supervised strike at the theatre I’m working at.Go me!

I went to the BFI Film Festival and saw Closing the Ring. It was cute, and half set in Michigan. I also went to the premier of Things We Lost in the Fire, staring Halle Berry, and she was there. She’s stunning, and I mean it when I say there is a reason she has an Oscar.

I went to see Rhinoceros (the play) at the Royal Court which was fun. I’m going to see Kebab next weekend there as well. Possibly see Avenue Q on Tuesday, and then on Saturday it’s off the Oxford and the Cotswalds.

As for knitting, I’m making progress on things. nothing too exciting. Just knitting.

enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Ally Pally, for real this time! October 15, 2007

So, I was planning on resting on Saturday, and then going to Ally Pally on Sunday but by the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was ready to go. I took the tube all the way to zone 3, then the free shuttle from the tube to Alexandra Palace where the knitting and stitching festival was being held.

Amazing. There were so many people, I hardly knew what to do! So I bought a ticket (11 pounds for students. expensive, but who cares. There’s yarn!).
I wandered around for a bit looking at all the yarn. Sooo much yarn.

And I’m not kidding when I say this picture is about a third of the pile. There was a LOT of yarn.

So of course, I bought some. I was there for a few hours and managed not to spend all of my money. So, lets see what I bought!

Everything I bought for me was sock yarn, as usual. Here are the ones I can’t remember who I bought them from:

I love these colors, they’re just so fun. I also bought these two,

and

I don’t know what I’ll do with them just yet, but I’ll figure something out.
I bought yarn to make a present, and match one of the skeins from Canterbury

I have pictures of the yarn from Canterbury yarn, I’ll show those in a bit. But for now, this is the stuff I’m really proud of. I found a stand for Socktopus. The yarn was amazing. They just started up about a month ago. Seriously people, if she has the sock yarn you want, buy it from her. Especially if you’re in the UK (that’s really the point of the site, but everyone should still support her!). Anyway, here’s what I bought:

Cherry Tree Hill Potluck in Jewels. I’ve been tempted to buy this yarn online for a very long time, and now I have some. YAY! I also bought this:

Hand Maidens Casbah. This was the last skein she had when I got there. It was fate, I’m sure of it. This yarn is amazing! It is the only skein I haven’t wound yet. I don’t know if I have a pattern worthy of it. It’s so beautiful!
I also bought a pair of Crystal Palace double points because I love the ones I have, and they’re dying. But look at the cute business card and stitch marker from Socktopus!

Adorable. As I was checking out, I mentioned that I have a knitting blog and the owner asked for the address. WELL, while I was writing it down she said “OH! That’s you?! I’ve read your site before!” For the first time, I met someone who’s read my blog who I’ve NEVER MET BEFORE! I was so happy, I could have cried. It still makes me smile. hehe. So yes, buy all your yarn from her. She’s wonderful.

So, here’s the whole haul from Ally Pally:

Impressive, I think.

I finished the Horcrux socks while I was in Ireland. Here’s what they look like.

and a detail shot:

This is the yarn I bought in Canterbury. The two are miss-matched and I don’t know what to do with the purple one. The gray is going to be stripes with the dark gray from Ally Pally:

These are the other two skeins I bought:

I’m going to use them to make this. I can’t wait. Sadly I have to because of all the Christmas knitting, which is going surprisingly well. I’ve made a lot of progress. There’s still a lot left to finish though.

Ireland, Ally Pally, etc. October 14, 2007

I promise I’m alive and well. Just busy. SO, here’s a run down of what I’ve been up to!

Weekend before finals a bunch of us from Albion went on the Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was a ton of fun, and totally worth 5 pounds. We walked to a bunch of the murder scenes and to the Ten Bells Pub. I don’t have many pictures but here’s one of the pub

After that was finals and going to see the new version of RENT. It was pretty good, and we got to meet some of the cast members after the show. This is me with Roger:

His real name is Luke Evans, and he was fantastic. His American accent was flawless. Kudos to him. Kathleen and I actually got to talk to him for a bit after the show, so that was fun. He’s very nice, I promise.

and me with Mark (a.k.a. Oliver Thornton)

He also did a good job, and for some reason did not have an American accent. The accents don’t make sense. Oh well. Sorry the pictures are so small. I don’t know why that is.

Anyway, after finals Kathleen and I went to Ireland. We left at 5am on Monday morning for the airport and were in Shannon at 10. We met Trisha (Kathleen’s 3rd cousin), and stayed with her and her parents on their farm. They were absolutely wonderful and amazingly kind. They also have sheep, horses, cows, a chicken that we saw, and two lovely dogs. These were taken at their farm:

This is the cow that kept looking at us as we took pictures.

We went to the Cliffs of Moher while we were in Clare. They are beautiful. You may know them as the “Cliffs of Insanity” from The Princess Bride (I love that movie!!!).

There was also a castle. Well, part of one anyway.

And if you look closely, you can see the Aran Islands.

Here’s another pretty picture of the town near where we were staying.

On Wednesday we made our way to Dublin, and took the Hop on, Hop off bus tour most of the day. It was fall there. Leaves changing colors and everything.

This park was beautiful. We also went to the Guinness factory and there was a great view of the city out of the restaurant window.

We chose not to get the free pint at the end because they give you a free sample during the tour, and that was more than enough for us (my RA loving described drinking Guinness as being like “drinking meat”). We did have a very good lunch, and had lots of fun in the gift shop. I do give them credit though, the exhibit is great.

On Friday we left at 7:30 for the Ferry which was massive but very swanky. We docked in Hollyhead in northern Wales, and took the train from their into London and were home by 7 or so. There were tons of sheep in Wales. It was crazy.

I have a few other pictures very similar to this one.

Anyway, that was our adventure last week. I’ll save all of the Ally Pally stuff for tomorrow. I have to build up suspense some how…

SHEEP! October 1, 2007

We went to Leeds Castle and Canterbury this weekend. It was fun, and I saw sheep. I bought yarn, but I haven’t taken pictures of it yet. I’ll post later. I swear. Any way, sheep!

They were being herded by a truck. It was pretty funny.
I’ve finished some knitting, too. And started the Caterpillar socks.

That’s all for now. I have a paper to write (damn finals…)