I‘ve been working on these socks on and off for about a year now. My hubby inspired these guys – I’m always on the look out for a good stitch pattern that keeps my interest but is not too ‘girly’ for a bloke, since hubby can be rather picky with sock patterns. I got the thumbs up from him for these ones, so am rather pleased!
These socks are knit cuff down, and have a similar diamond theme to my FIL’s socks using twisted stitches too, but I think these ones are really the bees knees for variegated yarns. The double lattice is a strong enough texture to hold its own against a cacophony of colour. Carrie knit up a pair in Wollmeise 100% Superwash Rhabarber, and mine are in Socks That Rock River Rocks. I think both colourways work really well, you can easily see the colour changes, as well as the stitch pattern. Check it out:
Socks That Rock in River Rocks colourway
Wollmeise 100% Merino Rhabarber colourway
The pattern is all written with one chart for the instep pattern. You’ll need:
Approx 437yd /400m of fingering weight yarn. Samples knit in Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash and Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight
Gauge is 9 sts per inch in stocking stitch, which gives a finished unstretched circumference: 7” (8”/9”). If your gauge is different, the sizing will, of course, also be different according to your gauge.
We knit the socks on 2.5mm needles, or appropriate needle size to get gauge. You can buy it now as a pdf download in the Socktopus Pattern Shop.
Happy Mother's Day
To all the dear moms in my life – Sue, Barb, Marja, Susan, Irmgard, Tricia, Mel, Buzz, including my very own wonderful, kind, funny, generous, big-hearted, adventurous and slightly crazy but very much loved mom – Happy Mother’s Day!
Today we went on a gulet trip – that is a leisurely boat ride around the Kas bay. The boat was lovely and spacious, with a motor and masts for sails, though there were none on it today.
Gulet
DH and I spent the entire day basking in the sun, occasionally braving the waters for a bracing swim. The water is pretty cold, since we’re early in the season yet, but after a little bit getting used to the temperature a brief swim is refreshing. We had a great group of people – all really friendly and easy going, and over a baked sea bass lunch we swapped stories about hammams and travel round Turkey. I finished my sock club sock, and stuck it on a foot form and took a bunch of photos… much to everyone’s amusement and DH’s utter embarrassment.
Lycian pillars
This area of the coast is rich with Lycian ruins, and we went to visit an ancient town called Xanthos yesterday. The Xanthians are legendary for their fierce protection of their freedom. When the Persians invaded in 540 BC, the Xanthians facing defeat rounded up their citizens and committed mass suicide rather than be captured as slaves. Eventually Xanthos was repopulated, only to revisit the grisly scene again with a mass suicide when Romans invaded in 42 BC.
We walked around the old town, visiting the theatre and the royal house – walking through the weeds and grass and visiting the old dining/reception room, bath, agora (open courtyard) – and the commercial centre where walls still stood and most of the old church, along with mosaic flooring. Only the old church was walled off, the rest we could freely clamber around. The old Roman pipelines were visible in many places as were the original drains in the bathrooms and the cisterns. Most of the excavated finds at Xanthos were removed and now live at the British Museum courtesy of explorer Charles Fellowes. It will be nice to go home and visit the Lycian exhibits there – seeing the ruins in situ really helps bring history to life.
Goats
The goats had the run of the place, running around and munching on the weeds. Our guide told us that in a month the goats will have done a stellar job of clearing all the weeds. “Goats are good for ancient sites” he told us.
Sunday night the hotel restaurant had a special dish called Testi Kebab (just normal lamb, not a special cut!) which was like a tagine, cooked in a terracotta urn. The urn came to the table on a plate of flames, with the opening at the top covered in foil. The waiter then wrapped the foil with a cloth, held the cloth and the urn upside down, and used a huge metal stick to tap the bottom of the urn (now sticking up in the air), which was supposed to break off and allow him to pour the contents onto the diner’s plate.
Unfortunately for our waiters, the dish proved to be very popular, and tricky. The foil lids leaked, meaning they got burned quite a lot, and a few of the terracotta urns simply refused to part with their bottoms, meaning they could not get the stew out. Some urns decided to part with more than their bottoms, meaning the stew inside was littered with terracotta pieces. At one point, there was a fire in the kitchen, since an urn and its meth laden flaming plate base had fallen to the floor. That one happened to be the one for DH! Still, it was quite a show and despite having to wait 2 hours for our main course, there was more than enough to entertain us, with diners exploding into spontaneous applause everytime one of the bottoms was successfully tapped off!
We’re going to try out a restaurant in Kas tonight. The weather is perfect, warm and still. Off to find some Turkish mezze and kebabs. Maybe even some guzleme.
We arrived in Kas Saturday late afternoon after a full but uneventful flight into Dalaman airport. The last time I was here was with B & M when we went west from Dalaman to Turunc Bay. This time, DH and I headed east.
We had a little kerfuffle at the airport – pretty much everyone needs a visa but you can get it at the airport just before immigration. However, they ask that you pay in Euros or USD. Very annoying if you have prepared Turkish Lira! In a huff I went to the Currency Exchange desk, where the chap there hurriedly changed my Turkish Lira into USD. But I forget how things work here. I asked him whether I needed to queue again. He took my money and my passport and left his little cubicle, leaving a wad of foreign currency unmanned and unsecured at his desk, strolled up to the front of the queue and had a word with one of the visa officers, and got my visa for me. It just was such a pleasant reminder why I am always so impressed by the Turkish. It’s the huge dose of humanity which tempers the bureaucracy that I just love so much (the humanity that is, not the red tape!).
Kas Harbour
Kas is a little fishing village with a harbour and Lycian ruins dotted about. We are staying in a hotel on the water’s edge about a 10 minute drive away from town. Very peaceful and beautiful. It weirds me out a little that every single guest in this hotel is British (except me). Still, everyone is very friendly and chilled. There are a heap of stairs here, since it is built into the hill, which is perfect since we are heartily enjoying the seafood here and some exercise will do us good.
View from the stairs
Stairs up to our room
The view from our room is pretty stunning, water and mountains. We have a wee balcony to enjoy the afternoon, but so far we’ve spent our time by the water’s edge on the rock platforms and sun loungers. Patara beach which is in the area is the breeding ground for the local sea turtles. I was hoping to see some but instead we had a different visitor – a wee little lizard.
From the sun lounger. Wee dot is DH swimming
Visitor
The area is dripping with bougainvillea and loads of cute little flowers.
Purdy flower
Wee flowers
We spent the morning today in the Kas just wandering around, and to my utter delight found a place that made us fresh juice and fresh guzleme – delicious little Turkish style crepes. Will be going back for more! Meanwhile, tonight is dinner down on the rock platforms so we’re heading down the steps for some nosh. Will tell you about last night’s comical dinner later – think Fawlty Towers farce with lots of Manuel’s running around.
by alice on 30 April 2010
DH and I are off to Turkey for a week. Really looking forward to the break – am in two minds as to whether to bring the laptop… and think will probably succumb. Have two posts to write for Knit Nation next week, and will need my laptop!
Spent the day today with Veronica from Dream in Color Yarns. Really fun hanging out with her and chatting. She gave me some really useful guidance on growing orchids – am looking forward to getting into them when I get back. They don’t need too much sun or too much water so do well with a little benign neglect. Ran around today getting some last minute stuff for our hols – swimsuits, painted toes, some summer clothes, and taking Deuce to the vet for a quick check up (he had some problems with his eye earlier this week). All fine now, and we dropped him off with his walker. Turns out he is keeping some posh company this weekend. His fellow boarder is Prince & Princess Michael of Kent’s black lab Shadow. Goodness. First a Lady ‘governess’ and now a princeling co-boarder. Sigh. It’s a pug’s life.
Will try to blog a bit while I’m away. Might be too tiring lazing around by the pool!
by alice on 23 April 2010
Cookies. Yum yum I love them. They are incredibly simple to make, so satisfying, and come in infinite variations on the theme. Oatmeal and raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip, chocolate chip and hazelnut, white chocolate and macadamia nut, white chocolate and coconut, etc etc. But sometimes, good old fashioned plain chocolate chip cookies are just the ticket. So I made a big old batch of chocolate chip cookies for our first knit night at All the Fun of the Fair. Buzz booked the big room next to Buffy’s Beads, we ordered food up from C’est Ici downstairs, and even had it delivered cause they are sweet like that (I think that Yuvee fluttering her lashes and flirting with the waiter helped too). We had a couple new comers and that was really nice too. A lovely lady from NZ and a young business major starting her first cushion!
C is for Cookie
Update on the police incident: Sergeant Massie also called me yesterday to discuss the ‘incident’. Thanks mom & Jenny for your comments! Lol I had a few emails expressing outrage too! I feel badly as it is a total waste of time for the Sergeant to have to call me, ask me what happened and try to unravel the thread of this particular incident, yet I feel that if this is something that is prevalent in the police force it really needs to be nipped in the bud. Were I a man, adding testosterone to the feeling of indignation would not be conducive to calm discussion. Add to that the kind of reaction a police officer would have to a defensive person… a rather explosive combination I would think. Not to to mention any race issues that might add to the dynamic mix. So hopefully Sergeant Massie sorts it out, has a quiet word and the innocent ambler along Chelsea Embankment will be free to enjoy the sunshine and river in peace.
As I get older, my health seems to become more of an issue. No worries here, am pretty healthy, but as hayfever season gets closer am trying to get my sniffles under control.
Enter my first line of defence:
Neilmed
Flixonase Nasule
Antibiotics
Interesting contraptions. The first, Neilmed, is a nasal cavity wash. Basically you squeeze the contents of the bottle up one nostril and it comes out the other. I’ve never done it before, and it is, well, interesting. Sort of like when you get water up your nose at the pool, except it doesn’t sting or make you choke/gag. Weird feeling. Am not entirely sure it does anything, but after only two days of use I’ll wait a bit more before deciding.
The second, little ampoules of some kind of steroid. The doctor stuck a long thin rod up my nose but it was all swollen (from blowing my nose for a year straight). I couldn’t help thinking of the egyptians and wondering whether he could poke my brain with the rod. It apparently can go right up your nose to the centre of your head – about 8 inches or so I’d guess. Mine only went a few inches. Phew! No brain poking!
The last, some antibiotics for some kind of something up my nose. Hopefully they will sort the constant sniffling out. Oh I also had a CT scan of my head. Better cover all bases.
We don’t get our results from the health MOT yet, but it was pretty comprehensive. Blood tests for all sorts of things, EKG, oxygen capacity, heart rate before and after exercise, physical, hearing test, sight test, urine test. We get the results in a few weeks. We had one more test – which I haven’t yet gotten the balls up to do. Bit yucky really. Three stool swabs. Blech. And we are supposed to POST them out. No joke. It gives me a whole new appreciation for our posties and sorting offices.
Postal Poop Pack
by alice on 21 April 2010
Three pieces of news
The first is that the Hopscotch Socks pattern by Anna Bell is available in the Socktopus Pattern Shop. It’s a great pattern using a slip stitch cable. Awesome with variegated yarns as well as solids.
Soaktastic!
Second – you might remember me mentioning I had some news I was waiting to finalise before announcing. Well it’s official now – meet the new National Account Manager UK for Soak Wash! Yeeeppee. So excited. Soak is such an awesome product and I’m really excited to be working with Jacqueline & Chris from Soak. So if you have a local yarn shop that needs some SOAK (or if you have a shop you think should carry SOAK) then leave me a comment with the name of the shop or your contact details.
Three – I started my first day at All the Fun of the Fair yesterday. If you haven’t been, it’s in Carnaby Street, just off Regent Street, in Kingly Court. Kingly Court has three levels of funky shops, and a courtyard in the middle.
All the Fun of the Fair is on the top level, next to the Walk in Backrub shop and Triyoga.
All the Fun of the Fair
Triyoga Soho
Courtyard where I saw Hare Krishnas dancing
There were Hare Krishnas dancing, and some Eastender actors that visited on Tuesday. The actors visited the shop, the Hare Krishnas just danced through the courtyard on the ground floor.
C'mon in!
It’s a cute little shop – there is yarn – both the cheap and cheerful for those just wanting to start out, and the more luxurious and quirky like indie dyers or Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop yarn. Lots of great haberdashery supplies – vintage buttons, iron on patches, ribbons, handmade tags for your knitting. Kind of like an Aladdin’s cave of delights.. if Aladdin happened to be heavy into hand crafts.
Wall'o'yarn
Oh I guess I have four – I got stopped by the cops today! Walking along, minding my own business, and a cop stops me to ask me 1) what business I have in the area – eg do I live there, and 2) to see my id. Well, given that I know that cops cannot just randomly stop people – they have to have a reason, and they have to tell you that reason – seeing as the policeman wouldn’t give me a reason, other than to say I sounded defensive when he asked me if I lived in the area (I asked him if he was serious), I called the local police station to lodge a complaint.
I was dressed, admittedly, a little scruffy but hey, I don’t look like a vagrant, delinquent or crack head (at least I hope I don’t). I wash and I brush my teeth. Occasionally I brush my hair (it’s ramrod straight and doesn’t really tangle so, well, I don’t brush alot). I was carrying my Socktopus tote bag, with a big ball of yarn on it. I was listening to my ipod (Harry Potter, for the zillionth time. I like listening to Stephen Fry. He’s a great story teller and a fab mimic). Really, I am not, nor do I look like, a threatening, violent criminal.
So being stopped by a cop for me was quite disturbing. Was it because I was wearing a puffer jacket (with a big Cambridge emblem emblazoned on the chest)? Was it because I am Chinese – did he think I was an illegal immigrant heading to my illegal job along Chelsea Embankment? Did he think I was a local drug lord out to make a transaction? Who knows, he never told me despite being asked point blank why he stopped me.
Afterwards I felt very indignant. Surely they have better things to do with their time than to ask a 5′4″ Chinese girl, strolling by the river in broad daylight on Chelsea Embankment what she is doing with her time? And see my id? The UK is one country where no one carries id on them. You don’t even need to keep your drivers licence on you when you’re driving. If you are stopped, you only need to show up at the police station within a given time period with your licence. Besides – really, surely if I am strolling along minding my own business, why is that the police’s business if they have no cause to question me? It really does make me worry that the police do not understand or respect the scope of their own powers. Even when I called the police station, the first person I spoke with was rather gruff with me and told me that the police have the right to stop anyone they want. I questioned this and he told me he would pass me to someone who could confirm. I was passed to Chris, who confirmed after referring to his superiors, that the police could not stop anyone they wanted, they could only stop someone with cause, and they have to tell you why they are stopping you if they do. Harumph. Seriously, the police should know their own powers better than the average joe, and the fact that they do not seem to is very worrying.
Right- enough brow furrowing. Here’s a poster I saw in the tube at Earl’s Court. I did a double take. Maybe you should too?
Bajingo!
by alice on 15 April 2010
We are very sad to have to tell you that Anna Zilboorg will be unable to join us for Knit Nation due to health reasons. We wish her the best and thank you for your patience while we contact each person signed up for Anna’s classes.
Students signed up to Anna Zilboorg’s classes will be offered a full refund, or a credit to be applied against another class of their choice, subject to availability. We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
by alice on 13 April 2010
We’ve started a ‘blog tour’ over at the Knit Nation blog. We’ve interviewed all our teachers and will be featuring each teacher in a post on the blog over the coming weeks. Our first teacher to be interviewed is Wendy Johnson of Wendyknits.net. Do pop over for a visit!
Poor Deuce was ill yesterday so was worrying about him – but true to his hardy puggy self, he’s totally fine. No amount of belly ache seems to put him off his food. Today has been a busy day. Things that needed to be posted were posted, things that needed to be written got written, VAT forms and payment that really needed to be sent out got sent out. I’ve been a real dolt – i have sent a parcel now 3 times by special delivery. The first time it was sent back to me because like a dummy, I didn’t realise that what I thought was a house name was the name of a town. Doh! So I wrote the house name on it. But it got sent back again. Today it went out, and the guy at the post office told me to cross out the return address on the front and write it on the back of the package. Fingers crossed it gets to its intended recipient and not back to me tomorrow morning!
Tomorrow I have a health MOT – our health insurance has this ‘pot’ of cash that we can use for stuff like this and we decided to use it – otherwise we lose it come June. Should be interesting – no eating for 9 hours before and they do a health test, blood test and goodness knows what else. Mine is at 2pm – which means I can’t eat anything before then. I hope they don’t make me run hard or after I get my blood taken as I will likely pass out!
Firstly thanks for the kind comments about the shawl – am very happy with it! And answers – Danielle: I hadn’t planned on selling my patterns at Knit Nation, in fact it hadn’t even occurred to me! If I have extra time to sort it out then it is a possibility! 
by alice on 12 April 2010
I‘ve had a full week – but really fun. My cousin A and her son G were visiting from California (Orange County) over G’s Easter holidays. I was a little nervous about finding fun things for a 14 year old to do – I really am out of touch with teenagers, particularly boys! I can at least remember what it was like to be a teenie girl, but boy? And DH was little help – any questions about his childhood are invariably met with ‘er, I don’t remember’. How thrilled was I to find my little cuz and I shared a love for food! yay! So what did we do?
Borough Market, of course, the famous Brindisa chorizo line. Petrus – Gordon Ramsay’s new-old restaurant. It used to be that Marcus Wareing was the head chef of Petrus in the Berkeley Hotel. Well, Chef Ramsay and Chef Wareing went their separate ways, so now the old Petrus is the new Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, and the new Petrus is in a different location, headed up by chef Sean Burbidge. We had lunch at the new Petrus – newly opened just two weeks ago – and G was delighted to find that the restaurant director was none other than Jean-Phillippe Susilovic from Hell’s Kitchen fame. Needless to say a lot of photos ensued, with Jean-Phillippe handling the attention with aplomb and good grace. Very charming man, handling four giggly women and one goggly teenager with very good humour. We had an absolutely delicious lunch (and fabulous value at £25 for 3 courses!) and were invited to visit the kitchen after lunch. The food scene in London has changed hugely over the last 2 decades – when A lived on the Isle of Wight for a year – so it was nice to be able to pleasantly surprise them with the quality of food available here.
The outer sarsen circle framing the Heel Stone, seen from inside.
We also went to visit Stonehenge, which I did with my mom years ago. Through a friend (thanks Carole!) I found you can visit Stonehenge outside normal hours and actually get up close and personal with the huge stones. Being inside the circle was a different experience to standing far away. I can see why it was a spiritual place – standing within the huge stone circle you can’t help but feel awed. The hugest stones weigh 40 tonnes each. They are over 24 ft tall. You can see how big they are in the photo – see the teeny tiny peeps on the right?
Size Perspective
It blows my mind to think that those stones have stood there for over four thousand years.
Me and the sarsen Trilithon
We got to watch the sun set on Stonehenge, then we drove to Stockbridge and had dinner at the Greyhound pub. Lovely place – really nice food. Turns out DH also went there on his stag lunch.
Lastly I have also been busy with three projects – the next Knit Love Club sock which I’m pretty psyched about. Got the yarn, worked out the pattern already, and have a little errand to run before starting to knit it up. The aim is to have the samples done in 2 weeks time, ready for a photo shoot in Turkey! Plenty of time.
The second is a sock pattern for a magazine. Very excited! It’s being knit up as I type and I’m really pleased with that one too.
The last is another Aurantium Shawl – this time in Knitwitches Seriously Gorgeous Swiss Cashmere & Silk Laceweight. It is from the same blend as the Handmaiden Swiss Cashmere & Silk 4 ply – 65% cashmere, 35% silk – that I knit my previous Aurantium Shawl from, in fact it is from the same mill. Eirwen has a limited supply of this yarn and I believe she is the only one at present who has any of it. Seriously – run and get some because it is TO DIE FOR! It retails for £32, and you get 1000 metres/100grams for that. I used 32 grams to knit the large size of the Aurantium Shawl. She doesn’t have it listed on her site, but give her a buzz. She is lovely, chatty and will dye to order. I’ve got two more of these babies to knit with. So excited!
Scarab Neroli
Seriously Gorgeous Laceweight Cashmere & Silk blocks out beautifully
Eirwen outdid herself – I wanted an insecty colourway and she came up with Scarab – a gorgeous copper and teal combination.
The silk content allows for lovely crisp edges
The laceweight is amazing. I loved the 4 ply, as it had a soft hand from the yummy cashmere, and despite being lightweight was incredible warm; the laceweight has all these properties, it still feels like you are holding heavenly clouds in your hands, but as the yarn is much finer, the silk properties really come through in spades. It has the cashmere halo, but the sheen of the silk dominates to give it a beautiful glow. It also blocks beautifully – much more crisp and starched than the 4ply, while retaining that crazy I-want-to-roll-around-in-it-naked softness. Today it is getting posted off for a photo shoot. Am a bit sad to say goodbye to it so soon after finishing (blocked just last night) but I will see it again soon enough.
