Eating, not knitting ;)
There have been complaints about a lack of posts already, and I know I still haven’t put up photos of the last (sadly unfinished) pair of socks. I’m too spaced to write anything, but I did come across an interesting meme on pocketsize’s blog – The Omnivore’s Hundred.
Here it is – bold is what I’ve eaten, crossed out is what I wouldn’t touch (mostly for religious reasons):
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (sorry about that)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (actually, I might have eaten that as a child)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi (apparently, huamei is close enough)
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV (not more than a sip, certainly)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (never again!)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (it was red caviar)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
Oh, what a difference a year makes
A pair of identical socks? I think not . . .
. . . but a pair for the Ravelympics, nonetheless!
The difference is not just in the flash, by the way. I made the left sock a year ago, and I’ve worn it quite a few times (matched with the blue Pomatomus). I think the new one might have to go in a bucket of water for a day or so 
Official stats
Pattern: rpm by Aija Goto from Knitty Summer 2006
Yarn: most of 100g of Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock in colour SY-200 Rhapsody
Needles: 2.5 mm dpns
Cast on: can’t remember . . . I have it written down somewhere!
Cast off: 0958 GMT on 21 August (on the Circle Line at Aldgate . . .)
I’ve been knitting! Honestly!
Not much, admittedly. And I’ve been far too lazy to take photos. Life has kind of got in the way of knitting – I’m working again (albeit without getting paid, which puts no dent in my enthusiasm and commitment for *two* jobs) and I also need to move out of my house by mid-September, so there’s been a fair amount of tidying as well as making plans and decisions. Watch this space for potential exciting news . . .
But (and I’m only putting this here because I know that few people outside ravelry read this blog . . .) there is actual, genuine proof that I’ve been knitting. And drinking. Ahem. I am famous!
I want to cash in on this celebrity status. I’m either going to write to Socks That Rock and tell them I used their yarn on national television, or I’m going to leave a comment on the website with the clip saying “The girl in the pink top is SINGLE! These socks could be YOURS!”. No?
Photos of RPM (aka Twirly Acid) socks coming up shortly, accompanied by some words of wisdom . . . I’m just waiting for some natural light. I am also hoping that security at Craven Cottage won’t confiscate my needles, otherwise those Jaywalkers (as seen on national TV!) will never get done. Come on Arsenal!
. . . and now for something completely different
So, the Mojo sock is about three quarters done. But since I still can’t find the first one I made I’ve had to put it down for now . . . and to be perfectly honest, I got a bit bored of socks. Shock, horror! But really – 2.5 mm dpns, all day, every day – it gets samey. So I picked up my Capitan hat instead – I thought I’d lost that as well, but found it while I was looking for the sock. Here we go:
It’s still missing the strip that goes across the front – it’s knitted but not attached because I don’t have any matching buttons at the moment. I wish I’d entered it for WIP Wrestling as well though!
Details:
Pattern: Capitan Hat by Rosi Garmendia
Yarn: 55g Rowan RYC Soft Tweed in colour SH 008 (Blanket)
Needles: 7 mm KnitPicks Options
I’m ignoring the Mojo sock for now and have just cast on for the RPM sock instead – at least that’s something I can get done!
Incidentally, I have 15g of the Soft Tweed left – any suggestions? Cabled wristwarmers, maybe?
Two down, five to go!
Slightly behind schedule because I got distracted by a day at work (which I didn’t actually have to do, so I was very bitter – I should have gone to the Oval instead!) and Ali coming down from Cambridge to do shiny geeky things with my iPod . . . but the second sock is now done!
Official stats
Pattern: Leaf Lace Socks by Susan Lawrence from Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book
Yarn: 66g Lana Grossa Meilenweit in colour 1297
Needles: 2.5 mm dpns
Cast on: 1247 GMT on 10 August
Cast off: 0726 GMT on 13 August
And I have already cast on for the next one – Hot Chilli Crocodile Mojo 
One down, six to go!
Woo! First sock done! It took 36 hours and three minutes – although that time included some sleep as well (not much, mind . . .). The old one was done in May. The new one is the one on the right, so you can’t see that I made a small mistake on the cable . . .
I’m especially pleased to have this sock done, because the Opal has amazing yardage – I have 36g left, wich I’m going to combine with some black Regia 4ply I have knocking around for a Turkish pattern from Anna Zilboorg. But first . . . the Leaf Lace sock!
Official stats
Pattern: Baudelaire by Cookie A. from Knitty Summer 2006
Yarn: 64g Opal uni 4ply in colour 1410
Needles: 2.5 mm dpns
Cast on: 1640 GMT on 8 August
Cast off: 0443 GMT on 10 August
The “real” Olympics
I’ve been watching a fair amount of the “real” Olympics in the background while I’ve been knitting – thank you, BBC. Some random thoughts . . .
Men’s Gymnastics – awesome. It’s simultaneously hilarious and very touching as these extremely fit men in lycra concetrate unbelievably hard to throw themselves around and spin through the air. I also can’t begin to understand how they do it.
Judo – I don’t understand the scoring system. At all. Not very much actually seemed to *happen* in the bits I saw . . . and then suddenly somebody had won.
Dressage – pretty horses, nice hats. Other than that – boring. They just go round in a rectangle! (I do appreciate that this involves skill, but that doesn’t make it interesting to watch . . .)
Rowing – mmmh. Nice . . . 
Badminton – err. I gave up after about two minutes.
Sailing – the visual equivalent of having an aquarium on my laptop. Quite nice, but could be improved by adding more colours.
Swimming – after initial worries that the women were wearing one-legged swimsuits that made them look like mermaids (they weren’t), the novelty wore off quite quickly . . .
Athlete’s Food
I fully intend to spend all weekend at home and mostly in bed, with my socks. This is the first weekend in over two months where I haven’t either been somewhere else or had someone staying with me, so it’s going to be indulgent. I went to a-large-supermarket on the way home from work and got supplies in – because you know that athletes need a carefully balanced diet. Here we go:
All five food groups are present: cheese, caffeine, fruit & veg, soup and “random snack food”. Also my favourite pizza, strawberry trifle and some painkillers. (It’s probably a good thing that I’m not seeing a physio until after all this hardcore knitting.)
(Boys . . . do you think I’m eating enough now?)
Oh, and don’t drink Red Bull Cola. It tastes medicinal. Works, though!
“Before” pictures
Single Sock Society of Kat’s top drawer:
From bottom left (starting at the purple one – all the links are ravelry, sorry!): RPM aka Twirly Acid Socks, Toe-up Jaywalkers, ‘Californian’ Pomatomus, Leaf Lace, ‘Defiantly Red’ Baudelaires and Snowflake Lace (I know that one looks gigantic. It fits fine.).
Neglected sock yarn (please excuse the fuzzy picture):
If you are the slightest bit observant you will notice that there are only six items in each picture. I seem to have also made a green Leaf Lace sock from black and red Opal. This is not the case. The green yarn has to live in a special box because it was given to me by my grandma, who smokes about seventy cigarettes a day. It is currently kept with some cat litter to get some of the smell out. The Mojo sock (for which the red and black yarn is destined) is . . . somewhere. In a safe place. I failed to pick up two stitches from its afterthought heel and had to take it off in a controlled panic. I can’t remember for the life of me where I put it though . . . But it photographs badly, anyway.
And they’re off!
Here we go . . . the Ravelympics have officially started. For those of you who don’t have a clue what I’m on about, here’s the official description:
What is it?:
The First International Ravelympics Summer 2008 are open to any knitter or crocheter on Ravelry ready to challenge themselves to complete a project (or projects) within 17 days during the Summer Olympics.
Concept:
You must cast on a project during the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics (Aug. 8)- and finish before the Olympic flame goes out (Aug. 24). That’s 17 days. Would you rather work on your burgeoning WIPs? Then join up for the WIPs Wrestling. All other events are for newly cast on projects!
“Rules”:
- The project must be a challenge for you to complete in 17 days.
- No casting on before Opening Ceremonies commence in Beijing.
- Finish before the flame goes out.
- You may swatch before the games. (I consider this “training.”)
(Ravelry link is here, although if you’re on ravelry and haven’t come across the ravelympics, there’s probably no helping you . . .)
I’m going to post a photo of my progress every day – motivational messages welcome
Incidentally, my target is completely unrealistic, even if you factor in my four days of unemployment next week. If I get four or five socks done I’ll be quite happy.
ETA: I am, of course, competing for the team IKnitLondon, purveyors of fine yarns and strawberry flavoured cider. You can find them here.
