Sunday, October 21, 2007

Doxed and Thriller and Socks, Oh My!

Braided Cable Socks

Last weekend, Nerdy Hubby and I went on this very eventful trip to Middle of Nowhere, Florida for a wedding. Luckily, the travel and the lack of
anything to do gave me time to finish my Aran Braid Socks.


I chose these socks purely because at the time I was compelled to try some braided cables. Something about the braided speaks to me, and when I get gripped by a knitting pattern, I have to try it, (this is probably why I have so many projects going at once, more on this later). Here's a close up of the cables on the side.


They were made using just about one ball of Regia 4 ply. This is my first top-doen sock with a heel flap. The cables start just after the ribbed cuff, and are continued on a smaller scale down the foot.

They turned out marvelously, except for one cable left purposefully twisted the wrong way, so that I can tell the left sock from the right. It's on the inside of the left sock, on the foot where no one will see it when I'm wearing shoes.

Here are the socks with my new pirate loafers, in honor of my Ravelry name (KnitPirate).

...and on the foot.


That is definitely the most unflattering angle ever for someone with big calves, like me. But I'm not very photogenic anyways.


Knitting Project Infidelity Syndrome
I have a terrible case of Knitting Project Infidelity Syndrome (KPIS). It's a good thing that UFO's don't get jealous, because I always get distracted and start new ones. I have months where none get done, even though some are close to completion. I've gotten a little bit better about it recently, because I've started keeping track of my UFO's in my planner. I write them down in my to do list, like grocery shopping or laundry.

The inability to stay faithful to one project and my neurotic over-preparation leads to me carrying around an "obscene" amount of knitting and knitting accessories whenever I go somewhere to knit. The word obscene is in quotation marks because I have been told this. I usually don't ever go to a knitting group with less than two projects, plus maybe a FO to show off, all of my regular supplies and notions, and two extra balls of yarn and extra sets of needles just in case we find someone with no supplies and wants to learn to knit. In truth, people have been pretty good about asking for lessons ahead of time. However, just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it won't happen; in fact I think there's a good chance that the manager at the Panera where we meet will want to learn soon. He's very friendly and always talking to us, so it's only a matter of time.


Trip to Nowhere, Florida
The trip to a small rural town was, in a word, eventful. Before I continue, let me tell you that I grew up in a small town. I had grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins a few blocks away, and the best man at my parents wedding lived two doors down from us. So I have no problem with small towns. The thing is, the small town where I grew up was close to a bigger town, which was close to a small city. The small town that we went to for the wedding was near... nothing but empty roads. I thought I had seen most of what Florida had to offer, since I've lived here all my life and traveled most of the state. I was wrong.

We were meeting some friends on the edge of town the night before the wedding. This involved driving about 20 miles down a dark, desolate, foreboding, winding, steep two lane road. I didn't even realize Florida had roads this steep; it's essentially a two-dimensional state, other than overpasses and the occasional sand dune. The directions were given in terms such as "quite a ways" and "a little bit", so while driving down this road, we had no idea how far we were supposed to go. "A good bit" into our drive, something ran across the road, narrowly avoiding a fate that could be featured in an instructional video for teenage animals called "Blood on the Asphalt". We couldn't decide whether the creature was a dog or a fox, so it was termed a dox (as fog would have just been confusing).

Luckily we made it to see everyone that night, and we took a longer, more well lit route home. For directions to the wedding the next day, we decided to depend on Google Earth. It hadn't ever failed me in the past. But it did that day. Google for the lose! We only made it to wedding because we noticed a man in a passing car was wearing a suit, and followed him.

At the reception, the normal dancing and alcohol-related hilarity ensued. The highlight was near the end of the night, when someone told the DJ that one of the guests danced a mean version of Micheal Jackson's Thriller. Well, the guy was reluctant but a little tipsy and probably quite confident in his dancing abilities, so he agreed to do it. He wasn't alone though, a four year old girl accompanied him. She actually did a very good job of mimicking him. All in all, it was the best rendition of Thriller that I've ever seen a drunk guy and a four year old perform. They were both quite good. Unfortunately, I don't have the video, so this will have to do. Youtube, it's a good thing.

I love dancing like no one's watching, I'm all for doing it at weddings, mostly because that's the only place people will do it. Well, weddings and IBar in Orlando, but that's a whole other post.

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