Plath’s Adventures

It must be Picture Posting Sunday

That title would work much better if Sunday started with a p, but we can pretend.

Here are my socks, already dubbed my England Vacation socks, since I finished them in the hotel in London. I used Knitpicks Parade sock yarn and this sock pattern.

Of course any trip to England wouldn’t be complete without bringing back some fine British ale. Here’s what we brought back

mmmm British beer is SO much better than the American nasty beer. I never liked beer until I tried “real” beer.

I also snagged some tea to bring back. My absolute favorite, which isn’t pictured because I already drank them all was Twinings Green Tea with orange and Lotus Flower. I’m really bummed that I didn’t buy a ton of it to stock up, because it’s delicious and I already miss it! I also really love the Blackcurrant Ginseng & Vanilla herb tea– only one left. Figures that the two I love are the hardest to find!

Here’s my candy stash I posted about earlier. If you didn’t already know, I’m a vegetarian, and the American versions of Skittles and Starburst contain gelatin– a animal based ingredient, while the UK versions are veggie friendly!

Last but not least, here is the yarn I bought while in England. We shopped at John Lewis in London, and I just loved that you can buy yarn and other crafting supplies in a department store! I also picked up a bra and some knickers there, but no pics of that! LOL The photo is kind of dark; sorry. Jason was chilly for a few days while we walked around the city, so I let him borrow my scarf to wear, and now he wants me to knit him one. I’m shocked– he’s never expressed an interest in scarves before! He picked out the brown yarn for me to knit him one. Now to just find the perfect pattern.

I also bought a lot of toiletries in Boots. I’m going to miss them when I run out, too! I especially love the Mediterranean line by Boots. Mmmm the lotion, scrubs and body butter smell delicious. I also bought some Fcuk brand toiletries, but Jason had those shipped with some of his work stuff so I haven’t gotten to try them yet.

I was bored with my WIPs last night, so I cast on for a new pair of socks. Socks are always perfect at getting me out of a knitting funk, so I hope these do the trick. I’m using some yarn I bought off Ebay, and just a generic pattern. Not even really using a pattern really.

Little List

1. Finish Unit 1 of Spanish Lessons
Check! Got a 96% on the test!

2. Keep drinking my daily cup of green tea
Check! I’ve even upped it to two or three cups on some days (only one caffeinated)

3. Find time for knitting again
Check! I’ve picked up my hat this week and knit quite a few rounds. I’m planning on casting on for another pair of socks as well. Not much happening with my WIP basket, but that’s ok

5. Organize yarn stash so it fits in the shelving unit
Check! I must say, my yarn was spilling all over the floor in the study, and with the exception of my WIP and yummy yarn basket, it’s all organized and back where it needs to be. Sure, it LOOKS like it’s about to pop, but it’s all wedged in there LOL

6. Posts pics of my vacation socks and my England yarn purchases
Still working on that one

** I want to thank everyone for their compliments and welcome backs. For some reason, I’m not getting emailed when people make comments so I can’t reply, but please know that I sincerely thank you!!!**

Well, I return with a few more pictures today, but no knitting pics as of yet. So if you’re bored with hearing about my vacation, just skip right on by this post. I promise it’ll be the last one– I really don’t want to seem like I’m bragging. Sorry! I just don’t have the patience to pull things out right now and take more pictures and upload them. Since we’ve gotten back, I’ve found it hard to get used to even just being here, so I haven’t picked up my knitting since the socks I finished on vacation. I’m sure I’ll find my knitting urge again soon though.

I do have a few things to share. Check out this Lost movie (click on Watch This Movie next to Charlie’s pic). I need to go and find a synopsis of the 2 episodes I missed while we were gone :p. I tried to catch up last night on the two episodes I missed of Project Runway, but I fell asleep 10 minutes into it. I swear I didn’t think it would be this hard to get over the 5 hour time difference! I’ve been waking up at 3 or 4 am every morning and it takes me forever to get to sleep again, and then I find my eyes closing by 8 pm. Sheesh!

Anyway, a little more about our trip. So, I expected England to be cold, but doing a little research before we left, I discovered that they don’t get as cold as Michigan. However, I was completely stunned to see roses blooming in January!

Crazy isn’t it? I have forever loved the book The Secret Garden, and it was wonderful to see all the little gardens behind brick walls. Sigh; I absolutely want one now!

Here is a somewhat dark picture (I really need to get into photo editing more) of dh and me in front of the trebuche at Warwick Castle. Some of you might remember that dh built a trebuchet 2 Halloweens ago, so he was very excited to see this one.

We managed to fit in TONS of sites while we were there: Buckingham Palace, Roman, church and castle ruins in York, York Minster, West Minster, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s birthplace, his tomb, the houses of his daughter and granddaughter, Warwick Castle, Harrod’s, Science Museum (not worth it), Imperial War Musuem (a great museum that dh wished we had more time for. We spent 2 1/2 hours there and didn’t even see half of it), Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben… I’m sure there’s more that I can’t remember…

I just loved soaking in all the little nuances of being in another culture, and trying to pretend that I wasn’t an American (although I know everyone realized especially once I opened my mouth LOL). I’ve been reading Brit chicklit books for years, so it was so neat to go into all the little “regular” shops that I always read about. Here’s a list of the little things I just loved while in England (besides the usual sites):
* coming back to the hotel in the afternoon for a cuppa tea
* full fry up breakfasts
* the toiletries at Boots
* sandwiches from Marks & Spencer
* hand pulled real ales
* the whole pub experience
* the Brit soap operas (on in the early evening, not at the time ours are) and game shows (they take them really seriously!)
* Cadbury hot cocoa– delish and so rich!
* candy candy candy– maltesers, flake, veggie friendly skittles & starburst (I came home with a bag full!)
* sheep everywhere!
* the tube (mind the gap)
* newsagents
* oatcakes
* the houses, cobblestone roads
* how open they are about certain things (page 3 girls– topless– of the Sun newspaper, the fact that they can say the f word on tv, etc)
* food packages being labeled “suitable for vegetarians” I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find things to eat in England, but surprisingly, I had more choices than I do here! Every restaurant we ate at had numerous vegetarian options and they were all clearly labeled as such.

One thing I won’t miss is the coffee. UGH. awful awful awful. Yes yes I know they’re known for their tea and not coffee, but I really need my coffee fix in the morning. Needless to say I didn’t learn after numerous truly terrible cups. However, we did find a fantastic Italian cafe in London that made AMAZING cappuccinos (and a really good egg & cheese toasted breakfast sandwich as well) so we ate there every morning we were in London.

We’re back!!

We took TONS of pictures, and saw so many wonderful things. We had such a great time; I’m ready to move I absolutely loved it in England, but it’s so expensive, so it won’t be happening any time soon LOL. Knitting wise, I did stop at a John Lewis store, and I snagged some Rowan yarn. I love that they have a huge craft section in a regular department store. I also was able to finish my socks there, which is a great thing since I ran out of clean ones over there! Had no problem carrying my knitting on board on the way over and on the way back.

Both Jason and I absolutely fell in love with the tube (subway) in London. I wish they had such a great service here like that. We took it everywhere in London; it was fantastic. I also got hooked by the Brit soap operas and Project Catwalk (their version of Project Runway)– I already miss them! Ugh; I’m ready to go back already!

On to some pictures! These are just a few– the grand total was 353!

Here is Jason and I at church ruins in York:

Here we are at an old castle tower in York:

Here we are at Warwick Castle:

Here I am at a huge lion statue in Trafalgar Square:

Here is Harrod’s where we bought some delicious truffles:

This is one of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the changing of the guard as it was canceled due to rain:

Here is Buckingham Palace:

We did get to see a mini changing of the guard at the Horse Guard station though:

Here is the Tower of London where we got a tour from a Beef Eater:

We also saw the green where many people were beheaded at the Tower of London including a few Tudors (Tudor is my maiden name–Henry VIII was also a Tudor!):

Here is West Minster Abbey: It was absolutely beautiful, but you couldn’t take pictures inside.

This picture is dark, but this is in the church where Shakespeare’s tomb is:

I will post a few knitting related pics tomorrow; I have lots of online catching up to do.

It’s almost here!

My bags are packed (well almost– I still plan on slipping a few more things in there ). See that great felted bag on top? It was a gift from my Knitter’s Review Gift Elf, Jane. She just started a blog, so go say, “hi,” ok? I love the bag– it’s going to be my flight purse– just the right size for a snack, reading material and a little knitting project!

I’ve also started on a vacation pair of socks. I think I took them a little too far. I just wanted to get the second sock cast on before we left, and then yesterday I decided to go ahead and turn the heel, and then do the gusset, and well, you get the picture I may have to throw an extra ball of sock yarn into my bag. I’m using KnitPicks parade yarn and the BMG’s Footie pattern. I love this pattern because it’s so speedy!

I’m also bringing some yarn to knit the Garter Brim hat from Weekend Knitting. This will be my last post before our flight leaves tomorrow night– we return on the 20th. I’ll be sure to bring back lots of pictures!!!

That’s right! 7 days!! (unless you’re reading this post at a later date, then it’ll be even less!!). I’m seriously freaking out about it, I’m so excited. We haven’t booked our hotel for our 3 day stay in London yet, and I spent all weekend researching hotels to stay at. Made a nice long list for Jason to look at, and then we’ll decide. We have tall orders– it can’t be too expensive (which automatically rules out 90% of the hotels over there!), I’d rather it not be a US based chain, and we’d like it to have at least a little local character and charm. Being close to somewhere we’d like to visit (like Portobello Road, Hampstead Heath, Tower of London, Big Ben or Buckingham Palace) would be nice as well. I hope we make it to all those places, but just being over there is so exciting, so if we don’t have time, then I’ll live.

Because of all my planning and freaking out, there hasn’t been much time for knitting. I did pull out my Brown Raglan sweater to work on, but I’ve only managed a few inches. I have been eying the Spiral Rib sock pattern from January 2nd of the Knitting Pattern a day calender, so I may cast on for those. Speaking of which, I still need to determine what knitting I’m taking with me. I’m thinking socks will be perfect, but I want another option, too. Maybe a hat… I should be able to take my knitting on the plane on the way over (crossing my fingers), but I’ll check it on the way back. I’ve heard many cases of people getting it taken away traveling back from the UK.

Not much else to report! Jason and I did both manage to stay up for New Years. We watched part of Season 1 of Nip/Tuck, but paused it to watch the ball drop. We even opened a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the new year.

I’ve been thinking for a little while, that I’d like to speak Spanish fluently, so I was seriously considering buying this software. Well, I just found out today that my mom’s local library offers Levels 1 & 2 online for FREE. Seriously. I was going to buy Levels 1 & 2 for $329! So, I’ve decided that’s one of my goals this year. I need to create a daily or weekly plan of getting through the lessons, but I’ve managed 3 lessons today. I took 3 years of Spanish in High School, but I really don’t remember much beyond some very basic vocabulary.

I usually don’t do resolutions, so I’m setting forth a few goals for the year:

1. Learn Spanish with above mentioned software
2. Not be so bitchy, and savor and enjoy my time with dh to help build an even stronger relationship
3. Be more positive!
4. Drink a cup of green tea and take my vitamins every single day
5. Take time to breath and relax, and not so much time stressing