Sock Wars III

Can’t eat it

Posted on 2008-06-06 by Proseknitic2008-06-06

Around the office today was the usual collection of watchers –

and

Then there was the chance to briefly enter the Medal Room

with walls lined with paintings, photos and shadow boxes of medals. Some are originals, donated by families, others are reproductions of the military awards of various key British Army Medical Personnel over the centuries.

Sent off this pair of Detonators knit out of STR Silky Tide Pool –

toward the US while at the Mailroom this afternoon. Best I can figure, since I sent them out regular priority mail is that they will take at least a week and probably longer to arrive. This is fine with Peety, she is not in a hurry to be killed off. I admire her dedication, since she has finished up four kills. For what ever reason, I had so many flaking out around me that most of my time was spent doing little but chatting on the forums and waiting.

Arches

From Wednesday’s adventures in Bournville. Passing under the chocolate arch, there was no point in taking a bite.

Scattered

Posted on 2008-06-03 by Proseknitic2008-06-03

Now that my ears have quit ringing – Just a collection of this and that.

Why were my ears ringing?

Taking a break in the middle of the afternoon – I buzzed home to pick something up. This guy in a suit knocks on the door. Since I am live on a secure (yah, right) base, I knew it was neither a door-to-door salesman or a proselytizer. It turned out to be the smoke detector guy. Apparently the smoke alarm system has been turned off since some time in 2006.

I personally don’t care, but what the heck?

Take it back! I take it back. For the next 30 minutes my ears were treated to shrieking alarms as he tested one detector after another. The system is set so that if anyone of the alarms trigger – they all howl. There is one in almost every room. That makes for 10 of the bleeding things.

I gratefully shut the door, the proud dweller in a house with a functioning box and lots of tested alarms.

An hour later, the alarm goes off, but quits after a few minutes.

At 1730 this happens again and I am treated to a third iteration after six. About 1930, the system goes off. And it does not quit. I have no instructions and taking a hammer to the box seems a bit drastic. I open up the box and contemplate pulling wires. I pull the fuse, nothing happens; the high pitched shriek from the box blends with the horrible warbling siren.

Wearing the nice set of hearing muffs used for mowing the lawn, I unsuccessfully search for the emergency number. Can’t find it and can’t live with the noise. My neighbor finds the work order desk number and they tell me that they will get me an electrician out this evening. 20 minutes later, the electrician calls, then says he will be out in the morning.

No way, says I, can you hear that racket?

Yes.

Well, could you sleep with all that noise?

No, and he appears about half an hour later. It takes pulling the fuse out of the walll and out of the box before the system shuts up.

At this point, my evening is shot and my thoughts are completely scattered.

This and That

Juggling for world peace is a UTube production by the partner of a fellow Sock Wars Combatant.

Elysbeth reminded me of this post -reiterating the main points by Dr Gordon Livingston.

2. We are what we do. We are not what we think, or what we feel, or what we say, we are what we do. Actions do indeed speak louder than words. If you are unhappy with a particular part of your life, take a strong look at what you are doing to be happier.

is the key in my view. Goes right along there with my make the world a better place philosophy.

Sock Wars III – Obits

The death toll rises. 662 as of the end of the day. It was a quiet day in the Obits –

I’m dead. After 2 weeks of checking the mail every day (and calling home to see if I had socks in the mail), my suffering has ended.

So – the following exchange occured –

CANDY IS DANDY
BUT A KNITTER IS QUICKER

I think Mr. Nash said, “…but liquor is quicker.”

A knitter could be quicker ….with vodka!! Is it allowed to rewrite poetry??? As long as I give credit to the original poet???? I thought the “knitter” line would be more appropriate under these sad circumstances.

Which reminds me – I have a target! A lovely person who needs to be a-sox-inated.

Viking Ship Sweater

Remember this? I actually have one side done and have only five rows to finish on the other side of the neck. Plus a small bit of duplicate stitching (in preference to multiple row messy drop down or frogging). Besides – you deserve a picture for reading this far.

Audio Books

Truth or Dare by Jayne Ann Krentz. I needed something that didn’t not require a lot of thought while I knit.

-Holly

Sock Wars Update

Posted on 2008-06-02 by Proseknitic2008-06-02

Sock Wars III – Obits

Obviously, we are still having a good time with this. I finally heard back from my victim. Not only has she fallen to death by sox – but has major things going on in the family and is now days beyond the 48 hours required to pass on her SIP. That meant an email to the Supreme Commander in Ireland in order to be able to start on a new pair for my downstream target.

There lies Benbah
vacant orbs gazing at the stars
Beautiful socks of pink and blue (and a few more colours too)
Adorn her cooling corpse

But wait!

There in her hand
A postal receipt does stand
Her death by Yarnwitch came too late
to save NewbieSockWarrior
from the same fate

Only just!

I have been killed
By women who are skilled.
I died not of the Pox
But death by socks.

VEELAU, died happily today when she opened her mailbox this afternoon after a horrific Monday at work. She was a happy soul that loved to knit…socks. She leaves behind a stash that she never had a hope of cleaning up; not to mention a refridgerator in the same state. She will be laid to rest wearing a FANTASTIC pair of socks knit with skill by another. “When given lemons, make lemonade – then add vodka.”

HERE LIES JUDY, DEAD AND COLD
NICE NEW SOCKS, THE COLOUR OF GOLD
TOOK TWO OUT BEFORE SHE EXPIRED
ALL THAT KNITTING, SHE WAS TIRED.

Podcasts

Listing to Betty – some of those pilots sound all too familiar.

Audio Books

Rusty Nail – JA Kornrath

Herrick

Posted on 2008-05-29 by Proseknitic2008-05-29

Another bush is blooming.

After a quiet morning, I spent the afternoon attending briefings about the last rotation in Herrick (Afghanistan) and the lessons identified. It is a subtle but important distinction between the US and the UK. On the US side, it is all about lessons learned. The implication being that the item was discovered, detailed and solved. (So why do many of us talk about Lessons Learned, Lessons Forgotten?) The UK implication is that some item has been found – now on to capture, audit & action. It will be interesting to see if the basic attitude that underlies the nomenclature will extend to a greater success in the process.

Sock Wars – Obits

Here lies dead Darth, who started out as Anakin Socknitter. Trained by the Jedi socknitters, she had the potential to be great. But crossing over the to Dark Side, she killed 2 worthy sock knitting opponents, and finally was finished off by Spiderknits herself. During the war she taught herself a new method of knitting 2 socks at a time of 2 circs and had her fastest sock knitting time ever. Though the war is over for her, the memory will last forever and has been commemorated in her blog… (it will be updated on 5/30 with pics of final SIPs and the socks that killed her)

She should have used the FORCE!!!

Stash

Ok, I purchased four different yarns while in Helsinki – two from Cypressi and two from (blank mind here).

The first is Finn Wool – similar to Kauni, but a three ply to be knit on 3-4mm needles, both of these are natural coloured wool. One goes from creams to brown, the other is shades of greys.

Then there is green, 3-3,5mm needle to be the contrast for the pinks I have already spun. The color in the picture is not that great, but is really a lovely rich green.

I found blue –

and finally some Finn merino/silk blend. I might even knit a shawl.

Socks Update

Posted on 2008-05-28 by Proseknitic2008-05-28

Work, as you can tell, is not exciting.

Spinning

While wandering around, looking for something else (like a source of Finwool outside of Finland), I came across a lovely site on the Northern European Sheep Breeds. Not only have they correlated history with current sheep, but have also accomplished the supporting scientific analysis. More breeds of wool to sample?

Sock Wars

No, I haven’t forgotten about it. Or been killed. Still alive here. My assassin apparently died right before I left for Finland, sending off the unfinished socks that she had started upstream to the person who had killed off her.
My target apparently finally got her socks, and has socks on the way to me.

Obits:

Kneedle Meister is now at peace.

There she lies brokenhearted.

Got her socks and ‘poof’ departed.

SKP2008

Think I forgot to mention that the second pattern in the Sock Knitting Olympics was released 1 May. Since there seemed to be some pattern errors, I held off till it was sorted out. I am recycling the yarn I had selected for Sock Madness – much happier with this pattern called Berlin Mȕster.

Leeds Castle

Posted on 2008-05-17 by Proseknitic2008-05-17

The good thing about rain is that it keeps away some of the other tourists. Rather than give you long descriptions, I will just tell you to go here to read about the Castle, think about Henry VIII and know that people lived here as late as the 1960s. Yes, there is a golf course. No, I didn’t make any effort to take pictures of it. These photos are in gallery form. To see better, click the button in the upper right had corner of the post to eliminate the sidebars. To “bigger” a picture, click on it. I will build a page in the next day that includes all of these, plus photos of the grounds, the aviary, the duckery and the sheep.

Sock Wars III

The Obits continue. The shortest and clearest is

Helen:
Dead, dead, dead.
Darn, Darn, Darn.
Killed two before I perished.
By beautiful Tofutsies Yarn.

Rhonda:
Friends, Enemies, and Cannibals:

The Black Priestess of the Divine Faustus was slain, laid low by the hand of the most Fearsome and Deadly Tracy. Tracy is known (or not known) by her silence on the forums; rather than spend time in idle banter, she watches, she stalks, she knits, and when the moment is perfect SHE STRIKES! For her pains Tracy will receive incomplete socks in a really awful combination of pastels, but at least she will have the opportunity to try knitting with corn fiber yarn (Maizy).

The Black Priestess is survived by two large dogs, five cats and a rooster. The dogs are distressed by her departure from this life, but the cats think there is enough meat on her carcass to keep them all going for a few weeks, at which point they will kill and eat the dogs, plus now they have all that yarn to play with.

The rooster has a brain roughly the size of half a pea, and has no opinion on the matter.

This post is long enough. I will hold the fiber for tomorrow.

Oops, so this is Reading

Posted on 2008-05-16 by Proseknitic2008-05-16

Sometimes one’s day just does not go as planned.

Right before bed, I had reminded the Mole that we needed to leave NLT 0700 since I really wanted to make dental sick call. At just a few minutes before I wanted to leave, I realized that I had not heard a sound from upstairs.

No surprise, he was sound asleep. Very unhappy when woken to find that he did not have an hour to get ready. And you think teenage girls can take a long time?

It was drizzling, trucks were doing strange things on the roadways, and we were listening to Wiskey Sour. The upshot was that I zigged when I should have zagged and didn’t notice till I saw the exit for Reading. To compound things, instead of just heading around the traffic circle and getting back on the M4 in the correct direction, I decided to attempt a short cut through Reading.

Two times around downtown Reading before we could get out of there (would you believe that there is rush hour traffic in Reading?) and we finally got back to the A33 and found the M4. Lost an hour literally driving in circles.

Needless to say, by the time we got to Croughton, it was after dental sick call hours. They took pity on me. Said I could wait, or have a real appointment time at 1300. I opted for the appointment and we headed off to run errands. Just as I went into the PX, the fire alarm went off. 20 minutes later, they let us back in, all still clueless as to why it rang.

Commissary, then a run by the library which was still officially closed. They are supposed to be finished with the relocation by Wednesday. Since I will be out of town next week figured it would be nice to return the new best sellers and at least some of the DVDs.

Got the tooth looked at. We decided to hold off on drilling a little while longer. I don’t mind a bit.

Came home. The rain is good for somethings.

with the occasional glimpse of sky

Sock Wars III

I am still watching the forums and howling with laughter. The dead are mounting and the obits are a hoot:

The Dead Dulcinea wrote:
Here lies Dulcinea Quixote de la Mancha, cruelly felled by a fatal case of Sox Pox!

She leaves behind her loving husband, Don (a good guy but seriously delusional), and their children Aldonza Duet, Don Dos, Juan, Pedro, Miguel, Angel and Sam (who bears a striking resemblence to Sancho, Don’s faithful but apparently not so trusty sidekick).

She also leaves behind her best friend Aldonza (the barmaid and part-time hooker), Sancho (we know what kind of friend he was) and a pet dragon, Spike.

Dulcinea loved the outdoors in the frozen tundra called Wisconsin, especially tilting at windmills. She pretty much tilted at everything else after Aldonza poured another one. When not tilting, she was known to wage war with socks.

She’ll be buried in the family plot, wearing her beautiful, Sox Pox Socks!

She leaves her craftroom of wondrous yarns to her knitting friends, figuring they’ll duke it out over who gets what.

Please feed Spike on your way out… you don’t want to walk past a hungry dragon!

and Tiny Tyrant:

Interred May 14, 2008 by Knit Picks Memories in Rocky Mountain Dusk
Tiny is survived by her husband who refused to get the mail that
day and spare her from her fate. Her three dogs, Cliff the Mutt,
Oscar the Dog and Scrat the Brat, who all allowed the mail man
to deliver the package and four felines who simply worry about
where their next meal is coming from since dad is absent minded
about set meals. Her stash is not available as she intends to
come back from the dead and haunt her husband and leave yarn in
all the rooms of the house and needles in the most unsuspecting
places.

I am sure that I will be “dead” sometime early next week. Must think of something to say.

Audio Books

Finished up Whisky Sour and started on Bloody Mary, both by J A Konrath. They are funny and Dick Hill is perhaps my favorite reader of all time.

Arches

Right near the end of my road, a trail winds back into the woods. This arch, made of long dead greenery wound around a frame stands by itself. No clue how long it has been standing, nor why. Only near object is this strange looking shelter, tucked between two huge trees with toes dug deep in the earth.

Spam in cycles

Posted on 2008-05-14 by Proseknitic2008-05-14

Honestly, you wonder that people don’t have better things to do. Dummy websites that pull posts from around the world based on key words. Mailers that send out dozens of offers for various insurance schemes. Drugs that none of us need or want. I would home that no one would ever answer any of these bogus offers.

I suppose that I should be grateful to somehow be missing all the porn spams.

At the same time, I have no clue why Askimet keeps dumping comments from my friend Carmen in the spam bucket. I might have thought it was because of having a gravatar (Odin is quite the cat) since I have have it set to catch all comments that have links, but this happened before she got the pix uploaded.

There has to be a logical reason why all of this spamming occurs. Someone must bite. Same reason that pfishing is out there, and all the letters from Africa hinting at untold millions should you only help by first opening an account with your own money. (That disappears. And someone might be surprised?)

Sock Wars III

The forums on both Ravelry and the Sock Wars sight have been hilarious. As of shortly before midnight, there were 81 fallen in their socks and comments flying thick and fast. Besides a few rather sour grapes, I have seem prose, poetry, beautiful sock pictures and some really creative obits. Krafty1 went all out in her packaging (and the socks are pretty cool too).

Spinning

Finished up the last ounce of Temptation and all of the plying. Picture tomorrow, since it would involve going and locating the camera.

We (the Mole and I) braved Tescos for gas and some groceries, dropped off the recycling and made it back home with only one detour. I just love people who ride on your bumper even when you are doing the speed limit.

-Holly

Would you rather

Posted on 2008-05-13 by Proseknitic2008-05-13

Be looking at this?

Or this?

Wearing these?

Or these?

Dressed like this?

Or this?

Working at a computer (hey – you don’t need a picture of that – you have acess to one or you would not be reading this)

Sock Wars III

Or admiring a finished pair of socks for Sock Wars III prior to the run to the post office.

At last tally, 31 casualties have been recorded. And that is not counting all the wounded in action (cramped hands, sore shoulders, bleeding fingers).

I am off home, then have the Mole to get from the airport around 2300.
-Holly

Spinning Guilds

Posted on 2008-05-12 by Proseknitic2008-05-12

A Monday back in the office means a number of email accounts to check, a search of the calendar to make sure that I don’t forget anything and a bunch of filing. In other words, booorrrring.

Sock Wars III

I have heard from my assassin. She is in the US. I reached my victim. She is also in the US. Luckily, she is not allergic to wool since her socks are just about done. Without a screaming reason to really hurry, I didn’t knit during breaks today.

At the start of today, one sock was complete and the other half way so. (Well, I did tell you that I spent most of yesterday spinning. Pink and hot pink it was with that grey thrown in).

The “dead” count started at 5, since that was the number of those who opted out after the alleged start. From here on in, I suspect the first ones out will be US based who received US based victim’s dossiers on Friday. Could have gotten socks in the mail on Saturday. Or even Sunday if you live near a major airport.

Seems like a lot of people are taking this more seriously than I. Airmailing small packages actually costs the same US or UK post. (under $5). DHL? UPS? FedEx? Not me!

Spinning

I am in West Surrey. Surrey Heath to be specific. Don’t ask my why my post code says Guilford. There is a local spinning guild which meets occasionally in Farnham. Another spinner (ound through Ravelry) and I went together. The speaker was excellent, funny and dynamic.

20 year ago, she and her husband moved into Hampshire. Having a large garden (US this = yard) they decided to get a couple of biological lawnmowers. They had never had animals before. The Shetland Sheep really took over their lives.

She brought about 12 fleece to demonstrate the breed characteristics – never mind that it turns out the breed has literally dozens of recognized colours and patterns. (Lets hear it for the Scandinavian names.)

Just a small sample.

But you know what was really amazing? No one, I mean no one brings knitting to the meeting. All those knitters and spinners, they are all worried about offending the speaker. I thought for a moment and asked the question. Not surprisingly, none of them would worry about knitters, they all believe in multitasking.

Perhaps I am just too young for the group?

-Holly

Lazy Day

Posted on 2008-05-11 by Proseknitic2008-05-11

The blossoms are just about gone from the trees.

Sock Wars III

I forgot to show you my progress on SockWars from Friday evening.

Since as of last night, I still didn’t have my target, well taking an updated picture seemed pointless.

Some sense intervened somewhere and the complete list was posted on the website. It was easy to figure out who was your enemy and your target. As it turned out, my first assassin bailed on the play, but I was able to contact the person before her on the list. Having email addresses is so nice! Both are in the US.

Given that I am not making the post till tomorrow and I am much farther than the above, I spent the rest of the day spinning.

Audio/Video

I don’t care for Inspector Morse (BBC) but found Hamish McBeth (also BBC) pretty funny. I have a real feeling it is like Lake Wobegone; close enough to the truth to have some reality and far enough away that you can write off a fair amount as stereotypes.

-Holly

Sock Wars III

Posted on 2008-05-09 by Proseknitic2008-05-09

What is Sock Wars III? you ask.

Well, obviously it is battle 3, following Sock Wars I and Sock Wars II.

It is the usual insane suspects scattered around the globe who all start with a pattern and target at the same time. Knitting as fast as they can, they post off their completed pair to their target, effectively forcing the recipient out of play. The idea is to knock off as many people (playing it forward so to speak) as possible before being “killed” by receiving a pair of socks from your assassin.

It has made a few papers – showing up on Reuters, and elicited some wonderful photos.

A lot of success obviously depends on the post. If your target is local, it is easy. If your assassin is from half way around the world, you might just be golden.

It was supposed to start off at 1200 GMT. Thought I had lucked out because the Supreme Commander lives in Northern Ireland.

The fates were against all of us. Not only had the SC suffered a major death in her family immediately preceding D= 0 , T= 0, but her email conspired against her as well. Large number of posts with mail merge seemed to equal a server hitch on her side. Perhaps the numbers hit the “gee, it must be spam trigger.”

End result was that almost no one had either pattern or target as the minutes of Friday ticked away. Only the fact that she placed the pattern up on the website saved the whole battle from crashing and burning.

My sense of humour is still intact. After all, I signed up late not knowing if I was still going to be playing in Sock Madness and with a pattern I can at least get started.

Would have been nice to have had everything, I could have probably posted off socks by noon tomorrow.

The View

Arches

I just could not resist. Land Rover provided me with such a great opportunity at the Tattoo the other night. It isn’t just the US that is into SUVs.

-Holly

Morning Light

Posted on 2008-05-08 by Proseknitic2008-05-08

Why was I awake at 0630 this morning? I didn’t crash till well after 0100.

It must be the morning light, perhaps the house front faces east? I still have no sense of direction here other than the Motorway is that way (points) and London is sort of that way (points again) and Tescos is this way (pointing over the other shoulder). I should just figure it out and be done with it.

But I get light in the morning, fresh sun streaming into my window from quite early. Leaving said window open adds in not just birds chirping cheerily but the sounds of the A30 as trucks rumble by on the otherside of the fence and foliage.

I didn’t knit much, just half a leg on the second of a pair of socks while waiting for a confirmation for Sock Wars III. With the insanity of Sock Madness now passing me by, I thought it might be more fun to war than to knit another round of Madness since I gave the last pattern a bye.

<h4>Reading</h4>

Instead, I spent the eveing reading: he most recent Dante Valentine and two Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle.