Leaving in an overpacked car

Hello all,

I now leave for Sweden. I have over- and under-packed, I don’t have all the things with me that I would have liked (e.g. my raincoat) and I’m kind of dreading a long drive in this weather. It’s so hot it’s ridiculous. Yesterday we had over 30 degrees celsius – that might be fine if we were a tropical country, but we’re not! We’re cold-weather people, high temperatures like these make us angry! It certainly made a lot of customers huffy (there was this one bitch I wanted to tell to fuck the hell off and leave me alone, and take her stupid plastic bottle with her, or I’d shove it up her ass – it’s not just customers that get angry – but I like my job too much) and it makes me want to crawl out of my skin because it’s too hot to wear. It would’ve been better if it had been a dry heat, or if there’d at least been a breeze, but no. It’s hot and humid and the air feels thick and doesn’t move at all.

Oh well, it doesn’t matter because next week will be cold and rainy, which is perfect for a tent-trip to Sweden. ;) I’ve only packed two knitting projects, my Ishbel and yarn for a pair of socks from my new Nancy Bush sock, as all my needles were taken by other, larger projects. I didn’t feel like moving 200+ stitches to spare yarn, and I didn’t want to knit with cotton on crappy needles either, so I’m not going to be knitting cotton at all. Which is rather disappointing, but there you go. Nothing I can do about it now. I will have to wait until I get home – I guess a neck scarf and woolly socks will be more appropriate knitting with the weather forecast we’re looking at! These first couple of days will be fine, but the further we get into next week, the colder and rainier it gets. I’ve also packed two books, just in case I run out of knitting. You never know.

Anyway, I hope you’re all enjoying the sun where ever you are! I’ll be back in a week’s time, and hopefully I’ll have some knitting and beautiful pictures to show for it. :)

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

Okay, so I’m not really dressed up (simple top, no bra, pj pants, unruly hair) and I do have places to go (take out the trash, do some more laundry, go to the gym).

I realised today that the 3 days I’m working this week won’t be as hard as I thought it’d be. I thought I had an 11 hour shift on Thursday, but turns out it’s from 8 to 4 – quite a simple day! Just like the other two days, which are also 8 to 4. Today was tough, though, because all the ‘cold’ products had to go out on shelves (eggs, cheese, milk, pasta, sausages, etc. etc.) and you have to drag everything out from the shelves to put in the newest products at the back, which takes effing ages. Martin calls it FIFO or “first in, first out” which makes no sense to me, but there you go.

I probably won’t have any pictures to show you until I come home from Sweden – I’m too lazy and tired when I get home from work! I feel kind of icky – I bought chocolate ice cream, flødeboller (apparently called Tunnock’s Teacakes in English), chips, M&Ms (the big bag) and cherries in case I feel like a “snack”. I’ve been stuffing my face ever since I came home, which probably explains why I only ate half of my dinner. As I opened the bag of chips I thought “Huh, mum would never have let me eat all this before dinner when I lived at home. But now I have my OWN apartment, I’m a GROWNUP now, and I can eat what I want! … But when I have kids, they can’t eat all this junk before dinner. They’ll have to wait until they get their own place. Nyah!” How grownup and powerful I am, eating junk right before dinner!

In knitting news – I actually have news! I connected the sleeves of my Moch Cardi to the body, and it’s zipping along. It took me a while to figure out how to cast on stitches at the end of the row for the button band, but I like how it’s coming out. It was a bit tough right when the stitches were all on the same needle – the sleeve stitches pulled at each other because 6 sts were held on a piece of scrap yarn to be grafted together with 6 body sts at the underarm. But I think it’s going to look okay when it’s done! I think it’ll turn out a little cropped, but that’s the design… I don’t think I’ll mind, but it’s hard to say. I think I prefer top-down sweaters to bottom-up, at least in one-piece sweaters.. Much easier to see if the fit and length is right!
I was hoping I could finish it before Sweden, but I don’t think I will. I’m exhausted when I get home from work, and thinking (and counting!) takes special effort. I’d rather watch (Danish) TV shows about couples who have their first child and couples who get married where the groom has to take care of everything in order to have the wedding paid for. Yes, I am a very cultural person, why do you ask?

I’ve also bought some new yarn (40% off! How could I not?!) but I will talk more about that when it gets here. It’s cotton, even, which I usually never touch or even bother to look at. I bought it locally, so it should be here tomorrow or Thursday.. Very excited! I might bring some of it to Sweden, even though I’m trying to kick my WIPs.. I signed up for the Polka Dot Jersey in this year’s knitter’s Tour de France. Getting rid of as many WIPs as possible – I hope to finish up quite a few things!

London, baby!: Thursday

The last installment where I

Eat more cupcakes, buy more shoes and make my dad proud!

On this final day of our trip, we’d decided to chill and walk around Notting Hill (more specifically Portobello Road) until it was time to take the train to the airport. So we went to Portobello Road!

There were some beautiful houses on Portobello. Lots of colours, nice windows, lovely gardens (and crappy cars)… I only took one picture; I was afraid someone in the house might see me and think I was some kind of stalker. There were also some quirky shops with signs like “I bitch, therefore I am” and “Housework fascinates me! I can watch you do it all day long”. (click to embiggen in Flickr)

There were also plenty of clothing and shoe shops on Portobello, like American Apparel. There was also a Tesco where we bought some really cheap chocolate (I don’t understand why there aren’t more fat people in London; if chocolate was that cheap in Denmark I’d be huge!) and some nice chocolates for Martin (that we haven’t eaten yet. Note I say we). I also bought some very nice Cadbury chocolate with some kind of biscuit crunch in it. I can’t believe how solid those chocolate bars are – and over 200 grams, too!

Anyway, I bought some more shoes:

Some simple ballerina-like flats. They were only £15, but now they’re kind of falling apart on the inside where my big toe rubs on the top of the shoe. Oh well. Can’t expect more when that’s all they cost, huh. They’re from Unique Shoes London, I believe. I like wearing them, though, as they don’t eat up my feet when I wear them without socks!

After we’d reached the bottom of Portobello Road (it goes on and on!) we walked back to visit the Hummingbird Bakery. I had a Black Bottom Cupcake, I think, with cream cheese frosting. It was VERY good and I’m sad we couldn’t bring some home with us!

Dad just got a cappucino, I think. Compared to the cupcakes from Buttercup, I prefer these. They’re more manageable in size, and I liked the frosting better (there was also more of it!). Buttercup seemed like a mix between a cupcake and a muffin. They were good, but I prefer Hummingbird. We sat inside because there was some idiot outside smoking a cigarette. It was quite crowded inside because they were remodelling or receiving deliveries or something, but I liked it a lot.

All day my dad had been saying “You know, Fulham Road isn’t that far from here. Perhaps we should go take a look?”. He said we could go see the last yarn shop (Stash) if I wanted to, but I could tell he really wanted to go to Fulham Road. So we went back to the tube and rode it towards Fulham Road. And so, you ask, what exactly is on Fulham Road?

(What? A picture of me smiling? Impossible!)

Stamford Bridge. That’s what’s on Fulham Road. For those of you who don’t know or haven’t guessed, Stamford Bridge is home to the soccer team Chelsea, my dad and brother’s favourite (English) soccer team. I’m a semi-fan; I like following their progress when I talk to either my dad or my brother and I watch the finals if they’re in them, but other than that I don’t pay much attention. But I made my dad proud and got my picture taken under the fake arch!

We didn’t stay for long, didn’t even visit the Mega Shop (I wanted to buy some Chelsea underwear to piss of Martin, who’s a Man U fan) and then we went back to the hotel to collect our bags. We took the train back to the airport, and almost had a panic attack when the lady weighed our suitcases and they were overweight. The maximum was 10 kg – mine was 10.83 and dad’s was 11.04. But we were let through without having to pay a fine.. Maybe they have some kind of margin, if you’re within +2 kg of the maximum then you’re let through. Who knows? We’d just barely gotten everything to fit in the suitcases without damaging anything so I’m glad it all went well.

The flight home was quite uneventful, and so was the ride home. We bought some sandwiches for dinner, I called Martin to let him know we were back and told him I’d bought a Chelsea souvenir (he specifically asked me not to get him anything that he’d feel bad about having to put on display even though he didn’t like it, like a Big Ben replica or something) even though it was really just a picture of me at Stamford Bridge. I watched some TV when we came home and then collapsed on the bed – flying makes me really tired.

Dad wrote me an e-mail a couple of days after we’d gotten home and thanked me for taking him to London. I tried to tell him it was the other way round, and I was grateful that he’d taken me to London. It was an awesome trip, and we’ll definitely have to go back some time – there’s still so much to see! And I wouldn’t mind going back to Loop to have a look, and perhaps also Stash next time… ;)

And that concludes our London trip. Regular blogging will resume shortly; we’re leaving for Sweden on Friday (YES! I managed to get rid of all my shifts so I could leave with the others! It took bribing a co-worker with a bottle of Captain Morgan, but who cares. I don’t have to sit on a stupid train for 12 hours by myself!) and I’ve got some long shifts at work these next 3 days. I have today off to clean my apartment a bit and clear out the fridge, and do some laundry before the trip… But there will be blog silence again soon, I’m afraid. Anyway, thanks for all your comments on our trip – it’s much appreciated! :)

Wednesday Weirdness

(We interrupt the London Review as I am bored and Martin insists on playing some shoot-the-bad-guy-in-Africa-game (Farcry?). I suppose this will also replace the long-dead Friday’s Feast? Questions found here.)

1.) To you, what makes the perfect body the perfect body?
Curves, but I guess that’s because I don’t have that many myself! ;) Though if you can tell that a person is happy in their own skin, it makes them sexy. I despise people who say that big girls (or skinny girls) can’t be sexy – if they think they’re sexy as hell, they are!

2.) What part of your body do you obsess about the most?
My hair! Definitely my hair. I’ve never really cared about my body that much – except maybe my boobs when I was younger, I always willed them to get just a bit bigger. I’ve never obsessed about them though, and I only have rare bouts of “OMG are my arms really that skinny?!” or “OMG my skin looks like a pizza!!!1!” (those usually come about after seeing unfortunate pictures of myself!)

3.) What makes a house a warm, welcoming, comfortable home?
The atmosphere! If the people living there love being there, it turns a house into a home. Of course, large windows allowing lots of sunlight, warm temperature, large, stuffy furniture and a general vintage/romantic/soft feel to it makes a house feel warm, welcoming and comfortable. :) It also helps if it’s in the country, but it’s not required.

4.) What fabric feels sexiest against bare skin?
Luxurious cotton sheets. I have some bed linen that is gooooood cotton (passed down to me from dad) and it’s always a special occasion when I put it on – if outside temperature allows, I’ll sleep nekkid in it. It’s so good!

5.) What is the lamest lie you have heard in the last month?
I haven’t spent much time with my brother the past month, so I don’t really have anything. ;) My brother is a horrible prankster/joker, and will spew all sorts of crap if he thinks you’ll buy it (which I usually do; I’m incredibly naïve). I usually always say “really?!?!” before I realise that he’s probably trying to pull a joke on me.
But if I thought about it long enough I could probably find a political/celebrity remark…

6.) What always makes you feel better when you’re upset?
A hug and a kiss on the forehead from Martin. ;) And if he’s not around, anything edible that contains sugar, putting on my pj’s or sweats and climbing into bed. Sometimes, if budget allows it, buying something small and yarny that I can look forward to getting in the mail!

London, baby!: Wednesday

Wednesday was a busy, busy day. It was a day for

Sightseeing, boutique shopping and yarn groping!

We started out the day with yet another hearty breakfast, and then bought tickets with a tourist sightseeing bus company thing. They had stops all over central London, with either a live commentary or a recorded one. Then you drove around London, saw the main sights and got some small snippets of information on the way. It was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed the odd bits of info: like why the buildings have so many chimneys. Apparently, each room had a fireplace a long time ago (1800-something?) and they all had their individual flues. We also saw places were some of the Beatles had lived and written songs, and the guide also marked places where London had burnt down in 1666. It was very interesting!

We got off near Waterloo station in search for the first yarn shop of the day: iKnit. I have to admit that I wasn’t very fond of the neighbourhood – maybe because it was so different from what we’d previously seen. We actually passed the shop once before we found it, and I think we only found it because I saw some baskets of yarn and thought “Huh, there’s yarn! … wait. That’s iKnit!” – but that was mainly due to me not being able to find my way round. ;)

iKnit has been hyped a lot. A LOT. So I was very, very excited to visit! I had this idea that dad could get a pint while I was looking around. I forgot to take a picture of the storefront, but dad took a picture of me browsing the store:

I have to admit another thing: I was a bit disappointed with iKnit. This picture might not show it, but I wasn’t very impressed with their stock. They did have some nice yarn, but I guess I was just expecting … more. I found it a bit dark and cramped; furniture in the middle of the shop took up a lot of floor space, and mannequins were blocking a lot of the yarn I wanted to see. I think I was also expecting a bit more high-end yarn? I don’t know. I did leave with some nice stuff though!

The new Knit.1 magazine. I knew I wanted to get this while in London because it costs almost twice as much to get it shipped to Denmark, and there are some really cute tops in here. Like the Leaf Yoke Top, the Tie Back Shell or the Short Sleeve Pullover (which I would make in a wool yarn instead of cotton). There’s not much substance to Knit.1, though, compared to IK. I mean, the articles are shorter and they’re a bit bleh. Quickly read, not much content. But the patterns are nice.

A skein of Manos Clasica in colour “Limpopo”. I bought this a bit on a whim, not sure what to make with it.. Perhaps a hat or a cowl? I just fell in love with the colour, I think it’s gorgeous! It’s also softer than I thought it would be. I could make a sweater of this stuff!

Finally, a skein of Knitwitches Seriously Gorgeous Laceweight Kidsilk in colour “Seamist”. The label says approx. 600 yards, Ravelry says 650. I was thinking I could use it for any pattern that uses 3 skeins of Kidsilk Haze – there are some pretty lace tees out in Ravelry Land for that kind of yardage! :) It’s very soft and slightly semi-solid (I think). It was a bit pricey, £17, but I like it a lot.

So that was iKnit. I might go back for a second look next time I’m in London. The staff was very nice, pretty much left me alone to browse, so nothing against them at all! It just wasn’t what I expected, considering all the hype it’s been getting. Oh well.

We went back on the bus and drove to Covent Garden where we got some ice cream and looked at the small shops there. We stopped by the Tea House, I got a tiny round tea sieve and some English Afternoon blend. I haven’t tried it yet (need to wash off my teapot) but it smells really nice. I had trouble deciding on a blend since I know nothing about tea. I almost went for a peppermint blend, but figured I could just get that at home if I want.

Covent Garden was very cozy; I almost stopped by L’Occitane (I LOVE their products, you can’t get them in Denmark) but figured I wanted to spend some money at Loop as well. I have a habit of buying shower gels when on holiday, and then it takes me 6 months to use it up because I don’t want to use it, you know, because it’s like a souvenir… Which is why I shouldn’t go on holiday very often, or my bathroom will overflow with shower products. I have some cherry blossom shower gel that I bought in Paris (March/April last year) that I still haven’t used. It’s ridiculous.

 After Covent Garden we took the tube to visit Loop and the restaurant Ottolenghi nearby. And can I just say how much more I like Loop than iKnit? The selection was much better (not perfect, but no yarn shop is…), the staff were super-friendly and chatty, and while the shop is small it didn’t seem dark or cramped. There was even a chair outside on the deck where my dad could sit while I browsed the store!

A nice American woman commented on my Icarus, and her and the guy in the store (Stephen? Stephan?) touched it and asked what yarn I’d used and said it was lovely. I always get embarrassed and self-conscious when I get that kind of attention from other knitters, so I never even saw the face of the woman and could only stutter “wool-silk. Zephyr.” and “… getting kind of worn…”. And flush. But it felt awesome having other people comment your knitting skillz!

I did not buy the Amber book I’m holding in the picture. I almost did, but I decided on another book, “Knitting Socks On The Road” by Nancy Bush.

Another book I’ve been wanting to buy for years. I think I may have been able to save a pound by buying it online, but oh well! There are so many pretty patterns, and I’m thinking of a Nancy Bush sock-marathon kind of thing – knitting one pair of socks from this book per month. Or something like that. The next sock knitting book I’m getting is her “Vintage Socks” collection!

As mentioned, I really liked the yarn selection at Loop. They had some awesome, awesome stuff. And I didn’t find any of it overpriced at all (iKnit took £10 for a skein of Malabrigo Lace, Loop only charges £8… and I’ve bought it on Ravelry for £6.50, but Loop’s price seems to be the norm), which was nice. I often find that real-life knitting shops seem a bit pricey. The yarn I bought at loop was Alpaca Silk in colour “Peacock”:

Three skeins for Delphine from French Girl Knits (and the book excerpt in IK). I’m a bit nervous about the sizing of the garment, but perhaps if I go up a needle size it’ll fit. The middle size (35″) seems way too big for a lacy garment for me, and the smallest size (27.5″) seems way too small. Has anyone made this that can shed some light? I can’t wait to knit with this yarn, it feels luscious! They even wound it for me, and I would’ve had all my yarn wound (that I bought there) if I didn’t feel guilty for leaving my dad outside for so long. ;)

Two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted (ooooh!) in “Polar Morn” for Laura Chau’s Just Enough Ruffles. The picture doesn’t quite show it, but it has a pink tinge to it. Very pretty! I was very excited to see they had so many colours in stock, but I settled on just two skeins (though I could’ve bought a tub full!). It’s soft, just like everyone says, and I can’t wait to knit with it! It was also cheaper than I thought (£8.99) so that was a pleasant surprise!

Finally, I got:

a skein of Handmaiden Casbah in colour “Hemlock”. I got this almost solely for the name, the rest for the colour. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and I don’t think I’ll be making socks with this. This might be one of those ’special skeins’ that you pull out now and again, but don’t know what to make out of because it’s so pretty that you don’t want to spoil it with a bad pattern.

After Loop we went to Ottolenghi, which I thought was a bit pretentious. The food was fine, if very ‘new wave healthy living’ -ish. Very minimalistic decor, and I felt they were trying a bit too hard. But then maybe I just don’t understand that kind of restaurant! We went back to Covent Garden for the rest of the bus tour, but by that time the weather had turned grey and windy, and while on the bus it started to rain. I enjoyed the rest of the ride, even if it was hard to take pictures (like Big Ben, which was smaller than I’d imagined), but when we came home I was feeling quite sick. We ate at the hotel restaurant that night because I didn’t want to wander around Soho looking for a place to eat. I’m glad we did because if we’d gone out I would surely have caught a cold! The food was great though, and our waiter was new, I think – he dropped things occasionally and forgot to ask how I wanted my lamb. I sympathised with him – it’s always hard being the new guy (or girl).

All in all Wednesday was a lovely day, and I loved visiting yarn shops. We only got to visit those two, as Socktopus didn’t open until 3 p.m. during the week and Stash had pretty much the same as I could get at Loop and iKnit (with the excemption of Dream in Color, which I would’ve liked to take a look at!).

And I have to say, you should visit Loop. I’m sure iKnit is great, it just wasn’t the day I visited. Perhaps they were low on stock, or having a slow day, or whatever. But Loop was magnificent. I loved it there, and I’ll definitely spend money there again, also in their online shop! I have my eyes on some Hiya Hiya needles and some bamboo yarn…

London, baby!: Tuesday

Shopping, shopping and a musical!

Tuesday, after another big breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, some kind of fried tomatoes, toast with butter and jam, pastries, watermelon, pineapple, juice and tea…!) we set out for Oxford Street, one of the biggest shopping districts I’ve ever seen. Stores everywhere. Huge stores at that. TopShop was absolute hell; it was like four stores in one and we got lost several times. I bought some tights, but only because I’d forgotten my own at home. They had a good deal on jeans from Wrangler and Lee compared to Denmark, but the pair of jeans I tried on was way too low-rise for me (I hate buttcrack jeans) and I couldn’t close them, anyway. The giggling, manic girls in there with way too much makeup and perfume were pissing me off, so I didn’t go back to try another pair. They also seemed to be out of my size, so oh well. I did get some cool shoes though:

Not at that store, but at a store called Shuhe, I think. I paid £45 which is quite cheap for Converse shoes (if you ask me!) – especially since you consider that I’ve worn out my old ones now, 4 years after the original purchase, and those were fabric only. These new ones are more sturdy all-round; leather on the outside, fabric on the inside and a much thicker sole. They resemble my old ones a lot, but I’m just not into the classic black/white ones.

One store I was adamant about finding was Banana Republic. We can’t really get that here (maybe in Copenhagen, but I’m not sure) and I like the look of their clothes. I also had a 10% voucher from a magazine I got at the hotel, which I used to purchase a dress that I don’t have a picture of. It’s the green one in the left of the first slide on the London website. It’s not a great picture, but the only one I could find. It’s very pretty and not normally something I would buy (at that price!). It was £85 without the voucher which is quite steep, but I fell in love with it when I put it on (I wasn’t actually planning on buying it, just wanted to try it on, but you know how it goes…) and then I had to buy it. I love it so much and can’t wait for an occasion to wear it! I’m thinking the wedding I’m photographing in the middle of July?

Due to the large breakfast we weren’t really hungry for lunch, just thirsty, so we stopped by Borders. The crowds in the streets had left me looking like this

and dad was pretty much the same. (See, again with a not-smiling picture?) I liked Borders, such a huge place to buy any kind of book imaginable, but I was a bit disappointed with their craft book section. Not for lack of selection, but almost all the books were scuffed and looked worn and old. The dust jackets were ripped, the soft-cover books were bent, black marks all over the fronts… And if there’s something I hate, it’s books not being taken proper care of! I can’t imagine anyone would want to buy those books. I certainly didn’t! Dad said maybe I could get a couple of pounds knocked off the price, but I wouldn’t even pay half of what those books cost when they look like that. I’m a book snob, admitted, and I like mine to be in pristine condition when I get them. That way, if they get a mark, it’ll be my own fault and I won’t be as upset.

So I didn’t buy any knitting books, but instead got these:

Two Terry Pratchett books, two Trudi Canavan books. I have the first two books in the “Age of the Five” series (Canavan) and I’ve been looking at the first book of “The Black Magician” trilogy for some time. And paperbacks are so cheap there compared to Denmark! I paid a bit over £30 for those four books, here I would’ve payed a little under the double. Insane. If I go back I’ll definitely buy more. I can’t wait to read “The Magician’s Guild” but I think I’ll bring it with me when I have to take the bus/train to Sweden in a few weeks (I finally got someone to take my Saturday and Sunday shifts, but I won’t be able to get rid of my Friday shift. The last guy I can’t get hold of, but it looks like he’s swapped his own shifts that week, so I guess that means he’s going somewhere too. I don’t mind; at least I’ll get two more days in Sweden with my darling!) – it’ll make for good reading, if I can avoid getting motion sickness.

We went back to the hotel to change clothes and get some rest before the second part of the day: the musical! We got this dinner/musical deal with dinner at a SAS Radisson hotel (the food was quite nice, but what is it with Brits and vegetables? Are they afraid of them? Do they not exist in Britain? We got a huge steak and fries, and ONE half tomato.) and afterwards we went to see The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Dad “forgot” to bring the camera so I have no pictures from that evening, but it was magical. We got to sit way up front, and the musical was so amazing. I’m a huge Phantom fan, I’ve seen the movie several times, but I’ve never seen it performed on a stage! I liked the Phantom very much, and I thought the actress who played Christine was also decent (albeit a bit too over-dramatic at times – but maybe they have to be like that on stage? It’s not like you can get a close-up of their face like you can in movies, so they have to speak with their bodies….). The music was fantastic, and I cried a bit at the end when she choses that other guy whose name escapes me over the Phantom. They all say he’s so evil, but I don’t see it. He’s just passionate about his music and his love! I’d take him if she doesn’t want him..

Leaving that kind of experience always makes me feel sad – especially because everyone suddenly seem so ugly and crass. I love the magic of the theatre/opera and the music… It’s like being in a whole other world, and I wish it could go on forever. It’s like being short of breath during the entire performance, like everything else has stopped around you, and all that’s left is the passion and the music. It’s beautiful and the most wonderful feeling in the world.

I hope I get to see it again some day. Perhaps I should get more into the theatre/opera/musical scene… There might be some good ones showing around here. It’s the music that really gets me. It’s like it seeps in through every pore and just … rocks my world.

Anyway, that was pretty much it for Tuesday. Wednesday’s installment will bring yarn and yarn shop reviews! :)

London, baby!: Monday

Alright, welcome to the first part of our London trip! If you’re here for the yarny goodies, you’ll have to wait until the Wednesday installment. Monday was all about

Flying, walking and eating cupcakes

We left for the airport Monday morning around 9. Our flight was at 10:50. I had left behind my blowdryer and my Ishbel since my dad assured my that they would have the former at the hotel, and I was worried that they would take away the latter at the airport. What I hadn’t considered was that they would also take away my skin tonic and makeup remover (both over 100 ml bottles – I thought you just couldn’t bring more than 100 ml, so the bottles were both about half-full) so I had to go without during our stay.

I don’t have any pictures from the airport since the camera was tucked away safely in my suitcase. As I mentioned earlier we could only bring one piece of carry-on luggage. Insane! How was I going to transport home all the yarn and goodies I’d buy in London?! Fortunately dad didn’t pack a whole lot so we were able to fit it all in on the trip home.

The flying part went alright; I got rather air-sick when we were descending and there was a lot of turbulence during the flight, but I neither vomited nor peed my pants, so all in all I think it was a success. From Stansted airport we took the Stansted Express to the centre of London, and from there the tube to our hotel:

The Ramada Jarvis Hotel. A four-star hotel – allegedly. The interior in the lobby was really nice, and the beds and the food was great quality, but when we arrived they only had a room left on the smoker’s floor. The windows would only open about 4 inches in one side, the air condition seemed to be broken (it was freezing when we turned it on, humid when we didn’t) and the room smelled like wet dog when you’d taken a shower. Other than that, it was a fairly nice hotel and I enjoyed staying there. Wouldn’t pay full price, though – we were able to get one of those package deals they provide and only paid about half. Maybe that’s why the room wasn’t very good?

After we’d checked in we went for lunch at a small restaurant that served really nice paninis. Mine was a tuna melt. I was so starving my hands were shaking and when I was done I’d eaten so fast I almost felt sick. But it was a really good panini (even if their chocolate milkshake wasn’t that good). We then headed over to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park – we lived right across from it! I think the neighbourhood inspired a lot of people to keep fit – at any time of day we always saw at least a couple of joggers out for a run.

It was a really hot day and there were loads of people hanging about on the grass away from the paths. Lots of dogs, children, people sunbathing.. And it’s a beautiful park! We took a quick look at Kensington Palace (I believe it was called) and the accompanying little garden, and then we headed towards the only ‘real’ destination for the day: the Buttercup Cake Shop.

(If you look closely at the picture on the left, you can see me take the picture and dad standing beside me.)

I’d chosen two bakeries for us to visit during our stay, and this was one of them (the other being the Hummingbird Bakery, which we visited on the last day). It was extremely hot and humid inside the shop, so we took 4 cupcakes to go to eat in the Gardens. Their selection wasn’t that great that time of day, and I wonder if the humidity was good for the cupcakes to just stand out in the open, but they tasted fine enough! From left to right, top to bottom, it’s a Banoffee (banana cake with frosting and toffee sprinkles), a Chocolate Purist (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting), Banana (banana cake with banana frosting) and a (I believe) Black and White (vanille cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles). Mine were the Banana and Chocolate Purist. I liked the Banana one best, the chocolate ones was kind of dry (though maybe that’s because I didn’t eat it until later that evening). The cupcakes were huge; one was enough to make me feel stuffed!

We hung out in the Gardens for a while after we’d eaten a cupcake. There were lots of these garden chairs that cost £1.50 to sit in (apparently) and dad took a picture of me looking very ungraceful. We didn’t take a lot of pictures of each other, and I don’t have a single one of me smiling. Not sure why, I was smiling a lot during our stay. Dad caught me off guard in a lot of pictures, though, resulting in that half-open eyes and mouth look that makes you look mental.

We went back to the hotel and actually didn’t leave until the next morning. We were both stuffed after a large, late lunch and eating the cupcakes, so we stayed in that evening. I hadn’t brought any knitting or books, so thank gods there was a TV with shows that I knew! Maybe it was a good thing we didn’t go out to explore the city, though, as a sudden thunderstorm hit us in the early evening. Lots of lightning flashes and crashing thunder and heavy rain, so it was quite nice to stay in. It didn’t seem to bother the Londoners, though – still lots of people walking around beneath our windows!

And that was Monday… Tuesday was a bit more exciting, but there was less picture-taking. Tuesday = shopping!

Back from London!

I got back from London on Thursday evening, was very busy Friday and have had a very relaxing Saturday. I have loads of pictures to share with you, but I think I’ll make posts in a day-by-day mode – there are just too many to show at once! :) I bought lots of gorgeous yarns, shoes, books, a dress… And we got to see lots of things. Not as many as I’d have liked (we only got to see the outside of Tower of London) but dad says we can go back sometime soon and we can see the rest.

Not much of an update on the Sweden-plans-gone-awry front; a nice co-worker offered to take my Saturday shift, but that’s not really relevant if I can’t at least get rid of my Sunday shift! Most people are working the same days, either at the same time or earlier in the day (can’t blame them for not wanting a 14-hour shift!!) but there are a couple I haven’t heard from, so I’m going to try them tomorrow. The same nice co-worker also took my shift on Friday – Martin’s classmates are going to an amusement park that day and I’ve been invited along. I never get to do anything on Friday’s due to my shift, so I was very happy when she said she’d cover for me. I told her repeatedly to let me know if she wanted to get rid of any of hers while she’s got exams; I’ll be happy to repay her by taking crappy shifts! :) It’s also great that me and Martin finally get to do something together that’s not centered around our apartments! I was quite upset at times during the London trip when he wasn’t there, even though I had a great time with dad, and he’s decided he probably won’t work this summer. I’m also quite upset with that (means not a lot of money to do things that aren’t around here), but I’ve already given him a lot of grief about it so I’ll spare you. ;)

In other news… Hum. Not so much. I started Ishbel before we went to London:

in Malabrigo Sock “Solis”. It’s very pretty; ranges from dark green to light green to teal to dark blue to light blue. I like the way it’s knitting up, too! Only problem? I’ve completed the large part of the stockinette, and I still have 68 of my 100 grams left. I don’t think even the large lace section will take up 68 grams of yarn, so I’m thinking the stockinette portion should be bigger. I’m just not sure how; obviously I should just knit more repeats but how many? I’m too tired to do the math now so I think I’ll troll Ravelry for a bit and see if someone else did the same. I just don’t want to end up with a third of the skein left. Or maybe I could just keep repeating the lace part.. Haven’t looked at the charts but it shouldn’t be that hard?

I hope I can finish the Moch Cardigan soon; it’s weighing on my conscience (since I want to start a new sweater, though I don’t know which) and I want to wear it since a lot of my cardigans have been ruined the last six months due to someone’s jeans discolouring all my effing clothes. And I’ve spent too much money lately to go out and buy some more. Boo.

Boo hiss, part II

As I may or may not have mentioned, I’m going to Sweden with Martin’s dad’s family in week 28. I got the week off from work, but am working a buttload of extra shifts the week before. And this is where the funny part comes in – I thought, obviously, since I’d been told that it was week 28, that we would be leaving on Monday in that week. What we’re actually going to do is leave on Friday in week 27. I have shifts the whole. weekend. This means that I either have to trade three shifts, two of which I’ve already said I’d cover for other people, or take the train for 12 hours by myself. If I take the train, I’ll only get three whole days there before we head back home, as opposed to almost a whole week. Not to mention I’ll miss the car and ferry ride up there with the family.

This bites. I’m going to text all my co-workers tomorrow and plead and barter. I’ll take their crappy shifts if they take one of my three; it means more stupid shifts for me, but the alternative (12 hours changing from train to bus to train to bus to another bus to train, by myself, all surrounded by strange Swedish people?) is much worse.

On the up-side, though, I get to go home to see my own family tomorrow (Martin’s not coming – exams). I’m going to miss this year’s WWKIP day – I thought it was Sunday because last year it was the 14th. I thought it would be the 14th again this year, which is on Sunday. Nothing to do about it, but I’m quite disappointed. I would’ve loved to have seen some of my old friends in Århus! But I’m going to see my family that I haven’t seen in a long time, and I get a whole Sunday with my dad. And then Monday morning, we leave for London! So this will probably be my last post until I get back some time next week. I promise to take lots and lots of pictures! :)

Have a nice weekend everyone. See you when I get back!

(P.S. To the customer who chose to step in a strawberry and then wiped his/her shoe all around the veggie/fruit section – kiss my tiny, pale ass. I spent almost half an hour cleaning the sticky mess up from the floor. At least have the courtesy to tell us when it happened!

P.P.S. To the man with his young grandson who was buying him an ice cream – you made my day. Thank you. He told his grandson he hoped he had enough money, but if he didn’t then the boy should eat his ice cream really quickly when I’d scanned it, or they would have to run away. The boy’s eyes got huge and he got sad and said he wasn’t sure he could eat it that fast. I love the children who come to my store.)

Advice

If you finish something and soak it, REMEMBER TO TAKE IT OUT. My new Felicity hat soaked for over an hour. Whoops. Still waiting to see how that’s going to turn out – hopefully I didn’t ruin it!