Get ready for color overload! This week's Wanderlust Friday takes us to the Ile de Re, as chronicled at Yarnstorm. The only question in my mind, can two weeks spent is such a glorious place be enough? This post includes photos of the pastries to be enjoyed on the island, and is almost enough to make me stow away in the wheel well of a Paris-bound 747. And just look at the cute places you can stay! Sacre bleu.

If I had to pick a song to call my "theme tune", I'd have to pick Mah Na Mah Na. This is a great theme tune, because it can be altered to fit any situation. For example, when baking a batch of banana bread, I twirl about the kitchen singing "Ba na na na, doo doo dee doo doo". I baked my first bread at the tender age of five, a lumpen mass that was anything but tender. The bread, not me. With trademark lack of forethought, I decided to make a batch of ginger bread on a cold, rainy day. After all, I'd seen my mother do it tons of times, with delicious results. Ah, to be a minimally-supervised child in the 80s. Anyway, I mixed up quantities of flour, ginger, water, and baking soda in a mini loaf pan, and stuck it in the toaster oven to bake. Shockingly, instead of a fragrant, poufy gingerbread, I had made a hard slab more suitable for a masonry project than afternoon tea. However! As a reward for not burning the house down, my mother helped me to make a tasty batch of banana bread, and simultaneously had the brilliant idea that I should enter my bread experiment in the elementary school science fair. So I entered the fair with a project titled "The Importance of Following Directions", a key concept in both science and knitting. As exhibits, I offered my ill-fated ginger bread as an example of the repercussions of making it up as you go along, and my mother's banana bread as an example of the rewards of following directions. The judges seemed to like it (or at least enjoyed the banana bread samples) and I went home with the blue ribbon. Now I could say that this science fair experience encouraged me to continue on to be a scientist and to get a PhD, but that would be disingenuous. I became a scientist because of all the hot guys. I do make a good deal of banana bread, however, and I follow the directions every time.

Today I learned that one of my favorite books, Atonement by Ian McEwan has been made into a movie. Normally that's a bad thing, but the film is getting all sorts of acclaim and perhaps it will be a good one. If you have any interest in reading the book, do it before seeing the movie, because you'll regret it. And that's all I'll say about that. I have a huge pet peeve about spoilers, especially when people say "Oh, I don't want to tell you because it will ruin it for you, but SOMEONE turns out to be gay/dead/alive/a ghost/a bad guy/Luke's father and you have no clue until the end!" and they think it's not a spoiler. Until you get halfway through the book, and the spoiler makes sense because you see which character has the potential to be gay/dead/alive/a ghost/a bad guy/Luke's father and lo, the book is spoiled. So all I will say is the book is excellent. I have an inkling the movie will be great as well, but reading this particular book is such an adventure that it would be a shame to see the movie first. I think this may be the only book I've read (and I've read a LOT) that has actually made me tear up, and I was on the bus at the time so I had to stop reading and put it away so I wouldn't be crazy crying bus girl.

It's been scarf season for a few weeks already (and not just in my chilly office). What better way to celebrate than with some free scarf patterns? Nicole offers up yet another great pattern, the Not-Quite-Straight Scarf. This looks like a great scarf to knit while watching the season premiere of Friday Night Lights (which is October 5, by the way). Allison posts a pattern for this lovely Entrelac scarf. I know I've written before about my fear of entrelac - that fear was heightened by a failed attempt to downsize the Lady Eleanor stole into something scarf-sized. Well, Allison has designed something that I might be able to handle. Might. Mary Joy's pattern for the Liesel scarf reminds me of a more ambitious Branching Out. Bonnie's Falling Water scarf is another lace beauty, worked in fingering weight yarn on size 5 needles. Do you have a skein of STR too lovely to stuff into sweaty clogs? This pattern might be just the thing.

This is a little old, but earlier this year I was fascinated by Jessica's tales of travels in India posted at Yarnmonster. This post is one of my favorites, because it describes the highs and lows of traveling in India. I think I could definitely get into the food, scenery, and shopping, but the train travel? Not so much. You can read more about the state of Goa here , and there's a nice Flickr photoset here. Seems like a perfect place for vacation.

Some more free sock patterns I've come across recently, for your enjoyment (and to remind myself later)! Nicole's 9 to 5 socks feature delicate pseudocabling. I especially like the way the pseudocable extends the length of the heel. Maia's toe-up Banana Blossom socks are worked on size 3 needles, and have a large, geometric lace motif that works well with variegated yarn. I'm not sure about the recommended needle size, though. The widest part of the sock has 52 stitches, though, and I usually knit 64 stitches on size 1. We shall see - I really like this pattern! Maia also has a great pattern for Penny Socks, which is ultra-textured thanks to lots of crossed stitches. I think these would be best worked in a semisolid color. Of course, I haven't knit a semisolid pair of socks in my life! Rachel designed some lovely Whisper Lace Socks, which are uberfemme with a sweet picot cuff. Very nice, and again I think best knit in a solidish color.

Have you heard about the latest news in color preference research? Apparently, women are "hard wired" to prefer pink, because back in the day, being attuned to notice pink objects helped caveladies find the most luscious berries. Men prefer blue because cavedudes who bathed in crystal blue streams got the most cavelady action. Makes sense to me. What I don't get is why noticing a color necessarily translates to preferring it. My highly-evolved bus riding skills allow me to instantly notice smelly people on the Metro - but I use that information to avoid them.

This week's Wanderlust Friday is decidedly food-oriented - another winning post from David Lebovitz - a list of 10 insanely delicious things to eat in Paris. I've traveled to France exactly once, in the early spring of 1996. I was spending my junior year studying abroad at the University of Sussex, and although England is a fabulous place to explore, Paris was an irresistible temptation - especially when plane ticket prices dropped to 60 pounds, round trip. So I (along with several of my fellow American expats) set off for a long March weekend in Paris. We stayed at a rather nice youth hostel on the edge of the city, complete with a basement bar that served tequila beer. It's tequila, plus beer! Instead of bar tables, we sat on porch swings suspended on chains from the ceiling. How chic! The best parts of my trip to Paris were the sights - le Louvre, le Musee d'Orsay, le Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame... it's so easy to overdose on Paris. The worst part of my trip was definitely the food. Paralyzed by high prices, we stooped to dining at McDonalds on the Champs-Elysees. We did have one lunch in a decent ramen house near the Louvre, but that didn't make up for the crushing disappointment I suffered upon learning that Berthillon was closed for the season. Reading David's list makes me want to try again at Paris, if only to experience those macarons.

I can't decide if the jewelry sold at this Etsy shop is awesome or scary. We've seen things coated in resin before - as in those popular bottlecap magnets. I've never seen insects suspended in resin until now. A dozen dead ladybugs, trapped forever in resin. Even though the ladybugs were dead before being recruited into jewelry, it's still dead bugs around your neck. I think the ick factor might win out.

Are there any sock fiends out there? Oh, I know who you are. Here are a few random free sock patterns I've found that you may like: Cider Moon Saucy socks, similar to Cookie's Monkey socks (still working on those, btw!) but featuring an eye of partridge heel - so exciting! Mean Girl's Arch-shaped socks look interesting for those of us who like construction details. Mary Joy Gumayagay's Mirabella Socks are lovely and lacey, and feature Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' short row shaping, which I am just WILD about! However, they are toe-up and my attempts at toe-up have ended in tears and a surgical nuclear strike. Pamela Wynne's Marigold socks also look great, I may have to learn toe-up after all. Or farm out my toe-up socks to China. And finally, I am intrigued by Mamallama's Bluebonnet socks, which use yarn-forwards to create an interesting, almost fair isle pattern with (I hope) minimal fuss. Let me know if you try any of these patterns! I'll post more as I find them.