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Sock Madness, Competition Round 1
Mar. 21st, 2017 12:09 amThis morning the next round of the Sock Madness was officially launched because the pattern landed in my inbox just as I fired up my internet browser.
A stash explosion promptly took over the livingroom. I needed a solid or semi-solid and a variegated yarn that would match but not have any colours overlapping. And I found out just how many self-striping yarn I actually have. (Remind me of that when I complain I don't have the right self-striping yarn!)
Of course, all of this was preceded by the deadline of the first round running down (Thursday evening, I believe), the initial wait for people who sent in their projects at the last moment to see if they'd go through, the people posting frantically "are we there yet?" and "what's happening now?"
On Saturday evening the teams were announced, and on Sunday afternoon the specs for the next round were posted, alongside an announcement that it could be anywhere from 0 minutes to 48 hours for the pattern to be e-mailed to the participants. And this morning the pattern was in my inbox. (Yes, there was stress. No, I didn't sleep well, but I didn't check my phone in the middle of the night either.)
On Sunday WannabeKat hosted a yarn party for Anemoona, HowlingMoon and myself, and HowlingMoon mentioned she didn't have any hand-knit socks yet. Once the pattern "dropped", I took a picture of several options I cobbled together and asked her opinion.
I love the top option for maybe a pair of socks for myself later, so that went into a baggy. HowlingMoon chose the bottom-left option: white-blue and navy. The darkest blue in the left skein is still lighter than the navy, so I should be good.
Then I cast on and spent way too much time trying to multitask my internet browsing and my knitting, so I had to frog the toe and start over. But I got a good ways into the toe before school and finished it before coming home. I've already progressed to the eighth stripe and now I have to start calculating how much further I have to go to get the proper length for a size 39.
The pattern is a delight after the Twisted Madness torture. The gauge is more relaxed (only 8.25 sts per inch) which means I can use slightly larger needles. It's a four-row repeat and you only knit about half of those stitches. And I didn't mind at all casting on the largest size -- which turns out to be so big I will knit the second sock in Medium just so HowlingMoon can choose the size that fits her best.
I'm really glad to stay in the race, let's see how far I go!
Qualifying round - 2 weeks - Finished!
Competition round 1 - 2 weeks
A stash explosion promptly took over the livingroom. I needed a solid or semi-solid and a variegated yarn that would match but not have any colours overlapping. And I found out just how many self-striping yarn I actually have. (Remind me of that when I complain I don't have the right self-striping yarn!)
Of course, all of this was preceded by the deadline of the first round running down (Thursday evening, I believe), the initial wait for people who sent in their projects at the last moment to see if they'd go through, the people posting frantically "are we there yet?" and "what's happening now?"
On Saturday evening the teams were announced, and on Sunday afternoon the specs for the next round were posted, alongside an announcement that it could be anywhere from 0 minutes to 48 hours for the pattern to be e-mailed to the participants. And this morning the pattern was in my inbox. (Yes, there was stress. No, I didn't sleep well, but I didn't check my phone in the middle of the night either.)
On Sunday WannabeKat hosted a yarn party for Anemoona, HowlingMoon and myself, and HowlingMoon mentioned she didn't have any hand-knit socks yet. Once the pattern "dropped", I took a picture of several options I cobbled together and asked her opinion.I love the top option for maybe a pair of socks for myself later, so that went into a baggy. HowlingMoon chose the bottom-left option: white-blue and navy. The darkest blue in the left skein is still lighter than the navy, so I should be good.
Then I cast on and spent way too much time trying to multitask my internet browsing and my knitting, so I had to frog the toe and start over. But I got a good ways into the toe before school and finished it before coming home. I've already progressed to the eighth stripe and now I have to start calculating how much further I have to go to get the proper length for a size 39.
The pattern is a delight after the Twisted Madness torture. The gauge is more relaxed (only 8.25 sts per inch) which means I can use slightly larger needles. It's a four-row repeat and you only knit about half of those stitches. And I didn't mind at all casting on the largest size -- which turns out to be so big I will knit the second sock in Medium just so HowlingMoon can choose the size that fits her best.
I'm really glad to stay in the race, let's see how far I go!
Competition round 1 - 2 weeks
