The grass is green and the trees are starting to fill in.

The fan is in the window.

The Oberon is available again.

And I’m now out of Sock Madness.

The pattern released on Monday morning and I spent all day knitting and picked at the sock some on Tuesday, but I wasn’t anywhere close to being fast enough this round. So, I took a nap on Tuesday and I haven’t picked up the sock since then. I’m still hoping to finish this pair this weekend or early next week though and I’ll start the next one soon since it releases on Sunday.  They are gorgeous and I made it further than I did last year. I’m honestly happy to have made it as far as I did and I’m also thrilled to be done from the competitive side. I think 3-4 rounds is just about right as SM was starting to cut into my life a little more than I’d have liked and I just started losing that competitive edge this round. And hey, I still get new socks and some extra patterns out of the deal, so it’s all good.

Sock Madness Round 3.  I completed the pair earlier this evening and was the 10th finished in my division out of 12 going through for the round. So, I’ve officially made it further than I did last year. While I’m still going to knit like mad and try in round 4, I’m pretty sure I won’t make it through to 5 and beyond. I mean, I can be fast but there are some insanely fast knitters playing along.

Slippin’ Stripin’ Socks - Sock Madness Round 3

Knitpicks Shadow (laceweight!) held double, in colorways Jewel and Oregon Coast.

Once I was back in the realm of the living (after grafting that second toe), I went through email and one of the winner’s I’d drawn, Holly, already had a copy of my pattern. So, I’m still going to send her a little something, but I drew a replacement winner as well. Congrats Jen!

What a crazy week.

First off, thanks again for all the lovely comments on the blogiversary post! I had so much fun discovering a ton of new-to-me blogs and making some new Ravelry friends as well. I closed the comments shortly after midnight last night and copied everything over to a spreadsheet so I’d have numbers to feed into the number generator. It selected Holly and Rachel as the knitter winners and Dave as the coaster winner. Check your emails folks.

Speaking of last night, a certain YarnHarlot was in the general vicinity, and my friend Rachel and I headed out to Ann Arbor after work to hang out with all the knitters. Her talk was fun and funny and fabulous, just as it was the last time I saw her. I didn’t spot as many of the local knitters that I recognize as I thought I would, but we had fun anyway. (We’ll pretend that that isn’t a blurry dark photo with the camera still in macro mode and the flash turned off, ok? I was star struck, who thinks to check the camera settings?)

I was knitting away frantically on sock 1 for Round 3 of Sock Madness the whole evening and we sat at the end of the row and talked to just about everyone as they passed by until the end of the book line caught up to us. I was just finishing up the toe, and actually kitchnered it closed shortly after while we waited for dinner. I’m working frantically on sock #2 today, hoping to get the pair done and submitted tonight and maybe make it through to round 4.  More info on the socks when the pair is done. Must get back to frantic knitting right now.

Reversai was the pattern of choice for this round of Sock Madness.

We didn’t have the full 40 for each group in round one, so some of us got traded to other teams. I had started out as a member of the Uconn team and was traded to Tennessee. They welcomed me with open arms, but this round especially has been the fastest group. 20 from each group will get through this round and I was #14.

As a April Fools, they gave us the pattern on Monday instead of Tuesday which completely threw off my whole week. I lost an hour of knitting time Monday night while setting up an April Fools of my own on Fun Factories (we swapped out our background image on all forum themes and had some made up headlines in our news fader).

I averaged half a sock a day this week. I had the first sock to the heel on Monday night, turned the heel at lunch on Tuesday and knit the foot Tuesday night (finished at 2 am). Wednesday I cast on and knit to the heel on sock #2. And today I turned the heel at lunch and snuck in a few more rows in the afternoon. The pair was fully finished just after 10 pm.

There were some complaints about the stitch count being too high on this pattern, and while I can sense that mine may sag a little with some wear, they initially fit pretty well. And as much of a pain as the garter stitch sole and toe was to knit, it seems to wear really cushy. I think they were made extra cushy with my yarn choice, Gypsy Knits BFL in Merry Go Round. This stuff was like knitting with butter clouds. The yarn has a bit of a sheen to it, and the garter stitch especially is so soft. Luxury socks indeed.

I loved the garter stitch short row heel especially. I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed any of the short row heels I’ve knit in the past. I was never confident that I was doing it right and I didn’t like the fit of the ones I’d finished so I think of all the socks I’ve knit to this point, only 3 pair have had a short row heel. But between the garter stitch and the way the yarn striped in the heel, it really made sense this time. All my wrapped stitched were a different color from the center stitches I was working, so it made it really obvious which stitches they were. And the added stretch plus the “squat” stitches of the garter make them fit my feet really well.

Bring on Round 3!

Sock madness. Their first goal this year is to turn all participants into zombies. In the hints we were told to think ’scary’ when selecting yarn. So of course, I found the palest softest pink yarn in my stash to knit this pair up with. Which, through a fluke still works fine because they are zombie socks and the pinks in my Rose Quartz socks that rock is really fleshy. Fleshy yarn paired with the dropped stitch undulating ribbed pattern and zombie theme makes these my brain socks. Or, in all honesty, my Brain Sucking socks. The late nights and lots of knitting time to whip out a pair of socks in ~3 days (when I had to work for two of them) pretty much made me into a complete dolt. But, they’re done now. I’m off to ice my arms for a few days before the round finishes up and we move on to round 2.

Pattern: Zombie Socks, round one pattern for Sock Madness

Needles: US1

Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight in Rose Quartz

Pattern received ~ 1pm Thursday, March 13th

Knitting finished ~12:30 am Sunday, March 16th

It’s that time of year again, ramping up for Sock Madness. I fully expected to be swamped and less able to participate, but due to some work delays and other stuff that’s managed to happen sooner rather than later, I might actually be able to get into the full event again this year. I had so much fun last year, and the enthusiasm in this group is insanely contagious. I just can’t wait to see what all they have in store for us this year, there’s even a pair in laceweight!

I’ve not done too much stash diving in anticipation, but I still have several skeins pre-wound from when I had that monkey-sock-search frenzy before Christmas. I did place a knitpicks order to get a nice new set of pretty sock needles in the full range of sizes and get a second color of shadow laceweight. Of course I had to throw in a couple other yarns for good measure.  If I really wanted to, with that order included, I could likely do all of the socks in the recommended yarns from stash. That’s kind of scary and kind of nice. I love my sock stash.

I’ve also been playing in excel trying to figure out how best to represent the monkey mittens. I have a couple things sketched out, but I haven’t quite graphed up what I want just yet. In the meantime, I’m still playing with dishcloths and fully intend on the amusement park series to include 6 designs before my blogiversary near the end of the month.
I’m also brewing up a little contest for about that time, just haven’t quite sorted out all the details yet.

I suspect spring is going to be crazy around here whether I’m ready or not.

Must. keep. knitting.

This is my sock #1 of round 3 of Sock Madness. (can’t remember who dyed the yarn, it was an ebay purchase… but I do remember the colorway name. Muted Sunset. )

5 Marginally deplorable things I’ve done in the last 24 hours in order to finish this sock:

1) cast on and started knitting in a team status meeting

2) knit in the elevator while walking out to my car at the end of the day

3) snuck in a few rows discreetly at my desk this afternoon while waiting for software to install.

4) knit while driving and waiting in the drive-thru line at McDonalds.

5) deprived myself of sleep (staying up late isn’t unheard of for me… getting up early to keep going, pretty much unheard of, and I did it this morning and probably will again tomorrow morning.

Sock Madness Round 2.

Here’s where I was when I crashed for the night Thursday night.Â

I kitchnered the first toe at 2:30 Saturday morning.

After sleeping in until noon on Saturday, I cast on sock # 2. It’s toe got seamed up at about 1:45 Sunday morning.Â

Four calendar days start to finish, but a total of about 25 hours of work.

My hands hurt and I’m tired, but they’re done, and I think I’m through to the next round. I can’t imagine I’ll last too much longer in the competition though, I’m not the last to finish qualifying in my bracket, but I’m among the last.

Loved the pattern this round though, even if all the passed over stitches were especially hard on my hands. The resulting socks in sport-weight yarn (I used Lornas Laces in Daffodil) are warm and fit wonderfully. And the colors are so springy.

Oh, and if you’re a knitter, it would really be in your best interest to comment on my blogiversary post for the prize… Lets just say that your odds are really really really good, and it would be a shame for me to have to keep the yarn for myself.

and it’s name is Sock Madness….

I finished the first pair of sock madness socks in record time (for me) today. I got a late start because of the whole Cali trip (which was awesome) and didn’t cast on sock #1 until Sunday afternoon. A Lazy day on Monday saw the first sock finished. I cast on and knit the cuff of sock #2 on the redeye flight home Monday night, turned the heel on the bus ride from the airport and finished up the foot Tuesday afternoon and evening closing up the toe after my bedtime around 12:30. Even with my late start, I still managed to complete early enough to make it into the next round so I’m gearing up for round 2’s head to head soon.

In addition to knitting an entire pair of socks in three days (as if that weren’t enough)… I finished up the first Baudelaire early in the trip and turned the heel on the first Pomotomous on the trip out too. So, sock madness still extends beyond the insanity of the competition. The Pomo in 100% merino is squishy and amazing but slow going, the Baud is in Sundara sock yarn, and I’m absolutely adoring knitting with it and the color (denim over purple) is amazing and incredibly rich looking in this pattern. The photos don’t do it justice. Plus, it’s my first time doing a toe-up sock and I’m enjoying that process as well. However, because the first Pomo is on the needles, I won’t be starting the second Baud right away so I can keep a set of size 2’s open for future Sock Madness. I have my priorities…