SM19 Sock Madness .... again

 

This year I seem to be free of any impediment to my competing in Sock Madness 19. Last year, I was busy with the solo exhibition, which seemed to eat up my time. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

The Warm up socks for this year are the Gansey Adventure Socks. I just picked out some stash yarn to knit with. It wasn't a particulary successful choice, but they are well fitting and a fun colour. What was really interesting about these socks was that many people converted them to fairisle or a mix of fairisle and the original gansey stitches, It was very effective.

The qualifying sock, Conjoined Sock twins, owed it's name to the construction method. A fairly simple looking cable and rib sock turned out to be something a bit more interesting. You started at the toe, knit up, then after a couple of rows of stocking stitch, knit the second sock down, then divided the sock and cast off afterwards.

Before splitting the socks, they looked like this:

And afterwards, like this:

Despite being a fairly simple, but effective pair of socks, they did hold some interest. Obviously, the construction method was novel, but also:

    -  Interesting how a little 1x1 twist in the centre of the cables has such impact

    - Nice to revisit the Judy's Magic Loop cast-on

    - Nice to try Judy’s surprisingly stretchy cast-off

Had to adjust enough of my thinking to do the top down after the top up, how did the designer do it?

Reprise the Spiral Socks

 A couple of Christmases ago, I made spiral socks for all the very grown up 'kids' in my family and close friends. Spiral socks were one of the first things I made out of my handspun yarn and I still have them as they were originally intended, bed socks.

I used the book 'Joy of Socks' which is now a bit battered after damp issues in my previous studio, AKA garage. Pages have stuck together and I'm reluctant to try the steaming method to prise them apart. Fortunately, the spiral socks were fine.

My youngest son requested another pair as he works from home and wears them about the house. I'm happy to oblige. I picked out some handspun yarn, including the more hard wearing gotland which I put on the heels and toes. 

I hope he's happy with the result.

Sock Madness....yet again

Sock Madness 18 has started. This is my ninth sock madness and this year I've made a vow to make sure I get gauge and fit correct.

So, in February, when you register, you get a pattern for a Warm up sock. This year it was 'In the Twilight', a twisty cable pattern. I used Naturally NZ – Waikiwi – Shade 420 which might end up being a present for someone else as they are too small.

Here, I played around getting the gauge correct. It was interesting as I knit at 7sts per 2.5cm in the round and 8sts per 2.5cm flat. However, my row count stayed at 10 rows per 2.5cm on 2.25mm needles. 

I obviously knit looser in the round, so I tried going down to 2.00mm needles for equivalent correct gauge.

It took me 9 days of gentle knitting to complete these socks while we all waited for the Qualifying 

So the Qualifying socks are Hydra Scales by Clair Wyvern. I got the correct gauge on the 2.00mm needles.  I Knit the Large and added a 16 row repeat to both socks. Did not adjust for my different foot length which didn't really a compromise on fit.

Used Katia United Sock, Queensland Collection Perth and yarn from an Indie dyer. The entire effect was all green. Took me another 9 days of easy knitting.

                                                 

It all now starts in earnest as we are allocated to Teams. This year the theme is pastries and I'm in Team Qatayef. Now we can get dropped. The first round is from 48 people down to 42. The pattern is I walk the line by Shuyi Wu

Took me 5 days to knit and it was passed and I'm into Round 2, not without a hitch, however.

I used the leftover Queensland Collection Perth yarn from the Qualifier and some Bendigo Sock yarn. I had a leftover ball which did most of the two socks which I was very happy with only to find that the whole ball I thought was the same wasn't. Fortunately, you are allowed to 'run out of yarn' provided you do used all the yarn and join in the new yarn for the rest. All I can say is that you won't see it when I'm wearing them!

Sock Madness has started....again....for the 17th time

 Yes, indeed, Sock Madness has started again. Registration is up until the 14th February. If you want all the details about Sock Madness, it's on Ravelry at https://www.ravelry.com/groups/sock-madness-forever. If you're not on the worldwide knitting community that is Ravelry, perhaps you should have a look and see if it's for you.

Anyway, Sock Madness is, basically, a sock knitting competition, where everyone knits the same sock in two weeks. Over the 7 rounds there are fewer and fewer knitters as the time frame shortens and shortens. The patterns are amazing and you learn alot about knitting and yourself, and, you get a drawer full of beautiful handknit socks.

But I do have to ask myself why I keep doing it. I have an overwhelming number of handknit socks. My first Sock Madness was SM9 where my first socks were the Stroop Stroop socks, which were the warmup sock pattern for that year.

I've just finished this years warmup sock, which was one of three!

I continue to look forward to the challenge. It can be challenging, there are difficult patterns to interpret and knit fast. There are invariably, a new or nearly new technique to look up on Youtube, or figure out, along with fellow competitors. Again, the designs are amazing and done especially for the Madness. I love that people do this for free, they are so generous. We get a veritable library of patterns. 

I also like the competition. It's friendly and in many ways, collaborative as we help people with their difficulties, knowing that there will be someone to help us. But it's still a competition and that deadline, whether it's time based or numbers based motivates you to knit faster.

It's going to be interesting this year with one pattern apparently having a main colour and 34 different bits of colour.

I have bought myself a set of sock blockers, not so much to block the socks, but to be able to photograph them without have to get my feet in all sorts of positions. I hope it helps the moderators to view my finished socks also.

I've downloaded the other warmup socks, but don't have the time to knit them, I may never, but I have them. So, now, I wait impatiently for the 14th and the drop of the first pattern, the qualifying pattern.