SM4

This will be the last post here on the Sock Madness Blog.  Hillary and I have mixed emotions about letting this go but we know the time is right and so, we give you, a word from your new Sock Madness Coordinators . . .

As many of you already know, Sock Madness will continue with SM4 in March 2010. There will be some changes, one of those being that Julie and I have decided not to carry on with the sock madness blog. We are going to continue to use the sockmadnessatgmaildotcom addy. All information about SM4 will be available in the Sock Madness Forever group on ravelry. If you have yet to join ravelry, this is the time to join if you are interested in keeping up with SM news. To join ravelry go to Ravelry.  A direct link to the Ravelry Sock Madness Forever group is http://www.ravelry.com/groups/sock-madness-forever

Julie and Tricia(Julie and zemy on ravelry) are your new organizers for SM. Julie entered the SM fray as a competitor in SM2 after following the blog of Carole, one of SM’s most recent organizers, who was a competitor in SM1. For SM3 Julie submitted the design Fire on the Mountain, which was the 6th round pattern. Julie also did an amazing amount of test knitting this year and was the photographer for many of those cunning teaser shots of various designs. I have submitted a design to sock madness all 3 years. For SM1 Painted Madness was the 3rd round pattern, for SM2 Odds ‘n Sods was the 7th round pattern and for SM3 Tokena was the 2nd round pattern.

Julie and I met late last year when she test knit my design submission Tokena.for SM3. Julie and I started to chat as she test knit Tokena and then when SM3 started, we chatted on ravelry more and more. We have talked about SM, socks and just generally got to know one another. One thing was very clear to both of us, we are quite passionate about SM. When Carole and Hillary made the decision to step down, there was not much question that Julie and I were ready to step up and continue the madness. The next big thing to happen will be a call for design submissions for SM4. So, please join us over on ravelry as we continue the madness.

Julie and Tricia

The End

Sock Madness 3 finished up a little over a week ago with Dyveke as our champion. It was a great finish to a really good competition. As usual there was lot’s of great knitterly behavior. Knitters connected, supported each other and shared lot’s of laughs. As times it seemed like s tight little community which is remarkable when you consider that the community includes people in countries that cross time zones and speak different languages. Truly this is proof of the power of knitting.
Since the competition ended Carole and I have heard all of the lovely comments and we really appreciate all of the nice things that you say. It’s great to think that you want this to continue. It makes us both proud.
I wish I could say that Carole and I will be doing this again but we both feel that the time has come to pass the torch. I started Sock Madness after competing in another knitty event and thinking that I could do better. I bet that there are some among you who’ve had the same thought. That’s the kind of energy that Sock Madness needs and that Carole and I really can’t offer it anymore. It needs new blood and excitement.
If you think that you could be the one (or team) to take Sock Madness further and make it even better then contact us at sockmadness (at) gmail (dot) com. We’d love to see it continue in new and excellent directions.
To those of you who have expressed the desire to design for next year or help in other ways we thank you and we’ll pass your info along to the new Sock Madness Mods.
Thanks! It’s been great.

The Rest of the Prizes

Time to get the rest of the prizes awarded! Here we go -

For Round 5

Jane B. wins the Longaberger Cracker Basket donated by Sally/iiimom.

Yarnmagnet wins a potpourrie of goodies donated by Sandy Z, Jen C and Sue C.

Yarnwhisperer wins a skein of Sophie’s Toes Sock Yarn donated by Emily of Sophie’s Toes.

Chewyknits wins a skein of Zen Sock Yarn donated by Sandy Z. and a project bag made by Sally/iiimom

Our grand prize winner is Dyveke and she wins a $25 gift certificate to the Loopy Ewe, donated by Sherri at the Loopy Ewe, as well as a project bag made by Sally/iiimom.

Winners please email your address to sockmadness@gmail.com

Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you to all of our prize donors.

And That’s a Wrap!

We have a winner from the finals and it is Dyveke of For Whom the Ball Rolls. Congratulations, Dyveke! And great job to all of our competitors, too.

Prize winners from rounds 5 and 6 will be announced soon. Have a great weekend!

Pattern 7 – See You Later Socks

We’ve finally reached the end of Sock Madness 3.  It’s been great and here is a pattern that we feel proud to present as the grand finale.  We hope you find it worthy.

What more can we say?

Pattern 7 – The Very Last Round

This pattern uses about 340 yards variegated sock yarn like Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome or KP Felici.
It was test knit with Pagewood Farms Alyeska.

The specified needles are US 1 – 1.5 (2.25-2.5 mm)

The gauge is 7.5 stitches per inch.

 This pattern also requires 4 vinyl-coated paperclips or paperclip-like stitch markers. It clearly states that regular stitch markers won’t work.

 We know how anxious you all must be to have a champion so, with that in mind, we’ll start this round bright and early on Thursday, May 28^th between 7AM and 10AM.

 Good luck to you all.

Pattern 6 – Fire on the Mountain Socks

Our round six pattern comes from Julie, a long time sock madness member. Not only has she been a participant but this year she was a huge help in doing loads and loads of test knitting. Seriously, Sock Madness 3 might not have happened if it weren’t for Julie and her mad test knitting skillz.

Turns out she’s a pretty good designer, too. And here’s what she has to say about her latest sock pattern:

When planning this pattern for a recent sock swap, I started with the simple idea of something HOT. Not long after that, I ran across the gorgeous Kilauea sock yarn by Rock Creek Yarn which I felt was the perfect “hot” colorway. I combed through stitch dictionaries searching for a two color pattern that felt like lava, settling on pattern number 56 from Latvian Dreams. The rest of the sock flowed easily from there. I knew I wanted to start off with a tubular cast-on followed by two color ribbing. From there, I used the first few lines of chart 162 (also from Latvian Dreams) which reminded me of mountains or volcanoes. The eye of partridge heel gives a little more cushion to the back of the heel and the sole of the foot is done in a fun check pattern. Pay close attention, the orientation for the start of the round changes to keep the stripes at the side of the leg. This pattern should be easily adapted for 2 circulars or the Magic Loop method. To make the pattern pop you should avoid any overlap in color between your two yarns but if you’d like the pattern to be more vague then such an overlap can work to your advantage.

Julie has a tutorial for a tubular cast on here, if you need some help with that particular technique.

Remember, only 1 person from each division moves forward this time. Welcome to the Final Four!

Round 6 Specs

Hope you are ready for round 6 because we’re about ready to be done with this already release it.

Here’s the info you need:

Yarn: 1 skein self-striping fingering weight yarn 400 yards/86 grams (model: Kilauea superwash %100 merino from Rock Creek Yarns), 2 skeins solid fingering weight yarn 185 yards/50 grams (model: Louet Gems %100 merino). The test knitting was done with Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn and Louet Gems. You will not use all of the 400 yards of self-striping but you will use most of the solid yarn.

Needles: Size US 1.5 DPNs, set of 5. Size US 1.5 DPNs, 7-inch, 2.

Gauge: 9.5 sts per inch in chart 2 colorwork pattern.

The pattern will be released late Wednesday evening, between 8 pm and midnight, our time. Only 1 knitter from each division will move forward.

Dimpled Diamonds Errata

Just a quick note.  There have been a few errors found in the pattern so far and we’re posting them here for the benefit of all the knitters still working on these socks.

• The center-back marker needs to go after st #19 and not after #18. I think all the instructions after that are correct (the “k18, slip 3,…” ones), once the marker is in the right place.
• Toe, Round 2, the bracketed instructions should read: “k1, kfb, k to last 3 sts on ndl, kfb, k2”.
• Foot, Rd 9, instep should end with “k4” instead of “k5”, to make 5 knit sts altogether.
• Ankle, Rd 3, the marker should go after st #19, and the plain round before the final expansion is Rd 28, not Rd 29.

We hope hat this helps.

Pattern 5 – Dimpled Diamonds

Here is pattern 5 for Sock Madness 3. It’s from Mt. Mom who is familiar to us all for her past involvement in Sock Madness. The first year she was a player and last year she provided one of my favorite SM2 patterns – the Godmother Socks. 

This is one of those patterns that will work with many different yarns.  I chose to use a slightly variegated yarn but it ought to look fabulous with a brightly colored yarn or a stripe.  the possibilities are endless!

The picture was taken when I was not quite finished with sock 2.  My daughter cleverly posed to hide the incomplete cuff.  They’re done now and they’re great but please note that there was very little left from either skein of the Plymouth Happy Feet. 

And now, a word from our Round 5 designer:

Greetings, knitters!  Mt. Mom here. 
I’ve been participating in Sock Madness in various capacities since year one when my cousin Angeluna persuaded me and several others (including our dear Jo) to enter.  In 2007, I was eliminated in Round 3; last year I submitted the Godmother’s Socks pattern; this year it’s Dimpled Diamonds. 

The design idea started with a swatch.   When I get a knitting book through Interlibrary Loan, and see something interesting, I often swatch it before I have to send the book back.  Some books generate *multiple* swatches — I had a field day with Nickie Epstein’s Knitting Beyond the Edge !  I modified her version of Dimple Stitch a bit, replacing some purl rounds with knits, and it just screamed “Sock Madness”.  Too much texture to fit inside a shoe, so it became a cuff and the search for a compatible foot pattern began.  In Barbara G. Walker’s first Treasury of Knitting Patterns I found just the thing:  another (but flatter) scallop pattern on the same scale:  Quilted Lattice.  Little did I know that another designer was considering the same stitch at about the same time: MintyFresh came up with the Leyburn sock (which I have not read, only seen photos after my own sock was complete), while I went this other direction.  Not surprising it’s being used by 2 (or more) designers, since the slip-stitch pattern works so well with variegated and handpainted yarns.
I found the pattern enjoyable to knit:  enough detail and variety to keep me going, but quickly memorized; workable by sight, without constantly referring back to the written directions.  I hope you all have some fun with it too!
-Deborah