Sock Madness

Despite all of the pattern 5 controversy, 12 brave knitters perservered and the round is complete. 

The voting for your favorite Slippin’ Stripin’ Socks also ended yeaterday and it’s a TIE!  Check that out.  you all have spoken and Slip of the Cat and Slippery Stripe-y Sock Slide each got 34% of the vote although they were one vote apart.  Thankfully we have enough prizes for both and for MKSmiles who was the first finisher in round 3 as well as round 2.  Whew!

To those of you who are still working on your Something’s Shady or Hippy Ripply Retro Socks, you still have a bit of time to let your creative juices flow.  We’ll try to post the Something’s Shady poll on Monday but we’d love it if you could post them by Thursday night.  It would be such fun if Carole and I could look at them together for a change since she’s going to be visiting this weekend. We’ll be going to Maryland Sheep & Wool this Saturday with Felicia.  If you see us I’ll probably be the one who looks like she’d like to run and hide.

Since we have big plans this weekend and we hope that you do too, we’ll be releasing the optional pattern on Thursday so that we won’t have to be constantly posting updates and those who want to can take a break.  For those of you who are up for it, the optional pattern specs are:

400 yards fingering weight – Cherry Tree Hill Supersock US size 2 (3.0 mm) No gauge info at this moment but I’ll post it as soon as I can.

The deal is this - take your time, knit, don’t knit - whatever you’d like.  Next Thursday we’ll choose 2 or 3 finished pairs of these socks at random and award prizes.  Simple!

Then, next Friday we’ll release pattern 6 and I’m sure that you’ll love it.  Really!  It’s fab!  I’d plan on seeing  the specs for that one on Monday. 

This pair of socks was a Sock Madness first for me - the first test sock to become a pair.  Can you believe that?  I guess it was because my daughter laid claim to them as soon as she saw them on the needles.   I actually finished then a while ago and, as you can see - they’ve been around.  Here they are enjoying the sand and surf in Virginia Beach.  They’ve also been to a Girl Scout cookie sale where my daughter showed them off to everyone she saw.

The yarn I used was Dancing Leaf Farm Sock Hop in a color called Carnival.  Normally I wouldn’t go for a yarn like this but the colors were gorgeous and sucked me in.  It’s a wildly colored yarn and this pattern broke it up in such a way that it became even more interesting.  If there’s a lesson to be learned it’s that we should all take chances every now and again.

The pattern itself isn’t terribly difficult and we thought that it would be a nice change of pace.  It’s not always about difficult - sometimes it’s about the flow.  This is a toe up sock and it does use the Japanese short row heel.  Try it - you might like it.  In my socks I found that this method produced some of the nicest heels I’ve ever made.  Pefection!  Is it worth the fiddliness of using all those safety pins?  You be the judge.

Here are a few words from this round’s designer, Helen Darmara:

Hello Fellow Sock Knitters!
Like many of you, I love knitting socks. Partly it’s because my socks change size and shape less than the rest of me, partly it’s because I used to live in Houston, Texas where the only knitting I wanted to do or wear were socks. It’s so hot there that when people want a fire in the fireplace, they turn the air conditioning up!
Anyway, now I live on the coast of Maine and need the socks to keep my feet warm, so that’s what I do, I knit socks. I knit the occasional sweater, but that’s partly to use up the stash so I can buy new sock yarn.
I finally built up a stock of plain, quick to knit, no nonsense socks for the winter and decided to try something new. I had some Knit Picks Felici yarn, in a colorway that reminded me of my high school bed cover. The bed cover had big gold, orange and brown flowers, rather muted, but amazingly, exactly matched by the Felicia, with its very hippy retro shades of brown, orange, red and gold.
I wanted to design a pattern to break up the stripes. I’ve used slip stitch texture patterns before with painted yarns and liked the effect. This time, I used a slip stitch and lace combination that in the striped version reminds me of children’s jackets from the 50s with patterned fronts and plain knit collars. So, I named the pattern Hippy Ripply Retro Socks. I prefer a slip stitch or peasant heel when I knit with a striped yarn; it gives that nifty chevron at the heel. I confuse myself with the yarn over short rows, my picked up wraps are really out of scale, so I tried the Japanese short row technique. I hope you like the result.

Have fun!

I just love the way that sounds - Slippin’ Stripin’ Fantastic.  It fits too because many of the socks from this round were just wonderful.  I found myself waiting excitedly for the next pair of these sock to pop up on flickr. It was such fun to see how the colors combined.

Here is the link to the voting which will close at 6pm on Monday (my time). One vote per customer please! Which of these Slippin’ Stripin’ socks do you feel are fantastic?
( surveys)

1. Slip of the Cat
2. Sox in the City I may never win prizes for speed, though I knit as fast as I can… …I’ll never be seen on a thrill ride, or get snapped with a famous man…  …I just need to use what I have to create my official entry… …So please look kindly and vote For my “sox and the city!”
3.Slip into a Beer
4. Banana Who?
5. Slippin’ Stripin’ Socks in mountains of Crete
6. Knit Until Done
7. Slippin’ Right Off the Cone!
8. Slippery Stripe-y Sock Slide
9. Socks and Gloves
10. WANTED: The Slippin’ Stripin’ Gang

In the interest of being able to start a round on a weekend for a change, we’re giving you all the specs for round 5 on the same day that round 4 was complete.  We’ve got a few other updates for you too.

It was always our intent to allow a bit more time for those not on the fast track to complete their socks and stage them creatively.  That got lost a bit in all of the SM2 frenzy.   In an effort to get that back on track and foment creativity we are stretching out the time for submitting creative entries.  For round 4 you have until 8pm on May 1 to post your pictures and let us all know about them.  We hope that gives all of you interested in using the dyeing technique the time to try it out.

The voting for round 3 will be posted on Friday so if you still have pictures to post – have at it.  Yes, the deadline passed but a few of you mentioned ideas that you didn’t have time to execute and we want to see them.

The Round 5 Specs

The next sock was listed as sock F on the supply list.  The designer used KP Felici yarn and I used Dancing Leaf Sock Hop.  The Sock Hop yarn comes in skeins with about 373yds and I had plenty of it left over.

The gauge is 8 st/12 rows per inch using US 1 (2.25mm) needles.  You’ll also need 20 safety pins per sock – yup, this is your Japanese short row heel.

Expect to see this pattern between about 7 and 10am on Sunday.

ETA - The magic number this round is 3.  Three knitters from each division will get thru.

Like all the patterns so far, this one has been discussed a great deal. You all have speculated about the afterthought heel and the dyeing technique and which teaser shot it’s going to be and so on and so on. All will be answered in this post and you should have the pattern in your email inbox by now, too.

How about some photos?

This is the photo from our designer, Corey LaFlamme and it shows both the undyed and dyed sock.

And these two photos are from the test knit. The yarn for this is Claudia’s Handpaint and it was not dyed.

Corey is a graphic artist, quilter and knitter living in Lewiston, Maine, with her novelist/reporter husband, two cats, one mouse and several dust bunnies. When she finally finds the time, there will be something to see on her website at coreydina.com

Corey says:

Now get out and there get knitting!

This is just a quick little post to let you all know the winners from Round 2.  The fastest knitter this time was MKSmiles.  Watch out folks, she’s young but she’s wicked quick.  She also took the chequered flag for Round 3.  Like I said - she’s speedy.

There were no stuffed ballot boxes this round.  Despite my goof, there were 264 votes recorded and the winner, with 26 %, is ChrisH (CMHay on flickr) who expressed her frustration with this pattern in a series of pictures AND VERSE.  Way to go!  Apparently it spoke to a lot of you although there were several great entries to choose from.

There are some gorgeous socks this round and a few very creative shots.  You all have until Friday night at about 6pm to post your best artistic interpretation of Slippin’ Stripin’ and let us know who you’d like to nominate.

One last thing.  Please remember to include your division etc when posting on flickr.  It makes things so much easier for us.

Round 3 sure did go fast, didn’t it? We’re still working out what to do about the opening in Tennessee but we’ll let you know as soon as we’ve decided. In the meantime, we know you’re all anxious to end the suspense about Round 4. We’re going to start this one on Monday due to the upcoming Passover holiday this weekend. So, specs today and the pattern on Monday between 6 am and 10 am our time.

Here’s what you need to know:

Yarn: approx. 360 yards fingering weight sock yarn, white or other light color such as Louet Gems Merino White, 185 yards/50 grams per skein)

Needles: Size 1 circular, or size needed to obtain gauge (written for 1 or two circ method, easily adapted for DPNs)

Gauge: 8.5 stitches per inch

Additional supplies: Couple yards of smooth, contrasting waste yarn for heel.

Optional supplies: Wilton, Easter egg or other dyes appropriate for fiber content.

This pattern is written for a plain colored yarn with directions for dip-dyeing the sock when it’s finished. The test sock was knit with Claudia’s Handpaint and was not dyed at the end. We are leaving the dyeing portion of this pattern entirely up to you. Your socks will be considered finished when they are knit and you can dye them later if you choose to do that.

The first 6 finishers in each division will advance to the next round.

Some of you may have noticed a quiet little post on one of the Ravelry threads from Dragoncelt.  She realized late yesterday that she made a mistake with her toes that resulted in faster decreases.  She has given up her spot for someone who finished correctly.  Unfortunately, we’re having a hard time figuring out who that twelfth person ought to be because many socks posted to flickr don’t have divisions listed.  Please, remember to identify yourself when you post because it helps everyone.

For now, we need to settle on who will be Tennessee number 12.  Here’s how we’re going to do it.  If you are in the Tennessee Division, have a finished pair of Slippin’ Stripin’ Socks, and you are NOT one of the first eleven – please post a picture and email us with a subject “Tennessee 12” by 7pm (my time) tonight.  We’ll choose one random knitter from among you to take the last spot.

There’s about am hour and half before the poll for Round 2 closes so if you haven’t voted yet - hurry up!

It’s just the craziest thing because i feel like I’m still wrapping up Round 2 and yet Round 3 is already done.  Yikes!  We’ve got a bit of catching up to do.

It sounds like you all enjoyed this pattern.  I did too.  Is it me or did this round seem to be much more about the colors?  There were socks where the differences between the stripes was barely noticeable and others where the 2 combined so well that they really did read as a third color.  There are a few people who even took it one further step and added a third color of yarn for additional variation.  I initially bought 3 colors to combine and I hope to go back and try it at some point. 

Better late than never. The voting for Round 2 is open now and will remain open until Monday night at 6pm. Vote for your favorite but please, just once.
Thanx!

1. Splash Mountain Knitting
2. Reversai on The Road
3. There and Back Again
4. Reversai Through the Looking Glass
5. I’m Reversaid
6. Simply Reversai
7. Cutie With a Sock
8. Green*bert Reversai
9. Reversai Perseverence
10. I’ve Been Reversai’d Night after night, huddled under the light, I knit and I purled and I sighed. I did what I could, with the time that I had. Oh, I tried and I tried and I tried. Am I coming or going? What row am I on? Gartered soles, they can’t be denied. A creative shot, then, though I’m not quite done. (Thanks to “Zombies” my brain is quite fried!) I tried right over left, then left over right, Until I’d gone quite utterly cross-eyed. Is it right side up, or inside out? I can’t tell, for I’ve been “Reversai’d”!!
11. Spin It Forward – Reversai Back

ETA - New poll as of 3:47pm on Saturday. I screwed up the first version so I redid it and it’s a clean slate.
Which Reversai picture from Round 2 is your favorite?
( surveys)