Sock Madness

Hey there!

So sorry that we left you hanging a bit.  A break from the madness was sorely needed.

Anyway, we did get a winner for the Godmother socks round.  It was Petit Noir with her Godmother & Godchild socks.  They were so sweet.  I had hoped to start the voting for the Odds and Sods but I haven’t seen many of them around.  What’s up with that?  We were really looking forward to seeing lots of different interpretations of that pattern.  Show us your socks!

Another thing that i’m sure everyone wants to see… prizes.  Some of you have posted pictures of your loot and we’re all very jealous.  Let’s see the rest of it.  This is a very timely request because, after lots of procrastinating, we’re finally working on distributing the rest of the loot.  (As much as Carole and I would love to do a little personal stash enhancement and keep it all for ourselves, that just wouldn’t be kosher)There’s plenty of cool stuff to go around and the generous folks who donated it are really excited to send it to you all so, if you haven’t won anything yet in SM3, watch your email.  We’re going to start randomly choosing names among those who haven’t won anything yet.  All we ask is that you please show us what you got!

By the way, in case you’re wondering, we have heard from a few designers with great ideas and we’re encouraged but we’re alwat=ys looking for more cool designs so - bring it on!

Ok, I know that you’re all really busy with the knitting but I have a bunch of stuff to share and some of it is important so listen up.
There have been lots of questions about the lace weight and I promised more info when I had it. Well, I finished the second sock last weekend and I can tell you more about using the Tess. Each skein is about 50g when full. I just weighed the remainder of the 2 skeins and one had about 16g, the other 20g. I hope that helps.

The first ever creative award!
Voting was brisk. Believe it or not, there were 1,487 votes cast and it was wild because as I watched, the leader shifted many times. In the end there was a winner and, with 33% of the votes, The Attack of the Zombies has won.
This is a new feature of Sock Madness and I like it a lot. I hope that in future rounds you are all inspired to let loose a little and get crazy. This time it was the fanciful staging that carried the day but, in the future it could be a drop-dead gorgeous pair of socks. You just never know but, there is a lot of loot to give away so I hope to see great stuff.

Feel free to offer your congrats to Cornflake (first finisher) and Thingwhatsqueaks (creative award). Prizes will go to both of them and I’m sure that they’ll post pictures of the treats they get.

Finally, I have a few thoughts on the current pair of socks. There have been a lot of comments on them and some have mentioned Christmas stockings and elephant feet. It looks like things are calming down a little but it bears addressing. The players of Sock Madness 2 represent a broad spectrum of knitters. The ages range from 15 to 74. You come from countries around the world and all walks of life. Not every sock is going to appeal to or work for everyone.
As the leaders of this group, Carole and I have tried to choose a collection of patterns that is varied and interesting. There will be cables, lace, laceweight, dyeing (if you’re so inclined), cuffs and other craziness. We hope and expect that somewhere along the way there will be something or everyone but most of you will find a sock or two that aren’t quite you. It’s nearly unavoidable.

We look forward to hearing you rave about the socks that you love and, for those you don’t, we are sure that you’ll find a creative outlet for them too. As Carole suggested, you can give them to charity. Maybe your school or other organization has a raffle or auction that you could donate them to. If they are truly horrible you can give them away as a joke gift. I’m sure that you can come up with some very creative solutions.

In the interest of full disclosure I should say that one of the socks I tested this year was made from yarn from a SM1 test sock I frogged. It happens. I can say that I love the new sock passionately.

I’m still busy wrapping up the loose ends and I have 4 more prizes to give away. 

The first goes to our runner up, Joy. She was an amazing competitor and she really gave Kristi a run for the money in the finals. She’ll get a skein of SM yarn and some treats. 

For the last three, I turned to the Random Number Generator to help me find a few names and here they are:

Goldenpurl Jean of Wendy’s division will be getting a set of Susanne’s Ebony dpns from Yarnatic Vikkie.

Emmie from Nancy’s division will be getting a set of stitch markers from Tezzcan.

CC, who is also from Nancy’s division will be getting one skein of variegated merino/tencel sock yarn in her choice of colors from Beth of Socks That Fit. 

I still need to incorporate some edits into the Mad to Dance pattern and then it will be available.  I think that Tina and Kristi also want to polish up their patterns, Mad For Fair Isle and Mashup Madness respectively, before they make them available through their websites.  I’ll let you know when I have an update on that. 

Meanwhile, I’m watching the socks and discussion that continue in the Flickr group.  I hope to join you all over there soon.  I still need to make mates for my Mad socks and there are a few patterns I never got to try.  Of course I’m also thinking ahead to SM2.  All good things for sure!

Thank you for all of your kind birthday wishes for my daughter.  I apologize for being such a slug lately but life had exploded around me lately (in good ways).  I’m sure you all know how life tends to get in the way from time to time.  I’m also coming down off a fiber rush.  Felicia and I were at Maryland Sheep & Wool last Saturday and had way too much fun.  We may have gone over our respective budgets too.

No matter what else is going on - the Madness waits for no one!  Don’t you love Yarnatic Victoria’s artwork!  I suspect that by now you all have seen this and you know that the last knitters standing are Kristi R and Joy.  Is anyone surprised by that? 

Tomorrow I’ll release the new pattern but first let’s give away more stuff.  That’s always fun.  As before, some will come directly from me and some will come from the people who donated it.  All winners this time were chosen by the random number generator because I hate to choose.

From Round 4

Linnakat, from Wendy’s Division has won a yarn bowl from Sarah of SKH Pottery.  I am so jealous!  Those bowls are gorgeous and, I suspect would hold many things with style - like spinning fiber perhaps. 

Carrie, from Stephanie’s Division has won a skein of Sock Madness yarn and, of course a few treats of my choice.

From Round 5

Stitchinwench, from Wendy’s Division has won a bundle of sock knitting treats from Jan.  This is very cool because apparently the random number generator was really with it and chose to reward the last novice standing. 

Jo, who’s also from Wendy’s Division has won a skein of Sock Madness yarn.  I’ll have a lot fun finding treats to go with it. Hmmm…

That’s all until tomorrow.

Before we post the specs on the next sock we want to catch up and award a few treats for the first 3 rounds.  Since everyone is a winner in Sock Madness, these treats have been awarded in a slightly different way.  Felicia and I have decided that, for each round, we will give a treat to someone who was eliminated and someone who made it through to the next round.  For the most part this will be random but, there will be occasional exceptions and we’ll note them as they arise.

You’ve already seen some of the prizes.  That would be the 7 skeins of yarn that we dyed.  The rest of the prizes will come directly from those who donated them.  For those prizes it would be great if you’d post them to flickr on arrival – to share with everyone.  Just a suggestion – not a demand. 

Without further delay, here’s the first list.  You may congratulate:

From Round 1

Deirdre, from Stephanie’s traveling Sock Division, has won an autographed copy of one of Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s books.  (You may need to wait until things slow down for her to get it, she’s a little busy with the tour right now.)

SnidKnits, from Wendy’s Toe Up Sock Division, has won a skein of Sock Madness yarn

From Round 2

Stariel, from Stephanie’s Travelling Sock Division, has won a gift certificate to Aija’s Esty store - zeromarkers

Sarah C, from Cat’s Soaring Sock Division, has won a skein of Sock Madness yarn

As we said, many of the treats will be awarded randomly but not all of them.  Round 3, the treats are being awarded  by the designer of the pattern used - Tricia Weatherston!  She was so excited by your reaction to her pattern and the socks that you’ve made with it.  She says that you are “the most concerned,gracious, friendly knitters around” She will be providing 2 skeins of Claudia’s handpaint, 2 balls of Panda wool and a ball of Trekking XXL that will be divided between the two knitters that she has chosen and selected according to their color preferences.  They are:

Mt Mom, from Wendy’s Toe-Up Sock Division - for being such a gracious loser in her close finish with Tezzcan.

Yarnatic/Victoria, from Nancy’s Traditional Sock division - for her incredible perseverance in getting through the garter stitch points

We’ll be in touch with you all to give you further information or to collect it so that you’ll each get your treats.