MKSmiles!

  Here are the socks that won Sock Madness 2.

Aren’t they lovely?   
So many of you have been captivated by this pattern and we hope that you all will continue knitting these socks because we want to see them.  In this pattern, the yarn really gets highlighted and there are so many different ways that you can go with it.  Check this pair out.

These are from Bambino, the second place finisher.  She used solids. I never even considered that but look at how wonderful they are.  It’s interesting to note that, although the colors used for the triangles on each sock are different, because the foot and cuff matches on both socks, these totally look like a pair.  Doesn’t it make you want to try a pair and see how it works out for you?

Please don’t go anywhere yet.  There are still socks to vote on and lots of prizes to award.  You should also expect to start seeing more information about SM3 really soon.
 

Just a quick little update to let you all know that the Tennessee Twisted Knitters just hit the halfway mark.  The other groups are not too far behind either.
Just in case you were wondering about the fastest knitter this round - it was MKSmiles. Way to go!

Ok, round one is in the books now and it was fun but long.  In the end, there were 139 finishers so the first order of business is evening things out a little bit.  If you are in the Maryland group you will be staying put.  If you are in the UConn or Baylor groups then check back later.  I’ll be moving a few random finishers to the Tennessee group to even things out a little for the next round.

The next round will be Sock C which requires 350 yards of fingering weight yarn and US Size 1 needles. The gauge is 8.5 st/inch and the test sock was knit with Socks That Rock lightweight.

Specs are nice but the real question is when the next pattern itself will appear in your mailbox.  Well, we were initially thinking of a weekend start but one of you has a Big Day on Saturday. While the idea of  a ceremony getting held up while you finish “just one more row” gives me a chuckle and a great mental image, someone mentioned in a thread that next Tuesday is April Fools Day and that’s got great potential too.  How could we be expected to resist that kind of temptation?

Meanwhile, we’ve got other business to tend to – the creative awards.  The delayed release of pattern 2 will allow us to do this up right.  All of you creative types have until 6pm tomorrow, March 27^th (US Eastern Seabord time) to post your most interesting shots.  My goal is to have the poll up on Friday and then you can all get busy campaigning and voting for your favorites. Some socks will be posted because the sock itself is especially interesting or creative or in a color that catches our fancy.  Others will be more about presentation.  Remember, socks finished today or tomorrow before the cut off will be considered too.  Good luck!

It is 8:58 am right now and the divisions stand like this:

Maryland Merino Madness - 32

Tennessee Twisted Knitters - 26

Baylor Ball Bands - 27

UConn Cast Ons - 36

Most of you already know the answer to the question in the title.  Yes, you are faster indeed.  For the rest of you there is a new goal - Midnight on Tuesday, March 25th.  At that time this round will end whether we have 40 finishers in each division or not. The following day we’ll start choosing our favorite sock interpretations from among the many posted on Flickr and we’ll post the specs for the next sock. 

While we’re not giving any hints about the next sock, there are a lot of threads out there dedicated to discussion of the materials list so, while we have your attention, we’ll address them a little.  We’d hate for anyone to reach full-on panic mode. (You know who you are.)

• The next sock is not the lace weight one.  This means that you still have a bit of time to choose/obtain the lace weight. It is coming very soon though so it would be a good idea to make some decisions on this. 
• The odds and ends sock is also not the next one.  We ought to have more specific information to define the odds and ends needed soon.  In all seriousness, with the amount of sock knitting going on, I really don’t expect that this should pose a problem by the time this pattern is released.  By coincidence, I sent off my odds and ends to someone who needed them right before this pattern landed in my inbox and I had no trouble improvising.  I’m sure that you will all find a solution when the time comes.

Are we all good now?  Great. 

It’s been 2 days since pattern 1  - Zombie Socks was released and there are 15 finished pairs.  15 out of 160.  There is a long way to go in this round so keep knitting and having fun. 

There was a great suggestion about knitting the stitches surrounding the dropped stitches through the back loop (like the Clapotis) to make the ovals crisper.  It’s just one more example of knitters helping knitters - even in the heat of competition.  It makes me smile. You can read the suggestion on ravelry or here, in the flickr discussion.

The name of this pattern coupled with the number of you who appear to have stayed up way past your bedtime working on it makes that an apt title - don’t you think so?
Among the night owls was Cornflake who finished her Zombies in the  weee hours of last night. We received the email at about 2:44 AM. Congrats for being the first finisher in the first round of SM2.

To all of you still busy working on your socks, I should note that this is still the only finished pair.  As Bethtoons has said - “You don’t have to beat the fastest, you have to beat the 41st fastest. “  Very wise.  This round will continue until there are 40 finishers in each of the 4 divisions so it is far from over.

If you go on over and check out the Buttons and Loot page you’ll see that it’s been updated for SM2. Carole made a new button for this year and we’ve started a list of prizes. See anything to tempt you there? I thought so.

I’ll be dyeing up a bunch of yarn to add to the booty and I’ll be happy to list any other donations too. Let’s get some pictures to add color to that page.

The test knitting is moving right along but that’s a post for another day. I’ll also have information on signing up and supplies soon.

I cannot believe it but, we have arrived at the Final Four.  It’s incredible.

Our very own Yarnatic, Vikkie made this lovely graphic for us.  That’s even better than just an updated chart.

I apologize for all of the difficulties with this pattern.  It was not intentional.  I would never knowingly leave errors in a pattern.  As I’ve mentioned before in other places, I’m new to the test-knitting and editing business and I worked on this one over a long car ride to Canada.  Perhaps not the best venue for editing patterns.

I think that the problem is a little more basic though.  There’s an exercise that I did in school many years ago.  In it, we were required to write instructions for completing a certain task like making a sandwich.  The usual result is that the person writing the instructions assumes that the reader will just infer certain things and fails to specify in the written instructions.

In this competition, many of the designers are new to designing for others.  It’s one thing to design for yourself and another to design for the masses.   I often create pattens for myself on the fly and just make notes along the way so that I can replicate the result for the second sock.  I’m pretty sure that my notes wouldn’t make sense to anyone but me.  I also doubt that I would be able to flesh those notes out to a full, coherent, pattern.  Likewise, I think that we all find an occasional error in a pattern and make the mental adjustment and move on.   It is human nature to leave a gap between what’s in out head and what makes it onto the paper.  The art and the gift comes in finding a way to close that gap. I’m missing that talent and I apologize.  

To continue the March Madness analogies just a little longer - we are now down to the Elite Eight.  Are they who you thought they would be?

The Specs for Round 5 will be up soon.  No need to do match-ups because there are only 2 left in each division.  How crazy is that?

On another, totally unrelated note - it seems that for every prize that is awarded another is donated.  This time the treats come from Yarnatic Vikkie.  She’s offering a set of Susanne’s Ebony US 7, 4.5mm Dpns.  I just love the little Panda on the package. 

This round is taking a bit longer than previous rounds and that’s perfectly ok.  In fact - it’s to be expected.  We did say that the socks would get a little more, um.. interesting.  Didn’t we?

Lately there has been a lot of discussion about choice of yarn so here’s a quick little illustration of the difference yarn makes. 

We all have different preferences but I think that each yarn adds a little something to the pattern.  Not necessarily better or worse - just different. 

I’ve seen the disscussion about a side competition among those “in the bleachers” (remember there are no real losers here) and I think it’s fabulous!  I know that the designers are having fun watching the socks develop online and I think that we would all agree that it adds to the fun.  If nothing else, having more knitters working on the patterns means that we’ll see more different versions of the sock and be able to appreciate the differences in the yarns just a little bit more.  Keep it up and SHOW US YOUR SOCKS!!!

By the way, we had another prize donation too.  Tezzcan has offred a set of stitch markers.  You can see some or them here.  I believe that it will be winners choice.  She’s trying to decide if she should sell them on Etsy so go check them out and give her a little encouragement.