[knitting] For Whom the Bell Tolls

Finally, finally, finally finished the Round 5 socks from last year's Sock Madness 9:



Knee-high kilt hose with a lace fold-over top. At the time I set this project aside last year, I had one sock complete and the cuff done on the other. Essentially all I had left to do of the 2nd sock was the leg/foot. The yarn is a sport weight and I used US 4 needles so the knitting does worth up quickly. I was able to knit the entire leg during my flights to/from DC last week, then it only took a couple evenings to finish the foot. I have multiple sock blockers and used the small size for the foot and turned the medium sizes blockers upside down to continue blocking the calf/cuff.

Pattern is For Whom the Bell Tolls and I don't think it's available any more on Ravelry. The designer was pulling off a rather gigantic charity scam and pretending to be multiple people. The yarn is Reynolds Whiskey, 3 balls, and it's not machine washable so these will be handwash-only.

[knitting] Mad About the Gals

I finished Sock Madness Round #4 socks in record time:

Pattern is "Mad About the Gals". I would definitely knit this again- in a solid color with beads going all the way down to the ankles. And then enter those socks into the Tunbridge Fair this fall. 

[knitting] Mad About the Gals - Progress

Round 4 of Sock Madness:

Not too shabby for four days- the pattern is working up quickly for me. I should knit with beads more often- I really like it. Thank goodness for my DyakCraft DPNs. Pointiest of points. Makes the cables and fiddly k3tog (by k1 yo k1 into the same three stitches) a breeze. 

[knitting] Longing for Spring (aka Mud Season)

With only one spot left open on my Sock Madness team to make it to the next round, I sat down to finished my Round 3 socks as soon as I stepping in the house yesterday afternoon:

I only had a bit of the leg and cuff to do on the 2nd sock, so it didn't take very long. I put the socks onto the blockers, took a picture and emailed off the info (misidentifying my team as Team Friggers- I'm on Team Froggers). I made the last spot! Happy but immediately filled with directionless ennui, I decided to celebrate with vodka drinks. Next time I'll celebrate by working on my filler projects- they don't give me a hangover.

[knitting] Cable Madness

Finished the first round socks for Sock Madness:

Pattern: Cable Madness

Yarn: Gage Hill Crafts' Mystic, dyed naturally with jewel weed. Purchased at 2014 VT Sheep & Wool Festival.

Needles: US 1

Notes: I finished these around 9pm. I washed them, put them onto sock blockers and was going to wait for them to dry before taking pictures/submitting to Sock Madness the next day. I got into bed with iPad and started going through all the finished socks. Only so many people from each team get to move forward each round and I started to get a bit antsy. I'm on one of the slowest teams but started worrying that all the slots would fill up overnight. So I went downstairs to take pictures and submit. Then I fell asleep as soon as my face hit the pillow.

[knitting] Cable Madness

Last Friday night the pattern for the first round of Sock Madness was released. I spent much of Friday night and Saturday knitting:

I want to do the 2nd sock with the cables mirrored but I don't know how to print mirrored pages on my home printer. I went to Staples to see if the copy center there could do it. I handed the page with the chart to the guy behind the counter and asked. He said, "Well, let's see..." He read a bit, handed me back the paper and said, "Nope. Because of that text at the bottom." I read:

Cable Madness Socks (c) 2015 Karen J. Buhr
No part of this pattern or other material may be distributed without written permission of Karen J. Buhr. Pattern is for personal use only and is not for commercial use.

He then went on to say something about not reproducing it and something else about it being illegal to get another company (presumably... Staples?) involved. I blinked. Hard. I wanted to say, "Homie, do you know how much copy-wank I've read on Ravelry? AH KNOW MAH RIGHTS!" Partly because not much of that would make sense to him, partly because this guy was on an obvious power-trip and arguing would get me nowhere.

What he said didn't even jive with the copyright text, which was so confusing to me- I wanted one page, printed backwards. I said, "But... this is just for me." Without any further trouble, he took me over to a printer and printed out a single mirrored copy of the chart. I paid the 11 cents and walked out. What the ever-loving F? Truly, I understand the concern but I didn't ask for 20 copies so that I could sell them as bootlegs on the black-knitting-market. If I wanted to do that, I'd just walk up to a printer and make the copies.

I guess I'm just bitter that the copyright issue, which I haaaaaaate reading about on Ravelry, bled over for a moment into real life. I don't want any drama or trouble on a Sunday morning while I'm sleepily running errands.

[knitting] Alohomora

Finished the first Sock Madness socks in time to qualify for team placement:

Pattern: Alohomora (rav link)

Yarn: Elann Devon (discontinued)- two 50gr balls.

Needles: US 1

Nice pattern, if tedious. The great part of Sock Madness is seeing HUNDREDS of versions of the same pattern. This pattern seems to err on the large side and when knit with solid (but dark) colors, these socks make a handsome pair for a man.

[knitting] Alohomora

The pattern for Round 1 of Sock Madness has been revealed. We have two weeks to make the pair and so far I've got:

Yeeaahhh. There are some pretty speedy knitters out there- so many people have finished the pair already. I'm not stressing, though- I'm not going to hurt myself to knit as fast as possible. Plus, it would take all the fun out of the competition for me. I'm just going to trod along, try to finish in time and see what group I'm placed into.