March Madness

Torrential rain, an ice storm & mad knitting!

An ice storm took out a couple more trees on our front lawn.

My snowman lasted until March 4th - the head fell off first. For a while the scarf looked like it was hanging in mid air around the invisible man! Then we had 3 inches of rain in 24 hour period; went into basement flood watch mode but luckily no broken sump pumps or power loss this time around.

Sock Madness 5 has begun!
Having participated in Sock Madness for many years, their labels outnumber many of the others on my sidebar. I dropped out of SM4 on the very first sock and wasn't sure this year would fare much better once I saw the first pattern. K2, P2 stripes.
Nearly the entire pattern: knit two, purl two. UGH!

I hate stripes and I'm the slowest K2, P2er in the east :)
Like March Madness Basketball, there are refs that make calls on the rules. Shortly after pattern release it was allowed you could do the socks in a single color since the pattern designer showed one at the end her pattern. I had already completed 3 stripes. I took her throw away picture of a solid color sock at the end as a sample of what it looked like AFTER Sock Madness. Not an actual option if everyone was to knit with the same handicap (2 yarns dangling & tangling the entire sock.) But once stripes were started it was ruled you had to do stripes all the way to the toe.

Not sure what Mad at the Ref chant applies, but I shouted a couple in my mind for a while. Then I decided to suck it up and keep knitting. I started them Friday at noon and finished them Tuesday morning. On to round 2?

At least they're "stephani colors".  March Madness also means my daughters both have a birthday coming up this month.

Which reminds me...yikes!

One Legged Seagull

Or Scam Artist!

He totally had 2 legs and was hiding one tucked up...somewhere!

We stood there taking pictures, feeling so sorry for the poor thing. And then it took flight and the missing leg dropped down into place and away he flew.

Faker!

Me too as it turns out.
Purl & Prejudice: it was an honor to be among fastest slow pokes in this year's Sock Madness!

Here is the progress picture of where I quit! I'll change the pattern to do a 2 color heel, repeat the leg chart once in reverse and then knit a plain foot.

Looks like YarnWhisperer will represent our team for the final 4 and I will cheer her loudly...glad to be out mad sock knitting mode. Until next year?

The madness continues

On to ROUND 6?
Or not...

I finished my 5th pair of socks since March 19th. Sock Madness is down to the final 16.

Sweet 16!
And I'm still in it?

Next pattern comes out Wednesday night between 8 pm & midnight. I'm NOT a night person so I doubt I'll be knitting before my first cup of coffee on Thursday.

Thursday is also my birthday.
I'll be 50. Holy Crap!!
(Several other words come to mind but I'll refrain.)
As of now... I'm not planning on spending it sitting inside knitting all day.

More puzzle pieces have been finished.
My current obsession is perfecting my bullion stitches.
I'm more in the mood to embroider than knit.


And I'm old enough to do what I want!

It's Madness, I know

On to Round 5!

Sock Madness 3
Round 5 up next?
It's the farthest I've ever made it.

"If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."
Lord of the Rings!!

Thank you luck of the draw.
I'm in one of the slightly slower divisions.
Purl & Prejudice

Or as I dubbed it halfway through 2nd sock:
Pride & Perseverance
I will finish.
5th from last as near as I can tell.
(Just this once I wanted to make it one step more :)

Wasn't sure I could force myself to sit knitting for this one. Sunny days and gardening.

Plus a nephew turned 2 - so there was partying to do!

Here he is escaping. He seemed to have had enough with the partying and just wanted to go outside. Marched to the door and let himself out halfway through present opening. A promise of a cupcake got him to turn around and go back in.

I've about knit myself into "never want to knit again" state so not expecting to get beyond the next round.

But I did it!
One step more than ever before.

It Rained Green

Spring rains made everything green - seemingly overnight. After the brown decay of winter, 2 or 3 days of rain washed everything clean. It rained so hard at times it was a bit like Mother Nature took charge with a power washer.

Spring Cleaning!

It's a bit of a shock to the system to suddenly see everything so green it makes your eyes hurt. But happily looking forward to the gardening season about to begin.

I have one and only one flower in bloom.
A daffodil right outside the kitchen window.
There's an angel in waiting next to it.
Reminding me to be patient.

I finished my hardanger bookmark!
Made the first tentative cut along an outer edge and then got swept up in knitting for Sock Madness again - pattern came out late Monday afternoon but we were away for the day. The pattern corrections worked out during the test knit were mistakenly missing from the file sent to contestants. Luckily someone was usually standing by on Ravelry - willing to set things straight as best they could.

I tried not to let myself knit for too long at a time but the last day I JUST WANT TO BE DONE mode took over and I may have overdone it. My wrist & arm still ache. Got Asprin?

The bookmark cutting waited until I felt braver.
Cut it completely out Thursday night and clipped the threads as close as I dared. Trimmed it again this morning, but never having actually seen anything cut out, I'm only guessing it's done right.

It's really done!!






Round 3 socks for Sock Madness have been finished in time to move on to the next round. I've never gotten past Round 4. Part of it's luck of the draw in who you're paired up with. This year I seem to be luckier - our group is slower to finish up each round. Maybe I can beat my personal best this year?

Interruption or Intervention

First, to finished things

I finished my hardanger practice piece April 2nd!!
I'm thinking it will become a page in a fabric book of sampled needlework.


I hope to continue exploring different techniques for each page. Giving me a perfectly reasonable excuse for jumping from one thing to another as the mood strikes!
Brilliant?


Sock Madness - round 2 got underway Saturday. The pattern was delivered by email at about 9:30 in the morning and we were told it would need 2 contrasting colors.



I was afraid it was going to be stripes.
I should have been more afraid, as it turned out to be stranded knitting. I'm ridiculously slow at stranded knitting and when the highlight of a chart is getting to do several sets of 4 stitches in a row of the same color!! ...seriously. Slow.

Steph dubbed them Cinderella Socks as she squeezed them onto her foot for the official & mandatory "feet must be in the socks" photo. The girls were both on campus until after 6. I finished them around 1:45 but couldn't convince them 2 of their feet needed to get home immediately. The madness!

Finding someone they'll fit should be interesting. They are very tight.
As I believe I've mentioned: I do knit quite tight.
And they're very long in proportion to width.
Cinderella?

And now for the needed intervention round 2 of Sock Madness provided. Concentrating on knitting socks for 4 days made me put aside the colossal mistake I had just made with a pair of scissors that morning.
I was happily stitching away on a piece with some much desired color when I seem to have gone mad with a pair of scissors. I foolishly cut across 3 of 4 columns of threads before realizing 24 of them were not intended for cutting.
I had not yet pulled many of the longest threads, and I thought by cutting them in half I could pull from both directions. They would come out easier.

Major structural damage has occurred! It will take more time to try and fix that I intend to devote to it. I believe I'll let the flames of the wood stove destroy all evidence of my stupidity and try again.

Like it never happened but for the lesson learned.
Careful with those scissors! (And no shortcuts.)

Humbled by Hardanger

Sock Madness 3

We interrupt ...everything!

Yes. I took time out starting Thursday morning for some Mad Knitting.
If it's basketball playoff time, it must also be time for Sock Madness 3.

Since I participated in 1 & 2 it was hard letting go. The words "I don't think I'll play this year" were spoken aloud, with at least 1 witness. But in the end I decided to try the 1st pair, with a promise not to overdo it. I don't want to be a Pattern Collector - someone who ONLY signs up for the free patterns. That's not fair to all the sock designers or the 2 hosts.

I made it through round 1...
Finished Sunday morning. It had an interesting new cast on that I might try again. ("Twisted German" :) Luckily there was a YouTube video to get us through that.

The After Thought Heels were a little too much like someone thought up a way to put THUMBS on a pair of socks. They had us put a big hole in the bottom of the socks (on purpose!) for trying on purposes during knitting.
And then knit the heels last, with the idea you could replace the heel when they get a hole in them.

LOOK UP AT MY BLOG TITLE.
We don't like thumbs much around here!!

And it's SOCK MADNESS.
There's no 'trying on' in Sock Madness!
You knit them EXACTLY like the pattern says.
Not one stitch less! (More is your own call.)

The design was inspired by a quilt block called Drunkard's Path.
Probably won't be printing a fresh copy so I can knit this one again but it's a cute gift idea for quilt friends who might get a kick out of it. Definitely never doing heels like that again!

I don't know how long I'll last this year as my elbow and wrist ache when I do anything with my right arm for very long. I need to LOVE the 2nd pattern if I'm even going to cast on for the next round.

I've taken a break from knitting. These are the only 2 pair I've knit in the last 6 months. Knitting only while "waiting" takes a long time to get a pair of socks.

Sock Madness 2 - Round 6

Godmother's Socks

I finished the first sock from Sock Madness 2 - Round 6 pattern.

I LOVE this pattern. New techniques, well written pattern explained wonderfully on video. What more could you ask for?!

I haven't joined the cuff seam yet - will wait and do both at same time.

(Round 5 & 5.5 skipped for now. Round 4 deserves to be done again in a much better yarn choice!)

It's almost gone

Holy Hot Tamale!

Or what was I thinking?

I spent most of 2006 learning how to make socks. So of course when a local yarn shop was going out of business that summer and had sock yarn for 40-50% off I bought some.

The colors were limited but I may have gotten a bit carried away with the Bernat's Hot Tamale.

IS IT EVER GOING TO BE GONE?

It is 2008. I've just finished a second pair of Mad to Dance! from Sock Madness 1
patterns, cast on a few days before SM2 started as practice.
I finished them March 24th.
(Both SM1 & SM2 practice pair done in Hot Tamale)

Sock Madness 1; Round 3 - Painted Madness. Yup, Hot Tamale.

I cast on Tidal Wave this morning. I thought they were a little like Pomatomus, only easier. Now that I've looked closer, maybe not so much.
...but again with the Hot Tamale. I'll cast on the 2nd Tidal Wave and divide the remaining left overs up. (Hope there's enough for Sara Size 5 :)

This seems to be the last of it. I went through my blog pictures, trying to figure out how many pair have been knit in this (will it ever be gone?) color.
There were a pair of Pomatomus, Little Lacy Lady Socks and at least 3 pair of the Old Shale 2-Yarn Socks cuffs & heels done in same color.

Yeah, I'm ready for it to be gone!

I'm MAD, I tell ya!

Sock Madness - Round 2 complete

In the space of 27 hours I've finished my Mad-tinis.

Sock pattern arrived in my mailbox Thursday around 5 pm. Right in the middle of cooking supper so it was closer to 6 before I actually cast on. I knit until 10 pm but I'm a morning person and couldn't see what I was doing through all the yawning tears, so went to bed.

Rib was different! It reminded me of linen stitch a little. But more like a crochet afghan stitch I learned as a teenager. Couldn't remember what it's called so googled "crochet long hook" and came up with TUNISIAN crochet. I don't remember how to do it but I still have the hook.

Socks feel stiff; pattern called for sport weight and size 2 needles. Would have been way too big up a needle size, so maybe a thinner yarn next time. I may try the pattern again in solid or flecked colors so all those PSSO's swirling around in the really cool spiraling design show up better. My two-fisted method for passing a stitch over 2 others is slow at best. And soon discovered picking up lost stitches in this pattern would be a bitch, so went even more slowly.

It looks like at least 8 people finished ahead of me - a couple WAY ahead! Not sure what the next round will bring but once again I had to go to town for 3 hours of errands. PTQG newsletter absolutely needed to be at post office so it could get to the Printers and there was no food in the house since I didn't get groceries last week during the ice storm. Cutting into some serious morning knitting time. Next pattern will probably need my undivided attention if I'm to survive.