sock madness...I'm out.

First, I want to congratulate Kellie for moving on to the nest round! She completed the 2nd pattern just over two days.

Unfortunately, my endeavour wasn't nearly as successful. I seemed to have a lot of things going against me this round. First, there were lots of time obligations -- practice the night that the pattern was released, a dinner Friday night, and general business all day Saturday. By the time I had more than 10 minutes to sit and knit, it was Sunday morning. At that point I had made it only to the heel of sock #1. But, I kept knitting.

I had decided to make this sock using Elann's Esprit yarn, since I already had it in my stash. I even took time to do a swatch last week, and everything looked good. Well, after turning the heel of sock #1, I thought I'd try it on. That's when I decided to throw in the towel. I couldn't even get the sock onto my foot. It was just too tight. I think I would need to go up a couple of needle sizes for it to work out.

I'm out of the competition, but I'm still going to knit the socks. I looked through the stash and have a couple of other yarn possibilities. Maybe I can even finish before the next round begins.

sock madness: round 2...

This week, I'm gearing up for the next round of Sock Madness. The first round officially closed on Saturday...Although there were several people who knit this pattern in 2 days, a new pair of socks finished in a week is nothing to sneeze at.

The new pattern is supposed to be released some time Thursday afternoon/evening. Until then, I will be swatching and picking yarn. All I know is that this pattern calls for a sport weight yarn, yet it should be knit at 7 stitch per inch. The organizers recommend a variegated yarn, but say that any color will do.

In round 2, I am paired up with Kellie. To advance another round, I will have to complete the socks and submit a picture before she does. I'm hoping that the pattern will be released before I leave work on Thursday, so I can cast-on on the way home from work. I'm busy all day next Saturday, and will have to make up some time on Sunday. I have a feeling this next round will take me longer than 3 days.

round one...done.

Due to severe illness, I was home sick yesterday. On a positive note, I was able to finish my Mad Cow Socks.

The first pattern was very straight-forward. I think yarn selection really makes this sock special. Thankfully, I had the right yarns already in my stash. Mine are made of Patons Kroy (hunter green) and Knit Picks (Redwood Forest), using size 2 needles. This was my first sock with short row heels...definitely something I could use more practice executing. I made them top-down because I didn't want to stress about how to do the toe and the heel. I am pleased with how they turned out.

I'm not sure what round two will bring. I'm pretty sure I can't afford to take too much time off just to knit socks. Plus, there are some super speedy knitters out there. When I checked the Sock Madness site on Sunday morning, there were already people posting finished socks!

sock madness: round 1

The first pattern for Sock Madness, Mad Cow Socks, was released early on Saturday morning. I took a few false starts before finding a color combination that I thought would look good with the pattern. Thankfully, I had yarn already in my stash! Here are some progress shots:
After turning the first heel.
First sock complete!
Second sock on the needles

one more sleeve...

That's how much knitting is left on my Aran Tee! After getting a little frustrated by my sewing project (and running out of fabric), I clear the deck and relaxed with some knitting. Unfortunately, I became very frustrated with the knitting once I got to the front neck shaping. It took about 6 attempts to knit the neck before I realized that I would need to write out instructions for each row, including a stitch count for each row. For some reason, I just couldn't get the berry stitch pattern to work once I started making decreases at the neck.

It's going to be another busy week chez needleGirl if I'm going to finish this sweater and my sewing project before the start of Sock Madness. Now that I have more fabric, tonight is going to be devoted to sewing. Hopefully, there will be some extra time later in the week to block the Aran Tee.