Round 1 Complete !

Here are my lovely Sock Madness Round 1 socks.
The pattern is called Tropical Mer-tini. It is a little hard to see, but there is a "drunken quilt" motif on the sock. I knit it using size 0 Knitpicks 47" Circular needles, two at a time, magic loop. The Yarn is Socks That Rock Mediumweight in a Rare Gems colorway. It looks like it was supposed to be a Raven colorway that didn't quite take too well. Nonetheless, I really like it.

Making this sock has taught me a few things.

The first is that I can actually knit a pair of socks in less than 2 weeks.... 11 days to be exact. Wow!!
I also learned the German Cast On, which I will be using from now on. It is very stretchy around the cuff. The afterthought heel is very interesting, and I like the design of the slip stitch pattern. This sock also had me Kitchener stitch both the toes and the heel. So, once again I have defeated that enemy. Thank God for YouTube video tutorials, because that never sticks in my head.

Now, I will rest until the sock drama begins for Round 2.

It Fits!!!

Here is my sock madness sock, after creating the opening for the afterthought heel.

Here is a pic of both socks on the needles. I am soooo happy that I decided to go down a needle size. It fits perfectly.

Ok, back to knitting. This is a race and 7 of my competitors finished already. Must. Knit. Faster.....

Skinny Ankles and the Trouble They Cause

I decided to change the yarn that I intended to use for my sock madness sock. I apologize to those of you that loved the Koigu. I promise I will use it on a sock that will do it more justice. I felt that a darker color would make the pattern look a little nicer. The name of the pattern is Tropical Mer-tini, which made me think of Mermaids and the deep blue-green sea. Hmmm... maybe my thoughts are still in Trinidad, who knows? This pattern is a knit/purl combo that is full of texure. I decided to use my Socks that Rock Rare Gems that I bought at Rhinebeck.

So, here is my progress so far.

This pattern has a few new techniques that I have to learn in order to be successful.

The first, is the German Twisted Cast-On. I Love it. It makes your sock cuff very stretchy. I found a Video of it on YouTube that was very helpful.

The second technique is the Afterthought heel. I ave never tackled this before, but the designer of the pattern has some clear photographs on Flickr, so the technique looks like it can be done without me having to pull my hair out.

So, I was busy working on my cuff today, and I thought to myself, let me try these on. I knew that if they were too big that I would be in trouble, because my mom doesn't even like this color yarn, so I couldn't even gift it to her. So, I decided that anything I make in this competition will be MINE!!!! I tried it on and guess what????

It's too freakin' big. Aaarrgghh!!! Now, I have to do this all over.... (tears). This is supposed to be a competition. God, why did you bless me with skinny ankles???

Preparing for Sock Madness!!

Tomorrow morning marks the beginning of a new journey that I am about to embark on. It is called Sock Madness. This is my attempt to try out some new patterns, work on my stash yarn, and see how nimble-fingered, I really am. I have 2 weeks to finish the first sock. I have already received the specs, and found out that the pattern was test knit using Koigu KPPPM. I am working on swatching.

Here is the gorgeous-ness up close and personal. I don't even know the name of the colorway. Let's just call it "Round 1 Lilac".

In order to prepare for this, I managed to finish my camera sock that has been sitting in limbo forever. I had to fight with the kitchener monster. I finally won. Sheesh!! It is always an ordeal.

I have also decided to frog a mystery sock that I have been working on. The mystery has been revealed since November. The sock has a cable in it that looks gorgeous...however, cables on size 1 needles are such a PAIN!!! I also missed a stitch, and can't find what I did wrong, so off the needles you go. I need to swatch with that needle.

More updates on my sock progress soon.