Hello everyone,
I’m participating in Sockmadness for the second time this year. I’ve just finished the second round (and made it to the third) and figured it was about time I caught you guys up.
What is sockmadness you might ask? Inspired by the March Madness in the USA some nifty knitters wanted to create a sock knitting competition. And sockmadness was born!
It consists of several rounds in which you need to knit a pair of socks as fast as you can. Patterns are supplied and since they’re usually very awesome a great motivation to sign up. Entering is free and everyone knits the exact same socks. There are certain minimum requirements each round to keep things fair. One of my favourite parts is that you have so many people knitting the same pattern and yet each pair still looks unique.
The sockmadness community is amazing and kind and the social aspect is another good reason to sign up. Even if you don’t like the speed aspect, pass the first round (you need to finish a pair of socks in 2 weeks to qualify) and you can choose to be a cheerleader. You still get all the patterns and fun, but can knit at your own leisure. The first round also helps the moderators to make teams. Teams are based on speed. You compete against your team with people dropping out every round until one remains This person will then compete against the winners from the other teams! And then eventually there is one great winner who wins a huge mountain of prizes! Not so fast and bummed you’ll never win (like me)? Not to worry! Sockmadness is awesome and awards fun prizes all thought the competition. For whatever reason! If you take a very funny picture, had heaps of bad luck, or like me in round one conquer a fear (i wrote about having to self inject every week and how i always get nervous and end up taking forever to gather some courage and just do it. I managed to get over it a bit faster this time with some encouragement from the Sockmadness round 1 chat thread).
To summarise: Sockmadness is just plain awesome. Time to show off some socks.
Round 1
Pattern: Alohomora by Malena Andersen
Yarn: Hjerte Garn Sock 4 Superwash in 1100 Grey. I used 70 grams of yarn.
Needles: Knit Pro Karbonz double point needles in 2.0 mm
Experience: I really love this pattern. It’s just simple enough to memorise without being boring. The finished socks are very comfortable. I had to use the tiny 2.0 mm needles due to the minimum size we had to knit, it would have ended up far to big for me and i wanted to keep these. I could have gifted them but… nah.
Round 2
Pattern: Cable Madness by Karen Buhr
Yarn: Crelando Nina Sock yarn in a green/blue/grey tonal. This yarn is sold at lidl and retails at 5 euros for 4 balls! I used 73 grams for these socks, so i expect to get three pairs out of these 4 balls!
Needles: Knit Pro Karbonz double point needles in 2.25 mm
Experience: I really like how well the cables pop despite the subtle variegation. The yarn has a high cotton content so has little stretch. This means that you have to knit the socks exactly to size. Mine are also hard to get over the heel, but fit perfectly once I have them on.
I can’t wait to see what the pattern for round 3 will be! I’ll have to be patient for a little while though as round 2 runs until april 13th!
Love, Renée
A Lazy Beauty 