ETD 10:38 AM

The UPS guy had a package for me today, and, since I haven't ordered any yarn lately, you know what that means... I'm dead.

Socks of Doom received from my assassin, Mlle Udah

So, no more Sock Wars for me. Too bad, it would have been fun to kill more than one person, but with all the international mailing involved there was just no chance of that. Although this game was fun, I think the downside was that no matter how quickly you knit your socks it could not save your life. It was just luck of the draw as to whether you got a fast assassin or a slow assassin assigned to you.

I think it would be fun to have another sort of sock war where knitting a sock quickly would actually SAVE your life. I'll have to give that some thought...

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In other sock-related news, here is a pair of socks that I finished recently. I made them with the Socks That Rock that I won in the Sock-a-Month KAL. Here are the specs:

Pattern:

just a run of the mill top-down sock, but inside out

Yarn:

Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks That Rock, mediumweight [100% superwash merino],
color: Farmhouse

Needles:

US 2

Gauge:

7.5 sts/inch

Comments:

This was the first time I've used STR yarn and I have to say, I can see what all the commotion is about. This yarn is great. Very boing-y and soft. I wonder how it will hold up to wear though? It seems to be getting fuzzy rather quickly.
You may be wondering why it looks like my socks are inside out. Well, that's because they are. I decided I liked the way the colors mixed better on the reverse stockinette side of the sock, so I decided to make that the outside. I knit them normally (with the knit side out) and just turned them inside out at the end before weaving in the ends. All I did differently was to pick up the stitches on the sides of the heel flap as to purl instead of as to knit.

Which do you like best:

the interesting reverse stockinette side,

or

the boring old stockinette side?

There was a bit of color pooling with this yarn at the ankle (as you can see in this picture) but it doesn't really bother me very much.

Oh, and by the way, my index finger seems to be better now. Yay, back to knitting.

Persnickety Knitter, in the Office, with the Cleckheaton 8-ply

So, I did it. I killed someone today. My victim in Sock Wars just received her Socks of Doom from me and she is now officially DEAD. Here is the weapon I used.

Socks of Doom, made with Cleckheaton Country 8-ply, in size 9.5

I tried to lessen the pain of my victim's demise by sending her some hematite, crystal, and silver stitch markers that I made. Beading was my previous hobby, but it has been sorely neglected ever since I was introduced to knitting. If you think my yarn stash is crazy, you should see my bead stash. ;)

Before taking her last breath, my victim (in Georgia) was able to send off her finished socks to kill her victim (in England), so I will now be responsible for killing my victim's victim's victim (try to stay with me here). My victim's victim will not be officially dead until she receives her socks in the mail, and in the meantime she will be knitting socks to kill someone in Canada. However, since a little birdie told me that she hasn't started yet, I'm thinking she won't finish them before she gets her package of doom. So, all I can do is sit here and wait for my victim's victim in England to die and mail me her uncompleted socks.

With all the international shipping this could take a while, which is fine with me since my stupid right index finger STILL hurts. I am trying not to knit until it is better, but that is sooooo hard. [I'm sure you can relate.] In the meantime, I may be killed by my designated assassin who is in Utah. However, I emailed her on Saturday and at that point she had not started knitting and seemed rather unaware of the rules. So, who knows. What a confusing, but fun, game this this is turning out to be.

My finger hurts

Due to technical difficulties (hurricane in Northern Ireland which caused power outages) the Sock Wars pattern was not posted until about 3:30pm EST. This was good timing for me, since we had just finished school for the day (we're homeschoolers). Well, I cast on instantly and knit almost non-stop for the rest of the evening.

I lost a little time when I hit the turning of the heel and discovered that there was an error in the directions for that section (making the heel off-center). I spent some time posting a correction to the Sock Wars forum. Yes, I know that I may have helped my own assasin by doing that, but hey, there are a lot of newbies in this challenge and I'd rather be killed by receiving a pair of socks with a nice, centered heel than a pair with an off-center heel.

Anyhow, after that I think I paused only long enough to eat dinner and check my email about a thousand more times. By 11:30pm, here is what I had:

Not bad for about 8 hours of work, huh?

I can't finish these socks because I have not yet received my "assignment." I do not know the shoe size of my victim, nor do I even know WHO my victim is. Hopefully the email difficulties will be resolved by the morning and I can finish these off and get them in the mail before the post office closes at 1pm.

I have to say that I really like these socks. The pattern is simple but it makes a nice and cozy pair of socks, especially with the DK weight yarn we had to use. Hopefully my target will like them and not be too sad to die such a quick death.

Oh, and now the joint in my right index finger is suddenly rather painful. I think it was all that ribbing that did it. I'd be happy to be killed quickly to get out of this crazy challenge. My hands can't take too much more of this speed knitting.

Ready to Rumble

So, Sock Wars starts tomorrow. Are you ready?

Me? Oh, I'm ready.

My arsenal

I've got my DK-weight yarn, my US 5 needles (2 circulars, my weapon of choice), and I've swatched to make sure I've got the required gauge.

Let the carnage begin.