So, you’ll recall that earlier this week I wrote about this thing called Sock Madness. I explained that I was knitting away with focus, hoping to finish a couple things before it began.

Unfortunately, I did not.

I am up to the toe decreases for my spring socks, but I’m not done with them yet. So, in order to wear them on Friday, I’ll have to finish them tomorrow.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. But this is not a normal circumstance. This is Madness!

Sock Madness is a sock knitting competition inspired by NCAA basketball’s tournament play. On the day each round of competition begins, the organizers send everyone a pattern via email. No one has seen these patterns before, but the organizers have provided us (a few days ahead of time) our target gauge and how much yarn we’ll need and what they recommend (a solid or a patterned yarn, for instance). And while we have a window of time during which the pattern will arrive, no one is quite positive about it.

Tomorrow, for instance, the pattern is due to arrive sometime between 6 and 9 a.m. local time. Ouch! The good thing is that I have to be at work early, so I’ll be able to leave early, but still… I can’t really see myself getting up before the sun just to wait for a pattern…

Many of my fellow competitors are already planning to arise early, knit through the day, and give up all other activities until their pair of socks is complete.

Because, you see, speed is of the essence in Sock Madness. Only the first x number of competitors to finish their socks and submit photographic evidence move on to the next round. We start with 200 knitters divided into four divisions. One assumes that at least half that number will advance out of the first round, but that’s not guaranteed. If the allotment isn’t filled within two week’s time, only those with finished socks at the whistle’s blow will move on to the next round.

So it would be perfectly understandable if I’d spent the last week pulling out yarns, carefully swatching, and planning my weekend so I could knit steadily through until my new pair of socks was complete.

While I’ve given some thought to my yarn selection, I haven’t actually pulled any of the yarn out, nor have I wound any of it. I figure I’ll wait to see what the pattern actually looks like before making a final decision. I suspect this might be akin to waiting until the game starts to begin assigning matchups.

And I haven’t cleared my schedule. No, I have no major engagements, no trips planned, no soirees to attend. But, I do have a plan to see the new Julia Roberts-Clive Owen movie with Rudi (and I won’t be knitting during it unless it’s awful). I also plan to spend some quality time in my garden. I’m going to see Sarah briefly, and maybe touch base with Rebs. I also have to run errands to the library and the post office. And I’m going to finish that lingering sock…

So, perhaps my dedication to the competition isn’t cut-throat. I think it’ll be fine. But to be on the safe side, please don’t tell my fellow sock knitters that I won’t be glued to my needles all weekend. I think we’d better keep that just between us…

When Einstein announced his theory of relativity, anyone who’d ever experienced a weekend whiz by must have thought, “Duh!”

Seriously! What happened to it? And is time going to go even faster? Will it slow down again when I get to be very old?

Our Pi Day celebration was very nice. Rudi heroically put the effort to clean (or, at least, to mask our mess) and to run errands, while I baked. I made apple and pecan pies and Michael cooked up two quiches. Sarah contributed cannoli from a bakery at Union Station of which I’d heretofore been unaware. Julia and Elspeth provided sparkling wit as we finished our prep work, and everyone was kind enough not to point out our inadequate tidying job. Beer and pita chips and hummus supplemented the pies, and we had a merry little feast. Since there were six of us, we paired off into teams for a game of Trivial Pursuit. Michael and I beat the other two teams with a run toward the end, although it was not without its hiccups. I foundered on the Don Larsen perfect game question before redeeming myself with a surprising knowledge (even to myself!) of the Super Bowl.

Sunday was the Homespun Yarn Party, and I went in search of local items to ship to a swap pal in Australia. Normally, I’d rely on more foodstuff to fill out the box, but Australia is particularly persnickety about its imports and routinely confiscates stuff from the mail. Since I’d like my partner to get everything safely, I’m sticking more with hard goods. While I was there, I may have picked up a skein of yarn for myself — a green stripey one that will make a lovely pair of socks for next St. Patrick’s Day. Or maybe for Christmas. Oh, and I did win a door prize — a tote bag from Ravelry!

The rain returned tonight and I walked home from work while chatting on the phone with my folks in the growing drizzle. I don’t mind the drips and we need the rainfall, so it was perfectly fine with me. I’m hoping it keeps the ground pliable so I can spend some time in the garden next weekend. I need to do something with all those seeds I bought up in Connecticut!

Rudi made a tasty supper and we watched the CBS comedies (my favorite tv of the week) before throwing on a dvd of early Boston Legals from the library. Ultimately we ended up with a cooking show on PBS before the news and late night comedy shows.

I’m trying to finish up a few knitting projects before Sock Madness begins Thursday morning, so I pushed through the gusset of my spring socks tonight. Tomorrow night should see me finish the foot, which will leave the toe decreases and binding off for Wednesday night knitting group. This pair is knit in a lovely skein of yarn in a colorway called Spring Garden, and the colors remind me of rainbow sherbet. I picked a pattern called Spring Forward, so I’m optimistically believing they’ll be done for Friday’s Vernal Equinox. I’m also nearly finished with the first part of a sweater I’m knitting, which is nice and soft and squooshy and a very pretty shade of marled turquoise.

I guess that’s about it for right now. Good night!

I’m frantically working on this:

It’s supposed to somewhat resemble this in the next week in time for me to hand it over to Gramma for Christmas. Don’t ask me what I was thinking…

Way back in October, I received a goodie-filled box I haven’t yet acknowledged here on the blog, possibly because I was so guilt-ridden about the tardiness of my own outward-bound package.

The Trick-or-Treat Feet Swap was designed for knitters to make a pair of socks for another knitter and to send them off with some Halloween goodies.

Let me tell you, KT spoiled me. Not only did she knit socks long enough to fit my gigantic feet, but she went ahead and made them knee-high for me. That’s right. The Good & Plenty socks are tall enough for me to wear under my dress boots. Plus, don’t you just love the color?

And the treats? Wow… (more…)

My knitting group decided that we wanted to do a fall yarn tour. Back in the spring a number of the knitters spent the day touring local yarn shops and there was some talk of repeating that until Lucy came up with a better idea. We would contact Gretchen, a local farmer who sells her yarn at the Dupont Circle Farmers’ Market, and see if she’d let us come out to her farm.

Lucy dropped Gretchen a line and the three of us worked out details. Gretchen said that Solitude would be at a Loudon County farmers’ market in Leesburg on Saturday morning. Would we like to come to the market to buy some yarn and then join her at the farm afterwards?

Why, yes, yes we would.
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My mail carrier has had a busy few days. Last week, swap pal Teri shared some of her favorite things in an exchange organized on Ravelry.

Each of us was supposed to pack up both some handmade and some store-bought items that we were particularly fond of ourselves and send them off to share with a fellow knitter. All I can say is that Teri has very good taste:

First, she picked the perfect card. You might need to click over to Flickr to make this shot bigger so you can see that the girl on the card has three cats, is lounging on her sofa while chatting on the phone, and likes fun hats. Perfect!

Teri knit and felted that bowl in a fantastic shade of pink and then even provided something to fill it with. I will admit that its contents were soon emptied and have been refilled several times already!

Also included was pretty yarn I’ve never tried in a colorway I love (Monet. Doesn’t it totally make you think of his waterlilies?). I enjoy looking at it so much that I’ve yet to tuck it into my stash. It’s still sitting on my desk where I can stop and pet it every so often. Teri also thought to look at my queue of Ravelry projects and printed out the pattern for the one at the top of the list (ruffly ankle socks). Additionally, she sent me a great British knitting magazine that had a Christmas-related pattern supplement included!

Finally, she included a lot of great little things that just make packages fun. Even Jeremiah tried to figure out how he could abscond with some of it… Two flavors of tea (both are quite good!), two flavors of a local coffee, nice smelling soap, more chocolate, a bath soak, and Knitters Hands, which went immediately into my knitting bag.

You have to admit — I am a very lucky girl! Thank you, Teri. I love it all!