This just in:

One Sprite has just been reported to have removed her knitting needles from two (Repeat: TWO) projects. She is alleged to have followed up this activity by weaving in ends.

Onlookers expressed surprise at this turn of events. Rumors had long swirled that Sprite had given up finishing projects, particularly sock projects.

The first socks finished were started back in September and are reported to be Fox Faces by the famed Nancy Bush. Reporters are led to believe this pattern was what is known as a “mystery pattern,” where clues are released part by part until a completed picture is revealed. They are said to be knit in Three Irish Girls Adorn yarn in the Cian colorway acquired in 2009 at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

The second pair were supposedly knit in Shelby B’s Boo yarn, a bamboo/merino blend, in the Knight Bus colorway at the request of one Rudi. He claims to have picked out the yarn himself at last year’s Sheep & Wool Festival. He also says the perpetrator selected the pattern, Snape, herself before renaming the project Snape Boards the Bus in a misguided attempt to be cute.

When last heard from she was plotting about yarn to wind and new socks to begin. Readers are cautioned that the suspect is highly suggestible and should be approached by appealing patterns with caution.

I am reminded that the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is a mere ten days away and I have goals to accomplish by then.

Last year I bought this:

That would be two skeins of sock yarn, two skeins of yarn for a sweater, and a skein of worsted weight yarn. All but the last are in projects currently underway.

By the time I head to the festival, I would be very excited if both pairs of socks were finished (both are currently stalled in mid-second sock blahs), the green Malabrigo had been cast on, and if I had resumed my summer-weight sweater that I failed to pursue past the first front panel back in February.

Then I can head to the festival with a clear conscience.

I mean, ideally it would be great if all four projects were complete, but let’s not set ourselves up for failure at the outset, shall we?

Despite staying awake the whole plane flight west, I still failed to finish my Sock Madness socks in time. Apparently having to kitchener like a bazillion of stitches at heel, toe, and cuff was just too much for me. The more frustrating part is that although the socks fit me (a common complaint was that they were too tight for many competitors), the seam on the bottom of the foot drives me nuts when I put them on, let alone actually stand up…

Alas!

This post will have to be brief as I need to head to bed. Sock Madness is taking it all out of me and I find myself picking up stitches, knitting madly away and grafting even in my sleep. (Okay, that part’s not quite true. But it does feel a bit like that. The good news is that I have a heel and most of a cuff on sock one, but I still need to bind that off (using a new-to-me technique) and give it a toe. Sock #2’s body is done, but it’s lacking toe, heel, and cuff still. It will be down to the wire as we discover whether I can get this all done and posted properly (with photo) by the time the buzzer goes off at midnight Tuesday. The plane flight out to Utah Tuesday evening will give me plenty of time to knit, but any delays could sink my chances of getting the online component done. Here’s hoping (and knitting)…

Sarah and I had fun at the Homespun Yarn Party this afternoon and each came away with a few skeins of woolly goodness. I also came home with a used cookbook and a game that I played with Grey Kitten when I visited him last month. Rudi and I capped off the last of the nice weather by hanging out at Starbucks on their patio until we could barely see the text and stitches in front of our eyes.

The rain may move in tomorrow, but I definitely feel like I did my part in spending time outside this first spring weekend of 2010. I’m looking forward to many more!

Today, a gorgeous day pretty much up and down the East Coast, was spent at a picnic table with knitting, a book, and hummus. Totally a great way to mark the arrival of spring, even if I did fail to work in the garden the way I’d originally planned to.

Sarah and I will celebrate the first full day of the season Sunday by trekking northeast of the District to an indie yarn festival. I’m hopeful the car radio will work, but either way I’m optimistic we’ll have fun.

It’s March and you know what that means: It’s time for Sock Madness!

Pardon?

No, nothing to do with basketball. Socks.

What do you mean that’s weird? It’s totally not.

Sock Madness is the time of the year when sock knitters put their accumulated skills to the test. It’s a competition that combines speed, agility, humor (at oneself, at any rate), and accuracy. You have to digest the plays your coach gives you (in the form of patterns by their designers) and execute them without deviation. There are refs to rule on tricky questions and sticky situations.

Our competition began last Wednesday, and the first round will likely conclude next Tuesday night as up to 160 competitors head to the second round. If I want to be one of them, I’d better get knitting, as this is all I’ve finished thus far: