The Challenge - Foot This

I started my twitter account maybe a year ago and have been taking full advantage of it for the last few months. I love that twitter allows you to talk with people who have shared interests - in my case knitting, spinning, anything yarn related - from all over the world. Because of twitter I found out about the challenge.

This week is Sock Summit. For those of you not in the knitting world Sock Summit is a huge convention held every year in the US with tons of classes taught by the rock stars of the knitting world. In addition there's a marketplace filled with gorgeous hand dyed yarns by indie dyers. Unfortunately I didn't make it to Sock Summit this year, but knitters, Kimberly Reynolds (@somebunnyslove) and Jenn Wendell(@happyskrappy) saved my day. They came up with the Couldn't Foot It Contest. The challenge: to make a pair of socks in 4 days, the same amount of time as the Summit. Lots of yarn dyers generously donated some of their beautiful hand-dyed yarn as prizes. Worldknit & Handspun threw in a Sheepy Project Bag and a pack of Good Intentions Knit Cards to sweeten the pot.

The contest started today at 9am. Before leaving for town I got prepared- yarn caked, pattern and needles ready. I'll be posting photos of my progress over the next few days so check back. I hope I Can Foot This!

So here is my progress from yesterday:

After getting home from knit night I decided that I wasn't happy with both the size of the sock and the pattern definition. Happy Feet is a pretty lofty yarn, which I think makes it knit up at a larger gauge than other sock yarns. I also think that the extreme variagation of the yarn hides the cool Spring Forward sock design. I decided that I would like these better as legwarmers. These will be put on hold to be completed in the near future.

For the contest, a little after 11pm I cast on for a new pair of the Spring Forward socks this time using Inca Sportlace, a wool, polymade blend in a beautiful hand dyed rust color. After knitting the ribbing I put them down and went to bed. Today I hope to have finished at least to the heal.

Second and third day was filled with too much socializing and too little knitting. After the third day I had turned the heel. The sock was knitting up huge, so I decided that they would be for A2 because he has bigger feet. That meant though that I'd have to knit the sole longer.

Today (Sunday July 31) was a knitting filled day. I started at 9am and had both socks off the needles at 4:29 eastern. I can't believe I knit 9" of sole in one day. My fingers feel like they are about to fall off. The contest officially ends at 4:30 pacific time. I can't wait to see what prize I've won. I'll post a picture as soon as it arrives.