Dicey

I'm officially IN the Sock Madness competition this year. Our first pattern of the year was for Dicey, by Colleen Miller. (Note the pattern won't be available for the general public until the competition is over.) In general the sock was a toe up pattern with a heel flap and cables. That accurately describes what happened, but completely misses out on the fun. The trick to Dicey is that you roll dice to determine where your cables go. It's completely stupid how this made the sock so much more fun to knit than just following a prescribed list of where to cable.

My socks are warm and cushy, made from Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in the Thunderhead color. I knit them on US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm) needles and got a gauge of 8.75 sts and 12 rows per inch.

We have to knit to a certain width and length to keep things fair in the competition, so these are a little big on me. The cables draw things in enough that they aren't uncomfortably large, just not quite a snug fit. I am a little hopeful that after a trip through the washing machine they might be a little closer to my size. Regardless I will be keeping them and wearing them as much as possible. They are super cozy house socks if nothing else, and are serving me well this weekend during a cold snap.

I had two weeks to complete a pair, and was done in 7 and a half days. I didn't really buckle down and focus on finishing as fast as possible. In future rounds I will have to beat a certain number of people to progress, but this time I just had to beat the calendar. I took my time to keep from injuring myself. I know my wrist will hurt before I am done, but there is no reason to start off that way.

We had around 300 people sign up to compete this year and at the halfway mark there are only 66 who have completed their pair of socks. I'm curious how many more will come in over the next week. This weekend has seen a lot of completed 1st socks, and the 2nd does tend to go faster. I would guess that there should be near 200 people who finish, but only time will tell.

Meanwhile it is time to sit back and relax. I'm going to watch some Game of Thrones, and have a glass of wine.