In Training

Sock Madness starts in a couple weeks and I've been gearing myself up for the strain of competitive sock knitting.

Some of my strategies:

1) Finished the cotton socks. They were sitting by the computer with just the toe on the second sock waiting to be knit. I finished it up last night while playing with my new toy. These have been a long term project. Not out of necessity, I just haven't felt the need to zip through them. They would get a row or two here and there, gradually progressing until the second sock was just close enough that I just sat down with it and finished it up. I'm pretty sure I cast on for these in late July/early August. Definitely a back-burner project.

2) Increased my speed. I knit an entire stockinette sock this past weekend. Cast on Friday night, kitchnered the toe at about 2am on Monday. The second sock is progressing a little slower in the evenings during the week but I'll probably have another finished pair this weekend. In project spectrum colors even.

3) The new toy. I succumed to the allure of time-delayed TV and added a Tivo to my plethora of gadgetry in the house. I'm also letting myself get a little obsessed with it, so it's going to have lots available for me to watch and knit during the marathon.

4) Vacation time. The marathon's official start date is a Saturday... a Saturday that I will be spending in California in an amusement park. I'm hoping to "catch up" though. I'll be able to steal a little time here and there on Saturday and Sunday to get started, print things out on Sunday and continue progressing Monday. I'll have the whole flight back on Monday night, and I'm considering taking Tuesday off as well which will give me another free day to hopefully catch up and keep running with it.

5) New skills. I think I've dabbled in most of the requisite skills here and there, not all at sock scale, but I've done some color work, a little lace, a few cables. The only thing I haven't done yet with socks is toe-up construction. So, once the second sock for the speed pair above is done, I'm going to work on my first toe-up pair that will be another long-term sock sock project. I'm considering either Baudelaire's or Falling in Love as they will both give me good training on toe-up construction, plus a refresher on lace and cables.

6) Supplies. Most of the required supplies I have in my stash. I did place an order with the Loopy Ewe to fill in the blanks. So I should be all set on needles now and filled in some of the solids to go with varigates I already own.

7) Progress on the backburner projects. Pomotomous has become my stand in for the cotton socks now that those are done. I love the pattern, but the sock just gets a few rows here and there in between other things. It progresses slowly, but they'll get done eventually. I should also finally revisit the legwarmers, make a decision and either frog or continue.

I probably should plan a mad dash at housecleaning prior to the start date as well, we'll see if that happens or not over the next two weeks.