I Suspect I Need an Intervention

Good grief! It's been over a week since I posted...sorry about that!

It's come to my attention, by several peope whose opinion I used to revere - that I may need an intervention. I signed up for 2 more Sock Competitions! One is called Sock Knitting Pentathalon and involves 5 different patterns, each revealed every 2 months, to commemorate the Summer Olympics in Beijing this year. I don't know how many folks signed up for it but there seems to be a ton of them, from all over the world. The 2nd competition, called Sock Madness 2, will begin in less than 2 weeks. There are 200 folks from all over the world who got into that one - me included. There will be 7-9 rounds and once the pattern is revealed, only those who complete the socks and post them by the end of the round will go on to the next one. I'm guessing there will be enough time for the socks to actually be completed by more than one or two folks each round.

For the Pentathalon, the patterns are free to the competitors. Each pattern is different with different yarn requirements. The first one is called Jacobean and incorporates magic loop cast on, toe-up, and short row heel, all of which I've never done. So this is definitely going to be a learning experience for me. I like this pattern, it's a bit intuitive so once I got to the pattern part itself, it seems to be going a bit faster. Once I get to the heel, I'm sure I'll slow down a bit. Fortunately, I have 2 months to get this pair done before the next pattern is revealed. Here is a picture of my progress so far.

Yes, there is a chart involved! (Thank you, Lisa at One City Market for teaching me about charts for the lace scarf class - no, I haven't finished it yet - I've got socks to knit!) Just one year ago, I would have quit before I started once I saw there was a chart. Now I know that I can use the chart as written, or translate it into words if I don't want to use it as a chart. I'm comfortable using this chart cause it's a simple repeat and the design is very intuitive ( I learned that word at One City Market, too). Thanks to Lisa, and Terri, and Peggy at OCM, I am becoming much more adventurous in my choice of knitting project.

While I think I am merely educating and stretching my own limits, my friends feel I need that intervention. I think I just need to quit my job and then I'll have more time to knit!

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment...I love hearing from you all!