Sock Madness 18 Qualifying Round

I’ve decided to try a new adventure and I signed up for Sock Madness this year. It is a Ravelry challenge that involves knitting socks. You have to pass the qualifying round to get assigned to a team and then compete. I think each round gets more difficult and the deadline gets shorter.

Qualifying Round: You are sent an email with a specific pattern. You have to knit it exactly as written with specific minimum requirements. After you finish, you have to take specific photos and upload it to your project page. Then you email the judges with a link to your project page. If it is before the deadline, they let you know if you see any mistakes or if you are approved to move to the next round.

So, I knit the Hydra Scales socks which was completely out of my comfort zone. These socks are knit cuff down and I usually knit toe up. These socks called for 64 stitches and I usually knit mine on 52. These socks had a heel construction that I’d never done before. I have to Kitchener stitch the toes which I hate doing. Plus it included stripes and cables.

My first submission: I had cables on one sock going in the wrong direction but was told it was easily fixable by using a duplicate stitch. I wasn’t sure if I should fix it but I did.

My second submission: I did some overthinking and thought all the cables were going the wrong way so I duplicate-stitched all of the cables. They let me know that now I had multiple cables going in the wrong direction and they saw that one sock had a leg that was too long (too many repeats) and the foot was too short (not enough repeats) and that I would need to reknit that sock. I almost gave up but I was many days ahead of the deadline and what would I do with these wonky socks so I fixed it. 

My third submission: I reknit the second sock. They approved it and I moved on to Round 1.

I am proud of myself for finishing the qualifying round. Now I’m working on Round 1. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Things I’m Learning:

• New knitting techniques.
• I’m faster than I thought I was.
• I’m better at Kitchener Stitch than I used to be.
• Knitting one sock at a time isn’t that bad.