How do they think of these things? Sock Wars!
Well, leave it to Janice to find the best ideas in the blog-o-sphere. I tell you, she has an eye for quality! Following her link, I've just signed myself up for Sock Wars 2006.
Here's the basic outline: it's a game of Assassin, where you are supposed to "kill" someone by sending them a finished pair of socks using the Sock Wars pattern. Meanwhile, you are the target of some other knitter. If you are killed before your kill is confirmed, you send your half-finished socks to someone else. And put on your new hand-knitted socks to salve your wounds. If you are not killed, you get a new target along with the half-finished socks of your opponent. As yarn monkey says:
The Rules
1. The first rule of Sock Wars is, you must talk about Sock Wars
2. The second rule of Sock Wars is, you MUST talk about Sock Wars.
(no really, for this to be a success we need as many combatants as possible)
3. Two socks to a fight
4. One fight at a time
5. No shirts, no shoes, just socks
6. Fights will go on as long as they have to
7. If this is your first time in Sock Wars, you have to fight.
We all know I'm not the most... faithful... of knitters. I tend to have too many projects going on at once and I tend to get distracted for weeks at a time by something else, like birding or life. But this is a really fun idea, and I figure I have just as much chance of being set up as the target of a flaky spinnity-style knitter as I do of drawing a dedicated speedster knitter who kills me on Day 3. But if I have any hope of surviving the carnage, I'd better do as joni says in the comments.. and get those pre-paid mailers lined up well in advance!
Now the real question is: can we get my MOM to sign up for this? I think she could totally survive as a sock assassin. What say, Mom??
Meanwhile, I have also finished and started a pair of socks this week.
Finished: A Step Above socks, in Lorna's Laces, color "Tuscany". Heels had to be adjusted for just the right fit, and now they are ready to rock.
Started: Socks being designed by Jeni the Knitist to suit the standard Nancy Roberts "Socks to Dye For" sock yarn blank. This is my chance to use the yarn I am calling "Big Ten Tribute", which is a set of colors I dyed, but not *totally* intentionally.
Here I have to pause for a fable which explains my next move, Once upon a time my friend H. bought a car, using hard-earned money. As a full-time musician, H. does not have tons of spare cash so she bought an economical car. But the car felt sort of... cheap. Sort of ... inadequate. She regretted buying the economy model and wished she had saved her pennies a little longer for a more solid-feeling car. But it was too late. She was stuck with it. My darling spouse-o and I came up with an idea: Give the car a cutesy name, a name which indicates air-headedness, or cheesiness. Our idea was: if H. could think of the car using this cutsey name, it would become perfectly understandable why the car couldn't do better. The name we decided on was "Bubbles". After all, you really can't expect much from "Bubbles," can you? Bubbles has trouble with simple tasks, like walking & chewing gum at the same time. Like accelerating to highway speeds. So every time Bubbles manages the drive home, you have to sort of celebrate the victory. Yes, maybe other cars on the road were better, but Bubbles did the best she could. Dumb as it sounds, this seemed to help.
Taking a hint from this fable, I figure the best way to fit this not-quite-what-I-wanted yarn into my life is to give it an attractive name and knit it up. So in I go. My green, blue, orange, yellow and maroon socks clearly represent the team colors of 5 teams from the Big Ten -- Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, and Minnesota.
So that's what it is -- Big Ten Tribute. By starting early, I plan to have Big Ten Tribute Socks ready in time for college basketball season. They will become luck charms, to be worn on game days. I'll have to keep track of their influence on the outcomes. Maybe I can knit some mistakes into the non-Illini stripes as a curse... hmmm...
Here's the basic outline: it's a game of Assassin, where you are supposed to "kill" someone by sending them a finished pair of socks using the Sock Wars pattern. Meanwhile, you are the target of some other knitter. If you are killed before your kill is confirmed, you send your half-finished socks to someone else. And put on your new hand-knitted socks to salve your wounds. If you are not killed, you get a new target along with the half-finished socks of your opponent. As yarn monkey says:
The Rules
1. The first rule of Sock Wars is, you must talk about Sock Wars
2. The second rule of Sock Wars is, you MUST talk about Sock Wars.
(no really, for this to be a success we need as many combatants as possible)
3. Two socks to a fight
4. One fight at a time
5. No shirts, no shoes, just socks
6. Fights will go on as long as they have to
7. If this is your first time in Sock Wars, you have to fight.
We all know I'm not the most... faithful... of knitters. I tend to have too many projects going on at once and I tend to get distracted for weeks at a time by something else, like birding or life. But this is a really fun idea, and I figure I have just as much chance of being set up as the target of a flaky spinnity-style knitter as I do of drawing a dedicated speedster knitter who kills me on Day 3. But if I have any hope of surviving the carnage, I'd better do as joni says in the comments.. and get those pre-paid mailers lined up well in advance!
Now the real question is: can we get my MOM to sign up for this? I think she could totally survive as a sock assassin. What say, Mom??
Meanwhile, I have also finished and started a pair of socks this week.
Finished: A Step Above socks, in Lorna's Laces, color "Tuscany". Heels had to be adjusted for just the right fit, and now they are ready to rock.
Started: Socks being designed by Jeni the Knitist to suit the standard Nancy Roberts "Socks to Dye For" sock yarn blank. This is my chance to use the yarn I am calling "Big Ten Tribute", which is a set of colors I dyed, but not *totally* intentionally.
Here I have to pause for a fable which explains my next move, Once upon a time my friend H. bought a car, using hard-earned money. As a full-time musician, H. does not have tons of spare cash so she bought an economical car. But the car felt sort of... cheap. Sort of ... inadequate. She regretted buying the economy model and wished she had saved her pennies a little longer for a more solid-feeling car. But it was too late. She was stuck with it. My darling spouse-o and I came up with an idea: Give the car a cutesy name, a name which indicates air-headedness, or cheesiness. Our idea was: if H. could think of the car using this cutsey name, it would become perfectly understandable why the car couldn't do better. The name we decided on was "Bubbles". After all, you really can't expect much from "Bubbles," can you? Bubbles has trouble with simple tasks, like walking & chewing gum at the same time. Like accelerating to highway speeds. So every time Bubbles manages the drive home, you have to sort of celebrate the victory. Yes, maybe other cars on the road were better, but Bubbles did the best she could. Dumb as it sounds, this seemed to help.
Taking a hint from this fable, I figure the best way to fit this not-quite-what-I-wanted yarn into my life is to give it an attractive name and knit it up. So in I go. My green, blue, orange, yellow and maroon socks clearly represent the team colors of 5 teams from the Big Ten -- Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, and Minnesota.
So that's what it is -- Big Ten Tribute. By starting early, I plan to have Big Ten Tribute Socks ready in time for college basketball season. They will become luck charms, to be worn on game days. I'll have to keep track of their influence on the outcomes. Maybe I can knit some mistakes into the non-Illini stripes as a curse... hmmm...
posted by spinnity at 8/07/2006 10:31:00 PM
4 Comments:
Wow, you've been up to a lot! Love the ASA socks, and I think the Big Ten socks are a great idea.
Also, I named my old car Ollie, he was an old man, but he did the best he could.
I think you are completely insane to do Sock Wars.
The entrelac socks are really cool! I might just have to knit a pair, even though I've never really been interested in entrelac sweaters...
Here I am posting a comment about Sock Wars days after you mentioned it on your blog. How would I possibly knit socks in 3 days? Especially the attitude I have toward my socks nowadays. I have 2 pair in progress and am not sure they will even fit the proposed recipients AND I'm not happy with my heels. I would be "dead" before I got to the heel if I tried Sock Wars. But hey! Have fun! Mom
Wow, no time at all to do sock wars, but it certainly sounds fun.
By the way, I finally got around to updating my blog! And there's a pic of you and Mom at Stitch n Pitch.
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