The Knitting Experience Café

The assassins all have their targets and the guidelines for the game.  Now, they just have to wait until Friday night when the pattern gets posted.  For anyone interested in knitting along, I'll be putting the pattern here on the blog at 11:59pm on Friday, Feb. 1st.

Each player also received a list of the game rules and of the prize categories.  Thanks to Lisa at One City Market, Scott, Amy, and a few goodies we'll be throwing in, there are a lot of very nice prizes to be won.

Scott and Amy will be helping me judge and here are the categories to-date:

She used Cascade 220 for the sweater and Twilley's Freedom Spirit for this scarf:

Tuesday also brought the UPS truck and our newest sock yarn: Trekking!! In both Trekking XXL and Pro Natura ( a wool/bamboo blend).

I had forgotten to tell you about the 3 new Noro Kureyon Sock colors that arrived last week:

As well as Kid Seta from Madil Yarns:

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this yarn.  It is a kid mohair and silk blend, with about 230yds per skein.  It looks and feels like a little piece of heaven.

Of course, I HAD to try it out and Becka found the perfect pattern for me - A Scarf for Ally.  The design is a simple lace repeat, knit on US 10.5 needles, and the whole project took 1 skein!

 

The yarn is so light, it only took a couple hours to dry after blocking.

The first of my fingerless mitts is done.  I've been wanting a pair of these since the Fetching craze, but somehow never got around to it. Then Dashing came out and I knew those were perfect for me.  I am using Noro Cash Iroha.

And whenever I can sneak a free moment (or stay up well past any reasonable bedtime) I spin.

Look at the pretty, pretty yarn! A little out of focus -sorry.

It is all going into this afghan-

I hinted that a few details on the coming battle may be released early and I don't want to disappoint our enlisted combatants.  

Amy decided to make the sock pattern as flexible as possible to allow each knitter to truly express themselves, and has written it for 3 different yarn weights: worsted, sport/dk, and fingering.  

That's right. You have a decision to make.  

Do you go with worsted for the sake of speed? 

Or do you pick an interesting fingering weight, knit faster, and try for one of the random prizes (prize categories to be leaked later)?  

What is your battle strategy?

Whatever you chose, you need to know how much yarn.  

Yarn requirements: Worsted - 240yds Sport/DK - 320 yds Fingering weight - 400 yds

I am very curious to see what people decide. 

Now for a little Knit at Night replay. We had a full house and I think I may have enlisted a few more players (Sara? Beth? Kim? Liz?).

Alva was looking fabulous in her newly finished Blizzard Stole.

And Kim finished her first pair of socks!! Yay, Kim!  When I met her, she was struggling with hats, now she whips up anything you put in her hands.  She is a natural. 

I leave you with a few shots from around the room:

As of this blog entry, 30 assassins from all over the country have registered for our Battle of the Soxes. 

Can you hear the sharpening of the needles? I do believe we have the makings of a great game. 

The strategy sessions have already begun.  Some are planning naps for friday afternoon on Feb 1st so they can knit through the night. Others are stocking up on FedEx boxes so they can ship the killer socks the moment they come off the needles.

You still have time to join in on the fun.  Registration is open until midnight on Sat. Jan 26th. If you want to have a fabulous time and work out a little aggression with some murderous knitting, email me at battle@theknittingexperience.com.  Include your name, email, snail mail address, and shoe/sock size. 

More updates to come.

In the meantime, I need to catch you up on the latest arrivals from UPS.

LOTS of books.  Including one I have been not so patiently waiting for-

You've been asking for awhile so I am thrilled to tell you that we now have the magnet boards to help you keep track of your place in lace and cable charts.

Oh, and I have been knitting.  Lots of knitting but no time to share right now.  Back to war planning. 

Announcing The Battle of the Soxes!

A couple weeks ago, Diana sent me this link describing Sock Wars, an assassin game played with knitting.  I innocently remarked that it would be so much fun to play our own version here.  Before I knew it, not only were the Knit at Nighters ready for battle, but a lovely shop in Missouri, One City Market, had asked to join as well.  Our game was born!

I'll explain registration and guidelines in a moment, but first a bit of an explanation of what the game is all about and how it is played.

Remember playing assassin in school? We played with water guns.  All players signed up with the person running the game. At the start of the game, each player is given the name of their first target. While they are trying to "kill" their target, another player is on their heels, trying to "kill" them. When you do finally get your target, they are out of the game and must hand over the name of the player they were trying to hunt down.  You now must attempt to assassinate this new target, all while hoping the assassin on your case is not very good at their job.  The last player alive wins. 

Now, we take out the water guns and replace them with knitting needles and a sock pattern. Same concept, but now, you are killing with hand knit socks.  

Again, you sign up with the person running the game (that would be me, and no, I can't play).  Along with your name, you submit your sock size. When the battle begins, each player will be knitting a pair of socks for their assigned target.  As soon as you deliver your socks, your target is dead (but they will have warm feet).  Your target now sends you the name of their target, along with the deadly socks they had been knitting (without the needles - slip them on a scrap bit of yarn).  As soon as you receive the new target information and socks in progress you knit as fast as you can in order to kill your second target. 

On the game goes until one knitter remains - our champion.  One City Market and The Knitting Experience Café are donating prizes for the winner, as well as special contests throughout the game, such as most creative kill. Details to come on that. 

Now for registration and the guidelines.

Any knitter brave enough to take on the challenge is welcome and encouraged to join!

To register, you must email me at battle@theknittingexperience.com.

Include your name, email address, snail mail address, and shoe/sock size. 

You have two weeks to register.  After that, Peter and I will make randomly generated target assignments.  Your target and their information will be emailed to you prior to the start date.  We will also let you know recommended yarn and needle size.  The actual pattern will not be released until 11:59pm on Feb 1st - the beginning of the battle. 

If/when you die, you must inform me via email at battle@theknittingexperience.com of the exact time of your death (when you received your socks). Any fun details of how it happened will be greatly appreciated.  You must also let me know that you have passed along your socks in progress and target information to your assassin so that the game can continue. 

General guidelines:

The game only works if everyone knits.  

Everyone must knit the pattern announced for the game to the specifications outlined on the pattern.  While you cannot simplify the pattern to save time, you can embellish to express your inner assassin style. 

You are on your knitter's honor to accept your death with grace and to get your socks in progress to the new assassin as soon as possible.

You must inform me of your death as soon as possible.

Any questions, suggestions, assassination updates must be sent to battle@theknittingexperience.com.  (This rule is to help preserve my sanity.)

Creativity in knitting and killing is encouraged.

So tell your knitting friends, sign up, and get ready to kill!

The weather was beautiful today - warm, sunny- and I spent the whole afternoon inside spinning.  A tiny voice in my head kept saying I should be outside enjoying the heat wave. As a nod to the voice, I threw the children and dog outside, and settled in for a few hours of spinning. Once I finally got up from the wheel, I realized that my back ached. This happens more often than not since my surgery, and especially when I am in one position for too long.  I resolved to give it a rest for the night, but I'm already plotting to fill another bobbin after I finish this post.  I'm pretty confident that I have my priorities straight. 

Today was the first day that I plied yarn.  What a rush! 

The start was slow when I realized that the lazy kate I borrowed didn't fit my bobbins.  But, I was VERY determined today.  So I fashioned my own lazy kate:

The fiber was a Christmas present from Peter and the boys.  Connor picked the colorway and cheered me on throughout the day.  

Saturday was equally as busy, but with knitting at the shop.  I've been working on the second of my Noro socks and Patti came in with her first Noro sock finished.

She was actually there to knit on her Celtic Tote for the Knit Along organized by Mary Ellen and Mindy.

I believe that Mary Ellen has made the most progress and is almost done with one side.  She is helping everyone navigate the pattern.

Betsy and Pam kept us company.

Kim, who just started coming to Knit at Night (Hi Kim!), brought Liz to knit with us.  Liz had an incredible fair isle hat to show.

And Sandy made up for missing KAN by hanging out for the afternoon. She just taught herself to knit socks on 2 circular needles.  Yay Sandy!

Oh, a little shop news I forgot to mention.  The new class schedule is now posted and we are taking registrations. 

Although I promised to get the Spunky Eclectic color of the month yarn for January up on the online store, we have already sold out!  Anyone who asked for a skein to be reserved, not to worry, we have it for you.  And for those who love the color (Thin Ice) as much as I do, Amy is working on more.  Let me know if you'd like to reserve a skein.