Sock It to Me 2008

In my last entry, I hinted at Amazing Thread's First Annual Sock It to Me Contest, but didn't give much more info than that. So I thought I'd spend some time explaining it and its history. First off, in the spirit of generosity and holiday cheer, this contest was conceived by Sock Savant Sara. During our SSK (Sit Sip Knit) group's holiday party, Sara told the following tale, which I will try to recall to the best of my ability (but too bad for you if weren't there to hear it in person). Her story goes like this:

One night, very late, as I was tucking myself into bed with a bit of knitting, our fearless leader, Thora Lee, knocked persistently on my door until I answered it in my jammies and handknit socks. Before I could say a word, she breathlessly and urgently commanded me to put on my snowsuit and get into to her car. From my house, we drove as fast as we could to Hubert Humphrey Airport. She was practically dragging me through the snow, she was in such a hurry. Good thing too, since Santa's Super Sonic Sleigh was about to take off for the North Pole. Catching the Sleigh just in time, we were whisked to Santa's Workshop in the blink of an eye. There, we saw a most spectacular sight.

You see what happened earlier was that Elfred and the other elves decided that they didn't want to paint tires on toy trucks anymore. So, when they heard about Amazing Threads and the fun we have knitting socks, they decided to revolt and knit elf socks too. They accumulated loads and loads of elf yarn and were ready to knit loads and loads of socks, but Santa found out. Santa dispatched the Santa Squad to quash the rebellion; they cast out all the elf yarn into the snow outside the workshop and forced the elves to resume painting tires.

We had arrived just as the last of the elf yarn was being tossed. As quickly as we could, we gathered up every last teensy (because elves have teensy feet) ball of sock yarn and brought it here with us today.

With a flourish, Sara opened a gigantic black plastic bag at her feet. Inside was a veritable treasure trove of little paper bags with a surprise mix of elf yarn. As we eagerly claimed our bag of elf yarn, Sara challenged each of us to use the yarn in the bag to make a project... socks, hats, mittens, anything. In March, we would have a contest to determine who won viewer's choice. The winner would be gifted a beautiful hank of sock yarn from Sara.

In order to understand the gravitas of this contest and just how large the pile of yarn in question really was, you have to know the following fact: in the last 5 years, Sara has knit over 300 pairs of socks. The elf yarn is the leftover yarn from these 300+ pairs of socks. As you can imagine, there was lots and lots of elf yarn. To those competing in Sock Wars 2008, you better hope she doesn't enter the contest or you're toast.

The contest is fast approaching and I have been knitting furiously. My pile of elf yarn seems to be growing even though I'm making good progress on my projects. Here's what's left in my elf yarn pile. I've got big plans for these little bundles, but you'll have to wait until after the contest to see the end result. Stay tuned.