Plotting Round 3

Hello:

This weekend was one of the most beautiful Spring weekends I can ever remember.  The air had just that bit of crispness, and the sky was blue blue blue.  One of our bald eagle friends took advantage of the weather to soar over Lake Sammamish.  I had a house full of guests, and we really enjoyed the sunshine.

But, about mid day, I got a text from my Sock Madness Coach, Skeinherder, "the Round 2 specs are up!"  I had to log on to Ravelry and check out the thread in the Sock Madness Group.  There are 33 from each group moving on to the next level.  Not all 33 people have turned in their socks, but the Moderators have decided to move on to the next round anyway.  If people get their socks and emails in before the next pattern is emailed out, they can move on.  I have enjoyed the rest, and gotten my taxes finished (whew!) so I am ready for the next round.

The specs are:

Knitting Goddess merino/nylon 2 x 50g, Knitting Goddess mini-skein set in Rainbow 7x10g (C1-C7)
needles: US1/2.25mm circular needles or dpns, US2/2.75mm circular needles
gauge: 9 sts per inch in stockinette with smaller needles, 9.5 sts per inch in linen stitch with larger needles
tester used: malabrigo sock 440 yd/3.5 oz in natural 063, seven colors assorted scrap yarn in fingering weight
notions: eight 3/10-in (8mm) flat buttons, 2 matches

Ok, some of this is weird.  First we need 100 g of some main color and 7 more mini skeins (10 g each) of all different colors.  Then we need 8 flat buttons. And then  2 MATCHES??

I'm hoping the buttons are for eyes, or some other type of decoration because if these are really button socks, those are usually knit flat for the button part.  These are obviously color work.  The two different size needles usually means color work since most people's gauge decreases for the color work, so they go up a needle size.  And, color work knit flat seems to be a horrible idea, especially if we are just knitting flat so we can put in buttons which are totally unnecessary in socks.  So, I'm guessing the buttons are eyes.  Or something...

But what are the MATCHES for?  No idea at all.

However, I dug out my bin of sock yarns, and started guessing at which colors I would use.  I am trying to use all partial skeins.  I used to buy 2 skeins of every color to make knitting 2 at a time easier, so I have many balls/cakes that should be enough for a whole pair of socks.

I looked at all of my "neutral" colors.

I narrowed the possibilities down to Brown, Black or Beige.

Then I found a skein of Bare KnitPicks that I had bought for dying.

I'm trying not to skein up anything new though, so, I am hoping not to use this.  I dug a bit further, and found two balls of gorgeous melon colored yarn

that I used last year to make a pair of socks for my daughter, Moogie.

There is easily enough left in the 2 balls for this to be my background color, if I want.

Then I looked at all the other colors I have.

This isn't even everything, just the more solid balls.  I picked a "rainbow" and put them with the Mango Tango colored yarn.

Even the orange shows up pretty well against the Mango Tango.  I am also keeping out the black, just in case.

The darker blue doesn't show up as well against the black, so, if I use the black, I will probably switch out the blue for the mango.  Now I just need the pattern.  It should come within 48 hours.  My God Kids go home (or at least to the airport) tomorrow afternoon.

Patience...

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a rainbow of sock yarns.