Sock Knitters Pentathlon #1

So I must be insane when AuntLizzy (Ravelry ID) messaged me and invited me to join the Sock Knitters Pentathlon (The Ravelry one is here) to celebrate the Olympics. At first I wasn't sure, but then I decided to join since I have two months to make a pair of socks.

But then, things changed. One of the knitters asked if the moderator would consider changing the pattern release time each time so it will be more fair to each continent. You see, the first pattern was released at midnight March 1st, so PST is still at 9pm and Europe just woke up, and Asia is in the middle of the day. If the moderator always release it at midnight EST, eastern US America will always have that disadvantage of not able to cast on right at the time of the pattern release.

I thought it was a legitimate question, but apparently not to some others. Some of the comments from these people are "Are you really that competitive? This is a celebration of the Olympics, not some crazy competition!" or "I'm just happy to participate and learn. There is no need to be so competitive!". And when one of the ladies from Sweden finished the pair of sock in 9 hours, the message became "Why would you stay up all night knitting it? Knitting should be fun and relaxing!"

So this is what I have to say - WTF???? Here is the definition of the Olympics:

Olympics Games: : the modern revival of the ancient games held once every 4 years in a selected country.

Need I say more? Olympics itself have many contests within it! Olympics IS competition and the whole point of a pentathlon was to compete on knitting socks! So I decided that I WILL stay up all night and finish those damn socks, just to prove my point!

Pattern - Jacobean by Julie Persinger
Yarn Used - Almost 2 balls of Regia Stretch Color in semisolid blue
Needles - Option size 0
Gauge - 8 sts per inch
Knit - March 01, 08 to March 02, 2008

Yes, you read that right. I stayed up Saturday from midnight all the way through, went to bed on Saturday at 11pm and got up at 9am and finished Sunday night.

I knitted these toe up with my usual magic cast on. I did modify the pattern to fit my itty bitty feet. Instead of cast on 26 stitches, I only did 22, and increased until I have total of 58 stitches. But I forgot how stretchy the yarn was and if I were to do it again, I would decrease even more to 54 stitches only. The pattern itself was pretty easy to modify - I just decease the side panel charts to 4 knit stitches instead of 5 specified. Since I didn't have to do a lot of increase or decrease, I left the center panel alone, but I can see how easily the diamond pattern can be modified as well. I originally did the decrease bind off but it wasn't as flexible as I needed since I'm more of a tight knitter, so I redid the bind off using EZ's sewn bind off, the first one came out perfect, but the second one was still kind of tight. Oh well.

This pattern would certainly be rated as beginner pattern in my book - all you need to know is knit and purl. So for all your sock virgins out there - try this pattern!

Until the next socks pattern release (May 1st). I'm out.

psst... I'm ranked #28 so far... But due to some people who can't follow instructions, there are some "In Progress" photos in the "Finished" folder. So I should really be 27, but I have a feeling that I will be stuck in 28. No, I'm not competitive at all. :P