Five for Five Giveaway

So, I felt bad that no one commented on my sister's Five for Five Giveaway post, so I commented. Of course that means that now I am committed to posting my own Five for Five Giveaway. I don't suppose that I am going to get five comments, but, after Sock wars, I am game for anything.

Here’s how it works:The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something from me.But in return, you have to do the same thing on your blog and make something for five other people. The details are as follows, and if you want to play, copy the following onto your blog and leave me a post:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2010).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address – after I contact you.

There you go; let's see what happens.

Requiem for a Sock Knitter

So it happened – I am well and truly dead. As noted on the Sock Wars website, I’m “All Dead. Not Mostly Dead. All Dead. Dead as a doornail.”

DH went to the mailbox yesterday because I didn’t want to open the box to see the weapon of my destruction. He came back in with a handful of letters and no package – good news, right? I was so relieved and DH offered a hug. As I put my arms around him, I could feel a bulge under the back of his fleece. The day of doom had arrived.

The socks are blue, just the color I had requested. They are perfect with jeans. I wore them to my Wednesday evening knitting group and got lots of compliments.





I was pleasantly surprised to see that some swag accompanied the weapon. There was candy, stitch markers, tea bags and a card. The treats helped to soften the blow.




I was startled when I opened the card. Stars popped out at me and my assassin had written, “Bang! You’re dead.”



So, I’m not going to be the last knitter standing and I’m not going to have the most kills, but I did get one notch on my knitting needles. Will I do it again? Probably, I will. It was a lot of work and the quickest I’ve ever finished a pair of socks, but it’s exciting to wait for a weapon to arrive in mailbox.

I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of Sock Wars. ~Jean Giraudoux (apologies)

Waiting for the Socks to Fall

Well, I admit it; I haven’t been as good at blogging as I should have been, considering that I’m retired. I have some good excuses – really – but I won’t go into them now. Let’s save that for another day.

On January 15, 2010, I entered into a death-by-sock knitting competition known as Sock Wars. This is the fifth war, but the first that I have had the time to join. Before the start date, one is emailed a dossier about a “victim.” It includes sock size, color preferences, Ravelry name and mailing address. At precisely 8 PM on Friday, January 15, the patterns were posted online. The idea is to choose a pattern, knit the socks and send them to the victim before an assassin does the same to you.

I started immediately, doing two socks at a time, and continued to knit for the following three days. I have to admit that I didn’t even bother getting out of my PJs on Monday just to get the socks finished. In the meantime, while all this knitting is going on, people post taunts to their assassins and victims on the Ravelry website. It all gets rather intense. Someone actually stayed up for 19 hours straight and finished her socks on Saturday in time to get them in the mail!! Another person hand delivered hers on Sunday. I was beginning to panic, but, since it was a three day weekend, mailing the finished socks on Tuesday morning was the best I could do.


I forgot to mention that when a victim receives the death socks, his/her unfinished socks must be sent to the assassin to be completed. The winner is the last person standing. My victim in Rochester, NY received her socks on Thursday, but she had already mailed her weapon to her vicitim. That means I have to wait for those unfinished socks to be sent to me. I was thinking that I was in pretty good shape because my assassin was ill and complained that her medication made her too sleepy to knit. She also had to frog (rip out) her socks because she made an error that would have caused her to be disqualified (called a misfire). I kept reminding her that knitting might slow her recovery and she shouldn’t hurry on my account, but to no avail. I got the dreaded message that my socks are in the mail. Now the question is, which will come first, the unfinished socks or my death socks.

I don’t plan to go anywhere near the mailbox for the next few days, lest the death socks attack. DH will have to get the mail at his own peril!!