Socks on Holiday Winners!

Congratulations to our tied winners, KMS and Rosie!

We had some fabulous entries and were delighted to see such creativity for the Socks on Holiday contest.

Both our winners will win a skein of merino sock yarn from The Knittery, kindly donated by Daphne.

Winners, please email us with your postal address.

Stay tuned for the next contest that RoseRed and I have planned.

It's also worth noting that there's only the remainder of March left fo SSoS! How it's flown by! Get ready to tally up at the end of the month and see who has made the most socks.

Also, the Can Assist project continues. Leave a comment to let us know if you think you will have some socks ready in the next month or so.

Bells & Rose Red.

Taking care of business

Can Assist
First up, thanks to everyone who put their hands up for joining in on the Can Assist sock donation project. If you listen to the podcast, Sticks and String, you'd have heard David mention the project, quite in isolation of what we're doing, so it seems there's some movement afoot on this and people are getting in on the act, wanting to help out Cancer patients.

We don't have answers to all the questions asked but plan to find out. So please continue to either choose socks from your collection or knit dedicated socks and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Socks on Holidays
We have only a smattering of entries to the Socks On Holidays contest. Entries close 15 February. If you have a picture of your sock/s reclining on beach, climbing a mountain, bushwalking or taking in a different city, click the link above for contest details and send them in by 15 February!

We are about to advertise another competition too, so stay tuned!

Award
Passionate sock knitting convert, Carol, nominated us for the You Make My Day award. Carol's blog is a wonderful place. Go say hello and check out her near encounter with skinny dipping! Thanks Carol! Love your work!

That'll be all for now. Happy sock knitting!

Bells & RoseRed

thank you so much

Here is my prize for the pre-Christmas sock competition. I'm a bit slow in showing the pictures as I had to wait till it was collected from my son's PO box in suburb where they used to live. However, they were over that way yesterday and brought this home.

This is what came from Helen at Knitting Inspirations. There is some absolutely gorgeous yarn and accessories over there, so take a look. Link is also in this blog's sidebar.

The yarn feels wonderful and I am going to save it till I find the very pattern to do justice to it. The colours are lovely as well, and can you see how the accessories all are colour coordinated with the yarn. It was difficult to get the colours right in the photo, so this is an approximation. The second picture is more accurate in colour. The top one is too mauve. These are soft, dusky pinks. My first thought was the pink of the Major Mitchell cockatoos which I have always loved. Then last night we had a superb sunset. There were quite a few clouds and they were all in these colours with a tinge of gold on the edges. So Australian and just beautiful.

There is a packet with some needle holders, a sweet little Lantern Moon keyring in similar colours to the yarn, little markers, also in pinks with tiny flowers and some 2.5 mm dpns in bamboo, again a favourite. I used to use longer dpns but since I started to use this length about a year ago, the longer ones feel like crowbars.

I'm thrilled with everything and Helen has printed off a copy of the group's logo to make a notelet.

Why so many socks? As many of us have said, knitting releases stress and tension and is meditative. The last few months of last year were particularly icky and unpleasant. So I knitted. Since moving here, knitting has slowed down. The whole atmosphere here is lovely and I feel the stress going slowly. Of course there have been some unpleasant bits, but generally it is a place for healing. Since Christmas, this has been reflected in my knitting. Two separate socks have been done and I'm part way through the second sock of one of those pairs. Quite a difference.

So thank you once again.

Socks on Holidays!

Sockers, it's time to announce our next competition! As foreshadowed, this one's about socks on holidays! We'd love to see pics of your socks relaxing on the beach, going to the pub, taking in afternoon tea at the Ritz, making a snow man, skiing down the slopes of Aspen...oh, sorry, that's my holiday I'm dreaming about (well, except for the skiing!)

This one will be decided by popular vote, so get those pictures in! We'll close off entries on Friday 15 February and vote the following week. Depending on number of entries, we might even have different categories (eg most scenic, funniest, most unusual etc)!

Some rules:

1. One photo only per person (although we might allow more depending on number of entries)

2. Send your photo to the SSoS email in sidebar with "Socks on Holiday Entry" in the title (so we don't miss anyone!)

3. Give us your name and blog name in the email as well - just to make it easier to track down the winner!

Feel free to make it as scenic, funny, iconic or whatever you wish!

And because my husband is a shameless butt photo poser, here are my latest socks at Terrigal.

Yes, they truly are cheeky monkeys!

Our Christmas Competition Winner!

Fellow sock knitters, we are happy to announce the winner of our 'Most Socks Knit for christmas' competition.

Our winner is the amazing Jan. She's done a fabulous job and submitted the following list:


Sirdar socks 24/12
celery zigzag 6/12
celery leaf/stem 1/12
men's bendigo 15/11
ashes socks 2/11
crosshatch socks 19/10
mosaic sock 8/10 (only one shown, but pair done.)
zokni socks 4/10

*raspberry ripple 3/12
*Finn's socks second pair 15/11
*Finn's first pair 31/10
*Morgans socks 21/10

* = child's pair

Jan, for her efforts, wins a box of goodies which was donated by our friends Ann and Helen at Knitting Inspirations. I'll leave it to Jan to display these when they arrive, but rest assured, it's a box full of wonders.

Stay tuned for another prize announcment some time this month and don't forget to submit photos of your socks on holidays all throughout January.

Bells & RoseRed

last pair before christmas

Here are my multi-talented Christmas socks. Well perhaps not Christmas socks as such, but socks finished before Christmas. As it is now midday on Christmas Eve, I can't see another pair of socks being finished by tomorrow.

Christmas sock as decoration? Well, why not? The sock can't be seen too well because of the brightness behind them. This is a small tree I bought at Woolworths post-Christmas sales a couple of years ago. Originally priced at $17.50, it had been reduced a few times. I paid 0.75 cents for it, and that included the decorations. I brought it with me when I left home a week ago.

Wesley, the bear, also came with me and his mother Susannah. He's a bit of a tourist, so the socks joined him in having a good look over Sydney from this third floor balcony, just outside my bedroom. I can see so much more than from either of the the two lower floors of the house. So here are my tourist socks, eyeing off leafy Killara and beyond.

I wish these Town and Country socks would go back to Sirdar and say there are people in the colonies who love the sock wool. I've others made from this brand and they are great to knit, wear and wash.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get lots of stash expansion wool and knitting goodies. I've enjoyed this KAL very much to December and have really enjoyed seeing people who haven't knit socks before, find that the satisfaction from them is great. I've also enjoyed all the photos. Thanks to you all.

pass the slipped stitch over

added incentive

Are you curious to know what this is?

Well, obviously it's sock yarn, but what sort?

And what are those others things?

It's all mystery, a lovely secret and one that won't be revealed for a little while yet. There'll be another competition some time in the next little while and the prize will be the contents of this box, as donated kindly by Ann and Helen from Knitting Inspirations.

Remember there are prizes for the best photo of a sock on holiday, the biggest sock, the most socks knit for Christmas - the list goes on.

Thanks Ann and Helen for your kind donation. Do check out their online store. They have some great sale items at the moment. Lorna's Laces anyone?

Christmas (shhhh!) Competition

I know there are some people out there who don't yet want to mention the C word* (that's mainly me, actually!), while there are others who have boasted of almost finishing their C word preparations. I don't know about you, but I feel I've made a big step by casting on a pair of socks for my MIL for C word (lacy mock cables in Colinette Jitterbug - mmm, nice yarn!)One of the competitions we planned is for the most C word socks - ie most pairs of socks knitted in the SSoS period and gifted this year - this might be a good incentive to those of you slogging your way through a list of gift socks, or those of you who haven't quite started yet!

As this is a numbers competition, there are a couple of guidelines for entries:

-must be a pair of socks to count (or 2 single socks = 1 pair)
-small pairs of socks (babies, kids) count as half a pair

-socks must have been completed substantially during the SSoS period (ie from 1 Oct) and no later than 25 December

-socks must be Christmas gifts, not just socks knit by Christmas time

This is an honesty thing, so we are relying on you to bear this in mind when submitting your C word sock gifts (and photos! We love photos!).

We'll post a reminder closer to C word about how to enter! Get to it! And of course, there will be a fabulous prize on offer which Bells will post about shortly!

*C word = Christmas or whatever celebration you have at this time of the year.

Sock Newbies - we have a winner!

As promised, we've done the draw for the winner of the SSoS Sock Newbie giveaway
And the winner is:
Rosie! Congratulations Rosie!

And because we love our sock knitting, and want to encourage all the newbies to keep it up, all the other newbie's will receive an encouragement prize as well!

Can all the newbies, Mandie, Diane, Lisa, George, Melinda, Blackie, Michelle, Kuka, Carol, Suzi, and of course, Rosie, send us an email with your postal address so we can get those prizes out to you - we won't reveal the prizes yet so you'll all have a surprise!

October wrap-up and Competition Announcement!

So October has passed and we've seen some great socks on the blog so far, as well as some sad frogging stories and lots of great lists of challenges. And we've had almost 100 people sign up - weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

One of the reasons we set up SSoS was to share the sock love with our knitting (and crocheting) friends who have yet to knit the humble sock or who have tried but don't yet have a lot of confidence with their sock knitting. So we've decided to have a little special giveaway as an extra incentive for sock newbies.

If you are a sock newbie, leave a comment with your name and blog or send us an email (with sock newbie in the subject line) - we don't want to set a hard and fast rule about what a sock newbie is, we think you know if you are a newbie or not - for me it only took one pair to hook me and after that I wouldn't have called myself a newbie, but for others it might take a few socks before you feel that level of comfort.

Entries close Thursday 8 November and the winner will be drawn randomly from all sock newbie entries on Friday 9 November!

Things of Beauty (aka Prizes!)

Look what you might win if you're a good little sock knitter!


These amazing skeins of sock yarn were generously donated by Daphne at The Knittery. If you haven't used her stuff before, you're in for a real treat.

These aren't just for the person who knits the most. Each one will be given sporadically for different reasons.

So if you're lusting, stay tuned. One of these pretties could be yours!

Prizes

We're happy to be able to announce what the winner of a banner/button contest (Claudine) has won.

Very kindly, Katie from the Live2Knit store has donated two skeins of either Elizabeth or Joan Merino yarn, dyed in the colourway of Claudine's choice!

If you haven't seen Katie's stuff, you ought to check it out at once! I've long been an admirer.

Claudine, Katie has your address and will be in touch shortly.

For our runners up, there will be a little something coming your way as well. Keep an eye out in the post!

Thanks again to Katie and to our entrants. You're all great!

Bells & RoseRed

Announcement!

Our banner/button contest winner is:

CLAUDINE!

Claudine's blog can be found at Knitting Box.

Our other two entrants were

Amy from Live-Learn-Knit and her entries were Banner Three and Button Two.

Gemma from Generally Gemma was our third entrant. Gemma's entries were, obviously button one and banner one.

A prize is going to be generously provided by Katie from Live2Knit. Claudine, I'll be in touch in the next day or so to confirm arrangements for your prize.

There will also be a little something for our other two entrants. Thank you once again to all three entrants and to everyone who vited. You helped make our blog a little more special.

The buttons that didn't win will be provided soon for you to grab and use on your own blogs.

So, in Australia and New Zealand at least, it's very nearly Monday. Only a couple of hours to go. Personally, I'm getting up early on a public holiday to cast on my first SSS project - Pomotamus socks!

Happy casting on everyone!

Stay Tuned

As you can see, we have a winner for the banner and button comp. Very exciting. We're just putting together details on prizes etc and then all will be revealed and a formal announcement made.

Thanks to all entrants. We loved getting such wonderful work from all three of you.

So stay tuned and have fun planning what to cast on tomorrow, if you're starting something new.

The banner/button contest entries!

Well, here we are. These are the official entries for the banner and button competition. Aren't they wonderful? RoseRed and I are thrilled with the fact that people wanted to put the time and effort into making these. Thank you so much!

So have a look and cast your vote in the sidebar. Voting closes on 30 September at 12:00am.



BANNER ONE

BANNER TWO


BANNER THREE




BUTTON ONE

BUTTON TWO


BUTTON THREE

An issue of numbers

For those not on Ravelry, there's been a discussion about the contest for the number of socks.

I thought I'd bring it up here.

RoseRed and I were discussing this and wondering if weighting the socks might be worthwhile? Let's say someone makes 20 pairs of baby socks and someone else makes ten pairs of men's socks, for example. The 20 pairs of baby socks are really much quicker to make than the 10 pairs of socks for men with big feet. Would it be fair for the baby sock maker to win?

What if we weighted baby socks with a kind of handicap, say making each pair worth .5?

Does that make it more fair? We'd be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Banner/button competition

A quick reminder - the design a banner/button competition ends today (well, today US time, which is clearly tomorrow here in Australia) - we've got a couple of great entries already. Send entries to the SSS email (in the sidebar) and we'll be voting on the winner over the next few days!

Competition update

Thanks to those who've entered some great banner and button creations already. It's really exciting to see what people can come up with.

We'll be holding a vote on the entries once the competition has closed on Wednesday 26th September.

We'll take into account the northern hemisphere time zones. Entries will close once it's no longer 26 September anywhere in the world! Remember, down here, we're ahead of most of you so just make sure your entry is in by the end of the 26th in your time zone.

Keep them coming!

Let's jazz things up a bit!

As you can see, we've gone with a pretty stock standard blogger template to get this show on the road. But really, we need at least one button and a banner for the blog, don't you think?


Since neither Bells or I have any idea how to make a button or banner, we thought we'd start the fun early by having a little competition - because we know you'll all have nothing to do while you are waiting for 1 October to roll around.


The deal:

Submit your design(s) for a banner and button to southern.summer.of.socks@gmail.com

Ideally the banner will have "Southern Summer of Socks 07/08" on it, and the button should match or tie in to the banner theme, just to make it easier to identify!


You can enter more than once!


Entries should be submitted by Wednesday 26 September. Depending on the number of entries, we will probably have some type of vote between 26 and 30 September, so we can have the banner and button ready for our 1 October start date.



There will be a prize awarded to the winner (above and beyond the glory of winning!). No doubt the prize will involve yarn and/or chocolate!