today is a great day!

Really, is there any better way to start the day than to wake up and see that a pattern you dreamed up, knit up, wrote up, and poured hours and hours of time, blood, sweat, tears, etc into has won a sock contest? I think that pretty much takes the cake. When Elinor announced her sock contest I thought, "great! an opportunity for me to make this chart I've been fantasizing about into something real!" (Yes, I fantasize about charts.) Like most things I do, if I hadn't had a deadline it never would've gotten done, and because of that I'm eternally grateful to Elinor for organizing this whole competition, all while picking up and moving her life, kids, and dogs a few hundred miles.

In order to celebrate (besides taking these pictures of the smaller size Brocade on a foot smaller than my own) I added about a bazillion new sock patterns to my ravelry queue. You can check out all the entries in the contest here and queue up your own faves! First up for me are the Burning Stripes - that heel is clever as all get out, and what a great way to work with the long stretches of color of the zauberballs. (I never get tired of that word.) I'm also looking forward to Circuitry, where I'll learn about mosaic colorwork, and Oh Jamie, My Jamie, where I'll get to knit stags and a fabulous strawberry toe. (Can you tell I'm really into colorwork lately?) And finally, I'm really drawn to the vintage aesthetic of the Solstice Stockings. Which contest patterns caught your eye? It's a fabulous collection, and whatever your knitting proclivities, I'm sure there's something in there for each of us, and I'm so flattered by the recognition for Brocade.

Ahem, and if you haven't been there already and would like to go, here is the Brocade pattern on ravelry, where it is available for purchase/download.