Remember this?

I wanted to do this sooo badly. A little sad. Thank you irishgirlie for being you!

WORLD NEWS PRESS RELEASE, January 1, 2010, Wiltshire, UK- NOTORIOUS SOCK KNITTERS CELEBRATE BLUE MOON AT STONEHENGE

Not only was it New Year’s Eve last night, but it also was a blue moon (Dec.31, 2009, http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/BlueMoon.html), which was cause for celebration for a group of notorious sock knitters whose mission seems to be to share the passion and joy of sock knitting to the world. Well, they brought it here to Stonehenge last night. Did they ever.

The world awoke today to find Stonehenge nice and cozy. The trilithons of the Sarsen Cicle were decorated with their “cozies,” handknit with Socks that Rock, the addicting sock yarn produced by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The “Heel Stone” (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMStonehenge.html) displays the perfect short row heel and of course, a star toe, which seems to be the appropriate choice for this special site. Each cozy featured a different pattern, but Rockin’ Sock Club knitters who participated in the event chose to knit either the Solstice Slip pattern (perfect for when the Summer Solstice comes around!) or a cable or Celtic design(an homage to the Celtic culture that is associated with Stonehenge). See Pattern Notes below for specific information.

One cannot help but note the colorways that were chosen also. Mesmerizing, eye-popping, brilliant, saturated, vivid, art before your eyes. Initially, when this project was created back in March 2008 as part of “The World is Your Knit Canvas” contest, colorways suggested included Midsummer’s Night, Stonewash, Blue Moonstone, Philosopher’s Stone, and Mist, to name a few. However, Blue Moon’s depraved dyer, Tina, was inspired to create an entire “World is Your Canvas” series of colorways and released 10 additional colorways (e.g., “Friar’s Heel,” “Boudicca” (the Celtic Warrior queen some credit with building Stonehenge as her monument), “The Spirit of Stonehenge”) for Rockin’ Sock Club knitters to use for their first stop on their worlwide campaign (additional colorways are planned for the 11 other worldwide events that are planned for the year, however the club is keeping most of the sites hush-hush. There is some speculation that the Eiffel Tower is up next on their tour, but Tina is known for dropping hints that are meant to deliberately mislead her flock! I wouldn’t be surprised to see them show up in San Francisco to decorate the Golden Gate Bridge in a flashy scarf or skirt, especially since its Irishgirlie’s hometown and she initiated the Stonehenge campaign. Just my two cents).

Locals and tourists are flocking to Stonehenge today to witness this art. “What a brilliant idea,” one onlooker commented. “It really brightens up this place and celebrates its beauty. It also makes me want to learn to knit too!” Thousands of small “emergency sock yarn” skeins were also left at the site, in addition to stickers and swag that let everyone know that “NSK” (Notorious Sock Knitters) were here. The locals are already giving Stonehenge a new name….

ROCKS THAT ROCK!

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Pattern Notes below (These were sent out worldwide to all rockin’ sock club members in March 2008 and modifications were made throughout the process. This is a rough sketch. More specific pattern notes will be detailed in next year’s book, “Notorious Sock Knitters Decorate the World” (title tentative)).

Yarn: Either STR mediumweight or heavyweight (in regards to number of skeins, we are anticipating A LOT)

Pattern: Select your own, however, it is strongly suggested to use something with a cable or celtic inspired pattern or the Solstice Slip pattern.

Depending on what stone you will be knitting for (e.g., the stand alone stones (trilithons) the cozies can be knit in the round for and slipped on, or the stones with something on top where the cozy will need to wrap around and then be seamed on to the actual stone, or the heel stone which will be easy to slip on), the measurements will vary. For example, the trilitons average 6.5 feet wide, 3 feet thick and tapers towards the top (so will need to put appropriate increases in, if knitting from the top down)(http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMStonehenge.html). Oh, and they stand 13 feet above ground, so you will probably want to knit at least 12 feet. Potentially, you are then knitting 19 feet around (give or take some ease), and 12 feet long. If using STR mediumweight with a gauge of 8 stitches/inch, depending on if you are going to knit top up, top down (for decreases/increases), your cast on may have

19 feet x 12 inches = 228 inches x 8 stitches per inch = 1824 stitches

(don’t forget to check gauge…we don’t want slouchy cozies!, oh and don’t worry, we’ll have a pattern editor check my math).

This is just a bit to get you all started. Our UK RSC members are headed out to Stonehenge as we speak to get exact measurements and they will be dispersed soon. Some groups are talking about working together/doing a KAL cozy….keep reading the blog for details.

Remember…

ROCKS THAT ROCK!