The Official Rules posting

I know I haven't been the most organized putting SAM3 together (and I keep assuming that all of you have been participants in SAM1 & 2 already, although I know there are a ton of new sockers among us who don't know what I'm thinking - go figure!), but here is the official rundown of the rules for everyone. I'll link it in the sidebar so that you all can refer back to it as needed.

The Point of it All:
The goal will be to knit one pair of socks each month for the next 6 months. There will be prize drawings each month for everyone who completed a pair of socks that month. You'll also get a letter by your name for the first pair of socks you finish in a month and each letter you accumulate will give you one entry into the grand prize drawing at the end of the knit-along. Knit one pair of socks between February 1 and July 31, and you get one entry in the grand prize drawing. Knit one pair each month, and you get six entries. Easy as that! Anyone who knits a pair in each of the six months will be entered in a bonus drawing for an extra special bonus prize (ooooh! aaaah!). How's that for motivation?

This knit-along will be fairly mellow for those less-competitive folks since you can knit just one pair of socks and still get your name in the drawing one time. You can knit as many socks per month as you want, but you'll only get credit for the first pair (so max number of entries is six).

Sign-Ups
Send me an e-mail at knittinmom at gmail dot com to sign up. I'll need your blog address (if you have one) and/or valid e-mail address. I won't use your e-mail for anything but contacting you if I have a sock-a-month-related question and to keep track of you since there are often a few of you with the same name. You don't need a blog to participate, and if you're totally opposed to blogging in general, you can e-mail any updates to your hostess instead of posting them to the group blog. You can sign up anytime before July 20th, 2007.

Deadlines
You must sign up by the 20th of the month to get your letter for that month (but once you're signed up, you're in 'till the end, so you don't need to sign up each month). You should try to let me know about your socks by midnight PST of the last day of the month to be included in that month's drawing. If you forget to send your update, you can get me a late update to get credit for the grand prize drawing, but you won't necessarily get in on that month's prize drawing depending on how on-the-ball I am that month.

Also, you must finish the socks (i.e. they must come off the needles) in the month in which you ask for credit. Socks can have been started anytime and can be socks that you will be giving away. You will only get credit for socks finished after you joined the knit-along.

Updates
You have been assigned to one of three hostesses, depending on where your name falls in the alphabet. Your hostesses will go into the blog weekly (or so - I can't promise that we will get all of your updates done each and every week) and check for your socks. In order to keep this process as easy as possible, please sign each post with your name (as it is listed in the sidebar) and your blog URL. If there are two of you with the same first name, please throw in your last initial or other identifying symbol (blog URL would take care of this, too, as long as you have a blog).

We will be keeping track of how many socks you've knit next to your name in my sidebar. You will get a little letter for each month in which you've completed a sock. If you posted an update a long time ago and don't have the appropriate letter in your sidebar, please let us know. Updating the socks is a huge job, and we're busy gals so stuff might get missed. It's not intentional, and just drop us a line so we can get it fixed ASAP!

What counts as a sock?
Socks can be as big or as small as you'd like, but they need to have a traditional sock construction (knitted in-the-round with a turned heel). Baby booties don't count, but baby socks do. Also, they must be wearable on a human foot (no sock earrings or keychains, please). Felted slippers don't count, except for Fuzzy Feet which are basically felted socks. If in doubt, please check with me.

Join us!
E-mail me if you want to join up. With all the other sock knit-alongs going on right now, what have you got to lose? How can you beat getting multiple knit-along credits with one little pair of socks?

Let the fun begin!!!