Sock Madness Round 1...Done!

So the third year of Sock Madness started last Thursday. The pattern was released sometime around 4 am. And guess what? I was not anxiously hitting the refresh button on my computer waiting for it to arrive (like in previous years), no I stuck to my promise and was still sleeping peacefully at the time.
Alright, so I did get up around 5:30, which is still pretty darn early, but honestly I couldn't sleep anymore!
So here are the first socks of the competition completed:

They are called Tropical Mer-tini's and the pattern is based on the Drunkard's Path quilt block.
If you are interested, you can see other people's socks here.

It was a pretty fun pattern and went very fast. The one tricky thing is this sock had an after thought heel. Something I have never done before, and will probably never do again unless it is for the competition or a test knit.

It's not that it was difficult, but it was a lot of picking up stitches and a lot of grafting. UGH!

Time: I started these on Thursday and finished them on Saturday night. Again, keeping to my promise that I would not go completely nuts-o and be a crazy ninja knitter. I will save that for later rounds. =)
Needles: size 0 addis magic loop method
Yarn: knit picks essential kettle dyed in gold.
YARN PROS: I gotta say, I really like this yarn. It is nice to knit with, the colors are beautiful, and you can't beat the price. I bought a ton of it a while back and I am glad I did.
YARN CONS: The only complaint I have is that for some of the colors (especially the darker ones) there is a very distinct color difference between the skeins. Some being extremely obvious to the point of looking like two different colors entirely.

So there you have it. Seeing that this is round one and the first 40 people from each division go through to the next, I am thinking it will be a while before the second round starts. At least, I hope so. I have a few things I would like to work on/finish by the end of the month.

P.S. I am twenty weeks pregnant now and we are hoping to find out the sex of the baby on Wednesday! We are like kids waiting for Christmas around here!

P.P.S. I hate the fact that there is construction work literally being done in front of my house. Not only do they start around 7 am, but they are loud and rude. Maybe I am weird, but I don't like hearing men yelling and cursing all day long while they dig up the road and honk their horns over and over and over again. Not only that, but being told that I can't park anywhere along the street. I should park in my driveway. Which fits one car and there are three that belong to this address. I was told today that if they are to damage my car they are not liable. Huh. Considering the construction started over a week ago, there are other cars parked along the street, and the only reason I was told this is because I had to run to the bank and back today..it makes me wonder. Now that they know I am home and where I live, they have knocked on the door twice today. Good times.