Look at what arrived in the mail today, smelling slightly like jelly beans through its packaging:

That would be my prize for the first round of Sock Madness (posing here with the second sock of the pair, currently in progress). It’s two bars of soap homemade by Julie in one of my favorite scents, violet.

But, Sprite, I can hear you say, weren’t you eliminated from competition in that opening round?

I was. But Sock Madness is one of those events where prizes are awarded at the discretion, kindness, and amusement of its moderators and for a wide assortment of reasons. (Mine was for persevering with the competition through difficult personal times.)

I’m still a little disappointed that I couldn’t have knit more/faster while in Salt Lake, but the sweetness of the prize and the generosity of the moderators (and the pattern designer, who helped me come up with a solution to the boneheaded mistake I made while trying to knit through exhaustion and stress) takes the bitterness out of my failure. It’s a true consolation prize.