Winwick Mum Sockalong 10th birthday giveaway results

What a weekend this is turning out to be!  Phew!  Just yesterday, the Winwick Mum Sockalong was 10 years old and I am so happy that you were able to join me for the celebration … which is going to go on all week!

In a change to how I’ve run the Winwick Mum Sockalong birthday giveaways previously, I’ve got 10 giveaways over 10 days to celebrate the 10^th birthday, and this is the post where you can find the winners.  I’m going to keep them all on one post so that it’s easy to find and you can check back to see if your name is on the list.

If you missed yesterday’s birthday post, you can find it here, and it will tell you how to enter the giveaway too – this is just the results page so if you want to take part in the giveaway (which is still running!), you will need to enter on the official birthday post.

 

It’s been so lovely to read all your comments on the blog so far – your sock stories as well as the number of pairs that you’ve knitted which goes towards the Annual Sock Count total – and I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.  Thank you also for your messages on social media and email – I’m a bit overwhelmed by your kind words, to be honest, and I’ve had a few emotional moments over the last 24 hours!

I’ve got to tell you, it’s such a joy to see names new and familiar (happy birthday to you too!), to see socks just starting on needles right the way up to over 100 pairs being knitted (I am in awe!), to know that your families and friends see you as “the one” to create socks that will fit them (and fit beautifully – how well we look after them!) and to know that those little rounds in your hands help to you to cope through stress and grief.  For those of you dealing with loss or dealing with any kind of tough time whether physically or mentally, I am sending you all my love and I hope that the stitches bring you comfort.

It’s these comments and little glimpses into your lives that remind me that the Winwick Mum Sockalong is so much more than just a series of blog tutorials – they’ve been a gateway for others to all the things that I have experienced myself through knitting socks: fulfilling an ambition to knit socks that fit; something that’s easy to keep at hand for quiet moments and, as an added bonus, something that starts conversations, or keeps that busy (and sometimes critical) voice in our heads distracted, and means that now, we can create the most special, thoughtful and bespoke of all gifts for the people we love.  THIS is what I wanted to share through the Sockalong tutorials.  I have always said, and I still firmly believe, that there’s magic in those little rounds that doesn’t exist in the same way anywhere else!

One thing that I must say, (and I say this every year), is that I see the word “only” too many times, and there is never any “only” about the pairs of socks you’ve knitted, whatever the number.  Every pair of socks is to be celebrated as an achievement – we’ve all been beginners once, remembering that moment when we had a pair of socks in our hands that actually fitted us 🙂 – but more than that, we do so much more in our days to look after ourselves and others through working or caring that it’s important to see our socks (or any other kind of hobby) as an “as well as”, a way to bring ourselves calm and peace, and there should never be an “only” about that.

It’s made me smile to see lots of people be surprised at how many pairs they’ve knitted when they’ve stopped to count them, and I say that it’s a really good thing to stop every once in a while, to appreciate our achievements during the year because we don’t do that as often as we probably should – with anything that we do, not just knitting socks!  If you’ve taken a few minutes to do this for the Sockalong birthday, why not take another few minutes to see what else you’ve achieved, on your needles or off, in the first few months of this year?  I hope you’ll find that the good outweighs any disappointments and that you are super-proud of what you’ve done without even thinking or stopping to congratulate yourself.

I’ve also seen lots of “I’m just getting ready to start” and if you’re about to cast on, then what are you waiting for?!  Now is the perfect time! 🙂  Don’t let the fear of something new stop you from casting on – the worst that happens is that you’ll unravel and start again, and you’ll always learn something from the experience.  Everyone was a beginner once …  Oh, and most importantly, don’t let needing to be perfect get in the way of being good enough; these are socks, you’re not sending a rocket into space 🙂  (I wrote a Monthly Musing on this once – you can find it here if you’d like to read it!)

And now it’s time to find out if you’ve won a prize!

Let me remind you of this year’s prizes:

💜  My lovely friends at West Yorkshire Spinners have gifted four balls of Signature 4ply yarn, the Winwick Mum Collection pattern book and the Seasons pattern book

💜  More lovely friends at Wool Warehouse have gifted ten balls of their Yarnsmiths Merino sock yarn

💜  I’ve got tins from Emma Ball, perfect for storing needles and accessories …

💜  I’ve got tiny tins with light bulb pins which are great for counting rows, holding dropped stitches, impromptu stitch markers and countless other jobs …

💜  I’ve got a couple of mugs, because knitting is thirsty work …

💜  tape measures for measuring foot circumference and length (ha! did you think I wasn’t going to mention the Sock Stitch Calculation in this post?)

💜  I’ve got two signed copies of Super Socks, the paperback version of the online Sockalong tutorials …

💜  and three signed copies of Project Super Socks, 

💜  I’ve got two gift vouchers worth £10 each – one for Wool Warehouse and one for Black Sheep Wools.

💜  and there’s an exclusive Winwick Mum bookmark and Winwick Mum Sockalong pin badge for each winner.

The total value of all of this yarny treasure is about £300, and each of the 10 giveaway winners will be receiving a surprise parcel worth about £30.

 

Now, just before I tell you who’s won, let me tell how how many socks we’ve got in our total!

As part of the entry to the giveaway, I always ask how many pairs of socks you’ve knitted which go towards the Annual Sock Count total.  This is never going to be an accurate figure because I try to give my pattern away to anyone who will stay still for long enough to take it, so it’s only for fun because it’s the one time of the year that I can ask you – but it’s a bit of fun that I do enjoy very much!

Last year, we were up to 21,336 pairs and because the giveaway is running until 13 May 2025 , I’m going to keep updating the total so it might be different if you come back on different days.

In 2016 there were 3,500 pairs, in 2017 there were 4,500 pairs, in 2018 there were 3,360 pairs, in 2019 there were 1,040 pairs, in 2020 there were 1,385 pairs, in 2021 there were 1,270 pairs, in 2022 there were 2,180 pairs, in 2023 there were 1,053 pairs, in 2024 there were 3,048 pairs and now, in 2025 the new total as of today is …

 

23,713 pairs of socks!

 

It’s a flipping good job I’m sitting down while I write this! 🤣

That’s an incredible total and I am so delighted that I have been able to help get all of those pairs of socks onto and off needles and onto feet!

 

And finally, without any more distraction, let’s get down to the draw!  I’ve put the number of comments on the blog so far into the Random.org generator and here are the winners as they come out for each day:

 

Sunday 4 May

Monday 5 May

Tuesday 6 May

Wednesday 7 May

Thursday 8 May

Friday 9 May

Saturday 10 May

Sunday 11 May

Monday 12 May

Tuesday 13 May

 

Congratulations!  If you’re able to get in touch with me (contact form in the side bar), I can get your prize sent to out to you straight away!

 

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway and left comments – I have so enjoyed reading them all, and isn’t that a fabulous number of socks that we have now?  I’m sorry that I couldn’t send everyone a prize, but thank you again to everyone who has knitted socks using the Sockalong pattern and tutorials whether you commented or not – I’m just so pleased that I’ve been able to celebrate this special Sockalong birthday with you!

 

 

PS  I haven’t forgotten that I said that I’d create a map to show where we all are, but I hope you won’t mind that I haven’t got it ready for today!  It’s coming soon!