Okay ladies and gentlemen ... The signups for the dueling club are officially closed. We have a total of 28 participants this round: 12 will be crafting hats and 16 will be crafting mittens and/or fingerless gloves.

So, with wands at the ready … Here is what each of your duels will require:

The crocheted hat will require a skein (less than 125 yards) of bulky weight yarn. You will also be using a K (6.5 mm) hook. Tools include a yarn needle (for tucking in ends). The recommended gauge is 12 stitches and 5 1/3 rounds of dc is equal to 4 inches.

The knit hat will require a skein (less than 125 yards) of bulky weight yarn. You will also be using US 10 (6.0 mm) knitting needles – straights and DPNs. Tools include a yarn needle (for tucking in the ends) and for notions, you will need a large button (about 2" in diameter). The gauge is 16 stitches and/or 24 rows is equal to 4 inches in stockinette.

The crocheted mittens/gloves will require about 120 yards of Aran weight yarn (although some people have used worsted as well). You will also be using a size H (5 mm) hook. The recommended gauge is 18 stitches and/or 14 rows is 4" in sc tbl in the round.

The knit mittens/gloves will require less than 125 yards of worsted weight yarn. You will also be using US 7 (4.5 mm) double pointed needles (or size needed for gauge). You will also need a yarn needle, stitch holder and stitch markers. The recommended gauge is 20 stitches and 26 rows is 4" in stockinette.

You will have to contact your partner to get their address, sizing information and color preferences. The dueling club bracket is listed on my blog so you can see who you've been paired with for round one :) I've also emailed everyone a list of participants with e-mail addresses and ravelry IDs so that you can do so. Keep in mind that this is also meant to be a stash busting event so please don't feel like you have to go out and purchase new yarn to participate. Feel free to use yarns from your stash, as long as they are the correct weight for the pattern.

As a reminder, you need to send an item to your partner win or lose. If you succeed at your duel, obviously your partner received their hat or gloves/mittens. However, as per the rules of the dueling club, you should send an item (either the partially finished hat / pair of gloves/mittens or the yarn you were going to use to complete the project) to your partner, even if you lose the duel.

The patterns will be posted on the HSKS7 blog THIS Friday, February 13th at 9:30 AM CST and the dueling will begin!