That’s not a statement of self-worth. It’s a fact. I don’t count. And I didn’t realize this until tonight.

The realization occurred as I was knitting on the Man Socks. I decided yesterday to rip the sock cuff and start again… the socks were looking a bit large, and I decided to actually use a pattern. I came across Karen’s recently completed Madder Socks. She made them using the same yarn that I’m using (Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch, in a different colorway), and they look absolutely amazing. They’re also very gender neutral - plenty manly, or girly, depending on the yarn. And, the addition of ribbing in the foot and ankle part of the sock will make the fit not so critical - the socks will have a bit more stretch.

Tonight, I sat down to work on the socks, in a somewhat dim room. My yarn is dark. Almost black. I didn’t really realize how much more difficult it was to knit with a dark color, but Sheila warned me that it was probably not going to be easy, especially if I knit at night. Anyway, the previous cuff was a 1×1 ribbing - knit 1, purl 1, repeat. Not much counting required, so I didn’t have too many problems the first time around. The new cuff is 2×2 ribbing. Minimal counting required. 1, knit; 2, knit; 3, purl; 4, purl. Uh oh. Mistakes everywhere. Turns out I can’t count to 4. And then, when I finished the cuff, the real fun began… 6×1 ribbing alternating with 2×1 ribbing. I can’t count to 7 either. Or 10.

Somehow, I continually managed to mess up the ribbing. How could this be? I can count, right? I mean, I’m a pretty OK knitter. I’ve knit some fairly complex things. These must have required counting.

Turns out, not so much. As I kept making mistakes and fixing them, I realized exactly what was happening… I can indeed count. I just don’t. I knit by reading the stitches. For ribbing in the round, I knit a stitch if it looks like the stitch below it is a knit stitch. I purl if the stitch below is a purl stitch. Same goes for more complicated things: lace, cables, etc. I look at my knitting, and at the pattern or chart (if there is one), and figure out what I need to do based on what’s on the needles.

That approach has worked really well for me until now. Now, I can’t see what’s on the needles unless I really strain. It’s just a bunch of dark, indistinguishable stitches that form a knit fabric. My sense of when to knit and when to purl is completely gone because I can’t see a darn thing on the needles. Who knew stitches in dark yarn are so hard to see? Not me!

I’m hoping once I get into the groove of the pattern that I’ll get a muscle memory of sorts for the ribbing pattern, so that I’ll automatically knit and purl in pattern. Otherwise I’ll have to teach myself to actually count stitches. Good times.